Page 45 - Farm and Food Policy Strategies for 2040 Series

A cornucopia of foods contribute protein for the human diet, of course, and emerging ones such
as cell-based meats — growing meat by feeding animal muscle (without the animal) in a medium
— will likely edge into the global protein market as well.

What’s more, meat and dairy substitutes are already landing on our dietary shores with a thump.

In its February Talking Points, worldwide Rabobank reported its food industry customers’
answers to this main annual survey question about food trends: “In the world of food, what
surprised you the most over the last twelve months?”

Answer: “The breakneck advancement of plant-based food and beverages was easily the
biggest surprise to our readership.” Separately, from various market data sources, Rabobank
estimated retail sales of plant-based meat alternatives had risen by almost one-quarter to an
estimated $770 million in the twelve months
up to August 2018,” and “the wider range of
plant-based alternatives to conventional
animal foods (including milk, cheese,
yogurt, etc.) ... up 17% in the past twelve
months. Equally impressive are the number
of new entrants and players in the “new
protein landscape.”

But let’s back up a step and start with a huge
source of protein that happens to be low-
hanging fruit.

First Stop — Grains

“Half of the world’s (human food) calories
come from grains,” says Caroline Sluyter, program director for the Whole Grains Council
(WGC). She points out three of them — amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat — “have the nine
essential amino acids that the human body needs ... (and thus) are considered complete proteins.”

Grain commonly used for food (except rice) are 11 to 15% protein. But, “unfortunately, most of
the world has moved toward refined grains in ... the last 200 years,” Sluyter says, even though
“whole grains have on average about 25% more protein than refined grains. So when you’re
stripping away that bran and germ you are stripping away key nutrients.”

Africa, she says, is the lone part of the world that has kept whole grains extensively throughout
their diets. Nonetheless, she says, American, Canadian and Mexican consumers have been
gradually shifting back to more whole grains for many years, “and Brazil and China have been
big players in the last three to four years.”

If the goal is getting enough protein, the world’s supply of grain is almost always ample,
fortunately, so opting for whole grains is an easy way to boost protein intake, Sluyter says. She
notes the WGC’s own labeling icon, the Whole Grain Stamp, has proliferated and is already on
more than 12,000 cereal products in 61 countries.

Beans, of course, are known as a rich source of protein. And soybeans, always plentiful and a
relatively cheap food source worldwide, are particularly protein-dense, and they’re a complete

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