Page 32 - Food & Drink Magazine April 2021

PLANT-BASED SECTOR
BELOW: Production at Fënn Foods on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. RIGHT: ProForm Food’s retail product MEET was launched in 2020.
BELOW (L-R): Pure Foods Tasmania CEO Michael Cooper, Food Frontier head of industry engagement Karen Job.
✷ INDUSTRY COUNCIL A UNIFIED FRONT
FOR NEW INDUSTRY
A representative group for Australia’s alternative protein sector was launched in March.
The Alternative Proteins Council (APC) will represent the sector in national policy discussions and ensure a collective voice for the burgeoning industry.
Australian alternative protein think tank Food Frontier’s director of policy and government relations Sam Lawrence says establishing the APC now marks an important step in the sector’s evolution.
Lawrence will be the inaugural secretariat for the body.
He says: “The APC formalises our collaboration to support the
29 companies comprising Australia’s alternative proteins sector to engage at a national level on policy issues, enabling the sector’s shared vision and continuing to serve Australians who enjoy alternative protein products.”
Founding companies include Sanitarium, ProForm Foods, v2food, Rogue Foods, Nestlé Australia and Impossible Foods, with additional companies joining soon.
Lawrence says a unified voice was important for the fast-growing sector.
and farmers to capitalise on fast-growing global demand for alternative proteins.
“Australia has the agricultural capacity, commercial appetite and research know-how to become an international leader in new protein industries including plant-based meat.
“To not make the early investments necessary to leverage these unique strengths would be a missed opportunity.”
There is significant demand for Australian grown plant protein ingredients and processing.
From FY19 to FY20, the volume of plant-based meat manufactured in Australia increased 70 per cent, with companies indicating their desire to use more Australian ingredients in their products.
Job says one of the biggest challenges is accessing domestic ingredients. “Of all the companies I work with, north of ninety per cent want to buy domestically grown ingredients. So demand for grains that are grown here and
then processed into the isolates and concentrates needed to make the products is already there.”
THE SCALING CHALLENGE
Job says the value to the Australian farming sector of value-adding crops like pulses and legumes as ingredients for products like plant-based meat – instead of farmers selling their crops into volatile commodity markets – is becoming more widely recognised. However, significant investment in local plant protein processing infrastructure is required to cater to this demand.
As it stands, there is only one commercial operation processing Australian crops in Australia, Australian Plant Protein, which came online in September 2020. (See story on APP and EAT Group on page 36.)
Job says the EAT Group’s investment in establishing a protein fractionation facility in Victoria last year brought new, yet limited capacity to Australia.
“There remains significant
scope for greater investment in fractionation infrastructure considering the plant-based meat industry, as per Deloitte’s moderate growth scenario, is projected to produce 169,000 tonnes of end product by 2030,” she says.
The demand for plant protein ingredients is expanding into different market segments as well, with demand for baked goods, snacks and sports nutrition products also growing. This demonstrates significant need for local plant protein processing and opportunities for famers to value-add to their crops by selling isolates into Asian markets.
King says at least one state government is actively scoping the need for further investments in such processing facilities to generate jobs and support Australian agriculture, while more private businesses are also exploring the opportunity, signalling key developments ahead in 2021 and beyond.
Increased exports will also be key for the sector to achieve economies of scale, with growth in production volume driving down unit product manufacturing costs.
Greater investment, continuing product innovation and iteration, retail category planning and forecasting that takes into account market maturity, and export are all critical components for the sector becoming a part of every Australian’s diet. ✷
32 | Food&Drink business | April 2021 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au