Gradually in France, imitation meat, these products based on vegetable proteins that seek to imitate meat in every way, are arriving on the shelves of supermarkets.
20 Minutes
asked its readers if there would be room on their barbecues this summer for these meat substitutes.
We received a hundred responses in return, expressing mixed opinions.
If vegetarians and vegans seem to welcome this new food offer with satisfaction, in particular because it makes it possible to diversify their diet, many point to the price or the “ultra-processed” nature of these products.
"Beyond Meat sausages are incredible on the plancha, and the" chicken-style "aiguillette skewers from Heüra or Les Nouveaux Fermiers also make everyone in my family agree," says Iris.
A vegan for eight years, she is one of the hundred Internet users to have responded to our call for testimonials.
The question ?
"Will there be room for mock meat on your barbecue this summer?"
".
The appearance, the scent, the texture, the flavor… These products seek to approach meat as closely as possible but with vegetable proteins, "and therefore without animal suffering", support several contributors who have tested - or say they are tempted - by this new food offer.
Food-tech start-ups take to the track
The market for vegetable catering in large and medium-sized areas (GMS) was valued at 114 million euros in June 2021 by the panelist Kantar, up 19.8% in value. “It remains a niche market, relativizes Matteo Neri, research director of the agrifood division of the market analysis institute Xerfi. 114 million euros is roughly the equivalent of the gluten-free market in France. Even if it is declining, the beef market posted a turnover of 3.8 billion euros in the retail trade (all channels excluding restaurants) in 2019.
Above all, the vegetable catering department is not limited to imitation meat. “It also includes breadcrumbs and vegetable pancakes,” continues Matteo Neri. These products, marketed for several years in France, are presented as meat substitutes without trying to imitate it in every way. "
The first market accelerated from 2016, when players in the mass distribution and food industry launched their brands in this niche, with products seeking to increasingly imitate meat.
Instead, aim for the raw vegetable mince launched in October 2019 by Herta and its Le Bon Végétal brand.
Matteo Neri is now talking about a third wave, with the entry on the track of food-tech start-ups on the shelves for a year, "which are truly developing products similar to meat".
It's Beyond Meat, Moving Mountains, The Vegetarian Butcher, Heüra, or the Frenchwoman Les Nouveaux Fermiers.
"Bluffing" products
Not easy, again, to find their steaks, sausages, merguez, nuggets or vegetable aiguillettes on the shelves… All the same, some have already tried it, if we are to believe the testimonies received. Cyril, who tested vegetable steaks with a view to “reducing (his) meat consumption, and thus lowering (his) carbon impact”, remained unmoved. "It's very disappointing, the taste is not there and it's very dry," he said. No fun, even with the sauces. Ditto for Duncan, who says he is nevertheless ready to repeat the experience.
In the latest products to arrive, there are some "stunning", indicate several of our contributors. “Some vegetable merguez, in particular, are impressive,” says David. Like Iris, Julien loves the sausages from Beyond Meat. Alexandra also invites you to go and see Wheaty or Herta, “who are starting to have good products”.
And the arrival of these imitation meat is viewed favorably by some vegans and vegetarians.
In particular by "Steph 9", Benoît and Marc, who indicate "that one can be vegetarian and like the taste of meat".
"I stopped meat for animals and the planet, and not for taste," explains Marc, delighted to see these "imitations" arrive.
Katarina, who has not eaten meat for ten years, also sees the opportunity to diversify her diet, but also to feel less excluded during a meal with omnivores, she who only ate salads at barbecue evenings.
Make it a mass market?
It remains to convince other consumers. This is the whole objective of the players who are launching themselves and who see much wider than vegetarians and vegans, "whose share in France peaks at around 2.5%", recalls Matteo Neri. The core target is now flexitarians, who are reducing their meat consumption, or 39% of French people according to some surveys. The target is even wider for food-tech start-ups. "They target the meat eater who has realized or becomes aware of the harmful impacts that this consumption can have, whether it is on his health, on the environment or on animal welfare", indicates Matthieu Vincent, co-founder of DigitalFoodlab, company advice in the field of food-tech.
Several Internet users have told us that they are in this tension. We saw it with Cyril, it is also the case of Anthony, lover of red meat "but aware that (this) consumption has a strong environmental impact without counting animal suffering", he specifies. He does not say he is closed to substitutes.
But moving imitation meat from a niche market to a mass market will not be easy in France.
Among the testimonials received, ten are limited to a single sentence: “Never that on my barbecue”, sometimes expressed in more flowery language.
In those who detail their response, many are those who point to the defense of our breeders.
Like Christophe, who sees imitation meat as "marketing and industrial products worse than meat in the end".
"I will do fewer barbecues, but with real organic meat from French breeders", he then launches.
“Ultra-processed” and “very expensive” products?
“Industrial”, “ultra-processed”… This criticism comes up in many comments. Including from those who have nevertheless adapted these products in their diet. This is the case with Benoît, who describes them as "a very practical alternative but not necessarily much healthier", and only occasionally includes them in his menus. "This is one of the limits today of imitation meat, some products of which actually display a significant number of ingredients", confirm Matthieu Vincent and Matteo Neri.
This is the first obstacle to be overcome in order to hope to become a mass market one day.
There is a second, which comes up a lot in the contributions: the price.
“These meat substitutes can be up to 50% more expensive than the products they offer to replace,” confirms the co-founder of Digitalfoodlab.
While waiting for cultured meat?
All the same, it is these meat analogues that should in the future pull the vegetable catering market, to the point of taking precedence over breadcrumbs and pancakes, estimated Xerfi in a study from May 2020. The institute anticipates growth of 8% per year by 2023 for this category of imitation meat.
Which would still make it a niche market.
And the limited lifespan?
This is what Françoise tends to say, who gladly welcomes vegetarian (and organic) substitutes to her table, while waiting for the rise of cultured meat [developed in the laboratory from stem cells].
"A tremendous leap forward", she predicts, adding that many start-ups are on the spot.
"One can wonder if the imitation meat will always have a reason for being if the cultivated meat manages one day to develop on a large scale", slips Matteo Neri.
Anyway, it's not for now.
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In fast food before a boom on the shelves?
Beyond the price and the number of ingredients in the recipes, Matthieu Vincent identifies a third challenge to be taken up if the imitation meat market is to progress in France. "That of ensuring that people at least have the opportunity to test these products."
It is not so much on the supermarket shelves that it is played out, but more in out-of-home catering, in particular fast food restaurants. “A prescribing market in which manufacturers can preview their products,” explains Matteo Neri. "We can see it very well in the United States, where the products of big brands like Impossible Foods or Beyond Meat have only been massively in supermarkets for a year, after having first been present in fast food", recalls Matthieu. Vincent. The most striking example was the launch in the United States, in April 2019, by Burger King, in collaboration with Impossible Food, of its “Impossible Whooper”, a meatless version of its iconic hamburger.
Xerfi also expects, in France in the future, an explosion in the market for vegetable burgers out of home.
“It has already started,” says Matteo Neri.
Moving Mountain has been supplying the Hard Rock Café in Paris and Nice with meatless steak since June 2019, Beyond Meat has been supplying the Steak'n Shake and Buffalo Grill brands since September of the same year.
There is also Baggle Corner, which put on its menu, in September, a sandwich made from vegetable bacon, in partnership with the startup Grand Gousier.
“Not to mention the Veggie King, the vegetable burger that Burger King officially launched in France on May 24, adds Matthieu Vincent.
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