A four-year investor engagement with 25 giant food retailers and manufacturers, led by the FAIRR investor network, has found that two in five global food giants, including Tesco and Unilever, with combined annual revenues of $459bn now have dedicated teams to develop and sell plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy.

The data comes from the new online Sustainable Proteins Hub for investors, and its Appetite for Disruption: A Second Serving report, by the FAIRR Investor Network.

The report highlights new research that shows over $1.1bn of venture investment has flowed into alternative proteins in the first half of 2020, more than double last year’s total investment ($534m). The alternative protein market is expected to grow to $17.9bn by 2025. Amidst public concern over the link between meat production and the ongoing COVID-19 and African Swine Fever crises, retailers and manufacturers are facing a surge in demand for plant-based products.

This has been felt most acutely in China where pork consumption is estimated to drop by 35 per cent this year, while plant-based pork brand OmniFoods saw record growth across China and other Asian markets. Brands like Impossible Foods and Oatly have set their sights on the region and Nestle is to build a $100m plant-based centre in China.

Jeremy Coller, founder of FAIRR and Chief Investment Officer at Coller Capital said: “The post-COVID landscape has made 2020 a watershed year for the sustainable protein market: the sector has attracted double the investment of last year in just six months. This engagement shows which food companies are putting in place the infrastructure and innovation to benefit from this seismic shift in the ways we shop and eat; and those that will lose out. Investors are watching closely.”

Examples of this progress are that 10 per cent of all Nestlé’s R&D employees are now dedicated solely to the development of plant-based products, while Unilever has invested $94m in a new innovation centre housing 500 employees with a focus on plant-based innovation for brands like Knorr and Hellmann’s.

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