Speaking of the past 2020, the topic of artificial meat is quite worthy of attention. Large brands such as KFC and Nestlé have invested in this track, which is enough to see that the popularity of artificial meat remains high. Recently, the "Plant-Based Meat Products" group standard jointly formulated by the China Society of Food Science and Technology and many food companies and scientific research institutions was officially released, which will provide certain standards for the rapidly developing plant-based meat processing and production.
With the continuous improvement of current technological level and people's increasing demand for healthy diet, the artificial meat market is in a booming stage. According to relevant data, as of 2018, the market size of my country's meat substitutes has reached about 10 billion U.S. dollars, and in the future, the market size may reach 100 billion levels.
As far as our country is concerned, because our country has a long-standing vegetarian culture, from vegetarian snacks to vegetarian chicken, vegetarian roast goose and other artificial meat products in catering ingredients, our country’s plant-based meat market can be said to have a strong market development foundation, and at the same time, our country also has great market development potential. However, in the face of the current rapidly developing artificial meat market, the lack of industry standards and regulations is a major pain point in the development of plant-based meat in my country.
To this end, the China Society of Food Science and Technology initiated a project on the group standard for "Plant-based Meat Products" as early as the beginning of 2020, and officially released it on December 25. It is reported that the standard defines plant-based meat products and stipulates their basic requirements, inspection rules, labeling, identification, packaging, transportation and storage.
According to the standards, plant-based meat products refer to plant-based meat products or their processed products as sources of protein and fat, with or without the addition of other auxiliary materials and food additives, and are processed to have similar characteristics to those of livestock and poultry. , aquatic products and other animal meat products with characteristics of texture, flavor, shape and other characteristics. According to relevant industry insiders, the core of this definition is to clarify the specific meaning of plant-based meat products and to clarify that animal raw materials are not allowed to be used in food processing.
At the same time, the basic requirements of the standard state that the protein and fat of plant-based meat products should be derived from plant raw materials, and protein and fat from animal sources must not be added; and relevant processing enterprises are encouraged to simulate the production of animal meat products. Nutritional composition is the basis to improve protein quality and increase protein content.
In fact, with the continuous improvement of my country's artificial meat processing technology in recent years, extrusion, freezing, steam expansion, etc. have become effective technical means to improve the texturization process of plant protein, and related processing equipment For example, plant protein puffing machines, plant protein drying equipment, plant protein beverage production lines, etc. can also provide mechanized support for the production of artificial meat products, which greatly improves the difficulties faced by my country's artificial meat products in terms of raw materials and processing technology, and also greatly improves the quality of artificial meat products. Improve food nutrition and taste, making food quality closer to meat products.
As an important standard for plant-based meat products in the industry, the official release of the "Plant-based Meat Products" group standard will bring specific reference standards to my country's plant-based meat products market. At the same time, this will also provide a development foundation for plant-based meat products to better enter the market in the future.