Beyond Meat is looking to take a bite out of the massive Chinese market, announcing plans on Tuesday to produce its plant-based beef, pork and chicken in the Asian nation.

The US substitute meat startup said it plans to open two facilities near Shanghai, after reaching an agreement with the Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of the California company plans to start production in early 2021.

"China is one of the world's largest markets for animal-based meat products, and potentially for plant-based meat," said Beyond Meat CEO and founder Ethan Brown in a statement.

The facilities will include "one of the world's largest and technologically advanced plant-based meat factories," in a "vitally important country and market," Brown said.

Beyond Meat products are marketed in more than 80 countries, but the China outpost would mark a major expansion.

Generation Z isn't all that into lab-grown meat, according to new study
Washington DC (UPI) Sep 08, 2020 - All kinds of stakeholders, from environmental activists to venture capitalists, are counting on the growth of the cultured meat market. But new research suggests one of the most important consumer cohorts, Generation Z, isn't ready to eat meat grown from animal cells in a lab.

The 2 billion people born between 1995 and 2005 are members of Generation Z, and if businesses are to survive longterm, they must market and sell to them.

For cultured meat companies marketers, members of Generation Z should be an easy sell. New survey results out of Australia suggest young consumers are especially concerned about climate change, sustainability and animal welfare.

"Yet most are not ready to accept cultured meat," Diana Bogueva, researcher at the University of Sydney, said in a news release.

Poll results of Generation Z members in Australia showed 72 percent of respondents aren't interested in eating meat grown in a lab.

Many of those who responded to the online survey described cultured meat as unappetizing. Others said eating cultured meat conflicts with perceptions of gender and national identity.

Researchers detailed their poll results this week in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

"Gen Z value Australia's reputation as a supplier of quality livestock and meat, and many view traditional meat eating as being closely tied to concepts of masculinity and Australian cultural identity," Bogueva said.

Some respondents voiced concerns about the sustainability of cultured meat, claiming that the products could put additional pressures on natural resources.

"This Generation has vast information at its fingertips but is still concerned that they will be left with the legacy of exploitative capitalism that benefits only a few at the expense of many," Bogueva said. "They have witnessed such behavior resulting in climate change and are now afraid that a similar scenario may develop in relation to food, particularly as investors are pursuing broader adoption of cultured meat."

Supporters of cultured meat -- 28 percent of poll participants -- described lab-grown meat products as an innovative solution to the commercial meat industry's sustainability problem.

While Generation Z may be of particular importance to burgeoning cultured meat businesses, they're attitudes toward cultured meat are similar to those of older generations.

When researchers at Michigan State University asked 2,100 Americans what they thought about cultured meat in 2018, they found just one-third of respondents said they were likely to buy lab-grown meat. However, the Michigan State poll found younger Americans were more open to eating lab-grown meat than older Americans.

However, cultured meat companies may be able to find friendlier consumer bases outside of North America and Australia. According to polling conducted last year, eaters in China and India are much more open to buying and consuming lab-grown meat products.

Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Amazon bans sales of foreign seeds in US after mystery packets
San Francisco (AFP) Sept 6, 2020
Amazon has banned sales of imported seeds in the United States after thousands of Americans said they had received packets of seeds they had not ordered, mostly from China. "Moving forward, we are only permitting the sale of seeds by sellers who are based in the US," the e-commerce giant said in a statement Saturday. In late July the Department of Agriculture reported that packages of seeds had been sent to Americans and warned not to plant them, in case they posed a danger to US agriculture. ... read more