FiE live: Beneo uncovers long-term success factors in competitive alternative meat market

30 Nov 2023 --- Awareness about the health implications of consuming conventional meat is encouraging consumers to incorporate healthier and more sustainable foods into their diets. Formulators are leaning toward low-energy processing technologies to cater to such demands.

We catch up with Niels Hower, executive board member at Beneo, at the ongoing Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, who talks about the company’s latest innovations in meat alternatives and how plant-based companies can navigate challenging consumer demands.

“We are introducing two new products — Meatless Beef Bites and Minced Meat, with the technology we introduced last year using mycoprotein and pea protein. These are promising products with clean labels and formulations, adding to our meat and fish alternatives line,” he tells Food Ingredients First.

Beef, a widely consumed meat worldwide, is witnessing the rise of numerous substitutes. In Europe, for instance, the demand for beef imitation products is high, with 76% of meat substitute consumers seeing beef as an appealing category of meat analogs, says the company.

At the event, the company is offering plant-based product tastings for visitors, prepared by Culinary Chef Jelbrich Hendrickx from the Beneo-Technology Center, to preview its future innovations.

The beef substitutes are sold frozen and enhanced with coloring to provide an “authentic beef-like appearance.”

With the acquisition of the Netherlands-based Meatless last year, the company supplies textured plant-based ingredients derived from a wide range of raw materials, such as rice, fava beans, wheat, peas and quinoa.

Taste and sustainability
Beneo’s alternative beef caters to consumer demand for tasty alternative beef products while providing easy-to-process, semi-finished products with a simple and short ingredients list.

Niels Hower, executive board member at Beneo.The meat analogs are highly heat stable and have a high water holding capacity, which helps to retain their juiciness and succulence, even when baked or fried.

Moreover, their fatty and juicy mouthfeel enables the reduction of fat content in end products, aligning perfectly with evolving consumer preferences for healthier options, notes the company.

The Meatless Beef Bites are ideal for stir-fries and stews, and the Meatless Minced Meat finds use in lasagna, marinades and sauces.

The company uses a low-energy processing technology, which means that the plant-based beef alternatives are not only flavourful, but also offer sustainability benefits.

Producing for the future 
Hower also shares his stance on the economic impact of the F&B industry’s efforts at NPD.

“In a world with a growing population, efficient food production is not just necessary for food security and environmental protection; it’s also an economic imperative. We’re excited to be at the forefront of new plant-based developments.”

“Due to the high consumer interest, we decided to expand our range of cost-effective plant-based solutions to also include beef alternatives, which can easily be integrated into existing production processes.”

He further outlines that the alternatives market primarily focuses on replacing chicken or processed applications like hamburgers and meatballs. Therefore, Beneo’s alternative beef offers manufacturers a broader spectrum of choice.

Nutrition matters
Meanwhile, Thomas Schmidt, marketing director at BENEO, flags that Beneo offers a range of versatile, functional fibers like inulin and oligofructose, with organic variants for interested consumers. 

Beneo's heat stable and succulent Beef Bites find applications in stir-fries, stews, lasagna, marinades and sauces.“Recently, we received scientific news from the University of Reading, UK, that confirmed that these fibers can work and deliver prebiotic benefits in any food matrix.”

He also highlights the utility of fibers in sugar reduction and fat reduction concepts.

“Palatinose, a special sugar we also sell, has low glycemic properties and a longer-lasting release of glucose into the bloodstream, helping consumers benefit much longer from that energy supply.” Palatinose, which the company exhibited at an event last year, also finds application in the beverage industry. 

Another of Beneo’s innovations, its beta-glucan-enriched barley flour, is touted for supporting better heart health and the reduction of blood cholesterol.

“The flour strives to make heart health affordable and finds relevance in the bakery industry,” he reflects, adding that its products “satisfy” various current trends, such as clean label and plant-based, since they all come from nature.

Staying in the game
Various plant-based businesses have gone out of business in the last five to ten years, notes Hower. 

He explains why this might have been: “You need to offer consumers more than just a brand. If you buy something as a consumer and don’t like it, you will not wait for a 2.0. This is why I am strongly convinced that with our core focus on texturizing and adding value there, we bring exactly what the industry needs.”

“The remaining players need to be diligent and focused on the problems so that the consumers are willing to buy alternative protein products repetitively,” he concludes.

By Insha Naureen, with additional reporting by Missy Green and William Bradford Nichols at FiE in Frankfurt, Germany