The meat substitute market - France

Meat substitutes or imitation meat products represent a food category of products whose taste or aesthetic characteristics imitate those of certain meats for human consumption, and which generally have intended to replace the use of animal meat for consumption. As a general rule, meat substitutes are made from non-meat products and sometimes also exclude products of animal origin, such as dairy products. The majority of these substitutes are based on soybeans, wheat, cereals, peas, various photosynthetic plants, bacterial or fungal cultures which are denatured by chemical and mechanical treatment to obtain a product in the form of meat, whereby this is then flavoured. The world market for meat substitutes is growing rapidly with forecasts of a cumulative annual growth rate of 7% per year between 2018 and 2023.  Europe is the dominant market for vegetable meat, ahead of North America and Asia-Pacific. In France, sales in the vegetable meat industry are also rising rapidly, with a 11% growth between 2018 and 2019 . With rising flexitarian and vegan trends inovolving the reduction of meat consumption, vegetable meats are more than ever in ascendancy. This phenomenon is accentuated by a promise of a reduction of the carbon and environmental footprint compared to the negative externalities which traditional animal production produce. Finally, the increase in health problems such as obesity or diabetes, due in particular to the over-consumption of meat products, also encourages consumers to turn to vegetable meats. The sector is strongly marked by novelty with investments in Research & Development to constantly find new products that use less water, pollute less and taste better. The current trend is to diversify the raw materials used in the manufacture of meat products, which until now have been mainly soy and wheat-based.