The plant-based trend in Asia Pacific

The plant-based trend in Asia Pacific

Last February, Hugo Leclercq, Biospringer Innovation and Marketing Director in Asia Pacific, and Esther Ong, Biospringer Sustainable Foods Marketing Specialist in Asia Pacific, held a webinar entitled “Unlocking yeast extract solutions for tastier and nutritious 2.0 plant-based meat, seafood & dairy”. They introduced concrete solutions to tackle three challenges faced by food manufacturers when formulating their plant-based foods, using clean label yeast extracts. Indeed, this natural origin and clean label ingredient achieve flavorful and nutritious plant-based alternatives.

The plant-based market trend in Asia Pacific

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the plant-based foods market in Asia Pacific will make up to 7.7% of the global protein market by 2030, with a value of over US$162 bn, up from $29.4 bn in 2020. “This means that a growing part of the population support the plant-based segment. In fact, consumers are more and more conscious of what they consume because of several concerns about health, ethical, environment, etc.” explains Esther Ong. Actually, 21% of Asia Pacific consumers prefer plant-based to animal-based protein.1

From 1.0 mock meat to 2.0 plant-based alternatives

Even in the COVID19 context, the plant-based segment is still going strongly. Originally, mock meat was fundamentally produced to correspond to the dietary requirements of vegetarians. But today, the 2.0 plant-based foods involve better taste, texture and nutritious profile, as close as possible to the original foods, to attract flexitarians. “I personally think that the 2.0 plant-based products did a great job in delivering real product perception, as the real meat, dairy & fish products” says Esther Ong.

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Three steps to create 2.0 plant-based foods

More than a trend, this phenomenon is also starting to tap into the quick service restaurants. This market opportunity is huge for food manufacturers. However, they are facing three main challenges to realize the perfect plant-based alternative.

1. Masking undesirable off-notes

Soy, beany, green, and other off-notes are naturally present in plant-based proteinsThese are common technical challenges faced during the development of plant-based foods. As such, it is important to mask the off-notes from the protein base. However, we don’t want to affect the original flavor profile. Considering this challenge, we have developed a new solution with Springer® Mask range of yeast extracts. The aim is to help manufacturers conceal off-notes from the plant-protein matrix before adding seasonings. If you want to know more about our off-notes masking solution, download our leaflet here.

2. Enriching the nutritional profile

The protein off-notes are now masked. However, there is a second challenge. It is to enrich the nutritional profile of your plant-based foods, as very little plant proteins are actually a great nutritional alternative to real meat, fish or dairy. Our Springer® Proteissimo 101 yeast protein is the solution you may be looking for.2 With a PDCAAS3 score equal to 1 (higher than the FAO4 recommendations) and a DIAAS5 equal to 1.02, our yeast protein is more nutritious than most of the proteins now available on the market.

3. Creating or enriching characteristic taste

As our experts explain in this webinar with many food applications examples, our Springer® Reveal range of yeast extracts synergizes with different seafood flavor ingredients as well as sea-based ingredients such as algal oil and seaweed, creating appealing and tasty plant-based fish alternatives. They also developed other innovative solutions to mimic the sensory attributes of real meat and dairy for example, our Springer® Signature range helps to bring authentic meat taste profiles such as beef, chicken or dairy taste profiles such as cheese to the matrix.

 

Our solutions in plant-based development

At Biospringer, we have strong ingredient capabilities. We help overcome challenges with four dedicated solutions, thanks to a dedicated portfolio of clean label yeast extracts. We mask off-notes, enrich the nutritional profile, intensify the flavors and provide signature taste with our yeast extracts.  With a regional team of experts based in Singapore, we have a localized expertise of taste that corresponds to Asia Pacific consumers expectations. Our Culinary team is also available to accompany our customers in their formulation’s challenges, to better understand the potential of yeast extract. A 2021 study from Mintel showed that over the last 5 years, nearly 15% of overall new meat substitutes launches are using yeast extract, why not your company?

1Good Food Institute, 2021
2This product is only available in specific countries of Asia Pacific. Please contact us to know more.
3 Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score
4 The Food and Agriculture Organization
5 Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score