“With our refreshed strategic Blueprint announced today, we are sharpening our execution focus… aligning the talents of our team to leverage the strength of our portfolio of leading brands, leadership in sustainability and world-class assets,” said Curtis Frank, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., in a news release.

Maple Leaf released its fourth quarter financial results on Feb. 22. Over 2023, its meat protein group’s sales increased about three per cent to $4.74 billion.

However, in Q4, sales didn’t meet expectations “as a result of global pork market dislocations that have persisted longer and deeper than we anticipated, and a challenging consumer demand environment,” Frank said in the news release.

“Plus we still have a short distance to go to bring home the full benefits from our London Poultry and Bacon Centre of Excellence projects,” he said.

At the end of 2023, the meat protein group had an adjusted EBITDA of $463 million, up 22.3 per cent from 2022.

The plant protein group saw sales of $147 million, down just over 13 per cent from 2022.

“The sales decline was driven by lower volumes in retail and foodservice products, partially offset by pricing action implemented in prior quarters to mitigate inflation,” Maple Leaf said in its 2023 annual report.

The plant division’s end-of-year EBITDA was a loss of $32.9 million compared with a $105.4 million loss in 2022. The company said this improvement came on reduction of startup expenses, higher pricing and “operational improvements.”

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Maple Leaf said the plant-based business had performed well in Q4, posting a positive adjusted EBITDA of $0.1 million ($100,000).

Meat processors struggled in 2023, with Olymel dialing back hog production in Alberta and Saskatchewan early in the year, and closing processing plants in Ontario and Quebec.

“Over the past two years it is well documented that Olymel has experienced significant losses in the processing of fresh pork as a result of limited market access globally,” Olymel CEO Yanick Gervais said May 2023.

“Now, coupled with stubbornly high feed costs, resulting in unprecedent losses in the hog sector, we have little choice but to retract and position ourselves for success in the future when conditions improve.”

Manitoba-based Hylife Foods shuttered its Windom, Minnesota plant at the beginning of June, and laid off a handful of mainly administrative workers in Manitoba, citing “current global condition.”

In the plant protein space, Nourish Marketing noted in its 2024 trend report that while consumer curiosity drove the first wave of plant-based meat analogues, most consumers “will not pay a price comparable to meat for a product they view as a disappointing alternative to the real thing” while vegans and vegetarians drive only a small portion of sales.

Nourish predicted a consolidation of products in that space and a turn toward more plant-forward options.

The post Maple Leaf combines plant, meat protein divisions appeared first on Farmtario.

It brings to light the complexity of understanding Canadian consumers and their varying wants and needs. Protein in all sources is good for us, and indeed the majority of the global population derives their protein from plants, but meat and poultry still play an important role, especially in Canada.

Despite our historical cultural preference to meat-based meals, this is changing There is a growing population in Canada, one in six persons, who identify as flexitarians or those that eat meat on occasion. I see this often with my friends who prefer a plant-based diet yet enjoy ordering meat or poultry when eating out.

The plant-based food industry in Canada is worth nearly $1 billion, with an expected growth of eight per cent per year. Globally, the concept of plant-based foods and plant-based economies are gaining political traction and sales are expected to reach $161 billion by 2030.

In some areas of the world, this growth has spilled over into policy.

My favourite treat as a child was canned bacon from Denmark. A family friend would gift us a couple of tins each Christmas and we savoured these tiny strips of heaven.

The protein came from a country that has produced pork for export for 125 years and the primary supply of pork for the European Union still comes from Denmark’s 28 million pigs.

In terms of economy, pork sales make up nearly six per cent of the Danish export economy and the sector employs 60,000 people.

It sounds like a secure industry and it has published its vision, which includes climate action, to 2050, but the Danish government has recently committed to agricultural transformation through support of plant-based food growth. The goal is to set Denmark apart as a leader in this field and employ 27,000 people.

The math does not entirely work: to threaten the 60,000 established jobs and 5,000 pork producers to support the employment of 27,000 persons. Reading a little deeper into the press release and the available documents, it became clear that this “transformational” agricultural policy was actually an avenue to climate goals at the expense of the meat and poultry industry. Similar plans to reduce livestock farming to achieve climate goals have recently been launched in Switzerland and Germany.

This is concerning. Rather than address a whole-of-government approach reflective of a circular economy, we see specific areas of focus in the name of climate change.

According to the latest research, the Danes still prefer to eat animal protein. They have sectorial strategies to mitigate climate challenges. The importing clients are buying. This is an industry worth working with and enhancing.

As the sectors in Canada work together on important projects such as the National Index on Agri-Food Performance, the four pillars of environment, economy, societal well-being and food integrity are being addressed. And it helps government and industry to see into the possible without sweeping transformational changes that threaten one sector over the other.

Here at home, the mandate letter of the current federal agriculture minister is broader and does not specifically call for an action plan of plant-based over livestock and poultry-based protein.

Reliance on exports in countries such as Canada and Denmark does give us cause to consider the importance of increased value adding within our borders, keeping the animals in play as an important part of the climate solution.

Shifting out of livestock production in countries that are perfectly suited for it and have high standards of safety and care, simply leaves the barn door open for a nation without the resources, health and safety regulations to fill the gap.

Walking past the shop that was once a growing concern in plant-based meats and seeing its transformation back into animal-based offerings suggests that consumers are not sure, but food safety is a priority.

There is an opportunity to support all of agriculture. It is important that all future directives protect everything from pork to pumpkins.

Consumers have the right to eat what they want and enjoy food that is culturally appropriate.

We cannot judge as contributors to the food chain. But we must work together to ensure that there is resounding climate consciousness, action on farms to mitigate risk and policy that enhances and protects all types of farms and food systems.

– Brenda Schoepp works as an international mentor and motivational speaker. She can be contacted through her website at brendaschoepp.com.

The post Opinion: Circling back to meat appeared first on Farmtario.

Demand for the product is expected to be strong in the wake of a global pandemic that led to an economic slowdown in 2022.

Ernst & Young is forecasting US$139.4 billion in global plant-based meat sales by 2035, up from $16.5 billion in 2021, which is a 16.5 per cent compound annual growth rate.

Why it matters: Soybeans, along with peas, are projected to make up half of the plant-based ‘meat’ markets, and one-third of the alternative dairy market in future.

That forecast is at odds with a recent report by CoBank, which used data provided by Circana. According to that report, plant-based meat sales in the United States amounted to 19.8 million kilograms for the 52 weeks ending July 2. That is down 21 per cent from the previous year.

Bill Greuel, chief executive officer of Protein Industries Canada, the group that paid for the Ernst & Young study, called the recent downturn a “short-term blip”, adding the long-term outlook for the category remains positive. He’s not sure if Ernst & Young’s ambitious targets will prove accurate, but he believes the long-term trend is for continued growth.

Greuel thinks consumers will be pleased with the next wave of alternative meat products. The first wave was all about replicating ground beef. The next wave will mimic whole muscle cuts, such as salmon steaks.

Growth is also anticipated in the other two main categories. Plant-based dairy sales are expected to expand to $51.3 billion in 2035 from $14.4 billion in 2021, representing a 9.5 per cent annual growth rate.

The plant-based baking fortification category is forecast to have global sales of $15.3 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2021, a 4.1 per cent annual rate of growth, according to the Ernst & Young study.

Those are all the most bullish scenarios. Under the base case, the 2035 outlook falls to $88.3 billion for plant-based meat, $40.2 billion for dairy and $9.9 billion for baking.

Soybeans and peas are expected to account for more than half of the plant-based meat market, and soy will make up more than 30 per cent of the dairy market.

Peas and other pulses are expected to gain ground on soy in the plant-based meat category.

Ernst & Young is forecasting 15.85 million tonnes of pea use in that category by 2035.

To put that in perspective, Canada produced an estimated 2.19 million tonnes of peas this year and it is the world’s second biggest producer of the crop behind Russia.

Ernst & Young is forecasting rapid growth for plant-based protein in emerging markets like the Asia-Pacific region, fueled by population growth, rising incomes and lactose intolerance.

Lingering concerns surrounding environmental sustainability and animal cruelty are also top of mind for many consumers and should keep sales strong, according to the study.

But there are also roadblocks. Plant-based products need to attain parity in price, taste, texture and nutrition with the conventional products they compete against.

Recent inflation has led to higher price sensitivity, hindering the adoption of plant-based products. Some 64 per cent of consumers who reduced their consumption of plant-based proteins cited price as a reason.

Price premiums range from 67 per cent for plant-based meat to 87 per cent for plant-based milk products.

Another 58 per cent of consumers reduced consumption due to taste and texture issues, such as the meltability of cheese and the texture of seafood. Greuel said food ingredient companies are funding research and development projects to tackle those problems.

Canada is a leading producer of protein-rich crops and has established pulse fractionation infrastructure, a major strength. Greuel estimates that Canada has about 500,000 tonnes of pulse fractionation processing capacity.

Streamlined government regulation and increased access to capital will be needed to meet growth targets.

Labelling and food safety regulations are “hindering the deployment and growth” of novel products, according to Ernst & Young.

Greuel said the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act is another major challenge because it provides a huge competitive advantage to U.S. ingredient manufacturers.

“We need to really think about how competitive our jurisdictions are in this country relative to the incentives put in in the U.S.,” he said.

– This article was originally published at The Western Producer.

The post Study predicts market growth in plant-based meat appeared first on Farmtario.

After announcing last month it would submit a bid for the next-to-new Merit assets, Vancouver-based plant protein firm Burcon NutraScience said Monday it’s now “participating in a bid” for Merit in co-operation with “an industry plant protein company.”

Burcon didn’t identify the other party in its release Monday. It did say that if their joint bid is successful, the two parties “intend to restart the facility and together, strive to reach profitability.”

Burcon CEO Kip Underwood said it “firmly believe(s) that Burcon’s technologies and process expertise are fundamental to the Merit facility’s future profitability.”

Having just opened for business in early 2021, with major shareholders also including U.S. agrifood firm Bunge and former executives of Hemp Oil Canada, Merit was placed into receivership March 1.

Court-appointed receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), in its first report filed March 31 with Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg, said it had set a deadline of last Friday (April 21) for formal bids on the Merit assets, and expects to “determine the accepted offer” by Friday this week.

PwC hasn’t yet said how many formal bids it got for the Merit assets by the deadline. In its March 31 report, it said it had already conducted 14 visits to Merit’s Winnipeg plant site with potential buyers and scheduled five more, “with several interested parties traveling from overseas and other parts of North America.”

Burcon, in its release Monday, reiterated it “expects there to be competing bids (and) there is no assurance that the bid will be accepted by the receiver.”

PwC had said in its report that it expects to have reached a “definitive agreement” with a bidder no later than May 12 and to formally close a deal by the end of May at the latest.

If the Merit plant does reopen, it would then need to reconnect its supply chains with farmers in its catchment area.

Daryl Domitruk, executive director with Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers, last week told the Manitoba Co-operator that, to his knowledge, growers who’d contracted with Merit for this year have been released from those agreements.

“Then the question is, do I continue to grow peas or do I switch to another crop,” he said. “That’s a decision that the growers have probably made by now.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Merit Foods co-owner Burcon partnering on bid for assets appeared first on Farmtario.

Merit, whose major shareholders include Vancouver plant-based protein firm Burcon NutraScience, U.S. agrifood firm Bunge and former executives of Hemp Oil Canada, was placed into receivership March 1.

According to the first report from receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), filed last Friday with Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg, a “data room” has already been set up and an information brochure circulated to some prospective buyers. PwC said it also “may continue to identify and initiate contact with other such parties.”

PwC, in its report, said it will accept “qualified offers” for Merit’s assets until 4 p.m. CT on April 21, and expects to “determine the accepted offer” by April 28.

A “definitive agreement” would then be reached by no later than May 12, court approval granted by May 26, and a deal closed by “not later than May 31.”

Burcon, which has a 31.6 per cent stake in Merit, has already announced it will bid on the Merit assets.

In a separate release Thursday, Burcon said it’s since been in discussions with the receiver, “continues to conduct due diligence and is furthering its efforts to put forth a compelling bid” to PwC for the Merit assets.

However, Burcon added, it “expects there to be other competing bids” and “there is no assurance that Burcon’s bid will be accepted by the receiver.”

Merit’s secured creditors include Export Development Canada (EDC), owed $58.6 million plus interest, fees and other costs; Farm Credit Canada (FCC), owed $36.4 million plus similar costs; and CIBC, owed $5 million plus costs. Unsecured debts owed to trades and other creditors as of March 1 were estimated at $2.4 million.

The Canadian Grain Commission is also running an audit to see if CGC-licensed Merit still has any “outstanding liabilities” owing to farmers who delivered crops to the plant, PwC said.

However, PwC added in its report, according to Merit’s records, no farmers are owed for any crops that Merit “has purchased and are in its possession.”

PwC last month laid off 77 Merit employees; kept on 23 “key” staff under agreements running mostly to the end of this month at the latest; and retained three former managers on an “independent contractor” basis.

Three of the “key” staff have since quit, while others continue to maintain the plant, handle product sales and accounts receivable and help in the sale process, PwC said.

PwC said last Friday that as of March 1, Merit had about $3.8 million worth of inventory — about $2.7 million of which has since been invoiced awaiting payment before delivery. About $231,000, or half of Merit’s other outstanding receivables, has also since been collected.

Built starting in 2019, Merit’s 94,000-square-foot plant opened in early 2021 and began accepting canola and yellow peas to process product lines such as Puratein canola proteins, Peazac pea proteins, and MeritPro protein blends using Burcon’s protein extraction technology.

In 2021 Merit had projected it would be able to eventually expand to take up to 100,000 tonnes of canola and peas per year.

EDC, FCC and CIBC were members of a consortium of lenders — also including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada — who altogether had provided Merit with $95 million in debt financing starting in 2020. AAFC’s contribution came in the form of a 10-year, interest-free $10 million loan from the department’s AgriInnovate program.

Merit in 2020 had also picked up $9.5 million in support from the Protein Industries Canada supercluster to back product development.

EDC and FCC filed Feb. 24 for a receivership order, saying Merit was “suffering significant cash flow shortages” during the first three quarters of 2022.

The two Crown-owned lenders said in their filing that they expected Merit to run out of operating cash by around March 3 or 4 and it would then “no longer be able (to) operate its business as a going concern.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

The post Bidding open for Merit Foods for two more weeks appeared first on Farmtario.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Wednesday announced it’s the receiver for both Merit Functional Foods Corp. and the numbered company that owns Merit’s processing plant and property in Winnipeg’s CentrePort industrial park, following an order granted Wednesday in Court of King’s Bench in Winnipeg.

Federal lending agencies Export Development Canada (EDC) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC) filed Feb. 24 for the order, citing principal and interest owed to them at about $58.5 million and $36.5 million respectively.

The two lenders, in their filing, said they expect Merit to run out of operating cash by around Friday or Saturday this week, at which time it would “no longer be able (to) operate its business as a going concern.”

A joint-venture firm with major shareholders including Vancouver plant-based protein firm Burcon NutraScience, major U.S. agrifood firm Bunge and former executives of Hemp Oil Canada, Merit “began suffering significant cash flow shortages” between January and September last year, EDC and FCC said.

Since September, the two lenders said, Merit has been conducting an out-of-court sales process aiming to sell both its business and the Winnipeg plant — but that process “did not generate any formal offers” for the lenders’ consideration.

Burcon, which holds a 31.6 per cent stake in Merit, in a separate statement Tuesday had disclosed EDC and FCC’s plans to seek a receiver. Burcon also said it “intends to continue its discussions with Merit’s lenders… in order to seek a potential funding solution for Merit’s business.”

Burcon CEO Kip Underwood, in a Feb. 8 letter to that company’s shareholders, said Merit’s stakeholders in September had put up loans of $3 million to “address Merit’s anticipated liquidity requirements as it continued to ramp up its production and sales.”

Merit late last year sought “to identify a new strategic investor for its business,” he wrote, adding that “to date, no funding has been received from a new investor.”

Merit, for the past six months, “has made significant progress,” he wrote, improving daily production performance and increasing its year-over-year sales, while customers say Merit’s products are “best-in-class.”

However, he added, “unfortunately, the overall financial performance of the business has fallen short of expectations and led to the current cash flow concerns.”

Burcon, he wrote Feb. 8, had been “exploring interim financing for Merit while working on a more specific, longer-term funding solution” and was “prepared to fund ongoing operating expenses and debottlenecking capital with support from our largest Burcon shareholder to back the overall project.”

Burcon on Feb. 14 released results for its third quarter ending Dec. 31, showing Merit’s total revenue for the quarter at $3 million, up 146 per cent from the year-earlier period. Burcon for the quarter booked impairment charges of $12.3 million related to its investment in, and loan to, Merit.

Underwood, in his letter Feb. 8, said Burcon has “real concerns about Merit’s financial situation and viability” and “recognize(s) the news of Merit Functional Foods’ situation may be a surprise.”

However, he stressed, if its funding plans for Merit are successful, “Burcon could have, for the first time in its history, a chance to own its destiny… While there is risk in our current path, we believe this also presents Burcon with a significant opportunity.”

Built starting in 2019, Merit’s 94,000-square-foot plant opened in early 2021 and began accepting canola and yellow peas to process product lines such as Puratein canola proteins, Peazac pea proteins, and MeritPro protein blends using Burcon’s protein extraction technology.

In 2021 Merit projected it would be able to eventually expand to take up to 100,000 tonnes of canola and peas per year.

Its more recent products have included Peazazz C, a pea protein with a “smooth, grit-free texture” for ready-to-drink beverages, launched last July, and Organic Peazazz C 850, a certified organic version, last December for use in beverages, protein powders and protein bars.

EDC and FCC were members of a consortium of lenders including Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada and CIBC providing Merit with $95 million in debt financing starting in 2020. AAFC’s contribution came in the form of a 10-year, interest-free $10 million loan from the department’s AgriInnovate program.

Merit that year also picked up $9.5 million in support from the Protein Industries Canada supercluster to back product development. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

CORRECTION, March 2, 2023: The notice of motion filed Feb. 24 by EDC and FCC states Merit was expected to run out of operating cash “on or around March 3-4, 2023.” An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to those dates as “Thursday or Friday.”

The post Plant protein processor Merit Foods in receivership appeared first on Farmtario.

Major U.S. newspapers have reported that the 10-year plant-based protein fad is over, pointing to ominous signals such as the 80 per cent plunge in Beyond Meat’s share price and meat giant JBS’s termination of its Planterra business.

Why it matters: The plant-based protein industry continues to grow in many food categories and is expected to achieve greater market penetration if flavour and pricing are improved.

Murad Al-Katib, president of AGT Food and Ingredients, said reporters are mistakenly drawing conclusions on the long-term viability of an industry based on a “snapshot” of one segment.

“First of all, there was never a fad here,” he told delegates attending the Plant Forward conference hosted by Protein Industries Canada, Pulse Canada and Plant-Based Foods of Canada.

“There is an underpinning of health, nutrition, wellness and the environment. These are all things that I’ll put my money on every day.”

[RELATED] Opinion: Is fake meat healthy? And what’s actually in it?

Leslie Ewins, executive director of Plant-Based Foods of Canada, said the media headlines are solely focused on the poor performance of plant-based burgers, “but the growth across many (other) categories is still enviable,” she said.

“Projections of continued growth have not changed, albeit maybe at more measured levels than we saw during the abnormal growth of the pandemic.”

Dan Magliocco, president of Danone Canada, said the plant-based food business is still in its infancy.

Household penetration rates for most dairy alternatives such as ice cream, yogurt and cheese are less than 10 per cent. Even with a successful category such as plant-based beverages, the penetration rate is only 40 per cent.

“There are some barriers as an industry we need to overcome,” he said. “This is food. It needs to taste good. This is food. It needs to be priced competitively.”

And it needs to be easily accessible in grocery stores.

“When I walk into a store, it can’t be a safari to find where these products are. If I’m going to the milk section, I’d like to see it there. We’re not there yet,” said Magliocco.

[RELATED] Manitoba Co-operator: Fake meat challenges name ban in Paris restaurant debut

Adam Grogan, president of Greenleaf Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Maple Leaf Foods, agrees that the industry is young and still has vast potential.

“We can’t judge the plant-based industry on a burger in the United States that got over-hyped,” he said, adding that the problems with plant-based burgers served as a wake-up call.

“We got a flurry of activity and interest, but we didn’t keep them because the food didn’t taste good enough,” he said.

It turns out that flexitarians, or those who enjoy both meat and plant-based foods, had much higher taste expectations than vegetarians.

Grogan said the 30 to 40 per cent annual sales growth rates have been replaced by more modest expectations of 10 to 15 per cent growth, but that is still enough for Greenleaf to have invested more than $750 million in the segment.

He also said the media tends to focus on North America, forgetting markets such as India, where there are 400 million vegetarians.

“It’s a very different perspective than one you might hear in The Washington Post,” he said.

Al-Katib also stressed the importance of export markets. He said Canada is the first stop on the protein highway with its nine million acres of legume production.

“We’re going to link that protein highway to the Silk Road in Asia, and that’s ultimately the opportunity,” he said.

He is excited about a potential market for pulse proteins in India because of the country’s new biofortification initiative, which is trying to boost the protein levels of rice by incorporating pulse proteins.

“Instead of changing people’s diets and trends, they’re going to actually transform the food products that they’re consuming today,” said Al-Katib.

[RELATED] University of Guelph child care centre touts plant-based menu to reduce carbon footprint

New markets for the starch are also needed, he said. For every unit of pulse protein that AGT produces, there are 2.5 units of starch.

“We need to ensure we’re using that starch in healthy, crunchy snacks and breakfast cereals and extruded products,” said Al-Katib.

Magliocco said the industry needs multinational corporations such as Danone because it has the marketing clout to get the attention of grocery store retailers. However, it’s still an uphill battle. The company recently launched its So Delicious brand of dairy-free ice cream.

“The taste is mind-blowing,” he said. “There is absolutely no trade-off versus dairy ice cream.”

However, Danone is asking customers to pay more for the product, and they have to search for it in special sections of grocery stores.

“That’s not where consumers want to see it,” said Magliocco. “We have to get it into the mainstream aisles, and we know we have to get the pricing down.”

He said there is “natural momentum” for plant-based protein because consumers are deeply concerned about their health and the environment.

“Consumers know this is the right thing to do. We just have to make it a little easier for them to do the right thing.”

– This article was originally published at The Western Producer.

The post Plant-based foods potential touted appeared first on Farmtario.

She asked in her email to me “why is no one talking about this?”

After reading the release, I thought she posed an excellent question. 

The release explained how the University of Guelph’s Child Care and Learning Centre (CCLC) had reduced its carbon footprint by removing animal products from the menu, and only serving a fully plant-based menu. 

I commend any institution that take steps to reduce its environmental impact, but I get offended when the impact is over-inflated. 

And after reading the release, I was left thinking that the university just may be leaning towards the idea that plant-based diets are more sustainable than those that include animal products. This is concerning given the fact the it calls itself ‘Canada’s food university.’ I think we can all agree that food is anything that can be eaten and digested to provide our bodies with energy, and includes more than just plant products. 

In a report it commissioned from Foodsteps, CCLC’s dietary switch has apparently allowed for a monthly savings of 1,900 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) compared to its previous menu. The centre made the menu switch in 2020, according to its director Valerie Trew. 

“The need for efficiency, safety and inclusion is what drove this switch at first,” said Trew in the release, “but we’ve learned it connects to our mission of caring for children and to the University’s larger mission of improving life and sustainability. It’s small steps like this that can make a difference.”

Indeed it is a small step.  I don’t know how many children are at the centre, but I would guess that most of them are driven there by their parents or caregivers in a fossil fuel-powered vehicle of some kind. The Foodsteps report said CCLC’s CO2 reduction is the equivalent of driving 7,800 kilometres. Obviously carting kids back and forth to daycare is not equal to driving nearly 8,000 kilometres every month, but when you take into account driving in a city as big as Guelph, daily distances can add up quickly and idling at numerous stoplights in rush hour also adds to the emissions count. 

In a February 2022 report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compiled global data on greenhouse gas emissions. The biggest contributor to CO2 by far is fossil fuels and industrial use (65 per cent of global CO2 emissions). Farming and agricultural processes were included in the ‘land use’ category with forestry and other land uses, which contributes 11 per cent of global CO2. 

Trew’s argument for greater efficiency and inclusion is easier to swallow. The centre was finding it difficult and time-consuming to prepare separate meals for children allergic to dairy, eggs or other food allergens. Some food allergies can be life-threatening, so this is understandable. She said children with allergies had to sit away from other children while eating, so mealtimes were not inclusive. 

But I wonder how many children was this affecting? I’m not trying to downplay the difficulty and fear involved with caring for a child with a food allergy that can cause severe anaphylaxis, nor do I want to see children isolated for something for which they have no control. 

But severe food allergies causing anaphylaxis are not prevalent. In a study published in August 2020 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the prevalence of physician-reported food allergies in Canadian children was examined. The study found that overall, 2.53 per cent of children had reported food allergies, with the most common allergies being peanuts (0.8 per cent of children with food allergies), tree nut (0.6 per cent), cow’s milk (0.4 per cent), egg (0.3 per cent), and fruit, finned fish and shellfish were reported to each have a prevalence of 0.2 per cent.

Trew admits to being a vegan, and another reason to explore a new menu was based on this. I am not judging her or anyone else for their dietary choices, but I am surprised that a university that offers programs in both plant and animal agriculture, and has some of the brightest minds in the world working towards making both livestock and crops more sustainable and nutritious, could place such emphasis on one type of diet as being sustainable. 

It makes for a quick and interesting news story for sure, but ‘Canada’s food university’ needs to be mindful of the optics of what it touts as sustainable.

The post Editorial: Sustainability shouldn’t be an optical illusion appeared first on Farmtario.

The closure signals increasing troubles in the plant-based protein sector, where U.S. sales are flattening.

Colorado-based Planterra sold fake meat under the Ozo brand, but JBS will now focus on its plant-based operations in Brazil and Europe, said Nikki Richardson, spokesperson for JBS USA. European and Brazilian operations “continue to gain market share and expand their respective customer bases,” she said.

The sector has come under pressure because meat alternatives do not taste good enough and prices are too high, said Gary Stibel, chief executive of the New England Consulting Group, which works on consumer products. He said JBS made a good decision to shut Planterra.

“Everybody and her sister thinks they can make money in this business and they can’t,” Stibel said. “Eventually it will be a good business for a few players. Today, it is a sinkhole for many folks that are throwing good money after bad, chasing too little demand with way too much supply.”

This summer, Beyond Meat lowered its revenue forecast for the year and announced job cuts as rising inflation hurt efforts to make its pricier plant-based meat more affordable.

Separately, Canadian pork processor Maple Leaf Foods has reduced the size of its plant-based business, Greenleaf Foods, by 25 per cent.

The value of all meat alternatives sold in the U.S. — including fresh and fully cooked products and faux seafood — rose by 1.1 per cent in the year ending Aug. 27 to about $963 million, NielsenIQ said (all figures US$). That compared to growth of 8.1 per cent over the same period in 2021 and 44.8 per cent in that period in 2020.

For fresh meat alternatives, U.S. sales dropped by 6.8 per cent in the year ending Aug. 27 to about $254 million, compared to a year earlier, NielsenIQ said. Sales in the category climbed 28.9 per cent over that same period from 2020 to 2021.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

The post Meatpacker JBS to close U.S. plant-based foods business appeared first on Farmtario.

“Beyond Meat and McDonald’s co-created the plant-based patty which will be available as part of their McPlant platform,” a Beyond Meat spokesperson said in an email.

After McDonald’s announced its McPlant line earlier in the day, shares of plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat fell eight per cent.

Beyond Meat was the front runner for a contract as it had conducted tests of a so-called “P.L.T.” burger at nearly 100 McDonald’s locations in Ontario earlier this year.

McDonald’s reported market-beating profit and revenue for its third quarter on Monday.

“Plant-based products are an ongoing consumer trend. It’s not a matter of if McDonald’s will get into plant-based, it’s a matter of when,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on a call with analysts.

Analysts, rival fast food companies and plant-based protein producers have been closely watching McDonald’s plans as it is one of the few national chains yet to sell plant-based meat burgers on a permanent basis.

While other chains have started offering plant-based meat options, including Restaurant Brands International’s Burger King, White Castle and Dunkin’ Brands, a McDonald’s contract could be the biggest and would put the plant-based meat movement front and centre in mainstream America.

McDonald’s said under its McPlant line, it could offer products including burgers, chicken substitutes and breakfast sandwiches, which it expects to test in some markets in 2021.

— Reporting for Reuters by Uday Sampath in Bangalore and Hilary Russ in New York; writing by Siddharth Cavale.

The post McDonald’s to make its own ‘McPlant’ items appeared first on Farmtario.