Leading plant-based meat company v2food has launched its first line of plant-based chicken products. The release of crumbed tenders, nuggets and schnitzel is the third animal protein alternative developed by v2food.
Australians love chicken. We are the fifth largest consumer of chicken globally, and we eat about 45 kilos of the bird per person per year. That is almost half our annual animal protein intake. If that is hard to visualise, it is about 2,250 chicken nuggets each.
For v2food founder and CEO Nick Hazell, this new offering is the latest step towards the company’s goal to develop a global sustainable food system.
“Recent data tells us that 63 per cent of Aussies are now open to buying plant-based meat as long as it tastes good.
“In order to make a real difference to our planet, we need to create delicious, sustainable alternatives of the foods we love to make the switch easy and tasty for meat-lovers. We are thrilled to unveil our delicious plant-based chicken products for everyone to enjoy,” Hazell said.
While developing the plant-based alternative, Hazell told Food & Drink Business it wasn’t an initial priority for the company.
“Our driving ambition is sustainability. We have one planet, and when you extrapolate what is going to happen over the next twenty years, it is impossible to ignore the fact we are going to run out of land to feed the population the way we do now.
“So, our initial focus was on what was having the biggest impact and that was beef, followed by pork,” Hazell explained.
Since its launch in 2019, v2food has developed plant-based beef alternatives with v2mince, v2burger, v2sausage. In November, it announced its commitment to developing culturally relevant plant-based protein foods, launching a pork alternative and its planned expansion into China.
Ongoing impacts and lockdowns due to Covid in China as well as the current global geopolitical landscape are presenting their own challenges for v2foods, but growth in Korea and Japan is accelerating and work ongoing into the China market, Hazell said.
In China, rising incomes have seen meat consumption increase significantly. The Chinese now consume 28 per cent of the world’s meat, including half of all pork, with the average Chinese person now eating 63kg of meat a year.
“We cannot forget developing markets when we’re looking to global markets, so there is an urgency in developing plant-based alternatives. For every extra dollar earned in a developing market, it will be spent on meat. There needs to be alternatives that have price parity or are cheaper, tastier, and more nutritious if we’re going to head off this crisis,” he said.
While a chicken product wasn’t at the top of the list, it did take longer to develop than the beef alternatives.
“We developed the flavours for chicken at the same time as the pork products, but then you have to look at what the consumer wants. It became clear it had to be a breaded product like nuggets and schnitzel.
“Then we had to develop the crumbing technology, so that added time to the process as well. We are a science led organisation, everything we do comes from a base of science and research,” Hazell said.
V2nuggets, v2schnitzel and v2tenders are Australian made from soy, with no artificial colours or flavours, non-gmo and with the benefits of protein, fibre and iron. Traditional Southern style v2tenders have a crispy southern herbs and spices coating, while v2schnitzel has a crunchy crumb sprinkled with herbs and cracked pepper.
The v2tenders come in a 6 pack at a suggested retail of AU$8.00, and the v2schnitzel comes in a 2 pack at a suggested retail of AU$8.00. Both products will be available to consumers in early May.
