Practice Abstract 15 - Developments that can influence European supply chains. Project deliverable 5.1. A summary of Chapter 5: Food

Short title (native language): 
Developments that can influence European supply chains. Project deliverable 5.1. A summary of Chapter 5: Food

Short summary for practitioners (native language): 
The food legume market is much smaller for feed, yet consumers’ dietary habits influence the development of legume chains directly by legumes being fed in the production of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products.

The average EU citizen consumes more protein than the daily of 0.83g / kg body weight recommended by the World Health Organization. The consumption of animal protein is too high and considered unsustainable. When taking into account that not all of the animal is consumed the production of 1 kg of animal protein takes 4.3, 11.9 or 25.9kg of plant protein (chicken, pork or beef).

Consumer perception: in recent years, EU consumers seem to be becoming more aware of their food, preferring to consume less animal protein (or meat), replacing it with plant protein. Reasons given for this include – health, overfishing, sustainability, animal welfare and regionalism.

Approaches to promote plant protein consumption: generally the consumption of plant protein sources such as pulses is promoted, indirectly replacing animal protein intake. There is an increased albeit still marginal consumption of meat replacements from plant protein based processed products. Other approaches focus producing plant protein based products (e.g. soya milk) to replace dairy protein. More literal, meat replacements are products such as tofu, made from soya milk, and tempeh, made from fermented soya beans. Pea protein can be used to produce noodles, although not a meat replacement in this application. Presentation takes many forms, ranging from energy/fruit bars and pasta to the more direct meat replacement products such as patties. Meat replacements have the advantage that no or only little changes are required to meal preparations, thus improving acceptance.