Where's the Beef? Not in These Facilities

lternative proteins are a booming sector of the food and beverage industry with new facilities coming online to keep pace with demand. The sector includes insect-, plant- and microbe-based proteins designed to replace animal-based proteins. Weight management and immune system health are among the benefits, and clean proteins’ role in future food security initiatives will be significant.

Market research organization Future Market Insights, Inc. says the alternative protein market had a valuation of $76 billion in 2023, which will climb to $423 billion by 2033. In 2022, global human and animal nutrition provider ADM forecast the alternative proteins market would reach $125 billion by 2030. That same year, ADM invested about $300 million to expand its Decatur, Illinois, alternative protein production facility with a new Protein Innovation Center. The site is the home of ADM’s Food Application Center and Animal Nutrition Technology Center.

“The global trends of food security and sustainability are driving structural changes in the food industry, including strong growth in alternative proteins, and we’re investing to ensure ADM remains a leader in this vast and exciting space,” said Leticia Gonçalves, ADM’s president of Global Foods, in a release.

Industrial Production Accelerates
This year, Believer Meats (formerly Future Meat Technologies) is opening a 200,000-sq.-ft. facility in Wilson, North Carolina, that it says “will be the largest cultivated meat production center in the world with the capacity to produce at least 10,000 metric tons of cultivated meat.” The $120 million plant will house custom bioreactors for producing high cell densities and yields. The Wilson site was chosen for its large supply of STEM talent and proximity to biotech and food technology companies.

Ground was broken earlier this year by Düsseldorf, Germany-based GEA on a $20 million technology center for alternative proteins in Janesville, Wisconsin. The facility will pilot microbial, cell-based and plant-based foods.

“A number of new food pioneers in the U.S. are already writing innovation history,” said Dr. Reimar Gutte, senior vice president, Liquid and Fermentation Technologies, leading New Food, when announcing the project. “When it comes to industrial production, the market is still on the starting blocks. GEA’s new food center bridges a gap in the innovation landscape, driving forward the development of complementary proteins through technology.”

“A number of new food pioneers in the U.S. are already writing innovation history. When it comes to industrial production, the market is still on the starting blocks. GEA’s new food center bridges a gap in the innovation landscape, driving forward the development of complementary proteins through technology.”
— Dr. Reimar Gutte, Senior Vice President, Liquid and Fermentation Technologies, New Food for GEA