16 August 2021 - The demand for meat alternatives is rising globally. The largest suppliers to the industry, US-based Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are garnering attention across the globe for expanding partnerships with big-name brands and celebrities, all while seeing their values skyrocket. However, it is a smaller, less-assuming nation who seems to be at the forefront of the alternative protein revolution: Israel.
Between 2018 and 2020, investments in alternative protein companies in Israel increased eight-fold, from $14 million to $114 million, according to data from Good Food Institute Israel (GFI). Last year, despite the impacts of COVID-19, alternative protein investment grew 174% over the previous year, a greater growth rate than for any other industry investment in the country.
The country has over 100 alternative protein companies, of which 40 are considered startups. Israel has a history of technology innovation, especially in food science, which combined with a range of initiatives to support new businesses have led some to dub it “Startup Nation”. A name has stuck in part due to the area known as Silicon Wadi, which, much like its US namesake Silicon Valley (wadi is valley in Arabic), is an area with a disproportionately high concentration of technology firms that sprang up in the 1960s.
The majority of the 100 plus alternative protein companies in Israel are producing the more common plant-based meat alternatives. However, it is the companies producing cultured meat and proteins derived from fermentation techniques that are really pushing the boundaries of food technology - as they aim to produce real meat without harming animals.
With five dedicated cultured meat producers and 10 focused on fermentation-derived proteins, Israel is second only to the US for the number of companies focused on this niche sector of the alternative protein’s landscape. Not bad for a country with a population of just 9 million people. Even more uniquely, a number of alternative protein businesses are located in Rehovot, a city of just over 100,000 people located 20km south of the capital Tel Aviv.
To get a better understanding surrounding the dynamics of the alternative protein industry in Israel, Feedinfo spoke to a number of associated companies, to get a local perspective on drivers and trends in the Israeli alternative meat landscape.
Strength in Numbers
Aleph Farms, Redefine Meat, SavorEat and Future Meat Technologies are just some of the alternative protein companies who have set up in Rehovot. Eshchar Ben-Shitrit, Redefine Meat’s CEO, told us that Rehovot is like any other technology business ecosystem in that companies are all inspired by one another and naturally align themselves close together.
“SuperMeat and Aleph Farms were the first [Rehovot-based alternative meat companies], and the rest followed suit,” Ben-Shitrit confirmed.
Redefine Meat, which produces 3D printed plant-based meat alternatives, last year set the record for a single series investment in an alternative protein company when they recouped $29 million in one round of financing, on its way to securing $35 million in total funding to date.
Future Meat Technologies, the company behind the world’s first industrial cultured meat facility opened in June this year, expects the facility to produce 500kg of cultured meat products a day once at full capacity.
Aleph Farms, which in July received funding from meat-producing giant BRF, produces 3D-printed cultured meat and has raised $118 million in funding since it was founded in 2018. Marketing comms manager at Aleph, Yoav Reisler, told us that “Israel has a long history of innovation in general, focused on food in particular.” Adding that Kosher food producer Tivall coined the phrase ‘alternative meat’ long before it was internationally recognized.
Collaboration
As is the case across other businesses, collaboration with partners, research agencies, academia, government institutions and non-profit organisations is a big factor in the functionality of Israel’s alternative protein companies.
For example, Aleph Farms “was founded and nurtured by The Kitchen Hub, an incubator owned by the Strauss Group and the Israel Innovation Authority, in collaboration with the Biomedical Engineering faculty of the Technion,” Yoav Reisler said.
Analogues of these businesses and partners do not exist in every nation.
The Kitchen Hub is one of two technology incubators (Fresh Start is the other) setup by the Israeli government to support equity financing, business mentoring and more for food tech startups. The Israel Innovation Authority is responsible for “fostering the development of industrial R&D within the State of Israel”, and helps businesses continue to grow. Technion or the Israel Institute of Technology, located 100km north of Rehovot, is one of the world’s top ten science and technology research universities and regularly collaborates with industry players.
Additionally, Israel spends 4.3% of its GDP on research and development – the most of any country – according to the World Economic Forum.
Government Policy & Vegan Diets
Israel has worked hard to make cultured meat a focus of its industry, Yoav Reisler told Feedinfo, “last year its government announced a national plan that positions alternative proteins as a central economic growth engine and a solution for food security.”
Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even became the first head of state to taste cultivated meat when presented with GFI Israel’s roadmap to make Israel the world leader in alternative proteins. As a result the government invested in two technology incubators in The Kitchen Hub and Fresh Start.
With food security in the Middle East notoriously tight, and most nations reliant on imports to provide meat to their populations - Israel currently only exports 5% of the food it produces - the Israeli government sees the alternative protein industry as the future of meat production, a way for it to supply its population with domestically-reared meat and a path to cementing itself as a worldwide supplier of raw ingredients and technology in a booming industry.
Additionally, Israel is home to the world’s largest per capita population of vegans, at around 5% of the population, as well as even more vegetarians, so there is already a strong domestic market for meat alternatives. Last year alone, plant-based product sales grew 13 times faster than sales of animal-based products, with plant-based minced meat sales growing 58% and plant-based milk now accounting for 13% of all milk sales, data from GFI showed.
In addition to a burgeoning vegan/vegetarian population the history of Kosher food laws in Israel makes it a natural location to develop meat alternatives. Despite most cultured and fermentation-derived meats still awaiting Kosher classification, in what is proving a complex issue, the nation’s strict Kosher laws implemented in most restaurants and hotels make “non-meat” options increasingly popular.
“Generally animal welfare is held in high regard by the Jewish tradition,” Aleph Farms’ Reisler added, making Israel the ideal place to lead the alternative meat revolution.
