NEWS//Will China eat fake U.S. meat?

Recently, promotions for non-meat burgers have lured Americans into fast-food restaurants.

China’s meatless market

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Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and other meat-alternative companies are betting big that vegetable-based meat-substitutes will find their way onto American plates. But those companies have their eye on a much larger market than the U.S. could provide. They are vying for, even a small, share of China's 1.4 billion hungry citizens. China accounts for 27% of the world's consumption of meat.

China has a longstanding tradition of eating animal-free foods. “Mock meat” dates to the Chinese Buddhists (618-907). Soybean-based tofu dates back almost as far. According to Ipsos, a poll conducted in the fall of 2018, showed that 73% of people in China were willing to animal-free products.

Will China eat animal-free products?

But will the Chinese palate find American non-meat products tasty?

Bloomberg reports that breaking into the Chinese non-meat market may be hard. "While American restaurants haven’t always been able to keep the meat-substitutes in stock, thanks to their skyrocketing demand, Asian consumers have been less excited." In addition, companies that produce vegetable-based meat-products must convince the Chinese government that their offerings are safe to consume.

Sources: Bloomberg, MSM, New York Times, Yahoo Finance, Business Times.