By Danielle Gould | Forbes – 19 hours ago- Getty Images/Peter Marovich - Alexandra Fournier tries a tortilla chip topped with guacamole and crickets (Peter Marovich/MCT via Getty Images)
As global demand for meat increases, it's clear that
future protein production will require incredible innovation. Our global
population is set to reach 9 billion by 2050, and both demand for meat
and meat prices are expected to double concurrently. Given these trends,
researchers project that it will be impossible to fill bellies all over
the world via traditional meat production.
The good news is that scientists and entrepreneurs — backed by
venture capital funds like Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures and Founders
Fund — are now developing more sustainable, healthier and cheaper
protein alternatives. Do crickets, mealworms, or lab-grown burgers sound
appetizing? Maybe not today, but read on to find out how these protein
innovators hope to change your mind and catapult a more sustainable food
supply chain. And check out the video from the Food Startups Future of Protein Meetup below.[More from Forbes: 16 Ways To Hack The Future Of Meat]
LAB-GROWN BEEF
REUTERS/David ParryCultured-beef gained notoriety with the bite heard round the world — the first public tasting of Mark Post's $300,000, Google founder backed,
lab-grown burger in early August. Today, nearly 1/5 of all greenhouse
gases come from industrial livestock production and roughly two thousand
gallons of water go into a single pound of industrial beef. But a
new study from Oxford University found that
lab-grown meat would require just one percent of the land and four
percent of the water of traditional livestock production. Post sees cultured
beef as just one of many "radical transformations of production methods
[that] are required to keep up with global doubling of demand in the
decades to come." But while the first burger has been ketchup smeared
and met with mixed reviews, commercially
produced lab-grown burgers are at least a decade away. Post and his
supporters must now shift the focus towards producing lab-grow meat in a
more efficient and cost-effective way to promote wide-spread
consumption and environmental impact. Check out Post's contribution to our Hacking Meat conversation.TINY FARMS
Photo: Tiny FarmFounded in 2012 to address the global market for entomophagy, Tiny Farms wants you to eat bugs. While they may not be popular in the United States, over 2 billion people worldwide
use insects as a food ingredient. Tiny Farms aims to capitalize on the
United Nations Food and Agricultural Administration stance that insects could be key to
providing enough food for the word's growing population by replacing
traditional meat production with more energy, space and time-efficient
insect production. Still in its larva stage, the company is tackling the
practical (people don't equate creepy crawly with dinner) and
regulatory (food safety) obstacles that insect agriculture will face. In
the future, it will supply the technology, training and expertise to
scale edible bug production. Tiny Farms also hopes to eventually create
retail products, such as mealworm brittle, and infiltrate the supply
chain by providing restaurants with crunchy recipes and bug-based
know-how. 
Photo: Hampton Creek Foods"Where doing good actually tastes good," Hampton Creek Foods
aims to wean the world off of animal-based products by creating
cheaper, healthier and more delicious replacements. Its first product,
Beyond Eggs is a plant-based replacement for eggs to be used in baked
goods (not just on its own). However, its second product is a
plant-based replacement for good old-fashioned scrambled eggs. The
company hopes that by developing "functionally superior" alternatives
that are even cheaper than industrial eggs, it will be able to convince
both corporate food giants and every day consumers to make the switch.
But changing consumer perception will not be easy--would you be willing
to supplement your morning yolk-filled ritual with plant-based
powder? Hampton Creek Foods has raised a total of $4.5 million from
Khosla, Founders Fund, Kat Taylor and the Collaborative Fund to date.[More from Forbes: How NatureBox Raised $10.5 M In 7 Months To Disrupt The Healthy Snack Industry]
EXO
Photo: EXOExo
wants you to trade in your cliff bars for cricket bars. This month, the
company successfully raised over $46,000 on Kickstarter, more than
doubling its pledged amount. With the money they raise, the team hopes
to build a factory that churns out the bug-based bars for the masses.
“Exo will introduce to the West one of the most nutritious and
sustainable protein sources in the world: insects," reads its website. By combining
cricket flour (slow roasted and milled crickets) with other organic
additions like raw cacao, dates, almond butter and coconut, the company
has created a low sugar, gluten, soy and dairy free, nutrient rich bar,
packed with more protein than beef. Riding on the coat tails of the
date-based, General Mills-acquired,
Lara Bar, Exo hopes to convince mainstream consumers to go one step
further and reach for the cricket-laden snack when their next work-out
induced protein craving hits.
This
meal alternative shake is designed to supply a person's daily
nutritional needs and can be customized based on an individual's body
type and personal goals. Initially developed by Rob Reinhart, of
Y-Combinator backed Level RF, as a low-cost personal food hack, Soylent
recently raised $1 million in pre-orders through its Indigogo campaign. Costing
$65 for a week's supply, the shake is made of starch, whey
protein, olive oil, and raw chemicals and contains a plethora of carbs,
amino acids, proteins and vitamins. The product's aim is not to supply
an alternative for every meal, but rather to replace those meals that we
don't really care about. Until now the company has had 50 Beta testers,
but it plans to ship 140,000 orders in September, reports TechCrunch.
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