A lab to table future, "I guess we’ll have to go a little vegan, right?” and more morsels

Welcome to Livin' on the Veg, a weekly newsletter that highlights updates from the world of plant-based food (Relax — it’ll be fun!) If you like what you’re reading, make sure to subscribe using the button above. Would love to hear your feedback in the comments below.

Talking Point [?]

"Grocery store sales of fresh alternative-meat products rose by 264% in the nine weeks ending May 2, a $25.7 million increase and faster than they were growing in February before the crisis hit the U.S., Nielsen data shows. Fresh meat sales rose 45%, or by $3.8 billion, over that period."

— Jacob Bunge and Heather Haddon for the Wall Street Journal

The opportunity for alt meat given COVID-19 disruptions for the animal kind seems pretty evident. But it's far from a sure thing. This could just be a flexi-curious phase for some who'll revert to old habits when things normalize. One way the cultured meat industry can ensure it is more resistant to the strains vexing Big Meat is to go small, Chase Purdy reports for Quartz — that is, don't build massive, centralized hubs which spoke out but labs near the last mile.

"Just one meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is responsible for 5% of US pork production," Purdy shares. Meat plants will need fewer workers and basically no machinery and "[b]ecause of that flexibility, it may be possible for many smaller plants to exist around the country, near high-demand nexuses like cities."

The phrase "Lab to table" isn't new. This 2018 Wired article by Zara Stone addressed the science, scalability and cost of alt meat. But we're beyond that — Beyond and Impossible and others are already solving this. The Phase II challenge was appealing to non-veg consumers. Phase III will be reliable mass distribution.

And that's where small becomes a very big idea.

Just how broken is the beef supply chain? To figure out how to allocate subsidies under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association commissioned a study to project losses. "As of April 2020, the total beef cattle industry impact of COVID-19 experienced an estimated loss of $13.6 billion," Audrey Enjoli reports for LiveKindly

Yes, demand is down because the food service industry has collapsed but the industry has been hampered by production interruptions from lockdown regulations which have required workers to stay home (and despite an executive order declaring the industry essential), as well as the reluctance of some to return to workplaces they feel aren't safe yet.

Any questions? [?]

“Unlike other supply chain issues, this has nothing to do with anyone overseas. This has to do with how many people can you make work inside one of these processing plants — they’re all very close to each other and there’s a public health risk. So there’s been disruptions there. I know people are working hard to get that resolved. In the meantime, I guess we’ll have to go a little vegan, right?”

— US Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla), riffing on Fox & Friends 

Ready for takeoff: Rebellyous Foods, which only last month got a $6 million cash infusion in the midst of a pandemic-induced food service crisis, is launching its alt chicken nuggets in retail as early as next week, vegconomist reports.

The plant-based startup, founded by former Boeing engineer Christie Lagally, is keeping it close to home, supplying a few Seattle stores. But the launch comes at a time when alt meat is gaining acceptance and — as reported a few weeks ago — this particular entrepreneur has five manufacturing patents and used the recent investment to develop "replicable, novel equipment and standardized facilities" and to "fast-track ... manufacturing scaleup."

So, today Seattle, tomorrow — the world?

I hope whatever you eat you're taking care of yourself, your families, and each other. Food is a wonderful way to be happy, and to socialize. So break bread with loved ones and be extra kind and generous to the folks delivering your takeout.