Want to enjoy the taste of meat but don't want to hurt animals – Try plant-based meat!
Photo - rawpixel.com via freepik

Want to enjoy the taste of meat but don't want to hurt animals – Try plant-based meat!

The plant-based meat industry witnesses significant innovation

Indian Food landscape has seen a paradigm shift in plant-based meat options. Firms in India today are working with foreign players to establish market superiority in the plant-based meat category. It is not only the meat businesses experimenting in the market; many new manufacturers are venturing and establishing prominence in the category. Here is the list of players active in the Indian plant-based meat market:

Licious - Keeping up with the high demand for plant-based meat, India's giant D2C Unicorn Licious recently launched UnCrave with a vision to create an indistinguishable plant-based equivalent to every meat dish in the world. The offering includes vegetarian chicken and mutton seekh kebabs that are rich in protein and free of all artificial preservatives and trans-fat. As India's favorite meat brand, Licious wants its consumers to never have to crave for meat. Many meat lovers do not consume meat as often as they would like to due to various reasons, but with UnCrave, which is all vegetarian but tastes just like meat, there will be no more meat cravings.

Photo - Uncrave

ITC - ITC's food business has recently entered the plant-based meat market. Their offering includes plant-based burger patties and nuggets providing chicken taste to consumers through retail, eCommerce, and foodservice establishments in the country's top 8 cities. ITC was advised by expert non-profit Good Food Institute India (GFI India) on product and positioning strategy. This massive development stands to bring delicious, sustainable protein to people across the country - and the world - without harming the planet.

Photo - GFI/ITC

Tata Simply Better - Setting its foot in the alternative meat business, Tata Consumer products has introduced Tata Simply Better to maintain the trust Indian customer places in the Tata brand. According to the brand, these plant-based products are cholesterol and trans-fat-free with no added preservatives. Ther products retains the fabulous chicken-like taste, texture, crunch, and juiciness of the chicken, from traditional Awadhi Seekh Kebabs to popular options like plant-based chicken nuggets, and plant-based chicken burger patties. The offerings include a mix of dishes designed for both the Indian palate and for consumers wanting to snack like their global counterparts.

Photo - Tata Simply Better

Only Earth - A plant-based beverage company prioritizes preserving our planet with its plant-based milk offering. The company believes in tackling climate change by cutting back on dairy consumption by switching to its variety of Almond, Oat, and Coconut milk. Only Earth has envisioned itself as a stimulus in making India a healthier country by building awareness of the benefits of adopting a plant-based diet.

Photo - Only Earth

Blue Tribe Foods - Blue Tribe Foods is on a mission to revolutionize how India eats its meat with a team dedicated to making the world a better place through constant research and innovation in Food Science. It provides plant-based meat products that are as natural and delicious as animal meat while positively impacting the environment and the planet. Products like plant-based frozen minced chicken and chicken nuggets taste, look, feel, and cook like meat!

Photo - Blue Tribe Foods

Whitecub - Started in 2013, WhiteCub is India's pioneering dairy-free foods brand. Its products, such as ice cream and vegan butter, have been specifically created to fill in specific crucial gaps. Its ice creams come in over 20 different flavors, and the butter is developed without a single drop of any dairy product, is completely plant-based with vitamins B12 and D.

Photo - WhiteClub

Shakka Harry - Bengaluru-based Shaka Harry offers lip-smacking plant-based meaty treats to its consumers. A wide range of products includes plant-based breakfast essentials like chicken stuffed paratha, mutton keema, and mutton stuffed paratha, everyday meal options like chicken burger patties, and celebration food items like chicken fries, chicken hot and spicy nuggets, chicken momos, chicken nuggets, mutton samosa to suit all palates.

Photo- Shaka Harry

Wakao Foods - Wakao Foods is a Goa-based sustainable Start-up that brings plant-based, ethically sourced 'Ready to Cook' and 'Ready to Eat' products to the market. The first offering from Wakao is the native jackfruit meat. Inspired by rising trends of veganism worldwide and in India, Wakao brings a new and disruptive approach with a sustainable focus. Launched in 2020, just before the pandemic hit Indian shores, Wakao has shown a 25% month-on-month growth since its inception. The Ready to Eat varieties include the Teriyaki Jack, which is perfectly paired with a slider or as a Frankie to enhance its flavors, the BBQ Jack, which makes for a mouth-watering filling for wraps and the Butter Jack, which is the go-to choice to whip up a quick meal along with a side of some steaming rice.

Photo - Wakao Foods

Vezlay Foods -New Delhi-based Vezlay Foods manufactures Soy products that rely on innovation to offer a huge portfolio of plant-based mock meats. Vezlay Foods is a plant-based meat brand that offers a range of vegetarian meats such as chicken, mutton, and fish. Vezlay Foods products are made from soy and wheat protein and are available in frozen and ready-to-eat formats.

Photo - Vezlay Foods

Katharos Foods - Katharos Foods is a high-quality vegan cheese manufacturing company that plays a crucial role in catering to health and fitness enthusiasts. As a transitioning vegan, Jasmine Bharucha, founder and chief executive officer of Katharos foods, noticed a scarcity of high-quality, inexpensive vegan cheese in the market. This seeded the idea of Katharos in her mind. The brand offers plant-based dairy replacements to customers that seek a healthy vegan diet. The brand also claims that its products are free of emulsifiers, stabilizers, preservatives, or additives and are even low in saturated fats.

Photo - Katharos Foods

Nestle - While battling malnutrition and poverty in the country at a large scale, nestle shifted its focus on developing affordable foods and beverages. Nestlé has developed a powdered shelf-stable plant-based protein blend to complement egg dishes in Latin America under their Garden Gourmet brand. The plant-based alternatives to eggs offer consumers a nutritious, tasty alternative to conventional eggs. These products have been focused on incorporating nutritious plant proteins to help people achieve adequate and balanced diets.

Plant-based alternatives to egg and shrimp now on menu at Nestlé
Plant-based alternatives to egg and shrimp now on menu at NestléPhoto - Nestlé

Veggie Champ - A plant-based gourmet meat brand owned by Ahimsa Foods, claims to be the country's first company to go into "Mock Meat" production. Their menu offers various Lacto vegetarian and vegan products in more than 35 options, with new additions every month. They present alternatives to fish, mutton, chicken, salami, and kebabs for vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Although their frozen gourmet offerings are not ready to eat, someone with less or no cooking skills can also make them easily.

Photo - Veggie Cham

Beyond Meat - Beyond meat is a market leader in the United States for plant-based proteins, offering unrivaled taste and quality, which is a challenging differentiator for many traditional meat eaters. The offering includes delicious Beyond Burger, Beyond Sausage, Beyond Meatballs, and Beyond Mince, made of plant-based ingredients and designed to deliver the same taste and texture as animal-based meat, making it better for the planet and its people. Beyond Meat claims its products contain no GMO, gluten, soy, or cholesterol. Allana Consumer Products has allied with Beyond Meat on a pan-India basis to distribute its offerings in the Indian market.

Photo - Beyond Meat

According to Victoria Yeung, project architect and co-author of the report providing a comprehensive market analysis & IP landscape of meat, dairy, and egg alternatives, PreScouter states that plant-based protein is not only staying in the market but is expected to expand rapidly in the next few years.

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