Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-11-25)

◼ BUSINESS Bloomberg Businessweek November 25, 2019

16

● China,theworld’sbiggestproducerofcigarettesandsmokers,

is rapidlycrackingdownonthetech-drivenalternative

Vaping’s Problems

Shift East

Fore-cigarettestartupssteadilybeingfrozenoutby

regulatorsaroundtheglobe,Chinaseemedlikean

easywin.Butnowtheworld’sbiggesttobaccomar-

ketis joiningthepushbackagainstvaping,leaving

companiesscrambling.Fearfulofitsimpactonteen-

agers,Chinahasshifteditsstanceonvapingfrom

benignindifferencetocrackdownmodewithina

matterofweeks.Thecountrybannedonlinesales

onNov.1, andauthoritiesareconsideringforbidding

vapinginallpublicvenues,a curbnotevenimposed

ontraditionalcigarettes.That’sa particularlyrapid

regulatoryturn,consideringthegovernmentonly

bannedvapingforthoseunder 18 inAugust2018.

Beijingjoinsa growingglobalchorus,fromIndia

totheU.S.toBrazil,movingagainste-cigarettes.

Onceseenasa usefultooltohelpsmokersquit,

vapingis nowlinkedtoa mysteriouslungdisease

that’ssickened1,888peopleandkilled37.That

meanscompaniesthatbetonvapingbecoming

THEBOTTOMLINE A realisticsteakis theultimatetestforthe

faux-meatindustry,whichBarclaysestimateswillgrowintoa

$140billionbusinessin 2029.

inalternativeproteinbusinesses.“Whenwill

filletcomeabout?Whenwillsirloincomeabout?

Consumerswillwanttohavea choice.”

Engineeringa realistictextureis crucial.It goes

beyondflavorandaffectsattributeslikemouth-

feel,chewiness,andthesensationofmultiple

tastesina singlebite.Thatmeansengineersface

thedifficulttaskofpreciselyre-creatinglayersof

thinmusclefibersandfat.

Cultured-meatcompanies,whichalreadyare

growingchicken,beef,andduckfromextracted

animal cells, havealso struggled to perfect

realistictexture,sincedoingsorequiresmultiple

kindsofcellsthatinteractwitheachotherwithin

ascaffoldingthatcanorganizeitallcorrectly.

“Youneedtocreateatthesametimethetaste,

thetexture,andappearanceofthefibrousmeat,

thewholemuscletissue,”saysScionti,whose

companyis backedbyNewCropCapital.

The two companies say they will supply

customers,includingrestaurants,meatdistributors,

andretailers,withboththeprintersandcartridges.

Forthe3D-printedsteakprototypeSciontifirst

unveiledattheMobileWorldCongressinBarcelona

lastFebruary,theingredientsincludedrice,peas,

andseaweed.Theresultingsteak’sappearancewas

underwhelming—itlookedmorelikea pancakethan

a sirloin.Sciontisaysthefocuswasontexture;he’s

nowperfectingthelookandwillnextfocusonflavor.

A revampedversion,hesays,is slatedtobeavailable

by2021.Hehopestobuilda giganticsteak-producing

machinereadyforindustrialusein2022.

RedefineMeat,whichplanstointroduceits

plant-basedsteakstothepublicinthefirstquarter

of2020,is particularlyfocusedonfat.Ben-Shitrit

saysthefuturesuccessofimitationmeatdepends

ongettingthatpieceofit justright.“Fatis flavor,

fatis texture,”hesays.“Youneedtohavethisplay

betweenthemusclefibersandthejellykindof

consistencycomingfromthefat.”Listeningtohim

waxpoeticaboutanimalcollagenandfattyacids,

it wouldbeeasytoforgetthemanis a vegetarian.

InSeptember,RedefineMeatsecured$6mil-

lioninfundingfromfirmsincludingbigGerman

chickenproducerPHWGroupandCPTCapital,a

venturefundownedbyprivateequityveteranand

sustainability-mindedinvestorJeremyColler.“The

everlastingquestionis:Canyouscaleit up?”says

ArnoldBos,a seniorconsultantatLuxResearch

Inc.,a technologyresearcher.“Ifyouneedtoprint

more,youneedmoreprinters.”

Foodcompaniesmightgetaroundthathurdle

byusingfasterprinters,butthat’strickysince

extrusion-based printers, typically used for food,

could be limited by the speed of their nozzles, Bos

says. Redefine Meat’s printer, the current fake-steak

speed king, can deliver five 7-ounce steaks in an

hour. The company hopes to speed that up to 22

pounds by the end of 2020, when the technology is

set to go on sale. That will mean 50 servings an hour,

or the equivalent of a cow’s worth of steak a day.

Because Novameat’s plant ingredients are rel-

atively cheap, Scionti says he’s sure that in a few

years his steak will be cheaper than the real thing.

Printing a 7-ounce steak on his company’s proto-

type printer costs $4 now, but Scionti expects it

to come down to about $2 by the end of next year,

using a $15,000 full-production machine. “Plant

protein is more efficient to produce than animal

protein,” Scionti says. “In the next few years we are

sure that we can be competitive and even cheaper

than normal meat.” �Agnieszka de Sousa, with

Deena Shanker and Lydia Mulvany