The plant-based food product market is growing at a significantly fast rate, with not only the value of investments into this sector increasing, but also the types of products. Today, plant-based beef, chicken and pork meats are commonly found in the market, but US-based Eat Just is bringing plant-based eggs to the public.
Josh Tetrick, CEO and co-founder of Eat Just, wants to build a food system where everyone eats well. And with the company’s Just Egg plant-based egg product, Tetrick might have just cracked the problem of creating a sustainable and safe food for consumers.
With the global population seen heading to 9.7 billion by 2050, there is a growing concern over the sustainability of resources. Alternative food such as these are meant to help reduce the strain on global resources.
“Protein does not necessarily have to come from an animal. It can come from a plant,” Tetrick tells The Edge Singapore. “And when you make that decision that the world’s most consumed animal protein doesn’t need to come from an animal, you are also making the decision and the choice, that it could be a lot healthier, sustainable, affordable, and tastier. And Eat Just is built around those ideas.”
In the US, Just Egg is available at major retailers and is also sold to restaurants and other food service destinations through a partnership with Michael Foods, a subsidiary of Post Holdings and one of the largest processors of value-added eggs in the world. To date, Eat Just has sold the plant-based equivalent of more than 60 million eggs, saving 2.2 billion gallons of water, 8.7 million kg of carbon dioxide and 14 million sq m of land.
Just as the company thrived in the US, Tetrick believes that it will see a similar traction in Asia, and more specifically Singapore. “You have a growing number of people right now in Singapore who want to feel good about the food they put in their body and food they are feeding to their kids. They also want to feel like it’s not only about them, but something bigger than themselves,” says Tetrick.
“I think there is a pretty significant percentage of folks in Singapore who feel that way about their own lives, and what they eat on a daily basis is one way to reflect who they are, what values they have, how they see themselves as a part of a broader global society that needs all of us to work together. And that is the reason I think alternative proteins are succeeding in Singapore and will continue to thrive,” he adds.
To bring its mung-bean-based egg products into the Asian market, Eat Just has partnered a consortium led by Proterra Investment Partners Asia. Other investors include Founders Fund, Cookson Adventures, Mitsui Corp, and even local sovereign fund Temasek Holdings.
The consortium will invest up to US$100 million ($131 million) and Eat Just will invest up to US$20 million to build and operate in Singapore — and also its first in Asia — its largest plant protein production facility.
“This partnership will further accelerate our path to become one of the world’s largest producers of eggs in the next decade. Proterra’s experience across sourcing and manufacturing will be invaluable. Consumer demand, driven by health, food security and food safety, is creating an environment of extraordinary opportunity for this unique partnership,” says Tetrick.
In expanding its presence in Asia, this is not the only partnership that Eat Just has entered into.
In December 2020, Eat Just entered into a partnership with 1880, a private members’ club, to debut a restaurant that would serve cultured meat. The Good Meat Cultured Chicken restaurant located in Robertson Quay serves high-quality meat created directly from animal cells for human consumption and has received Singapore’s first-in-the-world regulatory approval for the product.
Tetrick hopes to draw the various parties to head towards a common goal and Singapore, in his view, is a conducive location to work towards that. “Singapore has long been a leader in innovation of all kinds, from information technology to biologics to now leading the world in building a healthier, safer food system. I’m sure that our regulatory approval for cultured meat will be the first of many in Singapore and in countries around the globe,” he says.
