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Former Tyson Ventures official: Plant-based proteins are not going away

Plant-based protein, also referred to as “fake meat”, continues to generate lively discussion at livestock-related meetings around the country.

One of the speakers at last week’s Cornbelt Cow-Calf Conference in Ottumwa, Iowa was Tom Mastrobuoni. Up until this past December, he was the chief financial officer for Tyson Ventures, where he helped direct Tyson Food’s controversial alternative proteins initiative. 

Mastrobuoni, who now works for a venture fund focused on alternative proteins, tells Brownfield the plant-based meat substitutes are not going away.

“I think we’re past the fad stage—it’s survived that stage. I think we’re in trend,” Mastrobuoni says. “It continues to grow.”

But it’s hard to predict how much plant-based proteins will grow, he says.

“For anyone to tell you, ‘I think plant-based is going to be 12 percent’, or what animal-based is going to be—they don’t know. No one knows what it’s going to be, because demographics keep shifting.”

As for cell-cultured, or lab-produced meat, “there’s a lot of work to go there, both on the cost and on the regulatory side,” Mastrobuoni says. “I just think it’s going to take a lot longer than some of the leading proponents of that growing industry think, to get it on the shelves.”