Peter, you are the CEO of Proteinish, a new food producer that develops innovative plant-based products. These will be produced in Sweden using Swedish-grown and Swedish-processed raw materials.
How do you view the speed of the food transition from animal to plant-based proteins, and what could accelerate the pace?

It is a large and complex task to change our eating habits, which will take time. For a few years, the transition had good momentum, but when inflation hit, we reverted to familiar behaviors and habits. We believe this is a temporary dip in the growth of plant-based foods; as we and the rest of the food industry develop new, tasty, and nutritious plant-based products, growth will increase again. However, the transition is complicated and requires a global change in behavior, which will take time. At its core, it is about changing human behaviors that we have developed over many years. It is a communicatively challenging task to create awareness among consumers that we must change our habits if we are to meet climate goals. Since the food system is one of the major culprits in the drama, the system must change, which politicians must also consider. In Sweden, we have the updated food strategy, which we hope will come with both clear goals and good incentives to drive the pace of change.

What major obstacles do you foresee for this transition in the future?
The basis for change is the willingness of consumers to choose plant-based foods instead of animal-based ones, where factors such as taste, mouthfeel, and price are key. These are the factors that we who develop and produce plant-based products must meet to succeed with the transition.
Some plant-based foods are more expensive than animal-based ones due to the subsidies that agriculture receives. If plant-based products do not receive equivalent support, the price will hold back the pace of transition. The meat industry has a position to defend; it is already challenged by reduced consumption, but the industry will defend its position through lobbyists and other influencers to protect its market.

What is your opinion on the food transition from 2030 to 2050?
In the best case, we will have a slightly better balance between plant-based and animal-based by 2030, which will create conditions for more resources for both the development of new technologies and new foods. There are already a number of technologies for producing what are called meat analogs, which are plant-based versions of meat and chicken products. The technologies themselves are old, but using them to produce alternatives to animal foods is new. The majority of plant-based foods on the market today are textured through extrusion, which is complemented by fermented production techniques that will be leading in the 2030s. Most capital is invested in bio-cultivated meat, which many expect to become the market-leading technology, but there are still many obstacles in that technology to overcome. So for many years to come, we believe that both existing technologies will deliver good products, but that completely new ones are also waiting.