What’s the beef? Divided opinions on plant-based wagyu among Japan’s food industry
Canadian food manufacturer Top Tier Foods’ announcement that it had successfully created a plant-based wagyu divided opinion among the food industry in Japan, ranging from interest to outrage.
According to Top Tier Foods President Blair Bullus, the plant-based wagyu is estimated to make its Japan launch by the end of 2020, and the firm will be banking on the use of localised ingredients and production to market this to the local crowd.
“The plant-based wagyu is made from soy, an ingredient that is used a lot in Japan, and we’ve also partnered with local Japanese producers to manufacture at scale locally,” Bullus told FoodNavgator-Asia.
“So the idea is that keeping everything in Japan will appeal to the local crowd, as the flavour will be more authentic due to the use of Japanese ingredients such as soy sauce, sesame, ginger, garlic and of course, the soy base and all processed using traditional Japanese cooking techniques. It’s all very clean label too.”
