Speaker Spotlights
'Meat is not the enemy': Why the plant-based sector might not be the future of protein – Growth Asia Summit
Nathan Cheong, CEO at Melrose Health, will take the stage to challenge the notion that ‘meat is the enemy’ at the three day event, which will take place at the iconic Marina Bay Sands venue in Singapore from 11-13 October.
It will feature extensive expert insights from a raft of big-name brands, leading academics, policy experts, and the most innovative suppliers, all focusing on the region with biggest growth potential for food, beverage, supplements, functional products and nutrition – Asia.
The 2022 face-to-face summit will feature:
- Day one dedicated to Healthy Ageing, incorporating our long-standing Healthy Ageing APAC Summit, in a region where 1.3bn people will be over the age of 60 by 2050.
- Day two will be dedicated to Probiotics, Prebiotics and the Microbiome, incorporating our established Probiota Asia summit, as we connect the worlds of business and science in these fascinating, and booming, categories.
- And day three will be dedicated to Protein, incorporating our Protein Vision event, as we shine the spotlight on one of the fastest-growing categories, plant-based protein, as well as detailing the latest innovation in the emerging cultivated product space, and of course the traditional meat, dairy and seafood sectors.
Today we can reveal that Nathan will deliver a keynote talk titled ‘Meat is not the enemy: How a sustainable food system can exist with animals’.
His synopsis states: “Meat has recently come under intense fire and has been branded as the reason why our health is failing and limiting our lifespan, contributing to greenhouse gases and to the warming of our climate and is also seen as highly unethical. This talk will argue that these statements, while highly emotional, don’t stand up to critical thinking. They are typically espoused by companies and movements with a vested interest in pushing the plant-based paradigm and virtue signalling of a ‘clean’ lifestyle with uncapped health benefits.
“This presentation will demonstrate that while there are indeed problems with the intense factory farming practices of animals, meat is the most nutrient dense health promoting food that we have on the planet.”
Key takeaways will include:
• Meat can be farmed in an ethical, sustainable, and regenerative way that promotes biodiversity in our environment
• It can also have significant and beneficial impacts within our microbiome
• Are the new ‘Frankenstein’ plant-based meat alternatives actually health promoting and good for the environment?
Nathan is a qualified Naturopath and Medical Herbalist, with degrees in Science and Social Work from the University of Sydney, and with over 20 years’ experience within the Complementary Medicine industry.
His career spans several organisations in the international field including Herbs of Gold, Blackmores BioCeuticals, Designs for Health, Life Space and he is now CEO of the Melrose Group. Nathan has been instrumental in numerous transformative projects across the industry and steered each of these companies to become truly global leaders in their categories. Nathan has a deep interest and understanding of regenerative and sustainable agriculture and is committed to promoting the benefits of both a Paleo and Keto lifestyle. With particular interest in human metabolic flexibility.
The full list of confirmed speakers is:
- Gerben Kamps, Head of Global Business Development of Seafood Alternatives, Thai Union Group
- Mimi Kumar, Director Product Development, International, Blackmores
- Dr. Zhanyou Yun, Assistant President, Yili
- Laurent Stévenart, Singapore and UAE Country Manager, Impossible Foods
- Dr Sunny Wong, Associate Professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University Singapore
- Angela Brady, External Innovation & Partnering Director, and Regina Karim, MD, Senior Global Science Communication and Claims Manager, H&H Group (parent company of Biostime and Swisse)
- Dr Daisuke Fujiwara, General Manager, Health Science Department, Kirin Holdings
- Dr Shao Quan Liu, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore (NUS), Food Science and Technology
- Aaron Yeo, Director of Operations, GOOD Meat
- Dr Shan May Yong, Principal Scientist, Bioefficacy and Bioactive Discovery, Brands Suntory
- Professor Brian Kennedy, Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore
- Alicia Ng, Vice President and Head of R&D for Wider Asia, GSK Consumer Healthcare
- Jesse Gu, Head of Sales and Marketing, BYHEALTH International
- Carrie Chan, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Avant
- Evan Hayes, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Factors Group
- Dr Saishreyas Sundarajoo, Head of Clinical Affairs, AMiLi
- Nathan Cheong, CEO, Melrose Health
- Dr Roberto Grau, Professor of Microbiology and Head of the Molecular Biology Laboratory, Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR) and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (CONICET), Argentina
- Sanghyun Lim, Principal Researcher, Cell Biotech
- Tony Hunter, Global Strategic Foresight Consultant, Food Scientist and Speaker, Food Futurist
- Dr Dai Chen, Research Fellow, National University of Singapore (NUS) and CTO Probicient
We will also be hosting a condensed digital event, consisting of three 90-minute broadcasts on the same topics the following week, from 18-20 October.
Throughout both events, FoodNavigator-Asia.com and NutraIngredients-Asia.com will help you understand how the industry can best navigate the region’s highly diverse consumer, regulatory, cultural and economic landscape in order to reap the substantial rewards on offer.
Gary Scattergood, Editor-in-Chief of both titles and Regional Head: APAC at publisher William Reed’s Global Brands division, said: “We are delighted to be able to return to live events here in Singapore, home to our regional HQ, and are thrilled with the stellar line-up of industry experts who will be sharing their insights.
“We can’t wait to welcome everyone to our summit as we showcase the huge potential for growth across the Healthy Ageing, Probiotics, Prebiotics and the Microbiome, and Protein sectors here in Asia.”
Register as a delegate today.
We also have extensive sponsorship opportunities for innovative brands to partner with us to showcase their solutions across the Healthy Ageing category, Probiotics, Prebiotics and Microbiome space, and the Protein sectors. For more information, contact Sueann.peh@wrbm.com
