The Fermented Food Market Could Be Worth Almost $1 Trillion In 10 Years

Meat and dairy farms could soon be a thing of the past. According to a new study by Future Markets Insights, customers are becoming increasingly concerned with animal cruelty and the negative impacts these factories can have on the environment (via PR Newswire). The company projects that the global fermented food and beverages market will grow by 5.6% between now and 2032, which would mean that the market would be valued at a staggering $982 billion. But what exactly constitutes fermented food?

These types of foods have gone through controlled microbial growth and fermentation, per the Heart Foundation. This process involves "microorganisms like yeast and bacteria break[ing] down food components into other products." Popular items that you're probably familiar with that are fermented include sauerkraut, kimchi, and different types of beer. However, companies like The EVERY Company and Perfect Day have used this process to create foods that taste like meat and dairy but aren't made from animals.

"Combining modern technology with different fermentation techniques is enabling biotech companies to generate animal protein products without any direct presence of animals in those products," said a Future Market Insights analyst. "This is challenging industrial egg, meat, and dairy industries, and will eventually bode well for the fermented foods and beverages industry" (via PR Newswire).

Even chefs that have almost exclusively cooked with meat have taken notice of this trend. Francis Mallmann, who is world-renowned for his incredible open-flame beef and chicken entrees, is also changing his ways. He told Mashed in an exclusive interview that many of his younger fans were asking him to create plant-based recipes.

"Over the last eight years, I've been getting messages, very elegant, polite, and well-mannered messages on Instagram with young people saying to me, 'Chef, we love your work, but we don't eat meat or fish,'" he said. "After years of that and seeing that all the kids who wrote to me were between 16 and 20, I thought I owe them something."

Mallmann said this not only inspired him to create a vegetarian cookbook, but he also decided to partner with GOOD Meat. The company uses cutting-edge technology to make meat that is created through animal cells and not actual livestock.

"It's important what they're doing because it's a healthy path to something new," the chef explained. "Somebody has to start to think about these things and to do food in another way, instead of having thousands and thousands of acres of crops," he said. "We like it, but the world is getting bigger and we are destroying it."