Track: Undergraduate Student Paper Competition

Abstract

The goal of meat alternatives, specifically plant-based and cultured meat, is to provide an environmentally friendly food source that has the same cost, taste, and nutritional value as real meat. Currently, the main issue for alternative meat sources is the production expenses that contribute to the elevated prices observed by consumers in the market. This paper focuses on maintaining a high-quality product in terms of nutritional value while minimizing the production expenses associated with raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, and storage for a single serving (142 g) of a plant-based beef patty. Raw material constraints were established from a dataset of 20 different plant-based beef patty products currently found on the market. Transportation and storage costs and constraints were based on literature values with a variable market share. Additionally, the maximum amount of allowable greenhouse gas emissions per year was set. Optimal formulations of one plant-based beef patty were determined with a raw material cost of around $3.54 per serving and $0.41 per second in distribution and storage costs. The optimal market size was 0.083% of a total market consumption of 84.6 million kg of meat alternatives consumed annually in 2021.