Cargill To Compete With Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods With New 'Fake Meat' Products

Farming giant Cargill Inc. is entering the race to capture the plant-based meat market.

What Happened

The Minnesota-based company on Monday said that it would begin offering "fake meat" products in April, Reuters reported.

Los Angeles-based Beyond Meat Inc. BYND and privately-held Redwood City-based startup Impossible Foods dominate the market for meat alternatives in the United States.

"We believe we're uniquely positioned to be very effective and efficient in the supply chain," managing director of Cargill's alternative protein team Elizabeth Gutschenritter said, according to Reuters.

Beyond Meat uses pea-based protein and Impossible Foods uses soy-based one, but the 155-year old company believes it can compete in both.

"We are offering a portfolio that will encompass both pea and soy formulations," Gutschenritter said.

The U.S.'s largest privately-held company in terms of revenue relies primarily on trade of animal meat for its business, and has often courted controversies for damaging the environment, especially in terms of deforestation.

Cargill told Reuters that it has invested $7 billion in animal protein in the last five years, and its investment in plant-based protein is only a small fraction of its budget.

Price Action

Beyond Meat's shares closed 2.6% lower at $117.45 on Friday, and were mostly unchanged in the after-hours trading.

Cargill and Impossible Foods are both privately held companies.