Chinese plant-based meat start-up takes on Beyond Meat with pork and crayfish products

Zhenmeat’s products are made from plant- and fungus-based proteins, and pea protein is the main ingredient

Its pork tenderloin replacement will sell at Sichuan hotpot restaurant chains and its crayfish product in Chinese and Western restaurants

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Chinese plant-based meat start-up Zhenmeat has created a pork tenderloin product which it is selling in Sichuan hotpot restaurants.

Published: 7:15am, 17 Jun 2020Updated: 11:18am, 17 Jun 2020

After much fanfare, American plant-based meat giant Beyond Meat launched its products in China in April through a partnership with the Starbucks coffee chain, which created three dishes made with Beyond’s beef alternative.

Hong Kong meatless meat firm Green Common’s Omnipork, a plant-based protein that looks and tastes like ground pork, made its first foray into China last year with its establishment on Tmall, the Chinese e-commerce platform of Alibaba (which also owns the South China Morning Post).

Not to be outdone by its overseas competitors, Zhenmeat, the first home-grown plant-based meat start-up to be founded in China, has recently launched two products – “pork” tenderloin and “crayfish” – aimed squarely at the home audience.

Zhenmeat founder Vince Lu Zhongming told the Post the company has struck deals with Sichuan hotpot chains in China to launch the tenderloin.

Zhenmeat has struck deals with Sichuan hotpot restaurant chains to launch its pork tenderloin product in China. Photo: Getty Images

“Sweet potato starch is used to make the skin of the pork pieces. We invented the pork tenderloin after attaining a breakthrough in our substitute protein texture technology. When we launched plant-based ‘meat’ mooncakes last year, our technology could only recreate minced ‘meat’.”