Casey Laughman, Food Engineering (CL): We call this all "plant-based protein" or "alternative protein" or whatever, but it's not always the same plant. It might be soy-based, it might be pea-based, chickpea-based, it might be mushroom-based, so there really is that potential there for consumers to just kind of throw up their hands and say, "Hey, you know what? I know what's in this chicken package." So how is that making it a little bit harder for some of these companies to find their place in the market?

Amy Shipley, SRG (AS): I think it could be very confusing. And also, pea protein, there was a problem for a while. There was a shortage in terms of supply. And some consumers can really taste the pea protein. I know I can in certain products, depending on how much is used. You know, I think the advancement of using mushrooms, I mean, we've seen mushroom tea and a lot of different machine products, and we've certainly learned about the great benefits of using mushrooms.

It's gotten a little bit easier for consumers to understand, but I still think it's very confusing. It's how exactly are you using these products, and how exactly are they being treated? And it comes down to that notion that you spoke about a moment ago about, like, precision biology, which is kind of all the buzzword that everyone is using right now, and precision fermentation. And it's like, "what exactly is that?"

CL: One of the questions about alternative protein is traditional protein being from an animal, while alternative proteins can be created in a lab setting. I do understand how people can say, OK, well, this was grown on a farm or whatever, as opposed to this was created in a lab, but kind of at that fundamental cellular level, it's like there's not really a difference here.

AS: Exactly. And I just think it's going to take time. Like anything, it's going to take time. I mean, again, the messaging, the positioning, the transparency, all of that is going to be really, really important. And it wasn't as important when we launched Impossible, and Beyond came on the market. It was so revolutionary and so exciting, and there was great messaging then, but those two really broke the glass ceiling for a lot of these companies that are coming on the market today, and I think that's great. And I think that there's a lot of room for continued advancements in science and technology that are going to help solve some of these food crises, but price is a major issue. Affordability is paramount in all of this. That's the long game.

CL: Right. I mean, we see it every time. Price ultimately is king. So, you've touched on a couple of different aspects of where you kind of see this market going, but is there one thing in particular that you see as the next evolution? Or is it kind of a combination of these things we've talked about, where it's the messaging, getting the costs down, and things like that? What's the next big leap forward for this industry?

AS: I think it's around that kind of concept of precision biology and those advancements there. I think that's really important, and I think that's what's really going to happen, because it's just giving a lot of companies a lot of freedom to experiment with different ways to produce these products, and to get them precisely the way they want them to taste. //