Nestlé plant-based patents down 50% as sector innovation slowed

Plant-based meat patent numbers have tumbled year-on-year, though applications have remained up on the last decade – from the high double digits to 382 in 2021 and 220 in 2022 – data from law firm Appleyard Lees shows.

Big industry names with year-on-year plant-based meat patent drops include Nestlé, Fuji Oil, Cargill, DSM and Ibiden Co Ltd. However, Roquette Freres, Pulmuone Co Ltd and Nippon Paper Industries Co Ltd all increased patent applications.

Which plant-based proteins drive growth?

“While some companies have achieved some success in this field, such as Beyond and Impossible, which led to the boom in plant-based burgers in the late 2010s, the last few years have seen a significant downturn in the industry,” the report says.

Although patents were down for the last reporting period of 2022, category leaders and market data showed a sales rise​, especially within key European territories.

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Soy and pea proteins remain category leaders, with the highest number of filings, though tofu and tempeh have shown two years of increased activity.

“Texture and flavour are important aspects of improving plant-based meat,” the report says. “In 2022, these properties were the focus of almost equal numbers of new filings, show them to have a shared emphasis.”

The number of applications for texture-related patents grew stronger than flavour, “which seem to have stalled”, despite research showing taste leads consumer buying decisions.

“It is notable there was still significant funding in the plant-based meats industry in 2022, with over $1bn of investment that year and a similar amount in governmental research funding through 2022 and 2023,” says the report.

The future of plant-based meat

Which companies filed plant-based patents over a five-year period?​

As such, improving plant-based meat’s taste, texture and nutritional value was still a topic of interest for investors and governments, as well as the category’s positive environmental credentials.

Also likely to bolster category growth is a general, global, consumer shift towards high plant-based protein diets, the report predicts.

“In our review of the patent activity in 2021, we reported industry insiders were looking forward to a second wave of plant-based meat alternatives,” it says.

“While the number of applications dropped in 2022, the level – the second-highest recorded – shows that considerable research activity in the area persist, perhaps pushing towards that anticipated second generation of plant-based foods.

Total number of plant-based meat patents by year