Jack Yap, CEO and founder of Phuture
As a kid, Jack Yap spent a lot of time with animals on his grandmother’s farm at Jeram in Kuala Selangor. He loved them and considered them his friends.
When he was seven years old, he witnessed a chicken being slaughtered. Upon realising that they were being killed for consumption, he vowed never to eat meat again. And his compassion for the animals deepened further when he discovered the dark side of factory farming.
“As the global population grows, the demand for food production also grows. This has put massive pressure on the planet to provide enough livestock, water, space and plant nutrients to produce more food,” said Yap.
“Although it is a highly inefficient form of food production, animal agriculture dominates and is responsible for 14.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions,” he explained. “I believed there had to be a more sustainable and nutritious way to feed the population, so I began researching plant-based foods.”
This prompted him to launch a plant-based meat startup out of Kuala Lumpur.
Launch in 2018, Phuture provides a range of products, from plant-based mince and burger patties to the High-Fibre Chick’n brand. These items will be widely available at selected restaurant partners and grocery stores by the end of the year.
Also Read: No animals were harmed in the making of this ‘meat’ burger
“One of our key unique selling points is the products themselves.” Yap boasts. “For example, High-Fibre Chick’n. Our leading food technology and research led us to create this plant-based chicken brand, which does not compromise taste, flavour or texture. A perfect balance of soluble and insoluble fibre helped us achieve the desired physical, functional and nutritional profile. We replicated the chicken texture and taste by using our Phuture 4-fibre blend, which includes oat fibre and apple fibre.”
In Yap’s opinion, Phuture’s products will help solve fibre deficiency among Malaysians.
“Although the plant-based food market in the country is rich in high-protein options, it lacks fibre, with Malaysian adults-only consuming about half the required daily amount on average. As this deficiency can lead to life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks and diabetes, we needed to create a plant-based alternative that doesn’t just appeal to the Malaysian palate but directly addresses dietary deficiencies in our community,” said Jack.
Lack of education and awareness
Malaysia is a relatively young alternative meat market. The adoption of plant-based meat products is yet to be widespread when compared to neighbouring Singapore and Indonesia.
“We can attribute the delayed wider adoption of plant-based alternatives in the market to several factors, including education and awareness,” Yap shared. “While Phuture products are priced comparably to their ‘real meat’ counterparts, many plant-based meat options are still priced at a premium due to high development costs. This can then become more of an investment for the consumer. So to purchase plant-based meat alternatives, the consumers need a strong sense of why they are doing it.”
He remarked that having more discussions on and education around factory farming, sustainability, food production, and nutrition is the first step to helping the consumer understand why it is worth it to choose meat alternatives.
Although a nascent market, Malaysia already houses several plant-based meat brands, such as Nanka (minced jackfruit meat) and Phuture Daging (minced meat made out of soy, rice, peas and chickpea protein). OmniMeat also has a presence in Malaysia. This Hong Kong startup makes meat strips, mince and luncheon meat crafted out of shiitake mushrooms, pea, soy and rice.
In April, Nestlé opened a new manufacturing facility to produce plant-based protein products for Asian markets under its Harvest Gourmet brand.
Phuture currently works with restaurant partners to prepare its ready-to-eat meals and has recently partnered with KyoChon in Malaysia, which will offer Phuture on its menu as plant-based alternatives.
Fighting misconceptions
According to Yap, there are some misconceptions about processed food in Malaysia: it is ‘bad’ and ‘unhealthy’ — when, in fact, it is the future and is both healthy and sustainable.
“To remove these perceptions, we need to design food with the right intentions and understanding at the molecular level and with the right food technology and processes. Such food items can address specific nutritional deficiencies, overcome food allergies and nourish people,” he added.
There’s also a lot of room for more financial support, grants, and accelerator and development programmes to increase the region’s global competitiveness in the plant-based meat sector.
The impact of COVID-19
Yap shared the pandemic has caused a lot of people to prioritise their health and well-being, and therefore re-evaluate what they put into their bodies. This has helped create more awareness about the alternative meat market globally and locally, creating more demand for plant-based meats in general.
“This is very heartening to see, given the state of the environment. We hope that this increased demand will create more opportunities for companies like Phuture to innovate further and create healthy and sustainable alternative meat solutions,” he noted.
As the business grows, Phuture has plans to take its products beyond Malaysia. “We have designed the High-Fibre Chick’n range to address the dietary fibre gap found in most Malaysian diets. But this is not just a local problem but a global burden. Therefore, we aim to extend our fibre solutions to more places, especially in Southeast Asia.”
Funded by accredited investors based in Singapore, Australia, and the US, Phuture Foods is currently out to raise follow-on investment. “This funding will help us develop our products further and support our expansion into new markets,” he concluded.
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Image Credit: Phuture
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