Unlimeat, a plant-based meat substitute brand from South Korea, took first place in the new plant-based frozen food category at the Boise, Idaho-headquartered Albertsons retail grocery chain last month. The market for faux meat is experiencing double-digit growth each year, and Albertsons has been seeking strategies to address this development and introduce plant-based products to its stores. The company was the first retailer to introduce private label certified plant-based foods in collaboration with the Plant Based Foods Association.
Three Unlimeat products have been listed at Albertsons stores across the United States since January of this year. The product line, which includes imitation Korean BBQ and two flavors of Pulled Pork, is characterized as an “Asian style in shape and taste.”
Unlimeat’s Korean BBQ, a vegan product made to resemble beef chuck, is suitable for various cooking methods like grilling, conventional frying and stir-frying. It pairs well with seasonings added during cooking.
Pulled pork is a typical dish of the American Southland, but the Unlimeat recipe adds an Asian touch with its sauces. The original flavor has a sweet and savory garlic sauce, while the Sweet & Smoky version serves up the scent of charcoal-grilled ribs, a barbecue dish representative of Korean cuisine.
Unlimeat products are rich in nutrients and utilize various by-products that are often wasted in food manufacturing proceedings – such as rice bran, which is discarded during the process of polishing brown rice; and defatted soybean powder, which is discarded after pressing soybean oil. The company is the first food tech startup in Korea to develop, manufacture and sell plant-based substitute meat created with technology that reproduces the texture, juiciness, taste and flavor of animal meat.
