Dumplings are made with Impossible Meat, a product of Silicon Valley plant-based meat substitute startup Impossible Foods. [Photo provided to China Daily]
As production expands, Yeung believed economy of scale would help reduce Omnipork's price. The price is underscored by the plant-based meat substitute's nutritional benefits, he said.
Omnipork is 71 percent lower in saturated fat and 62 percent lower in calories than pork, while 233 percent higher in calcium and 53 percent higher in iron, according to Yeung.
But not everyone agrees with this argument. Despite alternatives to meat heralding a new era of food technology and being the mainstay of a brand new business projected to be worth $140 billion over the next 10 years, former US Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman said there is a lack of nutritional science to support producers' claims.
The question of whether plant-based meat substitutes are better for consumers than meat remains open, Glickman said in an interview with CNBC recently.
"It certainly won't hurt you. It can be tasty. But it doesn't mean it's better for you," he said.
For people who worry about food shortages and climate change, the importance of meat as an integral part of the diet still cannot be denied, he said. More research needs to be done before jumping to conclusions that plant-based products are better nutrition providers.
