Plant-Based Dreams, Blended Realities, and a Chicken-Beef Burger You Didn’t See Coming

Listen Now

Eat For The Planet is available on the following platforms

About this episode

Michelle Adelman is a seasoned business leader and entrepreneur with a proven track record of driving innovation, transforming businesses, and scaling companies across industries. After a decade creating solutions to food security, economic development, and sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa, Michelle is now leveraging her experience back in the United States to lead transformational growth for mission-driven organizations. As the founder of ventures like Crossover Meats, she combines strategic vision with operational acumen to deliver measurable results. With 35 years of experience, Michelle has held key leadership roles, including Global Managing Director at Accenture, CEO of a U.S.-based home health services company, and Group Strategy Executive for the pan-African Econet Group. Her entrepreneurial spirit has driven the success of sustainable food ventures such as Go Fresh! and Infinite Foods in Africa. Michelle's contributions have earned her recognition, including being named Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Business & Professional Services by CEO Global in 2017, one of Forbes Africa’s "20 New Wealth Creators" in 2019, and a member of the Meaningful Business 100 in 2021, honoring leaders dedicated to advancing UN Global Goals. In 2022, she was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from Cornell University.

In this thought-provoking episode of Eat for the Planet, Nil Zacharias is joined by Michelle Adelman, an entrepreneur and innovator in the food industry. Michelle reflects on her journey from leading the plant-based food platform Infinite Foods in Africa to founding Crossover Meats, a company that blends chicken and beef to create a more sustainable and scalable meat product. Through candid insights, Michelle discusses the challenges, opportunities, and complexities of reshaping the global food system.

Key Takeaways

  1. COVID-19’s Impact on Infinite Foods

    • The pandemic disrupted supply chains, closed restaurants, and made fundraising nearly impossible, forcing Infinite Foods into bankruptcy despite initial success.

  2. Blended Meat as a Climate Solution

    • Crossover Meats replaces lean beef with chicken, cutting the carbon footprint of ground meat by 50% per serving.

  3. Scalability and Accessibility

    • The patented process for Crossover Meats uses existing meat processing infrastructure, making it highly scalable across markets like Africa and the U.S.

  4. Plant-Based Industry Challenges

    • High costs, limited consumer adoption, and ideological divisions among investors have slowed the progress of plant-based foods.

  5. Insights from the Meat Industry

    • Meat companies focus on incremental improvements like efficiency and waste reduction, but rarely address consumer-driven environmental choices.

  6. Consumer Education is Key

    • Blended meats require clear messaging to overcome misconceptions and highlight benefits like lower fat, higher protein, and reduced environmental impact.

  7. Retail Momentum for Crossover Meats

    • With launches in Walmart, Giant Food, and Food Lion, Crossover Meats will expand to over 1,800 stores by 2025, offering a lower-cost alternative to all-beef products.

  8. A Bridge to a Sustainable Future

    • Blended meats act as a practical interim solution while plant-based products continue to develop and gain acceptance globally.

This episode underscores the urgency of finding innovative solutions to food system challenges while embracing diverse approaches for sustainability and scalability.

Related Episodes

#95 - Infinite Foods: How Plant-Based Protein Can be a Positive Catalyst for Change in Afric‪a‬