Listen: No Meat Mince - 'simply consumer choice'

Photo / Supplied

What makes a former high-flier at Silver Fern Farms jump off the corporate bandwagon, buy his own meat company and decided to sell no-meat mince?

"My daughter who is a vegan ... she came to me and said 'Hey Dad - why don't you make something that I can eat?'" says Grant Howie, co-owner of Craft Meat Company.

Howie spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay about giving up his role as GM of sales for Silver Fern Farms to launch his new plant-based product "No-Meat Mince."

"It's essentially just following consumer trends," says Howie, who sees a profitable future in alternative proteins.

Listen below:

Getting No-Meat Mince to market was difficult and Howie says he is now "wearing many hats," especially when it comes to compliance.

"Just to get our No Meat Mince out on the market we had to go through quite a rigorous process with MPI and adjusting our food control plan and audits and all the rest of it."

"You can't just go out there and put products out on the market like this - you have to do it right."

Although No Meat Mince is an alternative protein product, it doesn't come out of a lab, and is made from mushrooms, tomato, almonds, coconut oil and soy protein.

Howie admits he has a "foot in each camp," as his company still makes meat products as well as this new vegetarian option.

"It's not a matter of saying meat's good or meat's bad or plant's good or plant's bad, it's simply consumer choice."

Possibly most importantly, No Meat Mince "tastes pretty good," according to Howie.