00:00First of all, I got to tell you, I'm seeing whey protein everywhere on social media.
00:05Like people are just sprinkling it on everything.
00:08Before we get to what's actually happening in the industry and what we're seeing as far as numbers look,
00:12what is it a byproduct of? How is it made? Where does it come from?
00:16Yeah, so whey protein is a byproduct of making cheese.
00:19And that's a big part of the essential challenge right now.
00:23You can't just make more whey protein without making more cheese.
00:27And then you would have to store it and sell all that cheese.
00:30So it's a protein that's very popular for a bunch of reasons.
00:35It's easy to dissolve and add it to food. It's easy to digest.
00:40It's a complete source of protein, which means it has all the amino acids.
00:44So that's why it's one of the top picks for food companies looking to, as you put it, put protein
00:50in everything.
00:51So it's not just consumers that are buying straight up whey protein.
00:55You have the companies, the CPG companies that are saying, wait a second, consumers want protein the way we can
01:00protein max our product
01:02and then put like how many grams of protein are on the front of the package is by adding whey
01:06protein.
01:07Exactly. And it's a tough time for packaged food companies.
01:11People are skeptical of ultra processed food.
01:14But when you can say that a food has added protein, people are much more persuaded by it and it
01:20appears healthier.
01:22So there are a lot of reasons for food companies, in addition to just consumer demand, to want to tout
01:27protein enriched products.
01:29And to do that, they are often turning to whey protein.
01:32OK, so, Christina, your story out today with Elena Peng from Bloomberg News is about maybe some alternatives to whey
01:43protein
01:44and the limitations that those have presented.
01:49Yeah, that's right.
01:50Food companies faced with much more expensive whey protein are looking at what their options are.
01:55And they do have different, you know, alternatives that they are looking at with more seriousness now.
02:03The problem is that whenever you change ingredients, you often have to reformulate.
02:08So I spoke with one company that used just a different source of whey protein.
02:12And they said it turned their pancake baking mix to sawdust.
02:16So they have to reformulate now.
02:19And if you switch to something like milk protein concentrate, that has a different mouthfeel.
02:24And so there's just a lot of complexity.
02:26The proteins don't all interact with other ingredients the same way.
02:31You said something that that caught my ear, which was it appears healthier.
02:36Is is this stuff healthy?
02:39I think it depends on the product.
02:41I'm not sure that just adding protein is enough to make a product healthy.
02:47Is a Dorito with protein healthier than a Dorito?
02:50That's for you and your nutritionist to decide.
02:53But certainly consumers view it as healthier.
02:56What about just straight up whey protein?
02:58Like if we were to as consumers were to take whey protein and add it to our yogurt, as some
03:02people do, or put it in a smoothie.
03:03Is that healthy?
03:05I think it probably depends on sort of if you're getting enough protein.
03:09One thing that experts often say is what are you eating that instead of?
03:13So if you're eating that instead of, you know, lots of fruits and vegetables, I don't know.
03:17But if you're eating that instead of junk food, it probably is healthier.
03:21And Christina, I know that we've spoken before about non-whey sources of protein, particularly meat and, you know, big
03:31meat and meat sticks.
03:32I thought you were going to go to the non-dairy stuff, like the non, you know, the plant-based
03:37stuff.
03:37Well, tell us more broadly, Christina, about just what are the alternative ways that you're now seeing people try and
03:43consume protein?
03:45Yeah.
03:45So one thing that we do see hugely on the rise is dried meat, meat sticks, jerky.
03:53Those are doing really well.
03:54And some companies are super creative with how they're incorporating meat proteins.
03:59Wild protein snacks uses chicken breast and egg white to make chips and crackers.
04:04So people who are providing protein in formats that aren't whey protein have kind of an advantage right now.
04:11And then there's also plant-based protein like soy protein, pea protein.
04:17Those, I think, got kind of a bad rap when we saw some of the plant-based meat alternatives.
04:25So I think people are struggling with sort of whether they want to use those or not, if that makes
04:31a product seem more processed or not.
04:34But some of those can be good alternatives for whey protein.
04:37We don't have a ton of time.
04:38We have like 30 seconds.
04:39But we spoke with Dr. Michael Swanson, chief agriculture economist over at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute last week.
04:45And we asked him if he sees this as being a fad.
04:48And he said, no, I think he thinks protein is here to stay.
04:50What's your general view?
04:52Yeah, I agree.
04:53There don't seem to be a lot of signs of waning interest in protein yet.
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