South China Morning Post: Is the world’s biggest pork consumer ready for substitutes, as African swine fever burns a path through China’s hog herds?

Chicago-based Sustainable Bioproducts could provide a substitute protein to help China cope with pork shortages as a virus threatens to halve the nation’s hog industry this year, according to two board members at the start-up.

Andrew Chung, a board member of Sustainable Bioproducts and founder of the venture capital firm 1955 Capital, said the company expects a full-scale commercialisation of their product platform in the next 12 to 18 months, and is currently working on gaining regulatory approvals in the US.

“There is definitely a role for alternative protein in a market like China,” said Chung. “In a country where there are constant food safety concerns and scandals, there is a clear survival-driven demand for a clean, traceable source of protein in food production.”