The food revolution has already lowered the start flag in Argentina. And in addition to foreign colossi, a national company has also just joined the pole to reach the "meat 4.0" race.The main challenge of the food industry in the digital transformation does not go through those of apps or the Internet. At least, not only that. The objective is to create food in a more efficient, healthy and ecologically sustainable way.For many, that path consists in replicating traditional foods that contain animal ingredients, but using only plants.In this sense, foodtech companies (acronym for food and technology) combine digital tools that allow you to reproduce flavors, textures, aromas - in short, the experience - of traditional foods, but without using components of animal originThe trend, which has been going on for almost a decade, only in recent years took more prominence from the recommendations of FAO, the United Nations Food Organization, on the advantages of reducing livestock rearing:- Decrease world water expenditure by 20%- Carbon emission would be halved- Up to three quarters of agricultural land could be converted into forests that neutralize the greenhouse effectThe two richest men in the world agree with this vision and are sure that the food of the future will not contain animal ingredients:- Jeff Bezos, who is at the top of the Forbes ranking (with $ 113.1 billion), put $ 30 million at the beginning of the year at NotCo, a Chilean firm that reproduces milk, ice cream and mayonnaise with plants- Bill Gates, second with $ 105.6 billion, invested in major US firms in the Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Just sectorIn this context, an Argentine company anticipates the world heavyweights that will arrive in the country and will offer in the coming days a product that meets several items of the digital economy: "new" foods based on research and development, the use of commerce electronic and low prices when removing intermediaries in the distribution chain.Cheap and at homeAdolfo Rouillon and José Robledo worked together 20 years ago and created Amtec, a software factory that they sold to the Mexican giant Neoris. Then they created the company Congelados del Sur, dedicated to white-label freezer products for supermarkets.This firm derived in Frizata, which calls itself the first digital native food in Latin America: it does not "exist" in the offline world, everything is sold from the website and received at home (for $ 150) or withdrawn by picking point (the factory) in Rosario, although they project their national and regional expansion.Its catalog includes 35 frozen products (such as pizzas, meat medallions, chicken nuggets, empanadas, tortillas, etc.), many of which arise from what users recommend, although they hope to increase the list to 50 before the end of year. Now the Friburger is added, a hamburger that has no meat and will be sold in the next few days in Rosario and before November in Buenos Aires.The company, which employs about 150 people, has already invested "more than 10 million dollars" and wants to be a world leader in the distribution of food with quality ingredients and good price, regardless of the traditional distribution chain."With Frizata we not only innovate in products, we also innovate in how we reach the consumer, in a direct deal where we cut all supply links," says Rouillon.Thus, the products are obtained up to 50% cheaper compared to their competitors in the supermarket. "Revolutionizing food is an objective, but it is worthless if it is not accessible to the public," says Robledo.A month and a half ago, the research and development team started experimenting with Friburger. With a simple idea, although effective: create a medallion with textured soy that offers the same experience as a commercial hamburger.The product differs from its rivals of Beyond Meat or NotCo in the following aspects:- It has a similar taste to its counterparts in supermarkets, when global competitors seek to imitate the experience of "gourmet" hamburgers. In addition, it weighs 113 grams (a quarter of a pound) against 83 of the massive brand- It is economical: 39 pesos for the medallion, about half of its meat version in frozen gondolas and about 10 times less than Beyond Meat (it is estimated that it will be between 350 and 400 pesos in Argentina)- It is not 100% vegetable: 80% of the protein comes from soybeans, while the rest is obtained from eggs and milk"It's another concept," notes Rouillon, although the nutritional table maintains the same principle: more protein and less fat than a traditional hamburger. It also pursues ecological purposes: suppliers are located 200 km around and the sale "door to door" generates less emissions derived from logistics.New unicorn?Frizata already has about 170,000 adopters in Rosario, where this proposal works as a pilot test. Some 2,500 homes buy about $ 3 million every month, with a monthly growth rate of 20%.But the firm has unicorn aspirations and is even part of the network of innovative Endeavor, a worldwide organization that promoted high-impact companies in Argentina such as Mercado Libre and Globant, among others."Our plan is to reach 10 million homes throughout Latin America," Robledo reveals. This would assure them income of US $ 2 billion annually. As a parameter, that figure was the turnover of Techint in 2018. For this, the first step will be to open in Buenos Aires and, later in Chile and Brazil, countries in which they already had offices when they ran Amtec.As they revealed to iProUP, the national expansion will begin between October and November, from a frozen warehouse in the Ituzaingó area, west of Greater Buenos Aires, which will allow them to cover the logistics for the Federal Capital and the Conurbano with their own refrigerated vans.The company anticipates that its team of engineers works on the next version of the hamburger, which will be 100% vegetable. In addition, this "non-animal meat" will be used for empanadas and other products.It will not be aloneAs iProUP advanced, several international players prepare to throw their burgers in the land of the barbecue.One of them is Beyond Meat, which in May went public on Wall Street and its titles grew 650% in less than a week. It will arrive in Argentina before the end of the year through Protteina Foods, a Chilean firm that holds the license to market Beyond Meat products in the trans-Andean country, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay.To do this, it is finalizing the details of an agreement with a local partner and could sell not only the hamburger; but also the Beyond Sausage, a sausage to the "American" taste that even has artificial skin."We started in Chile 2 years ago. In a couple of months we will have our products in Peru. And before the end of the year they will see each other in Argentina, despite the exchange rate escalation," says iProUP Sandra Porcile, CEO and founder of Protteina Foods .Porcile says they will also bring Daiya dairy substitutes (cheeses and yogurts) and will target the food services market, that is, fast food chains.Another player who bets heavily on Argentina is Chile's NotCo, which has Bezos's endorsement not only to expand in the region, but to reach the United States through Whole Foods, the chain of health stores owned by Amazon .The company made a few weeks ago a tasting of the NotBurger in Buenos Aires, even before doing so in Chile. The hamburger will reach albiceleste lands in the first months of 2020, but by November it will introduce the NotMilk, a milk replicated from cabbage and pineapple; and the NotIceCream, an ice cream that has peas as a base ingredient.As iProUP could confirm, there is another Argentine company that is negotiating an alliance with Fazenda Futuro, a Brazilian startup that also produces meat substitutes from plants and sells its Future Burger in supermarkets.In Rio de Janeiro, another giant has already set foot in food 4.0: Marfrig, the fourth largest exporter of bovine meat, has just sealed an alliance with Burger King to provide the 4.0 burgers of the "Rebel Burger" combo.This is a play that will surely have a strong impact on albiceleste lands: the Brazilian refrigerator owns the historic Paty brand in Argentina, the main supplier of meat medallions for the local fast food industry. According to high sources of the sector, the play could be imitated in the first months of next year.As a curiosity, companies that are dedicated to "food 4.0" have one point in common: they do not point to vegans (who in the country would represent 5% of the population), but to those who seek food sa