The biggest success story in fake foods says he sees himself "very much" part of the Australian meat industry.
The claim of v2food boss Nick Hazell comes despite a heated battle with the "traditional" red meat industry over packaging of plant-based protein products.
Mr Hazell made a similar statement to a Senate inquiry into definitions of meat late last year.
V2food has boomed on the back of support from the CSIRO, supermarkets and even Jack Cowin's Hungry Jack's.
Mr Hazell, the chief executive and founder of the company, admits v2food's growth "has been insane".
Almost $20 million was poured into his plant-based protein company via a fund launched by Australia's national science agency the CSIRO.
Today v2food says it is Australia's number one plant-based meat company.
V2food - a name which plays on being a "second version" of meat - claims in its mission statement that animal agriculture is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation and biodiversity loss worldwide.
But Mr Hazell says the Australian livestock industry has a long and successful future ahead but needs to move to a more sustainable footing.
He was a speaker at the ABARES Outlook conference this week on the future of food.
"Animal agriculture is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation and biodiversity loss worldwide," v2food's website says.
"Growing plants to make meat allows us to take CO2 out of the air and put it back in the soil to directly tackle climate change.
"We love meat, and we are on a mission to make meat delicious, nutritious and sustainable for generations to come."
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The key message from the Outlook session was the need to support this push into value adding of Australia's commodities.
Mr Hazell said value adding was the future for the agri-food industry.
"The whole plant-based movement provides an enormous opportunity for Australia," he said.
"We are trying to create a movement here in Australia".
That movement hit a roadblock in Federal parliament last month.
A Senate investigation into food labelling has called for fake foods to stop piggy-backing on meat's name for sales.
"We see ourselves as very much part of the meat industry," Mr Hazell said.
Plant-based food manufacturers say traditional industries simply cannot produce enough food to feed the world's growing population.
He said the fast growth of plant-based protein foods presented "a huge value adding opportunity for Australian agriculture".
Mr Hazell said his industry was being rewarded by investors who wanted to support sustainable products.
"Australia does not have a great history in value adding," he said.
Rather, he said, it was better known for producing raw products.
The Outlook session was told value adding of food had the potential to build a $200 billion industry in Australia by 2030 and create 300,000 new jobs.
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