By: Molly Greenstone
When you walk into any grocery store you can find an array of products like plant-based burgers, sausages, chicken nuggets, and more. These products are in the meat and dairy section of the market but are 100% vegan-friendly, meaning these products do not contain any meat or dairy. It is evident that imitation meat is expanding into the market.
Sales of plant-based meat products grew by 40% from 2017 to 2019, and three months after going public, the plant-based burger company, Beyond Meat, saw its share price surge 500%. Despite the rise in popularity, vegetarians, vegans, and meat-eaters continue to question the content of plant-based meat. Because these products are relatively new, consumers do not know how these products affect our bodies in the long run.
In late July 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration amended its rule to call the use of soy leghemoglobin safe as a color additive in imitation meat. The FDA reviewed a petition submitted in 2018 by Impossible Foods, a company that develops plant-based meat substitutes, and concluded that there is no harm from the use of soy leghemoglobin as a color additive. By approving this additive, Impossible Foods are able to sell their raw products inside grocery stores.
“A culture behind the consumption of plant-based meat exists. For example, in Europe genetically modified foods do not sell well because of cultural differences in the acceptance of processed foods, whereas in the U.S these artificial products are more appealing. Just because this food appears to be fine doesn’t necessarily mean this is how people in other countries perceive it,” Madison Calkins, a Resource Mobilization Associate at the International Fund for Agricultural Development, said in an interview.
Calkins said the cultural differences in accepting fake meat will determine how popular the products become. It is evident that the FDA has approved the additive that makes fake meat look and feel like a real burger, but there is a lack of certainty that point to the long-term effects of plant-based meat.
Advocates of products that appear and taste like real meat, such as Beyond Meat, claim they are solving issues involving the environment and public health. According to Beyond Meat’s mission, by shifting from animal to plant-based meat, they are improving human health, climate change, constraints on natural resources and animal welfare. Indeed meat can be damaging to our health, but according to some reports, these fake meat products are not the solution toward decreasing high-fat diets.
A study on sustainable and healthy diets found that there is an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke linked to the consumption of animal-based meat products. The study also found that processed foods made of refined grains and sugars can have similar damaging effects.
At the same time, Harvard article from 2018 suggested that one can avoid meat products and still have an unhealthy diet. Refined grains and foods packed with sugar can be harmful to the body and are ultimately associated with significant health risks.
“The truth is plant-based meats should not be considered a healthy food substitute because of the highly processed ingredients within them. Many plant-based meat products contain just as much fat, sodium, and calories found in real meat,” Lucy Taylor, a clinical nutritionist, said in an interview.
Taylor suggests mock meat is not a part of a healthy vegetarian diet. “In my opinion, a healthy vegetarian diet consists of pulses/legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas, and peas in their products, including tofu and tempeh), whole grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and seeds,” Taylor said.
Yet despite the high levels of fat in plant-based meats, some find it difficult to incorporate Taylor’s recommended healthy foods in their everyday diet. According to Georgie Bradley, a vegetarian and environmental-science studies student at American University, mock meat products are conveniently available in grocery stores and make the perfect dinner at the end of a busy day.
“When I have classes all day and an internship on other days the last thing I can be asked to do is cook for myself. It’s so much easier to just throw a veggie burger on the stove that I know will be ready in a matter of seconds,” she said.
Seeing as though Bradley along with many other vegetarians and vegans are leading and living busy lives, convenience may outweigh any other concerns that come with eating packaged fake meat. This kind of consumer behavior could explain why plant-based meat companies are growing in general.
A study by data bridge market research suggests that the global meat substitutes market will reach 7.36 billion USD by 2025. With this growth in mind, the study found that the expansion of the fake meat industry not only aims to provide vegetarians and vegans with satisfying options but also encourages people in general to lower their meat consumption.
According to Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat’s CEO, 93 percent of consumers in conventional grocery stores that buy a Beyond Meat product are also putting animal meat in their baskets. Looking at this consumer behavior, Brown focuses less on providing a product to please the needs of vegetarians and more on a replacement that will meet the wants of meat consumers. By offering realistic fake burgers and fake sausages, Brown hopes to reduce meat consumption globally.
Although the success rate and growth of Beyond Meat and other plant-based meat companies appears to be moving in a positive direction, the long-term growth of the fake meat industry is uncertain. It will be interesting to see what happens next for the fake meat industry.
Advanced Reporting Times, Spring 2020 