Beyond Meat announced today that it has launched Beyond Meatballs, a new line of pre-formed and pre-seasoned plant-based meatballs that will be available at select grocers nationwide starting this week.
According to the press announcemt, Beyond’s new meatballs, which are derived from peas and brown rice have:
- 19g of plant-based protein
- 30 percent less saturated fat and sodium than leading brands of animal-based meatballs
- No cholesterol, antibiotics or hormones
Beyond said this is the company’s third new retail product launch for this year, but really it’s more like two and a half. The company launched its plant-based sausage at retail in March, then launched its Cookout Classic in June, but the latter was really a bulk re-packaging of its existing burgers.
The addition of meatballs is more of a convenience play. Sure, you could make your own plant-based meatballs by forming them out of the ground Beyond Meat. But that takes more work. Having meatballs ready to go for a sandwich or spaghetti is a smart way to diversify your flexitarian menu-planning options.
Beyond’s announcement today also continues the rapid back and forth announcements that have gone on all summer long between Beyond and its main rival, Impossible Foods. As I wrote earlier, most of the announcements from the two plant-based giants have been about scale and not entirely new lines of products (i.e., new kinds of plant-based meat) and these Beyond Meatballs continue that trend.
The Beyond Meatballs will hit retailers such as Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Kroger and Albertsons across the U.S. this week and continue rolling out through October. They will have a suggested retail price of $6.99 for 12 meatballs.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this post said that the meatballs would be available in early October.
