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plant-based meat

June 18, 2020

The LIVEKINDLY co. Acquires Swedish Plant-Based Meat Brand Oumph!

Alt-protein collective the LIVEKINDLY co. announced this week it has acquired Oumph!, a plant-based brand from Sweden. Oumph! is one of several different brands now in the LIVEKINDLY co portfolio, and the deal furthers the collective’s mission to “make plant-based eating the new normal,” according to a press release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The LIVEKINDLY co. is itself a relatively new venture, formed in March of this year after Foods United bought vegan media company LIVEKINDLY and rebranded as LIVEKINDLY co. As my former colleague Catherine Lamb wrote at the time, the LIVEKINDLY co. is the only company that owns and operates “the entire value chain of production” when it comes to plant-based protein.

Besides this new acquisition of Oumph!, the LIVEKINDLY co. also holds a majority stake in South Africa-based Fry Family Food Co. and German startup LikeMeat, and has an equity stake in PURIS Holding, a maker of plant-based ingredients like pea protein. 

Oumph!, meanwhile, was founded in 2015 and currently serves the Nordic countries, the U.K., and The Netherlands. Its products, which include “meat” products made from SOYA protein concentration, are sold at both restaurants and grocery retailers across those countries. The brand will launch in other global markets later this year, though this week’s press release didn’t specify which ones.

Regardless, it’s an apt time to be expanding a plant-based protein brand. The market for plant-based food is currently worth $5 billion, and sales of plant-based food grew 11.4 percent in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic has also played a role in this growth. Meat shortage scares and general wariness about where our food comes from has made more consumers open to the idea of buying and eating plant-based meat. 

That’s exactly the audience the LIVEKINDLY co. and Oumph! aim to sway: a wider group of flexitarians trying plant-based meat for a variety of reasons, be they ethical, sustainable, or health related.

June 17, 2020

Beyond Meat Announces 10-Pack, Narrows Price Point Gap With Traditional Meat, Plans D2C Site

Beyond Meat today announced its new Cookout Classic, a limited edition 10-pack of its plant-based burgers going on sale this month at the majority Walmart and Target stores in the U.S.

Normally, we wouldn’t cover packaging news, but today’s announcement is less about the box Beyond’s burgers will come in and more about the price of that 10-pack. In a press announcement emailed to The Spoon, Beyond says it will sell the Cookout Classic for $15.99, which is $1.60 per patty. That brings the price of its burger closer to the cost of traditional meat.

Right now, Beyond Meat burger patties sell in two packs that retail for $4.84, or $2.42 per patty, over at Walmart.com. Regular beef hamburger patties on Walmart sell for as little as $7.92 for a 12-pack (.66 cents per patty). While Beyond’s burgers still come in at more than twice the cost of the cheapest meat option, Beyond is more likely going after a customer that is willing to spend more to begin with.

However, getting the price down will be critical for Beyond and other players in the alternative protein space in order to make plant-based burgers cross over into the mainstream. The COVID-19 pandemic actually helped push more people into buying plant-based meats, with sales of the product up 264 percent between March and May of this year. Between that and shortages with our current meat supply chain, the time is right for Beyond to get its price down to attract more customers.

Also tucked away in today’s announcement is the news that Beyond will be launching its own direct-to-consumer site later this summer. This is of particular interest because earlier this month, plant-based burger rival Impossible launched its own direct-to-consumer sales. The Impossible site sells its burgers and ground product in bulk, and with Beyond launching its new 10-pack, it’s a safe bet they will as well.

But until then, if you are looking to grill up Beyond burgers for the whole family this summer, the new Cookout Classic 10-pack will be available in Target and Walmart stores starting June 22. (But before you do, check out our guide to grilling Beyond burgers.)

June 4, 2020

Impossible Launches Direct Consumer Sales So You Can Buy its Plant-Based Burgers in Bulk

As the company hinted at last week, Impossible Foods officially launched its first direct-to-consumer online store today. This means anyone in the lower 48 states can order packages of the plant-based burger for direct home delivery.

According to the press announcement, Impossible’s D2C site will sell the following packages:

  • Impossible Convenience Pack includes four 12-oz. packages for $49.99
  • Impossible Combo Pack includes two 12-oz. packages and ten quarter-pound patties for $59.99
  • Impossible Family Pack includes a single, 5-lb bulk package for $64.99
  • Impossible Grilling Pack includes 20 quarter-pound patties for $69.99

Shipping is free with a two-day delivery window. Impossible also says that its packaging is compostable and recyclable, though the company didn’t provide many specifics. Lots of food delivery companies make similar claims nowadays, though the extent to which their packaging is truly compostable and/or recyclable depends on the types of waste facilities available to each consumer.

The addition of a D2C channel is welcome news to flexitarians like myself, and would seem to mark an entirely new chapter for Impossible. When we first started writing about the company, its products were only available in select restaurants. Last year it started its methodical rollout at grocery retailers, and Impossible meat is now sold in more than 3,000 stores nationwide.

However, it’s still not available in stores up near my neck of woods outside Seattle, so this flexitarian is happy to be able to buy in bulk directly from Impossible. (I’ll just add it to the ways in which my life is migrating to mail order.)

Impossible’s D2C play also ups the ante in its rivalry with Beyond Meat, the other leading plant-based burger company. Beyond enjoyed a healthy lead with its retail footprint, but Impossible’s news today suggests it can now leapfrog the store altogether (and get all kinds of consumer data in the process).

As weird as it is to say, Impossible is launching this direct channel at quite possibly the perfect time. The COVID-19 pandemic drove people into buying food online (and kept them doing so for months). Plant-based meat sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic. And the pandemic has shone a bright light on the logistical and ethical issues surrounding the consumption of animal meat.

Will all this interest in online grocery shopping and plant-based meat outlast COVID-19? That remains to be seen, but at least now we can see how much of the country (at least the lower 48) shops directly from Impossible, now that it’s possible.

June 3, 2020

DAIZ Raised $6M to Become ‘The Fourth Meat’

Japanese plant-based meat startup DAIZ raised a $6 million Series A round in the second half of May. According to a DAIZ press release, the round included participation from the Fisheries Growth Industrialization Support Organization fund and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. The $6 million figure marks DAIZ’s total funding to date.

While the actual funding was announced a couple weeks ago, it’s worth noting because of DAIZ’s ambitions and how the company plans to take on big-name players in the plant-based space with its so-called “miracle chips,” which are raw plant-based meat components created using DAIZ’s patented Ochiai High Pressure Method technology.

According to the press release, this germination method brings out the umami flavor of soybeans and lessens the unpleasant aftertaste that are found in a lot of vegan meat offerings right now. The soybeans are then put in an extruder, where molding technologies recreate the texture of actual meat.

With the new funds, DAIZ says it will build out one of the largest factories for plant-based meat in Japan in 2021. They also plan to raise Series B funds at some point in 2020. Initially, the company will focus on selling to major food manufacturers as well as distribution companies, and eventually wants to expand globally. 

Notably, DAIZ is aiming to become what it calls “the fourth meat” alongside chicken, beef, and pork. In other words, they have no plans to replace the real thing. Rather it aims to have plant-based meat co-exist on the table with animal-based meat. Many plant-based meat companies have similar goals that target the “flexitarian,” which means when DAIZ finally does expand internationally, it will be competing with the likes of Impossible, Beyond, Néstle, and a growing number of others in the space. 

June 2, 2020

Beyond Meat Deal Expands its China Footprint with KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell

Yum China Holdings announced a deal yesterday to bring Beyond Meat’s plant-based burgers to select KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell stores in mainland China for a limited time this month. The move expands Beyond’s presence in China, which has been a priority for the company.

As part of the deal, KFC and Pizza Hut will both offer the Beyond Burger, while the Taco Bell locations will offer a taco made with Beyond meat. All three restaurants are offering the plant-based alternatives for just a limited time.

The Yum deal follows a similar partnership Beyond announced in April, when Starbucks in China added three dishes made with Beyond’s meat product. Beyond has a particular focus on Asia and has a goal of producing its plant-based burgers in the region before the end of this year.

All of these QSR deals help Beyond establish a foothold in China before its rival, Impossible Foods has a chance to do the same. China is something of a holy grail for plant-based meat companies. As we explained last year:

  • China has the largest population in the world
  • China produces the most meat in the world
  • China consumes the most meat in the world, and its hunger for protein is growing

Additionally, pork is the most consumed meat in Asia, and earlier this year Impossible debuted its plant-based pork product at CES.

We can expect to see Beyond make more deals like the Yum one in the coming months. And for it’s part, Impossible has been ramping up production and its retail presence here in the U.S. over the past year, and seems to be prepping a direct to consumer sales channel.

Plant-based meal sales were already skyrocketing, and that trend isn’t likely to ease up as the COVID-19 pandemic has raised new questions about the health and safety of eating animal-based meat. The business of faux burgers is very much real.

May 18, 2020

Omnipork Launches Plant-based Alternatives to “Spam” and Pork Shoulder in Asia

Green Monday, the company behind plant-based Omnipork, announced today that it’s unveiling two new products: a vegan lunch meat similar to Spam and a plant-based pork shoulder.

According to a press release from the company, Omnipork Luncheon Meat will be “the world’s first luncheon meat made entirely from plants.” Both Omnipork Luncheon and Omnipork Strip, a plant-based alternative to pork shoulder, will launch tomorrow at Michelin-starred restaurant Ming Court in Hong Kong, as well as Green Monday’s own line of vegan restaurants called Kind Kitchen. The products will hit retail shelves in Hong Kong in July. Pricing was not disclosed.

Based in Hong Kong, Green Monday launched its first product, Omnipork, almost two years ago. The plant-based ground pork is made from shiitake mushrooms mixed with pea, soy and rice protein, and is meant to appeal to the Asian consumer palate. Thus far, Omnipork is sold in nearly 40,000 retail and foodservice locations in six countries, including mainland China. Less than a month ago, the company announced it would be on menus in Starbucks in China, alongside faux beef giant Beyond Meat.

Photo: Green Monday

Canned, processed meat is quite popular in Asia. It was brought there by soldiers in the Second World War and since has spread to incorporate into local dishes in Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and more.

Despite its popularity, canned luncheon meat is, well, not the healthiest. A single can contains more than 1,000 calories, nearly 100 grams of fat, and double the daily recommended dose of sodium. “Luncheon meat is a food that everyone in Asia has a love-hate relationship with,” said David Yeung, CEO of Green Monday, in the aforementioned release.

In addition to health motivations, consumers around the world are turning to plant-based alternatives as COVID-19 disrupts slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, leading to higher meat prices. Considering the pandemic came just months after an outbreak of African Swine Fever, which decimated China’s pork population, it’s certainly an opportune time to debut a new alternative pork product. Or two.

March 23, 2020

Good Food Institute Awards $4M to Scientists Forging the Future of Alt-Meat

The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit trying to promote the evolution of alternative protein, announced today that it had awarded $4 million to 21 research projects to advance the study of plant-based and cultured meat. The money came from GFI’s donor-supported Competitive Research Grant Program, which thus far has donated over $7 million since it was founded last year.

The selected projects hail from nine different countries. Eight are tackling cultured (which GFI called ‘cultivated‘) meat and Here’s a quick list of some of the cool projects the 2020 grantees are leading:

  • Faster, cheaper cultured meat production. Dr. Marianne Ellis of the University of Bath, UK is developing a smaller, more cost-efficient production system for cell-based meat. She hopes that this will make cellular agriculture more accessible, including for those in remote locations and developing countries.
  • Turning waste into plant protein. Dr. Marieke Bruins of Wageningen University in the Netherlands is using plant-based proteins upcycled from agricultural waste streams to make super sustainable meat alternatives.
  • 3D printed cultured meat. Dr. Sara Oliveira of INL in Portugal is working on a bioprinted model for cultured meat design. Called M3atD, the model will help her team explore how 3D printing can help accelerate cell-based meat production.

You can see the full list of grantees from 2020 and 2019 here, if you’re interested. But overall, it seems that the most recent crop of grantees are trying to improve four key areas for plant- and cell-based meat: cost, taste, texture, and scaling. As consumers continue to hunger for plant-based meat, and cell-based meat keeps trekking towards the market, these improvements will be necessary to keep flexitarians satisfied, attract new diners, and reduce the environmental footprint of alt-proteins.

Admittedly, alternative meat is probably not the issue at the forefront of everyone’s mind right now. But in a time when your newsfeed is full of articles about pandemics, social distancing and scary outlooks, it’s nice to be reminded that positive progress is still going on to help the planet, and help us eat better too.

March 4, 2020

Plant-Based Food Market Grew 11.4 Percent Last Year, Now Worth $5 Billion

Plant-based foods are hotter than a sizzling heme burger. According to data commissioned from the Plant Based Food Association (PBFA) and the Good Food Institute (GFI) released yesterday, the market for plant-based foods is now worth $5 billion in the U.S. (h/t Supermarket News)

The data, which was commissioned from wellness-focused data company SPINS, found that sales of plant-based foods grew 11.4 percent in 2019, and have grown 29 percent over the past two years.

Categories leading this sales growth include plant-based milks, which grew 5 percent last year and now make up 14 percent of the entire milk category; and plant-based meat, which grew 18 percent in 2019, accounts for two percent of retail packaged meat sales, and is worth more than $939 million on its own.

We should, of course, take these numbers with a grain of salt. The Plant Based Food Association obviously has a plant-based horse in the race when it comes to the success of the category. But even with that caveat, this type of growth in the plant-based market is entirely believable.

One way we know this is that all the big traditional players are getting into the plant-based game. Cargill and JBS are rolling out their own plant-based burgers, and chicken king Tyson launched its own Raised and Rooted line of plant-based chicken.

Elsewhere, traditional milk sales have plummeted over the past decade, resulting in the bankruptcies of dairy giants like Dean Foods and Borden. To help stem the tide, we’ve seen dairy producers like Live Real Farms launch a blend of traditional and plant-based milks.

The boom in plant-based foods is also coming at a time when plant-based foods are just… better tasting, and also more widely available. Both Beyond and Impossible continue to improve their “meat” recipes and gain distribution in new restaurants and venues. For its part, Impossible just cut the price of its product for distributors as part of its quest to usurp meat entirely.

And it’s not just relegated to meat. Last month JUST launched a plant-based pre-cooked omelette for use in things like breakfast sandwiches. Oat milk, with its creamy texture and sweet flavor, is a hit with the latte set. And there are a bunch of startups like Perfect Day, which is creating damn good ice cream by genetically modifying microflora.

In short, we’re in the salad days for the plant-based biz, and with better products in the pipeline, chances are good it will be worth a lot more than $5 billion in the coming years.

UPDATE: This post has been updated to clarify data sources.

February 25, 2020

Heme Park! Disney Picks Impossible’s Plant-Based Meat for its Menus

Impossible Foods is putting the “heme” in “theme park.” The company announced today that Disney has selected the Impossible Burger as its “preferred plant-based burger,” and will be adding the vegetarian meat to its menus at Disneyland, Disney World and Disney Cruise Line.

Being associated with one of the biggest brands on the planet is definitely a nice Donald Duck-sized feather in the cap for Impossible. It will help drive brand awareness among a whole new group of people, and getting the Disney seal of approval should help Impossible score similar deals as it fights off other plant-based burger rivals for market share.

It’s worth noting that Disney is using Impossible by name on its menu. It could have just gone with some other name nameless plant-based burger option (perhaps from Cargill?), but the Mouse House is naming names, and wants people to know its serving Impossible’s product. Impossible was already one of the fastest growing brands in the U.S. last year, and teaming with Disney certainly won’t hurt.

But while Disney is a huge brand name, we should also keep the actual numbers in proper context. Disneyland drew in 18.7 million people last year, while Disney World attracted 20.9 million visitors. According to MagicGuide, Disney World serves 10 million hamburgers a year.

Burger King, another Impossible partner, on the other hand, serves 11 million people globally every day, and claims to sell 2.1 billion Whoppers around the world each year.

Obviously, there’s only a certain subsection of these audiences that will choose the plant-based option, but the bigger point is that the Disney partnership shouldn’t put a strain on Impossible’s production, like the BK deal did last year.

But what the Disney deal does do is give Impossible another direct connection with the consumer. Disney patrons will be ordering Impossible products by name, an important point as Impossible continues its moves into grocery stores.

Impossible launched its ground meat product last year at select grocery stores. But at retail, Impossible faces competition from the likes of Beyond Meat, Light Life, and a host of other plant-based meat players vying for your greenbacks.

Disney, however, with its parks and cruises, has a variety of different eateries on-site. So the relationship also gives Impossible a number of venues to show off the Impossible Burger served in ways other than a straight up patty, and even outlets to serve up the new Impossible pork product.

The bottom line though is that the happiest place on earth just got a little happier for flexitarians.

February 16, 2020

Burger Wars: Beyond Nutrition Idealism and Junk-Science Rhetoric, the Benefits of Choosing Plant-Based are Clear

Reports from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, World Health Organization, and others emphasize the critical role of plant-based diets in creating a sustainable food future for all. Plant-based diets are also key for human nutrition, highlighted in diet guidelines the world over including US, Canada, and Brazil. Yet livestock remains essential to around one billion of the world’s indigent and the global demand for meat and dairy is expected to increase by 70% by 2050.

Meat production and consumption habits must shift, and solutions are sorely needed to feed the appetite for meat in the US and abroad. 

Enter plant-based burgers, which exploded onto the food scene in the 2010s. While eaters love them, questions followed: Are they healthier? More sustainable? And are they even “real food?”

Opinions are heated, but what does the science show? 

A Brave New Burger that’s Just Plain Better

Forget bland veggies burgers of yore that only appealed to die-hard vegetarians. Today’s food technology methods have brought consumers a beefy patty that sizzles—and they’re a game-changer.

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods lead the plant-based burger market, and are quite similar in nutrient content and ingredients. A key difference is the use of genetic engineering, used in Impossible to create its umami punch from soy leghemoglobin. Not surprisingly, Impossible eaters care not at all about the tech that made it tasty—nor should they, given the copious evidence of its safety. (Beyond, conversely, boasts they’re “non-GMO.”) Major food companies also offer their own plant-based burgers using a variety of techniques and ingredients, now available in supermarkets alongside Beyond and Impossible.

Critics questioned wondered whether plant-based burgers would take off; the marketplace already offers myriad vegetarian choices, after all. Yet contemporary consumers are increasingly seeking ecoconscious options that supplant meat, while delivering the pleasure of eating meat—at least, some of the time. Ninety percent of plant-based meat and dairy consumers are omnivores, in fact, and Beyond reports that more than 70 percent of its consumers are meat-eaters seeking a more sustainable option. Importantly, Beyond and Impossible burgers are found on restaurant and fast food menus, a good thing since 49% of eaters globally dine at restaurants at least weekly, and most choose fast food fare.

Public health and environmental benefits of plant-based burgers are plentiful. Research funded by Beyond Meat and conducted by independent scientists at the University of Michigan found that its burger used 99 percent less water, 93 percent less land, and 46 percent less energy and produced 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to a beef burger; similar results were found in a study of the Impossible Burger. While no peer-reviewed studies are yet available, a significant body of evidence—like this report of 40,000 farms in 119 countries and covering 40 food products that represent 90 percent of all that is eaten—shows significantly higher environmental impacts of meat production on land, water, and air compared to plants. While grass-fed beef can be more sustainable, it’s complicated—and hardly the panacea supporters claim it to be.

And don’t forget about antibiotic resistance, among the biggest threats to global health driven largely by misuse of medicines in livestock production.

Whatever the individual motivation to select a plant-based burger, the secret sauce is clear: When food tech delivers taste and convenience, health and sustainability win.

Burger Bloviating: Push Back on Plant-Based Meat

As with many food tech innovations, some folks in nutrition and activist circles began disparaging plant burgers as yet another ultra-processed food that consumers don’t need. However, there is considerable variation in nutritional quality across the four-category NOVA classification (unprocessed and minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed, ultra-processed). And numerous studies—including a report from several professional nutrition and food tech organizations—show that (ultra-) processed foods like bread and canned goods are nutritionally beneficial; it’s the whole diet that matters.

Plus, beef burgers don’t grow on trees; the industry employs an extensive set of ingredients consumers simply choose not to consider. A wide range of additives and preservatives and food processing methods were needed to get that cow ground up onto your bun, for instance, alongside atrocious conditions in industrial animal farming systems. And were you aware that meatpacking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world? The reality is that getting a burger to your table made from animals involves far more processing than one made with plants, facts its polystyrene package doesn’t provide.

But is plant-based meat “real food?” The concept was popularized by journalist Michael Pollan, whose other pithy yet patronizing advice includes “eat plants, not food made in plants.” Food writer Mark Bittman recently opined, “[w]e have to determine whether they’re actually ‘food,’ likening plant-based burgers to Cheetos. (Seriously?) Other foodies jumped on the bandwagon, creating nutrition confusion by preaching that meat from animals is inherently superior simply because it’s from an animal. 

At the same time, some health professionals return to the dog-tired diet advice that consumers need to eat more vegetables and fruits, like fresh peas instead of burgers made from pea protein. Similarly, an ivory-tower academic called plant-based burgers “transitional” en route to a whole foods diet, ignoring evidence that burgers can be part of a healthy diet, in moderation—and are integral to American traditions.

Viewpoints like these reflect a lack of compassion for the realities most people face in just trying to get a meal on the table. They also undermine how difficult it is to change the way we eat, They also discount the vibrant role cuisine plays in culture and disregard the power of technology to meet food needs healthfully and sustainably.

For a Brighter Food Future, Vote With Your Fork

Addressing today’s complex food challenges requires all the tools we have to curb climate change, address unsustainable and unjust practices in agriculture, and reduce diet-related chronic diseases.  Though novel food technologies will always have haters, it’s a brave new world with a new generation of eaters. Millennials and Gen Z are highly motivated by health and sustainability—and both are far more accepting of food technology than previous generations. Scientific innovations like plant-based burgers will always play a role in shaping human diets, as they always have—and often for the better.

But let’s not forget that a burger is a burger is a burger—and it’s especially tasty with all the fixin’s. (And fries. Obviously.) Most of us in high-income nations who strive to manage weight, stave off disease, and live longer are better off eating a vibrant salad loaded in fresh veggies, beans, and whole grains rather than a plant-based burger. At least, most of the time.

But you already know that, right?

So when that craving hits, grab a plant-based burger, and enjoy. Voting with your fork is a delicious way to support technologies that will help move forward the food revolution necessary to create a healthy and sustainable food future for all.

P.K. Newby, ScD, MPH, MS, is a nutrition scientist and author whose newest book is Food and Nutrition: What Everyone Needs to Know. Learn more about her at pknewby.com.

February 3, 2020

Poop vs. Methylcellulose: Impossible Responds to Critical Super Bowl Ad

If you watched the Super Bowl yesterday, you may have noticed a particular ad vying for your attention between plays. The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a lobbying agency, made a commercial claiming that laxatives were used in plant-based meat.

The spot, which aired in the DC market, showed a spelling bee where a cute child had to try and spell “methylcellulose,” which the spelling bee guide defined as “a chemical laxative that is also used in synthetic meat.” A voiceover went on to say that meat alternatives contain dozens of chemical ingredients and “if you can’t spell or pronounce it then maybe you shouldn’t be eating it.”

Synthetic Meat Spelling Bee Commerical: 30 sec
Center for Consumer Freedom’s anti-faux meat commercial

The commercial is a clear swipe at plant-based meat companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, both of which are already battling naysayers (including chains like Chipotle) who claim their product is too processed or artificial.

But Impossible Foods at least didn’t take the challenge lying down. The alternative meat company clapped back by releasing a parody of the CCF’s ad. In it, another spelling be contestant has to spell a much simpler word: “poop.” The pronouncer, played by Impossible Foods’ CEO Pat Brown, defined it as the bacteria-filled stuff that “comes out of your butt” and is also “in ground beef we make from cows.”

A voiceover then goes on to state that out of 300 samples of ground beef tested by Consumer Reports in 2015, all of it contained fecal bacteria (even samples from grass-fed and organic cows). “Just because a kid can spell poop, doesn’t mean that you or your kids should be eating it,” the spot concludes.

Impossible™ Spelling Bee

This isn’t the first time that the CCF has thrown shade at meat alternatives. Just last week the group took out a full-page ad in The New York Times featuring two lists of ingredients. On the top it asked “Fake Meat or Dog Food: Which is Which?”

It’s also not the first time that Impossible Foods has taken a stand against alt-meat critics. Last May the startup published a strongly-worded rebuttal against an article claiming that plant-based meat contained weed killing chemicals.

It’s tempting to dismiss the CCF, which is a right-wing organization with a sketchy-at-best agenda, as biased extremism. The lobbying group is “supported by restaurants, food companies, and thousands of individual consumers,” and it seems safe to assume that at least some of those companies have a stake (steak?) in the meat industry. Of course they want to criticize plant-based meat any way they can — and an easy tactic is to frame it as synthetic, heavily processed, and “fake.”

Personally, I think yesterday’s commercial-off goes to show that when it comes to the fight for consumer’s protein choices, there are lots of ways to spin it. Yes, plant-based meat has more ingredients, including some unfamiliar ones. But just because you can’t pronounce them doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad for you. In fact, as CNET points out, methylcellulose is an ingredient that’s also used in baked goods and desserts, making it relatively innocuous.

Meat, on the other hand, has a very simple ingredient list. But there are plenty of unsavory aspects to the meat industry, including environmental costs and the whole eating-dead-animals thing. It goes to show just how critical a role that marketing will play in framing consumer perceptions of meat, both plant-based and traditional.

Yesterday’s commercial-off illustrates that criticism against plant-based meat is not going anywhere. In fact, the more that the alternative meat space grows in popularity, the more fire it will attract from beefy opponents. Impossible and others should be ready to weather the storm (and fight back), both on the advertising field and off.

January 8, 2020

Plant-Based Veteran Tofurky Launches Burger Amid Stacked Competition

Early plant-based food maker Tofurky, which turns 40 this year, today launched its own beef-like burger, joining the likes of Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Nestle’s Sweet Earth, Kellogg’s Incogmeato and many others — it’s a crowded space, to say the least.

The company actually brought a formless beef alternative product to the market late last year, Forbes reports, but it was soon scrapped. Its new faux beef product includes two patties made of a combination of soy protein, vegetable protein and wheat gluten and lightly seasoned with salt, onion, garlic and black pepper. It is available now at more than 600 Target locations for $5.99.

Tofurky said in the release that its burgers have a more sustainable footprint than the competition since it uses all parts of the soybean. That’s not the case when it comes to pea protein, the primary ingredient used by Beyond Meat, Tofurky said. And unlike Impossible, Tofurky’s ingredients are non-GMO (FYI, no evidence exists to suggest that GMOs are harmful to humans). Tofurky also points to the sustainability of its packaging: “recyclable cartons that tout 23 percent less paperboard material, and inner packaging [that] has 69 percent less plastic film waste than others in the space.”

So why launch a faux meat burger now? Apparently, to capitalize on people resolving to eat less meat in the new year. “Many flexitarians resolve to go completely plant-based for the month of January, so we wanted to provide a new burger option now, ahead of summer grilling, that is affordable, delicious, and accessible,” said Jaime Athos, president and CEO of Tofurky.

The increasing popularity of the plant-based alternatives space has been kind to Tofurky, which for the first time in its history accepted private investment last year after seeing increased demand for its products. Tofurky also saw more good news when Mississippi pulled back on a proposed restrictive food labeling law that would have prevented plant-based companies from using words such as “burger,” “hot dog” and even “meat” on their packaging. The company had been part of a group suing the state as well as several others over similar proposed laws.

We’ll have to see if Tofurky’s hot streak continues and consumers embrace its burger.

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