Currently browsing posts about: Meat substitutes

Let’s catch up on what’s happening with cell-based meat, so far still in development, regulated jointly by FDA (pre-harvest) and USDA (post-harvest), but not yet approved for human consumption.

• USDA to launch rulemaking process for labeling of cell-cultured meat; ‘success will turn, in large measure, on the nomenclature used,’ says attorney: How should meat grown from cultured animal cells be labeled? In a joint FDA/USDA webinar, officials said they would work together to come up with joint principles to govern the labeling of products under their respective jurisdictions (FDA: seafood; USDA: livestock & poultry) before launching a rulemaking and comment process, although no firm timetable has yet been established. … Read more
• Cell-based meat ‘won’t be mainstream for 20 years’, claims report:  Cell cultured meat won’t be bought by mainstream consumers until 2040 and will only account for 35% of global meat intake even then, according to the findings of a new report…. Read more
• Mission Barns tests cell-cultured pork fat with leading pork producer; gears up for hybrid plant/animal bacon tasting: Berkeley-based startup Mission Barns – which is carving a niche in the nascent cell-cultured meat industry by focusing on animal fat – is in talks with leading food companies about incorporating animal fat grown in bioreactors into a range of hybrid meats combining animal- and plant-based components…. Watch now
• Cell-based tortoise, yak and lion? Australia’s Vow seeks to create exotic cultured products:  Australia’s Vow is pledging to take the cell-based sector a step further by creating cultured versions of unconventional exotic animals – such as tortoise, yak and lion…. Read more

I think I can wait.

Since writing about Christopher Gardner’s study on Monday this week, I have plant-based meats on my mind.  Here are some other recent items about the booming interest in these products.

• Plant-Based ‘Meats’ Catch On in the Pandemic: As the meat industry struggles to respond to the outbreak, makers of vegan substitutes are ramping up production to meet new interest from shoppers…To meet the demand, Impossible Foods has been hiring more workers, increasing pay and adding more shifts. Beyond Meat reported record sales in the first quarter of this year.

• Bringing home the plant-based bacon: Sunfed aims to provide a more healthy ‘guilty pleasure’:  New Zealand-based plant-based meat firm Sunfed Meats’ recent launch of its Boar-Free Bacon in supermarkets nationwide has seen strong success due to its taste, texture and a rising demand for healthy and clean foods by consumers, according to the firm’s CEO…. Read more
• Beyond Meat lags conventional companies in sustainability disclosures, report says:  The plant-based meat company said it has quantified the environmental benefits of its product versus conventional beef and is currently conducting a carbon-footprint assessment.
• Coronavirus Meat Shortages Have Plant-Based Food Makers’ Mouths Watering: Beef producers racing to meet consumer demand say any shortfalls are temporary, as sellers of meat alternatives look to seize opportunity
• Opinion: Software to Swallow — Impossible Foods Should Be Called Impossible Patents: Intellectual Property Model of Food Maintains Harmful Reliance on GMO Grains, Detracts from Regenerative Agriculture, Hastens Soil Loss.
• Impossible Foods launches direct-to-consumer site and rolls out to hundreds more retail stores this month:  Impossible Foods has launched an e-commerce site to make its plant-based burgers available to all US consumers in the lower 48 states, offering free, two-day shipping of larger, family-sized quantities of the Impossible Burger…. Read more 
• The next challenge for plant-based meat: Winning the price war against animal meat: To save the world, plant-based meat needs to be cheaper.
• Impossible Foods raises another $200m; products under development include milk and steaks:  Impossible Foods has raised $200m in a Series G funding round led by new investor Coatue, with participation from existing investors including Mirae Asset Global Investments and Temasek as well as new investor XN. The move brings its total funding since 2011 to about $1.5bn…. Read more

Stanford University issued a press release to announce the results of a study comparing physiological effects of eating plant-based meat alternatives (Beyond Meat) to eating foods of animal origin.

A diet that includes an average of two servings of plant-based meat alternatives lowers some cardiovascular risk factors compared with a diet that instead includes the same amount of animal meat, Stanford Medicine scientists found.

The study:  A randomized crossover trial on the effect of plant-based compared with animal-based meat on trimethylamine-N-oxide and cardiovascular disease risk factors in generally healthy adults: Study With Appetizing Plantfood—Meat Eating Alternative Trial (SWAP-MEAT).  Crimarco A, et al.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 11, 2020.  https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa203

Overall conclusion: “This study found several beneficial effects and no adverse effects from the consumption of plant-based meats.”

The sponsor: “Supported by a research gift from Beyond Meat Inc. (to CDG)…Funding for this study was provided by Beyond Meat. In an effort to reduce any influences on the outcomes of this study, a statistical analysis plan was submitted to ct.gov. The main analysis was conducted by a third-party individual who had no involvement with the study design or collection of data, and was blinded to all study participants.

Comment

Ordinarily, I would simply present this study as a classic example of how industry-funded studies predictably produce results that favor the commercial interests of their sponsors, a topic to which I devoted my book, Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat.

But CDG is Christopher Gardner, the study’s lead scientist, whose impressive track record of managing complicated clinical trials of diet and health I greatly admire.

Gardner describes himself as a vegan (meaning that he eats no animal products).

Knowing of my concerns about industry-funded research, he wrote me some months ago to say that this study was in the works and to point out that he has done at least six industry-funded studies with null findings (he sent me a PowerPoint slide deck to prove it).  In his correspondence, he said:

• “I believe this is the FIRST industry funded study I’ve run that had a significant positive health finding.”
• “Beyond Meat was not involved in design or analysis, and to this day still doesn’t know the study outcome.”
• “I’m preparing myself for being called out as a vegan industry shill….hoping I’ve established a reputation for objectivity to withstand this ?”
• “PS – Hope you enjoy the study acronym (Study With Alternative Plantfood – Meat Eating Alternative Trial: SWAP-MEAT)” [Indeed I do].

OK.  So let’s take this study on its merits.

Gardner asked healthy non-vegetarian adults (36) to consume 2 servings a day of either Beyond Meat or regular meat (what the study calls Animal Meat).  The Beyond Meat and Animal Meat were provided to participants.  The rest of their diets was on their own.

For 8 weeks, they ate Beyond Meat or Animal Meat.  For the next 8 weeks, they switched over to the other kind.

Results: Participants consuming Beyond Meat displayed lower levels of

• LDL-cholesterol (the bad kind)
• Body weight (by 1 or 2 pounds)
• TMAO (Trimethylamine N-oxide)—but only for those who consumed Animal Meat first and Beyond Meat second (not the other way around)

Beyond Meat may be plant-based, but it is ultraprocessed.  FoodNavigator produced a nice comparison.

Beyond Meat would dearly love to demonstrate that its ultraprocessed composition is immaterial to its health benefits.  Hence: this study.

Beyond Meat is already using it for marketing purposes: “New study finds health benefits of plant-based meats.”

As I see it, there are two issues here: (a) what else the participants were eating and (b) the significance of the TMAO measurements.

(a) The diet: This was not a controlled dietary intake trial conducted in a closed metabolic ward.  Participants were free to eat whatever they liked and how much they liked.  They lost a little weight during the Beyond Meat phase, which means they must have been eating fewer calories during that phase, as they reported (this graph is in the Supplementary material).

Reported daily calories were under 2000, which means that lots of calories must not have been reported.  So it’s hard to know what the weight loss is actually due to.

(b)  TMAO: You make TMAO after you eat foods containing choline, a compound common in animal-based foods: meat, poultry, fish, and eggs.  A 2019 editorial review in JAMA discusses the association of TMAO with heart disease risk.

Now, researchers are homing in on another possible culprit: a dietary metabolite linked to red meat called trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO. Three recent meta-analyses confirmed that high blood levels of TMAO are associated with increased risks of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. One of the studies, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2017, found a more than 60% heightened risk of both major adverse cardiovascular events and death from all causes in people with elevated TMAO. Other research has associated higher TMAO levels with heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

On the other hand, an analysis by Dr. Bret Scher raises questions about whether TMAO has any real meaning for health (and I thank Stephen Zwick for sending this to me).

In my opinion, this is an example of a well-run study that, in the end, lends very little to our knowledge of human health….The main outcome from this intervention had to do with TMAO. Why is this problematic? Well, it has to do with the fact that small, short-term trials are unable to measure meaningful endpoints, such as who lives, dies, or who gets heart disease.  So, instead, the authors have to choose the surrogate outcome markers that they believe relate to human health.

Dr. Scher believes that “There is no convincing evidence that these results impact someone’s health.”  As Scher has discussed previously, he sees no cause-and-effect relationship between TMAO levels and health.  You can read his arguments here:

• Eating red meat increases TMAO levels. Should we care?
• TMAO — Smoking gun or passive observer?

The bottom line?  This study suggests that two servings a day of Beyond Meat is unlikely to be harmful.  Whether substituting Beyond Meat for real meat is truly useful for health in the absence of other dietary changes remains to be confirmed, hopefully by independently funded research.

Here’s what I’ve collected lately on the hot topic of plant-based foods and drinks.

Cargill is now doing plant-based: Cargill Inc will launch plant-based hamburger patties and ground “fake meat” products in April, challenging Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods for sales in grocery stores, cafeterias and restaurants. [Comment: Cargill?  Really?  There must be really money in this space].

Milkadamia taking on dairy and palm: ‘Mighty dairy is being brought to its knees’:  Jindilli Beverages produces a palm and dairy-free alternative to milk, creamers and butter under its Milkadamia brand. The company’s CEO shares his views on the need to challenge the prevalence of products containing dairy and palm oil for the health of people and the planet… Read

Beyond Meat to go on the offensive in wake of attacks on ‘ultra-processed’ plant-based meat: ‘We’re proud of our ingredients and process’:  While its CEO says engaging in an increasingly heated debate over the merits of plant- vs animal-based meat can be a “zero sum” game, Beyond Meat plans to go on the offensive this year with digital and media campaigns that celebrate its ingredients and processes…. Read more

Can wineries leverage plant-based messaging to attract young drinkers?  An oversupply of wine in the US has producers rethinking their branding and marketing strategies to reach millennials and Gen Z drinkers. The Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division (SVB) advises wineries to tap into the ‘better-for-you’ trend and health-forward messaging…. Read more  [Comment: Ah, the selling of alcohol.  It never ceases to amaze].

Pea protein trend sparks allergy warning: The increased use of concentrated pea protein in products could be a factor in increased reports of allergy to peas, according to the Anaphylaxis Campaign…. Read more   [Comment: Pea protein is the leading ingredient in Beyond Burgers].

Artificial meats constructed from animal muscle cells are in the works but not yet on the market.  Much less is being written about them than about plant-based meats, but occasionally a few items surface.

• Cell-based meat products are years away, so why are states making so many laws about them?  Seventeen laws about meat labeling were passed in 14 states in 2019, and nine states are considering similar legislation this year.
• From Capital News Service, an example:A Republican-backed bill in the Maryland state Senate would bar cell-based meat or products made with plant or insect protein from being sold as “meat.”
• Cell-based meat in focus: In conversation with Meatable, Finless Foods, New Age Meats:  While a new cell-based meat company emerges from stealth mode almost every month, the amount of money invested in the embryonic sector to date pales in comparison to the megabucks poured into plant-based meat over the past couple of years. So is slaughter-free meat still a pipedream, or something that can really work on an industrial scale?…Read more  
• Cell-based meats approaching scalability:  While barriers to commercialization remain, there are signs cell–based meat may soon be a reality in the marketplace.
• Memphis Meats Raises $161 Million: Memphis Meats, a startup company that has just raised $161 million, says it has a “clear path” to bringing cell–based meats to market. 

Coming soon to a supermarket near you?  We shall see.

I’ve been collecting items on what’s happening in the plant-based food world.  Lots.  It’s the hot new topic, as demonstrated by a recent Rabobank Talking Points survey.

For starters, do not miss the competing 30-second, spelling bee videos.  The first is from the Center for Consumer Freedom,  the discredited PR firm that never reveals who pays for their campaigns, although this one is pretty easy to guess; it aired in Washington, DC during the SuperBowl.  The 30-second rebuttal parody is from Impossible Foods, the inventor and marketer of Impossible Burgers.  CNBC has an exceptionally clear account of what this is all about.

Next, check out the February edition of Scientific American, which has a page titled “Meat the Imitators.” This lists the ingredients of four imitation meats, including Impossible Burger, in comparison to a burger made with real beef.  Worth a look.

Then, see The Guardian on how all this happened (with a long section on cell-based meat, as well).

And now to the industry perspective:

• • • Violife makes US (re)debut into plant-based cheese category:  Popular among vegan circles, plant-based cheese brand Violife is breaking into mainstream US grocery channels where it can go head to head with the likes of Daiya Foods and Kite Hill…. Read more
    • Nestlé and Merit Functional Foods enter joint development agreement to scale pea and canola proteins supply:  Under a new joint development agreement, Nestlé will help Merit Functional Foods and its technology partner, Burcon NutraScience, scale and commercialize its portfolio of plant proteins with the goal of using the startup’s novel ingredients in foods and beverages produced by the world’s largest food company…. Read more
    • Folded, frozen, and faster: JUST Egg is now more convenient, and cheaper, to enjoy:  Eat JUST, Inc, known for its JUST Egg liquid plant-based egg replacement made from the mung bean, has debuted a folded product that requires novice culinary skills to make, said co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick, whose preferred method of preparation is the standard toaster…. Read more
    • Harmless Harvest moves into plant-based yogurt: ‘We’re making it pretty differently than just about anyone else’  Harmless Harvest – which has carved a distinct niche in the coconut water category via its use of micro-filtration (instead of thermal pasteurization) – is promising to bring the same commitment to novel processing methods, organic ingredients, and clean labels, to the plant-based yogurt market…. Read more
    • Roquette ‘significantly increases’ pea protein supply deal with Beyond Meat:  Ingredients specialist Roquette has extended its pea protein supply agreement with Beyond Meat for three more years. The amount supplied will ‘significantly’ increase compared to 2019 figures, Roquette executive Jean-Philippe Azoulay tells FoodNavigator…. Read more
    • Plant-based seafood brand Good Catch raises over $32m in Series B financing round: Gathered Foods, parent company to plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, has closed a series B funding round led by several industry players including Greenleaf Foods and 301 INC, the venture arm of General Mills…. Read more
    • Cool Beans targets shoppers seeking plant-based whole foods, not ‘processed’ meat analogs: The quest to precisely mimic the taste and texture of meat and dairy is driving innovation in the next generation of ‘plant-based’ foods. But there is also growing demand for less ‘processed’ products made from whole foods, says the CEO of Cool Beans…. Read more
    • Where next for plant-based in 2020? ADM shares top trend predictions for the category: The total retail market for plant-based foods in the US was worth nearly $4.5bn* in 2019 with dollar sales growing at 31% over the past two years compared to 4% for US retail total dollar food sales. And according to global ingredients supplier ADM, 2020 is “going to be another breakout year for the category.”… Read more  
    • Bubble burst? Researchers question long-term health and environmental effects of plant-based diet: Plant-based products have recently come under fire for potential negative health and environmental effects, but much of this has so far gone more or less unnoticed and/or unmentioned by its proponents, it has been claimed…. Read more 
    • Displaying entire nutrition profile of animal protein could protect sales from plant-based competition:  So far, the health halo surrounding plant-based products has led many consumers to overlook characteristics of newer versions of meatless products that might be a turnoff in other food categories, including longer-ingredient lists and less favorable nutritional profiles, suggests new research from the International Food Information Council Foundation… Read

I don’t know about you but I am having a hard time keeping up with what’s happening in the market for plant-based meat and dairy substitutes.

For one thing, they are under attack from meat producers.  Here’s the latest on the politics.

Why the attack.  Just take a look at what I’ve collected on this topic in the past couple of weeks.  You can see at a glance why this trend is taking off.  Everyone wants to get into this act in every way they can.

• • • • Could yeast be a viable alternative to soy and pea protein? ‘It has all the essential amino acids, is readily available and affordable’:  Israeli start-up FFW is championing yeast as a ‘major protein source’ – offering an alternative to soy and pea protein in the plant-based space, founder Leonardo Marcovitz tells FoodNavigator… Read
      • Walnuts: The next big thing in plant-based meat in foodservice?  Foodservice operators bored of textured soy protein for meat-free tacos, filled pasta, bruschetta and other dishes are experimenting with a new plant-based meat alternative from walnuts that “mimics the taste and texture of ground beef,” says the California Walnut Board… Read
      • Disrupting the meat industry: Global Food Industries ready to launch plant-based burgers:  UAE food firm Global Food Industries (GFI) has announced plans to launch its plant-based ‘not-chicken and not-beef burgers’ in November.— 
      • Introducing the NaSu Burger: ‘The basic idea is totally different to Impossible or Beyond’:  FoodSolutionsTeam (FST) is a company built around the mission to tackle food waste through the development of natural and sustainable products. With so much interest in vegan product development, the company is bringing out the NaSu Burger – a clean label and sustainable alternative for finished product manufacturers… Read
      • Foodservice an underveloped channel for plant-based cheese, says new Daiya Foods CEO:  ‘Next-generation’ plant-based burgers are rapidly gaining traction in fast casual restaurants. But they don’t all come with plant-based cheese (yet), highlighting a key area of opportunity for Daiya Foods, one of the early pioneers in dairy-free, says new CEO Michael Watt… Read
      • Sacha Inchi: A super seed ready for prime time? Amazon Health Products debuts Starseed brand:  Sacha Inchi could be the next hot plant-based superfood, but how much is known about its nutrient content? And can the supply keep up with future demand as the ingredient takes off in popularity?.. Read
      • Oatly developers ready for repeat success with patented quinoa milk: ‘We can do it again with Quiny’:  The business developer behind Oatly and a team of Bolivian scientists have developed Quiny, a patent-protected and naturally sweet quinoa powder for plant-based milks, and are gearing up for a Latin American launch… Read
      • Survey: A rising generation of food consumers embrace new food technologies:  As new food technologies emerge, such as cell-cultured meat and new fermentation-based ingredients, younger generations such as Gen Z and millennials are more open and quicker to embrace these new advancements, according to a consumer perception survey conducted by global communications consultancy firm Ketchum… Read more
      • Plant-based protein bar with less than seven ingredients targets female consumers:  Japanese natural snacks subscription service company Snaq Me has launched its second-generation plant-based protein bar, CLR Bar, nationwide. Read more
      • The next fake meat? Pork (Bloomberg): Impossible Foods, the maker of plant-based faux meat, is looking to expand into pork, and hopes to move into the Chinese market.
      • Nestlé to develop plant-based products from microalgae:  Global food giant Nestlé is partnering with ingredients firm Corbion to explore the use of microalgae in plant-based products… Read
      • Chobani goes all oat with new yogurt and milk launches:  After disrupting the category 12 years ago with its Greek offering, the company is now using the cereal grain to strengthen its market dominance, while adding milk and a dairy creamer.
      • Disrupting the meat industry: Global Food Industries ready to launch plant-based burgers: UAE food firm Global Food Industries (GFI) has announced plans to launch its plant-based ‘not-chicken and not-beef burgers’ in November.  Read more 
      • Introducing the NaSu Burger: ‘The basic idea is totally different to Impossible or Beyond’:  FoodSolutionsTeam (FST) is a company built around the mission to tackle food waste through the development of natural and sustainable products. With so much interest in vegan product development, the company is bringing out the NaSu Burger – a clean label and sustainable alternative for finished product manufacturers… Read  
      • Plant-based protein bar with less than seven ingredients targets female consumers:  Japanese natural snacks subscription service company Snaq Me has launched its second-generation plant-based protein bar, CLR Bar, nationwide. Read more  
      • BLC taps palm and shea fat to mimic ‘palate-appealing’ behaviour of meat:  Bunge Loders Crocklaan is expanding into the vegetarian burger category with a range of plant-based offerings – made from shea and palm fat – to help bring texture, bite, appearance, and flavour closer to the ‘real thing’….Read more  
      • There’s a cadre of highly trained flavorists trying to make plant-based meats taste like meat. The Washington Posts has the intel. 

I’ve been seeing lots of books about meat lately.  Here are two recent ones.

Josh Berson.  The Meat Question: Animals, Humans, and the Deep History of Food.  MIT Press, 2019.

The author is an Australian social scientist, a vegan, who has produced a deep dive into the history of the use of meat as food and as cultural symbol.  As he puts it,

The aim of this book is to unpack what I’ve come to call the Meat Question–Should humans be eating meat, and if so who, and what kinds, and how much?–in the most comprehensive way possible.  The perspective…is deep deep in that it encompasses the history of human meat eating and human relationships with other gregarious vertebrates over a span of more than 2 million years.  (p. 2)

This [book’s] perspective is centered on my conviction that the economic violence of meat has less to do with who can and cannot afford it than with how meat serves to prop up a system of asymmetric benefits from all forms of human activity, not just that related to food.  Growing demand for meat is not simply an outcome of growing affluence.  It is a symptom of the inequality and oppression that have accompanied that affluence. (p. 294)

Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft.  Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food.  University of California Press, 2019.

This book examines the brand-new industry creating lab-based meat.  These products are not yet on the market but are of such enormous public and economic interest that they are well worth book-length treatment.

This book tells the story of what I found, and what I did not find, in the course of my time in the small, strange world of cultured meat, during what seemed to be the early years of an emerging technology.  I expected to spend time in laboratories…This did happen in some measure, but for the most part I found myself with very little laboratory science to observe and a great many public conversations about cultured meat to participate in and sort through.  (p. 15)

But cultured meat, too, raises moral questions.  Not questions about our moral regard for harvested cells, but questions about the implications cultured meat may hold for our moral regard for animals….It is relatively easy to see how cultured meat would or would not suit different philosophical arguments for animal protection….But assuming that cultured meat leads to abolition of animal agriculture, it will change our sense of what these creatures, these nonhuman animals, are doing in the world. (p. 133)

Both of these books deal with the moral, philosophical, cultural, historical, and socioeconomic implications of meat-eating, although from quite different perspectives.