by Kenny Torrella
April 17, 2023
Introduction:
(Vox) A few years ago, plant-based meat seemed poised to take over the center of the American plate.
Sales growth for cow–free burger patties and meatless sausages soared 18 percent in 2019, and 45 percent in 2020. Investors poured billions of dollars into hundreds of startups’ coffers to help them create the next best imitation. Some of the world’s largest meat companies, like Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods, hitched their star to the meat-free wagon too, launching their own products. In 2019, Beyond Meat had the most successful stock market debut of any company since the 2008 financial crisis, and later that year, the Impossible Whopper landed on every Burger King menu in the country.
But the hype set up unrealistic expectations for just how big a bite animal-free meat could take out of the real meat market. The meteoric growth couldn’t last forever.
Recently published sales data found that meatless meat sales in grocery stores declined by 1 percent in 2022, after zero growth in 2021, putting a yearslong ascent into question.
Further Extract:
Read more here: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/202 ... eat-salesSimultaneous critiques that plant-based meat doesn’t taste good enough and is too processed put the sector in a double bind. If companies shorten ingredient lists and reduce salt and fat content, they’ll taste worse, but if they jack those up, health-based criticisms will intensify. Threading that needle will be a persistent challenge.
caltrek’s comment: Part of the problem I suspect lies with a somewhat irrational desire to directly substitute meat with plant-based equivalents. This is both for taste and to ensure an adequate protein input. What this misses is that a plant based whole foods approach largely dispenses of this need. There are plenty of tasty plant foods that just don’t happen to taste like meat. Protein requirements are overestimated. Recommendations by the government are more an outcome of a political process. So, there is a reluctance to come up with recommendations contrary to the wishes of the dairy and meat industry. In actuality, one can meet one’s protein needs simply through foods such as mushrooms, beans, avocados, spinach, etc. One does not need as much protein as the government guidelines suggest. At least that is the argument put forward by nutrition expert T. Colin Campbell, who had an insider’s look at how the recommendation process works. So, one doesn’t need a meat substitute such as a plant-based burger or hot dog. At least not as far as nutritional needs are concerned.