{"id":988,"date":"2025-08-14T17:00:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/?p=988"},"modified":"2025-08-15T19:20:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T19:20:46","slug":"plant-based-meat-has-been-relentlessly-and-unfairly-attacked-as-ultra-processed-can-the-industry-save-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/14\/plant-based-meat-has-been-relentlessly-and-unfairly-attacked-as-ultra-processed-can-the-industry-save-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant-based meat has been relentlessly \u2014 and unfairly \u2014 attacked\u00a0as \u201cultra-processed.\u201d\u00a0Can the industry save itself?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"A

\n\tImpossible Foods and Beyond Meat are two of the top three US plant-based meat companies, and they\u2019re responding to ultra-processed food criticisms differently. | Scott Olson\/Getty Images\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beyond Meat is undergoing a makeover. <\/p>\n

Last month, the popular plant-based meat company announced<\/a> a new product \u2014 Beyond Ground \u2014 that, unlike its signature plant-based burger, sausage links, and chicken nuggets, isn\u2019t meant to directly imitate meat. Instead, it has a neutral flavor that \u201cserves as a blank canvas,\u201d according to the company<\/a>, for customers to season however they like.<\/p>\n

Beyond Ground contains only four ingredients \u2014 fava beans, potato protein, water, and psyllium husk \u2014 and has a macronutrient profile similar to chicken (high in protein, low in fat). It\u2019s an \u201ceffort to step outside of the confines of mimicking a particular species and just provide something that is capable of confidently standing on its own as a center-of-the-plate protein,\u201d Ethan Brown, Beyond Meat\u2019s founder and CEO, told me.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The product represents an attempt to meet our current cultural moment, in which wellness has moved beyond mere exercise and nutrition optimization to broader, and dubious, appeals to \u201cnatural\u201d living<\/a> \u2014 think the rise of raw milk<\/a>, the Make America Healthy Again movement<\/a>, regenerative farming<\/a>, and homesteading influencers<\/a>. There\u2019s a reason Beyond\u2019s advertisements have increasingly featured the bean farmers<\/a> who supply its ingredients<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s this desire to connect back to something authentic\u2026something simpler,\u201d Brown said. \u201cBeing a facsimile in that moment is challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, the company is also shedding \u201cmeat\u201d from its name to become, simply, Beyond.<\/p>\n

The recent moves follow similar changes the company made last year, like when it launched the Sun Sausage<\/a> \u2014 a product that\u2019s closer to an old-school veggie dog than a high-tech meat imitation \u2014 and reformulated its burger<\/a> to contain less sodium and saturated fat with a simpler and cleaner ingredient list.<\/p>\n

The makeover is a \u201cdirect reaction,\u201d Brown said, to the many attacks<\/a> the plant-based meat industry has weathered over the last five years, namely that its products are overly processed and unhealthy (attacks that I would argue are largely inaccurate and unfair). Moving forward, the industry\u2019s success, he said, will depend on making products with \u201creally strong macronutrient content and ratios and then really simple, clean ingredients.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Impossible Foods \u2014 one of Beyond\u2019s main competitors \u2014 has taken a decidedly different tack. <\/p>\n

Over the last couple years, Impossible Foods changed its green packaging to a \u201cbold red\u201d design in what it called a \u201cmeatier brand identity,\u201d<\/a> launched an \u201cindulgent\u201d burger<\/a> (higher in calories, fat, sodium, and protein), recruited<\/a> the world\u2019s top competitive hot dog eater as a spokesperson, and is considering making a \u201cblended\u201d burger<\/a> composed of half cattle beef, half plant-based beef. It has also stuck by its key ingredient, soy leghemoglobin<\/a>, which replicates the heme \u2014 an iron-rich molecule \u2014 found in beef and is made with genetically engineered yeast to give its burgers an especially meaty flavor. <\/p>\n

Call it a tale of two plant-based meat companies. <\/p>\n

Both Impossible and Beyond are placing bets on what will retain current customers and attract new ones to the stagnant industry. But the stakes are much higher than just increasing quarterly sales or annual revenue: Plant-based products hold potential to help Americans move away from their high levels of meat consumption, which annually condemns billions of animals to terrible suffering <\/a> and fuels environmental crises<\/a>. How these bets shake out will shape the future of meat, and of our planet. <\/p>\n

The very confused discourse around plant-based meat<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From the mid-2010s through around 2020, plant-based upstarts like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods revitalized the meat-free food sector with products that tasted much more like meat than veggie burgers of the past. Sales of plant-based meat accelerated, and it was widely perceived as a sustainable, humane, and healthy alternative to conventional meat. That this newer generation of products were developed with advanced food technology was often a selling point<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

Then came the backlash<\/a>. Meat industry<\/a> interests<\/a>, progressive foodies<\/a>, social media influencers<\/a>, conspiracy theorists<\/a>, and food researchers<\/a> slammed plant-based meat as fake, high-tech, ultra-processed, and unhealthy. Sales have fallen to pre-pandemic levels, though these attacks have proven less effective in many European countries<\/a>, where sales are still growing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not controversial to say that Americans would benefit from cutting back on highly processed foods, especially snacks and beverages loaded with added salt and sugar. But the classification system<\/a> used to determine which foods are ultra-processed and which aren\u2019t casts such a wide net that many foods that are more or less healthy get caught in it. One of those foods is plant-based meat. <\/p>\n

Compared to conventional animal meat<\/a>, plant-based meats tend to have similar protein levels, less saturated fat, and fewer calories. They also contain zero cholesterol and offer some fiber, whereas meat does not. \u201cThese foods can be a valid and helpful way to shift toward more plant-forward diets, which are good for people and the planet,\u201d nutrition scientist Roberta Alessandrini of the Physicians Association for Nutrition recently told<\/a> CNN. <\/p>\n

Plus, the vast majority of the US meat supply comes from factory farms, which are anything but natural, minimally processed, or the pinnacle of health. Each year, billions<\/a> of genetically manipulated animals<\/a> are confined indoors, fed unnatural diets of genetically modified corn and soy, given a chemical cocktail of antibiotics<\/a> and vaccines to stay alive, and after slaughter, their carcasses are doused with chemical disinfectants. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

But consumers hold plant-based meat to a different standard. Operating in that cultural reality, it makes sense for Beyond to address its criticisms head-on by reformulating its existing products and launching new ones. But will it work?<\/p>\n

A tale of two plant-based meat companies<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Beyond\u2019s bet largely rests on the idea that a significant share of the US population is seeking to meaningfully cut processed foods from their diets. The company is right, in part: Polls show that many consumers aspire to eat a more minimally processed diet. But most don\u2019t act on that aspiration, and many hold more nuanced views on processed foods than the loudest voices on social media.<\/p>\n

A recent consumer survey<\/a> from Purdue University agricultural researchers found that most Americans say they\u2019re concerned about processed and ultra-processed foods, but most also believe that they can be part of a healthy diet and value many of their traits: affordability, taste, shelf life, and most of all, their capacity to save them time in the kitchen. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s far more important to consumers than perceived health properties, according to Impossible Foods, is taste. <\/p>\n

\u201cTaste is absolutely the #1 purchase driver for consumers considering plant-based meat,\u201d an Impossible Foods spokesperson wrote in an email to Vox. \u201cThey\u2019re specifically looking for products that most closely resemble conventional meat. In fact, industry data shows that 9 of the top 10 most purchased plant-based burgers in grocery stores are of the \u2018meaty\u2019 variety rather than the \u2018veggie\u2019 variety, which is right where our products play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meaty approach appears to be working for the company. In a recent blind taste test<\/a>, many consumers rated several Impossible Meat products as better than or equal to animal meat. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven during the category\u2019s downturn, we\u2019ve maintained a strong position,\u201d the Impossible spokesperson wrote. The company hasn\u2019t disclosed its revenue, but according to the market research firm Circana<\/a>, last year Impossible knocked Beyond Meat out of the No. 2 spot for US plant-based meat retail sales (50-year-old MorningStar Farms, owned by food giant Kellanova \u2014 formerly Kellogg\u2019s \u2014 is in first place). More recent data shows the two companies are almost tied for US retail sales, with Impossible slightly ahead.   <\/p>\n

Plant-based meat companies are damned if they do and damned if they don\u2019t<\/strong> <\/h2>\n

And yet. It would be a great understatement to say that despite Impossible Foods\u2019 impressive standing in blind taste tests and supermarket sales, it hasn\u2019t come anywhere within striking distance of its ambition to take over the meat market by 2035, a goal its founder once said<\/a> was doable. Plant-based meat retail <\/strong>sales have stalled out at around 1 percent<\/a> of overall US meat sales<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A decade of whiplash, from meteoric rise to slow decline, has left plant-based meat firms trapped: damned if they do, and damned if they don\u2019t. They\u2019re damned if they do a great job of imitating meat with plants, which requires more food processing and ingredients than the vegetarian products of the 1990s, but puts these newer products at risk of unfair health critiques. (Meanwhile, the protein bar company David<\/a> and the high-protein milk brand Fairlife<\/a>, each of whose products are highly processed<\/a> with ingredients unrecognizable<\/a> to the average person, are printing money and largely evading criticism.) <\/p>\n

\"Around<\/p>\n

But plant-based meat companies are also damned if they don\u2019t try to imitate meat, risking being relegated to the \u201cfor vegetarians only\u201d category of healthier but less appetizing protein offerings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tension is real,\u201d Chris Dubois<\/a>, an executive vice president at Circana, told me. Beyond Meat, he said, has done a great job listening to its customers and reformulating its products to meet the demand for simpler ingredient lists, but \u201cthe hard part is, I don’t know that that’s the path to win long-term.\u201d <\/p>\n

The animal meat industry has benefited from more than a century of generous government subsidies and favorable policy regimes<\/a>, while the plant-based meat industry has not, which has created a large price gap between the two. Closing that price gap, Dubois said, could help plant-based meat \u201ccreep into people’s purchases more.\u201d That might become possible this year, as beef and chicken prices<\/a> are on the rise. Making plant-based meat products more convenient by, say, having different varieties that are pre-seasoned and easy to cook, should help too, Dubois said. <\/p>\n

I think he\u2019s right on all of these fronts. But ultimately, as I\u2019ve written about before<\/a>, plant-based meat faces challenges that are harder to pin down, but are likely more consequential than price, taste, convenience, and macronutrient profiles. Food choices are highly influenced by familiarity, gender, and conformity with social norms and beliefs (one of those being that meat, even if factory-farmed, is natural and nutritionally necessary<\/a>). <\/p>\n

In a country where extremely popular meat products like chicken nuggets and hot dogs are highly processed, it\u2019s hard to believe that \u201cprocessing\u201d is really plant-based meat\u2019s problem in the eyes of many consumers, rather than a convenient justification for maintaining the status quo. As demonstrated by a number of psychological studies<\/a>, many people go to great lengths to justify high levels of meat consumption.<\/p>\n

Making products that are delicious, widely available, easy to cook, and as close as possible in price to animal meat are just the minimum bar plant-based meat companies must meet. Beyond, Impossible, and some of their peers have made strides on all these fronts over the past decade. But to really put a dent in meat sales, they \u2014 and their allies in the animal protection, public health, and environmental sustainability movements \u2014 will need to redeem plant-based meat in consumers\u2019 eyes and clarify what they really are: moderately processed foods with similar or better nutrition to conventional meat, and with a far lighter environmental footprint that doesn\u2019t require the confinement and slaughter of animals. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to break through all the noise with a message as nuanced as that. But in some countries, it\u2019s managed to work<\/a>. I hope it can work here too. <\/p>\n

Correction, August 14, 12 pm ET: <\/strong>A previous version of this post misstated one of the ingredients in Beyond Ground. <\/em><\/p>\n

Update, August 14, 1 pm ET:<\/strong> This story, originally published August 14, has been updated to include more recent US plant-based meat retail sales data.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are two of the top three US plant-based meat companies, and they\u2019re responding to ultra-processed food criticisms differently. | Scott Olson\/Getty Images Beyond Meat is undergoing a makeover.  Last month, the popular plant-based meat company announced a new product \u2014 Beyond Ground \u2014 that, unlike its signature plant-based burger, sausage…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":996,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions\/996"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/audiomateria.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}