Currently browsing posts about: Meat substitutes

I thought this was an April Fool joke, but apparently it’s for real.  According to The Guardian (and many other sources), Burger King will be serving this plant-based meat alternative.

Much has been said in favor of and opposed to the Impossible Burger.

I give Tamar Haspel credit for the most cogent comment:

I’ve been collecting items about plant-based “meat” and “dairy foods.”  These are a hot topic, with new announcements almost daily.

Here’s what FoodNavigator-USA.com has collected in a Special Edition

• Talking protein with Glanbia Nutritionals: It’s a time of trial and experimentation: Is the protein craze fizzling out? Not if you look at new product launch data, or the fact that producers of both plant and dairy proteins are continuing to add capacity, and consumers are continuing to experiment with new sources, from marine collagen to sacha inchi, points out Max Maxwell, market analyst at Glanbia Nutritionals… Read
• ADM: ‘We’re very confident that our pea protein will have some competitive advantages’: ADM – which is best known in the protein arena for its soy-based ingredients and edible beans – is moving into the fast-growing pea protein space early next year with an 80%+ concentrate, and is developing “legume ingredients with at least 80% protein as well.”.. Read
• Perfect Day partners with ADM to commercialize animal free dairy proteins: Perfect Day, a high-profile Silicon Valley start-up producing casein and whey via microbial fermentation (minus the cows) has teamed up with global ingredients giant ADM to develop and commercialize its animal-free dairy proteins… Read
• San Diego start-up develops algae production platform capable of producing proteins found in bovine and human breast milk: A San Diego-based firm building a production platform for food proteins from green algae says it can produce recombinant proteins identical to those found in bovine and human breast milk, which it claims could prove a game changer in the infant formula market… Read
• Geltor raises $18.2m, gears up for 2020 launch of animal-free collagen proteins for the food industry: Geltor – a San Leandro-based start-up producing collagen proteins via microbial fermentation for the cosmetics industry – is gearing up for the 2020 launch of commercial quantities for the food industry after completing an $18.2m Series A round led by Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and supported by GELITA, ADM Ventures, Cavallo Ventures and Box Group… Read
• Peas please! Where next for pea protein? Once a niche ingredient, pea protein is now the #2 player in the burgeoning plant-based protein market behind soy, with key players ratcheting up capacity to meet growing demand. FoodNavigator-USA (FNU) caught up with Tyler Lorenzen (TL), president at PURIS, the largest North American producer of pea protein, to talk peas….. Read
• New Chinese pea protein plant will boost availability of higher quality pea protein in 2019, says Farbest: Farbest Brands has been named the preferred North American distributor of pea protein by Chinese manufacturer Jianyuan Foods Group, which will start commissioning a new production facility in the coming weeks that will provide “a significant increase in pea protein supply for Farbest customers beginning in 2019.”.. Read

And here are a bunch I’ve picked up here and there:

• Dairy UK objects to a vegan shop’s use of the word “cheese” to describe its products.
• The National Milk Producers Federation has petitioned the FDA to label plant-based products as “imitation,’ “alternative,” or “substitute,” when referring to what their makers have been calling “milk.”  The petition is here.
• The food processor ABP UK is coming out with new products made with pea and soy proteins formulated to “appeal to meat reducers and non-meat eaters alike.”
• Tyson’s, as Big Meat as they get, has announced that it is investing in plant-based meat.
• Good Karma is launching plant-based sour cream, ranch dips, and French onion dips.
• Plant-based vs traditional meat: Euromonitor offers four-year outlook: Despite the rapid growth of the meat alternative sector, market research firm Euromonitor has revealed that there is still a way to go to compete with some of the major international meat markets… Read
• State ag officials warn cell-based meat companies against demonizing traditional options (behind a paywall)

I will be keeping an eye on this area, where a lot seems to be happening, and fast.

Plant-based meats are touted as the technological solution to the health and environmental problems caused by excessive meat-eating.   Venture capital is flooding to what seems like a hot new market.

One objection to these products is that they are heavily processed and contain long lists of processing ingredients (my emphasis on the color ingredients).

The Beyond Burger: pea protein isolate, expeller-pressed canola oil, refined coconut oil, water, yeast extract, maltodextrin, natural flavors, gum arabic, sunflower oil, salt, succinic acid, acetic acid, non-GMO modified food starch, cellulose from bamboo, methylcellulose, potato starch, beet juice extract (for color), ascorbic acid (to maintain color), annatto extract (for color), citrus fruit extract (to maintain quality), vegetable glycerin.

The Impossible Burger: water, textured wheat protein, coconut oil, potato protein, natural flavors, 2% or less of: leghemoglobin (heme protein), yeast extract, salt, soy protein isolate, konjac gum, xanthan gum, thiamin (vitamin B1), zinc, niacin, vitamin B6, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin B12.

I was intrigued by this article from Food Navigator about the color problem.  Plant-based meats are naturally an unappealing grey and need color to make them appear palatable. What to do?

According to botanical extract supplier, Naturex, whose portfolio includes colouring foods, plant-based meat analogues are “a booming sector​” and, with colour one of the most important factors in determining a food’s appeal, manufacturers are interested in natural ways to colour meat alternatives.

Category manager for natural colours at Naturex Nathalie Pauleau said that carmine, derived from cochineal insects, is the most frequently used colour for real meat applications but cannot be used in plant based products because it is not vegetarian.

Vegetable-based alternatives include beetroot or red radish concentrates that deliver good colouring results, and in Europe, both can be classified as colouring foods, ​she said.

But there are big problems with color stability under conditions of heat and high or low pH.  If manufacturers want a browner color, carmelized sugar sometimes works.

As for the “bleeding” burger produced by Impossible Foods: this is

a plant-based burger made from the standard base ingredients of wheat, potato and soy protein. The addition of its IP-protected ingredient, leghemoglobin, however, means that the burger’s label lists added flavours but no colours.  Leghemoglobin is a heme molecule similar to myoglobin and haemoglobin that make blood and meat red but is found in the roots of nitrogen-fixing plants such as soy, meaning it is vegetarian-friendly. When added to the burger, it looks like blood.

And how do these taste?  Not bad, by most reports.

But one of my personal food rules is never to eat anything artificial.  These products are off my dietary radar.

Marta Zaraska.  Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat.  Basic Books, 2016.

If this were just another diatribe against meat-eating, I would not have bothered to read it but this book is much more interesting than that.  The Polish-Canadian journalist Marta Zaraska describes herself as a “sloppy vegetarian,” someone who doesn’t eat much meat but

can’t seem to completely let go of meat either.  There is something in it—in its cultural, historic, and social appeal, or maybe in its chemical composition—that keeps luring me back.

And that’s what this book is about: the cultural, historic, and social (and maybe even the chemical) appeal of eating meat.  Zaraska identifies the reasons—the hooks—of this appeal, linked as they are to genetics, culture, history, and the politics of the meat industry and government.

Although Zaraska clearly thinks eating less meat would be good for health, animal welfare, and the environment, that’s not really the book’s goal.  Instead, it’s to understand why most people don’t want to be vegetarian, let alone vegan, and why even small steps in that direction are worth taking.

What’s impressive about this book is the friendliness, human understanding, and charm of its writing, and the global scope of the interviews on which it draws (full disclosure: it briefly quotes my work).

A couple of scientific points didn’t ring right (beans do have methionine, just not as much as is needed), and I’m not sure that mock meats, meat substitutes, and edible insects will satisfy the “hooks” she describes so well, but these are minor quibbles.

I’m traveling, which means it’s time to catch up on saved posts.  Here’s one from FoodNavigator.com that I’ve been wanting to share.  It’s a collection of articles on meat substitutes.

Meat substitutes?  I don’t know how you feel about this sort of thing, but any kind of substitute violates one of my food rules: “Never eat anything artificial.”

Never mind.  Meat substitutes are the ways food technologists respond to nutritionists’ advice to eat less meat.

Here is what FoodNavigator.com has to say about this approach:

• Where’s the beef? The cutting edge of meat substitute innovation: Vegetarian protein options have come a long way from the once-ubiquitous lentils and tofu as food scientists have stepped up to the challenge of creating innovative meat substitutes. 
• Have meat substitutes missed the boat? Many consumers around the globe are turning away from meat as health, price and ethical concerns grow. But the latest market research indicates that meat substitutes are failing to pick up the slack.
• Bring back the meat: How flavours can boost product quality: Meat flavours can be give an intense meaty note to products made with meat substitutes and instant foods, as well as provide a more authentic and intense taste in meat-containing products, says Symrise director.
• TNO to explore meat alternatives and oils from algae: TNO has teamed up with industrial algae producer Ingrepro Renewables for a two year research project investigating the extraction of proteins, healthy oils, and possible carbohydrates from algae.
• Seeing red: The health implications of meat consumption: Headlines continue to raise concerns over the health effects of excessive meat consumption, a situation that is boosting consumer interest in meat substitutes. But what does the science say about meat and health?