The marketing roll-out for plant-based meats like the Impossible Burger has been nearly flawless, wouldn’t you agree? Media reports are gushing about how meatless meat is going to save the planet.
Burger King quickly jumped on the bandwagon with the Impossible Whopper. Then came Subway’s Beyond Meatball and McDonald’s PLT (Plant, Lettuce, and Tomato). These offerings greatly extend the appeal of meat substitutes beyond health food store shelves to the fast-food eating masses.
All in all, the whole scheme is a textbook study of how to convince the public into believing a mediocre product is actually better for them than the real thing.
The playbook is a well-worn one in the decades since World War II and the so-called “Green Revolution”.
Think skim milk, canola oil, Egg Beaters, soy…the list goes on.
I recently stood in line at our local Earth Fare watching in disbelief as a well-meaning parent, toddler in tow, stood proudly (I’m not kidding) with seven boxes of Beyond Meat in her grocery cart.
People are actually feeding this stuff to their children?
What kind of meathead would do such a thing?
If you are under the impression that lab meat like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat is actually good for you, here are three reasons to chew on as to why you’re terribly mistaken.
The truth is that your health and the planet are better off buying a package of locally produced grass-fed beef instead.
Impossible Burger is a Vote for Monsanto
Soy leghemoglobin or legume hemoglobin is a crucial ingredient in the Impossible Burger. This “plant heme” is what gives lab meat its meaty qualities. (1)
The word “heme” comes from the Greek word haima meaning “blood”.
Unfortunately, this ingredient that gives meatless meat a bloody quality comes from genetically modified soy crops.
Planting of GMO soy is one of the primary reasons the South American forests are being razed at such an alarming rate.
According to The Guardian,
Since 1996, when the government authorised the introduction of genetically modified soya bean, Argentina has cleared nearly a quarter of its native forests. Much of that newly cleared land has been turned over to the soya bean crop that has been critical to Argentina’s cyclically ravaged economy. “Argentina is in a forest emergency,” says Natalia Machain, director of Greenpeace Argentina. (2)
Bayer/Monsanto, one of the most environmentally destructive corporations in business today, owns the patents on GMO soy seeds. There are literally thousands of pending lawsuits against Bayer and its flagship product Roundup for causing cancer.
Some tests suggest that the Impossible Burger may contain Roundup residue, although the company insists the levels are within safety limits.
Ultimately, if you think that eating an Impossible Burger is a better choice for the planet than herds of grazing animals helping to restore soil and reclaim deserts into grasslands, I would recommend doing more reading on the subject. (3)
Beyond Meat is an Ultra Processed Food
Even nonGMO options like the new soy-free Beyond Meat made with pea, mung, and rice protein are to be avoided.
Consider that scientists created this stuff in a LAB, my friends.
Think sterile rooms, white coats, and Petri dishes.
Plant-based meat is the epitome of ultra-processed food. It’s these choices that health experts warn people to avoid as their consumption increases the odds of chronic disease taking hold.
Consider that all meat substitutes require the separation of plant proteins from the whole food source.
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, this identifies an ultra-processed food “significantly changed from its original state”.
Such products require heavy processing such as extrusion, molding, milling, etc with a high degree of manipulation and numerous additives. (4)
Peer-reviewed published research says that consuming these heavily processed food causes overeating and weight gain. (5)
The researchers go on to say that minimally processed choices, like, ahem, actual meat, are far healthier.
Wrapping an ultra-processed food in a politically correct message doesn’t change the unhealthy bottom line.
Smart Vegans Won’t Eat Plant-Based Meats
Even long-time vegans aren’t into the hype surrounding plant-based meat.
John Mackey, the founder of CEO and Whole Foods, is one veggie who isn’t buying it.
In an interview with CNBC, he had this to say:
If you look at the ingredients, they [meat substitutes] are super highly processed foods. I don’t think eating highly processed foods is healthy. I think people thrive on eating whole foods. (7)
His idea of healthy plant-based meat is a black bean burger with flax seeds and sweet potatoes.
But, he conceded that most people would not enjoy that type of burger. As a solution, Mackey suggested that people retrain their palates over time as he did by consistently eating whole fruits and vegetables.
Opting Out of Meat Substitutes is Best
There are literally zero health benefits to eating plant-based meats like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Meat.
“They are not necessarily healthier than beef burgers,” says Alissa Rumsey, a registered dietitian. (8)
The most recent study exonerating red meat as an unhealthy food takes aim at the plant-based meat craze as well. (9)
Just take a look at the ingredients in the most popular plant-based meat brands. Note that both contain the “natural flavors” catch-all that food manufacturers frequently use to hide undesirable additives from the prying eyes of the public. Ask what’s in there, and you typically get the “it’s proprietary” response.
Beyond Meat: Water, Pea Protein Isolate*, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Refined Coconut Oil, Rice Protein, Natural Flavors, Cocoa Butter, Mung Bean Protein, Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Apple Extract, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Vinegar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Lecithin, Pomegranate Fruit Powder, Beet Juice Extract (for color). (10)
Impossible Burger: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12. (11)
I wonder if the creators of these products use them in their own homes. The inventor of Lunchables won’t let his kids eat them!
The only possible reason to eat this stuff is if you believe the environmental hype that Americans switching from retail beef patties to plant-based alternatives would be equivalent to taking 12 million cars off the road for an entire year. (12)
Given that Beyond Meat funded that study, I, for one, am more than a little skeptical!
Make your own out of organic plants/seeds/quinoa/beans/potatoes. Create an alkaline environment in your body. Meat was a once in awhile food and still is in the healthiest cultures around the world
Absolutely not true. The Eskimos and Masai to name but two of the healthiest ancestral cultures (prior to indusrialized influences starting in the 1900s) ate LOTS of meat. Read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration to learn more. Not all ancestral cultures ate a lot of animal protein but all of them did, and some of them ate it in large quantities.
Why no mention of mention of meat being defined as a probable carcinogen by the WHO?
Meat is not a carcinogen … that is ridiculous! Numerous ancestral societies ate LOTS of meat and had virtually ZERO cancer. Think of the Eskimos and the Masai of Africa whose primary staple was meat.
Now, what food manufacturers are doing to conventional meat these days with all the additives and excessive processing might indeed be carcinogenic, but if you get clean, pastured meats, there are NO ISSUES for health.
Why the WHO would not distinguish between conventional and pastured meats is a huge oversight which smacks of political correctness and some sort of hidden agenda.
I would suggest you watch “Forks over Knifes” on Netflix, you might actually learn something!
Forks Over Knives is a propaganda flick just like What the Health. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/what-the-health/
The China Study is bunk too. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-china-study-more-flaws-exposed-in-the-vegan-bible/
Unfortunately, most vegans don’t seem to figure it out until their teeth start falling out 🙁
Oh I see, anything that you don’t agree with is propaganda, interesting. Well I haven’t seen the other 2 films you mention above and I am not a Vegan but I will point out that your article is very poorly researched. For example you accuse the Impossible Burger of possibly containing Roundup reside ( Glyphosate ) without mentioning that it is also found in just about all beef including grass fed beef.
And of course all processed food is generally not healthy but neither is ground meat, which is also a processed food. It is way better for the environment to eat a plant based substitute than to eat traditionally raised or grass fed beef. The carbon footprint of an Impossible burger is 89% less than traditional and Beyond Burger says it’s 90% fewer greenhouse gasses but you don’t have to believe them as there is a wealth of independent analysis to support this.
Ground meat is not a processed food anymore than grinding rice into rice flour makes it a processed food. What I am referring to are ULTRA processed foods such as plant-based meats where the final product is loaded with additives and has ZERO resemblance to anything natural. I suggest you re-read that part of the article.
As for the Roundup, yes it is a problem everywhere, but when you make something out of GMO soy, there is no avoiding it. There are plenty of grassfed farms that test clean for glyphosate residue … I know, because my farmer tests :0
You mentioned it but did not go into it, part of the problem with industrial ag is that the land is not grazed!
Thank you so much for all the good information & recipes you provide. I had actually thought about trying some meatless burgers but will not bother to do so now. I really didn’t know how processed they are until I read the ingredient list. Thanks again
The problem with most processed foods is with how they are altered to make them shelf-stable. Foods that don’t go bad are not only bad for bacteria and molds; they are also just as bad for human consumption, either because they are so devoid of nutrients that nothing can live on them, or because they contain poisons that kill humans more slowly than they kill bacteria and molds.
I agree in principle that natural foods are superior and GMO products tend to be unhealthy, but the problem is not inherently with GMO technology, it’s with how GMO technology is used to enable food plants to withstand pesticides and herbicides that end up in food.
Natural plants are damaged by these poisons, which naturally protects humans from consuming tainted products, but GMO plants engineered to withstand the use of herbicides and pesticides absorb these poisons and pass them along to those who consume them.
When GMO technology is used as a means to enforce patented DNA, by preventing farmers from growing crops from seeds, that is potentially the cause of future famine that could kill billions of people world-wide. DNA “copy protection” schemes should be illegal as should all other attempts to prevent farmers from growing plants from seeds.
However, GMO technology is not always inherently bad. It has resulted in the production of yellow rice that is far more nutritious than natural rice. I think the development of plant-based meats are something we ought to be doing. I have no problem with raising animals for food, but factory farms are inhumane, and sheer production volume is not an excuse for treating animals inhumanely. We SHOULD find ways to mass-produce meat-like proteins using genetically modified plants. There is nothing inherently wrong with using technology to create healthier foods. We’ve been doing that with selective breeding and hybridization for thousands of years. GMO CAN be a very good thing.
Excellent article! And, conversations on this topic can be so frustrating that the word “meathead” sums things up very well!
Hello Sarah, Thank you for this artcile and for all the others – they are so educative for me and my family! I have a question: what about the Nato and Tempe products that are made from organic soy beans? Also would appreciate your say about organic tofu. My neturopath says that last researches show that all the bad things said about soy aren’t true and it is recommended to use it often for many benefits especially hormone balance.
Natto and tempe are fine as they are traditional sources of fermented soybeans. Get them nonGMO (preferably organic) and properly fermented. The label should list ONLY soybeans, culture and salt. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/natto/
Remember that Asian cultures used soy in small amounts as condiments … not as a staple food which is how so many are using it today (foolishly, I might add). Use properly fermented nonGMO soy as ancestral cultures did, and if you don’t have thyroid issues and have plenty of iodine in your diet (grassfed butter is one of the best sources), then you should be fine.
This is just a way to by pass the cows, and feed the gmo soy directly to the crowds. Disgusting!
Even Consumer Reports magazine advised avoided these new chemical foods. Real food is always better, no matter your dietary choices.
These products are so gross. I honestly cannot understand why anyone would eat them, even if they are a vegan.