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Theoretically, I'm all for meat companies learning how to make plant based meat! BUT, here's a thread on why meat companies getting into the plant-based game is NOT a good thing...yet
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New plant-based meat startups are working aggressively to replicate the meat-eating experience with *no* compromises. The reasons why are obvious: meat eaters are skeptical of substitutes. How can some pulverized beans compare to *real* meat on every level? 2/n
So far, small but rapidly growing plant-based meat companies have done a remarkable job of satisfying the taste, smell, texture, and *feeling* of eating meat. It's blown everyone away, from fast food diners to elite food critics. 3/n
So wouldn't meat companies getting into the game only serve to accelerate progress through competition and a diversity of offerings? Well, that depends on what their goals actually are. 4/n
Plant meat startups are rushing to snatch market share from the trillion-dollar global meat market. They're not shy about saying this. 5/n https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/inside-beyond-meat-the-plant-based-company-disrupting-a-trillion-dollar-industry-59777605574
Meanwhile, meat companies are looking to *add* to their market dominance. Merely shifting from animal products to plant products in their portfolio provides them with no net benefit. 6/n
Instead, meat companies are trying to appeal to an emerging market of *plant-based meat eaters* like flexitarians. They aren't actually trying to appeal to meat eaters. If you don't believe me, they're saying it out loud themselves. 7/n https://thecounter.org/after-backing-out-of-beyond-meat-tyson-foods-announces-a-new-plant-based-brand-of-its-own/
So who cares who meat companies selling to? If their products look like a cow and taste like a cow, and sit alongside Beyond & Impossible, isn't this only a good thing?
No, because their products are BAD. They contaminate the perception & trust in plant-based meat broadly. 8/n
No, because their products are BAD. They contaminate the perception & trust in plant-based meat broadly. 8/n
Plant-based products from Tyson's & Smithfield are actually *destined* to taste bad. This is based on how meat companies are structured: they want to appeal to plant-based meat eaters don't want to undermine their animal-based offerings. How do they accomplish this? 9/n
Meat companies don't imitate meat using plants, they imitate imitations of meat. They're not creating novel formulations, they're just ripping off the plant-based startups. You can see by reading from their labels. 10/n
@SmithfieldFoods beef is just a mashup of ingredients from Beyond & Impossible. Very little original R&D went into creating this. They're also more unhealthy than the startups' products. 11/n https://pure-farmland.com/products/pure-farmland-burger-patties/
But the worst part is that @PureFarmland resembles processed meats, not beef. That's not hyperbole. When I seared it on cast iron, it literally tasted like fried bologna. Meat companies' products constantly rank lowest in consumer & critic reviews. 12/n https://blog.cheapism.com/plant-based-meat-vs-ground-beef-brand-almost-fooled-our-tasters/#slide=6
After tasting these products and reading multiple reviews, I'm horrified that this will be many people's first exposure to the new wave of plant-based meat. And meat companies don't have much to lose from spoiling consumer trust in plant-based products. 13/n
So enviro & animal orgs should think twice before praising & promoting meat companies for getting into the plant-based game. Not out of blind allegiance, but bc they're not positioned to offset demand for meat. For now, they're just riding a trend by hocking poor imitations. 14/n
