The What, Why & How of Meat Alternatives

There are two types of plant-based meat, traditional and novel. Traditional are made from tofu, wheat and gluten. Novel is from a plant-based textured product created to imitate meat. Many products contain a blend of plant-based foods such as whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils and peas. The result is a variety of substitutes for burgers, breakfast meats, chicken, fish and pulled pork.The goal is to mimic the taste and texture of animal-based protein with fruit and vegetable extracts. Plant-based fats such as canola and coconut oil are often added to mimic the fat in traditional meat.

Cell-based meat are also called in vitro, artificial, clean or lab-grown meat. They typically use a biopsied muscle cell from an animal. The first cell-based meat burger was developed in 2013 with multiple researchers and a price tag of $280,400! This was more of an experiment versus a sellable product. With the continued development of cell-based meats, they are beginning to make their way into restaurants in the United States.CBM uses extracellular heme proteins, such as myoglobin, to produce the product. Making the mouthfeel as authentic to real meat as possible is tricky, but the key is growing and culturing fat cells. The fat cells are then combined with the muscle cells. The USDA and FDA have approved a cell-based meat chicken product that is for sale in the United States with two companies, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods. You can find their products being used in restaurants in San Fransisco and Washington, D.C.

Reasons for choosing a meat alternative are more complicated and vary from person to person. Environmental concerns is one reason. Red meat production accounts for approximately 23% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), while the footprint of other meats such as lamb, pork and poultry fall lower on the GHG list.Cost is another big factor, as vegetarian sources of protein can be cheaper than animal sources. Health is also an important factor for many who want to decrease saturated fat intake. Plant-based diets are associated with a decreased risk of:

Currently upwards of 4,400 meat alternative products are for sale globally. This poses quite the question to consumers to decide if they wish to include them in their diet. Are plant-based proteins a better choice? Most research focuses on traditional plant-based meat and has concluded that incorporating nutrient-dense plant proteins into your diet will improve total cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol.A quick comparison of a meat-based burger and plant-based burger have similar nutrition profiles. Both have saturated fat due to the coconut oil in plant-based burgers and the saturated fat in the animal burger. The omega-6 fatty acids are higher in the plant-based burger. The protein and mineral content are close, but the meat-based burger has a more complete amino acid profile resulting in it being healthier. It is also important to be aware of the sodium content of plant-based meats which may be high (see comparison table below).