The New Fake Meat

Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I read a Mother Jones article about Bill Gate’s investment in a fake meat that is supposed to fool meat-eaters. This would be a huge step in the preservation of animals, water and food supply. The question is, how healthy will it be?

The article is mostly about Josh Tetrick, the founder of Beyond eggs. He and his team of scientists are working to create eggs that look and function exactly the way real eggs do. Clearly an animal rights advocate, he is looking to replace all factory farmed eggs in the US.

Like Tetrick, venture capitalists would like to revolutionize the food system with meat replicas. Beyond Meat, backed by Bill Gates and Obvious Corporation, has created vegan “chicken-free” strips which supposedly looks and tastes like chicken. Another website reports that the chicken is available in many Whole Foods stores across the country.

According to PETA, “It takes tons of water and crops to raise farm animals. The ratio, in pounds, of grains per meat is 13 to 1. ” So, their argument is that there would be enough food to feed the world if everyone were vegan.

PETA also claims the meat industry is detrimental to the environment. Meat production causes climate change as well as pollution. They say that going vegan reduces your carbon footprint much more than switching to a “greener” car. Mark Gunter reports, “Animal agriculture is said to be responsible for about 14.5% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, more than the transportation sector.”

Is the meat-substitute healthy?

I already know the answer, without knowing the exact ingredients and without investigating five-year studies and statistics. My own common sense tells me that humans need to use chemicals and/or processing to create food products. However, for your sake, I visited beyondmeat.com for ingredients:

Chicken- Free Strips- Lightly Seasoned:

Water, non-GMO soy protein isolate, pea protein isolate, amaranth, vegan chicken flavor (maltodextrin, yeast extract, salt, natural flavoring, sunflower oil), non-GMO expeller-pressed canola oil, non-GMO soy fiber, carrot fiber, contains 0.5% or less of: white vinegar, spices, garlic extract, salt, onion extract, evaporated cane juice, dipotassium phosphate, titanium dioxide (for color), potassium chloride, paprika extract

Because the  majority of these ingredients are artificial, I know that they will cause acid in the body. For those of you who are health conscious, I encourage you to research the ingredients before feeding this to your loved ones.

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Sources:

CAN SILICON VALLEY MAKE FAKE MEAT AND EGGS THAT DON’T SUCK?, Sydney Brownstone

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/beyond-eggs-meat-josh-tetrick

BILL GATES INVESTS IN TWITTER FOUNDER-BACKED VEGAN MEAT START-UP,  Ariel Schwartz

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3019397/bill-gates-invests-in-twitter-founders-vegan-meat-startup#6

BILL GATES BACKED COMPANY THAT’S REINVENTING MEAT, Mark Gunther

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/10/03/bill-gates-backed-company-reinventing-meat/

BEYOND MEAT

http://beyondmeat.com/products/

J. Gueguen

Legume seed protein extraction, processing, and end product characteristics

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01091191

Maltodextrin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltodextrin

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