The Plant Based Meat Is Going To Disrupt The Food Market

Is The Plant Based Meat Going To Disrupt The Food Market ?

In last two years, food technology has moved consumers from browsing for wan “veggie patties” in the frozen aisle to selecting fresh “plant-based burgers” sold next to the ground beef. For those Indian consumers who do not know what a burger is meant to them. As per American perception, a burger is a flat round cake of minced beef that is fried or grilled and typically served in a bread roll; a hamburger. Most of them do not think a veggie burger do not fall in the definition of burger. 

Think for a moment, in case plant based meat is able to replace meat sourced from cows, pigs, lambs and other animals it will be able to reduce greenhouse effect to large extent. It is a proven fact that process of manufacturing plant based meat uses 95% less land and 74% less water, and it emits about 87% less greenhouse gas than making a ground beef burger patty from cows.

The fact remains that the traditional meat industry is in no mood to leave the space for the plant based meat . Behind the scenes at the supermarkets in IS as well as Europe, giant battles are being waged: Meat producers are suing to have the words “meat” and “burger” restricted to their own products. The big players in meat alternatives like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are vying to capture the global fast-food market, another big players like Tyson and Perdue have also joined the fray.The plant based meat manufacturers are also facing challenge from Vegans as well as Vegetarians. For example, Omaha based chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz , who works at a vegan restaurant ‘Modern Love’ says would still prefer to eat something that’s not lab-grown.  But it’s better for people and for the planet to eat one of those burgers instead of meat every day, if that’s what they are going to do anyway.

How Plant Based Meat Is Produced ? Impossible Foods created a plant-based beef made from soy protein that has the taste and texture like beef. The scientists at Impossible Foods created a plant based heme through the fermentation of genetically engineered yeast. It helps to create the feel of traditional beef. 

With the heightened focus on eating more plant-based foods, food manufacturers have been developing plant-based animal foods . 

Is It Safe To Consume ?

Now, plant based meat has gone beyond beef, you can also find foods like tuna, shrimp and eggs in plant-based form on supermarket shelves. A question cropped in mind whether such  stuff is really a healthier alterative to their animal counterparts? Here’s a comparison between the animal and plant-based alternative of these foods.

Beef 

The Real Thing: Because of increased trimming practices, there are many more cuts of lean beef available at the market. When a cut is labelled as “lean,” it contains less than 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams or less of saturated fat and less than 95 milligrams of cholesterol per 3.5 ounces. You can tell a steak is lean if you see the words “round” or “loin” in the name such as top sirloin steak, top loin steak, and tenderloin steak. Beef also provides a healthy dose of 10 nutrients. It’s an excellent source of protein, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium, niacin, vitamin B6 and phosphorus, and it’s a good source of riboflavin, iron and choline.

Plant-Based Alternative: Impossible Foods and Beyond Burgers the two big players sell plant-based beef that has become popular in supermarkets and in restaurant . Impossible Foods created a plant-based beef made from soy protein that has the taste and texture like beef. Beyond Burgers looks and tastes like a beef burger and even “bleeds” like one. The protein comes from peas, rice and mung bean, while the fat comes from canola oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. Both Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger have a rather long list of ingredients and vitamins and minerals that were added in order to have a similar nutrient composition of traditional beef.

Tuna

The Real Thing: Fresh and canned tuna are popular choices in many Western households. Fresh tuna steaks are easy to marinate and grill, while canned tuna is one of the most convenient proteins you can find. Three ounces of tuna canned in water has about 100 calories, 1 grams of fat, and 22 grams of protein. Tuna canned in water is an excellent source of protein, niacin, vitamin B12 and selenium, and a good source of vitamin B6 and phosphorus. Tuna also is a good source of omega-3s which have been shown to play a key role in heart, brain and eye health throughout life.

Plant-Based Alternative: Loma Linda has a plant-based seafood alternative called Tuno. Tuna claims a great taste and texture like premium fish, to be a source of omega-3s, and to have 8 to 20 percent less sodium compared to other fish products. The nutrition information per 2 ounces of Tuno packed in water is 40 calories, 2 grams each of carbs and fiber, and 7 grams of protein. It’s free of fat, saturated fat and added sugar. The ingredients list water as the first ingredient followed by non-GMO texturized soy protein, yeast extract, maltodextrin, Arabic gum, sunflower oil, natural flavor, sea salt, seaweed, and potassium chloride. Tuno is available in packages or cans and comes in several flavors such as Tuna Thai Sweet Chili, Tuno Lemon Pepper, Tuno in water, and Tuna with Sriracha

Shrimp

The Real Thing: Shrimp is a very lean protein. Three ounces (85 grams) provides 90 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and 17 grams of protein. It’s also packed with nutrients like selenium and energy-boosting B-vitamins. Although shrimp has a bad reputation for being high in cholesterol, there’s no need to stress as the 2015-2020 dietary guidelines for Americans just took out the cholesterol guidelines as there was a lack of evidence that foods high in cholesterol leads to high blood cholesterol.

Plant-Based Alternative: New Wave foods recently announced the release on New Wave Shrimp. Although it’s still not available in stores just yet, the New Wave website says that it’s a “plant-based shrimp alternative made from seaweed and other natural ingredients.” You would swap regular shrimp 1-for-1 for New Wave Shrimp and it claims to have the same taste, texture and bite as the real deal. The nutrition information for 7 pieces (85 grams) of New Wave Shrimp is 70 calories, 1.5 grams each of fat and saturated fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 9 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fiber, 3 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein. It’s free of cholesterol.

Today, mock meat brands are emerging in India also and are armed with numerous kinds of textured meat. You could literally replace meat in any recipe with mock meat and it will be the same. Find out which of these are available in your city.

1. Veggie Champ

Ahimsa Foods produces a variety of vegan meat under their brand ‘Veggie Champ’. This Delhi-based company produces vegan hot dogs, vegan salami, a vegan Nawabi kabab, vegan satay and an award-winning vegan burger.  

2. Good Dot

Mock meat manufacturer Good Dot utilizes the goodness of grains and plant-proteins to create healthy and affordable meat alternatives. The company is based out of Udaipur and they have two products that are currently available – Proteiz and Veg Meat, with Veg Chicken coming soon.

The Veg Meat is quite versatile and works well as an imitation mutton. Try their mouth watering Veg meat Biryani or Chinese Style Veg Meat. The Proteiz work well as nuggets. Why don’t you treat yourself to Protiez Pakoda . 

Their roasted ‘soyato’ tastes excellent in nuggets and cutlets. They can also be used to make the meaty filling for samosas and puffs. You can coat them with breadcrumbs and make soyato ‘popcorn’. Or fry them in a paste made out of soya sauce, tomato sauce and chilli to make manchurian balls. You can also make a tasty soya to curry with them. 

This product is available in Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

Beyond doubt , the real leader in the plant based meat is US based company Impossible Foods it ranks 49 on CNBC's 2020 Disruptor 50 list.