With Beyond Meat price currently at $0.86 per ounce, it is no small wonder that people are becoming more and more interested in products like Beyond Meat sausage. With Beyond Meat stock still largely stable in these trying times, it is also no surprise that there is a healthy market for Beyond Meat in India and other countries in Asia and Europe.
What are plant-based meats?
Plant-based meats are food products that are manufactured to provide the flavor profiles and textures of meat. People are now shifting to plant-based meats because they believe that being less dependent on animal-based meats is a good step toward environmental sustainability. Vegetarian meats have been around for a long time, but it was only in the last decade that manufacturers like Beyond Meat have rethought how they can create plant-based meat substitutes that can compete with the real thing. Another reason why people are spending more on products like Beyond Meat is the health concerns associated with real meat. Animal meats are naturally filled with saturated fats and cholesterol that can cause debilitating diseases later on. With people becoming more and more aware of what food can do to the body, they are now seeking palatable alternatives that won’t harm their health the way real meat does.
The United States is the seat of this new revolution in plant-based meat products. Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger lead in the market for plant-based meats, followed closely by other companies who want a slice of the market. Kellogg has already released its own Incogmeato plant-based meats line, and Meatless Farm Co. is championing its own family of products for the “meatless market.”
Is Beyond Meat healthy?
Before we discuss the health impact or health benefits of plant-based meat products, let’s talk about how we can categorize these food products in the first place. Since they do not contain any animal parts or components, these food products can be rightly called vegan. Taking the entire spectrum of vegetarianism and veganism into consideration, these products can be consumed by the largest number of people because the manufacturers have removed all animal components and have manufactured everything from scratch using plant-based ingredients. With this in mind, we can say that these vegan meats are healthier than regular meats if you are going to look at their macronutrient values. A serving of Beyond Meat burger provides 300 calories and 20 grams of protein. However, it’s important to take into consideration also that vegan meats tend to contain a lot of sodium, which isn’t healthy for the body, too. So if you are a salt-sensitive hypertensive person, vegan meats might not be a good idea because they are salted a lot to maintain the flavor profile that the manufacturers are gunning for.
What are the ingredients in Beyond Meat?
According to the manufacturer of Beyond Meat, the building blocks of all their vegan meats are water, protein, fat, minerals, and carbohydrates. All of the raw materials, if you will, are derived directly from plants to create vegan meat products that look, taste, and feel like real meat when you eat them.
Beyond Meat makes use of a variety of plant-based protein sources, including peas, mung beans, fava beans, and brown rice. Animal meats contain fats, too, and that has to be added to the equation. Fortunately, there are plenty of choices for oils/fats in the plant kingdom.
Beyond Meat utilizes cocoa butter, coconut oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil to add the necessary fats to the vegan meat. According to Beyond Meat, their sausages naturally sizzle and are juicy because of the plant fat content in the sausages and burgers. The company wants to create an “experience” and not just deliver nutrition to consumers.
You might be thinking: but what about the taste? Peas and mung beans taste nothing like meat. Well, the manufacturer has also created a sort of workaround for the flavor of meat by boosting the product with minerals. Now, the minerals themselves are added not just to improve the nutritional profile of the product, but also to improve its taste.
Animal meat is naturally rich in minerals, and these minerals interact with heat and create a flavor profile that is unique to each specific type of meat. Beyond Meat integrates calcium, iron, salt, and potassium chloride into its products. For further flavor impact, they also use a variety of extracts from beet juice, apples, and other natural flavors.
To hold everything together, Beyond Meat also uses starch from potatoes and methylcellulose, a type of plant fiber. The starch ensures that the vegan meat products will hold their shape and will not shrink so much once the heat is added to the equation.
So much effort has gone into products like Beyond Meat because it’s challenging, if not impossible at times, to compete with nature. The meat that we consume now is the result of millions of years of evolution, and food sciences have only begun unpacking why meat tastes so good for us in the first place.
Beyond Meat holds the distinction of using purely organic ingredients. The manufacturer has a staunch non-GMO approach to its products, and this makes Beyond Meat attractive to folks who also disagree with using GMOs for common consumer products. Beyond Meat is also passionate about creating an uncompromising experience that people will simply love.
They want people to be able to satisfy their cravings for meat using their products instead. Another benefit that might convince you to jump onto the bandwagon is that vegan meats are free of the antibiotics and hormones that are common in animal meats. Animals in captivity have to be treated sometimes with antibiotics to maintain their health. The same goes for hormones, as hormones help in breeding efforts and in improving the size of poultry, cows, and hogs.
