[ad_1]
Tofurky did not stop the breeders from sleeping at night.
For decades, veggie burgers have been the symbolic offer offered to vegans at the barbeque in the yard, and Tofurky has been the blessing of Thanksgiving to the meatless loved ones in our lives.
But while herbal meat goes from an afterthought to a heavyweight that aims to change the way most people eat, the opposition is suddenly woken up: many of the 800,000 livestock farmers across the country have declared war on newcomers, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, who are using technology to make products that take into account the taste and texture of meat, and now vegetarian burgers and similar products of the "first generation" are caught between two fires.
In 2019, officials from nearly 30 states proposed legislation banning companies from using terms such as meat, hamburger, sausage, chard, or hot dog unless the product came from a variety of sources. animal born, bred and slaughtered in the traditional way. Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming have already passed such laws. In Missouri, the first state where the ban came into effect, offenders are liable to a fine of 1,000 and one year of imprisonment. The new Mississippi law was enacted: "Any food product containing animal tissue cultured in cells or plant-based foods or insects must not be labeled" meat "or" product-based " of meat "."
The states, supported in most cases by breeders' associations, cite consumer confusion as the driving force of the laws. The latest offers, they say, go beyond the bounds when they make unfounded health claims (many have long lists of processed ingredients and are high in sodium) and when packaging does not occur. is not clear.
"Beyond the meat, Beefy Crumbles has the image of a cow on the front and says" herbal "in very small letters at the bottom," said Mike Deering, a cattle rancher and Executive Vice President of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association. "I'm a father and I go through the grocery store before one of my boys gets into a crisis, and [if] I take this package that says beef with a picture of a cow on it, I'll buy it.
It's not quite a fight between David and Goliath. Cattle associations have enormous political power and many of the biggest vegetable brands such as Morningstar Farms and Boca are owned by food giants such as Kellogg and Kraft Heinz. Notably, the major meat processors – Tyson Foods and Smithfield Foods, for example – do not take advantage, relying on farmers to buy traditional meat, but also invest heavily in these new alternatives, which consumers say are more and more sought after.
The future of livestock is threatened if meat of plant origin, considered much better for the environment, becomes a pillar of the American diet.
Traditional animal farming draws on lessons learned by the dairy industry, which saw cow milk sales fall by $ 0.1 billion last year, with much of this activity being replenished with milkshake. such as almond and oats. And as the Beyond Meat stock price, which was released this year, soared, some of the largest retailers and restaurants in the US have embarked on herbal alternatives.
In September, Impossible Burgers unfolds in grocery stores. Subway announced meatless meatballs, Carl's Jr. and sister company Hardee's took the meatless meat train, Dunkin 'presented his breakfast sandwich Beyond Sausage and Burger King extended the scope of his Impossible Whopper to all franchises.
On July 22, Tofurky partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Good Food Institute (a non-profit organization that promotes meat meat) and the Animal Legal Defense Fund for bring legal action against Arkansas' new labeling law, which came into effect in July. 24, violates the first and fourteenth amendments.
"If we lose, our justice system has a problem," said Jaime Athos, general manager of Tofurky. "The first thing to do is that people are confused. That's all [the cattlemen’s associations] can come up with censoring the speech. "
He added that there was mandatory mediation by order of the court, as the two parties failed to reach an agreement. If Tofurky loses, herbal meats will have to be reconditioned to reflect the approved nomenclature, a costly venture for a national company that sells in all 50 states. Athos said the biggest problem should focus on the emerging science about the benefits of an herbal diet.
"The chickens in the meat industry come home to perch. Their industry was underpinned by agricultural subsidies and gave a false picture of the true nutritional value and the need for meat in the American diet, "he said. "We know better. These are not healthy things. "
Despite being dragged into the fight, Athos said he was not sorry for what had happened.
"In the end, we have undertaken a monumental task and we now have partners to help us achieve these goals," he said. "What a beautiful thing to be able to live your values. What we see with factories is the conversation that goes from "why" to "why not".
Athos has reasons to be optimistic. Tofurky has seen double-digit growth every year, limited only by production capacity, he said.
"There is no question that we are paying more attention to this category," said Michele Simon, executive director of the Plant Based Food Association, which defends the leading companies in the plant-based food sector. ". . . Does a company like Tofurky have the ability to talk to Walmart? This was not the case five or ten years ago.
Morningstar Farms, which has been in existence for more than 40 years, has grown from grocery stores to restaurants, universities, schools, cafeterias and hospitals, with nearly 25,000 establishments and 7,500 new restaurants planned by 2020.
Although parent company Kellogg does not disclose specific sales data, it issued a statement in which it said that the ramp-up of plants led by Impossible and Beyond had been beneficial, pushing more consumers to meat substitutes. Morningstar has announced that its entire portfolio will be vegan by 2021 (cheese and herbal eggs will be added to the mix), while Boca, owned by Kraft Heinz, has updated its brand with new recipes and recipes. 2018 retro-cool packaging updates.
For Jan Dutkiewicz, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, who teaches at a class called "Modernity and the Slaughterhouse," these plant-based, first and second generation companies are making strange bedfellows. , with widely divergent objectives.
"Tofu and seitan have been around for centuries. These were not on the mainstream radar – all that hippies eat. For Tofurky and Morningstar, customers were more vegans and vegetarians than traditional consumers. They were not trying to compete with the meat to taste, "he said. "Impossible and beyond are not a consequence of Tofurky. Their goal is to imitate the meat as closely as possible. They try to completely replace the meat. "
The investment capital involved is also different, he added, "in order of magnitude," Dutkiewicz said.
Herbal items that closely mimic meat are seen as a promising new source of income for most major meat and food processing companies. These giants are beginning to reposition themselves as "protein companies".
Earlier this month, Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, announced the launch of a plant protein line under the Pure Farmland brand. Maple herbal maple croquettes, simply seasoned herbal protein preparations and six other products will debut in stores in September. Tyson Foods launches its own range of meatless proteins. Lost launched nuggets, fillets and chicken pies with mixed meat and vegetables. Nestle launches herbal range and Hormel's Applegate has launched its meat and mushroom burgers.
The most important point on the list of political priorities of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association for 2019 is to define a regulatory framework for meat and meat, herbal and cell-based meat, a responsibility that will come back between the Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture.
According to Deering, the hubbub is partly linked to the planned launch next year of cell-based meat, namely meat products, poultry and seafood derived from muscle tissue grown in a laboratory with cells taken from a living animal. Breeders fear that insufficient labeling will not distinguish between traditional animal agriculture and those products that do not yet have a history of safety and human health.
"We are at the mercy of the market, the time it does," Deering said. "We represent some of the most resilient people on the planet who can compete every day of the week and twice on Sunday. It's about consumer protection. "
In addition, earlier this month, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of the fast food, meat, alcohol and tobacco industries, has placed ads in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post highlighting many bacon and faux sausage ingredients, pointing out that many of the herbal meat options are highly processed and suggesting that this could go to the top of the list. against what people consider "healthy".
"People are seeing vegetarian burgers on the menu and think it looks like minced salad," said Will Coggin, CCF's Executive Director. "Despite what the name implies," plant-based "meats are made in industrial facilities and not in gardens. The fake meat companies try to promote a "health halo" on their products, but consumers need to know that counterfeit meat is highly processed and sometimes contains more calories and sodium than the real thing. "
[ad_2]
Source link