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Plant-based burgers are "ultra-processed" like dog food, meat-backed ads say
A public-relations firm backed by meat producers has unleashed a savage marketing campaign that claims plant-based meat alternatives are unhealthy, "ultra-processed imitations" similar to dog food.
The campaign rolled out in recent weeks from the industry-funded firm Center for Consumer Freedom, according to The New York Times. So far, it has included full-page ads and opinion pieces in mainstream newspapers, including The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. All the marketing material raises health concerns about trendy meat alternatives, such as the Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger.
One ad posed the question "What's hiding in your plant-based meat?" Another directed readers to take the quiz "Veggie Burger or Dog Food?"
In an op-ed, the managing director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, Will Coggin, labeled meat alternatives as "ultra-processed" foods and noted that a recent study led by the researchers at the National Institutes of Health linked ultra-processed foods to weight gain.
The negative marketing campaign comes amid soaring popularity of meat alternatives, which threaten to slice into the meat market's sales and profits. In recent months, big players in the meat industry had tried a different—some might say hypocritical—tactic to compete with the new comers—that is, they released their own lines of meat alternatives. Now, the industry wants consumers to think such alternatives are unhealthy.
Older stories:
Previously: U.S. Cattlemen's Association Wants an Official Definition of "Meat"
Regulation Coming to Lab-Grown Meat
FDA Approves Impossible Burger "Heme" Ingredient; Still Wants to Regulate "Cultured Meat"
Missouri Regulates Use of the Word "Meat" by Food Producers
Following IPO of Beyond Meat, Tyson Foods Plans Launch of its Own Meatless Products
Mississippi Bans Calling Plant and Cultured-Meat Patties 'Burgers'Related: Cargill, Bill Gates, Richard Branson Backed Memphis Meats Expects Meat From Cells in Stores by 2021
FDA May Force Rebranding of Soy, Almond, et al. "Milks"
Meatless "Beyond Burgers" Come to Fast Food Restaurants
Beef Trimmings Dubbed 'Pink SLIME' Can Now be Labelled 'Ground Beef'
No Need to Cut Down Red and Processed Meat, Study Says
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:10PM (14 children)
Do they include "pink slime"?
If dog food is good enough for our Seniors what's wrong with veggie burgers?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:13PM
They meat industry is poisoning our pets and our Seniors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:14PM (12 children)
In-N-Out... A double double 7 high is where the beef is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:57PM (11 children)
I'm not a West Coaster. I don't really get the In-N-Out hype. I have colleagues who look forward to California travel because they can go to In-N-Out. I've been several times myself, but I don't understand what is so great about their burgers to warrant the hype. They're not bad, and I don't mind going there, but they're nothing that makes me want to go out of my way to add them as a stop if I'm on travel.
So what am I missing here?
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday December 04 2019, @05:16PM (3 children)
I always stop at In-and-Out when I get to states that have them. The cheeseburgers are pretty good, but the thing that puts it over the top is the people. I've never had bad service there. No-one has answered the drive through with "washawan?". The people aren't on their cell phone when you pull up to the window. Orders, even special orders, take a reasonable amount of time. The store is clean inside and out, and the people are neat too.
The only other fast food place like it is Chic-Fil-A.
(Score: 5, Funny) by FatPhil on Wednesday December 04 2019, @11:11PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Funny) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday December 05 2019, @03:37AM (1 child)
I eat at both, so there is some level of contamination.;0
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 05 2019, @10:12AM
I now wish I'd have spent just a little longer on my prior post, it's blatantly obvious in retrospect that "queers" would have been the better match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @05:35PM
As far as burger chains go, you got to beat What-A-Burger.
The best burgers are always to be found in single owner joints.
But there is no "best". There are too many custom crafted burgers capable of blowing you away and they are unique unto themselves.
In-N-Out ain't even in the ballpark. The little convenience store near me with a grill in the corner makes a better burger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @05:43PM (4 children)
You can order a cheeseburger with 7 patties (7-high). Do that at McDonalds and you'll get explosive diarrhea.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 04 2019, @07:41PM (3 children)
better out that in.
Amazingly, I think I can actually hear all those arteries in the US hardening. 7 patties? No need to plan for retirement..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday December 04 2019, @08:24PM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday December 04 2019, @11:29PM (1 child)
8x.25=2, so two pounds of beef? My hat is off to you, good sir. I couldn't finish my fries after eating a 1.5lb burger last month.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday December 05 2019, @12:24AM
But by heck did I try!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday December 04 2019, @11:50PM
Because it's fucking cheap and delicious for what it is, and they treat their employees well while having drive-ins. Try to get similar burgers at McDonald's and Jack in the Box and you're going to be paying around 50% extra for way nastier food. Chick Fil-A is the same way, that's why you're gonna drive no less than 10 miles to get to one and both always have fucklong lines in the drive-thru.
Somebody else mentioned Whataburger, but I've never seen one of those in my entire life and I've lived and traveled across the U.S. And places like Five Guys and Smashburger are walk-in only with a 15-minute wait for your food even on slow days.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:11PM (1 child)
It is exactly like Budweiser (aka ABInBev) running commercials slamming and ridiculing craft beer drinkers while at the same time buying up as many craft breweries as they can. They want to marginalize the industry to the ambivalent who might be swayed to try the product, while at the same time getting a cut of a potential lucrative market of consumers whom they could never bring over to their side.
It is simultaneously targeting two (or more) perhaps disparate groups. It is having your cake and eating it too, or at least trying to do so. Or covering all your bets. Or some other third metaphor that doesn't immediately come to mind.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday December 04 2019, @11:54PM
San Diego is one of the Meccas of craft beer and, believe me, we pay very close attention to who buys what and they're fooling fucking nobody. A few years ago Anheiser-Busch opened a "craft" brewery in East Village and fucking nobody to this day visits. Has a good rating on Yelp, though.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:23PM (5 children)
THROG LOSE MONEY IF ALTERNATIVE PRODUCT COMES TO MARKET, THAT MAKE THROG MAAAAAD
THROG SPEND FRACTION OF MONEY TO FLING POO ON ENEMY THEN THROG LOSE LESS MONEY
THROG SMART. SMARTER THAN BAD SISSY MEAT MAKERS. THROG GET MORE RICH GET MORE MEAT!
HA HA! THROG IS BEST. THROG ALWAYS WIN. WHAT MEAT IS IN THIS BURRITO? TASTES VERY TASTY.
WHAT!! NOOOO!!!!
https://archive.is/9AhsD [archive.is]
https://archive.is/eSLh7 [archive.is]
https://archive.is/YkJr8 [archive.is]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:30PM (3 children)
Seriously?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @09:33PM
This lolcow has some meat on him.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Thursday December 05 2019, @01:30PM (1 child)
uh no, mostly joking
But kindof not:
https://gamechangersmovie.com/ [gamechangersmovie.com]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday December 06 2019, @12:54AM
You want to beat the competition, get more/better sleep [npr.org].
(Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 04 2019, @09:38PM
THROG SUFFER EXISTENTIAL CRISIS.
OBOK ASK, "YOU GONNA EAT THAT?"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @04:42PM (3 children)
Did people whose entire business model is demonizing the competition, really expect no retaliation at all? Profit by infowar, lose by infowar.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday December 04 2019, @05:38PM (2 children)
The meat folks aren't wrong on, honestly. If you have concerns about processed foods there is a reasonable argument that a steak from cows has less processing in it than e.g. textured vegetable protein.
Lab grown meat is an even easier target. Antibiotic use is ubiquitous in mammalian cell culture, and anti-meat has been harping on antibiotic (ab)use in livestock for years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:14PM (1 child)
And apparently it now destroys the climate too. And causes cancer, madness, blindness, hand pilosis, and eternal damnation.
The entire market for meat substitutes in affluent societies is artificially created by aggressive propaganda. Not really different from scientologists or any similar cult creating demand for their wares through brainwash.
(Score: 3, Funny) by black6host on Wednesday December 04 2019, @09:29PM
Pardon me, but I think you've confused the topic with masturbation. Two different kinds of meat there... :)
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @05:40PM
A message from the industry that brings you Potted Meat, Spam, hot dogs, bologna,pink slime, and other misc. mystery meat products, etc...: "Non-meat meat is over processed and bad!"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by ilsa on Wednesday December 04 2019, @05:51PM (2 children)
Whenever I see a non gov't org go apeshit like this, my immediate reaction is always the exact opposite of what they want. "Hmm... They seem to be very threatened by this. A meat-promotion org going all out to demonize veggie food? They're clearly threatened and so it's time to try more veggie food. A veggie-food promotion org harping on meat? Yeah I think I'll have that nice sirloin now. Rare, so the myoglobin oozes out as I slice into it.
Churches threatened by abortion? Well, I have a modest proposal...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:17PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True-believer_syndrome [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Thursday December 05 2019, @01:34PM
What if I told you that an NGO is just a corporation if it is funded by a corporation and just a government if funded by a government.
Meaning you think there is a public sector of NGO's, but that is just an illusion.
A lot of us are trying to re-create the public sector that was destroyed but it is difficult considering they are trying to destroy us at the same time and have unlimited money.
The system on the left hates the system on the right and is constantly attacking it under the table, and they then want to pretend they are the right hand side after they have won. We live in the middle and our decisions make a difference, inaction and laziness will always result in the left side and the end of the species.
https://archive.is/dmjdm [archive.is]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:23PM (13 children)
Never understood why veg(i) peeps have products that simulate whatever they don’t want (e.g. meat free burger, alcohol free beer...). If you want to eat and drink bad stuff, deep fry those veggies tempura style, or have sparkling mineral watered fruit juice. Who really wants a burger’n’beer without the juicy animal fats and alcohol stimulants to fire those endocardioneurons.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:38PM
Wish I knew. The more a food is dressed up to look like meat, the more I am put off by it. I think they serve a purpose as a sort of gateway food for people that liked eating meat and are trying to slowly wean themselves off it, or just reduce their intake, or give the veggie thing a try. Also there may be some (admittedly few) meat eaters that would consider these alternatives on the basis of cost (if they can be made cheaper--typically they're not really unless you make your own from basic ingredients), environmental impact or just something they'd be willing to eat while staying at a veggie household.
Consumerism is poison.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheRaven on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:40PM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 05 2019, @10:30AM
Perhaps, but it still makes no sense to me.
But I'm very much a meat eater. I have zero plans to change, because I know meat protein, and fat, are very important to health. And it tastes good for a *reason*.
Yet, I love vegetables and fruits. A fresh apple off a tree? Grapes? Carrots, broccoli eaten my steak? Onions, green peppers, fried and cooked with my steak?
Vegetables taste good. And you'd think vegetarians must like them, at least a little. So why the hell not make delicious vegetable dishes???
I'm guessing, you can't improve on the ones that already exist, and that the truth is simple. A vegetarian is *craving* the taste of meat, the texture of meat, for one reason.
Their body needs it, wants it, is DESPERATE for it.
It's like potato chips. Do you know how many bags are sold a year? I see friends, trying to cut back on fat, on meat, then they go and buy a big bag, and eat such maybe twice or three times a week.
Well, what's in potato chips? What's ON them? Even the healthy ones are coated in oil, and then? Salt! Along with other seasonings... the oil is designed to hold them there.
So... not getting enough salt, not getting enough fat, and their bodies FORCE them to CRAVE something full of it.
I noticed this, and decided to eat a couple of strips of bacon a day, and make sure I got at least a table spoon of grease onto a piece of bread. ALL CRAVINGS FOR POTATO CHIPS DISAPPEARED!
Eating too much fat is probably bad, but eating TOO LITTLE is surely too bad.
And my point is, that's why vegetarians want stupid crap like veggie burgers. The crave what's good for them, and a home-cooked burger is very healthy, especially right off the grill with grease dripping into the bun...
(Score: 1) by Surak_Prime on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:44PM
You're assuming that the whole market for these items is vegans/vegetarians, or teetotalers. I love well-prepared steak and chicken. But I'm not a big fan of hamburgers made with ground meat, and I much prefer soyburger patties. And sometimes I like tofu in my stir-fries - not to replace meat, but right there along side it. (Though I do notice that I cut back on the meat when doing that, which is probably accidentally good for me.) I'm not doing it for ethical reasons, and I'm not doing it for my health. I eat some of these things because some of them are additional tasty options for my face hole. This also applies to "near beer": if I'm going to drink alcohol, I'm drinking liquor, because my tolerance is such that beer doesn't even begin to give me a buzz, and it kinda tastes like crap - EXCEPT, every once in a while, when paired with a good steak. In which case, I'm not drinking it for its intoxicating effect, but for the actual flavor, and O'Doul's or Sharp's work well for that, and are often cheaper.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:54PM (6 children)
Exactly. I don't mind buying vegetarian or vegan stuff, if it is a genuine product (and tastes good). But I generally avoid vegetarian/vegan fake meat. If I want meat, I eat the real one. If I decided to go without meat, I'd also go without fake meat.
If there were less fake meat and more genuine (and tasty) vegetarian/vegan products, I might eat more vegetarian/vegan food than I do now.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 04 2019, @07:51PM (3 children)
I think a lot of their marketing is about it being better for the planet [umich.edu], not necessarily much better for *you*. tl;dr version at the bottom of this giant infographic [beyondmeat.com], under "Our Impact".
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @08:52PM (1 child)
"Pay us to save your soul!Or else!"
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday December 04 2019, @09:40PM
... "buy an Impossible Burger!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 05 2019, @11:30AM
I occasionally have the vegetarian option, just because I feel like it. Where I used to live there was a pizza shop did a great vegetarian pizza. I used to order a vegetarian with added ham and cheese. Got funny looks the first few times, but it was a really excellent pizza.
The only response I have for that is fuck them sideways with a baseball bat wrapped in barb wire.
Same reason I don't give a shit about global warming. If it was really a problem they wouldn't be flying all over the planet bleating about it at holiday resort conferences.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @11:37PM (1 child)
Oops, just noticed you said "products" do vegetables still count? There's plenty of vegetarian food in the produce isle, its just not productized into something you can advertise/market/trade-mark. Maybe run adds for carrots and convince people they're a ground-breaking new product?
There's plenty of healthy food, but maybe not "products".
(Score: 3, Informative) by Acabatag on Thursday December 05 2019, @02:23AM
Sadly, there are carrots now that are essentially a 'product.' I like buying what they call 'baby carrots' which are smaller less mature carrots. They're tastier and since they have more surface area are probably more nutritious. But 'baby carrot' has now become a product. They take regular carrots and cut them into shorter chunks and put them in a bag labeled 'baby carrots.'
You can still usually get real young carrots, but the 'baby carrot' is now a marketed product.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 04 2019, @09:36PM
Is it important that you understand why?
Aside from that, why can't it be the simple distinction that one wants and enjoys the flavor and texture but one has some ethical reason why they don't want to eat a killed animal if there's a reasonable alternative? Or doesn't want the buzz of the beer (or can't have it because one is in a profession that makes enjoyment difficult or a religion....) Or.... allergies.
Flip the question around.... If there is an alternative for which you won't be able to tell the difference then why insist on one version or the other? (Which I don't think exists yet in meat - I can barely tell the difference between an Impossible Whopper and the real thing but I can tell it. It's still tasty and I hope it sticks around.)
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday December 04 2019, @10:11PM
Of course, the reasons are widely varied. In some cases there may be medical reasons such as liver disease making alcohol a bad idea for someone who likes the taste of beer. As for meat, a variety of conditions, including a tick bite [wikipedia.org], might make actual meat a bad idea.
(Score: 2) by Mojibake Tengu on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:24PM (1 child)
"The paste was designed to provide complete nutrition and have a shelf life of over 100 years."
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Food_paste [fandom.com]
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Nutritional_Alternative_Paste_Program [fandom.com]
"If one shoots or attacks the paste with any weapon, they can see that it actually bleeds."
Rust programming language offends both my Intelligence and my Spirit.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday December 05 2019, @04:04AM
Still waiting for this product IRL.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:43PM (1 child)
What do they want, blood?
Consumerism is poison.
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Wednesday December 04 2019, @06:45PM
There will be heme.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday December 04 2019, @07:02PM (6 children)
I've had meat burgers. I've had burgers made of meat substitutes, including the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger. And I've had burgers that aren't trying to be meat, but are unabashedly something else, e.g. black bean burgers. Of the 3, the meat substitutes are the least appetizing.
Like all diet trends, this latest push for vegetarianism will create a corporate bonanza trying to sell you stuff. It's the same instinct as advertising lettuce as "gluten-free". But the right way to do it usually involves stuff that was available before it became trendy.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Acabatag on Thursday December 05 2019, @02:28AM (3 children)
I was at Kroger for lunch awhile back and I bought a bottle of water to go with my food. It was store-brand 'Simply natural' water and it was labeled as organic.
Organic water.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 05 2019, @02:46AM (1 child)
I think Kroger is getting ready to sell CBD products aimed at dogs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:51PM
It might have been Giant Eagle idk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 05 2019, @03:49AM
I generally prefer inorganic water, as I find that the organic components often give me the runs.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday December 05 2019, @11:46AM
I think there is definitely a market for asbestos-free meat substitutes.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 05 2019, @04:50PM
Your name wouldn't happen to be Mahk [youtube.com], would it? :)
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday December 05 2019, @10:42AM
Sounds like fodder for Adam Ruins Everything. A basic premise of that show is how advertising and corporations manipulate the public into believing things that aren't true. He's already tackled the meat industry a little; the push for veganism is probably ripe for scrutiny also.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by corey on Friday December 06 2019, @01:33AM
Yeah, true dat. The meat emulation products are processed as hell. My wife noticed the huge ingredient list on the side of some burgers we had a while back. Plus loads of salt.
But they taste good to me, and I can still enjoy a big fat greasy burger without thinking about the poor helpless cow that was murdered in front of it's friends to make it for me. Now if we armed all cows with lasers and body armour to fight back, then that's a different story.