What's Real About Fake Meat?

Wow.. they look real! They actually look appetizing! Yes.. that’s what they’re supposed to do. They are supposed to smell, taste and look like meat. But, what are they actually? Why do we call them plant-based meat? They aren’t meat at all. Actually, they’re not plants either. So, what are they? I think we need to start with the ingredient label. The last I checked, I couldn’t identify one ingredient I would have in my cabinet! So, I did a little digging and here are some of things I found out….

I am going to discuss the two brands I know of that are on the market — Impossible Foods and Beyond Burger.  Despite being made exclusively from plants, both these burgers pack added sugar, salt, and other processed ingredients like protein isolates. Therefore, they contain fewer vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant compounds than burgers made from whole foods. The companies who make these products use bio-technology or synthetic biology, meaning they manipulate the manufacturing of them.

Many people are concerned with the genetic modification of our food supply; namely, corn, soy, sugar cane, etc. With this new bio-technology or synthetic biology comes the genetic modification of microorganisms. These could be yeast, mold or bacteria. They are modifying them with a gene from a plant, a gene from an animal or something else allowing these microorganisms to produce our food additives such as citric acid, xantham gum and others. More of our additives are now being produced as a result of this bio-technology. Where citric acid used to come from the citrus fruit, it is now coming from a genetically modified mold.

In the fake meat movement, they are producing something called soy leghemoglobin. There is a nodule on the root of the soy plant that has a heme (iron) group in it. They take the gene out of the plant that produces this nodule with the heme iron and plant it into bacteria. Now bacteria produces this soy leghemoglobin — now they do not have to use the root of the soybean plant. Soy leghemoglobin has the ability to cause the fake meat to bleed and helps with flavor. Flavor enhancers and modulators are then added to achieve various tastes and smells to the meat — bison, chicken, turkey, etc. The two forms of dietary iron are heme iron and non-heme iron. Heme iron comes from animal proteins. Non-heme iron is found is plant-based foods. Heme iron is readily absorbed by the body and non-heme iron needs to be converted in order to be absorbed. So, how do we know if we are absorbing iron from these fake meats and/or if our bodies are converting this non-heme iron into iron the body needs.

According to Dr. Mercola, Impossible Burger’s scientists fed the leghemoglobin to rats for 28 days to determine the risk of allergic reaction or toxicity. Dana Perls, from Friends of the Earth, pointed out that the rats exhibited alterations in blood chemistry, which the company did not follow up on.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only requires research by the manufacturer to determine food safety and has not conducted any independent tests.

I am not advocating eating meat as an alternative to “fake meat.” I think eating real whole foods is a much safer option. Vegan/vegetarian sources of protein like beans, tempeh, etc., are a better answer to a meatless diet than eating “fake meat.”

While called a plant-based meat alternative, Beyond Burgers and Impossible Burgers are an ultraprocessed conglomeration of chemicals, concocted by pulling protein from soy and a few other processed concentrates.

To good health,

-C