Beyond Meat, Behind Meat, It Ain’t Meat With Unhealthily Low Sales

Over the past few years, the meat alternative industry has been making waves in the headlines, promising a cruelty free and environmentally friendly, vegan replacement to meat that tastes just as good as the real thing. Big industry players and leaders partnered with some big influencers and celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian. Because if we know anything, it is that if a celebrity says it is good, then that has to be the truth.

More recently, however, it’s been bad news. A big headline this past week was that the sales and value for Beyond Meat, a leading company in the industry, had dropped drastically. Naturally, such an earth shattering headline means that conversations and debates on the topic are all over the airwaves, and of course Twitter, or X as it’s now called, where everyone goes to share their valuable opinions.  

Before getting into that though, I must ask, is this really a surprise considering the almost extortionate prices these products cost? I mean, it’s only vegans who might splash the cash if they have it. But I’m not convinced that they’re good enough alternatives to convert meat eaters or even vegetarians over, especially not at those prices.

I can’t really speak for the taste because I can’t remember ever actually trying them. But the only people who seem to enjoy them are some vegans who I’ve talked to who of course swear it tastes as good as the real thing, and the PR celebrities and influencers who have been paid good money to say positive things.

In the debate raging online, it seemed many shared similar beliefs. For the most part, the sentiment was not on the side of these companies. Many expressed that it was no surprise that the sales had dipped because of the pricing being ridiculous. When the original is cheaper and better in value, only someone of the vegan persuasion would consider the alternative. Others were along the lines of the idea that a slab of compressed mush will never replace the real thing and that the trend is spiraling.

The one that really got my attention, though, was when they started bringing the ingredients into it. With these, the conversation started to turn more towards the topic of health rather than taste and pricing simply expressing that these highly processed products can in no way be healthy for us. And that they are definitely not a healthy alternative, vegan or not. I can’t say definitely that I’ve seen these products being marketed outright as healthy or a healthy solution. But they have definitely tied themselves to the vegan diet trend that for some reason, is being touted as a healthy diet. To be considered healthy by association is something they have cleverly been maneuvering and relying on.

Of course you can get highly processed non vegan food or even highly processed meat products. But these products that are being marketed as the meat alternative are themselves highly processed to get to the point of them even trying to be like meat.

The nature of these products themselves simply diminishes the argument that veganism is a healthy diet just because it’s vegan. As the trend has grown and more people have gone vegan, so has the industry and the production of vegan products. Everything that was unhealthy before is still unhealthy and now available in the supermarket, with the only difference being that it is vegan. 

When the list of ingredients for a burger or piece of fake meat is as long as my shopping list, it becomes more of a question of what’s not in it than what is. As a rule for myself, I personally try to stay away from such foods and highly processed products. The sodium levels are usually very high with high sugar content and that’s even before we mention the preservatives that are commonly built onto their actual essence. Even simple pre-cooked food such as plain cooked chicken breast bought in the supermarket comes with all the added stuff that I prefer to stay away from.

The simple truth is that we have to differentiate things. Veganism should not be seen as or marketed as a healthy diet overall just because it’s vegan. It is usually an ethical based diet, an ethical choice based on either animal cruelty or environmental crisis schools of thought. It’s not generally a health based diet. If you are not instructed to go on a vegan diet by a medical professional as an individual or you don’t adhere to these schools of thought, simply do not be fooled by the idea that it is necessarily a healthy choice. With the growing popularity of veganism, your unhealthy vegan options and alternatives have also hugely grown.  

This is not a dig or argument against veganism or vegans at all. I can understand when someone makes an ethical based decision for themselves or really for any reason for that matter. Make your own decisions. Do your own thing. But I’m just pointing out that there is a difference when it comes to health. One does not necessarily equal the other.

I myself am not vegan, and nor do I plan to be. This is my choice and I certainly won’t be fooled into thinking that it would be healthier to move to highly processed alternatives, not for taste and definitely not for health.