What the Boom in Plant-Based Proteins Means for Food Safety

Most of the meatless burgers are transported frozen, says Emmett, and cooking temperatures usually are at least 165 degrees. “They can keep for nine months frozen and seven to 10 days thawed in the fridge,” she says.

As for assuring that the foods use only plant-based ingredients, the Plant Based Foods Association and product testing company NSF International launched a Certified Plant Based seal in November 2018. Foods eligible for certification include meat alternatives such as plant-based meat, poultry, and fish; egg substitutes; milk alternatives; and other dairy alternatives such as plant-based cheese, yogurt, butter, and ice cream.

Just for Vegans?

Meatless proteins aren’t just for vegans and vegetarians, experts say. In fact, it’s meat eaters who are driving the market. “It is about the choice of having plant-based meat in the diet once a week,” Ujwal Arkalgud, CEO of MotivBase, a cultural anthropology consulting company, said during the Center for Food Integrity webcast.

The more recently marketed burgers on the market, including the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Meat meatless burger, include more ingredients than earlier veggie burgers and are aimed at better taste, texture, and juiciness. “We’re clearly seeing a tipping point on consumer acceptance,” said Ervin at the webinar. “The biggest barrier in the past was taste. It’s not vegans and vegetarians driving the market, but meat eaters, so we have to satisfy them.”

Still, consumers remain focused on health and nutrition. Ervin says Tyson is bridging the meat and meatless markets with its “Raised and Rooted” brand of plant-based proteins, which blends equal parts of fresh Angus beef with plant-based protein. “It has 60 percent less saturated fat compared than 80/20 beef and 40 percent less calories,” he says. The 80/20 beef is 80 percent lean beef and 20 percent fat.

The Tyson blended burger has 150 calories and 19 grams of protein. It has 1 gram of dietary fiber. An 80/20 beef hamburger has about 300 calories and 30 grams of protein, according to calorieking.com. A Beyond Meat burger has 270 calories and 20 grams of fat, while the Impossible Burger has 240 calories and 19 grams of fat, according to both companies’ websites.

A 2019 Nielsen study says many of today’s shoppers are omnivores playing the field when it comes to exploring meat alternatives to get their dietary protein. “In fact, protein-seeking consumers are more likely than ever to consider all the options available to them,” Nielsen says. Some 98 percent of meat-alternative buyers in the United States also buy meat products, and 21 percent of those who typically buy only meat also are now buying plant-based meats.

White Castle, known for its sliders, noticed in 2015 that a lot of people wanted an alternative to beef. “We are an almost 100-year-old company, so we’ve always had to adapt and change to what our customers want,” says Shannon Tolliver, social responsibility and environmental sustainability manager at White Castle. She says the company started by partnering with Dr. Praeger’s, which makes burgers out of vegetables. White Castle later added a black beam burger. In 2018, it partnered with Impossible Foods to sell the Impossible Slider, and rolled that out to all White Castle restaurants last year. “Dr. Praeger’s is a veggie burger that doesn’t taste like a hamburger, but the Impossible Slider is similar to a beef taste,” she says. The beef taste has proven popular among Generation Z and millennial customers.

“Plant-based burgers allow consumers to substitute without sacrifice,” NPD food and beverage analyst Darren Seifer said when the market researcher released its data on that food category last summer. “With that said, U.S. consumers have not given up on beef burgers but are willing to mix things up every now and then.”