Why Fake Meat is Junk Food for Health and Environment with Tasty Private Profits

Let’s get this right at least with the universe. Let’s participate with Earth’s ecosystem or live and die in a glass tube.

First, think of a meadow with plants and grass. Plants are the Primary Consumers because they become food by using the sun’s energy, water and the dissolved nutrients through roots and leaves. Then along come Secondary Consumers as both animals who eat plants and humans who eat both animals and plants.

That is our basic food supply made from the elements of the earth to be digested and recycled by nature’s inhabitants.

But what Brave New World appears on the meadow? What is this new kind of factory with large metal drums churning a frothy red liquid containing a genetically modified yeast called soy leghemoglobin to mimic meat-flavor while mixing wheat, soy, potato, pea, rice or mung bean protein to mimic the texture of ground beef with heat, acid or solvent. Add some methylcellulose, a plant derivative commonly used in sauces as a binder. Add some fats like either canola, safflower or coconut to finally run the mixture through an extruder to reshape it. Note: Different company brands have unique compositions.

What’s This Industrial Food Movement All About?

Whose vison is it to eliminate living animals and replace them with patented cell-based lab-grown alternatives?

Are private companies encouraged to launch meatless soy-based burgers and lab-grown steaks, shrimp, pork and chicken to make huge profits rather than farmers and, ultimately, control the food supply in its entirety?

All Junk Food Is Linked to Health Problems

It is common knowledge already that any kind of ultra-processed food has been linked to obesity and degenerative diseases.

For example, excess omega-6 fat in the form of linoleic acid (LA) is one of the most significant contributors to the epidemic in chronic disease.

Canola and safflower are the primary sources of omega -6 fats used to increase the risk of metabolic dysfunction over time. Organic pasture raised beef has healthy fatty acid composition with very low levels of LA content.

Remember Nature only uses sun, water and soil minerals to synergize food that best fits our body’s cellular needs. The main question is whether imitation plant protein with a long ingredient list is better than animal protein.

Fake meat production is not better for the environment

Carbon Footprint Evaluation reports show that small organic grass fed livestock operations and regenerative grazing are six times more carbon efficient than the average CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) production model.

The same cannot be said for Genetically Engineered soy. Data shows GE soybean and corn farms are primary destroyers of grasslands and forests as well as a primary source of water and air pollution, often associated with resistant super weeds and cross contamination.

Soy based “meat” actually causes greater environmental harm than organic grass fed beef production, which has net negative emissions after all relevant factors are taken into account.

What’s the Agenda of Fake Meat Industries?

Is this Another Effort to Control Global Food Supply with Patented Plant-Derived Alternatives?

Suddenly, food becomes aggressively marketed as corporate intellectual property with protections to actively engage and monopolize or increase food inequities in the food system.

Over the past several years, a growing number of start-up companies have joined the brave new world movement to replace real meat with processed imitation meats “grown” through a variety of means. Top manufacturers like “Impossible” Burgers and “Beyond Meat” are available in fast food burger chains, restaurants, grocers and some superstores.

In fact, it could be surmised that private corporations and biotech companies will eventually push farmers and ranchers out of the equation. Their promotion is that “cultured Meat” is a more sustainable alternative to conventional livestock, less time to grow and no slaughter of animals.

Certainly some stock market investors are overjoyed … one phenomenon, Beyond Meat, surged more than 850% mere months after its initial public offering (IPO).

Who thinks that altering the natural order of Earth’ lifecycle is the answer?

Do people understand that supporting organic, regenerative farming has proven benefits to the environment, climate and human health?

Who really believes that Imitation Fake Food and Fake Meat is the solution for diversity of food culture in order to maintain our health and Earths environment?

Real Food = Real Life

Nature = sunlight + water + soil minerals =

Real Food = Human Health = Potential for Health or Disease

“Food is not a commodity, it is not ‘stuff’ put together mechanically and artificially in labs and factories. Food is life. Food holds the contributions of all beings that make the food web, and it holds the potential of maintaining and regenerating the web of life.” Environmentalist and anti-GMO activist Vandana Shiva, Ph.D.

Make Your Decision

Saving the food system for the world is complicated requiring more than market forces or a technology solution like these fake burgers.

Obviously, the debate will be long-winded with subjective logic between vegans, vegetarians, meat-eaters, artificial meat appetites and capitalists with private profits to enjoy.

If makers of these products — let’s call them “alternative meat” — can make something that is safe and affordable, that’s good for everyone. Prices go down and people get what they want. But being transparent is critical for this burgeoning industry.

"It’s also important that government regulators and the public at large know what’s going on these labs so they can make informed choices about their food." Richard Berman: executive director of the Center for Consumer Freedom in Washington

Stop and Think about Informed Food Choices

Do due diligence by checking out a host of articles both pro and con about laboratory meat before ingesting a Fake Big Whopper.

Choose organic or grass fed beef to help protect the environment, rebuild soil, normalize climate and support biodiversity of plants and wildlife.

Reduce processed foods with exposure to pesticides, herbicides, GE ingredients and synthetic food additives.

Learn more about how meat alternatives or any other ultraprocessed products contribute to the rising number of people who suffer from diet-related health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

I recommend skipping meat alternatives and opting for real beef raised using regenerative farming practices to maintain ecological balance and equity in the world’s food supply. Good dietary practice is a piece of meat the size of your palm with a host of multi-colored vegetables and salad.

Do you have any experiences with fake meat products?

Annemarie Berukoff