I am a big believer that food is “healthy” or “not-healthy” based on whether it was processed, the chemicals it was exposed to, synthetic mutations, and other unnatural exposures as opposed to the base form of the underlying food item. If I grow a bunch of fruits and vegetables in my backyard and make an all veggie meal that sounds pretty healthy. Whereas if I go to a store and buy dog food made from some form of a vegetable that is run through multiple machines, accumulated dust and other chemicals, and packaged in plastic that doesn’t sound as healthy to me.

I recently read an article posted on drovers.com by Greg Henderson titled “@GHGGuru: Fake Meat ‘Not Very Different from Dog Food’”. The article discusses an interview with University of California/Davis professor Frank Mitloehner on the AgriTalk Podcast about how ingredients in the impossible burger and beyond burger are very similar to dog food except for a few additional spices for taste. This is different from the word of mouth opinions I have heard on the health attributes of these meatless burgers.

I have been told by word of mouth from a few people that the impossible burger and the beyond burger are “healthy vegetarian options”. I didn’t try and explain my different opinion on the subject in those instances because it didn’t seem like the right time. I consider healthy vegetarian options to be mainly organic grains, fruits, and vegetables with as minimal processing and chemicals as is available. So why do we have 2 very different opinions? Mainly because we listen to different types of advertising.

Companies tell consumers about their products through paid advertisements, which means that they are paying a lot of money for a specific message to be delivered to a particular audience willing to listen to and adopt that message. That message is not “the truth” but simply an opinion with some grey area in what can be proven about it according to the judicial laws in place. There are likely multiple experts who disagree on the opinion that is distributed through paid advertisements but who most likely won’t pay the same amount of money to get their message heard by a similar audience.

Overall, everyone has a right to make up their own minds on how healthy a meatless burger is even if it is the same message distributed through paid advertising. I think it’s important that we are allowed to hold different views equally especially when it has to do with decisions that impact our own bodies. I am also happy that there are professors and other individuals willing to give opinions that aren’t mainstream. I value the right to choose not to spend my own money to buy a product that I don’t believe is healthy. I also respect people’s decisions to eat meatless burgers and I hope they enjoy their meal.

References

Henderson, G. (2019, June 28). @GHGGuru: Fake Meat "Not Very Different From Dog Food". Retrieved November 13, 2020, from https://www.drovers.com/article/ghgguru-fake-meat-not-very-different-dog-food

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