Protect The Harvest | The Alternative Meat Hypocrisy

Consumers are seeing “meat alternatives” everywhere they look, including grocery stores, fast food chains, and restaurants. Meat alternatives encompass an array of food products made from plant-based, meat-like proteins and lab-produced, “cultured meat” products.

Although they are produced from a variety of materials and are cleverly marketed with alluring labels, these alternative meats have some common features. They are marketed as “healthier” and more environmentally “sustainable” than traditional animal protein. Manufacturers and marketers are trying to make their products look and taste like real meat, which includes placing them in or near meat departments in grocery retailers. No doubt, this has resulted in some consumers guessing which items are familiar animal proteins (meat), and which are alternative meat products.

Clever marketing tactics are used to promote these products, tactics that are somewhat deceptive and often hypocritical. These highly processed alternative food products are questionable at best for their lofty environmental claims, and they also tend to disparage the nutrition, quality, safety, affordability and flavor of traditional animal protein products.

Shady Marketing Tactics

At the heart of sustainability marketing claims for alternative meats is a focus on demonizing animal agriculture.