Six Ingredients that Take the Plant Out of “Plant-Based”

Do you consider “pea protein isolate” or “expeller pressed canola oil” to be vegetables?

Chances are you’ve heard of plant-based meat. The products have taken grocery stores and fast-food chains by storm. But despite being called “plant-based”, these foods really aren’t the best choice for your body.

Just look at the ingredients in The Beyond Burger, one of the most popular plant-based meats:

Beyond Meat is one of the companies marketing themselves as healthy and sustainable while the actual ingredients in their products are heavily processed and way higher in fat, saturated fat, sodium, and calories than lean ground beef. And as far as plants go, you can hardly consider pea protein isolate or expeller pressed canola oil to be vegetables.
So if “plant-based” meats aren’t really made with vegetables, what are they made of?

Here are some of the worst ingredients we found in “plant-based” meat products:

1. RED #3 (ERYTHROSINE)

Red #3/erythrosine is an artificial food dye that the FDA has recognized as a thyroid carcinogen since 1990. It is prohibited from use in cosmetics and topical medications, but the agency’s repeated attempts to ban Red #3 from food use were stopped by special interest groups.

2. CARAMEL COLORING

Caramel coloring refers to any of the four classes of caramel food coloring, two of which are associated with cancer.