Tag Archives: Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods launches vegan burger

Posted on by

Here’s something we thought we would never see. Tyson foods, the largest meat company in America with $42.2 billion in sales, just came out with a vegan burger as well as vegan Bratwurst and Italian sausages, to add to their other products. Tyson’s line of vegan meat alternatives is called Raised & Rooted. This comes almost on the heels of Maple Leaf, the largest meat company in Canada, acquiring the vegan meat company, Field Roast, which is based right here in Seattle.

We’ve been watching this trend for some time now. Mainstream meat companies and companies with large lines of meat products getting into vegan meat alternatives. If anyone wonders where the future lies for vegan food they can just ask the meat companies. Who would have ever thought that big meat would give birth to vegan food products?

Raised & Rooted, which first launched in 2019, also plans to launch additional new products later this summer. The company has witnessed impressive growth during its first year and has since expanded outside of the US into Europe.

We are also very grateful for the many companies, both big and small, that have started plant-based, stayed plant-based, and have had very impressive growth. They too should have a bright future ahead of them.

Poultry and Pollution

Posted on by

Chicken factoryWhen it comes to the environment, the public’s attention has been understandably focused on global warming. However, the water pollution problem hasn’t gone away. While many people are aware of the water pollution caused by raising cattle, few are aware that raising chicken is just as bad if not worse. Sure, a cow produces more manure than a chicken does, but there are far more chickens in this country. In fact, we now raise over 9 billion chickens every year compared to only 95 million cows.

In addition to the water pollution that results from agricultural runoff from fertilizer while raising feed crops for all those chickens, the waste products from raising chickens cause an enormous amount of pollution. In fact, chicken manure is especially degrading to waterways because it contains 2 to 4 times more pollutants (particularly nitrogen and phosphorous) than the manure of other types of livestock and can also have disastrous effects on water and soil quality.
Read more

Good news? – Meat and Dairy acquiring veg companies

Posted on by

 

so-delicious-dessertsIs this good news? Mainstream meat and dairy companies are investing in, and acquiring outright, plant-based food companies. Is this the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end? Examples abound:
In July, France’s Danone, best known for its Dannon brand yogurt, bought WhiteWave and its subsidiary, So Delicious, which specializes in organic and plant-based alternatives to dairy products, in a deal worth $12.5 billion.

Beyond Meat packetBeyond Meat sells plant protein that “looks, feels, tastes and acts like chicken without the cluck,” as the product packaging for its faux chicken reads. That was good enough for poultry giant Tyson Foods Inc., which acquired a 5% stake in the El Segundo-based vegan start-up Monday.

For Tyson Foods, the move is a fast way into a rapidly growing alternative-foods segment, which could account for as much as a third of worldwide protein consumption by mid-century with a market value of as much as $108 billion, according to Lux Research.

Even Boca Burger is owned by Kraft, and Gardein was recently acquired by Pinnacle Foods, which owns brands such as Armour Bacon. So the trend is clear. The question is “Is this a good thing and what will it mean for the future?”  Commenting on Tyson’s recent investment, Paul Shapiro, the Humane Society’s vice president for farm animal protection, says, “We’re thrilled to see Tyson investing in the company. Americans want to diversify their protein sources with more of it coming from plants, and Tyson is positioned well to help them do that.”

Others agree and think that mainstream companies have the connections and extra bucks to take plant-based foods further and faster than they could have gotten on their own. Ultimately, the mainstream is where the growth is expected to come from in the veg world.

But still some uneasiness lingers. Many veg companies are choosing to keep their distance. While mainstream meat and dairy companies, seeing their potential, seem to have supported their new brands, they could have easily done otherwise. Time, as the saying goes, will tell what this will mean for the food vegetarians currently eat and enjoy.