A person who buys something that is marketed as meat but isn’t meat is harmed. Just not by “enzymes.”
You might want to check out a biology book that explains the digestive process.
A similar situation occurs for the majority of people on this planet if they have animal dairy products, because most humans do not have the necessary enzyme to process lactose.
9 Likes
Explain please?
1 Like
There are tons of people who are allergic to Soy products.
Most Vegetarian hamburgers contain soy products.
If someone who is allergic to Soy eats an Impossible burger, they could be sick for days or they could die.
If they eat a hamburger which is cut with soy products, they could die (or just be sick for days).
Yes, food labeling is great. But the really dangerous place isn’t the grocer’s aisle where it’s pretty easy to find out what is in something (by looking at the ingredient list), the danger is when they walk into a fast food place and order the “quarter pounder burger” and suddenly the quarter pounder burger is made with soy products.
Do I feel that “Veggie Burger” is fair? Yes! “Veggie Hot Dog” is fair too. Banning those as descriptors is not good. But allowing people to sell an Impossible Burger as-is without explaining that Impossible = a vegetable / soy based product is not good.
Heck, I think “Veggie Burger” isn’t really descriptive enough: a complete listing of what all is in the burger should be available in case someone is allergic to a particular kind of vegetable or nut. People need to know what is in their food.
Honestly, I think a lot of vegetarian food packaging is getting into the deceptive ad practice realm, and a lot of it is driven by the absolutely insane concept that vegetarian foods are better for everyone and a vegetable never hurt anyone, when the simple fact is that there are many, many, many allergies, intolerances, and sensitivities to various plant based substances.
1 Like
This is vapid abject bullshit.
even in meatdom, asking for a burger could mean multiple protein sources. So as it is for bacon, sausage, steak (tuna steaks anyone?).
You’re saying now that meat-based proteins should get a pass but plant-based ones shouldn’t?
At least in Canada a “beef patty” needs to be all beef with sesonings and no fillers. But of course, the meat market in the US would go apeshit over the fact that a beef burger with breadcrumbs or other fillers couldn’t be a “beef burger” anymore, so lets not pretend that there’s anything but a double standard being advocated for here.
Beyond meat burger packaging is way more honest than your average box of sausages is (may contain beef, chicken, pork, or by-products in tiny print).
The idea that consumers are being “harmed” by plant-based protein calling itself plant-based burgers is literally laughable propagandist bullshit and thinly-veiled establishment meat-producer marketing effluvia.
And frankly, anyone arguing for tighter restrictions on food labelling who isn’t ALSO arguing for meat products to be clearly labelled is suspect IMHO.
15 Likes
I take it you’ve no clue how bacon is made.
5 Likes
If someone who is so allergic to soy that they could die decides to eat something called the Impossible Burger and (a) doesn’t know what that is and (b) doesn’t even bother to ask and (c) doesn’t ask to see the ingredients, the effects of that soy are entirely their fault and their problem.
Veggie burgers are not deceptive. They are not lying. They are well-labeled, and anyone buying something that says VEGETARIAN and GRAIN BASED and MEATLESS on it that is somehow shocked to find they’re eating soy or wheat based burgers is either careless or ignorant, but it certainly isn’t the fault of the manufacturers.
4 Likes
Perhaps all food products need to be carefully, accurately, and honestly labeled.
8 Likes
That is exactly what this is about. And here we are arguing semantics instead of addressing the real issue. Thanks!
2 Likes
That’s exactly what we’re saying
3 Likes
This. It also can’t contain a lot of the “technically beef, but processed beyond all recognition” garbage that is in a lot of US burgers.
Veggie Burger is a well recognized common name for a product that is in the shape of a meat burger, may contain the same or similar consistency, but is made entirely of vegetarian (at minimum) ingredients. Consumer confusion is unlikely to be an issue. Allergens can be addressed using a proper ingredients label.
This is an obvious disproportionate response based solely on protectionist grounds – by and for people who claim that the free market is a preferable to government regulations. In other words, pure hypocrisy.
10 Likes
This is the big one, IMO, especially at the grocery store (most restaurants would almost certainly be calling special attention to the meatless quality of an Impossible Burger on their menu as a differentiator). If you have a food allergy, you get in the habit of checking everything you buy to make sure it doesn’t contain anything that will set you off (or kill you). Soy, along with wheat, milk, and eggs, is an allergen that is listed in its own block either above or below the ingredient list, in bold print so that it’s easy to locate. And I’d say anything that didn’t have a “100% [meat]” sticker on the front is going to warrant inspection for someone with an allergy severe enough to kill them.
8 Likes
As someone with a food allergy,
7 Likes
What is with this strawman? What product is marketed as meat but isn’t?
I can point to a dozen “hot dogs” and “burgers” made with multiple proteins but don’t market it as such (I know this, because I just moved to the US and have been scouring the local selections to understand ingredients). I can’t think of a single non-meat based burger or sausage that doesn’t prominently say it’s plant based, for example:
About as unambiguous as it gets.
14 Likes
There is some value in labeling products as gluten-free, if they’re processed in a gluten-free facility. Some facilities that process wheat products also process other foods, and they can’t guarantee that the non-wheat product isn’t gluten-free, even if it doesn’t “officially” contain wheat, because it might “accidentally” contain wheat.
2 Likes
Is this strawman an actual strawman, or is it made out of meat? We have to mark it clearly
16 Likes
Welcome to the US Thunderdome… 
10 Likes
most sugar-free gums with artificial flavors are completely artificial products that are enjoyed by millions of people daily. remember that every food item, whether it is artificial, synthetic, natural, or organic (whatever any of those words might be taken to mean), every last one of them are made of chemicals.
as well, unless you are raising your own livestock, vegetables, fruits, or grains and controlling all of the inputs of fertilizer or feed, you are relying on great numbers of other people to provide your foodstuffs and have no clear or easy way of knowing the full provenance of your diet.
additionally, many foods require a great deal of processing to render them useful. livestock must be slaughtered and cleaned/skinned/plucked. larger animals are broken down into primal cuts which are further broken down into particular cuts for cooking. you want some type of ground meat for patties or sausage that takes further processing and seasoning. many of the seasonings used for sausage are added as much for preservation as they are for flavor. some of these sausages are further processed by brining, pickling, and smoking for both flavor or preservation.
many fruits and vegetables are somewhat easier to use without processing. some can be eaten fresh in the raw form while others require cooking to be edible. some require further processing to be useful.
grains typically require more processing. from separating the grains from the inedible parts of the plant to milling the grain into a usable flour.
my belief is that we want to avoid foods that are adulterated with products that increase the volume of the food without adding any nutritional value and possibly adding harmful chemicals in the process. that is not what is going on with the meat substitutes.
as for genetically modified ingredients, given the inevitable transmission of genetic information through pollination to nearby farms, i’m afraid that ship has sailed for better or worse. but certainly all fruits, vegetables, and grains have been changed enormously since humans started trying to work with them some thousands of years ago. as examples think of corn which has gone from a shrub that produced grains tightly clumped in something almost like a pine cone to long, accessible ears of large kernels, wheat has gone from a tall grass with tiny seeds to a taller grass with large heads of berries. apples have gone from small bitter fruits useful mainly for ciders to large, sweet fruits useful for cider, cooking, or eating out of hand.
edited for clarity.
5 Likes
Why?
also, My condolences.
That’s a liberal media lie. They are dead last and proud of it. They are the Doxology of states. “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.”
1 Like
