Grab that veggie burger and take a big guilt-free bite: after a recent burst of publicity attempting to put the boot into plant-based meat alternatives, a new report has found they are healthier and more environmentally friendly than the real thing.
Having totted up the greenhouse gas emissions involved in manufacturing products such as vegan sausages, meat free mince or no-fish fingers, the Food Foundation has concluded they are the greener and more nutritious choice than the pork sausages, beef mince and fish fingers they are replacing. That sits in stark contrast to recent scaremongering assertions that all meat substitutes are UPF (ultra-processed foods, high in calories, salt and sugar).
In fact, according to the report, meat alternatives generally contain more fibre, fewer calories and less saturated fat, which chimes with decades of research highlighting the benefits of plant-based eating.
The charity, which works to shape a sustainable food system, aims to help consumers learn more about these relatively new products, as well as finding out whether some are better than others for us and the planet. The report, Rethinking Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, analyses 68 different plant-based meat alternatives on the basis of nutrition, environmental impact and cost, in comparison to meat and to each other.
It also calls for more nuance in describing the healthiness of plant-based alternatives, arguing that lumping them all together hides a wide variety of options. And it comes up with three new categories to help consumers differentiate them: processed (new generation), processed (traditional) and less processed (beans and grains).
According to the Food Foundation, all three categories “contained fewer calories, lower levels of saturated fat, and higher levels of fibre on average compared to the meat products analysed”. It adds that while all contain less protein than meat, “the UK does not have any protein deficiency issues at a population level”. It says that while the processed (new generation) products have the highest levels of salt, the recipes can be tweaked.
Bean and grains were the real heroes of the three categories, hailed by the report for “containing notably lower amounts of saturated fat, calories and salt and the highest amount of fibre per 100g of all categories” when benchmarked against meat and the other plant-based alternatives. Not only that but they were cheaper per 100g too.