On May 2, Beyond Meat Inc. went public on the stock market at $25 per share. The price per share quickly multiplied, closing at $65.75 at end of day. The initial public offering came at an opportune time with growing public interest in plant-based foods and their perceived health and environmental benefits.
Approximately one week earlier, Beyond Meat Inc. announced their Beyond Burger would be stocked in the meat cases of Canadian grocery stores nationwide, including Co-op Food Stores, Fresh Street Market, IGA, Loblaws, Save-On-Foods and Whole Foods Market. The company advocates for, and heavily promotes, the inclusion of their products in the meat case alongside beef burgers to allow shoppers to more easily compare the two choices and hopefully attract new customers. While it is a vegan product, the Beyond Burger is designed to appeal to meat eaters, with the company emphasizing how the burger looks, tastes and "bleeds" like real meat.
On June 12, the company announced that more than 4,000 Tim Hortons locations would start offering breakfast sandwiches made with Beyond Meat patties. Last summer, A&W was the first quick-service chain in Canada to offer the product and, as demand outpaced supply, the product quickly began to sellout nationwide.
With a long line of celebrity investors and a growing list of Canadian retailers offering the Beyond Meat products, it's worth taking a look at the nutritional value of their most popular product - Beyond Burger patties - to see if the hype is justified.
For context, I'll also compare them to fresh beef patties, which is something the company encourages the consumer to do. To make a fair comparison, I've chosen to use the only fresh beef burger patty option available in a local supermarket, which also sells the Beyond Burger. I'm also comparing both in the same portion size: 113 grams per serving.
First, the ingredients. A 113 g Beyond Burger patty contains 21 ingredients, predominately pea protein isolate, canola oil, coconut oil and water. A number of other ingredients are added to improve colour and flavour and to act as binding agents, bulking agents and preservatives. Ingredients are added for seemingly the sole purpose of recreating the structure and taste of a beef burger, without the beef. In comparison, a 113 g extra lean ground beef patty contains one ingredient: ground sirloin beef.
A single Beyond Burger patty has 290 calories and 22 g of total fat, while the extra lean beef patties contain 179 calories and 9 g of fat. Keep in mind, I'm comparing the same serving size of each. In all fairness, I'm also comparing an extra lean variety of beef. Lean ground beef burgers would have a higher fat and calorie content, although still lower than the Beyond Burger.
One reason plant-based options are promoted as a healthy alternative to red meat is because they're often lower in both total and saturated fat. This is one example when the plant-based option is higher in both.
Looking at protein content, the Beyond Burger contains 20 g, while the beef patty contains 24 g, making them fairly comparable. Since meat does not contain fibre, the Beyond Burger wins out in this category with 3 g of fibre per serving. In terms of sodium content, the Beyond Burger is much higher than the beef, as many veggie burgers can be, with 450 mg per patty or 19 per cent of your daily value. The beef burger patty contains 64 mg of sodium, with no added sodium. Both patties contain zero sugar.
Nutrition facts aside, price is often the deciding factor to purchase for many. The Beyond Burger costs $4 per patty, while the extra lean beef costs $2.50 per patty.
While all I've done is compare ingredients, nutrition facts panels and price, I should mention that there can be ethical, religious, environmental and other reasons why an individual would choose a plant-based alternative to beef, and health and expense aren't always the strongest considerations. As with any food or diet, it's up to an individual to decide what's best for them. The strongly-opinionated voices of a few, including plant-based food companies, restaurant chains, celebrities and "health influencers" are not the experts on what's best for the consumer.
I haven't compared the Beyond Burger to a beef burger to say that red meat is healthier but to show that plant-based options are not automatically the most nutritious choice, just because they don't contain meat. Plant-based foods can be ultra processed, high in total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt and contain a never-ending list of ingredients. They can also be expensive and cost-prohibitive for many.
Having more plant-based, meat alternatives seems like it can only be a positive change, unless the marketing of these products and growing abundance of choice only serve to confuse the consumer into believing they need to eat these options to be healthy. Ultimately, no two people are the same and no two people have exactly the same needs when it comes to diet and nutrition.
-- Kelsey Leckovic is a registered dietitian with Northern Health working in chronic disease management.
