Beyond Meat discusses balancing taste, texture and nutrition
27 Oct 2023 | Beyond Meat
Benjamin Döring talks us through the “icons” of the company, the Beyond Burger, Beyond Sausages and other products like meatballs and mince. He details how the company is driving change in the food system with its plant-based innovations, addressing taste, texture and nutrition while mimicking the “sizzle” of meat.
This is Yolanda reporting for food ingredients first at Anuga Live from Cologne.
I'm here at the Beyond Meat stand with Benjamin Doering, who oversees the marketing for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Thank you for joining us.
What are you showcasing this year at Anuga?
Thanks for having me and visiting us over here.
So this year at Annuga we're showcasing the Beyond Burger, our icon.
As as the Beyond sausages, the Beyond mince, the Beyond Meatballs, and the Beyond tender, and as our very, very recent innovation, the Beyond steak.
So the burger is just where I can, obviously, that's where we come from.
And if you look into it, we are obviously always striving for providing delicious plant-based option that is distinguishable from animal-based meat, and we really believe that we can make an impact on this.
We have to change the world that we are currently in.
Our food system has to change and we lately did in.
Research with the University of Michigan and if it comes to it, we have found out that we can deliver a good impact on the planet.
So our products, if you compare them to a beef-based animal burger, they need 99% less water, 93% less land.
It's 90% less energy.
46% less fuer GHG, so greenhouse gas emissions.
And can you tell me a bit more about your latest innovation from Beyond Meat?
So that is the Beyond Steak.
It's perfect small steak pieces, plant-based, primarily made from fava bean and wheat protein.
It's an innovation because you've got the nice crispy outside and then you've got the tender inside that you just want to have for a nice plant-based steak piece.
We had the chance to really be recognized for this innovation of the Year by Time magazine.
The American Heart Association has approved this for heart healthy, which is obviously a great thing for us, so we're really celebrating.
I'm proud of that, very happy about it.
And on top of that, also over here in Europe, we got awarded at the trade show lately for food service in the UK for casual dining as as in Germany at the Intern Noga with the Innovation Award there.
Impressive.
And can you tell us a bit about how it meets trends in the market right now?
So we have got one big goal, right?
So we want to really become a global protein company.
Because we believe that this can really drive the change on this planet.
It's really important for us to have 3 main topics that we can cover within this.
Our meats need to be as tasty as animal-based meat.
We also need to deliver on the preparation.
You want to have the same sizzling, the same smelling, the smell, and also the smoke because around the barbecue it's fun, right?
It's those emotional moments that you want to have and you don't want to miss.
But also we need to live a little bit on nutrition.
Need to be at least equal to the nutritions that you can receive from an animal-based animal.
And meat, but also we want to have the clear goal to deliver on price.
The moment we are cheaper, it's a no brainer that you want to go for all the favorite recipes that you have got.
You want to eat what you love, but then it's going to be plant based meat.
Yeah, and , essentially this taste and nutrition, of course, is a big thing in plant-based alternatives to meat.
How are you balancing those with also this consumer desire for a clean label in their products?
So generally, we are always sourcing natural ingredients.
If you look for the Beyond Burger as an example, the pea the source for protein is pea protein.
It's beetroot giving us the color.
Coconut oil is adding the juices.
So looking for very, very simple ingredients that are within.
And on top of that also, we are using very simple approaches how to prepare the meats that we have got.
So within production, 3 simple steps that we've got that's pressure, cooling, and heating.
Within these 3 steps, we're able to form the meat and make it as juicy, giving it the texture that you want to see and that are freely indistinguishable from animal-based meat.
