The emergence of plant-based food

WE woke up one day with the news that the Philippines’ very own food conglomerate Jollibee Foods Corp. has acquired an additional 45 percent stake (on top of the initial 40 percent in 2015) in US-based Smashburger.

The acquisition includes 365 Smashburger stores not only in the 32 states of the United States but also in Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Panama, and United Kingdom. Founded in 2007 in Denver, Colorado, it serves fresh 100- percent certified Angus beef burgers.

Millenials shifting away from meat

Just like anywhere, millenials are shaking up the meat industry. Customers are increasingly moving toward plant- based alternatives. We may not have noticed but there has been a global shift away from meat in the past years. According to the report of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company that works with 4,000 of the world’s largest companies, 70 percent of the world population are reducing their meat consumption and moving toward more vegan options.

Millenials are said to be behind the changing consumer habits. In a recent article by Forbes, Fiona Dyer, a Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, explained: “The shift toward plant- based foods is being driven by millenials, who are most likely to consider the food source, animal welfare, and environmental impacts when making their purchasing decisions.”

The plant-based market has exploded and the appetite seems to be growing and growing. As more and more people are aware of the problems a meat-based diet brings, people will be looking for alternatives. It is not about food alone but people who have shared attitudes for the environment and who wants to live sustainably —this is something that will continue to grow.

Janardan Duran, marketing manager of the family-owned Greens Vegetarian Restaurant and Café located in Quezon City, - ing demand on plant-based food and it is becoming common as well. Their 18-year old restaurant regularly would have new guests who would share with them that they are transitioning to a plant-based diet.

In the US, Chuck Jolly, president of the Meat Industry Hall of Fame, said that plant-based meat substitutes are one of the six great challenges for agriculture in 2018. It has also been reported that billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson have injected millions in several companies to do serious research to create plant-based product that looks, tastes, and behaves just like meat but have a much lower environmental impact. Based on market research, total sales of dairy and meat substitutes are estimated to reach $25 billion is just two years. Not to be outdone, in October 2017, the UN Messenger of Peace and a vocal campaigner for climate change, Leonardo DiCaprio, invested in a Los Angeles-based meat substitute manufacturer Beyond Meat. DiCaprio said in a statement: “Livestock production is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Shifting from animal meat to the plant-based meats developed by Beyond Meat is one of the most powerful measures someone can take to reduce their impact on our climate.”

Health an important concern

Several medical findings have linked meat consumption to health concerns like heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, obesity, erectile dysfunction, and Alzheimer’s disease.

In an article written for Mercy for Animals, it was stated that meat causes blockages in blood vessels, so one would not be surprised that it leads to strokes. In particular, consumption of red meat has been reported to increase the risk of an ischemic stroke by 47 percent.

Lead researcher Francesca Crowe, PhD, of the University of Oxford, in their study completed in 2013, theorizes that a plantbased food can cut one’s risk of heart disease by as much as 32 percent. This lower risk is from lower cholesterol and blood pressure in vegetarians.

A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that even modest consumption of red or processed meat significantly increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes—an illness that can cause debilitating health problems including blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, and strokes.

Giving up meat is good for the planet

The environmental impact is huge because livestock farming has a vast footprint. It contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, and deforestation. Nowhere is this impact more apparent than climate change. Data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO) shows that every pound of beef served is equivalent to releasing about 19 pounds of greenhouse gases. Further, livestock industry contributes 18 percent of humanproduced greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This is more than all emissions from ships, planes, trucks, cars and all other transportation combined.

We all know that climate change alone poses multiple risks to our health and well-being through extreme weather events such as and has been described as the greatest threat to humanity in the 21st Century. Reducing meat consumption is essential if we are to meet global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets that are necessary to mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

“Changing diets may be more effective than technological mitigation options for avoiding climate change and may be essential to avoid negative impacts,” explained lead researcher Marco Springmann, PhD, of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food of the University of Oxford.

According to Baum + Whiteman, an international food and restaurant consultant based in New York, in its forecast, plantbased food will be the dining trend of 2018. The same report also anticipates that plantbased foods will become the new organic.

The most interesting question would be is whether our favorite fast food dining places, Jollibee, McDonald’s, Burger King, etc., would consider having a plantbased burger (which requires less land, less water, and produces less greenhouse gas emissions than animal meat) in its local product menu anytime soon.