I’m sure you have heard about all the meat-substitutes currently being offered, such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger. They want to appeal to your sense of eating right and helping the planet.
But the question is do they fulfill either of these objectives, or are they just capitalizing on fear and your sense of duty?
So what are these meat substitutes really? Basically, they are plant proteins mostly derived from commercially grown soybeans.
Commercially grown soybeans are not ORGANIC, which means that they are grown utilizing conventional farming techniques and they are genetically modified (GMO).
So what does that mean? It means that the soybeans are planted in virtually sterile soil. The farmer first kills everything on and in the soil using a herbicide such as Round-up, insecticides, fungicides, and other specialized killers. Many of these poisons find their way into the crop produced. They are also blown into the atmosphere by wind gusts, and leach into streams and rivers by run-off. This is a very big problem in our country (environmental pollution).
You may be asking yourself “But what is wrong with soy?”
Well, the list is long. Soybeans are poisonous in their natural state. They need to be processed or fermented to make them palatable to man or beast. Most soybeans are processed using hexane (a neuro-toxic petro-chemical solvent).
Processed soybeans contain high levels of phytic acid which reduces the assimilation of most metals (needed for good health). They also contain trypsin inhibitors which interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders.
Soy phyto-estrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and breast cancer.
Ingestion of soy increases the body’s need for certain B vitamins (B12) and vitamin D.
Soy contains high levels of aluminum.
MSG is formed during soy processing and more may be added afterwards. This is a known neuro-toxin.
However, fermented soy has less problems than processed soy. But most soy food product producers use commercially grown GMO soybeans. Oh well.
How did they come up with the Impossible Burger? They wanted it to be indistinguishable by sight, smell, or taste from the real thing.
Food producers have known what they need to do to soy and/or potato protein to get the right texture. I don’t even want to guess what they do to it.
But, the real problem has been taste and smell. They came up with a way to create molecules that are juicy and mimic blood for sizzle and taste. They are putting DNA from genetically engineered soybean roots into genetically engineered yeast, then fermenting the yeast.
Even scientists that believe in GMOs say that they have incomplete understanding of the resultant molecule and they have no idea about “unintended consequences.”
The Bottom Line
So, here is the bottom line. They have a factory turning plants into meat. At the same time a COW is a factory turning plants into meat. It becomes an issue of which process is better.
A grass-fed and grass-finished cow will produce natural, high quality, good tasting, good looking, and great smelling meat. We are not talking about a feed-lot produced cow, but rather one that has lived its entire life on pasture. This cow will NOT have been fed grains, antibiotics, or forced to live in their own manure. They are clean, healthy, and pure.
And the benefit to the environment is that the pasture will sequester carbon, absorb water, produce oxygen, and bring up nutrients from deep in the ground.
Here are some references for you to research this issue: The Center For Food Safety
And a video
About grass-fed, grass finished beef by Greg Judy:
P.S. I can't figure out how to put this video into my post. I suggest you go to YouTube, search for Greg Judy. Good Luck.
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