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Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

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21–30 of 205 posts

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#21

Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. "You mean you birthed whole animals, let them grow for two years, fed them all the while, just to kill them, chop up their remains, and ship that to people?" Plant based protein and maybe even more so cultured/clean meat (e.g. http://www.memphismeats.com/ ) seem likely to totally replace how we…

How are you going to do aseptic technique and metabolic regulation rate for less energy than skin+immune system and a liver? Anyone who's ever cultured mammalian cells knows that you toss the medium with most of the carbon source remaining because it's gotten too acidic with lactate. Turns out that livers are a really energy-efficient way of keeping cells alive.

Why not grow pseudo-animals that consist of tiled blocks of muscle + liver + dermis?

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#22
What heartens me is that the shift towards plant-base protein can be gradual while still having a large impact. Ingredients like ground beef make up the majority(?) [1] of beef sold and there are already good plant based simulacra on the market [2] with more coming soon.

I have my doubts we'll see anything marketable and cost competitive that could compete with larger cuts of meat in the next decade, but I could see a near-term future where Taco Bell is using a 50/50 beef/plant "meat" in their food with that ratio shifting away from animal products with time.

[1]: http://meat.tamu.edu/ground-beef-labeling/ [2]: http://beyondmeat.com/products/view/beefy-crumble

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#23
post #7

if they can make affordable plant based chicken that's as tasty and protein-packed as real chicken and veg beef that's as good as real beef, then I'm 100% in. the biggest problem with non-meat foods (for me) has always been with their macros. I can get 32g of protein with nearly zero fat or carbs from 4oz of chicken for less than $2 a serving. Last I checked, this was not possible with alternative food.

A big part of those 'macros' is farm subsidies. Meat is artificially cheap in the US. Kind of ridiculously so.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#24
post #17

According to random people on the internet plant based protein isn't as good your for cat as animal based protein. Why couldn't that be the same for humans?

Am I right that this is sarcasm?

In case I am wrong about this being sarcasm, the reason cats need to eat meat to survive is that they don't naturally synthesize taurine like most mammals.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#25
post #7

if they can make affordable plant based chicken that's as tasty and protein-packed as real chicken and veg beef that's as good as real beef, then I'm 100% in. the biggest problem with non-meat foods (for me) has always been with their macros. I can get 32g of protein with nearly zero fat or carbs from 4oz of chicken for less than $2 a serving. Last I checked, this was not possible with alternative food.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_duck

My wife is vegetarian and I eat meat analogues typically one meal a day. For almost all applications Mock duck, seitan, soy-based chicken are all inferior substitutes for their meat counterparts. They're less flexible when cooking, don't absorb flavors as well, and are generally either chewier or stringier than real meat.

I have a lot of hope for lab-grown meat, but there's still a lot of progress to be made for meat analogues.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#26

Interesting to see if the company actually shifts it's culture. My wife is vegetarian so I'm exposed to quite a bit of different sources of veggie protein. My concern is that the fake meat stuff is actually kind of expensive compared to meat. If it was cheaper I can see more folks move in that direction.

It also doesn't taste like meat. I will happily eat a vegan meal that tastes good. I'll eat meat that tastes good. But I just don't see a point in buying a "soy chicken schnitzel" which does not taste like chicken at all. Why should I be interested in that product in the first place? Hopefully one day we'll get to actually replicating the taste properly. Or growing meat synthetically. I'm happy to move to either.

Replicating the taste is the wrong way to go about it. Vegan food can taste just as good as meat and cheese, but it will never taste like meat and cheese because it's not meat and cheese.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#27

Interesting to see if the company actually shifts it's culture. My wife is vegetarian so I'm exposed to quite a bit of different sources of veggie protein. My concern is that the fake meat stuff is actually kind of expensive compared to meat. If it was cheaper I can see more folks move in that direction.

This problem has nothing to do with vegan foods. The problem is that meat and dairy benefit from government subsidies. This might be because of lobbyists, but that's none of my business.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#28
post #12

There will always be exceptions. Meatless? Not for animals in the wild. Not for hunters, either.

Now that this has been rectified, what does this correction change going forward?

Other than that the future of food will never be meatless? Well, nothing, of course.

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#29

Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. "You mean you birthed whole animals, let them grow for two years, fed them all the while, just to kill them, chop up their remains, and ship that to people?" Plant based protein and maybe even more so cultured/clean meat (e.g. http://www.memphismeats.com/ ) seem likely to totally replace how we…

Yeah, on the same token I'm totally mystified that people used horses to pull plows. What the heck were they thinking?

I would argue the difference here is we could just, you know, eat the plants but we don't want to. 36% of US corn goes to feed animals for meat and dairy (3%-40% efficient). [1] There would be significantly more food to go around if the plants were just eaten directly.

It would be more like if there were plows at the time that operated on solar but nobody wanted to use them, and instead, decided to tie horses to the plows because they would rather.

Had a hard time working farm subsidies into the analogy.

[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/time-to-rethink-c...

Re: Tyson Foods CEO: The Future of Food Might Be Meatless

#30

Animal agriculture seems to me like one of those things that in 50 to 100 years people will look back on with bewilderment. "You mean you birthed whole animals, let them grow for two years, fed them all the while, just to kill them, chop up their remains, and ship that to people?" Plant based protein and maybe even more so cultured/clean meat (e.g. http://www.memphismeats.com/ ) seem likely to totally replace how we…

It's not clear to me that humans are going to think of a more efficient way to turn energy and matter into food in the next century.

We could potentially alter the animals into something that would be hard to recognize, but that'll be an evolution of animal husbandry, not something that will leave us bewildered at animals.

What do you see that indicates we're going to make massive leaps beyond what animal life has already provided in turning sunlight and air into useful lipids and proteins?

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