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Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

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Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#401

Post by omgwtfbyobbq »

yxwvut wrote: post #272
omgwtfbyobbq wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YMMV, but it's much more than 2.6% in the US. Livestock is 40% of of ag's GHG emissions. https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer/#agriculture... And ag is ~10% of US emissions https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer/#allsectors/... So eliminating livestock would reduce emissions by 4%. With that said, 4% is still low, but it doesn't account for all the GHG emissions needed to grow feed for livestock,…

You're conflating domestically produced GHG emissions with domestically consumed products' emissions. As a toy example, suppose we grew no animal products in the US and imported all our meat. Your method would conclude that switching to plant-based diets would have no effect on GHG emissions since livestock represents 0% any of our agricultural GHG emissions.

Did you mean to reply to another post?

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#402

Post by cptskippy »

arduinomancer wrote: post #115
cptskippy wrote: post #83

Rather than trying to encourage people to substitute the ingredients in their meals, I wish we'd encourage more healthy habits and work life balance. So many people are either pressed for time or incapable of preparing a decent meal. If they aren't ordering takeout, they're falling back on boxed or prepared options. Simply substituting fake meat for real meat isn't improving anyone's lives.

You don’t think less factory-farming is a good thing?

This doesn't reduce factory farming it, it just changes it.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#403

Post by leadingthenet »

getty wrote: post #394
leadingthenet wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but cattle can be raised where growing plants is impossible, and they can be fed by-products of plant agriculture that is not fit for human consumption. It's really not an either-or, something that I feel is often lost in these discussions. Eating plants and meat is complementary, and has been for all of human history.

It's also becoming possible to grow plants hydroponically in a highly automated and controlled environment (warehouse/cattle shed), with up to a 98% saving in treated water usage, 60% less nutrients required but with more nutritious crops and no pesticides. This is the case for High Pressure Aeroponics, which is slightly more complex than other hydroponic methods. https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/ch_3.html

That's an interesting point, but isn't it also true that hydroponics are currently just not a very economically feasible option?

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#404

Post by YeGoblynQueenne »

fastball wrote: post #300
gonehome wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "On a side note: I'm not vegetarian. I simply agree with those who are." This was my position for a long time until finally making the jump at the beginning of the pandemic (vegetarian, will rarely eat fish sometimes). For me, it was mostly about reducing suffering of other animals. I thought this way before but it's hard to change behavior and I liked hamburgers. I think this is the strongest argument and the envi…

Drawing the line at cognizance is not something you do "in theory". That is where the vast majority of people on the planet draw the line. You going one step further doesn't make the line you've drawn any more objective.

I don't think this is true. People don't care about the thoughts and emotions of the animals we eat and we can eat other huamns, just as cognizant as ourselves, easily enough. Cannibalism is common throughout human history and there have been even quite advanced societies that practiced it widely, for instance the Aztecs.

In any case humans have killed other humans for all sorts of reasons that do not include eating them, again throughout history. Why is invading another peoples' land and killing them to take their stuff any better than killing them to eat their meat?

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#405

Post by cptskippy »

eatwater123 wrote: post #156
cptskippy wrote: post #83

Rather than trying to encourage people to substitute the ingredients in their meals, I wish we'd encourage more healthy habits and work life balance. So many people are either pressed for time or incapable of preparing a decent meal. If they aren't ordering takeout, they're falling back on boxed or prepared options. Simply substituting fake meat for real meat isn't improving anyone's lives.

Improving cow's lives though :)

If the demand for beef plummeted over night, they wouldn't release the cows into a field to live out the remainder of their lives.

At best a drop in demand will reduce the population size of future generations of cows. It doesn't fundamentally change how they'll be raised or treated.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#406

Post by cptskippy »

notyourwork wrote: post #180
cptskippy wrote: post #83

Rather than trying to encourage people to substitute the ingredients in their meals, I wish we'd encourage more healthy habits and work life balance. So many people are either pressed for time or incapable of preparing a decent meal. If they aren't ordering takeout, they're falling back on boxed or prepared options. Simply substituting fake meat for real meat isn't improving anyone's lives.

>Simply substituting fake meat for real meat isn't improving anyone's lives. Is the goal improving lives or solving a supply chain problem in a scalable fashion?

I believe it's being sold as the former to customers and the later to businesses.

This is just furthering our race to the bottom while we pat ourselves on the back and say we're the best.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#407

Post by war1025 »

drewg123 wrote: post #2

This is the best news I've heard all week. The more widely vegan "meat" is available, the more likely it is to be adopted by average people and not just dedicated vegans. Reducing the demand for real beef is probably one of the best things we can do in the short term for the environment, due to the amount of land required for cattle farming, and due to the surprising amount of methane emitted by cattle. (see the docu…

> The more widely vegan "meat" is available, the more likely it is to be adopted by average people

This argument always reminds me of Margarine, which was promoted for years as having great health benefits, and then we later find out that it is loaded with trans fats and actually terrible for you.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#408

Post by omgwtfbyobbq »

shepting wrote: post #252
omgwtfbyobbq wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YMMV, but it's much more than 2.6% in the US. Livestock is 40% of of ag's GHG emissions. https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer/#agriculture... And ag is ~10% of US emissions https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer/#allsectors/... So eliminating livestock would reduce emissions by 4%. With that said, 4% is still low, but it doesn't account for all the GHG emissions needed to grow feed for livestock,…

Yes, and much of the non-livestock emissions from agriculture is from growing plants to feed to livestock !

And process it, and transport it, and process and transport the meat after we've slaughtered the livestock.

Part of meat's increased GHG emissions are because their are so many more steps in bringing it to market and because it doesn't last as long. Most plants are harvested, cleaned/processed, and transported to market. Livestock generally needs feed, which is harvested, cleaned/processed, and transported to the livestock, and after livestock is slaughtered, it needs to be cleaned/processed, and transported to market, and on top of that it tends to go bad faster.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#409

Post by andbberger »

elktea wrote: post #59
drewg123 wrote: post #2

This is the best news I've heard all week. The more widely vegan "meat" is available, the more likely it is to be adopted by average people and not just dedicated vegans. Reducing the demand for real beef is probably one of the best things we can do in the short term for the environment, due to the amount of land required for cattle farming, and due to the surprising amount of methane emitted by cattle. (see the docu…

The popular crusade against meat is one of the more misguided. Meat provides far more nutritional value than any plant and the environmental impacts have been greatly exaggerated. See below: Regarding carbon: "removal of livestock in the US would only lead to a net GHG reduction of 2.6% in national emissions. Similarly, removing all dairy would lead to a reduction of just 0.7%. At the same time, both transitions woul…

I'll leave to the other comments to combat the factual inaccuracies here but - there is an inherent and substantial efficiency loss in consuming secondary consumers.

There's no getting around that.

Re: Beyond Meat signs global supply deals with McDonald’s, KFC and Pizza Hut

#410

Post by GVIrish »

partiallypro wrote: post #11
drewg123 wrote: post #2

This is the best news I've heard all week. The more widely vegan "meat" is available, the more likely it is to be adopted by average people and not just dedicated vegans. Reducing the demand for real beef is probably one of the best things we can do in the short term for the environment, due to the amount of land required for cattle farming, and due to the surprising amount of methane emitted by cattle. (see the docu…

Are there stats to back up that non-vegans begin consuming more vegan based meals if they have the option? And I mean more than once. A consumer might try it but then go back to normal. At there good stats on repeat buying on a large scale?

My personal anecdote is that I've shifted most of my meat consumption away from red meat to Beyond Meat burgers, chicken, and fish. I only eat steak as a special occasion now where I used to have steak regularly.

If there are more meat substitutes out there that taste good and aren't exorbitantly priced I'll absolutely eat more of them.

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