McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu • Hacker News Board

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#221

Post by neltnerb » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

golemotron wrote: post #209

bane wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifelong meat eater here. I'm really happy about this news and hope it sticks over the long-run. These new plant-based burgers are basically zero penalty ways to eat more responsibly. They taste about as good as the normal "ok" burger from FastFoodJoint(TM), cost about the same, and are less worse for the planet and everybody on it. It's also more accepting for people who have various dietary restrictions and opens u…

> It's also more accepting for people who have various dietary restrictions Except for those on a ketogenic diet.

The buns already contain so much sugar that they don't really apply.

I did keto for a while and looked at the nutritional information for those burgers, they're not really on the list unless you get them bun-free.

The veggie burgers when bun free do have carbs, but I'd consider them to be borderline okay at 6gm of sugar and non-fiber carbs (1gm of sugar) for 14gm of fat and 19gm of protein for a reasonably solid ratio of 6:33 or ~20%. It's not as good as bacon, but it's probably as good as beans...

Ref: https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189392...

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#222

Post by ben_w » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

ReptileMan wrote: post #140

bluntfang wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>As a plus side their customers will still be starving for protein afterwards. Why? Meat replacements are engineered to have similar nutritional value as the meat-based version. for example, BK: >A traditional Whopper has 660 calories, 40 grams of fat (12 of which are saturated) and 28 grams of protein. The Impossible Whopper clocks in at 630 calories, 34 grams of fat (11 saturated) and 25 grams of protein, so it's p…

Distribution of proteins is also important. Meat is complete protein.

Though not the only complete protein source, especially as there is no rule about mixing ingredients when making meat replacements.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#223

Post by mike_d » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:51 PM UTC

spacephysics wrote: post #172

Nbox9 wrote: post #58

I think it’ll be a big win when plant-based burgers are cheaper than animal based burgers. From a raw ingredients standpoint plant based food should almost always be cheaper than animal based food because the costs associated with farming plants is lower than the costs associated with farming animals. Hopefully, with McDonald’s scale and with their vertical integration they can make affordable, tasty, and comparably…

Not so fast with the health talk. Vegetable oils are most likely carcinogenic, amid other health issues (GI, heart) [0]. Red meat is not [1] Further, these fake meats, Impossible Burger namely, have been linked to kidney failure in mice studies [2] (one commissioned by the Impossible Foods manufacturer). In particular: " * A rat feeding study commissioned by the manufacturer Impossible Foods found that rats fed SLH […

I don't remember the exact details, but the study found that after X days of eating Impossible Burgers mice suffered serious health side effects. So what did they do? Ran another study for X/2 days and resubmitted to the FDA.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#224

Post by kibwen » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:52 PM UTC

Are we leaping to conclusions by assuming this is referring to an impossible burger/beyond burger sort of product? A "plant-based" burger could also just be the sort of plain old veggie burger that e.g. Burger King has been offering for decades. Is there more detailed information somewhere?

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#225

Post by coryfklein » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:53 PM UTC

ogre_codes wrote: post #37

belltaco wrote: post #2

>somewhat unsurprisingly, will be called "McPlant." Is it just me that didn't find the name obvious, and perhaps not a good one? Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I think Impossible Foods was right in marketing their products for meateaters rather than vegans.

> Many people have an aversion to something if it's called plant, healthy or natural. I don't think this is the issue. Nobody would eat something called "McMeat", it begs the question "What kind of meat?" and usually the assumption is the worst. When I hear "McPlant", what comes up in my head is eating a tree or grass. If you leave it to people's imagination, often what comes to mind is the worst not the best. This i…

> I have the same feelings when I read "McRib"

Me too! That name invariably forces a cringe as I imagine biting down on a rib bone secreted away between two buns.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#226

Post by whimsicalism » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:54 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #78

Nbox9 wrote: post #58

I think it’ll be a big win when plant-based burgers are cheaper than animal based burgers. From a raw ingredients standpoint plant based food should almost always be cheaper than animal based food because the costs associated with farming plants is lower than the costs associated with farming animals. Hopefully, with McDonald’s scale and with their vertical integration they can make affordable, tasty, and comparably…

It's long overdue that all the social costs of meat consumption are priced into those goods and/or that we subsidise plant based alternatives so that the ecological benefits are reflected at the counter. I'm pessimistic it's going to happen though.

Even just removing the current subsidy on meat & dairy would do a lot.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#227

Post by whimsicalism » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:55 PM UTC

jhawk28 wrote: post #84

Nbox9 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The meat (and dairy) industry receive massive subsidies from the the US federal government, and they have massive externalized costs. Some externalized costs are greenhouse gas emissions, downstream downstream pollution, reduced health outcomes in consumers, heavy fresh water usage. The meat & dairy industry received the majority of the benefit from the $867 billion farm bill passed in 2019.

In exchange for these subsidies, farms have lots of regulation and little control over prices. I wouldn't consider that to be a benefit. The main downside is that it keeps around the bad farmers and makes it harder for the good ones.

74 cents on every dollar made by a dairy farmer are from government subsidy. I think I can confidently state that that's a benefit.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#228

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:55 PM UTC

coryfklein wrote: post #217

dandare wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appeal of vegan pizza is that no animals were industrially farmed to make it. If you think your cheese is suffering free you are lying to yourself.

> you are lying to yourself. Gee well that's a rather bold statement. I find this attitude of "if you're not vegan you're a liar" so insufferable. I can think of at least a few explanations for the parent comment. "If you think your cheese is suffering free..." 1. You may be underinformed 2. You've purchased free range dairy products 3. You know something I don't

[deleted]

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#229

Post by coryfklein » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

kalel83 wrote: post #201

teej wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

McDonalds hasn’t used beef tallow in their fries for 20+ years. [edit] this seems disputed. The ingredients list includes “natural beef flavor” which it says is wheat and milk derivatives. To clarify: old school McD fries were fried in beef tallow at the restaurant. Now it’s vegetable oil at the restaurant, but are par-fried at the processing plant in vegetable oil with some “natural beef flavoring”

As your edit conveys, they still do use Beef Tallow.

The parent is at least tempering their statements with uncertainty. How is it that you are certain that they use beef tallow? Seems like a rather strong claim given that McDonalds doesn't appear to list their ingredients.

Re: McDonald's is adding plant-based burgers to the menu

#230

Post by whimsicalism » Mon, Nov 09, 2020, 10:57 PM UTC

fpgaminer wrote: post #207

sosborn wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What inherent trait of "processing" makes a food unhealthy?

I was also dubious of the claim that "processed" foods are less healthy, but there does seem to be some evidence to support the claim at least along one vector: > Processing may affect the natural resistant starch content of foods. [...] Whole grain wheat may contain as high as 14% resistant starch, while milled wheat flour may contain only 2%. > The fermentation of resistant starch produces more butyrate than other…

> Basically, resistant starch is extremely important to the health of your colon, and fairly important to your health in general.

So if you eat exclusively processed grains, you don't have the resistant starch. Meanwhile, red meat is linked with actually causing colon cancer, not just failure to prevent it.