Simply referring to a number of products made from textured soybeans as “vegetable meats” is controversial. There is no doubt, however, that its consumption is reminiscent of the meat experience, be it by format, texture, smell or flavor. Why call something meat that is not? There are divergent opinions. On the one hand, from the Business Federation of Meat and Meat Industries (FECIC) they consider that the use of terms such as "hamburger" or "sausage" to refer to foods of plant origin "gives rise to gibberish that ends up generating confusion in the consumer", says its general secretary, Ignasi Pons.
This body also considers that these types of products "deliberately take advantage of the reputation and tradition of the most successful names in the meat sector with the sole purpose of attracting the attention of consumers, even risking inducing them to think that these products are valid substitutes in terms of taste, nutritional values or role in a healthy and balanced diet", according to a letter to the members of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development who were debating the issue.
On the other hand, we find opinions such as that of Marta Martínez, author of the blog My vegan diet and the book Guide for the (Im)Perfect Vegan (Vergara, 2019): “When we talk about nuggets or hamburgers, we are actually talking about the format, since there is no animal that comes in the form of a nugget or hamburger. In fact, for years tuna burgers have been marketed without anyone having raised a cry in heaven. For Martínez, this war over the nomenclature that confronts the meat industry sector and that of the so-called vegetable meats has a clear battlefield: the supermarket shelves. “All this is still a fight between lobbies to be on the shelves where there is more traffic, and meat is one of them. In my opinion, it makes no sense that a product like Heura is not on those shelves, where it has been shown to sell more. And more taking into account that the carnivore, who is ultimately the one who is going to consume it, is rejected by the green shelves of organic or vegetable products, which are much less crowded”
environmental impact
Beyond the nomenclature, the vegetable meat sector, represented by products such as the Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger or Heura, has been surrounded by various controversies since it entered the market with the aim of satisfying the needs of those people who either do not eat meat or, mainly, those who want to reduce their consumption. “It is often said that they are products focused mainly on vegans, and it is not true. This does not mean that at any given time we cannot eat a vegetable burger or any other product, but we are such a small market that we are not interested in the industry. In reality, they are foods intended for flexiterian people who are reducing their meat consumption, either for animal welfare or environmental reasons”, points out Martínez.
This is demonstrated by numerous studies. According to research carried out by scientists from the University of Oxford, 83% of global farmland is used to obtain products of animal origin, while the caloric intake for humans is only 18% and protein 37%. Currently, beef is the main cause of deforestation worldwide, responsible for 41% of the destruction of tropical forests, while logging for wood and paper is only 13%. FAO data is also conclusive: 14.5% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock. Of these, 58% are produced during the production of feed and 31% in the digestion process of the animals themselves.
The soy controversy
One of the things that has been said the most about so-called vegetable meats is that they are made with soybeans from the Amazon, which leads to deforestation, something that –explains Martínez– “is constantly repeated uncritically in the media, without anyone having verified information that is absolutely false”. According to a study published in the journal Nature Food, the area cultivated with soybeans in Europe has increased over the last twenty years. The research ensures that Europe could achieve between 50% and 100% self-sufficiency if 4% to 11% of the land was dedicated to soybeans. In fact, Foods for Tomorrow, the Spanish company that markets the popular Heura, makes its products with soybeans from the Balkans "free of genetic modifications and that do not encourage deforestation," explains its communication manager, Bernat Añanos.
For its part, according to the NGO WWF, each European consumes 61 kilos of soybeans per year, of which 90% comes from animal feed. This is corroborated by the head of the Greenpeace Spain Agriculture campaign, Luis Ferreirim: “The vast majority of soy produced in the Amazon is used to feed animals, not people. Therefore, if we put on the table the urgent objective of reducing meat consumption, it makes much more sense to use soybeans directly to feed people, not to feed livestock and then people." This would also require much less agricultural land and taking into account that the area of soybean crops increases year after year in Europe (with countries like Italy or France at the fore), the goal of self-sufficiency does not seem like a utopia.
From Greenpeace it is seen as a good alternative "to promote sustainable soybean crops, which come from fair and equitable cultivation, to curb the consumption of meat that is giving rise to an unparalleled climate emergency." Ferreirim insists that "in no case would it make sense to bet on alternatives that make us reduce meat consumption but promote an agricultural model that also has a great impact on the environment, like what is happening in the Amazon area." Martínez, for his part, considers it unfair that a certain state of opinion has been created with which vegans are practically blamed for deforestation in countries like Brazil when "with the data in hand, most of the soybeans used to make vegetable meats are European, since most of the soybeans that come from Latin America are used to feed livestock."
ethical issues
This is due, according to Martínez, to the fact that a kind of state of opinion has been created in which vegans are assumed, in some way, to have greater moral rectitude than omnivores. “I have the feeling that they only talk about the soybeans with which these products are made, but very little about what is used to feed livestock, in the same way that it is questioned that, at any given time, we might like to eat a food that resembles meat. What is the problem?".
For Martínez, it is important to keep in mind that “eating is cultural and it is extremely important to understand that it goes beyond the act of nourishing. We have grown up with different dishes that are part of our culture and that, at a given moment, we may like to enjoy because they remind us of that first birthday when we went to a hamburger or certain flavors from childhood. Why can't a vegan enjoy that stew that resembles his grandmother's if this is possible, taking into account that it also has a minimal impact on the environment? For the author of My vegan diet, "every time a new food has arrived throughout history, it has been incorporated into existing dishes, exactly as we are doing now, so it makes all the sense in the world that little by little we integrate these foods."
Other alternatives
Although there is no doubt that making a vegetable burger has a significantly lower environmental cost than selling meat derivatives, Ferreirim believes, however, that there are even better alternatives. “We must not forget that vegetable meats are processed foods, which always have a greater impact on the environment than natural foods. The best thing is to have a local diet made up of natural, unprocessed foods”, explains the person in charge of Greenpeace.
For Ferreirim, a good way to achieve this is to promote the cultivation and consumption of legumes. "In Spain we have been leaders in the production of legumes, and now we find that a good part of what we find in the supermarket comes from the other side of the world. We have stopped producing essential foods for the diet, which we end up importing because the use of the land is prioritized for other types of crops aimed at the production of meat and products of animal origin. Legumes are our own crops, which adapt well to our weather conditions, something that does not happen in the same way with soybeans”, he says.
Nutritional composition
According to a study carried out by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) on the presence of soy in various commonly consumed foods, the so-called "vegan minced meat" has, in general terms, a fairly high content of isoflavones. “Isoflavones taken in large amounts can interfere with metabolism and act as endocrine disruptors: they can influence the length of menstrual cycles and fertility in men. They can also interfere with the action of some medicines”, explains the OCU, so it is convenient to be moderate with the intake. According to the research conclusions, most of the nuggets, sausages and hamburgers that we find on the market are satisfactory for adults, but many exceed the recommended amount of isoflavones for adolescents and children.
