KFC launched an initial, limited test in Georgia to see if Atlanta customers had any interest in plant-based fried “chicken” — aka Beyond Meat — and declared it a “Kentucky Fried Miracle” when the faux chicken sold out within a few hours, according to The New York Times.
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KFC is not alone in testing the marketability of Beyond Meat and other plant-based meat alternatives — Popeyes and Chick-fil-A are also experimenting with plant-based products.
Company officials claim eating less meat and more plant-based alternatives is a healthier alternative and will also help the environment.
But, are genetically engineered food and lab-grown meat the most sustainably regenerative choices available? Impossible Foods, creator of the meatless “bleeding” Impossible Burger — a meat substitute using GMO soy — says yes, but others say no.
Impossible Foods has criticized regenerative ranching, claiming grass fed cattle ranching generates higher amounts of greenhouse gas emissions than cows raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). But grass fed ranching actually has net negative emissions after all relevant factors are taken into account.
Impossible Foods also noted that since meat from cows requires about 30 pounds of corn and soy for every pound produced, GMO soy burgers reduce the net use of herbicides. While this is true for livestock raised in CAFOs, it is not the case for organic grass fed beef production, since pastured cattle eat grasses and never GMO grains of any kind. As to the argument that GMO soy burgers may be better for the environment than CAFO beef, they can’t hold a candle to regenerative grazing as far as herbicide usage or toxicity is concerned.
GMO soy burgers are highly processed. Any food that isn’t directly from the vine, ground, bush, body of water or a tree is considered processed.
Processed foods increase your exposure to pesticides, herbicides, genetically engineered (GE) foods, synthetic food additives and nano ingredients. Those additives can include chemicals like silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide and other nanoparticles that are added to improve the texture, appearance and flavor of food. Many of these ingredients do not appear on food labels.
Processed foods can contain any number of the thousands of additives used by the food industry. You may think that such additives must have been proven safe to eat but, sadly, that's not the case. Food additives are not required to get premarket approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Items that fall under the “generally recognized as safe” designation are exempt from the approval process and food manufacturers use this loophole to add novel ingredients without FDA approval.
Food companies can simply hire an industry insider to evaluate the chemical, and if that individual determines that the chemical meets federal safety standards, it can be deemed safe. This is how Monsanto and other agribusinesses sneaked GMO foods into the food supply. To date, at least 1,000 ingredients are added to food that the FDA has no knowledge of.
The rise of fake meat is an attempt at recreating the same global control of the food supply that Monsanto and others achieved through patented GMO seed development. Once living animals are eliminated and replaced with patented plant-derived alternatives, private companies will effectively control the food supply in its entirety, and those who control the food control the people.