The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

I bought a Beyond Meat burger at Whole Foods today, but I haven’t had it yet. A few comments:

• This product is not a “heath food” insofar as it has a considerable amount of saturated fat, which is thought to raise LDL. Each patty has 5g of saturated fat derived from coconut oil, which comprises 25% of the total fat content per patty. 25% saturation is much lower than red meat, of course, but traditional veggie-burgers have little or no saturated fat.

• The sodium content is 380mg per patty, which is less than I expected and is not bad for a 270-orie burger. (Traditional veggie-burgers have much more sodium per calorie, which is a fair way of evaluating sodium levels, IMO.)

• The nutrition label says that one patty offers 30% of the RDA for iron, although it’s unclear what the source of the iron is.

• Whole Foods sells the Beyond Meat products in both the frozen section and the refrigerated section of the store (although not in the meat section). All Beyond Meat products arrive from the wholesaler frozen, so the burgers (and sausages) in the refrigerated section are partially thawed and intended for immediate consumption. (Re-freezing is not recommended.)

• Anticipating dual frozen and refrigerated presentations, the Beyond Meat packaging has space for two expiration dates: one if the product is bought frozen and another if the product is bought refrigerated. For Beyond Meat items in the refrigerated section, the grocer is supposed to affix an expiration date when the product is (thawed and) placed on the shelf, but Whole Foods is not doing this, so the only expiration date on the package is the one applicable to a frozen purchase. As a result, shoppers can’t readily determine how long a refrigerated item has been sitting around other than by gauging the degree of partial thawing. I find the dual expiration dates to be a marketing flaw, whether or not the grocer does its job according to plan.

• A package consists of two burgers (or four sausages), but each patty (or sausage) is not individually wrapped, which is a minor nuisance.

• Beyond Meat’s cooking instructions don’t mention microwaving at all. The instructions might have said that the microwave is “not recommended” while giving instructions anyhow since some people are going to do it.

I’ll have more to say after I’ve eaten one.