Beyond Meat boss calls for tax on meat to encourage shift to plant-based food
Ethan Brown says shoppers are already reconsidering their food choices and plant-based meats will one day be cheaper than animal protein
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The boss of the world's largest plant-based meat company has backed a tax on meat to encourage a shift away from animal products.
Ethan Brown, founder of Beyond Meat, told the BBC that taxing meat consumption could encourage emerging markets to invest in plant-based protein. Some of these markets are increasing meat consumption rapidly as more people move out of relative poverty and into a growing middle class.
Mr Brown pointed to figures showing that shoppers are already eating more plant-based food.
"If you look at shopper data that we have, 93 per cent of the people that are putting the Beyond burger in their cart are also putting animal protein in," he said.
"That says we're getting more and more penetration into the broadest swath of the market, which is people who are consuming animal protein, but again, are hearing this information about their health or maybe hearing about climate, or maybe uncomfortable with factory farming, they're deciding to cut down on their consumption of animal-based products."
Beyond Meat is among companies seeking to drive a move towards a more sustainable diet.
Price is seen as one of the biggest obstacles to that shift, because plant-based meat substitutes - which use protein from vegetables such as peas - are more expensive than the real thing.
A tax would make animal products more expensive, benefitting Beyond Meat among others.
Mr Brown also pointed to a deal Beyond Meat signed in February with McDonalds and Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
"As we scale, we'll begin to be able to underprice animal protein - if you look at our facilities, and you look at the facilities of say, some of our plant or animal-based competitors, right, we're still a very small company [but] that's going to change.
"One of the reasons I was so focused on these deals with McDonald's and with Yum is because I believe that's the route to [bringing] costs down and to scaling and to being able to make these products accessible to every consumer that wants them."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments