The term semi-vegetarian has been trending lately, and I m thrilled. While there is no formal definition of what a semi-vegetarian diet means, it s clear that a significant percentage of Americans are interested in eating more plant-based meals.
According to the Plant Based Foods Association, total plant-based food sales have risen by 31% since 2017, far outpacing overall grocery sales. And during the pandemic, consumers opted for plant-based foods in a big way. Retail sales of plant-based meats spiked by 148% compared to the previous year, and sales of all plant-based foods were up by 90%.
Here s my take as a registered dietitian on why this is a growing movement, and how adopting a semi-vegetarian diet can improve your health and the health of the planet.
The High Protein Vegan Recipe This Dietitian Loves Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD
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The rise of plant protein
Consumers are turning to plant-based foods now more than ever. According to a 2020 report from the Plant-Based Foods Association, sales of plant-based foods spiked by 90 percent during the pandemic. But the interest isn t new. Since 2017, total plant-based food sales have risen by 31 percent, far outpacing overall grocery sales, according to the group.
Plant protein replacements have exploded in popularity in recent years. A 2018 report from the consumer research group Mintel shows that shoppers choose plant-based protein alternatives for several reasons. These include taste preference, which ranked highest, in addition to an interest in protecting animals and the environment, and improving health and well-being.
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When Mars Inc. announced in 2016 that it would remove all artificial colors from its human food products in the next five years, Leonard Lerer saw an opportunity.
Lerer, a medical doctor who had been an investor in food tech companies, had previously backed a startup that extracted a natural blue color from spirulina algae. And he had done the math: If Mars wanted to make its M&Ms a natural blue, Lerer estimated it would take five or six times all the spirulina in the world at that time.
The candy company immediately found the color change to be a big challenge. Almost five years later, M&Ms in the United States still don t use natural blue coloring, Mars Wrigley said.
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A plant-based meat company is appealing to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals a federal judge’s recent refusal to halt Oklahoma’s Meat Consumer Protection Act, which requires a disclaimer on plant-based food products that use a meat term in the product description.
In September, Upton’s Naturals Co. and the Plant Based Foods Association (“PBFA”) filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma federal court, asking the court to block the law from being enforced while the lawsuit remained pending.[1]
Similar to meat labeling laws
in other states, Oklahoma’s Meat Consumer Protection Act prohibits misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock. [2] But the Act goes on to say that product packaging for plant-based items shall not be considered in violation […] so long as the packaging displays that the product is derived from plant-based sources in type that is
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Greenleaf Foods will buy and build out a 118,000-square-foot Indianapolis food processing plant to ramp up production of Lightlife tempeh products in response to rising demand, parent company Maple Leaf Foods announced. The company expects the purchase to close in early April.
The Indianapolis plant will have an initial production capacity of about 99.2 million pounds of tempeh. Greenleaf Foods estimates the project including the purchase costs to total approximately $100 million. The company expects the plant to be fully operational by the first half of 2022.
This is the second Indiana manufacturing facility that Chicago-based Greenleaf has planned since its launch in 2018. The company announced plans in 2019 to build North America s largest plant-based protein facility in Shelbyville, Indiana. The company said in the tempeh plant announcement that the pandemic and other factors have delayed the project. By acquiring the Indianapolis plant, the company hopes