What Are Beyond Burgers Made Of?
Beyond Meat has become a staple for vegan and non-vegan restaurants, barbecues, potlucks, gatherings, and in recent years, a household name. Its versatility allows you to prepare anything from juicy, realistic vegan burgers, to indulgent lasagnas, using plants alone. But, exactly which plants go into the Beyond Burger? Are they too processed to include in our daily diets healthfully?
Beyond Burger Ingredients
Although Beyond Meat has been around for a while, they are constantly tweaking their recipe for enhanced texture and flavor. Here is the current list of ingredients you’ll find in the Beyond Burger:
““Water, pea protein, expeller-pressed canola oil, refined coconut oil, rice protein, natural flavors, dried yeast, cocoa butter, methylcellulose, and less than 1% of potato starch, salt, potassium chloride, beet juice color, apple extract, pomegranate concentrate, sunflower lecithin, vinegar, lemon juice concentrate, vitamins and minerals (zinc sulfate, niacinamide [vitamin B3], pyridoxine hydrochloride [vitamin B6], cyanocobalamin [vitamin B12], calcium pantothenate).””
What Do These Ingredients Mean?
If the above list seems long, intimidating, or complicated, you may be relieved to know that these ingredients are plant-derived; not synthetic. In fact, the most ‘complicated’ ingredients included are simply vitamins and minerals used to fortify the product. This could be considered beneficial to vegans who have trouble obtaining these nutrients in their regular diets. A lot of the same vitamins and minerals are added to vegan milk, nutritional yeast, and other staples healthy vegans typically consume.
Even though the ingredients found in Beyond Meat are plant-derived, many are also heavily refined. For example, pea protein is a type of protein powder that excludes most of the starch and fiber found in whole peas, leaving only the protein. The same goes for rice protein. Any oils also exclude the fiber and starch found in their whole food source, leaving only the fat.
If you’re wondering about ‘methylcellulose’, know that this ingredient is an indigestible, non-toxic, and allergy-friendly ingredient derived from cellulose. It is typically used as a laxative. So, you may experience a bit of this effect after consuming Beyond Burgers. In this product, methylcellulose is used as a binding agent, so the burgers don’t fall apart when cooked.
Potassium chloride is another potentially-intimidating ingredient for many consumers. It’s a naturally-occurring salt typically used as a flavor enhancer and allows brands to reduce the amount of overall salt required. As an added benefit, it can help treat low potassium levels.
The only ingredient we can truly object to is the “natural flavors”. We have no way of knowing what exactly this term is referring to — the ingredient covers any substance extracted from sources in nature, including animals and plants. So, really, this means nothing. Even GMO ingredients can be considered “natural” under this ambiguous definition. However, thankfully Beyond Meat has clarified that their product is non-GMO.
Beyond Meat also ensures us in their FAQ page that the product is totally vegan. The problem is, “natural flavors” could also be covering up to 100 of the 3,000 chemical additives considered to be natural by the FDA. Why the company decided to not disclose exactly which flavors were used, instead of grouping them into this blanket term, is beyond us.
Are Beyond Burgers Healthy?
Although the current Beyond Burger formula is still vegan and includes mostly healthful ingredients, we have no way of analyzing all ingredients used, because of their mysterious “natural flavors”. That’s not to say you should never indulge in a Beyond Burger when meaty cravings strike once in a while. I would not recommend eating this daily.
Veganism should be a practical lifestyle that benefits our health, the planet, and animals. We have no reason to aim for perfection. Instead, consume the foods that make your vegan lifestyle easier or more accessible. So, if occasionally consuming Beyond Burgers can make your plant-based diet less overwhelming, go for it!
