Non-dairy proteins take on cows

The sustainability trend is decidedly influencing consumer purchasing decisions, and a high profile aspect of that equation has to do with corn-fed, methane-flatuating cows. The dairy lobby long ago lost the battle to excise “milk” from white-colored drinks that can be poured on breakfast cereal but are not derived from cows. Soymilk was the first dairy alternative drink, but that earthy-flavored drink has itself long since given way to almonds, oats, coconuts, hemp and more.

It begs the question about whether we have reached peak cow? Are consumers still buying burgers? Are they looking for other protein sources away from the feedlot?

“Protein is a huge desire for customers,” said Gretchen Daugherty, account manager for UNFI, which is the distributor of all things natural and organic to bricks and mortar retailers across the country. “They’re looking for how to add it into their diets. Pea protein. Quinoa. Customers are looking at—even with the plant-based meats—what are the ingredients? Is that something I want to put into my diet?”

A case in point is the Impossible Burger story. It was a sexy launch a half-dozen years ago, but the bloom has come off that rose, thanks in no small part to consumer pushback over just exactly how the product was made, and whether that truly counted as natural anymore.

That has led to a lot of consumer kvetching over twin values—natural and organic versus sustainable.

In the case of so-called precision fermentation, whey protein is the end product, but cows are not a part of the equation. Brands ballyhoo the fantastic reduction in resources like water and carbon in the creation of the protein source, but part of the production process includes GMOs—which have long since been labeled taboo by core natural product shoppers. Perhaps precision fermentation is the way for GMOs to live up to their potential as a sustainable way to provide positive nutrition, but a lot of consumers feel burned by GMOs 1.0 which, as it turned out, had nothing to do with feeding the world with more nutritious food but rather just a means of boosting chemical company profits.

A wholly natural, field-focused source for protein these days is that derived from peas. Suppliers are even able to deliver non-GMO, certified organic pea protein without that dank flavor that traumatized children around the dinner table.

This is because of the yellow pea seed varieties that have been specially selected to minimize the off-flavors normally attributed to peas. They can even be grown with regenerative agriculture practices implemented.

“It really doesn’t add any flavor to it that I’ve seen,” said Daugherty. “I’m seeing brands that you would taste and be like, this isn’t a dairy product? I think we’ll see the trend heat up.”