BRIAN KATEMAN: 'Tyson Foods, one of the world’s largest food companies, has launched what it calls a "plant-based" product line. But while the news is welcome, it isn’t actually "plant-based." Raised & Rooted, Tyson’s new brand offering alternative protein products, includes a pea-based nugget that contains egg (and possibly milk). Despite this, the company has referred to it as “100 percent plant-based” in a press release and describes it as “plant-based” on its website. A global meat company branching out to vegetarian nuggets is certainly a step in the right direction... calling…

PHYS.ORG: 'People find the idea of eating pork less appealing after being exposed to the idea that pigs have some human-like characteristics, but are not put off of eating beef when cows are depicted in similar ways, according to new research by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The paper, published in the journal Appetite, reveals that when pigs are shown as having the ability to make friends with humans or one another, people feel guilty about eating pork and say that they would be less likely to go to a restaurant that offers pork dishes or buy a pork product.…

FAUNALYTICS: 'Challenge 22+ is a global program that encourages people to try a plant-based diet for 22 days, while focusing on the social aspects that accompany the transition. The program was developed by Israeli organization Animals Now, and it was launched in Israel in March 2014. The program runs all year round, and new cycles of the Challenge constantly open... The program’s strength lies in its unique ability to address the individual needs of each person, while supporting thousands of participants at a time. The number of participants in each cycle of the Challenge ranges between…

ALEXANDER HOLST: 'Advocates for alternative proteins and advocates for conventionally-produced meat are participating in an ongoing public messaging battle about clean and plant-based meat products. The former wants to present alternative proteins in a positive light, to make them palatable to consumers, and to appeal to policymakers to put regulatory rules in place to favor alternative proteins. The latter sees clean and plant-based meat as a threat to conventional meat products, seeks to discredit alternative proteins in the eyes of the public, and lobbies governments to raise regulatory…

CHASE PURDY: 'There’s a staggering gulf between the food that we eat and our concept of where it comes from—and the art world is partly to blame. A walk down virtually any grocery store aisle is an exhibition of its own, with no shortage of imagery depicting rolling farmlands peppered with happy cows, chickens, and pigs that blithely graze beneath harmonious brand names... But don’t be fooled by it. A lack of agrarian realism over the last 50 years has further separated us from the realities of our vast and complicated food system, and it’s harmful to people living on a planet experiencing a…

JOSH EIDELSON: 'Sonny Perdue may be a champion of big agriculture and agribusinesses in all its forms, but even he isn’t immune to the lure of a vegan burger. On Thursday, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture visited the Impossible Foods Inc. headquarters in Redwood City, California, where staff cooked up their signature alternative-meat burger for him. He said it tasted “very good,” and that it was a “good facsimile” of real beef... Impossible Foods is a closely held rival to Beyond Meat Inc., which has gained almost 600% since going public last month. The California company is also a critic…

CTV ATLANTIC: 'Billboards promoting the message that 'Dairy is Scary' were put up in New Brunswick last week and Tuesday in Nova Scotia. The group behind them says the goal isn't to insult farmers, but to encourage a vegan lifestyle... The billboards are being put up by the Vegan Education Group. “Our purpose is to raise awareness about the inherent cruelty and injustice done to dairy cows and their babies so that people can drink their milk,” said Bill Wilson, who’s with the Vegan Education Group in New Brunswick. The billboards are based off a viral video by Erin Janus. “I designed the…

JORG LUYKEN: 'The Green Party in Germany has said it intends to ban industrial animal farming as part of a wide-ranging and costly package to combat climate change should they come to power. Katrin Goering-Eckardt, the party’s leader in the Germany parliament, said her party would establish a fund worth at least €100 billion to finance climate projects including dam construction, reforestation and environmentally friendly transportation projects. Ms Goering-Eckardt did not go into further details on a timeline for the prohibition of intensively reared meat... Christian Lindner, the leader of…

JAND: 'The aim of the study was to characterize trends in consumption of different types of processed meat among US adults in relation to the consumption of unprocessed red meat, poultry, and fish/shellfish in the past 18 years... This was a nationally representative sample of 43,995 US adults aged 20 years and older... The mean consumption of processed meat among US adults remained unchanged in the past 18 years. The top five processed meats consumed by US adults in 2015-2016 were luncheon meat, sausage, hot dog, ham, and bacon, accounting for 39.3%, 24.4%, 9.4%, 9.4%, and 4.6%,…

HOLLY WILLIAMS: 'The boss of Diners’ Club Tastecard has warned restaurants against being “complacent” and said they must embrace trends like veganism to help avoid the fate of chains including Jamie’s Italian. Matt Turner, who co-founded the restaurant discount card in 2006, said chains have been hit by a perfect storm of rising costs, falling numbers of customers and over-expansion. The tough conditions have claimed a raft of victims, including Jamie Oliver’s chains after the celebrity chef’s restaurant business collapsed into administration last month. Speaking to the Press Association,…