Fake-meat fans have beef with Big Meat for trying to cut into plant-based market

Enlarge / A stack of plant-based Impossible Burgers. (credit: Impossible Foods)

Plant-based meat alternatives are having a moment-from Burger King's Impossible Whoppers, White Castle's Impossible sliders, McDonald's Beyond Meat PLT, and Subway's Beyond Meatball Marinara, not to mention the growing shelf space for meatless-meat in grocery stores nationwide.

Though veggie burgers have been around for ages, the more meat-like generation of products has clearly piqued the appetite of the public. And that has another group-perhaps a surprising one-salivating over the profit potential: the meat industry.

Big names in meaty-meat products-including Tyson, Perdue, Hormel, Smithfield, and NestleI-are all trying to get a cut of the fake and alternative-meat products world, according to The New York Times. Following the juicy success of Impossible Foods (with its Impossible Burgers) and Beyond Meat, meat producers have carved out their own plant-based versions of burgers, chicken nuggets, sausages, and more.

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