The world of food science is getting stranger by the year and if there’s one trend that’s certainly been the centre of attention it’s meat-replacement.
How do we get our meaty fix, but with none of the downsides?
Well one company, Beyond Meat, believes it has the answer with this: The Beyond Burger.
It’s the culmination of around seven years of research into creating the ultimate ‘beef’ experience but with none of the downsides.
What gives the burger its ‘blood’ effect is in fact beetroot juice, allowing the team at Beyond Meat to create a patty that didn’t dry out easily when cooked and as a result give the classic juicy texture that defines a meat-based burger.
If that wasn’t enough this ‘smart burger’ has also been designed to be packed full of the essential nutrients that top athletes need including 20g of protein, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and more.
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Beyond Meat
For now its creators are simply trialling a soft launch in Whole Foods shops around the US however the plan is to bring the burger across the pond to the UK and Europe as soon as possible.
This isn’t the first time that science has tried experiment with the burger format.
It was then cooked and presented to the world as a future alternative for the growing meat crisis which threatens to affect our planet.
Food Waste Facts:
1
We're losing money
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Wasting edible food costs the average household £470 a year, rising to £700 a year for households with children.
2
It's not rocket science
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Brits waste seven million tonnes of food a year, and up to 60% of that could have been eaten. We throw away good food for two main reasons: we either cook or prepare too much, or don't use it in time.
3
But it's a LOT of food
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The amount of that which we could have eaten or drunk is 4.2 million tonnes - enough to fill 8,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
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4
Really, a lot
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Or, if you'd like to imagine it another way, it would fill 210 Royal Albert Halls or five Wembley Stadiums.
5
We start but we don't finish
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Of that, the majority (2 million tonnes) is food that is either unopened, or started but not finished - for example half a loaf of bread, or an unused slide of bacon.
6
Food waste is worse in our homes
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While there's been lots of attention supermarkets, most food waste in the UK - 70% after food leaves farms - comes from our homes.
In comparison, supermarkets generate about 2%, while food manufacturing is responsible for 17%. The hospitality and food service industry, such as restaurants, accounts for 9%.
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7
Even worse than another big problem
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Every year, people in the UK throw away more food from our homes than packaging.
8
The common culprits
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The most-wasted types of food and drink that could have been used are bread, potato, milk, fizzy drinks, fruit juice and smoothies, poultry, pork, ham and bacon, cakes and pastries.
9
Wasting good wine
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We also throw away £270 million worth of wine form our homes each year, as well as £200 million worth of soft drinks, and £150 million worth of fruit juice and smoothies.
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10
Nothing wrong with wonky
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One of the biggest problems is prejudice over "wonky" fruit and veg - nearly a third of us (30%) told Sainsbury's we would throw a banana away if it has even a small bruise, wasting perfectly edible fruit.
11
Gaseous problem
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Most wasted food that reaches landfill sits through our rubbish system emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than CO2, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climae Change.
12
But it's not all bad news
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Between 2007 and 2012, the UK's avoidable food waste has reduced by 21%, over one million tonnes. That amount of food would fill 23 million wheelie bins.
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13
More money for councils
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This reduction in residual waste saved councils around £85 million from sending less food to landfill in 2012 alone.
14
And less water wasted
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Not to mention a billion litres of water that would have been used to grow and produce the food.
15
Saving the planet
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Stopping food waste also has a huge benefit for the planet - removing all wasted food would save 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 a year - the equivalent to taking one in four cars off the road.