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May 16, 2022Liked by Danny Sheridan

What's a "unit" of plant based meat? Is that weight or volume and how does it compare to actual meat?

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Great question (that many others shared too). The source—Statista—isn't clear about how they measure this. They reference servings per container sold, but don't clarify how they got to define a 'unit.'

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May 16, 2022·edited May 16, 2022

Great question. We're accustomed to thinking of meat based product as protein and fat... so if we buy 80% lean ground beef, we assume (perhaps incorrectly?) that the product we just bought... say 1# is 3.2 ounces of fat and 12.8 ounces of protein. Will plant based protein products be measured the same way? If not... how can you make an apples-to-apples comparison that the 1/4# plant based beef burger has the same protein value as the 1/4# ground beef burger? It'll be interesting to see how the industry responds as demand and commoditization increase.

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Think adding comparison to beef/chicken/pork price per unit would help provide valuable context, along with clarifying that the price is for US (based on Statista link report title).

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It will be interesting to see whether the beef industry reacts to the term plant based meat the same way the dairy industry reacted to almond-based milk... the products attempting to replace milk with non-dairy substitutes can't be called milk... so what will these plant-based protein products end up being called? ;-)

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