UPF must be removed from the plant-based debate
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Condemning plant-based food and drink as unhealthy UPFs is a risk to public health
Demonising plant-based meat and dairy alternatives as extremely unhealthy ultra-processed foods (UPF) is dangerous and futile, as well as having potentially dire consequences for public health.
Plant milks and meat alternatives face a higher degree of criticism in the UPF debate than any other category, argues Alex Robinson, CEO of environmental charity Hubbub.
“It’s a double standard, there’s no like-for-like scrutiny between meat or dairy-based products as there is with plant-based,” he says.
For example, a cheap meat-free sausage will be made using ingredients and processes that will see it classified as UPF under the Nova classification, he argues. But the same can be said for a cheap pork sausage containing ingredients like potato starch and diphosphates.
No criticism for sausages
“But the meat sausage wouldn’t generate anywhere near the same level of alarm,” says Robinson.
A recent Hubbub campaign to promote plant milk adoption faced opposition ranging from emulsifier anxieties to homophobic slurs directed at men for choosing plant-based.
There are also additional concerns around condemning additives, not only in plant-based but also in traditional meat and dairy products.
“Dairy products are fortified, for example,” says Robinson. “That fortification has been a huge public health win.”
It is necessary to fortify foods, with governments in many countries advocating manufacturers do so to help reduce deficiencies in everything from vitamin D to iron and fibre.
“If we go down the path to celebrate minimal ingredients, then we risk vilifying fortification and we’re picking the wrong battles. It will have a detrimental effect on public health and could lead manufacturers to make perverse choices,” warns Robinson.
Fighting against plant-based
Behind the over weighted criticisms of plant-based food and drinks are, often, farmer-backed organisations fighting against the category, Robinson agrees.
To combat this, the plant sector must adopt a coordinated response that “fights the misinformation” and “celebrates the good parts of plant-based options”.
Plant-based food makers and brands need protecting against the misinformation or the sector risks permanent damage, such as reduced sales on the back of consumers believing the category is dangerous, he warns.
Though the sector must also come to terms with the fact that it is sometimes being held up to “unhelpful and misleading standards”, says Robinson.
For example, plant-based has to hit needs such as meat alternative, environmentally friendly, clean label and a host of other needs that a meat variant does not.
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