Ranchers keep watch on Beyond Burger retail debut

Saskatchewan rancher Ross Macdonald isn’t afraid of the Beyond Burger. The meatless product is set to come to Canadian grocery stores in time for barbecue season this year, according to the California-based company that produces it from peas, beets and other vegetables. It’s being touted as perhaps the best imitation burger to hit the market thus far, and Macdonald — who raises cattle on 3,500 acres near the U.S. border — says Saskatchewan ranchers are talking about what it means for them. “I think its probably one of the most current topics,” he said. He said he’s even tried one, and didn’t mind the taste. But that doesn’t mean he’s losing confidence in the Saskatchewan cattle industry’s future as more alternatives fight for room in Canadian shopping carts. “I don’t necessarily see it as a threat,” he said. “I see it as an opportunity for people like myself, who produce beef in a grassland environment, to tell a great story about the sustainability of our product.” The Beyond Burger has already come to A&W, temporarily selling out last fall due to heavy demand. The company that makes it, Beyond Meat, frames its signature product as a more ethical and healthy substitute for the real thing. “Our belief is that the best way to get people to eat less meat is by giving them more of what they love — in our case, juicy delicious burgers, sausages, and more — without so many of the health, sustainability, and animal welfare downsides of animal-based meats,” the company writes in its press package. “Our task is to eliminate the need for meat from animals and find the same or analogous materials in the plant kingdom.”...MORE