Vegetarian
and vegan substitute products: We experience real surprises. Sniff it, please. Wow! You know what I mean? The meat of the future
comes from the laboratory. But is it still natural then? This is more natural than what is happening in industrialized
agriculture. Not all cows live like Helga. And: When
it comes to meat substitutes, manufacturers are not just concerned with
our health and the environment. At the end of the day
, it's always about making money. That is clear. Subtitle:
Norddeutscher Rundfunk 2021 Eat less meat – that's a resolution
that I share with many people. But
sometimes we consumers get the parts of dead animals
foisted on us. That's why we have to look very carefully when we go shopping
. Because a lot is … Which products
can vegetarians access? By the cheese.
Orange. Could you take? Yes. Vegetarians can eat sugar, so
let's leave the cake. There's very little meat in there. Maybe the mousse au chocolat
? Yes, they too. yes, come on That's quite a lot. I'm afraid that was too much. You can take a
look at the ingredients list. Edible gelatine (pork),
dadum! dadäää! It says "real carmine". So what is that? This is obtained from scale insects.
Oh God. Scale insects are living creatures. They have to believe in it
so that we can get red paint. Animal rennet. What is that? This is a product
taken from the calf. For this, the calf must be
killed. Indeed? And with that, the cheese is gone… too. None of these products
are 100% vegetarian. I would not have thought that. Vegetarians only eat
what comes from living animals: milk or eggs. Therefore,
none of our examples are suitable for them.
It is difficult to tell
whether products from dead animals are in these sweets
or in drinks and desserts. Jana Fischer from the consumer advice center also criticizes this
.
Substances that are not recognizable at first glance
can be used in food. Additives such as dyes,
stabilizers or substances that give consistency and are made from
animal products.
Gelatine is used in many products – why? Gelatin is a gelling agent. This is typical in the gummy bears that
have this chewy consistency. This also occurs in yoghurt
or cream cheese preparations. There are herbal alternatives. But a big factor is that they're more expensive
for the industry.
Why is animal rennet used
in the production of cheese? This is the traditional variant. It also works without animal rennet. Then it says on the package:
"Microbial rennet". This is rennet
made artificially. No animal had to be
slaughtered for this. Some drinks
are also non-vegetarian. Gelatine is used
to clarify the drink. With apple juice or wine
, the cloudy substances are extracted with gelatine. But the gelatin is removed so that no gelatin appears in the list of ingredients
. If you want to
be sure, you can look out for the V label. This suggests that
nothing from dead animals was used during manufacture. An important signal
for all vegetarians. In the population aged 14 and over
, this is 9.2 percent. 1.6 percent
even describe themselves as vegans, i.e.
avoid anything animal. Not eating meat
is becoming a trend. Consumption has
fallen by 10% in 30 years: headwinds for the meat industry. Apparently they now want to
earn money from the substitute products – through… We buy plant-based alternatives
and the originals made from meat – from the same manufacturer. Iglo chicken nuggets. Based on 100 grams
, vegan is more expensive: Meica Bratmaxe –
the veggie grills are more expensive: meatballs from Rügenwalder Mühle.
The vegetarian ones: more expensive. Blockhouse vegan burgers. And vegetarian
Gutfried meat sausage: why is that? Because it is manufactured differently
and therefore higher costs arise.
Because that's always the case. But an animal lived here. It has
been fed for months or even years. Is not that crazy?
That's crazy, but that's how it is. The good meat should be more expensive. We think about animal welfare. The green stuff
should be cheaper. They shouldn't cost that much
to produce. But what are the manufacturers doing? They hit something
because it works. Meica writes to us: Gutfried explains that
the price differences arise … Iglo argues that
the processes are … Blockhouse also writes: Rügenwalder argues similarly
and explains that it is … The processes are therefore
not organized as efficiently. A recent study shows that vegetarian
and vegan substitute products are
often twice as expensive as meat. Many investors
sense a very big deal.
Sales are expected to increase tenfold worldwide within ten years.
What's up with this trend? We meet Arnd Zschiesche,
brand sociologist. We are in a market
where there is hardly any movement. The limits are
very clearly defined for food. When an apparent trend emerges that has the potential to
make millions , it's natural
for everyone to jump on it. Everyone sees an opportunity
to make money somehow. In addition, this trend
affects vegetarians and vegans. These are often people who have a little more money
in their wallets.
So
a lot can be done with the products in the price spiral. What
role do flexitarians, who consciously eat less meat, play in this? They are ideal. They often have more money. You are interested
in good and sustainable food. At the end of the day
, it's always about making money. We should be very clear on that. The companies don't do this because they
have discovered their green soul. They don't think: Mankind
has to feed itself better. It is vegetable food that is more expensive
than animal meat. That's clever marketing. But it seems like a system error. We meet
restaurant manager Zora Klipp. She likes to cook with good meat , but also has a weakness
for vegetarian and vegan dishes.
We want to find out together with her: Are the replacement products
from the supermarket or discounter …
We try
vegetarian ham picks. We compare the sausage
with regular mortadella. It is equal to. This is crazy. That smells a little nicer. You can still smell
a bit of dead meat here. Of course you don't have that. I find it more attractive. I'm definitely hungry. 1:1 mortadella. It's mortadella.
It's mortadella. The comparison to real mortadella
doesn't change that. Now comes the original. It's so close to each other. is crazy We use vegan smoked salmon
with seaweed extract.
Consider salmon. That's awesome. That smells totally crass
after smoked salmon. Pure smoked salmon. Yes. Thanks. Oh! What? I'm very excited about that. Yes, but you… It works. Goes. The taste is also very close to salmon.
But it is very woody. Like having something burned in your mouth. But except for the aftertaste
, it's ok. As long as you don't compare it
to real salmon… It's a lot firmer. Now, of course, you
still have the fish. That tastes better. Now when I eat the original
, the substitute product falls off. Veganz informs us: Similar criticism
on texture and smoke aroma … "Garden Gourmet vegan fillet strips"
from Nestle. We heat them up just
like the pre-cooked turkey fillets. It's a bit grainy.
It could be a little more… I'm still looking for the meat flavor. You can just take it
as a filling. If I have a wrap now,
sauce, salad…
Then you put that in there,
it's delicious. For comparison: turkey meat. It tastes similar
, but has a different structure. You feel the fibers in your mouth.
It's more fibrous. It's close. It continues
with the vegan steak from Vivera. It's quite firm.
You don't have to arrive here with medium. It looks like a ground beef. It's so blocky.
It's a bit pink. Oh! The consistency is not met.
But this is so difficult. Do you want to go here now? As a flexitarian,
I look forward to the meat. How it has to be! Look at that! You're the best. Extra just for you. You can't compare that. It's an alternative –
but not in terms of taste. It's not a replacement,
just an alternative. Vivera sees it similarly:
The difference lies… They tried…
How about fried eggs? The manufacturer advertises that it should be possible to recreate it as a vegan version
from powders . Open is not. Both powders are mixed with water: one mass for the protein,
one for the yolk. Sniff it now. Wow! Those are rotten eggs. That's a minus point. This is black salt. It doesn't taste like it smells. I sometimes use this
for vegan cakes. But that's awesome. That's… uncomfortable. For frying, the white
mass goes into the pan first. Put the yellow mass in a cookie cutter above it
. A little later the real eggs are
ready – and the vegan ones too. But you were brave! Oh yeah. It tastes way better
than it smells and looks. But it tastes more
like a spiced pancake.
In a blind test
I would never taste egg. Manufacturer MyEy admits:
When mixing, be… If you
don't know the characteristic black salt, be … Apparently, it's not just about
how it tastes. But above all how it feels
in your mouth when you bite on it. We make an appointment
for a video interview. At the Fraunhofer Institute
for Process Engineering and Packaging , Anna Martin researches
the texture of food. The highlight of meat substitute products
is that they imitate the long muscle fibers
of meat. It seems to work well with chicken meat
. Why? Chicken is rather dry meat. Those tighter structures
that you associate with the chicken are actually
easier to produce. When will we get
the fish and the fillet of beef close in structure to
the original, but as an imitation? The steak
really is the number 1 challenge for all food technologists at the moment. A
completely different structure is required for fish. When you cut a fish steak, it
breaks down in a special way. It's hard to get that structure with
plant proteins.
Where will we be in 20 years? What do meat substitutes look like
then? I don't think we'll be dealing with imitations in 20 years
. I could imagine that different textures can be created from the vegetable
protein: from firm to the bite to soft. From crunchy and porous
to gel-like. That's still music of the future. But to ensure that the mouthfeel is right
, manufacturers are already using: methyl cellulose, xanthan gum,
guar gum, flavorings, table salt, dextrose, yeast.
Whatever textured
soy protein blends are. Methyl cellulose, xanthan gum, Gu…
I don't even know those things. Back in the kitchen. We got typical ingredients
for industrial vegan mince. What is all this? We have soy granules.
This is the main base. You can see that
from the structure. Then we have methyl cellulose. That has a really great quality. It starts
to bind liquid from 30 degrees. We don't want it to spread in the
pan. There are also
twelve other ingredients. These include exotics such as soy protein isolate and frozen coconut fat
with methylcellulose.
And flavor enhancer glutamate. Then onion powder and lots of salt. I feel like a chemist
with all the powders. In fact, a mass is created
that is at least reminiscent of Hack. We make balls out of it. That already looks very good. Optically a one. That looks like meatballs. Really not bad. The consistency too. How healthy are foods
with such long lists of ingredients? We meet Martin Smollich at the University Hospital Lübeck
. We take a critical view of these products in
terms of nutritional medicine – whether they are vegan or not. The highly processed
is the critical. You should include as
few additives as possible. Then you can
say as a general rule of thumb: as few additives as possible –
that's a good thing. Another rule of thumb
that you can also use well: You should look at
what additives are on the label. Are these things that you don't have
in the kitchen? Then you should avoid it. Nobody has titanium dioxide and methyl cellulose
at home.
But what
is this methyl cellulose all about?
Methylcellulose is an approved additive.
There is no acute toxicity. You don't know from the animal experiments
what happens if I eat such products
for more than 20 years. This data does not exist.
There is evidence in animal experiments that methylcellulose
damages the intestinal mucosa. This can lead
to inflammatory processes, to autoimmune diseases,
to chronic inflammation. We don't know if this is the case in humans
. We make
our way to Bremerhaven. This is where Frosta has
its production headquarters. Product developer Frank Gaida
guides us through the halls. Vegan fish fingers have recently been produced here
: 9,500 roll off the assembly line every
hour. The main ingredient is a vegetable mass. It is pressed into squares. After a shower of flour and water
, it is sprinkled with breading.
Frank Gaida and his team
worked on the recipe for a long time. We do a lot with vegetables. We spent a long time
trying to find the right vegetables. We took white vegetables:
cauliflower and salsify. Then came the borlotti bean because it's flourier
and has substance. Then came the jackfruit. It's very well known in the vegan scene
because it has a bit of fibrous
content. It can give the feeling of fish or meat
.
Does it taste like fish then? It's relatively neutral. Everyone knows fish fingers. It's a light salt note. But the main
flavor of fish fingers is that crunch
and breading. Now Frosta is proud that
there are no additives in its products. But that didn't work here. We're very open about that. We have methyl cellulose in it. This is the only
additive we use. The problem with the vegetable is that it doesn't have the sticky properties of
a protein. That's why you ca
n't get the consistency like that. So I need to have something that
brings the veggies together. And that is currently
only possible with methyl cellulose. We are working hard
to replace that. But we didn't want to wait. Frosta has made it
its mission to do without additives. That really hurts us too. That's why we
founded a new brand: "Fisch vom Feld".
Health plays a role, especially in a vegan diet. How do you get the healthy
in the vegan fish fingers? The vegetables themselves
are healthy. But I know
what you're getting at. proteins.
That's what we have the hemp protein for.
