Oh, patents! Beyond Meat®

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Beyond Meat® is the new faux meat kid on the NASDAQ stock exchange, trading with the ticker symbol BYND (NASDAQ). The company launched its IPO on May 2, 2019 with an initial share price of $25. Today, BYND shares are trading at more than $200, up 700%! The US faux meat sector of the economy is up 11%. Faux meat is hot, hot, hot! (Reinicke, 2019)

If you are wondering about cooking your own faux meat, Beyond Meat® burger patties are available in the meat sections of supermarkets and grocery stores across the country (Bernot, 2019). Beyond Meat® has also partnered with Dunkin’® Donuts for rolling out faux breakfast sausage sandwiches, and is preparing to roll out faux bacon (Weiner-Bronne, 2019; O'Kane, 2019). Thus, you might already find faux sausages called Beyond Sausages®, in two flavors: Brat Original and Hot Italian, at your local supermarkets, and faux bacon some time in the very near future. In the interim, you will also find Beyond Beef® Crumbles in the frozen section of supermarkets to make tacos and/or to add to your favorite spaghetti sauce, as well as Beyond Beef® faux ground beef (e.g.; for making meatballs). Bonus mouthwatering recipes are included at the Beyond Meat® website.

The ingredients and processes for producing Beyond Meat® faux beef, faux sausages and faux bacon are disclosed most recently in the US patent application US20180310599A1, titled Meat-like food products. The Beyond Meat® 2018 patent application is uncommon in that the 52-page document contains 80 paragraphs (7 pages in two columns) of definitions for the special meanings of the terms used to disclose the Beyond Meat® invention. Thus, you will find useful definitions, in the description section of this patent application, for terms that may appear obscure, such as 80/20 and 90/10 beef or crosslinking; for unusual uses of terms such as dough,  flour and gel in reference to meat; or for dispelling the potential legal ambiguity of such terms as about, or the indefiniteness of evaluation parameters such as doneness, chewiness, cohesiveness, juiciness, gumminess, springiness, taste, texture, sizzle sound, and mouthfeel.

The Beyond Meat® invention arises with a threefold concern for the health, environmental and ethical issues connected to the consumption of animal meat, animal husbandry and cruelty. Accordingly, the invention strives to remedy with a product that is healthier than animal meat, as nutritious, and without the high greenhouse gas footprint, and insane cruelty associated with animal meat production. 

Compared to the prior art of plant-based meat alternatives, the Beyond Meat® invention particularly addresses the quality of the sensory experience of eating and cooking meat (e.g.; sounds and aromas during the transition from raw to cooked faux meat, the mouthfeel, taste, chewiness, juiciness and texture when ingested); the nutritional and health values of plant-based meat (e.g.; without cholesterol or high saturated fat content, or the risks of allergy to gluten and soy); and the versatility of use (e.g.; as faux patties for burgers, faux ground meat for meatloaf and sauces, crumbles for tacos, or stuffed in a sausage skin for hotdogs). 

Indeed, the invention seeks to exceed customer satisfaction for animal meat, in an effort to finally win animal meat consumers over to the vegetarian and/or vegan camp. At the end of the day, this invention is a challenge to Go Beyond™ meat, to join a movement with different beliefs and the higher purposes of mitigating climate change and promoting health. The company states on its website: 

“Go Beyond™ isn’t a polite invitation. It’s a bold challenge to break barriers, defy convention, shatter expectations.”

The Youtube video below spotlights the Go Beyond™ message and movement.

The Beyond Meat® patent application recites in great detail all the various meat-like food products: the possible ingredients and their percentages per weight that enter into various compositions of Beyond Meat® faux meat (e.g.; meat-like proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, edible fibre, and moisture) and their binding agents.

The patent application also recites the various agent release systems, including emulsions, functioning to promote such aspects of the meat-like food products as juiciness, binding of cooked or uncooked faux meat, taste, sizzle sounds with the release of fats, and doneness triggered by heat from the outside to the center, interacting with the red color of the faux meat.

In particular, for some embodiments of the invention, the red color of the faux meat is also described as potentially using various natural extracts and their combinations, such as for example:

“beet extract and annatto, beet extract and turmeric, beet extract and saffron, beet extract and purple carrot, beet extract and grape seed extract, beet extract and tomato extract, beet extract and lycopene, beet extract and beta carotene, beet extract and anthocyanin, beet extract and anthocyanin and annatto, beet extract and annatto and lycopene, beet extract and ascorbic acid , anthocyanin and annatto, beet extract and annatto and ascorbic acid, beet extract and annatto and beta carotene, beet extract and turmeric and ascorbic acid, and anthocyanin and lycopene and annatto.” [0142]

The abstract of the Beyond Meat® faux meat invention is included below, together with the patent Figure 1 image of a burger.  An image of the marketed uncooked Beyond Meat® patty burgers is also included above. 

Provided are food products that have structures, textures, and other properties comparable to those of animal meat, and that may therefore serve as substitutes for animal meat. Also provided are processes for production of such ground meat - like food products. [Abstract US20180310599A1]

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In the twilight zone, it remains to be seen whether the backlash for the Beyond Meat® invention might not come from those vegetarians who are choking at how much Beyond Meat® looks, tastes and smells like real animal meat, when such vegetarians have not joined forces with nutritionists who point out that highly-processed plant-based food such as faux meat is different from plant-based whole foods (Harris, 2019; Sweeney, 2019). However, such true vegetarians are probably still far outnumbered by vegetarians still-craving-for-meat, and meat lovers who have no plans yet for a plant-based diet, both of which might indeed be won, in ever greater numbers, as Beyond Meat® consumers.  

References

Beyond Meat® - The future of Protein™

https://www.beyondmeat.com/products/

CNN –Weiner-Bronner, D.  (July 24, 2019)  Dunkin is launching a breakfast sandwich with Beyond Meat® sausage

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/24/business/dunkin-beyond-meat/index.html

CBS News – O’kane, C. (July 24, 2019) Beyond Meat® is developing plant-based bacon

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/beyond-meat-developing-plant-based-bacon-dunkin-tim-hortons-2019-07-24/

Business Insider Reinicke, C. (July 23 2019) - Beyond Meat® extends its post-IPO surge to 734%, breaking the $200-a-share threshold for the first time (BYND)

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/beyond-meat-stock-price-breaks-200-per-share-2019-7-1028376980

The Takeout  Bernot, K. (June 6, 2019) Where does Beyond Meat® belong in the grocery store?

https://thetakeout.com/beyond-vegan-meat-grocery-store-aisle-1835298852

Kummer, C. (03-31-2015) The problem with fake meat – MIT Technology Review

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/536296/the-problem-with-fake-meat/

Harris, S. (July 24, 2019) Beyond Meat® says its burgers are healthier than beef. Health experts aren't so sure – CBC News, Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/beyond-meat-burger-beef-health-risks-1.5220777

NASDAQ BEYOND MEAT, INC. (BYND) IPO

https://www.nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/company/beyond-meat-inc-977310-88416

Sweeney, E. (07-10-2019) Are Beyond Meat® and Impossible Burgers® better for you? Nutritionists Weigh In. The Huffington Post   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-meat-impossible-burger-healthy_l_5d164ad1e4b07f6ca57cc3ed