Irish Beef Giant Debuts Quarter-Pound Vegan Burgers

Last week, meat company ABP Food Group launched new plant-based meat brand Equals at ASDA stores across the United Kingdom. The brand’s flagship product is a plant-based quarter-pound beef patty made with soy and pea protein. The meat company has dedicated more than $363,000 to marketing the new vegan burger, the packaging of which touts, “No meat. No compromise,” and that the plant-based patty “equals the real deal.” “We are very excited about our first fresh brand launch into the meat-free category. Our core business is and will remain in beef but we recognize the growing demand for products that fit a flexitarian and meat-free lifestyle,” Darren Jones, ABP UK commercial director, said. “As a business, we have long invested in understanding market and consumer trends and we have a keen interest in exploring opportunities that provide consumers with choice.” Stateside, major corporations that have historically profited from animal agriculture will soon enter the booming plant-based industry in a big way, including Nestlé which will debut a vegan Incredible Burger to compete with the Impossible Burger next spring, and Tyson which plans to unveil its own line of plant-based meat alternatives by the end of this year.