Do farmers have a real beef with fake meat?

Vegetarians have been innovating with food for centuries but the modern "meat free movement", which started in earnest around the end of the 1990s, seems to have taken off on a supercharged trajectory. Plant-based products are abundant in our supermarkets and they are on the menu boards at global fast food chains around the world.

The growing popularity of plant-based diets has largely been driven by an increase in social consciousness around animal welfare, the environment and human health considerations.

The purpose of this opinion piece is not to debate the moral or scientific grounds behind plant-based diets. But it must be noted that more research is needed to quantify many of the claims being made about the impacts of the consumption of both red meat and highly processed vegan foods on human health. Given most cattle are grazed on country unsuitable for cropping, it's also important that the environmental footprint of red meat is better explored.

There's no doubt that veganism and vegetarianism are now mainstream trends. There's even a term for those who follow a plant-based diet but enjoy animal products in moderation - the Flexitarians.

Many Flexitarians follow movements like Meat Free Monday. Launched by the McCartneys in 2009, Meat Free Monday is a campaign that encourages people to adopt a plant-based diet on Mondays to help slow climate change and improve health outcomes. Millions around the globe now observe Meat Free Monday.

There are several groups of foods to consider when discussing "fake meats". Firstly, we have a wide variety of vegan and vegetarian food products that have been developed over many decades - think how far we've come since plain tofu!

With improvements in food technology, this range has become increasingly sophisticated and expanded to now include products that, while not meat, are designed to look, feel and taste like real meat.

Many of these feature labeling that (cheekily) refers to meat but they are, in fact plant-based and utilise ingredients like a soybean protein concentrate, coconut oil, potato, methylcellulose, yeast extract, beans and chickpeas to create a "meatier texture".

Also on the rise are lab-grown proteins. While still technically meat these products are becoming popular with consumers who want to continue consuming red meat but who want to reduce their impact on the environment. This technology is still in the development phase and is yet to become as widely accepted as other products lumped into the fake meat debate.

At least one Australian beef industry boss sees an opportunity.

Red Meat Advisory Council chairman Don Mackay says we would be wise to recognise that many of fake meat's biggest investors were now real meat processors such as US giants, Cargill and Tyson Foods or mainstream food names like Nestle and McDonald's.

"It may initially be a costly product development exercise, but if I was running Tyson Foods - America's biggest meat processor - of course I'd be getting into plant-based protein offerings, as well," he said.

"We in the red meat industry don't have to be frothing at the mouth about these new products because we have products which consumers still want and will pay extra for. To feed the world we're likely to see new markets open up for traditional animal protein blended with cultured (lab) meats or vegetable protein. There's nothing wrong with that."

Mr Mackay said the wool industry failed to halt the rise of synthetics in the 1960s and the dairy industry had to accept competition from margarine in the 1970s.

Both retained their premium products but adapted to reach more consumers by embracing blending.

Perhaps much of the angst around fake meat really comes down to labeling. Just this week, the Federal Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie said the National Party would push for accurate labelling of food and drink products so that consumers could be confident about what they're buying at the checkout.

"No self-respecting vegetarian would want to rock along to a barbecue to find that their vege-burger actually contained meat. Just as meat eaters don't want to find their meat patties are actually made from chickpeas and tofu," Minister McKenzie said.

Accurate labelling would certainly go a long way to appeasing anxiety around product names like "Chicken Free Chicken" but will it be enough to keep consumers eating healthy amounts of red meat? The meat lover in me says that's a certainty.

Penelope Arthur is the National Agricultural News Editor. She lives on a sheep and beef property in western Queensland