Beyond Meat Embracing 'Radical Transparency' And Clean Functional Proteins Says Ethan Brown

Beyond Meat founder and CEO Ethan Brown has said that the company is embracing “radical transparency” and clean, functional proteins as the plant-based sector progresses.

In a recent appearance on FoodNavigator‘s Positive Nutrition broadcast series, titled “Plant-Based: Plants At The Center Of The Plate,” Brown addressed his company’s “meteoric” success and the current pushback against “processed” plant-based foods and unfamiliar ingredients.

Brown said that Beyond Meat’s rapid and disruptive growth “naturally invited some pushback from the incumbent industry,” including meat producers and meat-dependent brands, who depicted Beyond Meat as “processed and full of chemicals.”

In contrast to this narrative, Brown noted that protein itself is “the most processed part” of Beyond Meat’s products, and that this process itself is “actually very clean.” However, to address consumers’ concerns about processed foods, the company is emphasizing “clean” ingredients and “radical transparency” as the sector moves forward into its “fourth lane.”

“What we have done is essentially looked inward and said, ‘Okay, how do we become even healthier, even simpler, even cleaner, so that there’s very few targets that people can attack,’” said Brown. “The idea that you can use a lot of ingredients to create something that is a facsimile of animal protein, but has ingredients people do not want, is a failed idea.”

Nutrient-dense ingredients

Photo shows a selection of Beyond Meat products in a refrigerator, in a Safeway store, in the San Francisco bay area — Adobe Stock Beyond Meat has updated its recipes to emphasize nutrient density

Last year, Beyond Meat announced a new plant-based sausage that emphasized nutrient-density instead of trying to “mimic” traditional animal-based foods. It featured plant-based ingredients such as fava beans, yellow peas, avocado oil, brown rice, and red lentils.

Also in 2024, the company announced a new, “healthier,” whole-cut mycelium-based steak, in order to meet consumer demand for both clean ingredients and whole-cut alternative proteins. Beyond Meat even updated the recipe for its classic Beyond Burgers, which now feature a shorter ingredients list, reduced fat and salt, and increased protein content.

“I would take a product that is a close, but not a perfect, approximation but has a super clean set of ingredients,” Brown told FoodNavigator.

Following a difficult Q1, Beyond Meat recently secured up to USD $100 million in new senior secured debt from Unprocessed Foods, which is an affiliate of the Ahimsa Foundation. Brown said the investment would help advance “strategic priorities” for the company.