The phrase “alternative protein” is commonly used to describe products such as plant-based proteins or cultivated meats.
However, Jack Hubbard, partner and owner of public affairs firm Berman, recommends that people in the meat, poultry and dairy industries don’t use, it because it was a term first coined by the animal rights lobby which seeks to put an end to animal agriculture.
“Words matter,” Hubbard said during the recently held Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit in Arlington, Virginia. “If you’re out there talking about alternative protein, that phrase is an activist phrase. … It’s not alternative protein, it’s fake meat or its synthetic meat.”
Hubbard, who prior to his time with Berman was the chief operating officer at American Humane, told those in attendance that the animal rights organizations knew exactly what they were doing when they created that phrase. He said it “polls well,” and “quite frankly favors the outcome of the debate.”
Just how committed are animal rights groups to converting people’s diets to one that is entirely plant-based? Hubbard showed an advertising video from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in which the organization revealed that it is targeting the foodservice industry. In that video, which was circulated on Twitter, HSUS said it has the goal to make sure that all entrees served through foodservice groups be plant-based by 2027.
‘A real threat’
Many people believe that because plant-based proteins don’t quite provide the same enjoyable eating experience that meat and poultry do. But that’s no reason not to take seriously the threat they pose on the meat and poultry industry, Hubbard said, because the artificial meat sector has gained lots of backing and investments.
“You might not think it’s a real threat, but when you have $5 billion flowing into an industry, taste, texture and price are going to get better. With $5 billion, I can make progress on anything,” Hubbard said.
“That’s your plate right now. Are you going to let them take it?”
During Hubbard’s talk, he also discussed how once activists convince a company to pledge to source one animal rights group-backed initiative such as plant-based proteins, they will continue to push other parts of their agenda, like the Better Chicken Commitment or no gestation stalls in pig production.
