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CSIRO: Vegan burger comparison often imperfect
Jessica Guttridge
Vegan alternatives to beef are not always better for the environment, with much of the research missing the benefits of carbon capture in the soil when calculating for impact, according to a recent report.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Climate Change and Land examined sustainable farming, noting that when considering the overall footprint of individual products, it can be difficult for consumers to make informed decisions.
This is particularly true when comparing meat to meat alternatives.
In a piece first published on The Conversation , CSIRO researchers Maartje Sevenster and Brad Ridoutt note, “Two vegan burgers: Impossible Burger, and Beyond Burger claim to emulate the same taste, nutritional value and ‘mouthfeel’ of a beef burger. They also suggest they are much better for the environment than a regular burger.”
Part of the rise of veganism in Australia has come from consumers wanting to eat sustainably and discourage pasture greenhouse gas emissions. As expected, it has also seen the rise of plant-based meat alternatives.
Impossible Foods says its burger requires 87% less water and 96% less land, and produces 89% fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than a beef version. Similarly, Beyond Meat says its burger requires 99% less water, 93% less land, 90% fewer greenhouse emissions and 46% less energy than a beef burger.
However, these results focus on areas where vegan products perform well, and fail to give information on soil carbon or potential deforestation.
Not all beef is equal in its emissions, with some cattle farmers managing to achieve a negative carbon footprint, including US-based White Oak Pastures.
The company recently released a report evaluating their regenerative grazing pastures, which uses adjusted animal grazing to enrich soils and improve biodiversity, water and nutrient cycling.
Sevenster and Ridoutt explain, “The White Oak farm sequesters so much carbon in its soil and vegetation it more than offsets the emissions of its cattle, resulting in its negative carbon footprint. The internal study compared White Oak beef favourably to conventional beef, chicken, pork and soy, as well as the Beyond Burger.
“The silent assumption is, however, that no carbon sequestration occurs in conventional beef grazing or on feed and soy cropping land. This is not necessarily true. White Oak Pastures is using grazing to regenerate degraded cropland, so it is likely similar grazing on other farms would result in holding additional carbon within the first few decades.
“In Australia, farmers who convert their cropland to pasture (which stores more carbon) are eligible for credits under the Emissions Reduction Fund. There is also evidence cropping systems may sometimes hold carbon as well, in the US as well as in Australia. For example, the carbon footprint of Australian barley and canola may be some 10% smaller when taking carbon sequestration in soils into account.”
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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