{"id":33227,"date":"2020-06-05T12:53:14","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T10:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/?p=33227"},"modified":"2022-01-24T12:34:27","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T12:34:27","slug":"australias-jat-oppenheimer-launches-vegan-wagyu-beef-australian-meat-farmers-call-it-offensive-and-nonsensical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/market-and-trends\/australias-jat-oppenheimer-launches-vegan-wagyu-beef-australian-meat-farmers-call-it-offensive-and-nonsensical\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia&#8217;s JAT Oppenheimer Launches Vegan Wagyu Beef, Australian Meat Farmers Call it &#8220;Offensive&#8221; and &#8220;Nonsensical&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Meat lobbyists globally have been <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/politics\/plant-based-foods-association-calls-on-virginia-governor-to-reject-proposed-ban-on-plant-based-labeling\/\">fighting vegan companies<\/a> using names traditionally associated with animal products, ie <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/politics\/the-aclu-sues-arkansas-bureau-of-standards-on-behalf-of-tofurky-co\/\">meat,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/companies-and-portraits\/miyokos-to-launch-new-dairy-free-products-amid-legal-battle-with-the-state-of-california\/\">dairy<\/a> and seafood. Now, Sydney-based food company <a href=\"https:\/\/themarketherald.com.au\/jatenergy-teams-up-with-oppenheimer-to-sell-plant-based-meat-in-china-2019-11-22\/\">JAT Oppenheimer<\/a>, has produced a tofu-based Wagyu \u2018beef\u2019 that beef farmers have referred to as &#8220;offensive&#8221; and &#8220;nonsensical&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Australia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/market-and-trends\/2019-the-year-veganism-went-mainstream-in-australian-retail\/\">vegan movement<\/a> is stronger than ever and seems undeterred by the power of the animal meat lobbyists. The Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie also wants to see products rebranded to &#8216;protect&#8217; Australian farmers yet <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/society\/meat-and-livestock-australia-warns-farmers-of-a-3-2b-impact-due-to-rising-veganism\/\">ABC reported<\/a> earlier this year that the animal agriculture sector in Australia could lose up to $3.2 billion by 2030 if it does not \u201cmeet changing consumer attitudes to animal welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_33235\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33235\" style=\"width: 690px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-33235 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/vegconomistcom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu2.png\" alt=\"Australian Waygu\" width=\"700\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu2.png 700w, https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu2-150x103.png 150w, https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu2-300x205.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33235\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9Australian Wagyu Association<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The vegan Wagyu is currently retailing in Australian Asian stores under the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210226193550\/https:\/\/www.just-food.com\/news\/jatenergys-newly-launched-meat-free-venture-secures-first-deal_id142746.aspx\">brand name V Mea<\/a>t, and the company has its sights set on increased distribution via <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/food-and-beverage\/australia-made-with-plants-launches-improved-line-now-accounts-for-20-of-category-in-woolworths\/\">Woolworths<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/food-and-beverage\/in-response-to-more-consumers-cooking-at-home-morningstar-farms-expands-it-plant-based-products-into-australia\/\">Coles<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/food-and-beverage\/aldi-nord-and-aldi-sud-harmonise-vegan-range-announce-promotions\/\">Aldi<\/a>.&nbsp;Other lines from V Meat include meatballs and burgers. The producer is seemingly a part of JATEnergy, a China-focused Australian firm. More on that later.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian Mail Online (<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/politics\/channel-4-broadcasts-documentaries-on-the-meat-industry-is-attacked-by-tories-the-nfu-for-anti-meat-propaganda\/\">The Daily Mail<\/a>) reports that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wagyu.org.au\">Australian Wagyu Association<\/a>&#8216;s Chief Executive&nbsp;Matt McDonagh finds it offensive to farmers to advertise the fake meat as Wagyu: &#8220;Fake Wagyu is just nonsensical, Wagyu is natural and the result of hundreds of years of purity in breeding &#8211; what is the point of trying to produce a highly manufactured and and artificial ingredient fake?&#8217; he said.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Traditional Wagyu is branded as such because it is harvested from Japanese-bred cattle with a trademark fat throughout the meat that appears like marbling. A single Wagyu steak can cost up to $100 depending on quality.&nbsp; According to Wilton Yao, managing director at JAT, the vegan product is similar to Wagyu beef because of its &#8216;more chewable&#8217; and has a distinctive smell similar to the meat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-33236 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/vegconomistcom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/images-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"223\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/images-1.jpg 223w, https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/images-1-148x150.jpg 148w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 223px) 100vw, 223px\" \/>Australia was hit hard<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/food-and-beverage\/could-australias-bushfires-be-a-turning-point-for-plant-based-production\/\"> last year by bush fires,<\/a> widely cited to be linked to the climate crisis. <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/hot-off-the-vegan-press\/un-report-warns-investors-to-prepare-for-major-shift-to-plant-based-global-food-system\/\">A report<\/a> from the UN backed independent organisation,&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unpri.org\/\">Principles for Responsible Investment<\/a>&nbsp;(PRI), earlier this year stated that analysts are warning investors to expect a global dietary shift toward a plant-based system amid our&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/society\/brand-new-world-scentists-warning-of-a-climate-emergency-report-implores-people-to-eat-plant-based\/\">climate crisis.<\/a>&nbsp;The report outlined its climate change mitigation policies, which includes a drastic&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/studies-and-numbers\/45-of-meat-eaters-plan-to-reduce-meat-consumption-next-year\/\">reduction in meat consumption<\/a>&nbsp;among others, that needs to be implemented in the coming years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meat lobbyists globally have been fighting vegan companies using names traditionally associated with animal products, ie meat, dairy and seafood. Now, Sydney-based food company JAT Oppenheimer, has produced a tofu-based Wagyu \u2018beef\u2019 that beef farmers have referred to as &#8220;offensive&#8221; and &#8220;nonsensical&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33234,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[53949,7305,10770],"tags":[16368,59836],"class_list":["post-33227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture-agribusiness","category-market-and-trends","category-top-stories","tag-beef","tag-wagyu-beef","infinite-scroll-item"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3.jpg",700,525,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3-150x113.jpg",150,113,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3.jpg",700,525,false],"large":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3.jpg",700,525,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3.jpg",700,525,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3.jpg",700,525,false],"mailpoet_newsletter_max":["https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/Australian-Waygu3.jpg",700,525,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Emma Clarkson","author_link":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/author\/emma\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Meat lobbyists globally have been fighting vegan companies using names traditionally associated with animal products, ie meat, dairy and seafood. Now, Sydney-based food company JAT Oppenheimer, has produced a tofu-based Wagyu \u2018beef\u2019 that beef farmers have referred to as &#8220;offensive&#8221; and &#8220;nonsensical&#8221;.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.vegconom.de\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}