Vegan Meat and Plant Based Meat 5 Interesting Things To Know

Vegan Meat and Plant Meat

As I travel further on my journey of adding vegan and plant based meats to my diet, I have learned more interesting things. I like to keep my audience informed with what I have learned so here you go!

Can vegan meat and plant based meat go bad?

One thing that I like to know is that the food (besides fresh fruit and vegetables of course) can be stored for a period of time. I know that fresh meats, vegetables and fruits are among some of the things that I purchase that has an expiration date.

As I explored the topic of if this meat can go bad, I found that for Beyond Meat:

• Shelf Life = 273 Days
• Keep Frozen
• Refrigerate unopened 10 days; Opened 3 days

Now, I am not certain if this applies to all plant based or vegan meats, but I would guess it is a good rule of thumb to follow.

Something else I found interesting is what other people were saying about if the meat was spoiled. They tended to describe the texture and smell. A majority of people tended to agree that they may just ferment, and possibly loose the physical or optical qualities that they would have normally. But, in general, they will not go bad in the same sense that a meat burger would go bad.

I bet the smell will me more sour than the typical smell of rotting meat. Unless it’s rotting for days in which case they may smell anything from sour milk to rotting potatoes. My guess is that it would be closest to sour milk. However, I don’t think I will let it sit that long to find out. This leads me to my next question.

Can vegan meat and plant based meat be frozen?

For many years, I have stored food, milk, butter, breads, blanched fruits and vegetables in my deep freezer. I know a lot of people that did not know that you could store these in a deep freeze. My question now that I have added plant meat to my diet is, can vegan and plant based meat be frozen?

According to Yves veggies, “most products can be frozen for 1 to 3 months with possible minor changes in texture. After freezing, the products should be thawed in the refrigerator and consumed within 3 to 5 days. Please see packaging for instructions”. However, this is only for their food. So I wanted to find out more from other vegan and plant based meat products.

I know I keep referring to Beyond Meat, but I am a huge fan of their meats. Since I do like them so much, I wanted to find out about freezing their products. I did some checking and found on the Beyond Meat Facebook page that, “Our Beyond Burgers are shipped frozen to prevent spoilage. If you purchase them frozen and keep them frozen, they will be good through the date printed on the package. Once thawed, the burgers must be consumed within 10 days of when you began the thaw–ideally the sooner the better”. This leads me to understand that, like most fresh foods, you can freeze it but not refreeze it.

So now that I know about freezing, I wondered if it can be undercooked.

Can vegan meat and plant based meat be undercooked?

Think about it… vegan meat and plant meats are made from plants, so you would think that you can just eat it raw. Right? There is a difference between undercooked and raw. But in either case, I did wonder. Again, I will refer to my favorite plant based meat. (Although I would suspect that most of the vegan meat and plant based meat would be similar).

As I said before, since the plant based meats are made from plants, you would assume you can eat Beyond Meat raw, but you shouldn’t. I pulled out one of my packages of Beyond meat and read the label. Even though there is no meat in it, Beyond Meat specifically says that you should not eat Beyond Meat raw.  to be as safe as possible.

Raw vegan meat and plant meat will taste gross. I would suspect that it won’t digest as easily, and there could also be a small chance of it having bacteria or something that could make you sick.

I have accidentally overcooked my Beyond Meat. It becomes dry and chewy and not appetizing at all. I learned my lesson on that. I don’t think I have ever undercooked them, and I know for sure that I have never tried to eat them raw!  Sooooo….

Can vegan meat and plant based meat make you sick?

The short answer is, yes. Any food product has the potential of making you sick. Produce used to make vegan and plant based meats can be contaminated with bacteria. This “contaminated produce has been linked to countless food-borne illness outbreaks around the world”.(1)

We know that the plants used to make these vegan and plant based meats come from farms. On farms, crops could possibly become contaminated if they come into contact with:

• contaminated water and sewage
• animal manure
• feces from birds and pests that get into the crops

Since the vegan and plant based meats need to be made in a processing plant and travel to food service industries, it only stands to reason that contamination can occur following direct or indirect contact with:

• contaminated food contact surfaces
• contaminated equipment, dishes or utensils
• other contaminated food
• sick food handlers
• food handlers who do not practice proper hygiene
• pests

With that said, if food is contaminated at any point during this process, it could cause illness. Particularly if the food is served raw or undercooked. If you eat contaminated meat you could suffer from intestinal problems.

Can vegan meat and plant based meat cause diarrhea?

I have noticed one negative of eating Beyond Meat products – I tend to get bloating and gassy. I have not suffered from diarrhea, but if you consider that these products are made from plants then it stands to reason that there is more fiber in these than traditional meats. If you have not been eating plant based meats, then you will notice that you are now getting more fiber in your diet.

“Excess fiber can cause constipation or diarrhea. Remember to think of fiber as bulk that attracts water in the GI tract. If you don’t have enough fluid in your system or you haven’t taken in adequate fluids, dehydration of the GI tract can occur, leading to hardening and difficulty passing the stools”. (2) However, on the flip side, if you are taking in enough water, the fiber can make your bowels move more frequently.

So, yes, vegan meat and plant based meats can cause diarrhea. Another thing that can cause diarrhea, is if the product is not cooked or prepared correctly. This form of diarrhea would be considered a food borne illness and is not healthy.

Final Thoughts

So many times we don’t give a second thought to the food we are eating. We make assumptions and don’t take the time to find out more about what is the best way to prepare our food and what can happen if we don’t prepare it correctly. The first thing that made me dig into these questions was thinking about whether I could eat my plant based meat raw. I know people eat some animal and fish products raw – I wouldn’t do that. That does not appeal to me at all. But, I eat vegetables raw and plant based and vegan meat are made from plants. So there you have it, my musings that led to me digging into this.

I hope you are able to get some good take-aways from this. And, as always, if you have some helpful tidbits you would like to share, please leave me a comment.

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