Whether it’s to reduce their risk of disease, drop a couple of pant sizes or reduce their carbon footprint, more and more people are making the shift to a plant-based diet.
Already offering meatless burgers, chicken and even corned beef, plant-based food producers have another carnivore favorite in their crosshairs: bacon.
Beyond Meat, which is having success offering meatless chicken via a partnership with KFC, doesn’t have a release date for its bacon offering yet, but a company spokesperson told Eater over the summer that a faux-pork bacon product should be part of Beyond’s “portfolio of alternative meats.”
When Beyond Meat does launch, they’ll be behind San Francisco-based start-up Hooray Foods, which is currently gearing up to launch its own plant-based bacon that’s also soy- and gluten-free, according to Forbes.
Other firms that plan to roll out a plant-based pork product include Outstanding Foods (meat-free bacon chips made from king oyster mushrooms), Slutty Vegan (bacon strips made from soy) and Prime Roots (plant-based bacon made by mixing koji with fats).
Getting into the plant-based pork market has the potential to be very lucrative as bacon is a breakfast staple for many Americans and the U.S. ham and bacon market is expected to grow 2.6 percent each year.
“After being introduced to the Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger, I thought, if those products could get me to stop consuming cows, why couldn’t I do the same for pigs?” Hooray Foods founder Sri Artham told Forbes. “I keep hearing that bacon is the most common ‘cheat meat’ for vegetarians and vegans, so I know there’s a huge demand for delicious plant-based bacon.”
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