Embrapa develops meatless burger version

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) developed and put for sale in a supermarket chain in Rio de Janeiro a hamburger that has traditional taste, but that is not made of animal meat. The "Novo Burger" is made with cashew fiber, soy protein, onion, tomato, pepper, natural dye and seasonings, and has sensory characteristics similar to meat burger. Food has been available to consumers since December. Researcher Janice Lima, responsible for the product, explained in an interview with Agência Brasil that the goal "is not for people to stop eating meat, but give another option." According to her, the production of products with vegetable protein can be less costly than animal protein. Especially in the case of Novo Burger that uses cashew bagasse, usually eliminated by the juice industry or resold for animal feed. The product was created for people baptized as "flexitarians" – those individuals who despite liking meat want to balance the diet and seek to reduce meat consumption. "They're different from vegetarians or vegans who don't like the taste of meat and don't want meat-simulated foods," Janice said. The product is manufactured and marketed by a food company in Niterói, which has cooperation agreement with Embrapa. 'Pork' made of vegetables is featured at fair; G1 proved One of the products that most caught the eye at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2020, the world's largest technology fair, was Impossible Pork, the fake "pork" recently launched by Impossible Foods.