Except chicken? KFC for serving herbal meals

THURSDAY, January 6, 2022 (HealthDay News) – First, it was Beyond Meat. Next? Except fried chicken.

KFC announced on Wednesday that on January 10, it will start offering vegetable chicken from the same company known for its meatless burgers, Beyond Meat, in some of its meals.

Beyond Fried Chicken developed Beyond Meat exclusively for KFC, according to a news from KFC. It was originally offered in 2019 at one restaurant in Atlanta before expanding to three states, and now to 4,000 restaurants across the country.

Customers can get their vegetable chicken as part of a combined meal or a la carte in an order of six or 12 pieces.

“The mission from day one was simple – to make the world-famous Kentucky Fried Chicken out of plants,” said Kevin Hochman, president of KFC US, in a statement. “And now more than two years later we can say, ‘Mission accomplished.'”

Yum Brands owns both KFC and Taco Bell, which is also collaborating with Beyond Meat to create some products for those restaurants, according to CBS News. Beyond Meat recently hired two former executives from Tyson Foods, a company known for chicken.

“We can’t be more proud to partner with KFC to offer best-in-class product that not only delivers the delicious experience consumers expect from this cult chain, but also provides added benefits to vegetable meat,” says Ethan Brown, Founder and CEO Beyond Meat, the statement said. “We’re really excited to make it available to consumers across the country.”

Demand for food of plant origin, with large chains including McDonald’s and Starbucks partnering with Beyond Meat and rival Impossible Foods to offer additional features, CBS News reported. Chipotle began offering herbal chorizo ​​for a limited time on Monday.

“It’s no longer a margin for a company to do this – it’s becoming mainstream, and more of them see the need” to offer plant-based options, Sean Cash told Washington Post. He is an economist at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston.

And the trend is not limited to restaurants, Cash added. Such as pandemic forced consumers to cook and eat at home, more meat alternatives were available in some stores. Also, problems in the traditional meat supply chain may have led consumers to try alternatives.

Fast food chains are “targeting a still relatively small but fast-growing segment of the population interested in plant alternatives to meat, which are increasingly perceived to be potentially harmful to health and the environment,” said Marion Nestle, professor emeritus diet, food and public health studies at New York University, he said Fast.

Companies “need to think there is a market for herbal alternatives and want to bring people who want those alternatives into their stores,” Nestle added.

More information

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has more information on this vegetarian diet.

SOURCES: KFC, press release, January 5, 2022; CBS News; Washington Post