Another plant-based meat alternative is set to leave the market - and it's sparked debate about the benefits and drawbacks of these products.
Bean Supreme, a leading producer of vegetarian sausages, burgers and mince, will have their products departing the shelves in June.
Head Of Nutrition at Beef + Lamb NZ, Julia Sekula, joined the Afternoons team to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from newstalk zed be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
On the line right now with Julia Sokula. She has
head of nutrition at Beef and Lamb and also registered
dietitians to have a chat about these products. Very good afternoon, Julia.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hi, guys, HOWI you very good? So what is the
latest on the healthiness of meat?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Well, I think red meat and any of the animal
source foods have a really good role to play in
terms of how people eat in part of a healthy,
balanced diet. They're a really good source of nutrition, they
taste good, and they've got by available nutrients that we
can absorb.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So where are we sitting on the healthiness of plant
based meat.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Well, plant based meats often have lots of things added
to them for a gentle salt and other things which
naturally occur in meat, so they've got added vitamins or minerals.
But we know that what's in our actual food, So
what grows on our land or on our land has
got really easily absorbed iron, zinc, vitamin big twelve. We
don't need to add it into our food.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So you know, as someone textsed in before that. You know,
meat is just a plant based it's just got a
different processing system as it goes through the animal. Why
does that processing system why is that better for us
than putting together all this stuff later?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Well, I guess what, you know, what animals can do
is they make use of something we can't. So we
can't digest grass as human beings. So the system of
a cow, you know, enables us to then down the track,
you know, consume something that we know and from every meal,
every mouthful that we have is a really good source
of nutrition. We're not having to add a little bit
(01:57):
of this, add a little bit of this, put it
all together in an industrial kind of manufacturing side of things.
You know, here in New Zealand, we are using the
land that we have to make something that otherwise wouldn't grow.
Some of the other foods that we you know, we
bring into the country.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So effectively, if someone wants to go vegetarian, Julia and
I know that you've talked about the benefits of meat there,
but if they want to go vegetarian, they should just
eat plain old, regular growing the crowned vegis rather than
these sort of products.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah. Well, and it's more than just vegees. So one
of the big things about animals source foods is they're
really good source of protein. So when you're substituting that out,
and if you don't eat animal source foods, we need
the plant based proteins, so your legumes, your nuts, your seeds,
so the things that aren't going to give us those
other nutrients. And you know, for people, you know, most
of us eat a range of foods. We don't just
(02:48):
eat one food. So for you know, for me here
at beef and them, I eat a range of foods,
red meat, white meat, as well as plant based meat,
plant based alternatives, you know, legumes, et cetera. And that's
a really good way to get balanced fiber and everything
that our body needs.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's the problem that people
have been having on the the text machine. People don't
have a problem with vegetarians, but they have a problem
with foods that aren't meat being described as meat. Because
that's fine. As I keep saying, I make a lovely
lentil roast. Lovely, but I'll make you my lentl roast.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We'll get your studio.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
I did do that many years ago, and I did
pass it by my husband. But you can't beat an
actual you know, a lamb roast, you can't beat that.
They going back to what you were saying.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Absolutely, my point is it's called a lental roast, not a.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Meat, absolutely, and from a nutrition perspective, so as a dietician,
my concern is that some of these alternatives they don't
give us the same nutrition side of things and they
don't have that same profile. So some things called themselves
or people choose to call them a milk, they're not
a milk. They don't have the same amount o Milk's
a classic example the calcium, and that for most of them,
(04:05):
unless it's fortified, doesn't meet the needs for all, you know,
for what we need for women, for teenagers, and yet
it's been drunk in copious amounts. So the same goes
for animal source chicken, beef, flam et cetera. Is we
need those nutrients for our bodies and particularly the groups
and who have higher needs, you know, our teams, our athletes.
(04:28):
You know, we've got to fuel them in a really
good way. And my concern with the products that call
themselves a meat that are to meat is we're not
doing that justice and we're throwing in other things that
they don't need.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So it is an interesting kind of thing, though, isn't it.
Because when you've got meats, right, so there's there's a
big whole whole foods revolution at the moment. Whole foods
is better, but some meats are better than others.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So if you have just a lovely lamb roast like
you're talking before, that may be healthy, but bacon is
heavily processed, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah, so what we'd go for is your lean red
meat or your lean chip. And so from an overall
nutrition perspective, that means we're getting all that really good nutrition,
the protein, the iron, the zinc, the B twelve, all
those things you get from the flammed chicken, but we're
not getting that the added salt mainly that we're getting
(05:26):
from processed meats. And that's one of the biggest concerns there.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Hey, now I've got a question for you, Julia, that
might be a bit confronting people. People are a bit
skeptical on dietary advice because it seems to keep changing.
Everyone's always says, hey, our eggs good for you now
because they were yesterday and we all know that the
food pyramid got flipped over. Yeah, the one that.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I feel like coming for fruit now as well.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I just feel it. I've heard people coming for fruit.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
So how close are we to the truth in twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Well, I think first off, you need to be looking
at where you're getting nutrition advice from, so registered dietitian,
registered nutrition. They're going to move away from all the fluff,
all the Instagram, all the social media stuff that sits
there and wants to sell you something. I completely get
it off work clinically in the universities and now an industry,
and those messages that sit out there confuse everybody. I
(06:23):
think at the end of the day, we've got to
think about how do we reduce the confusion And that's
one of the things that we're trying to do through
Dietitians New Zealand and through the work that we're doing
here at Beef and Land. But ultimately it's having food
and meals that we enjoy, that they taste good. It's
about thinking, you know, we're not perfect. You know. I
don't think there's many dieticians who are going to say
they follow everything to a tea. I think you've got
(06:45):
to have a bit of flexibility and you've got what
you eat. You've got to enjoy what you eat. And
it's doing the right thing most of the time. And
that's the range of everything getting not getting stuck on
one particular thing, because we know that variety is key
and you've got to build it into what you can afford,
what's available. And we all live in different parts of
New Zealand and some things are available at different times
(07:06):
of the year for different prices, and that's the key thing.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, all right, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yep, fascinating as always, Julia, thank you very much. And
we'll get you into the mental roast at some stage.
Rest assured.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I mean I'll bring maybe I'll bring the Lamb Ros,
bring the Lamb Roast to come with it.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Goode all right. That is Julia Sekula, head of nutrition
at Beef and Lamb and registered dietitian, and a good,
good question about you know, the confusion and nutrition. But
I thought that was a very good answer.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
For more from News Talks B listen live on air
or online and keep our shows with you wherever you
go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from newstalk zed be follow
this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
On the line right now with Julia Sokula. She has
head of nutrition at Beef and Lamb and also registered
dietitians to have a chat about these products. Very good afternoon, Julia.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hi, guys, HOWI you very good? So what is the
latest on the healthiness of meat?
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Well, I think red meat and any of the animal
source foods have a really good role to play in
terms of how people eat in part of a healthy,
balanced diet. They're a really good source of nutrition, they
taste good, and they've got by available nutrients that we
can absorb.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So where are we sitting on the healthiness of plant
based meat.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Well, plant based meats often have lots of things added
to them for a gentle salt and other things which
naturally occur in meat, so they've got added vitamins or minerals.
But we know that what's in our actual food, So
what grows on our land or on our land has
got really easily absorbed iron, zinc, vitamin big twelve. We
don't need to add it into our food.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So you know, as someone textsed in before that. You know,
meat is just a plant based it's just got a
different processing system as it goes through the animal. Why
does that processing system why is that better for us
than putting together all this stuff later?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Well, I guess what, you know, what animals can do
is they make use of something we can't. So we
can't digest grass as human beings. So the system of
a cow, you know, enables us to then down the track,
you know, consume something that we know and from every meal,
every mouthful that we have is a really good source
of nutrition. We're not having to add a little bit
(01:57):
of this, add a little bit of this, put it
all together in an industrial kind of manufacturing side of things.
You know, here in New Zealand, we are using the
land that we have to make something that otherwise wouldn't grow.
Some of the other foods that we you know, we
bring into the country.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
So effectively, if someone wants to go vegetarian, Julia and
I know that you've talked about the benefits of meat there,
but if they want to go vegetarian, they should just
eat plain old, regular growing the crowned vegis rather than
these sort of products.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Yeah. Well, and it's more than just vegees. So one
of the big things about animals source foods is they're
really good source of protein. So when you're substituting that out,
and if you don't eat animal source foods, we need
the plant based proteins, so your legumes, your nuts, your seeds,
so the things that aren't going to give us those
other nutrients. And you know, for people, you know, most
of us eat a range of foods. We don't just
(02:48):
eat one food. So for you know, for me here
at beef and them, I eat a range of foods,
red meat, white meat, as well as plant based meat,
plant based alternatives, you know, legumes, et cetera. And that's
a really good way to get balanced fiber and everything
that our body needs.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's the problem that people
have been having on the the text machine. People don't
have a problem with vegetarians, but they have a problem
with foods that aren't meat being described as meat. Because
that's fine. As I keep saying, I make a lovely
lentil roast. Lovely, but I'll make you my lentl roast.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
We'll get your studio.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
I did do that many years ago, and I did
pass it by my husband. But you can't beat an
actual you know, a lamb roast, you can't beat that.
They going back to what you were saying.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Absolutely, my point is it's called a lental roast, not a.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Meat, absolutely, and from a nutrition perspective, so as a dietician,
my concern is that some of these alternatives they don't
give us the same nutrition side of things and they
don't have that same profile. So some things called themselves
or people choose to call them a milk, they're not
a milk. They don't have the same amount o Milk's
a classic example the calcium, and that for most of them,
(04:05):
unless it's fortified, doesn't meet the needs for all, you know,
for what we need for women, for teenagers, and yet
it's been drunk in copious amounts. So the same goes
for animal source chicken, beef, flam et cetera. Is we
need those nutrients for our bodies and particularly the groups
and who have higher needs, you know, our teams, our athletes.
(04:28):
You know, we've got to fuel them in a really
good way. And my concern with the products that call
themselves a meat that are to meat is we're not
doing that justice and we're throwing in other things that
they don't need.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
So it is an interesting kind of thing, though, isn't it.
Because when you've got meats, right, so there's there's a
big whole whole foods revolution at the moment. Whole foods
is better, but some meats are better than others.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
So if you have just a lovely lamb roast like
you're talking before, that may be healthy, but bacon is
heavily processed, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Yeah, so what we'd go for is your lean red
meat or your lean chip. And so from an overall
nutrition perspective, that means we're getting all that really good nutrition,
the protein, the iron, the zinc, the B twelve, all
those things you get from the flammed chicken, but we're
not getting that the added salt mainly that we're getting
(05:26):
from processed meats. And that's one of the biggest concerns there.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Hey, now I've got a question for you, Julia, that
might be a bit confronting people. People are a bit
skeptical on dietary advice because it seems to keep changing.
Everyone's always says, hey, our eggs good for you now
because they were yesterday and we all know that the
food pyramid got flipped over. Yeah, the one that.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
I feel like coming for fruit now as well.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I just feel it. I've heard people coming for fruit.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
So how close are we to the truth in twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Well, I think first off, you need to be looking
at where you're getting nutrition advice from, so registered dietitian,
registered nutrition. They're going to move away from all the fluff,
all the Instagram, all the social media stuff that sits
there and wants to sell you something. I completely get
it off work clinically in the universities and now an industry,
and those messages that sit out there confuse everybody. I
(06:23):
think at the end of the day, we've got to
think about how do we reduce the confusion And that's
one of the things that we're trying to do through
Dietitians New Zealand and through the work that we're doing
here at Beef and Land. But ultimately it's having food
and meals that we enjoy, that they taste good. It's
about thinking, you know, we're not perfect. You know. I
don't think there's many dieticians who are going to say
they follow everything to a tea. I think you've got
(06:45):
to have a bit of flexibility and you've got what
you eat. You've got to enjoy what you eat. And
it's doing the right thing most of the time. And
that's the range of everything getting not getting stuck on
one particular thing, because we know that variety is key
and you've got to build it into what you can afford,
what's available. And we all live in different parts of
New Zealand and some things are available at different times
(07:06):
of the year for different prices, and that's the key thing.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, all right, thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yep, fascinating as always, Julia, thank you very much. And
we'll get you into the mental roast at some stage.
Rest assured.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
I mean I'll bring maybe I'll bring the Lamb Ros,
bring the Lamb Roast to come with it.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Goode all right. That is Julia Sekula, head of nutrition
at Beef and Lamb and registered dietitian, and a good,
good question about you know, the confusion and nutrition. But
I thought that was a very good answer.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
For more from News Talks B listen live on air
or online and keep our shows with you wherever you
go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
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