Beyond Meat Sales Plunge as Firm is Over $1 Billion in Debt
In more meat-related good news, Trump’s EPA is ending onerous wastewater rules on dairies, ranches, and poultry farms. Additionally, a new study show eating red meat has positive benefits and reduces chance of cancer death.
In a development that will likely come as a surprise to no one who is a regular reader of Legal Insurrection, it appears there has been a precipitous drop in the sales of products from the “meat alternative” company, Beyond Meat.
Once the darling of the plant-based food space, Beyond Meat has suffered a precipitous decline in sales as consumer consumption plunges. Economic uncertainty and concerns over the processed nature of the offerings has pushed shoppers toward cheaper animal options.
Beyond Meat had cash and cash equivalents of $103 million as of June 28, compared to $132 million at the end of 2024, the company said in its most recent earnings release. In May, the company raised $100 million from a plant-based nonprofit, providing the alternative meat company with much-needed cash.
Creditsafe estimated that Beyond Meat had $1.2 billion in debt. Around half of its outstanding bills were between 1 and 30 days past due in July, compared to roughly a third in September of 2024.
“This increasing delay in payments to suppliers indicates that the company could be experiencing liquidity pressures,” Ragini Bhalla, head of brand with Creditsafe, said in a statement. “These rising DBT figures highlight growing financial challenges, especially considering their troubling Q2 earnings results.“
In further good news for those who enjoy steak, bacon, and other delicious, high-quality meat options, research now suggests that consuming meat is not associated with a higher risk of death and may even protect against cancer-related mortality.
Recent research from Canada’s McMaster University revealed that animal-sourced foods are not linked to a higher risk of death.
The study discovered that animal proteins could also offer protective benefits against cancer-related mortality, according to a press release from the university.
Researchers analyzed data from nearly 16,000 adults, aged 19 and older, considering how much animal and plant protein they typically consumed.
They also examined whether these diet patterns were associated with a risk of dying from causes such as heart disease and cancer.
The results revealed no increased risk of death in association with eating more animal protein.
The data also showed a “modest but significant reduction” in cancer-related mortality.
I'm gonna live forever. https://t.co/N2ETGL9O5k
— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) September 2, 2025
As if all the meat-related wins weren’t enough, I have even more to report. Legal Insurrection readers may recall that in 2023, Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was poised to join the Global War on Meat by regulating wastewater from dairies, ranches, and poultry farms.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin recently announced a final action that will impose no additional wastewater discharge regulations on meat and poultry processing facilities.
This decision, according to the administration, is a core part of its “Powering the Great American Comeback” initiative, designed to lower the cost of living for American families and support domestic farmers.
The announcement was met with widespread approval from key agricultural leaders and organizations, who had been vocal critics of the proposed regulations from the previous administration. They argued the rules would have created a burdensome and costly regulatory environment, threatening the viability of small and medium-sized facilities.
“For the past four years, people in this country experienced the worst inflation in nearly five decades,” Administrator Zeldin stated. “EPA is saving billions of dollars in costs the American people would otherwise see in the prices of the meat and poultry they buy at the grocery store while ensuring the protection of human health and the environment.”
So, as I close the tabs on one of my favorite subjects and head to Montana to consume as many steaks as I can for the next 2 weeks, I leave you with this thought:
Michael Jordan ate a steak before every game
Wayne Gretzky ate a 23 oz steak before every game
Messi brought 6000lbs of meat to the world cup
All the greatest athletes thrive on meat.
If you want to be your best, red meat needs to be a staple in your diet. pic.twitter.com/1V4AP73uTh
— Carnivore Aurelius ©🥩 ☀️🦙 (@AlpacaAurelius) June 12, 2025
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Comments
Good. Fake meat is disgusting.
The whole we shouldn’t eat meat is one of the stupidest things to take hold in society these last few decades. Our bodies evolved to eat mostly meat. We thrive on meat. We are not herbivores. We are omnivores and our diet should be majority meats and some non-meats.
That’s your opinion. Others feel differently. Ultimately, the market will decide if “fake meat” is a viable business proposition. There may be a niche for it, but, right now, there’s probably oversaturation from too many companies.
There are cultures where vegetarianism, or, pescetarian-based diets, are the norm, with no ill health effects.
I’ve tried some of the Impossible and Beyond products, and, they’re tasty. Some people may seek to reduce their meat intake for reasons that have nothing to do with animal ethics/welfare and environmentalism.
The capitalist in me means that I never root for a company’s failure, or, celebrate its financial difficulties.
If people want to buy that crap, fine. Tasty? Not the “Impossible Burger.” Bland as it gets. I tasted the bun, the lettuce, the tomato, the ketchup, the mustard, and the mayo. The fake meat? Completely insert.
I was a money manager, and there was a type of company that I would call a consumer product fad. Electronic Arts video games, Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners, Nutmeg embroidered sports jerseys. Consolidated Cigar premium stogies, and fake meat. All the same financial dynamics.
First the hype. Then people want to try it, so sales spike as stores place stocking orders. That’s when they go public. Then people try it and the “sell through” is disappointing. Sometimes people don’t like it. Other times any advantage gets competed away. Stores quit buying it, or buy a lot less. Sales decline. This is exactly what’s happening to Beyond Meat.
That non-profit just threw its money away. Maybe L.I. will see if it will track Beyond Meat’s quarters from here on out. I searched for Impossible Foods, and it’s obvious that they are in trouble too. Cigars and Dirt Devil vacs are still around, but the stocks aren’t. The companies went private. Fake meat ought to endure, although I wonder about production costs and therefore pricing over time.
I am 100% for consumer choice, so I hope they stick around. But for me? One and done.
I’m really curious about your concerns with Dirt Devil (the company or the product niche?) but I don’t want to hijack the thread. They were must-haves for RVers prior to the emergence of the cordless lithium lines. Maybe you have a URL where you or someone else describes the objections.
You just read a story that it’s unviable because the market does not want it.
The company still sold $60 million worth of the crap in 2Q25, so the market hasn’t totally rejected it. I think sales will keep falling and that some bottom fisher will eventually consolidate that sector and sell the stuff to a niche market. The real question will be whether or not they can make it at a viable price for those people who want it. Which would not be me …
Made an error: They sold $60MM in the first half, which was down 19% in the U.S. and down 8% internationally.
They might be tasty but they aren’t healthy at all. Real meat is actually healthier than that garbage.
Some people trying to lower cholesterol with side effects of statins?
There is a lot of dark money behind the fake meat industry. The global anti meat effort will not stop with consumers refusing the product. On going efforts to make beef and pork so expensive for livestock producers to stay in business will drive many out of business. Those who survive will try to pass along increased expenses to consumers who will gradually refuse to pay for a steak and will eventually opt for the fake meat products.
….. or perhaps Beyond Meat could switch to Beyond Bugs, which would please the “global anti meat effort”.
I will eat almost anything once, so it was no problem to try an “Impossible Burger” (a different fake meat company) a few years ago. Edible, but one of the blandest things I’ve ever eaten. Had about as much taste as air-popped popcorn without butter or salt.
Dirty little secret about these fake meats: They use methyl cellulose to hold the ingredients together. That substance is the active ingredient in “personal lubricants” (K-Y is 100% methyl cellulose) and laxatives. Check the labels. Who knew? I didn’t.
I had the Impossible Burger for lunch, My gut rebelled that evening. One and done, so to speak.
Most, if not all, of these meat substitute products also contain massive amounts of pea protein which can induce allergic reactions in people and are generally loaded with salt and other unhealthy additives to give it an acceptable flavor and texture. It’s all written right on the meat substitute product package labeling for anyone to read, but few bother to do so. In the end these meat substitute products are worse health wise for you than simply eating the real meat off a cow.
To be fair, some people are allergic to beef, pork, and lamb. If you don’t believe me, do a search on alpha-gal syndrome. I have a friend who got it, and it’s bad stuff. No faking on that one, I’ll tell you. If someone’s allergic to peas or soy (the fake meat proteins) or to gluten (think Celiac disease, which is very real), then they need to stay away from fake meat, and/or from grains.
I don’t believe that fake meat is bad for health, although methyl cellulose did generate an extra bathroom trip for me the time I ate the Impossible Burger. Generally speaking, apart from genuine problems like the ones I’ve mentioned, I think there are far too many unsubstantiated health claims surrounding food.
And now there’s reportedly an allergy to meat that can be transmitted via bug bites.
That’s alpha gal (what he’s talking about). It tends to come from the lone star tick but possibly other vectors as well.
The tick bites an animal that makes alpha gal (which is every mammal except some primates and humans) as an antigen for their blood cells (think ABO blood grouping but a fourth type that we dont’ have). Alpha gal particles persist in the tick saliva. If the tick bites a humans in the near future, that remnant alpha gal can get transferred into the human’s body and cause an immune response. Now, anytime someone eats meat with that alpha gal type, they can have an allergic reaction that could possibly even be deadly. It’s awful in my opinion.
At one time, a company was looking to breed alpha gal out of some animals like pigs and use their organs for transplants in patients with the allergy. They were also looking to sell the meat as a hypoallergenic option. I don’t know what came of it though. I think the market is too small at present.
There is no better laxative than a bag of the right (with maltitol) Haribo gummy bears.
capitalism proves to be the winner in all of this
no government meddling needed
though I am sure “help” is on the way for the
new green meat deal
I’m nearly old enough to remember the original green meat.
A $ billion in debt seems insane for a product with limited market acceptance. IMO the investors are counting on wokiesta politicians to mandate its use. How many other goofy valuations and zombie companies are gonna be exposed as we move away from over regulation, end Federal Govt boondoggles and move from zero or near zero interest rates to just average rates on the long end of say 5% and capital becomes valuable via scarcity?
You know that the financials for this company depended heavily on rent seeking. But then Trump got elected and the rent checks dried up.
Another great story. On the cancer front, four weeks ago I mentioned to my oncologist that I’ve been eating a lot of red meat to get protein and she gave me positive feedback. It’s not going to save me, but it’s keeping me going. 🥩🍔🥰
I don’t think meat protein was ever the problem. The possible issues with meat is the fat content and how it might be cooked (charred on the outside).
This is leaving aside the antibiotics that are likely pumped into everything these days. Of course with plants you have to content with pesticides.
Fat in meat is a positive, not a negative. The war on dietary fat has been a real disaster.
Meat can be high in saturated fat which is the “bad fat” (not including transfat) although I have read that short chained saturated fat is supposed to be good.
It changes. They can never decide if short chain, medium chain, or long chain are the good/bad/neutral types.
True that.
As I was taught years ago, fat doesn’t make one fat.
I recall that BeyondMeat is Gate’s company, he of the buying up farmland. Throw another billion or two into the company Billie Boy.
Beyond Meat is still a publicly traded company, and I have seen no evidence that Gates is a shareholder at all, much less the majority shareholder.
UPSIDE Foods is the company he invested in. My mistake.
Funny how something that is unhealthy, worse for the environment than meat and tastes strange didn’t sell despite the wizards of smart trying their best.
It does not taste strange, or at least an Impossible Burger doesn’t. It simply doesn’t taste like anything. It’s genuinely weird in that way.
It passes the taste test for hamburgers. Not sure it works for steak on the grill. But the real question is why would vegetarians want fake meat? Once the person goes veg they are going in different direction. Its only going to be niche product for good or bad.
Why is the left hysterical over vaping because it “looks like smoking” but are giddy over “looks like meat”?
Vaping is bad unless its cannabis, then its medicine?
My wife is Japanese and so we eat a lot of vegetables, and not a lot of meat, fish or chicken. Well, actually we eat as much of them as we want ( my wife loves ribs and brisket) when we want, but generally it’s probably 3 or 4 ounces of protein at dinner, and maybe an egg for breakfast. I should note that we are not philosophically driven in any way; it’s just what we do. When we feel like it, we go to The Smokey Bone and eat ribs and brisket and drink beer til the place closes.
Our one thing is that our food is always fresh and really pretty minimally processed (i.e. no cans except for beans).
The problems we’ve had with Beyond Meat et al, fall on two points:
First this stuff is trying to pretend to be something that it is not. It’s like a female impersonator dressed up as Marilyn Monroe… It just doesn’t work for us because we know what the original is like. It disappoints and seems pointlessly weird. We’d rather roast a lot of mushrooms with olive oil and some soy sauce.
Next, Beyind Meat is literally about as far from natural as you can get. It’s factory produced glop exactly like spray-can cheese.
I have no objection to it being on the market, but there are so many healthier and more delicious things to choose for the same money.
Different people have different food needs and tolerances. Jordan Peterson thrives on a meat-only diet. I don’t think that’s for everyone.
The main reason vegans give for avoiding meat is the mistreatment of animals in factory farming. They have a point. On the other hand, plant farming results in the painful deaths of many small, furry, ground-dwelling animals. And it’s telling that vegans will refuse to eat even free-range chicken.
A meatless diet will result in possibly permanent nerve damage from vitamin B-12 deficiency. What did vegans do before vitamin supplements? Probably eat dirt.
I have read supposedly Christian authors claiming that the Bible mandates vegetarianism. Extraordinary nonsense. Jesus cooked fish for his disciples, and ate lamb for Passover.
Bottom line for me: Pay more attention to what your body is telling you than what food fanatics are telling you.
Lots of losses for Beyond Meat’s steak-holders.
It will be a pity if this goes under, but it’s been way overhyped, and it’s got competition. If the company goes under someone will buy it up and start over, focusing on its natural market niche rather than trying to sell to everyone.
I’m a customer for fake meat on occasion, but real meat is generally cheaper, so I only buy the fake stuff if I’m really in the mood for it, or if it’s on sale. Impossible and Beyond are good if you want something that’s almost like real meat, but if I just want the texture of meat and don’t care about mimicking the flavor too, then I’m a big fan of the Morningstar line as well. Their products are tasty, and feel like meat in the mouth, they just don’t taste like meat. Gardein does a really good job on fake chicken, but again it’s more expensive than real chicken.
This is from the Woody Allen movie Sleeper (1977)
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called “wheat germ, organic honey and tiger’s milk.”
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy… precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
One of their plants is near me, pass it often on commute
Never ever had a fake meat, doubt ever will.
The ultimate in ultra-processed food.