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Plant-based meat faces backlash in China despite gaining traction

  • China
  • 6 min read
  • Jun 08, 2021
  • By Wang Xiao'e

A new option, not replacement © Starfield

An innocuous video clip sparked debate on social media over plant-based meat, with suspicion about its nutritional value, cost-effectiveness and even the motives of foreign companies

A video posted recently on China’s twitter-like platform Weibo, featuring a young actress with 33m followers promoting dumplings with plant-based meat filling, unexpectedly sparked controversy. At first, Weibo users were just unhappy about her promoting food that she appeared unwilling to taste. But soon, the debate shifted to whether plant-based meat should be promoted in the country, with many dissenting voices.
Several days later, New Hope, China's largest feed manufacturer and one of the country’s largest agri-husbandry enterprises, further stoked the controversy by...

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Edited by Selva Kumar

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