Something is going on with the federal government and alternative meat products.

First, there was an article in Newsweek with the headline, “Biden backs lab-grown meat.”

“In an executive order, Biden said that the U.S. government is dedicated to investing in biotechnology that will advance the U.S.’s food security, with the documents acknowledging the promise of ‘cultivating alternative food sources’ and ‘looking to improve food security and drive agricultural innovation through new technologies…[including] foods made with cultured animal cells,’” according to the article.

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So, the U.S. government, using our money, is going to invest in alternative meat products.

Then during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the meals served contained a lot of vegetables and alternative meat.

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Is this a case of the government once again picking winners and losers, or did the legislators invest a crap ton of money into the alt meat businesses because they were convinced that the industry would soon take over 30 percent of the meat business, with potential profits of $30 billion.

This despite the latest news that demand for alternative meat products is waning and Beyond Meat, one of the leading producers of alt meat has been sued for fudging on their protein content and their claim to not use synthetic ingredients.

According to a CNN Business article, “Shares of Beyond Meat (BYND) were around $16 Wednesday. That’s down more than 75% this year, near an all-time low, and well below its peak price of near $235 in 2019 shortly after the “

To make matters worse for Beyond Meat, it’s chief operating officer, Doug Ramsey was arrested for allegedly biting off a man’s nose following a college football game.

I don’t know if you remember this, but I wrote an Editor’s Note a while back titled “Eat meat to protect your brain.” You can read it at https://www.thefencepost.com/opinion/our-editor/eat-meat-to-protect-your-brain/, in case you missed it.

It’s obvious to me that Ramsey didn’t heed that warning. Following Ramsey’s arrest, Beyond Meat’s chief supply chain officer, Bernie Adcock, stepped down from his position to pursue other opportunities.

I’m not surprised that the federal government is backing alternative meat over the real deal, remember when the U.S. Department of Agriculture, promoted “Meatless Mondays?”

What concerns me, however, it that the federal government is so concerned about people being able to afford food and they are promoting meat products that are more expensive than real meat.

And if Beyond Meat is an example of the rest of the industry, their products may not provide the protein that growing children and adults need in their diets.