Skip to main content

Beyond Meat’s ground beef substitute to arrive in grocery stores this year

Beyond Meat

Vegans and meat-eaters alike, take note: Beyond Meat said Tuesday, March 5, that its Beyond Beef plant-based meat substitute will be in stores by the end of the year. The product aims to replace traditional meat by offering a product that looks, tastes, feels, and smells just like ground beef.

That’s been an issue for the traditional veggie burger which is a popular choice among vegetarians but is not as popular among those who choose to eat meat. It just doesn’t taste as good, but Beyond Meat is aiming to change that stigma by offering more meat-like alternatives.

Recommended Videos

Beyond Meat is produced with a blend of pea, mung bean, and rice proteins that offers similar nutritional value with just a quarter of the fat. It actually has more protein than traditional beef; the company says a single serving contains 20 grams. For those concerned with what’s in their food, Beyond Meat says its ground beef substitute contains “no antibiotics, hormones, soy, gluten or genetically modified organisms.”

“We’ve long had our eye on creating a product that enables consumers to enjoy all the benefits and versatility of ground beef while tapping into the human health, environmental, and animal welfare benefits of plant-based foods,” Beyond Meat founder and CEO Ethan Brown says.

The introduction continues an aggressive growth strategy by the company as the demand for alternative foods increases. By the end of 2018, Beyond Meat’s products were available at 35,000 locations worldwide, and the company had completed construction of a new 26,000-square foot lab in El Segundo, California to continue research on new plant-based food substitutes. Beyond Beef is one of the first “innovations” to come out of this lab.

The company’s moves are a good indication of the increasing innovation and competition in the space. Its chief competitor, Impossible Foods, showed off a burger at CES 2019 that those that have tried say tastes very close to a real burger. There the company relied on a plant-based method to create heme, which is what makes meat taste like meat.

Other companies like Nestle plan other plant-based burger products, while another company, Aleph Foods, claims to have created the world’s first cell-grown minute steak. From the looks of it, 2019 could be a very busy year in the alternative foods space.

Ed Oswald
For fifteen years, Ed has written about the latest and greatest in gadgets and technology trends. At Digital Trends, he's…
Sebastian Stan lays out Bucky’s future after Thunderbolts
Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.

There are some spoilers ahead for the ending of Marvel's Thunderbolts. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled.

Earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World briefly introduced a new direction for James "Bucky" Barnes, a character Sebastian Stan has been playing since 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger. In Brave New World, the former Winter Soldier apparently retired from being a reformed hero and went into politics by running for Congress. Thunderbolts reveals that Bucky won his election to the House of Representatives. But his stay in Congress was short.

Read more
Jeep Compass EV breaks cover—but will it come to the U.S.?
jeep compass ev us newjeepcompassfirsteditionhawaii  4

Jeep just pulled the wraps off the all-new Compass EV, and while it’s an exciting leap into the electric future, there's a catch—it might not make it to the U.S. anytime soon.
This is a brand new electric version of the Jeep Compass, and being built on Stellantis' STLA platform—the same architecture underpinning models like the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008—it looks much slicker and packs a lot more inside than previous versions of the Compass.
Let’s start with what’s cool: the new Compass EV is packing up to 404 miles of range on a single charge, a 74 kWh battery, and fast-charging that gets you from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Not bad for a compact SUV with Jeep's badge on the nose.
There are two versions: a front-wheel-drive model with 213 horsepower and a beefier all-wheel-drive version with 375 horsepower. That AWD setup isn’t just for looks—it can handle 20% inclines even without front traction, and comes with extra ground clearance and better off-road angles. In short, it’s still a Jeep.
The design's been refreshed too, and inside you’ll find the kind of tech and comfort you’d expect in a modern EV—sleek, smart, and ready for both city streets and dirt trails.
But here’s the thing: even though production starts soon in Italy, Jeep hasn’t said whether the Compass EV is coming to America. And the signs aren’t promising.
Plans to build it in Canada were recently put on hold, with production now delayed until at least early 2026. Some of that might have to do with possible U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican vehicles—adding a layer of uncertainty to the whole rollout.
According to Kelley Blue Book, a Stellantis spokesperson confirmed that the company has “temporarily paused work on the next-generation Jeep Compass, including activities at” the Canadian plant that was originally meant to build the model. They added that Stellantis is “reassessing its product strategy in North America” to better match customer needs and demand for different powertrain options.
So while Europe and other markets are gearing up to get the Compass EV soon, American drivers might be left waiting—or miss out entirely.
That’s a shame, because on paper, this electric Jeep hits a lot of sweet spots. Let’s just hope it finds a way over here.

Read more
Charlie Cox singles out his least favorite Daredevil: Born Again episode
Charlie Cox in Daredevil: Born Again.

Daredevil: Born Again season 1 was largely reconceived after the 2023 actor and writer strikes. Dario Scardapane -- a veteran of The Punisher series on Netflix -- was brought in to be the new showrunner and he made a lot of changes to the series that were well-received. However, there's one episode that Scardapane didn't really change at all, and it happens to be the least favorite episode of Daredevil: Born Again's leading man, Charlie Cox.

During an appearance on The Playlist, Cox noted that he wasn't very fond of the season's fifth episode, "With Interest," which was a largely standalone episode that featured his character, Matt Murdock, in a bank during a hostage crisis.

Read more