'Imported vegan junk food' fires up Aussie meat industry

Industry groups say global company Impossible Foods is thumbing its nose at the controversy over food labelling with its launch into Australia.

The US-based company has launched into Australia what it calls its flagship product "Impossible Beef Made From Plants".

The label 'beef' is highlighted in bold type and industry leaders like Australian Meat Industry Council chief executive Patrick Hutchinson claim the company is mocking the Senate inquiry which is right now investigating such packaging claims.

"It is a direct shot at all of us in the meat industry," Mr Hutchinson said, calling the plant-based product "imported vegan junk food".

The Australian Meat Industry Council is the meat processor peak body while the Red Meat Advisory Council is a federation of Australian red meat and livestock national employer associations and commodity representative organisations

Impossible Foods has changed the name of its core product away from "Impossible Burger" for the Australian launch.

The Red Meat council has also quickly slammed the name change.

RMAC chair John McKillop also said the name change was a "direct attack on Australia's 445,000 hard working graziers, livestock transporters, meat workers and butchers".

Impossible Foods said its plant-based product was now available on the menus of top chefs in Auckland, New Zealand, the greater Sydney area, and nationwide across Australia at Grill'd which it called Australia's leading national burger brand.

Grill'd has launched an advertising campaign which derides the Australian cattle industry in a series of cartoons which claim Aussie beef is pumped up on chemicals.

Grill'd's Impossible Range uses the plant-based product stating it has no antibiotics or hormones.

Mr Hutchinson also took aim at the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre which was set up to market Australian food around the world.

FIAL's managing director Mirjana Prica has told Australian Community Media livestock farmers should stop arguing about the definitions of meat and "embrace the potential emerging from fast-growing worldwide demand for all types of protein".

Mr Hutchinson said taxpayer-funded organisations like FIAL, and also the CSIRO, were at odds with Australian farmers.

Industry groups and individual Senators are probing CSIRO's connections with commercial alternative protein companies.

"We are more than happy to compete with these products, no problems," he said.

"But we are not going to let them take our branding for this imported vegan junk food."

Mr Hutchinson said FIAL had "never reached out" to talk to farmers over the issue.

"They are just inflaming the situation by having a bet each way."

He said the fake meat companies were trying to trick consumers.

"They don't want to invest in educating the community, they just want to make money off our brand because we have done all the work over the years."

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