Nearly every week a major media outlet publishes a headline announcing that a giant meat or dairy processor has acquired full or partial ownership of an “alternative protein” firm—such as JBS buying the Dutch firm Vivera, which competes with Beyond Meat in the European market, earlier this year. These new companies are making plant-based meat, dairy, or fish substitutes, working to commercialize lab-grown meat, and incorporating insects into foods like pasta and energy bars.

In a recent research article, my colleagues and I found that this trend is placing control of the food system into a shrinking number of hands, while presenting an illusion that there are numerous, competing alternatives. In the case of products that are designed to present an alternative to industrial agriculture and reduce harm to animals and the environment—or at least cultivate that appearance—this poses a complex dilemma for many consumers.

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What can we do to reverse these trends? There are no easy answers, but to start with, policymakers should face more pressure to dismantle government subsidies to giant firms, block additional mergers and acquisitions, make it easier to identify and support independent producers with high values, and more difficult for corporations to engage in greenwashing.

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here.