Due to these awareness of sustainable food,

environmental protection and the caring for   

animals rise quickly. More and more people
around the world chose a new diet style to

show their love for our planet. That’s why

“plant-based meat” is so popular now.

     We are all meat lovers and study in the junior high school.
After doing some research about how to protect our planet, we come up with an
idea, "Why don’t we try the new diet style if it’s really good for the
Earth?" 

     In order to understand more about the new diet style and products,
we planned to have an interview with Uncle Frank who works at a sales management in Song-Zhen biotech company, Taoyuan. This company has been built for almost 60 years, producing the best “plant-based meat” in Taiwan, and it also sells their products into 26 foreign countries.

     In the beginning, we hoped to visit the biotech company in
person. Take a look at the production process and have a discussion with Uncle
Frank. Due to the COVID-19 broke out serious in February, 2022, we used online
meeting instead.

     Through the meeting, we had learned lots of knowledge about the new diet style and asked lots of questions. As we know more, we can do lots of good things to our body and planet. After this meeting, we plan to be a one-day vegetarian and share the idea with our family, friends and classmates. We hope everyone can easily accept plant-based food in the nearly future.

     Below are the questions we asked Uncle Frank and he gave us
the useful suggestions.

Q1. How to produce plant-based meat? Is it ultra-processed food?
Ans:
     In Taiwan, we choose soybeans to be the main ingredients
because its price is lower and the production is higher than other crops. First,
we put soybeans and other ingredients into a special machine. Then, mix them
together. Next, produce the products that have various mouthfeel. Finally, the
delicious plant-based meat is done. Actually, many people think that plant-based meat as ultra-processed food because we make it go through multiple processes (extrusion, molding, milling, etc.), contain many added ingredients and are highly manipulated. But we do that for giving everyone the various mouthfeel of our products and we chose the best ingredients to make it. Don’t worry, we care every bite you eat and you can eat it safety.

Q2. Who is your biggest customer and where can we buy your products?
Ans:
     In Taiwan, dealers are our biggest customer. People can’t
easily buy our products in the shops or supermarkets. But we have co-branding
products with 7-ll or Family Mart where you can buy some specific ones, such as
veggie fried chicken, veggie shrimp, or veggie cuttlefish balls. If you want to
try more, the best way to buy all the products is on our website.

Q3. What is the biggest challenge
that you have ever faced while you are promoting “plant-based meat”? What is
your solution?
Ans:
     In Taiwan, some vegetarians eat plant-based meat because of
their religious beliefs. Another people choose plant-based meat to be their
first choice of protein because of the environmentally-friendly. And the other
people don’t want to try it because they think it’s a kind of processed
products. In order to make people know more about our products. We had many
activities for people who are curious about our products to experience. For
example, we offer some food sampling. Though it, we hope they will change their
mind, starting to accept and taste it.

Q4: If we are interested in this field
in the future, may you give us some suggestions about what kind of lesson we
can choose in the university?
Ans:
     If you want to work in the field, you can choose the major of food science or food nutrition in the university. Now, you can read more books about them to improve your knowledge and all of what you do will help you in the future.