The Collapse of Fake Foods: Why Whole Foods Are Taking Back Control

Bala BitesGut HealthNutrition & SupplementsApril 17, 2025

BALA BITES: HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN

Remember when the alternative food craze was everywhere?

You couldn’t walk through a grocery store without bumping into a new plant-based burger, a dozen variants of oat milk or frozen “chicken” nuggets made from plants.

It was hyped as the future of food.

Interest and demand skyrocketed two of the biggest names in the space toward massive IPOs after attracting a ton of investment.

But today, the picture looks vastly different.

Those two darlings are in the doldrums.

Oatly's stock is down 94.7% from its 2021 high.

Beyond Meat's stock is down 97.4% from its 2019 peak.

(a poor performing stock price reflects poor business fundamentals and/or a poor business outlook)

The problem? Waning consumer trust.

The early hype was built on taste that was “close enough” and science that sounded compelling.

But consumers started flipping the package over. And they didn’t like what they saw.

Think about it. When you buy ground beef you know what's in it. Ground beef.

But when you buy a Beyond Meat burger? You get a 15-ingredient list that includes pea protein isolate, methylcellulose and “natural flavors.”

Same with Oatly. Cow's milk is cow's milk but with Oatly you get 1% oat water plus rapeseed oil, emulsifiers and in some cases glyphosate residue.

So no, it’s not shocking that consumers started asking: How is this actually better for me?

A massive new blind taste test of 122 plant-based products showed that most alt-meats don't match the taste of real meat.

On the positive side for these alternative meats, about 20 products were rated equally or better than animal meat. For this industry, that's progress. But wow, do they have a lot of ground to make up.

We don’t just eat with our mouths — we also eat with our minds.

When a product’s label reads more like a science experiment than a recipe, trust breaks down even if the taste holds up.

Nowadays, consumers want alt-meats to taste amazing, but also to contain fewer of the ingredients that make them taste that way.

BETTER-FOR-YOU FOODS

There's been good progress around better-for-you alternatives to traditional junk food.

Look at Siete Foods as an example. They didn’t try to recreate beef or milk. Instead, they focused on grain-free tortillas, chips, and snacks made from simple, premium ingredients. No seed oils, no synthetic fillers and nothing your body has to guess about.

Their product resonated with consumers (I'm a fan) and the family-run business ultimately sold to PepsiCo for $1.2 billion.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

"Default to whole foods" is one of the few universal truths we believe in to maximize health. That means treat these alternative meat and milk offerings as if they are substitutes for fast food.

But don't arbitrarily cut off these better-for-you offerings.

Because Siete’s success is a blueprint for what the future of food could look like: Food that’s thoughtful, inclusive of dietary needs and actually…food.

I don't think innovation in food is dead.

But I do think the era of ultra-processed “close enough” is winding down.

And that’s probably a good thing.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The collapse of the processed food industry signals a growing demand for transparency and healthier choices.
Choosing whole foods over ultra-processed options is one of the simplest ways to reclaim your health.
The health risks of processed food are now too significant to ignore
A return to clean eating marks a major cultural shift in modern nutrition
Choose products with simple, recognizable ingredients and if the label looks like a chemistry project, put it back—real food should sound like real food