潜水简介：
- 基于植物的肉类制造商唐·李农场（Don Lee Farms）在联邦法院起诉超越肉类及其首席执行官伊森·布朗（Ethan Brown），指责该公司由于《联邦兰纳姆法案》（Federal Lanham Act）的虚假广告，并违反了有关虚假广告和不公平竞争的加利福尼亚州法律。
- In the lawsuit, Don Lee Farms says Beyond Meat's "misleading claims" about the ingredients and nutrition value of its products harm consumers, competitors and fair competition. Don Lee states it is bringing the lawsuit to "restore competitive equilibrium," stopping Beyond Meat from further building its brand on what Don Lee says is deception, and recovering damages from "false advertising" and "ill-gotten profits."
- 这两个companies have a long history of bad blood. Don Lee was once a co-manufacturer for Beyond Meat, and sued the plant-based meat company in California Superior Court after its contract was terminated in 2017. The initial lawsuit includes accusations of breach of contract, unpaid money, fraud and taking advantage of Don Lee Farms, and is set to go to trial in September.
Dive Insight:
植物性肉类部门的一场丑陋的战斗变得更加丑陋。2017年提起的最初诉讼是充满严重的指控。随着案件通过法院的束缚，它被打断了declarations of small victoriesand措辞辛苦的新闻稿两边。它流血了肉股东以外的另一项诉讼，尽管那是在四月定居。
之前所有的诉讼,尽管它是rather pointed, only concerned the contractual relationship between Don Lee Farms and Beyond Meat. This new case widens the dispute, essentially accusing Beyond Meat — and Brown personally — of being so misleading and disingenuous that the company had an unfair advantage over most competitors in the plant-based meat space. While the lawsuit only references ways Don Lee Farms says its sales and stake in the market were impacted by Beyond Meat's business practices, the claims are extremely broad.
在电子邮件发送的书面声明中，一位超越肉发言人说：“备案中的指控缺乏优点，我们准备在法庭上积极与之作斗争。”
诉讼通过引用标题October Forbes story这与一位关心超越肉类季度收入的分析师交谈：“超越肉类确实是错误的。”
"Beyond Meat’s problems are many, but they trace to one root cause: the company’s tendency to 'over-promise and under-deliver,' then scramble for excuses," the lawsuit continues. "With the company reeling due to operational failures, CEO Ethan Brown has offered up 'excuses' described as 'laughable' and that industry insiders pan as 'difficult to take . . . seriously' and as flunking 'the smell test.' Others have noticed Brown’s habit of 'point[ing] the finger' at everyone but himself, describing Brown as having 'an appetite for excuses.'
"But there are no excuses for the conduct revealed below," the lawsuit continues. "The indisputable science now shows that Beyond Meat was built on and has grown because of deception and lies."
该诉讼指责“严重”的肉类超出了肉类的估计，其产品中的蛋白质量高达30％。Don Lee Farms的公司父母Goodman食品将Beyond Meat的碎片和汉堡的几个样本发送给第三方测试实验室元素材料技术，以进行详细分析。诉讼提交了24页的测试结果。
The lawsuit points out that protein is the nutrient that Beyond Meat uses to set it apart from competitors, and often touts that its products have protein levels greater than or equal to animal-derived counterparts. Being unable to measure up to that standard means not only that Beyond Meat has misled customers, the lawsuit states, but that the company has also misrepresented itself on labeling federally mandated by the FDA.
Beyond Meat also often represents its products as made without synthetic ingredients. But, Don Lee's lawsuit points out, Beyond Meat uses methylcellulose, a common ingredient used as an乳化剂和质地构建器in plant-based meat and其他CPG产品。该成分是通过化学处理植物细胞中的材料制成的。尽管它已获得FDA和营养专家的批准，但这是safe to consume, the ingredient has been called out in针对消费者的广告and other plant-based meat campaigns as something unnatural. Beyond Meat and competitor Impossible Foods have both defended its use in their products.
Don Lee Farms does not use methylcellulose in its products. In the lawsuit, the company calls its Organic Plant-Based Burger "the firsttruly唐·李（Don Lee）说，除了肉的产品之外，由于“反复的虚假和误导性的主张”，使自然汉堡没有合成成分，因此将其挤出了市场。
这些指控可能会对基于植物的产品主张（无论是监管机构还是消费者）带来更严格的审查。如果案例中提交的营养分析数量准确，它可能会改变FDA对基于植物的产品的看法，这可能会对许多产品的营养主张产生负面影响。
The case could also drive questions about whether plant-based meat products are worth eating. According to a 2020 consumer study by FMCG Guruscited in Food & Beverage Insider，有73％的肉类模拟消费者表示，成分都是自然的。呼唤超越肉类的成分，这种成分也不出现在自然界中，还为整个细分市场设置了更多的审查。尽管一些基于植物的公司努力清洁其标签，但一些消费者可能会认为做很多研究并完全食用其他产品是不值得的。
