Chasing Shadows: How the Food Industry Keeps Using Misdirection and Distraction from the Real Problem

First it was fat. Then it was sugar. Now it’s ultra-processed food. For decades, the food industry has adeptly redirected public scrutiny, shifting blame from one dietary culprit to another. At every stage of our evolving nutrition narrative, one consistent strategy has prevailed: misdirection. While each of these issues plays a role in the health crisis, this pattern of deflection has often obscured a critical issue: the excessive consumption of animal-based foods.

What’s more, the animal-based food sector is not only one of the largest components of our global food supply—it’s also among the most powerful. Livestock production, according to FAO’s 2022 Statistical Yearbook, accounts for roughly 40 % of global agricultural production value and about 15 % of total food-output value [1], with enormous control over land use, water consumption, and agricultural subsidies. This immense influence gives the industry a vested interest in preserving its dominance—often by redirecting public attention elsewhere.

By keeping us distracted—pointing blame at everything but our over-reliance on animal foods—the industry has ensured that a major contributor to public health decline remains largely unchallenged.

The Strategy of Blame Shifting 

The history of public nutrition is one of serial scapegoating. In the 1980s and 1990s, the “low-fat” era demonized all fats, leading to shelves full of fat-free products loaded with sugar and starch. Then, as science began to question sugar’s role in metabolic diseases, high-fructose corn syrup became public enemy number one. Today, it's ultra-processed foods (UPFs) that bear the brunt of public ire—deservedly, in many cases.

But there’s something suspicious about this pattern: it conveniently overlooks the massive—and rising—consumption of animal-based foods, from processed meats to fast-food burgers. Even as meat and dairy intake has climbed, they’ve rarely taken center stage in the same way [2]. Why? Because by keeping our attention away from it; they are filling their coffers at our expense.

Even as our concern for our health and the health of our environment is mounting, partially escalated by the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overwhelmingly animal-based food supply has found a way to pacify us. As more people are opening themselves to substituting their daily diet with plant-based foods, the animal-based industry is fighting this movement by placing plant-based food innovators on the defensive—challenging them on processing, protein content, and “naturalness”—the animal industry halts competition before it can mount a serious offense [3]. The result: the dominant players stay dominant, and the public keeps chasing new villains without addressing the root of the problem.

Animal Food Intake and the Obesity Crisis 

The obesity crisis didn’t happen overnight—and it certainly didn’t come from processed plant-based foods. A new global report warns that by 2030, nearly half a billion adolescents could be overweight or obese [4]. This public health emergency has been building for decades, growing in lockstep with the rise of meat-heavy diets, industrial dairy, and fast-food culture.

In the U.S. alone, per capita meat consumption has steadily increased throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries, with red and processed meats making up a significant portion of the national diet [2]. While we can’t jump to conclusions about causation, the correlation between escalating meat intake and rising obesity rates is clear—and demands closer scrutiny.

While ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are often blamed on their own, these eating patterns cannot be separated from the surge in animal food consumption. Many of the most obesogenic items in the modern diet—pepperoni pizza, cheeseburgers, bacon-loaded breakfasts—are both ultra-processed and animal-based.

Supporting this, a New York Times summary of clinical research noted that participants on a highly processed diet gained more weight than those on a whole-food diet, despite identical caloric intake. Many of the “processed” items provided were animal-derived—such as deli meats, cheese-based dishes, and sugary dairy products [5].

Plant-Based Foods: Constantly on Defense 

Meanwhile, plant-based products—especially meat alternatives—are continually scrutinized for being “processed,” often lumped into the same category as sugary snacks or soda. But as researchers recently pointed out, this comparison lacks nuance. Many plant-based meats are designed to replace processed animal products, not compete with whole broccoli [3]. As one Vox investigation explains, calling all ultra-processed foods equally unhealthy creates confusion—especially when many plant-based products are specifically designed to replace the most harmful processed animal foods, not to mimic fresh vegetables [3].

But new evidence paints a different picture.

A 2024 report by the Food Foundation analyzed 68 plant-based meat alternatives and found that, compared to their animal-based counterparts, they offered lower saturated fat, no cholesterol, more fiber, and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions [6].

At the same time, a 2025 study published in PLOS Medicine used blood and urine biomarkers to objectively measure ultra-processed food intake. The research showed that ultra-processed foods dominate the American diet and confirmed their distinct metabolite signature, offering better tools to track diet quality and related health risks [7].

Large-scale epidemiological data also show that ultra-processed foods of animal origin are significantly more harmful than those from plant sources. A 2023 Lancet multinational cohort study found that diets high in ultra-processed animal-based foods were associated with increased risks of cancer and cardiometabolic multi-morbidity, while processed plant-based foods did not carry the same risk [8].

Still, the rhetorical damage is done. The narrative keeps plant-based foods boxed in, forcing them to answer questions the animal industry rarely has to address.

What "Processed" Really Means 

It’s also worth asking: who defines “processed,” and to what end? Almost all foods, from tofu to almond butter, undergo some form of processing. But it's the nature and impact of that processing that truly matters.

The term “ultra-processed” is often applied to plant-based milks and meat alternatives—despite the fact that many of these products are specifically designed to reduce the harms of animal agriculture. They typically offer healthier fat profiles, contain no cholesterol, and are produced with far less environmental impact.

At the same time, heavily modified animal products—such as deli meats, bacon, or cheese slices—often escape scrutiny, even though they are cured, smoked, ground, chemically preserved, and highly engineered. This may be no accident: the animal protein industry has been actively reshaping public perception through coordinated rebranding and disinformation campaigns [9].

In 2025, major food corporations launched a full-scale rebranding campaign, promoting terms like “clean protein” and “natural meat” to position animal products as nutritionally superior. These labels are rarely backed by meaningful standards. For instance, Cargill’s 2025 Protein Profile urges brands to emphasize animal proteins as “complete” and “minimally processed,” while ignoring the additives, antibiotics, and factory-farming practices that define how most animal protein is produced [10].

And that’s a crucial point often left out of the conversation. The animals we consume today are not raised like they were generations ago. Modern factory farms confine animals in unnatural and often inhumane conditions, pumping them with hormones, growth promoters, and antibiotics just to keep them alive long enough to slaughter. In some cases, even herbivorous animals are fed animal by-products to cut costs and boost weight gain.

If we’re going to have an honest conversation about food processing, we need to apply the term with clarity and consistency. Otherwise, the label becomes yet another tool for misdirection.

Time to Turn the Light Back to the Truth 

The industry has succeeded in keeping plant-based food on the ropes, distracted by critique, held back from challenging the dominant food paradigm. And in doing so, they’ve stalled momentum for systemic dietary change.

But the truth is still there. The obesity epidemic, the environmental crisis, and the chronic disease explosion all share a dietary thread: overconsumption of animal-based food. It's time we followed that thread all the way through—and stopped letting smoke and mirrors keep us in the dark.

Dig Deeper
Wondering how food companies have managed to control the conversation around what we eat? Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat by Dr. Marion Nestle reveals how industry influence shapes everything from research to public perception. Available on Amazon

References

1. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (2022). FAOSTAT Statistical Yearbook 2022: World food and agriculture (p. 66, Figure 3.1 “Global value of agricultural production by main product group, 2000–2020”). Rome: FAO. https://www.fao.org/3/cc2211en/cc2211en.pdf
2. Daniel CR, Cross AJ, Koebnick C, Sinha R. Trends in meat consumption in the United States. Public Health Nutrition.2011;14(4):575-583. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3045642/ pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
3. Bolotnikova M. You’re being lied to about “ultra-processed” foods. Vox. 19 Dec 2024.
   https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/391795/ultra-processed-foods-science-vegan-meat-rfk-maha vox.com
4. The Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. Globally the health of adolescents is at a tipping point; action needed to tackle rising threats to young people’s health and wellbeing. News release, 20 May 2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1084074 eurekalert.org
5. O’Connor A. Why Eating Processed Foods Might Make You Fat. The New York Times. 16 May 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/16/well/eat/why-eating-processed-foods-might-make-you-fat.html
6. Food Foundation. Rethinking Plant-Based Meat Alternatives. 28 Aug 2024.
   PDF: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-08/Rethinking%20Plant-Based%20Meat%20Alternatives.pdffoodfoundation.org.uk
7. Abar L, et al. Identification and validation of poly-metabolite scores for diets high in ultra-processed food: An observational study and post-hoc randomized controlled crossover-feeding trial. PLOS Medicine. 2025;22(5):e1004560. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004560 journals.plos.org
8. Cordova R, Viallon V, Fontvieille E, et al. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and risk of multimorbidity of cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a multinational cohort study. Lancet Regional Health – Europe.2023;35:100771. PubMed abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38115963/ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
9. Sentient Media. How Big Meat Worked to Rebrand in 2024 — Using Disinformation. 12 Dec 2024. https://sentientmedia.org/big-meat-rebrand-disinformation/ sentientmedia.org
10. Cargill. The 2025 Protein Profile: Primer for Protein Trends and Tips. 2025. (PDF, 20 pp.) https://www.cargill.com/doc/1432277049818/the-2025-protein-profile.pdf cargill.com