As part of its campaign to promote its Beyond Meat Sausage Sandwich, Canton, Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ partnered with Beyond Meat ambassador and investor Snoop Dogg. Inspired by his passion for plant-based proteins and love of glazed donuts, the store offered for one week only (from Jan. 13-19) the Beyond D-O-Double G Sandwich – a Beyond Breakfast Sausage patty with egg and cheese served on a sliced glazed donut.

Dunkin’ and Snoop also collaborated on a limited-edition online pop-up shop that debuted in late January. The Beyond Collection will feature a green tracksuit emblazoned with the words “Glazzzed for Days” on the back, joggers featuring the word “Glazzzzy” down the leg, as well as a bomber jacket, sweatshirt, t-shirts and a beanie.

OVERherd

’The US meat and poultry industry exports $5.5 billion annually in products to Canada and Mexico. This agreement is critical to meat and poultry processors and the millions of farmers, ranchers, allied manufacturers and transportation companies in the food supply chain.”

– North American Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts in response to the Senate’s passing of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement

Bacon – better than ever

Despite the influx of plant-based products on store shelves and restaurant menus, the love for bacon is still strong in the United States. The National Pork Board reports that consumption of bacon consistently tops 1.1 billion lbs. per year and in the past five years, pork bellies have appeared on 9 percent of all restaurant menus across the country – a 60 percent increase since 2014. Bacon is served in 70 percent of all US restaurants.

Longtime director of Texas A&M’s Rosenthal Meat Science Center, Ray Riley, says bacon’s popularity is still alive and well because “everything tastes better with bacon.”

Pig-free pork rinds

With the ongoing development of plant-based protein products comes the introduction of pigless pork rinds. Venice, California-based Outstanding Foods has added to its line of meat-free snack options with its PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds. The vegan and kosher snacks, which contain 25 grams of protein per bag, come in Original, Nacho Cheese, Hella Hot and Texas BBQ varieties.

Los Angeles-based Beanfields Inc. is also getting into the pigless pork rind game with its Vegan Cracklins. Their product is made with beans, cassava flour and chickpea protein in Chile Limon and Spicy Nacho flavors.