It is now feeding passengers the ersatz beef in Impossible Burgers already being served on its flights between Auckland and Los Angeles.
This provides farmers and exporters with a stark example that imitation proteins are not something they have to worry about at some vague future time. They are here now and the threat is manifested.
This raises some interesting questions.
Air NZ purports to be our national carrier and no doubt expects its pitch to generate some patriotic loyalty.
Shouldn’t it then reciprocate and show some loyalty to New Zealanders? After all, it was saved from oblivion by a former government at taxpayer expense.
So it’s fair to ask whether a company that claims it represents NZ should be serving up dinners made in an American factory.
Or should it be showcasing the best from the country it owes its existence to.
We are a pastoral farming nation dependent on trading the meat, crops, dairy products and wine we harvest from the land.
Surely our national interest will be better served by an airline that has our best interests rather than being trendy at heart.
It’s not as if the airline is responding to customer demand and doing something it can’t avoid. It is the first airline in the world to offer the fake meat so it can’t claim it has to do so to compete with others.
Our airline is aiding and abetting those who want to bring about the downfall of our farmers – the mainstay of our economy.
Stanford University biochemist and now entrepreneur Dr Patrick Brown runs Impossible Foods and was on the first flight serving his so-called meat.
His stated aim is to rid the world of farmed cattle – one patty at a time.
He’s even done the numbers and worked it out. “Every time we sell 2000 burgers, that’s one less cow.,” he says.
The magic ingredient in his patty is something called heme. That’s an iron-containing molecule in blood that carries oxygen, is found in all living organisms and makes meat red and give it its distinctive flavour.
But Brown doesn’t get his heme from blood. He gets it from the roots of soy plants.
And as we know nearly all soy, especially that used in America, is genetically modified. That’s something many people, including greenies who object to cattle farming, don’t like.
But further reinforcing his aim of destroying farming Brown is not going after the vegetarian market.
He wants to capture the people who eat real meat, further damaging the livelihoods of Kiwi farmers.
In an attempt to justify Air NZ’s behaviour in chasing Impossible Foods pretty hard inflight customer experience manager Niki Chave said the airline prides itself on being innovative and admires other companies with similar DNA.
She says the airline still serves other food but that’s not the point.
It should be proudly and unashamedly backing New Zealanders and New Zealand farming.
And it’s not about us sticking our heads in the sand and pretending the inevitable won’t happen. But there’s no need for the airline, which is supposed to be an advertisement for the country, accelerating the process.
