By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) first learned of a new meat alternative called Redefine Meat in 2022. Initially, we had wondered if it was just the latest example of a food product manufactured via precision fermentation (PF), a process usually involving animal genes taken from a virtual DNA library and inserted into microbes who in turn produce an animal or dairy protein such as gelatin or casein, respectively. For example, in 2021, we reported on Perfect Day’s called “animal-free” whey, now used in many food and beverages products available at major chain retailers.
Simultaneously growing in popularity in the early 2020s was cell-cultured (i.e., lab-grown) meat, culminating in the 2022 approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration followed by the 2023 approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for two companies to manufacture and sell cell-cultured meat products in the U.S. So, The VRG also wondered if Redefine Meat could be a cell-cultured meat product.
We reached out to Redefine Meat by email in 2022 and asked them to confirm the following:
“1. Your products contain no animal-derived ingredients.
2. There is no animal- or dairy-derived genetic material used to make your products at any step in the process. This includes no animal DNA (including genes coding for dairy ingredients) from a digital library.”
Robin Fine, a business development representative at Redefine Meat, replied promptly and told us: “Redefine Meat products are made from plant-based ingredients and are 100% vegan. They include ingredients from a variety of food groups recommended in a balanced diet, including proteins, carbohydrates and vegetable-based fats. Additional information about our products can be found in the product section of our website.”
In search of more clarity on the manufacture of Redefine Meat, we asked Fine to be more specific by inquiring:
“We know that the words “plant-based” and “vegan” mean different things to different people. So, to get clarity on how you’re using them, could you please confirm that your products:
“1. Contain no animal-derived ingredients at all (including microingredients like animal-derived stearic acid or dairy-derived whey as well as macroingredients like gelatin or beef fat)
- No animal- or dairy-derived genetic material – including virtual DNA – was inserted into microbes to produce animal and/or dairy proteins later used in your products. Nor was animal- or dairy-derived genetic material used in any other way during product design or manufacture.”
Fine responded simply by stating: “Our products do not contain any of the [above] ingredients or materials and are 100% plant-based.”
Assured that Redefine Meat is neither manufactured by PF using animal genes nor cell-cultured meat, The VRG emailed Fine in June 2026 about the availability of Redefine Meat in the U.S. We learned from Fine:
“We are available at various foodservice establishments in the East Coast mainly in the [New York City, Boston, and Connecticut] areas, and we are working on expanding to more areas. Our current distributors are:
We are also actively working on launching retail in the USA…[Now]…you can try almost all of our products at Next Stop Vegan in Brooklyn. ”
When we asked Fine for a list of restaurants or stores where people can find Redefine Meat now, Fine advised:
“You can use our online location finder to search for restaurants serving our products in the United States. Most of our current locations are in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania…As restaurant menus may change, we always recommend contacting the restaurant in advance to confirm that they currently serve our products.”
The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.
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