Did Spanish Food Tech Heura Just Launch The World’s Healthiest Plant-Based Burger?

Heura, the Barcelona-based vegan meat startup, has just launched a new burger dubbed as the healthiest on the market. Thanks to its innovative fat analogue that helps transform extra virgin olive oil into a solid form, Heura’s latest plant-based burger is able to provide the sensorial experience of meat while drastically reducing the amount of saturated fat and increasing its protein content. 

Announced on Thursday (October 22), the Spanish plant-based meat brand has launched a brand new vegan burger slated to be the healthiest in the world. It contains 64.25%  less fat compared to traditional beef burgers, 85.6% less saturated fat than conventional beef, and 11.3% more protein per calorie. 

The new version of its burger – Heura Burger 2.0 – is created with an innovative fat analogue formulated by its R&D team after more than 1,000 trials. It transforms extra virgin olive oil, which is healthier and importantly more sustainable than coconut oil, into a solid fat format – a quality that gives the burger the desired texture and juicy bite of real meat without the negative health and environmental impacts. 

“The new burger achieves the perfect balance of ingredients and ambiental factors to offer the meaty and juicy experience of an animal burger with only 6.5 grams of fat,” the company said in a statement.

When we visualise the fat from a burger or the coconut oil in the supermarket, they are solid. This is because they both have high contents of saturated fat. We had to reproduce that with an oil that is liquid.

Lorena Salcedo, New Product Development Manager at Heura

Lorena Salcedo, Heura’s new product development manager added: “When we visualise the fat from a burger or the coconut oil in the supermarket, they are solid. This is because they both have high contents of saturated fat. We had to reproduce that with an oil that is liquid.”

“We have analysed both structures separately, the beef burger one and extra virgin olive oil to get the experience of one from the nutritional values of the other. When you see the essence of what you really need it’s easy to see the most efficient way to get there.”

Heura says that this burger is the first and the only plant-based burger to date made with extra virgin olive oil, which is high in monounsaturated fatty acids, a type of fat known to help improve blood cholesterol levels. Other key ingredients in the new burger include pea protein and vegetable fibre. 

The Barcelona startup’s range of plant-based alternatives, which also includes chicken substitutes, stands out in the fast-growing vegan meat sector for its “clean” label. On average, its products contain 40% fewer ingredients than other alternatives on the market. 

Pioneers in the plant-based industry have always been our inspiration and we hope that this innovation boosts the plant-based meat category worldwide and leaves livestock obsolete.

Marc Coloma, Co-Founder & CEO of Heura

Since its inception in 2017, the company, founded by Marc Coloma and Bernat Añaños, has expanded its presence to ten countries, including its native Spain, and France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Chile and most recently, the U.K., where its products are now retailing at two major specialty stores. 

With its rapid growth of 450% in the past year alone, the company prides itself as the fastest-growing plant-based company in Europe. “Accelerating the protein transition is my passion and it is in technology where I find solutions,” said Heura’s co-founder and CEO Coloma in a comment about the startup’s latest feat. 

“Pioneers in the plant-based industry have always been our inspiration and we hope that this innovation boosts the plant-based meat category worldwide and leaves livestock obsolete.”

All images courtesy of Heura.