Process: How Tubes of Tofu Become Tofurky

(lively instrumental music)

[Narrator] At a factory in Oregon, Turtle Island Foods

pumps out all sorts of fake meat products.

They buy a lot of soy

and they're obsessed with making sure

that it's made from soybeans

that haven't been genetically modified.

So they use a test called a lateral flow immunoassay

to check their beans.

It's a lot like a home pregnancy test

but it detects proteins

that aren't found in natural soybeans.

Once a truckload of tofu arrives at the Tofurky factory,

they liquefy it in a giant blender

with soy sauce and canola oil to make a slurry.

At that point, spring water is added,

followed by a proprietary mix of natural flavors.

After some lemon juice and wheat gluten are added,

the slurry becomes a thick paste.

The brew gets mixed a bit more

and then squirted into plastic casings.

Loaves of Tofurky are cooked for hours

in a giant steam oven.

After the loaves have been sliced,

they pass through a quality control area.

Funny looking slices are separated from the rest.

To make sure that they're products have a nice

and meaty texture, Turtle Island periodically tests samples

with a texture analyzer.

It basically measures how hard you would have to bite

in order to gnaw through one of their fake meat items.

Finally, the products are vacuum packed in plastic

and shipped to hippie retailers near and far.