Consuming production instead of food is a major pain, since it generates way too much pollution.

Is getting Pollution Processor as early as you can, the only viable strat with them?

When playing as any of the predefined races the good general strategy is to play to that races strength.

With the Meklars, those strengths are production bonuses, less food usage, and the ability to heal your ships during combat.

You can win the game without Pollution Processor as a Meklar, but it's doing it the hard way.

Your ships regenerate in combat and completely heal between combats. You require fewer farmers (although that's balanced with consuming production). So expand. Fast. Take over planets that others won't touch, since you don't need as much food. Quickly get your hands on ships that can beat monsters and beat up some monsters for some choice planets.
Gifting white elephant planets (especially of the irradiated or toxic variety) can be of diplomatic benefit and can help suck down a faster opponent's food supply. It's a nasty little surprise, to be sure.
That's how I do it, anyway, with the Meklar (or any other Cybernetic race). If I'm building my own, I try to hook Tolerant in as another trait, just to deal with the polution (although then I don't do the white elephant gifts, because they're not so white-elephanty)

Tolerant costs 10 picks.

You'll have to remove the +2 production bonus (6 picks), and another -4 pick to compensate.

Upon starting a new game, with 6 guys on production, the loss of the +2 production will be exacly equal to the pollution penalty (18 produced total; -12 pollution penalty offset by +12 meklar +2 bonus) (Really 14 due to 4 being eaten, I concede)


So, tolerant will get you better results on hostile planets, but the standard Meklars will fare much better after they discover pollution processor and upgrades, especially on large barren or terran planets.