Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
The Other Fake Meat: Impossible Foods Unveils Pork, Sausage
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
January 8, 2020

Share

After a big year for its plant-based burger, Impossible Foods has something new on its plate.
The California-based company unveiled Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage on Monday evening at the CES gadget show in Las Vegas.
It’s Impossible Food’s first foray beyond fake beef. The Impossible Burger, which went on sale in 2016, has been a key player in the growing category of vegan meats. Like the burger, Impossible Food’s pork and sausage are made from soy but mimic the taste and texture of ground meat.
Impossible Pork will be rolled out to restaurants first. The company isn’t yet saying when it will come to groceries. Impossible Foods only recently began selling its burgers in grocery stores, although they’re available at more than 17,000 restaurants in the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.
Burger King will give consumers their first taste of Impossible Sausage. Later this month, 139 Burger King restaurants in five U.S. cities will offer the Impossible Croissan’wich, made with plant-based sausage coupled with the traditional egg and cheese. Burger King did a similar test of the Impossible Whopper last year before expanding sales nationwide.
The pork products and the Impossible Burger are made in a similar way. Impossible Foods gets heme — the protein that gives meat its flavor and texture — from soy leghemoglobin, which is found in the roots of soy plants. To make heme in high volume, it inserts the DNA from soy into yeast and ferments it. That mixture is then combined with other ingredients, like coconut oil.
The company tweaked the ingredients to mimic pork’s springy texture and mild flavor. For the sausage it added spices.

Photo of a variety of Impossible Pork dishes from Impossible Foods
A variety of Impossible Pork dishes from Impossible Foods, the California plant-based meat company, as the company unveils Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage before the CES tech show in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Customers Were Frequently Requesting It

Impossible Pork has 220 calories in a four-ounce serving. That’s not much less than a serving of Smithfield 80% lean ground pork, which has 260 calories. Smithfield’s animal-derived pork has more total fat, at 20 grams, than Impossible Pork, which has 13 grams. But Impossible Pork has far more sodium, at 420 milligrams. Smithfield has 70 milligrams.

“Everything that we’re doing is trying to avert the biggest threat that the world is facing.” — Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown
But health concerns are only part of the reason consumers are eating more plant-based meats. Animal welfare and environmental concerns are also a factor. Nearly 1.5 billion pigs are killed for food each year, a number that has tripled in the last 50 years, according to the World Economic Forum. Raising those pigs depletes natural resources and increases greenhouse gas emissions.
“Everything that we’re doing is trying to avert the biggest threat that the world is facing,” Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown told The Associated Press.
Brown said the company decided pork should be its next product because customers were frequently requesting it. Impossible Foods started working on the new products about 18 months ago and accelerated development in the second half of 2019.
Brown said ground pork is also critical to meeting the company’s international expansion goals. While Americans eat more beef and chicken, pork is the most widely consumed meat worldwide, according to the National Pork Board. Chinese consumers eat more than 88 pounds of pork per year, compared to 65 pounds for Americans.
Brown said he believes a product like Impossible Pork is critical in China, which has limited arable land and relies heavily on imported meat. Last year, Chinese pork prices surged after African swine fever wiped out millions of pigs.
Brown said Impossible Foods is talking to Chinese regulators and potential partners that could make Impossible Pork — as well as plant-based burgers — in China.
Photo of a bowl of Impossible Pork
J. Michael Melton, head of culinary for Impossible Foods, the California plant-based meat company, prepares some Impossible Pork dishes as the company unveils Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage before the CES tech show Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Impossible Foods Rival Beyond Meat

“This is a huge opportunity for China in terms of its food security,” Brown said.
Impossible Foods is also waiting for approval from European regulators to sell its products there.
In the U.S., 2019 was a breakout year for plant-based meat. U.S. sales jumped 10% last year to nearly $1 billion; traditional meat sales rose 2% to $95 billion in that same time, according to Nielsen.
Impossible Foods rival Beyond Meat — which already sells plant-based sausage links — had a successful public stock offering in the spring. Impossible Foods ran short of burgers in the first half of the year thanks to the buzz from Burger King. After partnering with OSI Group, a food service company, Brown said Impossible Foods produced twice as much of its plant-based meat in the last quarter of 2019 as it sold in all of 2018.
“We have to keep scaling up as fast as we possibly can,” Brown said.
Brown said he welcomes new competitors in the space, including deep-pocketed rivals like Nestle and Tyson Foods. The meat industry is vast, he said, and plant-based meats are still only around 1% of sales.
His only concern is that plant-based products taste good enough to convince meat eaters to switch.
“A crappy product won’t win over meat lovers,” Brown said.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Given Its Failures, Can California Manage a Transition to a Carbon-Free Future?

DON'T MISS

Fresno Trustees Choose District Insider Misty Her for New Superintendent

DON'T MISS

Fresno Students Celebrate Earth Day by Planting 5 Valley Oaks

DON'T MISS

Five Arrested in Fresno County Robbery Spree. Some Linked to Venezuelan Gang

DON'T MISS

US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Immigrants Shouldn’t Get Trials Before Deportation

DON'T MISS

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

DON'T MISS

Chipotle Tempers Annual Sales Forecast as Dining-out Takes a Hit

DON'T MISS

Orders to Leave the Country — Some for US Citizens — Sow Confusion Among Immigrants

DON'T MISS

Newsom Seeks Help for Struggling Oil Refiners

UP NEXT

US Justice Department Directs Investigations Over Gender-Affirming Care

UP NEXT

Kennedy Declares ‘Sugar Is Poison’ While Announcing Ban on Food Dyes

UP NEXT

US Justice Department Cancels Hundreds of Grants for Police, Crime Victims

UP NEXT

Yelich’s 5th Career Slam and Bauers’ 2-Run Homer Power the Brewers to Win Over the Giants

UP NEXT

Happ Hits Game-Ending Single in the 10th as the Cubs Rally Past Dodgers

UP NEXT

US to Phase out Many Synthetic Food Dyes, Kennedy and FDA Head Say

UP NEXT

Trump: No Plans to Fire Fed Chair Powell, but Wants Lower Rates

UP NEXT

RFK Jr Plans to Phase Out Artificial Dyes From the US Food Supply

UP NEXT

Top Producer at ’60 Minutes’ Quits Amid Trump Lawsuit Pressure

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes Kill 17 in Gaza and Destroy Heavy Equipment Needed to Clear Rubble

Five Arrested in Fresno County Robbery Spree. Some Linked to Venezuelan Gang

16 hours ago

US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

17 hours ago

Trump Says Immigrants Shouldn’t Get Trials Before Deportation

17 hours ago

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

17 hours ago

Chipotle Tempers Annual Sales Forecast as Dining-out Takes a Hit

17 hours ago

Orders to Leave the Country — Some for US Citizens — Sow Confusion Among Immigrants

17 hours ago

Newsom Seeks Help for Struggling Oil Refiners

17 hours ago

General Motors to Increase Production at Ohio Transmission Facility

17 hours ago

US Justice Department Directs Investigations Over Gender-Affirming Care

17 hours ago

Exclusive: Trump Expected to Sign Order Pushing Training for Skilled Trades

17 hours ago

Given Its Failures, Can California Manage a Transition to a Carbon-Free Future?

This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. It’s become painfully obvious in recent years that Ca...

38 minutes ago

38 minutes ago

Given Its Failures, Can California Manage a Transition to a Carbon-Free Future?

13 hours ago

Fresno Trustees Choose District Insider Misty Her for New Superintendent

15 hours ago

Fresno Students Celebrate Earth Day by Planting 5 Valley Oaks

From left to right: Anderson Vega Laya, 31; Helan Lopez Sanchez, 29; Aaron Sojo Moreno, 25; Yan Garcia-Heredia, 22; and Albert Hinegues, 19, some linked to a violent Venezuelan gang, have been arrested in connection with a series of armed robberies across Fresno County during the summer of 2024. (Fresno County SO)
16 hours ago

Five Arrested in Fresno County Robbery Spree. Some Linked to Venezuelan Gang

U.S. flag and Judge gavel are seen in this illustration taken, August 6, 2024. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)
17 hours ago

US Brings First Terrorism Charges Against Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

17 hours ago

Trump Says Immigrants Shouldn’t Get Trials Before Deportation

17 hours ago

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

17 hours ago

Chipotle Tempers Annual Sales Forecast as Dining-out Takes a Hit

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend