FDA Gives Green Light To Impossible Foods' Bleeding Burgers

[mia]

Had an "Impossible Burger" for dinner at a local restaurant last night. Delicious! Looks and tastes like the real thing, only better.

FDA Gives Green Light To Impossible Foods' Bleeding Burgers


After years of speculation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finally given its stamp of approval on Impossible Foods' key ingredient, meaning that its "bleeding" plant-based burgers are here to stay.

Impossible Foods, the maker of the famed Impossible Burger, which is known for its sensory replication of animal-based burgers, received a no-questions letter from the FDA clearing its somewhat controversial use of soy leghemoglobin in response to the review of a 1,066-page submission from Impossible Foods filed in October 2017. Previously, Impossible Foods had faced criticism from organizations including the ETC Group and Friends of the Earth who argued last year that the Impossible Burger should be removed from the market until the FDA had adequate proof that the genetically engineered protein was safe for consumption.

This approval is significant as soy leghemoglobin is the key ingredient that differentiates Impossible Foods from its plant-based competitors. Unlike other meat substitute products on the market, the Impossible Burger has been able to mimic the experience of eating an animal-based burger, including its iron taste and bleeding, through the use of this engineered yeast which replicates plant-based heme (leghemoglobin) molecules that make blood and meat red and gives it its savory flavor. With the use of this yeast, Impossible Foods has been able to impress plant-based and meat-eaters alike with its eerily accurate sensory experience.

This FDA approval is also particularly significant as the food world is embroiled over the sea change of regulatory expansion over the definition of terms like "meat" and "beef" on store shelves. On July 26, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association submitted a letter to President Donald Trump requesting that the USDA regulates the safety and labeling standards of lab-grown fake meat products instead of the FDA, which was described in the letter as a "regulatory power grab."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinatroitino/2018/07/27/fda-gives-green-light-to-impossible-foods-bleeding-burgers/#229b6c956c47

[hlthe2b]

1. I saw a biz review piece (MSNBC) on this last weekend...

Really want to try one, but it seems only one restaurant even remotely close to me serves them now. I hope they are both as healthy and "green" as they would seem. I'm not likely to ever give up dairy, but I eat very very little red meat or fowl. I'd gladly give up even more with a good alternative.

[mia]

2. Here's an interactive map to find restaurant locations.

https://impossiblefoods.com/locations/

[Achilleaze]

3. I for one welcome our new KGOP Soy Leghemoglobin Rations

I have full faith and confidence that the KGOP will do the right thing and promptly implement orders from the kremlin by disseminating Offical KGOP Soy Leghemoglobin Ration Cards with scrupulous fairness among the population of white xtian males who are in possession of the correct attitude.

[pnwest]

4. Why does the idea of this creep me out?

[Lulu KC]

10. +1,000

Ugh to the max.

[Iwasthere]

5. Here in Oregon there is one called The Beyond Burger.

Really good! Beet powder makes it look real. Texture is perfect. Even bits of geisel. Inexpensive. Many stores and restaurants have it.

[sweetloukillbot]

30. I just discovered Beyond Burgers a few weeks ago

I've only been vegetarian (not vegan) for a few months, and they are great at satisfying my cravings. Cook them in a little ghee with some swiss cheese and mushrooms, they're amazing.
They can be hard to get every few weeks though, because the company can't keep up with demand. I just bought their crumbled "beef" and I'm going to try making a shepherd's pie with it. I want to try the sausage, but that has been sold out for about a month at the local whole foods (the only place that carries the sausage).

[NCTraveler]

6. I'm not sure I understand mimicking a burger.

Investing so much to mimic a burger.

But if it slows the consumption of cows, I’m good with it.

[forgotmylogin]

9. I think the appeal is it allows a safe "medium-rare" hamburger.

Which of course is a health hazard with real beef, but some people really enjoy and can't obtain due to safety codes in restaurants.

Impossible patties contain wheat protein, coconut oil, potato protein and their ace in the hole: heme. An iron-containing compound found in blood, heme is what gives red meat that rich, umami taste. Impossible Foods’ scientists have found a way to extract heme from plants, which they hope will give their burgers a magic meatiness missing in so many veggie burgers.

https://thespoon.tech/we-tried-the-impossible-burger-and-it-was/

[Ilsa]

13. I prefer the charring of a burger patty, beef or plant,

so this "rare" experience in ground beef is beyond me.

[forgotmylogin]

20. Yeah I don't get the appeal of bloody ground beef.

However, the contrast of cooked plus rare in a steak is sublime.

[shanti]

22. Blood is blood

When I was a kid in the 60's, I'd often sneak a piece of raw hamburger when mother was making tacos or whatever with it. It was good! I wouldn't do it now though. I do love a good medium-rare ribeye, mmm!

If you order a well-done steak or burger in a restaurant, be prepared for it to resemble shoe leather, because they will cook it as such. If it's one thing chefs hate, it's when a customer orders well-done beef.

[Mariana]

12. There's money to be made.

Many, many people enjoy burgers. If the copycat is good enough, those people who like burgers, but want to eat less meat or none for whatever reasons, will buy it.

[rurallib]

15. Most of us grew up eating meat and the mouth feel and certain aspects of meat taste

have seemingly been 'impossible' to replace with a non-meat food.
Sometimes it would be nice to have those experiences.

We get our 'non-meat meats' from a little shop in Minneapolis called the Herbivorous Butcher.
It is a brother and sister company that has recreated much of the mouth feel and juiciness of meat In several product like steak and bacon.

Replacing the mouth feel etc. makes the loss of meat much less of a burden at least to this former meat eater.

[JI7]

18. it would be better for the environment

[NCTraveler]

25. That goes hand in hand...

With slowing the consumption of cows with this being the substitute.

[Codeine]

19. I like burgers. I like cows.

This gives me a product I love without murdering a defenseless bovine.

[NCTraveler]

26. Correct.

It’s not a cow burger.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. Would definitely hit this. I love beef but production is hard on resources and cruel on several

levels. If a plant-based alternative can fool me, I'd be fine with that.

[musette_sf]

8. they serve these at my work cafeteria

I'm an omnivore so I haven't tried one.* Should i?

*to clarify: I don't have an objection to eating meat, so want to know if it's worth a try

[dawg day]

11. The reviews from meat-eaters have been pretty good.

Not quite like beef, but more like beef than turkey burgers is what a friend told me.

I'm going to have to track down where I can buy some and try.

[Codeine]

14. Take my opinion with a grain of salt

because I’ve been a vegan for thirty years, but the Impossible Burger is insanely real, so much so that it genuinely freaks me out. Every third or fourth bite I have to do a mental double-check to assure myself I’m eating a veggie burger.

Give it a try! The worst that could happen is eating a mediocre burger for lunch, and we’ve all been there.

[Voltaire2]

17. Yeah it is a bit weird for long time veggies.

[mucifer]

29. Me too. I've been a vegan for 5 years and a vegetarian since 1982

I got sick after eating the impossible burger. I think my tastebuds have changed. I'd much rather have a black bean burger or a tofu burger than the impossible burger or the beyond burger.

But, because it is causing less suffering to the cows I think it's great!

[forgotmylogin]

33. I am not a vegetarian, but I do like a good veggie burger.

I especially like the Morningstar Farms products or Aldi's meatless spicy black bean patties. They're a nice tasty alternative on occasion, especially when you aren't expecting them to taste like meat.

It really helps a lot to steam them or sizzle in some coconut oil or add just a dab of coconut oil to the finished product (like you'd butter a steak before serving) because they can be a little dry.

[snort]

16. Gack

[aikoaiko]

21. I'll try it, but I have low expectations.

All my life I've been trying "meat substitutes" and have been meh on all of them. They are ok on their own merits, but not substitutes.

[sweetloukillbot]

31. I can't speak to the Impossible Burgers (

They're only at one restaurant nearby, and $18 at that. But the Beyond Burgers are nothing like any veggie burger I've ever had. The only complaint I have is they smell a little funky raw, but they cook quick, char nicely and have a mouth feel similar to a good burger.

[milestogo]

23. I've been vegetarian for 8 years and this does not appeal to me.

I don't miss the taste of meat.

[oberliner]

27. You are not the target audience

[roamer65]

24. Can we make Soylent Green bleed green?

[CentralMass]

28. Doesn't it ?

[ecstatic]

32. What's the point of becoming a vegetarian

if you're just going to turn around and eat more questionable/unnatural/corporation-engineered crap?

[Codeine]

34. Because killing animals sucks?

My veganism isn’t health-oriented as much as it is compassion-oriented; I don’t want to cause any more killing than is inevitable by just living in the modern world.

[Mendocino]

35. I agree.

I eat a vegan whole food plant based diet. A meat analogue is packed with salt, preservatives and who knows what additive laced concoctions, no thanks. I don't even eat tofu.