Impossible Foods

Impossible Foods

Type	Private
Industry	Food
Founded	2011
Founder	Patrick O. Brown
Headquarters	Redwood City, California, US
Website	www.impossiblefoods.com

Impossible Foods Inc. is a company that develops plant-based meat and dairy products made without animals. Headquartered in Redwood City, California,^[1] the company aims to give people the taste and nutritional benefits of meat without the negative health and environmental impacts of livestock products.^[2] The company researches animal products at the molecular level, then selects specific proteins and nutrients from plants to recreate the experience of meats and dairy products from animals.^[2]

Origin

In 2009, Stanford biochemistry professor Patrick O. Brown decided to devote an 18-month sabbatical to eliminating industrial animal agriculture, which he determined at the time to be the world’s largest environmental problem.^[3] With other academics, Brown co-organized a conference in 2010 in Washington to raise awareness.^[4] But the National Research Council workshop, called "The Role of Animal Agriculture in a Sustainable 21st Century Global Food System,” had minimal impact; soon after, he decided the best way to reduce animal agriculture was to offer a competing product in the free market.^[5] He started the company in 2011.^[6]

Products

An Impossible Burger, given out as part of a promotional event in San Francisco.

In July 2016, Impossible Foods launched the Impossible Burger, which "looks, cooks, smells, sizzles and taste like conventional ground beef but is made entirely from plants."^[7] Because it’s made entirely from plants, Impossible Foods says that an Impossible Burger uses 95% less land and 74% less water, and it emits about 87% less greenhouse gases than a burger from cows.^[8] The plant-based burger has more protein, less total fat and fewer calories than a similar-sized hamburger patty made with beef. The Impossible Burger has no cholesterol, antibiotics or synthetic hormones.^[9]

The restaurant Momofuku Nishi in New York, owned by David Chang, began serving the Impossible Burger in July 2016.^[10] In October, the Impossible Burger became a standing menu item on three additional restaurants in California: Jardinière and Cockscomb in San Francisco, and Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles.^[11] The Impossible Burger is not available in retail locations.^[12] Impossible Foods is also working on plant-based products that emulate chicken, pork, fish and dairy.^[13]

On November 6, 2016, Impossible Foods gave out free Impossible Burgers in San Francisco as a publicity event.^[14]

Technology

Impossible Foods' scientists discovered that heme is a key factor in how meat behaves.^[15] Heme is the molecule that gives blood its red color and helps carry oxygen in living organisms. Heme protein is super abundant in animal muscle but is also found naturally in soy root nodules. Impossible Foods uses heme in its products to provide the complex, savory taste of meat.^[16] To produce heme protein from plant sources, Impossible Foods engineers a yeast and uses a fermentation process very similar to the brewing process used to make some types of beer.^[17]

Impossible Foods' scientists also recreate all the key components of animal meat texture -- muscle, connective tissue and fat -- using ingredients exclusively from plants.^[18] To replicate the fat in hamburgers made from cows, Impossible Foods' plant-based burger uses flecks of coconut fat, which are mixed with ground textured wheat and potato protein. The potato protein provides a firm exterior when the meat is seared.^[19] The coconut oil stays solid until heated, when it melts similarly to beef fat. ^[20]

Finance

Impossible Foods has raised rounds of $75 million and $108 million from investors including Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Viking Global Investors, UBS,^[21] Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Horizons Ventures and Bill Gates’.^[22]

References