Impossible Foods facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Food |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Patrick O. Brown |
| Headquarters | Redwood City, California, US |
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Key people
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Dennis Woodside (President) Peter McGuinness (CEO) |
Impossible Foods Inc. is a company that creates food products from plants. These products are made to taste and feel like real meat. Their most famous product is the Impossible Burger. It came out in July 2016. It's a plant-based burger that tastes like a beef hamburger.
Impossible Foods also teamed up with Burger King. They launched the Impossible Whopper all over the United States by summer 2019. Besides burgers, the company also makes plant-based chicken and pork products.
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How Impossible Foods Started
Impossible Foods was started by Patrick O. Brown in 2011. He was a biochemistry professor at Stanford University. At first, Impossible Foods wanted to make plant-based versions of chicken, pork, fish, and dairy. But they decided to focus first on making a good substitute for ground beef in burgers.
In July 2016, the company launched its first product, the Impossible Burger. It is made entirely from plants. The company says that making an Impossible Burger uses much less land and water. It also creates less greenhouse gas than making a beef burger.
In January 2019, Impossible Foods introduced an improved version, the Impossible Burger 2.0.
In May 2019, Little Caesars started selling pizzas with Impossible Foods' plant-based sausage. This was in Florida, New Mexico, and Washington state. In January 2020, Impossible Foods launched Impossible Sausage more widely. It is also known as Impossible Pork.
In late 2021, the company launched Impossible Chicken.
What's in Impossible Foods Products?
Most plant-based meats try to copy the taste and texture of meat. The Impossible Burger is special because it contains something called heme. Heme is a molecule that makes blood red. It also helps carry oxygen in living things. Heme is found a lot in animal muscle. But it is also found naturally in all living things, including plants.
The heme molecule from plants is exactly the same as the heme molecule found in meat.
To make heme protein from plants, Impossible Foods chose a molecule called leghemoglobin. This molecule is found naturally in the roots of soy plants. To make a lot of it, scientists at the company used a special process. They genetically engineered a type of yeast. Then they used a fermentation process, which is similar to how some beers are made.
The plant-based burger has more protein than a beef burger. It has less total fat and no cholesterol. It also has fewer calories. However, it does contain more sodium and more saturated fats than a plain beef patty.
Making Sure Food is Safe
In 2014, Impossible Foods said that leghemoglobin was safe to eat. This was after testing it with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Impossible Foods sent updates to the FDA in 2017 and 2018.
In July 2018, the FDA agreed that the heme protein was safe to eat. This decision came after a group of food-safety experts all agreed.
At first, the FDA's approval in 2018 was only for Impossible Burgers cooked in restaurants. This was until soy leghemoglobin was approved as a food colorant for uncooked products. In July 2019, the FDA approved it for uncooked products. This allowed Impossible Burgers to be sold in grocery stores starting in September 2019. In December 2019, the FDA confirmed this decision.
In May 2021, a court in San Francisco supported the FDA's decision. The court said the FDA had "substantial evidence" that heme in Impossible Burgers is safe.
Where You Can Find Impossible Foods Products
In Restaurants
In 2016 and 2017, Impossible Foods made their burgers in Redwood City, California, and at Rutgers University in New Jersey. They made small amounts, so the burgers were not sold in stores.
The restaurant Momofuku Nishi in New York started serving the Impossible Burger in July 2016. Other restaurants in California also began serving it. These included Jardinière and Cockscomb in San Francisco. Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles also offered it.
In March 2017, Impossible Foods announced they would build a large factory in Oakland, California. This factory would make a lot of plant-based burger meat each month. In the first half of 2017, the Impossible Burger appeared on menus at many restaurant chains. These included Bareburger, Umami Burger, and Hopdoddy.
In April 2018, White Castle started serving Impossible Burgers. This partnership grew to include all 377 of their locations.
By July 2018, the Impossible Burger was available in about 3,000 places. These were in the United States and Hong Kong. By the end of 2018, 5,000 restaurants across all 50 states had the burger on their menus.
In April 2019, Burger King began testing the Impossible Whopper. This was in locations around St. Louis. Later that month, Burger King announced plans to sell Impossible Whoppers nationwide. By August 2019, it was officially available everywhere.
In Stores
The Impossible Burger first became available in grocery stores in October 2019. This was at Gelson's stores in Southern California.
As of May 2020, Impossible Burgers were also sold at many other grocery stores. These included Fairway Market, Wegman's, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Pavilions, Albertsons, Safeway, and various stores owned by Kroger. In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the FDA allowed restaurants to sell Impossible beef to customers.
In July 2020, Impossible Burger patties became available at Trader Joe's. They also arrived at about 2,100 Walmart stores in the United States.
Impossible sausage sandwiches are now sold at many restaurants. These include Burger King and Starbucks.
How Impossible Foods Gets Money
Impossible Foods has received a lot of money from investors. These investors include Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Viking Global Investors, UBS, and Bill Gates. A company from Hong Kong called Horizons Ventures also invested.
In August 2017, Impossible Foods raised another $75 million. Bill Gates invested more money at this time. In April 2018, they raised another $114 million. This brought their total funding to $372 million. In May 2019, the company raised $300 million more. This made the company worth $2 billion. On March 16, 2020, they raised another $500 million.
In total, Impossible Foods has raised $1.3 billion over 12 rounds of funding. In August 2020, the company raised another $200 million from an existing investor, Coatue.
How People See Impossible Foods
Many people have praised the Impossible Burger. Business Insider said it "satisfies even the most ardent meat-lovers." Vox said it "tastes pretty beefy." Many food experts now think their products are not just okay, but also popular.
The Impossible Burger received special certifications. It got Kosher certification in May 2018. It also received Halal certification in December 2018.
In 2019, TIME magazine named the Impossible Burger 2.0 one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2019. That same year, Engadget gave the Impossible Burger awards for 'Most Impactful Product' and 'Best of the Best' at CES 2019. Also, at COP25, Impossible Foods won a UN Global Climate Action Award.
In 2020, TIME magazine listed Impossible Pork as one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2020.
Some other companies have criticized Impossible Foods. LightLife, another brand of plant-based meats, said that Impossible Foods uses "hyperprocessed" ingredients. Impossible Foods called this a "disingenuous, desperate disinformation campaign."
A group called the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) has also criticized Impossible Foods. This group has received money from the meat industry. They ran ads, including one during Super Bowl LIV, saying plant-based meats use too many additives. Impossible Foods responded with a funny ad. It pointed out that harmful bacteria can be found in ground beef.
See also
