Impossible Foods adds pork to its meat substitute range
Impossible Foods has unveiled two new alternative meat products: Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage.
Pat Brown, Impossible Foods Founder and CEO, said: “The launch of pork is a pivotal movement for us for a couple of reasons. First, it’s the second completely new product that we’re launching. Beef is popular around the world, but in many cultures the most popular and familiar dishes use pork as the main source of meat. So, for us to have an impact in those markets pork was a necessity.
“Our mission is to completely replace animals as a food system by 2035, and expanding our impact globally is a critical part of that. It’s also an amazingingly delicious product that consumers around the world who love dishes that are traditionally made with pork will finally be able to serve to their families without the catastrophic environmental impact.”
According to the US company, infamous for creating the soy-based Impossible Burger, the new pork product has ‘got all the tender, juicy, versatile flavour and texture of pork, and it’s made from plants’.
It said it chose pork as its next product because pork is the most popular meat in the world, accounting for about 38% of meat production worldwide.
The meat-free pork was developed with input from chefs in Hong Kong and Singapore. According to the company, the ground pork substitute can be used in traditional Asian recipes such as Dim Sum, pork noodles, meatballs, stir-fries, dumplings and wantons. It said the product’s taste is characterized by its mild savoury flavour, adding delicate depth and umami richness without being gamey or overpowering.
It said it is easy to cook in the steamer, oven, charbroiler, flat-top grill or sauté pan. Impossible Pork’s full ingredients list is Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Methylcellulose, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Salt, Yeast Extract, Soy Leghemoglobin, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Soy Protein Isolate, Zinc Gluconate, Spice, Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12. It has 16g protein, 3mg iron, 0mg cholesterol, 13g total fat, 7g saturated fat and 220 calories in a 4-oz. serving.
Impossible Foods is also launching the Impossible Sausage exclusively at select Burger King restaurants later this month in the US. The company calls this a juicy, savoury meat that pairs with traditional breakfast accompaniments and can be used in any recipe or dish that calls for a conventional animal-based sausage.
Impossible has yet to announce plans to sell its ground pork product. Both the pork and sausage products are soy-based and use heme, made via fermentation of genetically engineered yeast, to give a meat-like appearance.
It said soy protein concentrate is used to pack the products with protein, sunflower oil and coconut oil to give it a fatty mouthfeel, soy leghemoglobin to give a meaty taste.
