Impossible Foods Announces Plant-Based Pork
After debuting an upgraded, gluten-free Impossible Burger 2.0 last year, Impossible Foods is back with more plant-based meat—Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage. Announced at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, they mark the first entirely new products the company has launched since the debut of the OG Impossible Burger in 2016.
“Impossible Foods cracked meat’s molecular code—starting with ground beef, which is intrinsic to the American market. Now we’re accelerating the expansion of our product portfolio to more of the world’s favorite foods,” Dr. Patrick O. Brown, Impossible Foods’ CEO and founder, said in a statement. “We won’t stop until we eliminate the need for animals in the food chain and make the global food system sustainable.”
Impossible Pork, which is gluten-free, animal hormone-free, and antibiotic-free, is described to have a mild savory flavor and can be cooked via steamer, oven, charbroiler, flat-top grill, or sauté pan, according to Impossible Foods. It’s also meant to be eligible for kosher and halal certification if produced in a certified plant. As for the nutrition facts? Each serving includes 16 grams of protein, compared to the 19 grams of protein found in a serving of an Impossible Burger, along with three milligrams of iron, zero milligrams of cholesterol, 13 grams of total fat, seven grams of saturated fat, and 220 calories. Although samples will be given out at CES, the rest of us will have to wait a little while to try it—there are no details about where, and when, the product will be sold at this time.
On the other hand, Impossible Sausage, which is also gluten-, hormone-, and antibiotic-free, will make its debut much sooner in the form of a breakfast sandwich. Following up on the launch of the Impossible Whopper, Impossible Foods is partnering with Burger King once more to test the “Impossible Croissan’wich,” featuring seasoned plant-based Impossible Sausage, egg, and cheese on a croissant. The sandwich will launch late January in 139 restaurants across five test regions: Savannah, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Springfield, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Montgomery, Alabama.
In the meantime, you can always give Beyond Meat’s “sausage” a shot, which comes in a Brat or Hot Italian variety; Dunkin’ also serves a Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich. Other recent plant-based meat developments include Hooters adding meatless wings—Unreal Wings made with Quorn—to the menu, and Taco Bell testing a plant-based “beef” taco in Europe. Plant-based steak could be reality, too—Brown teased the idea of a “beef steak”-like product back in January 2019. Considering just how mainstream plant-based meat has become, we wouldn’t be surprised if it happens sooner than later.
