Alternative meat manufacturer Impossible Foods has launched a plant-based pork substitute at the CES 2020 tech show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Impossible Foods, the company that popularized the Impossible Burger, unveiled its new plant-based pork substitute at the Las Vegas tech show. The firm said it is hoping to appeal to a global audience with its latest vegetarian-friendly meal.
With pork currently the most widely consumed meat globally, Impossible Foods is hoping that its new product could help penetrate the Chinese market. However, an expert claims that this could be very challenging.
The company will first introduce the pork substitute in its Impossible Sausage, which will be available next week at 67 Burger King restaurants in the US, via a sandwich-based dish called the Croissan'wich.
While the company's competitor Beyond Meat has already launched a lab-produced sausage product in 2018, Impossible Foods pointed out that the ground pork substitute could be used in a wide range of traditional recipes. The Beyond Sausage claims to deliver the juicy, satisfying taste and texture of pork sausage but with added health benefits of plant-based meat.
The new products that will use the pork substitute are designed to be compliant with kosher and halal rules followed by some observers of the Jewish and Islamic faiths.
Similar to its ground beef substitute, the company's sausage and plant-based pork products are made from heme, a molecule derived from plants that contains iron and that resembles blood. While heme is found in actual meat, they can be produced without using animals.
The new products also boasts of being free of gluten, animal hormones or antibiotics.
Patrick Brown, Impossible Foods' founder and chief executive, said: "Now we're accelerating the expansion of our product portfolio to more of the world's favorite foods. We won't stop until we eliminate the need for animals in the food chain and make the global food system sustainable."
