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Impossible Foods

Impossible Foods

Impossible Foods is a plant-based meat company making meat and dairy products that are made to look and feel like animal products by manufacturing heme, the oxygen binding molecule found in blood, using engineered yeast grown in bioreactors.

OverviewStructured DataIssuesContributors

Contents

impossiblefoods.com
Is a
Company
Company
Organization
Organization

Company attributes

Industry
Agricultural technology (AgTech)
Agricultural technology (AgTech)
Food technology
Food technology
Meat
Meat
Manufacturing
Manufacturing
Clean technology
Clean technology
Plant-based products
Plant-based products
...
Location
United States
United States
Redwood City, California
Redwood City, California
B2X
B2C
B2C
0
B2B2C
B2B2C
CEO
Patrick O. Brown
Patrick O. Brown
0
Founder
Patrick O. Brown
Patrick O. Brown
‌
Monte Casino
AngelList URL
angel.co/impossible-foods-1
Pitchbook URL
pitchbook.com/profiles.../97319-89
Legal Name
Impossible Foods, Inc.
Legal classification
Privately held company
Privately held company
Date Incorporated
October 4, 2011
Number of Employees (Ranges)
501 – 1,000
Email Address
hello@impossiblefoods.com
Phone Number
+1-855-877-63650
+18558776365
+16504614380
Full Address
400 Saginaw Drive Redwood City, CA 94063 United States
CIK Number
1,580,614
Investors
Serena Ventures
Serena Ventures
Bill Gates
Bill Gates
Serena Williams
Serena Williams
Li Ka-shing
Li Ka-shing
Temasek Holdings
Temasek Holdings
‌
XN
Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures
UBS
UBS
...
Founded Date
2011
Total Funding Amount (USD)
1,871,000,000
Latest Funding Round Date
November 24, 2021
Competitors
Nobell Foods, Inc.
Nobell Foods, Inc.
0
Sara Lee Corp
Sara Lee Corp
Fable Food Co
Fable Food Co
Eat Just
Eat Just
CFO
‌
DAVID BORECKY
0
Key People
0
Latest Funding Type
‌
Series G round
Latest Postmoney Valuation
2,000,000,000
Patents Assigned (Count)
24
Wellfound ID
impossible-foods-1
Country
United States
United States
Headquarters
Redwood City, California
Redwood City, California

Other attributes

Company Operating Status
Active0
Latest Funding Round Amount (USD)
500,000,000
Wikidata ID
Q21515382

Impossible Foods is a plant-based meat company company making meat and dairy analogue products that are made to look and feel like animal products. They have achieved this by incorporating a heme-related molecule known as Leghemoglobin, manufactured by genetically engineered yeast, into their plant-based products. Impossible Foods is headquartered in Redwood City, CA and was founded in 2011 by Stanford neuroscientist Patrick Brown.

History
Origins and environmental impact

In 2009, Dr. Brown took a sabbatical to focus on thinking about how to improve global food sustainability, and two years later he founded Impossible Foods to begin playing a larger role in global food sustainability.

Beef production releases the most greenhouse gas; nearly 5 times that of pork. Some studies show that people are interested in reducing their meat consumption for health and environmental reasons. However, widespread acceptance has been difficult because the complex structure, texture, and taste of beef is difficult to replicate, and many consumers find soy- and veggie-based meat replacement products unpalatable.

Technology
Cognitive neuroscience

According to Impossible Foods, Inc. Director of Research Celeste Holz-Schietinger, the product was born from the question "What makes meat meat?". Simply put, the last decade of research has revealed more about how the brain responds to food cues, meaning that food is not only necessary for survival, but is a cognitive experience. Several studies have demonstrated that there is differential brain activity in response to visual, gustatory, and auditory cues of the eating (and cooking) experience. Consequently, scientists at Impossible Foods have worked to break ground beef down into all its molecular components to understand how to better replicate the cognitive experience of cooking and eating ground beef.

Their studies have led them to understand the that primary molecule that gives beef it's characteristic flavor is heme, which is the iron-carrying component of blood in animals. It's the heme and blood that gives the raw beef the red color, distinct aroma, and turns brown when the meat cooked. They found that they could extract a heme homolog (very similar chemical structure) known as leghemoglobin from the root nodule of soy plants.

To be able to sustainably mass-produce leghemoglobin without avoid having to actually harvest soy plant root nodules, scientists at Impossible Foods developed a genetically modified strain of yeast strain that contains the leghemoglobin gene and can quickly grow via fermentation. They also developed a scalable way to isolate the leghemoglobin, from the yeast with consistent and extremely high purity.

While taste, color, and aroma were one hurdle to clear in the development of a meat substitute, Impossible Foods wanted to incorporate ingredients that would satiate other cognitive responses. In their most recent iteration, they use wheat protein, which has the same fleshy texture of beef, potato protein, which gives the same crust that forms on the outer layer of seared beef, and flakes of coconut oil that melt when the burger is grilled, mimicking beef fat and giving the characteristic "sizzle" of cooking meat.

Scientists with Impossible Foods hope that generating a product that looks and feels like ground beef when raw and gives off the same sensory cues while cooking will trick the brain, thus providing an acceptable, sustainable meat substitute.

Products

The main product of Impossible Foods is the Impossible Burger, a meat analogue made from plant derived materials.

Distribution
Impossible Food's Interactive Map enables people to locate a restaurant near them that serves the Impossible Burger

Impossible Food's Interactive Map enables people to locate a restaurant near them that serves the Impossible Burger

Impossible Foods has begun to supply restaurants with their product at locations across the United States and Hong Kong. They began this process in early 2016, distributing their product first to high-end restaurants, then partnering with their first national chain: Fatburger. Impossible Burgers has announced that is has secured a distribution agreement with Burger King, starting with Burger Kings in St. Louis, Missouri.

Reception

There are claims that the Impossible Burger has a similar texture to actual beef, while others were impressed with the flavor and aroma. Criticism includes a review that the burger left a lingering bitter aftertaste, another review that said they could taste the coconut flavor in the burger, and a third review said if the burger is well cooked throughout, it gains a distinct wheat flavor that was unpleasant.

Timeline

No Timeline data yet.

Funding Rounds

Products

Acquisitions

SBIR/STTR Awards

Patents

Further Resources

Title
Author
Link
Type
Date

Evaluating Potential Risks of Food Allergy and Toxicity of Soy Leghemoglobin Expressed in Pichia pastoris. - PubMed - NCBI

Jin Y , et al.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28921896

Heme - The Magic Ingredient in Impossible Burger

https://youtu.be/n6U4H8WC9jg

September 13, 2017

Here's how the footprint of the plant-based Impossible Burger compares to beef

Adele Peters

https://www.fastcompany.com/90322572/heres-how-the-footprint-of-the-plant-based-impossible-burger-compares-to-beef

Web

List of US Patents filed for Impossible Foods on Flavor and Aroma

Impossible Foods

https://patents.justia.com/inventor/celeste-holz-schietinger

Academic paper

Safety Evaluation of Soy Leghemoglobin Protein Preparation Derived From Pichia pastoris, Intended for Use as a Flavor Catalyst in Plant-Based Meat. - PubMed - NCBI

Fraser RZ , et al.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29642729

References

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