The Impossible Whopper sold at Burger King — with the tagline “100% Whopper, 0% beef” — looks just like a juicy beef burger.
It is made of 21 ingredients, according to its website, including genetically modified soy protein concentrate, coconut oil, sunflower oil and other items most people have never heard of, such as cultured dextrose, soy protein isolate and zinc gluconate.
Plant-based meat doesn’t come from a cow or a pig. But it’s not your old-fashioned skinny veggie burger, either.
Beyond Meat, one of the major companies competing in the plant-based meat business, said its products are made by layering in plant-based fats, binders, fruit and vegetable-based colors and flavors using a process of heating, cooling and pressure to create the fibrous texture of meat.
The word “meat” is a point of contention. For example, Missouri passed a law this year saying companies can’t represent a product as meat if it isn’t produced from livestock or poultry. Four organizations are challenging the law on behalf of plant-based meat companies.
How does eating meat affect the environment?
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, livestock accounts for 14.5 percent of annual worldwide greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Cattle (raised for beef and milk) alone produce 65 percent of livestock emissions.