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Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

reuters.com

61–70 of 77 posts

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#61
post #52

Highly recommended reading is Sacred Cow book. It’s the most well researched, fact based, science based book thus far that is pro meat. https://www.sacredcow.info/ Impossible ingredients are pretty bad and aren’t that good for the environment either. Soy production is extremely destructive. Here’s the list: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Met…

Do you have a good source on why soy production is harmful? I think the idea is that it's not AS harmful. Regardless of the land damage that soy production takes it's not as bad as the land needed for animals & the food to feed those animals. Side benefit: also factory farms can totally be a source of another fucked up disease. They pump those animals with antibiotics and put them in bad environments a lot of the tim…

Too right, soy never caused a pandemic...

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#62
post #50
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Impossible should lobby for a carbon tax, which would skyrocket the price of meat, making their option more affordable.

Impossible meat production doesn’t use carbon?

Far less than beef: https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-update-2019/

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#64
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same situation here. For steaks and other things like that, I've moved to exclusively using a local butcher who has all of their livestock grown for them in small quantities on very small regional farms. For the other stuff, I can hardly tell a difference so have been using Impossible products. It kind of gives me the best of both worlds: kind farming conditions for the steaks/etc. and no farming conditions for the h…

There are only so many prime cuts, such as steaks, in a steer. Ground beef and sausages are what you make with the rest of that animal.

In this case it's definitely more about the quality of the animal's condition while being raised. I do buy this shops sausages because they custom make them from the same livestock. I guess my main point is that I've been trying to avoid anything that comes from a factory farm and substituting that with impossible product.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#65
post #52

Highly recommended reading is Sacred Cow book. It’s the most well researched, fact based, science based book thus far that is pro meat. https://www.sacredcow.info/ Impossible ingredients are pretty bad and aren’t that good for the environment either. Soy production is extremely destructive. Here’s the list: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Met…

Do you have a good source on why soy production is harmful? I think the idea is that it's not AS harmful. Regardless of the land damage that soy production takes it's not as bad as the land needed for animals & the food to feed those animals. Side benefit: also factory farms can totally be a source of another fucked up disease. They pump those animals with antibiotics and put them in bad environments a lot of the tim…

The vast majority of soy production is for animal feed. By diverting that directly to feeding people, you eliminate an entire trophic level.

Edit: Failed to mention that a lot of deforestation is done to facilitate the growth of soy. Take for example the Amazon.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#66

I've been using their meat in things like pastas and tacos and it's slightly tastier. The thing that hit me is that we consume so much meat in a heavily processed way that it seems silly a creature should have to suffer and die to make it. I'm all for aged steaks and prosciutto in moderation, but a large portion of the meat is consumed in nugget or other forms that don't really respect the sacrifice of the animal or…

As someone who grew up vegetarian and tasted meat afterwards, I feel it's hard for me to understand the attachment of people to meat. I was recommended to add some meat and eggs as a dietary measure along with supplements. It wasn't as flavorful as I expected it to be. I liked Indian meat dishes a bit but if you substituted meat with tofu or paneer (cottage cheese), you wouldn't notice much of an improvement. Veggies…

Go to a very expensive restaurant, your mind will be blown how good meat can taste. Food with lots of spices tends to hide the quality of the raw ingredients, but on their own tofu and meat are no competition in terms of taste.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#67

I've been using their meat in things like pastas and tacos and it's slightly tastier. The thing that hit me is that we consume so much meat in a heavily processed way that it seems silly a creature should have to suffer and die to make it. I'm all for aged steaks and prosciutto in moderation, but a large portion of the meat is consumed in nugget or other forms that don't really respect the sacrifice of the animal or…

Animals aren't farmed to make your chicken nuggets. It's a byproduct of using the whole animal, including parts that aren't quality cuts (most of the animal in some cases).

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#68
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a good source on why soy production is harmful? I think the idea is that it's not AS harmful. Regardless of the land damage that soy production takes it's not as bad as the land needed for animals & the food to feed those animals. Side benefit: also factory farms can totally be a source of another fucked up disease. They pump those animals with antibiotics and put them in bad environments a lot of the tim…

The vast majority of soy production is for animal feed. By diverting that directly to feeding people, you eliminate an entire trophic level. Edit: Failed to mention that a lot of deforestation is done to facilitate the growth of soy. Take for example the Amazon.

Yeah, and we shouldn’t feed animals soy. I’m for that 100%. So we should fight for that. If everyone stops eating meat and starts eating soy we won’t be growing much less of it. We just transfer the problem from one place to another.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#69
post #60
post #52

Highly recommended reading is Sacred Cow book. It’s the most well researched, fact based, science based book thus far that is pro meat. https://www.sacredcow.info/ Impossible ingredients are pretty bad and aren’t that good for the environment either. Soy production is extremely destructive. Here’s the list: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Met…

Most cows are not grass-fed (too expensive, too much land required) and are therefore in cages being fed... soy based products.

It is true that most cows aren’t grass fed. But that’s what we need to focus on. And not focusing on eating soy. Let’s fix the commercial animal husbandry to do it properly without shortcuts. Sure the meat will be more expensive but then naturally people will eat less of it.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#70
post #52

Highly recommended reading is Sacred Cow book. It’s the most well researched, fact based, science based book thus far that is pro meat. https://www.sacredcow.info/ Impossible ingredients are pretty bad and aren’t that good for the environment either. Soy production is extremely destructive. Here’s the list: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% Or Less Of: Potato Protein, Met…

Do you have a good source on why soy production is harmful? I think the idea is that it's not AS harmful. Regardless of the land damage that soy production takes it's not as bad as the land needed for animals & the food to feed those animals. Side benefit: also factory farms can totally be a source of another fucked up disease. They pump those animals with antibiotics and put them in bad environments a lot of the tim…

* Entire forests are cleared to grow soy. Animals living in those forests die or migrate and then die from hunger from lack of resources.

* Commercial, at-scale plantations kill a huge number of insects, and animals, like rodents and field mice by pesticide use and by machinery during harvests.

* Commercial farming pollutes the rivers and water table, because of the run offs of pesticides. Which makes animals sick (people are a subset of animals here).

On the other hand, meat production does not need to be harmful at all, and in fact, can have the opposite effect of healing the land.

Look at Joel Salatin's farms. He is the model for proper meat production and has been featured in countless docs and books. His farms are fully integrated with nature. Yes the product costs more, but that is a feature, not a bug. The product is of much higher quality, and you need less of it to get the same benefits as you would from factory-farming raised meat. Because it is more expensive people will naturally eat less of it, which is ok and is also a feature.

The problem is that American government was subsidizing terrible farming practices for a very long time and all food became too cheap. Everything is raised and produced with shortcuts and external costs that are not accounted for. That is the root cause of all issues.

Switching from meat to soy will not fix the problem, because soy is and will be subsidized even more, if there is more demand for it. The soy industry will get stronger and lobby for more subsidies and they'll get them, like they get them for everything else.

And yes, factory farms need to go! It is way too centralized and is actually a danger to society in many ways. Farms need to be decentralized and operated by a higher number of smaller operators. The economy of farming will be healthier and more diverse overall.

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