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Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

reuters.com

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Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#71

Post by grandmczeb »

Forbo wrote: post #58
cauthon wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t the impossible/beyond meats still have a higher environmental impact than poultry?

I can't seem to find any information about this, do you have a source?

At least for CO2 emissions it looks like they're roughly on par with each other. Impossible Foods claims a 3.5 kg CO2-eqv. per kg product[1]. For chicken meat, the emissions depend a lot on how and where they're raised, but according to this UN report[2] it's roughly 2.7-8 with an average of ~5.4. It's a bit lower for eggs at 2-5 with an average of ~3.7.

EDIT: This study[3] has a more detailed breakdown which roughly matches the numbers from the UN report. For meat: 2.3-12, average 5.7, median 4.3. For eggs: 2.6-7.6, average 4.2, median 3.8

[1] https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-update-2019/

[2] http://www.fao.org/3/i3460e/i3460e.pdf

[3] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#72

Post by actuator »

moltar wrote: post #68
Forbo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not if you remove the inefficient conversion in the middle. The whole argument is, cattle is inefficient conversion of plant based sources into meat.[1] If instead, we just eat the plant based sources, we would need to grow less of them. Also, we don't really need to restrict ourselves to soy, there are other plant based foods to eat. There are cultures which are dominated by vegetarian food, so we don't even have a lack of recipes to cook.

[1] can be biased: https://impossiblefoods.com/mission/lca-update-2019/

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#73

Post by copperx »

OJFord wrote: post #47
copperx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dayia cheese is in my opinion, superior than cheese in applications such as burgers. However, looking at the ingredients it looks unhealthier gram by gram vs cheese. But if it spares the suffering of one animal I'm all for it.

I've never heard of it before, but having just had a look, it seems like an imitation of the worst kinds of 'cheese'. I don't doubt it can beat squares of plasticy crap and bags of shredded rubber, but do you think it's superior to actual cheese, that isn't artificially coloured or machined into a weird shape and texture?

Better than gourmet cheese? No. But in certain foods where cheese is not the main ingredient, such as burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas, yes, it can be superior.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#74

Post by OJFord »

copperx wrote: post #73
OJFord wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of it before, but having just had a look, it seems like an imitation of the worst kinds of 'cheese'. I don't doubt it can beat squares of plasticy crap and bags of shredded rubber, but do you think it's superior to actual cheese, that isn't artificially coloured or machined into a weird shape and texture?

Better than gourmet cheese? No. But in certain foods where cheese is not the main ingredient, such as burgers, sandwiches, and pizzas, yes, it can be superior.

I didn't say 'gourmet' though, I just wouldn't personally put one of those rubber squares or anything out of a bag even on a burger, because I think its horrid. I would use real cheese cut from a block that hasn't been coloured some rancid colour, even if cheap decidedly non-gourmet cheese.

This stuff looks like it's modelled off the horrid stuff, rather than imitating anything that I would want to eat, so I just wondered what you were comparing it to in saying it's superior.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#75

Post by notsuoh »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #48
notsuoh wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ordered an Impossible Whopper and a regular Whopper a couple months ago to try back to back. I thought they were comparable, if not very similar. I'm sure the toppings help blur the taste line. I don't eat fast food much, but when I'm craving a fast food burger, I have been going for the Impossible Whopper.

Had you never had a beef whopper, do you think you’d feel like you were missing out? As our kids get older, I wonder if I can give them better defaults than we had growing up.

In a vacuum, I don't think so, no more than someone who never had a Wendy's burger because their default was a Big Mac is missing out. It's really just a different default and from a taste or "missing out" perspective is no better or worse. Though in other ways I think the impossible stuff is better objectively and subjectively.

However, in the real world (caveat: I don't have children myself quite yet), I'd personally probably be fairly loose with their defaults, let them try whatever they want, and be a good example myself of eating a mostly vegetarian diet. There will be some social pressure to have eaten a beef hamburger, for example, and I don't want them to feel like they're missing out or feeling self righteous for not having eaten beef. I think the ideal would be that they try beef hamburgers and eat them occasionally, but largely choose not to. Side note: the butcher shop I use does make hamburgers, they're super good and from ethically raised animals so I don't have ethical qualms about getting them, but also wow are they expensive. I want to say $8-10 for a patty.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#76

Post by fomine3 »

dtwest wrote: post #29

I imagine meat alternatives will really take off once they are cheaper than meat. There seems to be a lot of potential for cost savings if you don't need to raise a large animal to create the product. So far I haven't seen much of a cost advantage to meatless products, but perhaps with more funding this would be achievable. While I don't thing Impossible tastes better or even as good as the real thing, it isn't too f…

We should distinguish between beef and pork/chickens from meat.

Re: Impossible Foods raises $200M in fresh funding

#77

Post by toomuchtodo »

notsuoh wrote: post #75
toomuchtodo wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Had you never had a beef whopper, do you think you’d feel like you were missing out? As our kids get older, I wonder if I can give them better defaults than we had growing up.

In a vacuum, I don't think so, no more than someone who never had a Wendy's burger because their default was a Big Mac is missing out. It's really just a different default and from a taste or "missing out" perspective is no better or worse. Though in other ways I think the impossible stuff is better objectively and subjectively. However, in the real world (caveat: I don't have children myself quite yet), I'd personal…

Great advice, thank you.
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