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Air New Zealand is launching the plant-based Impossible Burger patty on flights from Los Angeles to London.
The patty will be available Business Premier cabin on flight NZ2 from Los Angeles to London until October.
Customer demand
“Customers have been asking for the Impossible Burger on our Los Angeles-London route and we’re very excited to take the plant-based burger across the Atlantic,” Air New Zealand’s Senior Manager Customer Experience, Niki Chave, said in a statement sent to Plant Based News.
“The Impossible Burger has been a customer favorite and we’re confident it will appeal to travelers heading to Heathrow.
“And for those who want to stay with the tried and true, it will sit alongside our regular selection of menu items prepared by our talented culinary team and consultant chefs.”
Backlash
Last year Air New Zealand became the first airline in the world to serve the plant-based Impossible Burger, offering it on flights from Los Angeles to Auckland.
The move provoked anger among some of the pro-meat faction, including politician Nathan Guy, whocalled the offering ‘disappointing’ in a tweet, branding the burger ‘substitute meat’.
“Disappointing to see Air NZ promoting a GE substitute meat burger on its flights to the USA. We produce the most delicious steaks & lamb on the planet – GMO & hormone free,” he wrote.
Despite this, the patty was popular enough for Air New Zeland to roll it out as bite size sliders on flights from San Francisco to Auckland.
Plant-based not vegan
While the patty itself does not contain animal ingredients, it is considered by Impossible Foods to be plant-based, rather than vegan.
This is because the key ingredient – heme – which gives the burger its meaty taste, was tested on animals, in tests that resulted in the deaths of more than 180 rats.
Speaking about the testing, Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown, a vegan of more than 16 years, published a statement titled The Agonizing Dilemma of Animal Testing, saying the core of his company’s mission is to ‘eliminate exploitation of animals in the food system’, as well as reduce the impact of animal agriculture on the environment.
