Plant-based startup Impossible Foods has unveiled its pork alternative at the CES tech show in Las Vegas.
The company, which recently scooped the 2019 United Nations Global Climate Action Award, hopes its newest product will help it ‘break into’ China – the world’s largest consumers of pork.
Impossible Foods has not announced when the plant-based pork, which is free from gluten, animal hormones and antibiotics, will be available in supermarkets.
‘Accelerating’ expansion
According to the BBC, Founder and Chief Executive of Impossible Foods Patrick Brown said: “Now we’re accelerating the expansion of our product portfolio to more of the world’s favorite foods.
“We won’t stop until we eliminate the need for animals in the food chain and make the global food system sustainable.”
Vegan controversy
Impossible Foods itself consider its meatless patty to be plant-based rather than vegan.
This is because in 2017 a key ingredient – soy leghemoglobin (heme) – from the brand’s flagship item the Impossible Burger was fed to rats to test its safety. More than 180 rats were killed as a result of the testing.
CEO Pat Brown reacted to the controversy, publishing a statement titled The Agonizing Dilemma of Animal Testing.