Meat+Poultry - April 2018 - 34

A L T E R N AT I V E P R O T E I N S

The Impossible Burger was launched commercially on July 26, 2016.
It's now on the menu of about 840 restaurants across the country.

Impossible Burger were all carefully
engineered to mimic the cooking of a
beef burger.
"What you really start to hear is
the sizzling," Holz-Schietinger says.
"That sizzling is the fat leaking out and
that release allows for a nice surface
to develop and for the flavor to begin
being generated. Browning occurs,
like a beef burger, and you'll start to
smell the aroma generation of the heme
reacting with the simple nutrients to
create all the aromas of beef."
Holz-Schietinger says the
formulation process is still a work in
progress. Initial consumer testing of the
Impossible Burger versus beef burgers
showed an overwhelming preference
for beef, as high as 92 percent in the
early days. More recent tests have seen
that shift dramatically, now hovering
around a 50-50 preference.
Taste testing is conducted using
between 100 and 200 consumer-based
tasters throughout the US. The

34

samples used in the tastings use the
Impossible Burger alone, without
buns, toppings or condiments. "We
just salt it," Holz-Schietinger says. The
company also contracts with sensory
experts who provide feedback on
factors including taste, texture and
aroma, as well as appearance and
how Impossible measures up against
traditional beef burgers.
"We're not saying it's identical,"
Holz-Schietinger says, "but if you think
about preference, there are aspects
about this that people like better,"
she says, "and the taste tests don't
reflect the sustainability aspects of the
Impossible Burger."
R&D experts also rely on their
culinary customers in the foodservice
segment for feedback. The emphasis
was first on supplying foodservice
operators because their opinions
matter. "We want to make sure those
chefs are happy with the experience
of cooking it, handling it and with the

MEAT+ POULTRY | 04.18 | www.meatpoultry.com

experience of serving it to all of their
customers," she says.
As for the shelf life, logistics
and handling of the "raw" product,
Impossible recommends its foodservice
customers treat it as if it is traditional
ground beef. The patties are frozen
after forming; cooking time is slightly
less than that of a traditional burger,
Holz-Schietinger says, and the
cooking temperature is slightly lower.
While the plant-based raw burger is
less vulnerable from a food safety
standpoint in the processing plant, it
isn't risk-free going through processing.
"Even though it's cleaner to begin
with, there are lots of microbes in the
environment," she says.
Another important goal of the
formulators is to match or exceed
the nutritional aspects of beef.
Holz-Schietinger says the Impossible
Burger is higher in protein than
traditional burgers and matches beef
in terms of micro-nutrients and beef's
bioavailable iron.
Each time the R&D team rolls
out a new version of the Impossible
Burger it is commemorated with
an alphabetically based bird type
(Avocet, Blackbird, Crow, etc...). In
late December, the Oriole was the
burger of the day. The future plans for
Impossible Foods goes well beyond a
hamburger substitute.
"We're not just a burger company,"
Holz-Schietinger says. "We're creating
all these different meats, we understand
all the different textures and flavors.
Our focus right now is making
ground beef, but we are also testing
and understanding what drives the
sensory experiences and how to make
the prototypes for different meats,
seafoods, eggs and dairy products.
"This is the starting point and
the future is the idea that we can
replace all these animal products on
the fundamentals that people want to
choose things that taste delicious. So,
can we make things that are even more
delicious and at the same time be good
for you and be good for the planet?"
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