Impossible Foods: ‘We can completely replace the use of animals for food by 2035’

The founder of Impossible Foods has said their mission is to “completely replace the use of animals as a food technology by 2035.”

Speaking at the annual Web Summit conference in Lisbon, CEO Pat Brown also remarked that “It’s game over for the incumbent industry – they just don’t know it yet.” Traditional animal farming is out, and plant-based meats are in.

Brown told the 100,000 attendees that “the biggest factor in climate change and the collapse of global biodiversity is the use of animals as food technology.

Therefore, getting rid of it was much more important “than replacing fossil fuels in terms of benefits for the world.”

Among the online attendees were plant-based tennis champion Serena Williams, and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

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‘Preferred by the majority’

Impossible Foods aims to make its plant-based meats healthier, tastier and cheaper than their conventional animal-based counterparts.

Brown boldly said: “By next year, I think our mainstream product will actually, if we do a side-by-side comparison with nothing but meat-eaters, be preferred by the majority of them.”

As a household name in the US and even now in the UK, we’re sure Impossible Foods is on its way to fulfilling this mission.

Plant-based meats on the rise

Impossible Foods is not the only plant-meat company on the rise. Here in the UK, we have seen a huge increase in the demand for mock meats. US brand Beyond Meat has successfully infiltrated the British restaurant industry, with hundreds of restaurants across the country using its patties as a vegan option on their menus.

Just one example is the new vegan burger at Wimpy, which features a grilled Beyond Meat patty with vegan mayo, lettuce and tomato in a vegan brioche bun.

Non-vegan companies are also paying attention to the exponential popularity of vegan meats. Unilever just announced a sales target of €1 billion for plant-based foods by 2027. As a company with a monopoly over food production, this is a huge step towards a plant-based global food system.

The growth of plant-based meat alternatives can only be a positive step for the animals and the environment.
However, we analyse whether the rise of vegan junk food is delicious, or dangerous for our health.