Impossible Foods’ plant-based meat burger wins top prizes at CES 2019

Editors from the technology blog network Engadget selected the winners, based on world-changing significance, product quality and market demand. In addition, Impossible Burger 2.0 received the “Best Food Tech Award” from Tom’s Guide and the “Top Tech of CES Award” from Digital Trends, which called it a “triumph of food engineering.” The Impossible Burger 2.0 was singled out as the “Best Tech of CES” by Mashable; “The Coolest Stuff From CES” by Digg; and “The Most Exciting New Product at CES” by BRG. The New York Post said Impossible Burger “stole the show,” while Gizmodo called it “stupid delicious.”

The future of food -- right now

The accolades are unprecedented for a startup in a new category. Impossible Burger 2.0 was the first food ever showcased at CES, which features breakthrough technologies from connected homes to self-driving electric vehicles.

Impossible Foods’ scientists are already hard at work on additional improvements. CEO and Founder Dr. Patrick O. Brown said the food tech startup plans to scale up faster than its tech neighbors in California’s Silicon Valley.

"Our cycle of innovation can be much faster than that of the electronics industry," said Brown, a former pediatrician, co-founder of the Public Library of Science and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, adding that, "As soon as we determine we've got something decisively better, something that will accelerate our mission to eliminate the need for animal agriculture, we can launch it. …."

Based in Redwood City, Calif., Impossible Foods uses modern science and technology to create wholesome and nutritious food, restore natural ecosystems and feed a growing population sustainably. The company makes meat directly from plants -- with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals.

To satisfy the global demand for meat at a fraction of the environmental impact, Impossible Foods developed a far more sustainable, scalable and affordable way to make meat, without the catastrophic environmental impact of livestock.

Shortly after its founding in 2011, Impossible Foods’ scientists discovered that one molecule — “heme” — is uniquely responsible for the explosion of flavors that result when meat is cooked. Impossible Foods’ scientists genetically engineer and ferment yeast to produce a heme protein naturally found in plants, called soy leghemoglobin.

The heme in Impossible Burger is identical to the essential heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat — and while the Impossible Burger delivers all the craveable depth of beef, it uses far fewer resources because it’s made from plants, not animals.

Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products directly from plants — with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at Stanford University and a former Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital, and Open Philanthropy Project.

Impossible Burger 2.0 debuted Jan. 7 at Border Grill, the award-winning restaurant from Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. It’s now available at about 20 of America’s most respected restaurants. Within several weeks, the next-generation Impossible Burger will be available at more than 5,000 restaurants.

Starting Feb. 4, the next-generation Impossible Burger will be available to all restaurants in the United States through major food distributors. At that point, restaurants will automatically get the new 2.0 recipe when they place their next order; by mid-March nearly all Impossible Foods’ restaurant customers will likely be serving the new recipe.

Impossible Burger is also available in more than 100 restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau. The company plans to launch the new recipe in Singapore later this year, with additional markets to come.