The Future of Meat — MIT Tough Tech Summit
At the MIT Tough Tech Summit in October, Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown gave a presentation on what his company does and what he hopes to accomplish in the future.
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Many people aren’t aware of just how damaging the animal agriculture industry is.
It has a profound impact on climate change.
There are a variety of numbers regarding what percentage of worldwide greenhouse gases are produced by livestock and their byproducts. The United Nations stated that the figure was 18%, which would be more than what is produced by exhaust from all types of transportation combined. However, the Worldwatch Institute published a study that 51% of greenhouse gas emissions are from animal agriculture. Regardless, the effect this industry has on climate change is significant.
It causes plenty of suffering — not just for animals, but humans too.
It’s well known that farming is inhumane for animals. They are not given enough space, fresh air, or the ability to interact with others. But there are negative effects on humans as well.
It takes a ton of grain to raise an animal, and as a result, the demand for grain around the world is quite high. This results in grain becoming more expensive, making it more difficult for poor people to eat enough. According to Global Agriculture, if all the grain that was grown in the world was given to humans, then an extra 3.5 billion people could be fed.
It exacts a heavy toll on the planet itself.
The amount of water used by the animal agriculture industry is enormous. According to a study published in 2013, almost 30% of the freshwater in the world is used for livestock. And if the industry didn’t use up enough water, they pollute it at a high rate too. Phosphates and nitrates from animal waste, pesticides, and pathogens all find their way into bodies of water.
Furthermore, animal agriculture takes up a ton of space. At the conference, Brown stated that 45% of the ice-free land area on the planet is used for animal agriculture, while just 7% is for consumable plants. Along with that, 95% of the deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest is to clear space so people can raise animals for meat. Biodiversity is collapsing and being replaced with cows.
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However, making everyone vegan is not a realistic solution. So how does one fix the meat industry?
Brown presents a solution. His company, Impossible Foods, creates a burger that is made completely from plant products and is designed to taste exactly like one made of beef.
According to him, meat-eaters don’t really care how the meat is made — in fact, most actually prefer that it be plant-based — they just want a burger that tastes good and has high protein content.
They started by selling their imitation meat to chefs. Brown explained at the conference why he decided to do this. See, at a supermarket, it’s very hard to get your product noticed. There are thousands of different things on the shelves, and when someone goes shopping, they usually just go through the same routine and get the same products. It’s not often that someone decides to go and randomly browse the protein section for something new to buy. However, at a restaurant, it’s much different. Diners tend to look through the entire menu and examine each item. Waiters can also introduce and recommend certain dishes.
The thing about selling to restaurants is: it’s difficult. The product has to be truly just as good or better than the existing burger, as a chef and restaurant will be putting their name and reputation behind the dish. But Brown’s burger passed the taste test. Many were willing to put it on their menu, and the company took off from there. Impossible Meat is now sold in a huge number of restaurants around the world, and the company is valued at around $4 billion. In fact, it’s even on the menu at the Qdoba near my house(and it’s actually pretty good!). They have expanded to selling its products in supermarkets too, with Kroger, Stop and Shop, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, and many more all putting Impossible’s products on their shelves.
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Brown stated at the conference that his goal is to replace all meat products around the world with synthetic meat by 2035.
If the company is able to do that, it will be the accomplishment of the century. According to their website, making Impossible Meat takes 87% less water, 96% less land, releases 89% less greenhouse gas, and has 92% less dead-zone creating nutrient pollution than animal-produced meat.
There has been some criticism of their product too. A competing company, Lightlife, has called out Impossible for the number of ingredients in their patty. However, this is not a very valid argument. Impossible fired back by stating that it was “a loony concept with zero relevance to health or product quality”. This is true. Having a high number of ingredients does not mean that a dish is unhealthy or harmful. A fruit smoothie has plenty of ingredients too.
Another argument against Impossible Meat is its use of GMOs, which many of its competitors do not use. Specifically, the ingredient heme, which is used to give the same taste and appearance as blood, making the burger taste more genuine. The heme that they use is created from genetically modified soybean roots. However, there is no evidence that consuming GMOs has any kind of health risk. Besides, humans have been modifying food genetically for centuries, by selecting the crops with favorable mutations and growing more of them. For example, the original maize plant had tiny kernels, was essentially not edible, and bears no resemblance to the bright yellow corn on the cob of the modern-day. The FDA seems to agree, backing up the use of heme in Impossible’s products.
Of course, don’t forget that it’s still a burger. It’s high in sodium along with fat, and although it is made from plants, it shouldn’t replace vegetables in your diet. However, it doesn’t have any significant health risks, and its environmental impact is far better than that of traditional meat.
In his speech at the conference, Pat Brown stated that if the entire animal agriculture industry were replaced with their synthetic products starting now, then by the year 2040, the greenhouse gas levels would drop down to where they were in 2015. Impossible Meat is not the only solution, with many competitive companies doing impressive work as well. But the movement for synthetic meat is growing fast, as Brown and his crew took only ten years to go from having nothing but an idea to getting their product on every Burger King menu in America. Everyone loves to talk about AI and gene editing as the fields that will solve the problems of tomorrow and lead us into the future. But there is no future without an Earth to build it on, and Impossible Foods is one of the foremost leaders in the campaign to protect our planet.
So go to your local Burger King and get that Impossible Whopper. Maybe two if you’re feeling hungry. You know, for the environment. 😉
