LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- One of the leading plant-based food companies that helped to bring meatless burgers to a whole new level in recent years is launching a new product.
Impossible Foods, known for their heme-heavy plant-based burgers that "bleed" and taste like real meat, announced Impossible Pork during a press event at Mandalay Bay during CES 2020 in Las Vegas on Monday.
Trying some of the new #ImpossiblePork items at a press event during #CES2020 . I think I like the pork product better than the beef. pic.twitter.com/SjZMQKsiAC
— LasVegasLoopy (@lasvegasloopy) January 7, 2020
The pork "meat," of course, is made entirely from plants.
Some of the items on the #ImpossiblePork menu tonight are a pork banh mi, pork dan dan noodles and pork char siu buns. @ImpossibleFoods #CES2020 @KTNV pic.twitter.com/F2GVZJeLu3
— LasVegasLoopy (@lasvegasloopy) January 7, 2020
So what's in it?
The ingredient list includes soy protein, coconut and sunflower oils, and natural flavors, among other things. The company says the product is designed for kosher and halal certification.
One 4 oz. serving contains 220 calories, 13 g of fat, 7 g of saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 420 mg sodium, 1g fiber, 16 g protein and 2.7 mg iron.
Watch a chef cook with Impossible Pork at CES:
Impossible Pork is perfect in ground pork dishes like spring rolls, wantons, dumplings or sausage, the company says. The pork has not hit consumer shelves just yet, but Impossible Foods says there's already demand for the plant meat.
According to Impossible Foods CEO and founder Pat Brown, 2.5 billion people on the planet do not eat pork because of religious or dietary reasons or because of the shortage in Asia because the supply has been devastated by the African Swine Fever.
Burger King Chief Marketing Officer Fernando Machado also took part in the press conference on Monday, confirming that the company will continue its relationship with Impossible Foods and begin offering a breakfast croissant sandwich made with Impossible Sausage.
Machado said that the company began the relationship to meet the demands of its existing customers and attract new customers who are interested in plant-based products. Impossible Sausage will debut in late January exclusively at 139 Burger King® restaurants in five test regions: Savannah, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Springfield, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Montgomery, Alabama.
Impossible Sausage also does not contain gluten, animal hormones or antibiotics. A raw, 2-ounce serving has 7 g protein, 1.69 mg iron, 0 mg cholesterol, 9 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat and 130 calories. A 2-ounce serving of conventional Jimmy Dean’s raw pork sausage made from pigs contains 7 g protein, 0.36 mg iron, 40 mg cholesterol, 21 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat and 220 calories.
During a Q&A session after the announcement, one of the first questions was about the possibility of a bacon product.
Brown laughed and said they are working on it, but will not offer it until they believe it is perfect.
This story was originally published by Joyce Lupiani and Amy Abdelsayed at KTNV.