2017 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents uncovered that the FDA disagreed with the company’s safety assessments of the burger’s main ingredient — soy leghemoglobin. However, the company continued selling it to the public anyhow without informing consumers about the FDA’s very serious concerns.
Soy leghemoglobin adds to the flavor and color of the burger and makes it “bleed” like a beef burger. Heme, or soy leghemoglobin, is found most abundantly in animal flesh and is the catalyst for hundreds of chemical reactions that occur while a burger is cooking. Unlike the heme found in beef, the heme in the Impossible Burger is made by taking the DNA from the roots of soy plants, inserting it into genetically engineered yeast and then fermenting that yeast. Soy contains estrogen-like compounds called isoflavones that some findings say can promote the growth of some cancer cells, impair female fertility and mess with men’s hormones.
It gets worse, much worse. Studies at the Health Research Institute Laboratories, revealed levels of glyphosate that were 11x that of the Beyond Meat burger and the total result (glyphosate and its metabolite AMPA) came in at 11.3 parts per billion (ppb).
Why should you care about glyphosate?
Well, in case you have been living under a rock for the last year, here is a recap. Glyphosate is known to the State of California to cause cancer and the World Health Organization says it is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” which means that it “probably causes cancer to humans.” Glyphosate also happens to be the primary ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, and approximately 250 million pounds of this weed killer are sprayed each year in the U.S.
Recent court cases, including the $2 billion judgment to a couple whose non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was caused by Roundup, have provided more evidence of how harmful this chemical is.
So, the Impossible Burger not only contains a genetically-modified protein that has never been in the human diet until a few years ago, but it has also tested positive for glyphosate.
The Institute for Responsible Technology has pointed out, GMOs carry many health risks.
But maybe Steven Molino (who now Tweets under @steven_molino) can answer this for us.
On Twitter, he said that 20 minutes after eating his first Impossible Burger at Bareburger, he “went into anaphylactic shock & taken to ER. Never happened to me before…” His Tweet about going into “anaphylactic shock” has since been deleted.
No the fat: 14 grams, including eight grams of saturated fat, which is generally considered less healthy than unsaturated fat. This is comparable to a beef burger, mostly due to the coconut oil. This year, Impossible replaced a portion of the coconut oil, which has the highest saturated fat content among plant-based oils, with sunflower oil, which is an unsaturated fat. Depending on your genetic profile of your APOe SNiP this much Saturated Fat could exacerbate the likelihood of developing early cognitive decline (Dimentia).
So, what is in this so-called food?
Here are the 21 ingredients it take to put this thing together.
- Water
- Soy Protein Concentrate
- Coconut Oil
- Sunflower Oil
- Natural Flavors
- 2% or less of: Potato Protein
- Methylcellulose
- Yeast Extract
- Cultured Dextrose
- Food Starch Modified
- Soy Leghemoglobin
- Salt
- Soy Protein Isolate
- Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
- Zinc Gluconate
- Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1)
- Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C)
- Niacin
- Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6)
- Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)
- Vitamin B12
Just in case you were wondering what this is: Methyl cellulose (or methylcellulose) is a chemical compound derived from cellulose. It is sold under a variety of trade names and is used as a thickener and emulsifier in various food and cosmetic products, and also as a bulk-forming laxative. Like cellulose, it is not digestible, not toxic, and not an allergen.
If you’re looking to switch to a vegan diet or consume less meat, there are numerous organic meatless options out there, such as Hilary’s Veggie Burgers or Don Lee Farms, products that are not genetically modified and whose ingredients have not been sprayed with glyphosate.
Here is the nutritional information for these meatless burgers at popular fast food places.