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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Impossible Foods

Impossible Burger Now Available at Walmart

Impossible Foods announced today that its plant-based Impossible Burger is now available at nearly 2,100 Walmart stores across the U.S.

Whomever is in charge of retail operations/relations at Impossible has definitely been burning the midnight oil. Today’s announcement comes just days after Impossible announced that it was available at Trader Joe’s stores. Impossible Burger is now available at 8,000 retail outlets nationwide.

Part of what makes this news notable is just how quickly Impossible has ramped up production. In April of this year, just four months ago, Impossible Burger was only available in 1,000 retail locations. This ability to scale is a far cry from the production shortages Impossible experienced in 2019.

Walmart is the largest food retailer in the U.S., with grocery sales of $288 billion and more than 26 percent share of all groceries sold, according to FoodIndustry.com. So it was only a matter of time before Impossible hit Walmart shelves.

This has been a summer of aggressive moves by Impossible. In addition to new retail partners, the company launched its own direct-to-consumer sales channel, partnered with Starbucks and Burger King for plant-based sausage sandwiches, and made its Impossible sausage available to restaurants across the country.

Beyond Meat, Impossible’s rival, has been no slouch this summer either. The company launched another test of its plant-based chicken at KFC earlier this month, created a bulk package SKU that brought down the price of its burger, and made international expansion moves into China.

Both companies are striking while the iron is hot, as it were. Sales of plant-based meat have surged during the pandemic, with the coronavirus highlighting ethical issues around the production of animal meat. A lot is uncertain in these times, but it’s a pretty safe bet that we will be hearing even more news from both Impossible and Beyond throughout the rest of the year.

Impossible Foods Now at Trader Joe’s, Plans to Expand Retail Presence 50x in 2020

Trader Joe’s, the quirky and beloved supermarket chain, announced yesterday that it now carries Impossible Foods’ plant-based ground beef (h/t to Business Insider). But TJ’s is just one stop for Impossible’s aggressive expansion plans this year as the company said as part of yesterday’s news that it plans to expand its retail presence 50x this year alone.

The company has been aggressive with its retail growth throughout this year, and that appears to be accelerating. In April, Impossible was at 1,000 retail locations. In May that number bumped up to 2,700. In June that number reached 3,000, and as part of yesterday’s news Impossible said it was now available in 5,000 stores. (Trader Joe’s has 503 locations.)

Not bad for a product that was only available at select restaurants just last year.

This rapid retail rollout across the U.S. coincides with the COVID-19 pandemic that helped create a surge in consumption of plant-based products. At the same time, the pandemic has resurfaced ethical issues around the production of animal-based meat here in the U.S., especially as meat packing facilities became hot spots for coronavirus transmissions.

In addition to being more available at grocery stores, Impossible launched its own direct to consumer sales channel, allowing consumers to buy its burgers in bulk.

It’s been a busy year all around for plant-based meats. Beyond Meat created its own bulk packaging, bringing the price of its plant-based burgers down closer to traditional meat. Beyond also launched another plant-based chicken pilot with KFC in Southern California, and started selling plant-based sausage at retail. Impossible’s plant-based sausage is now featured in Burger King and Starbucks’ breakfast sandwiches and is available to all restaurants in the U.S.

With a little less than half a year remaining in 2020, I expect the news around plant-based won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

Impossible Makes its Plant-Based Sausage Available to All Restaurants in the U.S.

Well, that was fast. Impossible’s plant-based sausage, which debuted at CES in January of this year and recently rolled out nationally at Burger King and Starbucks, is now available to restaurants across the country, the company announced today.

Impossible is kicking off this expansion by debuting its sausage at 30 of the top diner-style restaurants around the country today. The list of diners was determined in conjunction with Yelp, and helps illustrate that any restaurant, not just the high-end or big brand names, can put Impossible sausage on its menu.

Impossible’s plant-based sausage comes in a 1.6-ounce pre-seasoned patty and arrives fully cooked. According to today’s press announcement, Impossible’s sausage has the same amount of protein, 60 more iron, 45 percent fewer calories, 60 less total fat, 50 percent less saturated fat and 0 mg of cholesterol than traditional meat-based sausage.

The rapid expansion of its sausage comes in stark contrast to the slow rollout of Impossible’s initial plant-based beef burger. The original Impossible burger debuted in 2016 and by the end of that year was still only in four restaurants. Along the way, Impossible ran into production issues before becoming widely available at restaurants, grocers and most recently, a direct to consumer site.

During a virtual press conference to announce the news today, I asked what the timeline was for consumer sales of Impossible sausage. Impossible Founder and CEO Pat Brown said that there is no announced date, but “before long you can count on it appearing in grocery stores.” Additionally, the company said that the consumer sausage would arrive far faster than the three years it took to get Impossible burgers directly to consumers.

Sales of plant-based meat have taken off during this pandemic, and recent moves from both Impossible and its main rival, Beyond Meat, have capitalized on this plant-based boom. As noted, Impossible recently launched a direct to consumer site to sell its burgers. And Beyond, which has its own sausage patty already at retail, launched a bulk package of its burgers that narrowed its price gap with animal based burgers.

With states slowing down or halting re-openings, who knows when we will be able to fully go back into restaurants, but when we do, Impossible sausage might just be on the menu at your favorite local diner.

Planterra’s Plant-based Meat Brand Ozo Hits Retail Store Shelves, E-Commerce

JBS-owned Planterra Foods announced this week it will launch its first Ozo product on grocery stores shelves in June, and will also make them available direct to consumers via its e-commerce site. To start, the brand will launch its burgers (two-4 oz patties), its Ground product (12 oz), and Mexican-Seasoned Ground (12 oz).

Colorado-based Planterra first announced Ozo in March of this year, saying the new line of plant-based products would include burgers, grounds, and meatballs. All Ozo products are a mix of pea protein and rice protein fermented with shiitake mycelia (root). 

According this week’s press release, Ozo products will hit store shelves in several different states:

Albertsons and Safeway locations in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wyoming; Kroger* stores in 12 states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee) and, as well as military bases across the country.

Customers will also be able to order Ozo’s meatless meat through the brand’s website and through Wild Fork Foods for customers in Florida.

And for those looking to try before they buy, Planterra is also sending out its own fleet of vans to offer curbside-pickup samples of its products during the rest of June. Those vans will make stops in Denver, Boulder, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Additional cities are planned for the next 12 months, including Seattle, San Francisco, and Nashville, among others. Finally, “special deliveries will be made to fire stations, hospitals and other locations to serve frontline workers this summer,” according to the company press release.

Selling meatless meat directly to consumers is fast becoming a standard trend for companies, particularly with the restaurant industry — formerly a key channel for plant-based products — still in the throes of its pandemic-induced upheaval. Earlier this month, Impossible launched a direct-to-consumer channel for its “bleeding” meat products that’s available to anyone in the lower 48 states. Its chief competitor Beyond followed with an announcement of its own forthcoming D2C store, which is slated to launch at some point this summer. 

Meanwhile, demand for plant-based meat keeps rising, thanks in no small part to panic buying sprees and meat shortage scares, and online grocery shopping has hit record numbers in the last couple months. That makes now an ideal time to launch direct-to-consumer stores, and also to get new meat alternatives onto store shelves across the country.

It’s unclear if the demand for online grocery shopping will keep now that economies are reopening, so Planterra’s Ozo shop, not to mention those of other plant-based retailers, may or may not be a hit. That said, Ozo’s website says products can be stored frozen for up to 60 days, so flexitarians wanting to stock up may find a D2C e-commerce site a convenient addition to their online shopping.

Impossible Launches Direct Consumer Sales So You Can Buy its Plant-Based Burgers in Bulk

As the company hinted at last week, Impossible Foods officially launched its first direct-to-consumer online store today. This means anyone in the lower 48 states can order packages of the plant-based burger for direct home delivery.

According to the press announcement, Impossible’s D2C site will sell the following packages:

  • Impossible Convenience Pack includes four 12-oz. packages for $49.99
  • Impossible Combo Pack includes two 12-oz. packages and ten quarter-pound patties for $59.99
  • Impossible Family Pack includes a single, 5-lb bulk package for $64.99
  • Impossible Grilling Pack includes 20 quarter-pound patties for $69.99

Shipping is free with a two-day delivery window. Impossible also says that its packaging is compostable and recyclable, though the company didn’t provide many specifics. Lots of food delivery companies make similar claims nowadays, though the extent to which their packaging is truly compostable and/or recyclable depends on the types of waste facilities available to each consumer.

The addition of a D2C channel is welcome news to flexitarians like myself, and would seem to mark an entirely new chapter for Impossible. When we first started writing about the company, its products were only available in select restaurants. Last year it started its methodical rollout at grocery retailers, and Impossible meat is now sold in more than 3,000 stores nationwide.

However, it’s still not available in stores up near my neck of woods outside Seattle, so this flexitarian is happy to be able to buy in bulk directly from Impossible. (I’ll just add it to the ways in which my life is migrating to mail order.)

Impossible’s D2C play also ups the ante in its rivalry with Beyond Meat, the other leading plant-based burger company. Beyond enjoyed a healthy lead with its retail footprint, but Impossible’s news today suggests it can now leapfrog the store altogether (and get all kinds of consumer data in the process).

As weird as it is to say, Impossible is launching this direct channel at quite possibly the perfect time. The COVID-19 pandemic drove people into buying food online (and kept them doing so for months). Plant-based meat sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic. And the pandemic has shone a bright light on the logistical and ethical issues surrounding the consumption of animal meat.

Will all this interest in online grocery shopping and plant-based meat outlast COVID-19? That remains to be seen, but at least now we can see how much of the country (at least the lower 48) shops directly from Impossible, now that it’s possible.

Impossible Foods Accelerates Retail Rollout with Kroger, Now in 2,700 Grocery Stores

Impossible Foods is massively expanding its retail footprint. Starting today, the plant-based burgers will be available at an additional 1,700 Kroger stores and banners. According to a live press release from the company, this puts Impossible at more than 2,700 retailers total nationwide.

Impossible’s plant-based beef will be sold in 12-ounce packages and priced between $8.99 and $9.99. It can be found in the frozen, fresh, or plant-based sections of Kroger stores. The Impossible beef will also be available on Kroger.com.

This news comes just a few weeks after Impossible began selling its plant-based beef in 777 supermarkets in the Albertson’s portfolio in California, Indiana, Illinois and Nevada. That expansion put its retail footprint at roughly 1,000 grocery stores nationwide. Now, with the new Kroger news, Impossible has more than doubled that number.

Restaurant dining room shutdowns have been devastating for Impossible’s thousands of foodservice partners. Some restaurants are selling uncooked 5-pound bricks of Impossible Foods’ beef directly to customers to supplement their revenues, though it’s not clear if they’ll continue to do that as Impossible amps up its retail footprint.

Since their foodservice sales are no doubt taking a hit right now, it’s no surprise that Impossible is making a hard pivot to focus on retail. In fact, a press release emailed to The Spoon notes that the company plans to expand its retail presence “more than 50-fold” in 2020.

Coronavirus actually offers a prime opportunity for the company to roll out in grocery stores. As COVID-19 disrupts meat manufacturing and shortages loom, plant-based meat is experiencing a bit of a boom — making it a smart time for Impossible to accelerate its retail rollout.

Impossible has been adamant that, unlike traditional meat producers, the coronavirus will not affect their supply chain. In fact, the company announced a $500 million Series F round back in March at least partially intended to help them weather the volatility of the coronavirus pandemic. With its hefty warchest and robut retail presence, it seems like Impossible will come out of the coronavirus pandemic stronger than when it went in.

Impossible Foods Will Be in Nearly 1,000 Retailers Starting Tomorrow

As of tomorrow, you’ll have a lot more opportunities to buy Impossible Foods’ meatless “bleeding” burgers. The company announced via a press conference on Facebook Live today that it will roll out its flagship plant-based beef product to 777 supermarkets in California, Indiana, Illinois and Nevada on April 17. All stores are part of the Albertson’s family, which includes Safeway, Jewel-Osco, and Wegmans. Impossible’s CCO Rachel Konrad noted in the conference that the expansion will put Impossible in almost 1,000 grocery stores nationwide.

This news comes just a few months after Impossible announced a $500 million Series F round — “the largest fundraising round for a food tech company in the history of the world,” according to Konrad. Impossible currently has a total of $1.2 billion in funding.

The plant-based beef will be sold in 12-ounce packages which will cost $8.99 to $9.99, depending on the retailer. Konrad also noted that the product might be available in several different sections of the grocery store — you might find it in the meat section, vegan section, or even the frozen section.

While Impossible has been planning to expand its retail footprint since it first launched in Southern California last fall, it’s no surprise that they’re making a big push now. In fact, Brown stated that the company had actually accelerated the launch in response to the coronavirus. However, he also admitted that COVID-19’s effect on the restaurant industry was challenging for Impossible’s foodservice partners — all 15,000 of them. “It’s been devastating,” Dennis Woodside, the President of Impossible, added.

In an effort to pad sales, Impossible worked with the FDA to allow its restaurant partners to sell uncooked 5-pound bricks of Impossible Foods beef directly to consumers. But that’s a short-term fix, and more a way to help the restaurant augment their sales than anything else.

The time is ripe for Impossible to start concentrating on its grocery presence. “We think retail is going to be a very large business,” said Woodside, noting that the company has added a second line at its manufacturing facility specifically to cater to grocery.

During the conference, Woodside also weighed in on the fact that COVID-19 is also disrupting manufacturing supply chains left and right. Meat production, specifically, has been disrupted by factory shutdowns due to employee sickness. Woodside made a point to contrast that with Impossible’s manufacturing setup, which is automated and therefore “much easier to keep people apart” than in meat processing plants.

Brown also touched on a point that’s been a favorite of alternative meat companies ever since the pandemic hit. He stated that COVID-19 was introduced to the human population through the consumption of wild animals, and that “our reliance on animals as a source of food is not only an environmental disaster… but is at the root of some of the largest public health risks to the human population.”

There’s some pushback against that argument. But one thing that’s not in question, at least for this reporter, is that Impossible burgers are delicious. Sadly since I’m based in Seattle I won’t be able to purchase any Impossible Beef on my next masked grocery run — but at the speed that Impossible is expanding, I have to bet that time isn’t too far away.

Restaurants Can Now Sell Impossible Foods’ “Beef” Directly to Customers

There’s a new silver lining to the coronavirus pandemic: more of us can now get our hands on Impossible Foods’ plant-based beef. The startup announced today on Linkedin that the FDA will now allow all of Impossible’s restaurant partners to sell the Impossible Burger directly to customers in 5 lb. bricks, 1/4 lb. patties, and 1/3 lb. patties.

In order to sell the burgers, the restaurants must give customers a printed out copy of a PDF outlining the ingredients and allergens in the Impossible Burger. Pricing is at the discretion of the restaurant itself.

Admittedly, this initiative is probably not going to radically alter the course of any foodservice establishments. Restaurants are struggling to stay afloat after COVID-19 has forced the vast majority to shutter their dining rooms and pivot to takeout and delivery only. The numbers are sobering: over 3 percent of restaurants are already permanently closed, and NPD reports that restaurant customer transactions declined by 42 percent in the last week of March, compared to the same time period the year before.

Depending on how they price the uncooked Impossible Burger, restaurants are still likely able to make more money selling a finished Impossible product (i.e., a cheeseburger) than the raw material. But if they can’t sell enough of those, selling the raw product is a good way to get rid of inventory — especially if the restaurant is preparing to shut its doors, either temporarily or permanently.

In the end, this move might be more of a boon for consumers. According to NPR, sales of plant-based meat were up roughly 280 percent over the first two weeks of March. However, Impossible Foods’ ground “meat” is only available in select grocery stores in California and mid-Atlantic states. At the same time, over 15,000 restaurants sell Impossible Foods. If they do choose to sell to customers, that will dramatically increase the number of people who can buy uncooked Impossible “meat” to cook at home.

In Seattle, I have been sadly unable to get my hands on the plant-based “bleeding” burgers (outside of restaurants). Impossible’s new initiative will give folks like me, who love Impossible burgers and want to find ways to support their local restaurants, another opportunity to do so. It may be a relatively small silver lining, but in times like these we’ll take what we can get.

You can search for nearby restaurants that sell Impossible Burgers here. Give them a ring to see if they’re selling the raw plant-based burgers, and how much it’ll cost you to get your heme fix.

Impossible Foods Raises $500 Million Series F to Weather Global Volatility

Impossible Foods, makers of the eponymous plant-based meat, raised a $500 million round of funding late last week, Forbes first reported early this morning. Impossible added on Linkedin that it was a Series F round, and Reuters reports this brings the total amount raised by the company to $1.3 billion.

The round was led by South Korean firm Mirae Asset Global Investments, with participation from existing investors Khosla, Horizons Ventures, and Temasek.

Impossible’s fundraise comes amidst a global pandemic that has caused disruptions to daily lives around the world. Impossible Foods’ CFO David Lee wouldn’t comment on whether flexitarians are stockpiling Impossible meat, but he did say:

“With what’s happening in the world, it’s important to reassure our customers that we are built to withstand short-term shocks,” Lee said. “We’re able to stand tall. We have the ability with long-term investors.”

Just a couple months ago (though it feels like a lifetime), Impossible debuted its plant-based pork at CES in January and launched a plant-based Impossible Sausage Croissan’wich with Burger King.

Fast forward to now and the spread of COVID-19 alters our reality on an ongoing basis. With markets tumbling and a potential recession on the horizon (or already here), raising a sizeable round of funding makes a lot of sense for Impossible. Plant-based meat rival Beyond Meat went public last year, and plans to open up a new production facility in Asia by the end of this year.

Even with enough funding, this pandemic could impact Impossible in other ways. As my colleague, Catherine Lamb wrote last week:

Supply chains are another thing that could well be affected by COVID-19. Import restrictions in China have dramatically slowed down the country’s exports of meat and poultry. Alternative protein companies who import their plant-based ingredients from other countries, especially China, could also face production slowdowns as trade slows.

With fresh capital and a bulked up war chest, Impossible navigating this crisis is way more, well, possible.

Future Food: Impossible Burgers During Lent? Meatless Meat and Religious Dietary Laws

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Subscribe to get the most important news about alternate and plant-based foods directly in your inbox!

The world is full of scary headlines right now (wash those hands!), but flexitarians at least got some good news this week when Impossible Foods announced it would be cutting wholesale prices 15 percent to help the product reach price parity with traditional beef. As I wrote in my piece covering the news, this is a significant step for Impossible as the company sprints towards its goal of replacing all animal agriculture by 2035.

But no matter how close Impossible Foods gets to imitating the flavor, cooking properties and even bloodiness of meat, it’s still not, well, meat. Given that, do the products even carry the same significance as meat?

That question came to mind this week when I read a story in Food & Wine discussing the issue of Catholics eating Impossible — and other meatless meats — during Lent. Lent is traditionally a time when Catholics and other Christians eschew all meat (besides fish and seafood). But do plant-based beef and pork that taste very uncannily like the real thing count as meat?

Impossible’s new plant-based pork [Photo: Impossible Foods]

The Bible doesn’t cover this one. (For its part, the Church has not come out with a statement about whether plant-based meat is appropriate for Lent.) But as plant-based meat improves and starts tasting and behaving just like the real thing, its role within certain diets will become more and more relevant.

Just like some vegetarians and vegans see no reason to eat meatless meats — why would they when they’re perfectly happy with vegetables and legumes? — I expect some who adhere to religious diets won’t be tempted to try Beyond, Impossible and the like.

Others will. While this is just conjecture on my part, I’m sure there’s a contingent of kosher folks, for example, who will be very keen to sample Impossible’s new plant-based pork, which is certified as both halal and kosher by the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) and Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU), respectively. At least some restaurants are on board — for example, this month the Halal Shack will begin serving the Impossible Burger.

The larger question at play is this: As the offerings from Impossible and Beyond get closer and closer to imitating meat, at some point do they actually become meat — at least in terms of meaning, taboo, and cultural connotations?

It’s a complex quandary to be sure, and one that we won’t solve in this newsletter (sorry!) But as Impossible and others make better-and-better imitations of meat, it’s a topic that will likely become more contentious.

And once cell-based meat — which is actual meat, just made without killing an animal — comes on the scene? That’s when things will get really sticky.

Grounded Foods’ camembert, made of cauliflower and hemp. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

The next realm of plant-based innovation? Cheese.

Something that’s a little less controversial than the religious significance of plant-based meat? Vegan cheese. An ever-growing number of consumers are seeking it, but, at least according to this writer, no company has yet to truly nail the concept.

But last week when I was in New York for Customize, our food personalization summit, I tried some products that were pretty darn close. Grounded Foods is a new startup that ferments everyday ingredients like cauliflower, oats, and hemp seed to make surprisingly realistic plant-based cheese, including camembert, gruyere, feta, and more.

It’s about damn time! We have made plant-based versions of meat, fish, milk, and ice cream that are good enough to if not fool the average consumer then at least keep them satisfied. But cheese has long eluded even the most innovative of plant-based companies, despite the dozens of SKUs on the shelf.

Are Grounded Foods’ products as good as actual cheese? No. But they do come the closest of the offerings that I’ve seen and tasted thus far. I’m hoping that 2020 will be to cheese what 2018 was to plant-based meat: the year when we start to see a variety of actually good-tasting options hit the market. I’ll get my crackers ready.

Photo: Good Catch Foods

Protein ’round the web

That’s it from me this week. I’m off to go stockpile some oat milk, just in case.

Eat well,
Catherine

Impossible Foods Cuts Price to Reach Goal of Replacing Meat by 2035

Impossible Foods is now taking concrete steps towards its goal of replacing animal agriculture by cutting the price of its plant-based “bleeding” burgers. The Redwood City, California-based startup said today in a press release that it was slashing prices an average of 15 percent across all U.S. foodservice products (not including retail). The company is also rolling out new products, including quarter-pound and third-pound versions of its plant-based “bleeding” burger patty.

If you’ve ever ordered an Impossible burger out at a restaurant, odds are you’ve had to pay an upcharge. At fast-food spots like Burger King, subbing an Impossible patty is a roughly $1.75 add-on — but I’ve seen upcharges as steep as $5 at some higher-end burger joints. That premium poses a significant hurdle for Impossible Foods, whose long-term goal is to reach price parity with even industrially produced “cheap” beef.

Dr. Pat Brown, CEO and founder of Impossible Foods, hasn’t been shy about his company’s goal to usurp industrial animal agriculture. “Today’s price cut is just the latest step toward our goal of eliminating animals in the food system,” Brown stated in the press release. He also said that the company would continue to drive down prices through economies of scale until they could undercut the cost of conventional ground beef from cows.

That’s ambitious, for sure. But Impossible is certainly doing its darndest to establish its largest footprint possible. Over the past year, the company has forged new partnerships at an astounding speed, especially with high volume, fast-food chains. Its plant-based burger is now on menus at thousands of restaurants, including Burger King, Qdoba, White Castle, and, as of last month, Disneyland Resorts. The startup has also set its sights on international expansion in both Europe and Asia — including China.

With great fast-food growth comes great responsibility. (That’s how the expression goes, right?) The more partners Impossible gains, the more damaging it would be if the company hit another embarrassing product shortage. Impossible has for some time been aware of its need to dramatically increase production capacity in order to avoid future shortages. It seems that in doing so, the company is already beginning to reap the benefits of economies of scale —namely, cheaper plant-based beef for you and me.

When we interviewed Brown at CES in 2019, he called out price cuts as a key step in achieving Impossible’s goal: to replace traditional animal agriculture by 2035. Price parity is critical if plant-based meat is ever going to usurp cheap, delicious beef. Flexitarians — which are the target demographic for Impossible Foods — might try the Impossible burger once or twice out of curiosity, but it’s hard to convince them to make a behavioral change that will end up costing them significantly. Especially since Impossible burgers aren’t really healthier than their meaty counterparts.

Restaurants are conscious of this barrier. For example, Burger King added the Impossible Whopper to its 2 for $6 deal. I’m sure that BK and others are hoping that the Impossible price cuts will mean not only cheaper plant-based meat for all, but also more repeat customers coming in their doors.

Poop vs. Methylcellulose: Impossible Responds to Critical Super Bowl Ad

If you watched the Super Bowl yesterday, you may have noticed a particular ad vying for your attention between plays. The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a lobbying agency, made a commercial claiming that laxatives were used in plant-based meat.

The spot, which aired in the DC market, showed a spelling bee where a cute child had to try and spell “methylcellulose,” which the spelling bee guide defined as “a chemical laxative that is also used in synthetic meat.” A voiceover went on to say that meat alternatives contain dozens of chemical ingredients and “if you can’t spell or pronounce it then maybe you shouldn’t be eating it.”

Synthetic Meat Spelling Bee Commerical: 30 sec
Center for Consumer Freedom’s anti-faux meat commercial

The commercial is a clear swipe at plant-based meat companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, both of which are already battling naysayers (including chains like Chipotle) who claim their product is too processed or artificial.

But Impossible Foods at least didn’t take the challenge lying down. The alternative meat company clapped back by releasing a parody of the CCF’s ad. In it, another spelling be contestant has to spell a much simpler word: “poop.” The pronouncer, played by Impossible Foods’ CEO Pat Brown, defined it as the bacteria-filled stuff that “comes out of your butt” and is also “in ground beef we make from cows.”

A voiceover then goes on to state that out of 300 samples of ground beef tested by Consumer Reports in 2015, all of it contained fecal bacteria (even samples from grass-fed and organic cows). “Just because a kid can spell poop, doesn’t mean that you or your kids should be eating it,” the spot concludes.

Impossible™ Spelling Bee

This isn’t the first time that the CCF has thrown shade at meat alternatives. Just last week the group took out a full-page ad in The New York Times featuring two lists of ingredients. On the top it asked “Fake Meat or Dog Food: Which is Which?”

It’s also not the first time that Impossible Foods has taken a stand against alt-meat critics. Last May the startup published a strongly-worded rebuttal against an article claiming that plant-based meat contained weed killing chemicals.

It’s tempting to dismiss the CCF, which is a right-wing organization with a sketchy-at-best agenda, as biased extremism. The lobbying group is “supported by restaurants, food companies, and thousands of individual consumers,” and it seems safe to assume that at least some of those companies have a stake (steak?) in the meat industry. Of course they want to criticize plant-based meat any way they can — and an easy tactic is to frame it as synthetic, heavily processed, and “fake.”

Personally, I think yesterday’s commercial-off goes to show that when it comes to the fight for consumer’s protein choices, there are lots of ways to spin it. Yes, plant-based meat has more ingredients, including some unfamiliar ones. But just because you can’t pronounce them doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad for you. In fact, as CNET points out, methylcellulose is an ingredient that’s also used in baked goods and desserts, making it relatively innocuous.

Meat, on the other hand, has a very simple ingredient list. But there are plenty of unsavory aspects to the meat industry, including environmental costs and the whole eating-dead-animals thing. It goes to show just how critical a role that marketing will play in framing consumer perceptions of meat, both plant-based and traditional.

Yesterday’s commercial-off illustrates that criticism against plant-based meat is not going anywhere. In fact, the more that the alternative meat space grows in popularity, the more fire it will attract from beefy opponents. Impossible and others should be ready to weather the storm (and fight back), both on the advertising field and off.