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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Incogmeato

Kelloggs Debuts New Plant-based Sausage to Compete with Impossible Pork

Incogmeato, Kellogg’s intriguingly-named line of meat alternatives, is branching out.

The brand revealed the new Morningstar Farms line back in September with plant-based burger and chicken, which will launch in the refrigerated meat cases of select grocery stores in March (h/t CNBC). Today Kellogg announced that they’re already diversifying their lineup with two new products, meat-free Italian sausages and bratwurst, set to launch in March. These new offerings will be made with soy, similar to Impossible Foods (Beyond Meat’s sausages are made with pea protein).

In fact, Incogmeato’s plant-based sausages could be a direct bid to compete with Impossible, which announced its entry into meatless pork at CES last month. Thus far Impossible is only selling its new product in the form of a breakfast sausage patty through a limited launch with Burger King. But judging from the wide range of ways they prepared the alt-pork at the CES launch party — showcasing it in formats like ground pork over noodles to banh mi patties — I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before Impossible diversifies into other plant-based pork products (cough, bratwurst).

Then again, Incogmeato has the edge over Impossible in retail, thanks to Kelloggs. Impossible sells packages of its signature “bleeding” ground beef alternative in select retailers in certain regions, but it’s far from a shelf regular. The company has also yet to announce when (or if) it will start selling its faux pork in grocery stores.

Impossible aside, Incogmeato still has to compete with a handful of other plant-based sausage offerings on the retail shelf, including those from giants like Beyond Meat and Tofurky.

I also doubt that Incogmeato will be the last line to diversify into pork. Breakfast is becoming a white-hot space for plant-based foods, especially breakfast sausage (whose texture is much easier to copy than, say, bacon). Incogmeato’s new offerings aren’t breakfast-specific, per se, but considering how quickly they’ve added to their portfolio before they even hit shelves, it could be only a matter of time.

MorningStar Farms Launches ‘Incogmeato’ to Capitalize on the Meatless Meat Craze

Alternative meat giant MorningStar Farms seems to be taking a burger — er, page — from Beyond Meat. Today, the Kelloggs-owned company announced Incogmeato, its new line of plant-based meat products which are meant to look, taste, and cook more like the real thing.

The Incogmeato portfolio (are we sold on that name?) includes a refrigerated plant-based “beef” burger as well as meatless Chik’n tenders and nuggets. In grocery stores the burgers will be sold in the refrigerated section, a first for MorningStar Farms, while the Chik’n will live in the freezer section. All products are made with non-GMO soy.

The Incogmeato line will be available both in retail and foodservice in early 2020. Pricing details have not yet been disclosed.

MorningStar Farms has been in the meat alternative biz for over 40 years, which makes it a grandfather in the plant-based meat space. For most of that time, the company has peacefully cruised along with its frozen veggie patties and chicken strips for vegetarians. But now thanks to Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods’ sudden and much-publicized moves into the alt-meat space, consumers’ former notions about what plant-based meat could look like and taste like have changed.

MorningStar Farms isn’t the only alterna-meat veteran seeking to capitalize on the recent craze around plant-based burgers, chicken, and more. Tofurky, Lightlife, Boca Burgers and others, which have traditionally made meat substitutes specifically geared towards vegetarians, are releasing new, more realistic “meat” products to draw in flexitarian diners — with mixed results.

While these companies have the advantage of name recognition, retail relationships and robust manufacturing, their relative seniority could also hinder them. Flexitarian consumers looking to try this popular “bleeding” plant-based that’s getting so much media attention might skip over brands like MorningStar Farms, which they associate with less-than-stellar first-generation meat alternatives, and go straight for newcomers like Beyond and Impossible. Which is probably why the Incogmeato branding looks completely different from traditional MorningStar Farms products.

With its new Incogmeato line, MorningStar Farms is clearly trying to show that it, too, can be part of the new wave of meaty meat alternatives. But when it comes to plant-based meat, can an old dog learn new tricks? Come 2020, we’ll have to taste and find out for ourselves.

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