On this day in vegan history · July 23, 2018
The FDA Clears the Impossible Burger's Secret Ingredient
The molecule that makes a plant burger bleed got a clean bill of health from federal regulators.
The facts
- Date
- July 23, 2018 (FDA GRAS Notice GRN 737 closed)
- The ingredient
- Soy leghemoglobin, the heme molecule from soy roots, made by fermentation
- Scope
- Cleared for cooked ground-beef analogues; a color-additive review followed for raw use
On July 23, 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration closed its review of soy leghemoglobin, the ingredient that gives the Impossible Burger its meaty color and taste, with a letter saying it had no questions. Leghemoglobin is the heme-carrying molecule found in the roots of soy plants, and Impossible Foods makes it by fermentation rather than farming. The company had spent years and two rounds of safety data getting to this point, after withdrawing an earlier filing. The clearance covered the ingredient in cooked ground-beef analogues. A separate color-additive review followed before it could be used in products sold raw.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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In July 2018, the FDA issued a "no questions" letter, accepting the unanimous conclusion of a panel of food-safety experts that the heme protein is safe to eat.
Wikipedia, entry on Impossible Foods
Source: Wikipedia
Why it still matters
The letter cleared the last major regulatory hurdle for the ingredient at the heart of the plant-based burger boom, letting the Impossible Burger scale from a handful of restaurants to grocery shelves. It also showed regulators grappling with foods built from fermentation rather than farming.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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