Impossible Foods Seeks to Sell Plant-Based Burgers in Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Impossible Foods Inc. has applied to start selling its plant-based burgers in the European Union as it looks to expand outside the U.S. and Asia.

The maker of the Impossible Burger filed an application to market soy leghemoglobin, the iron-containing molecule made with a genetically engineered yeast, according to the EU’s food safety authority. The ingredient, known as heme, is a key additive for helping replicate the richness of meat flavors.

“Our intention is to sell plant-based meat in every single region of the world,” Rachel Konrad, a spokeswoman for the company, said by email last month. “We will meet or exceed all food-safety regulations in every single region of the world, including Europe.”

Genetically modified foods and labeling are tightly regulated in the EU, unlike the U.S., which could mean approval could take time. If it gets the green light, the Impossible Burger will join an increasingly crowded market for faux meat in Europe. Beyond Burger has already made inroads in supermarkets on this side of the Atlantic, and is featured at racing-driver Lewis Hamilton’s new plant-based burger chain.

Nestle SA, the world’s biggest food company, has also just accelerated efforts to tap demand for faux meat. The Swiss firm recently rolled out a plant-based burger in the U.S., but had previously been focusing on its Garden Gourmet vegetarian products, including the Incredible Burger, in Europe.

Demand has boomed as consumers seek out foods they see as healthier and more environmentally friendly than beef. Imitation meat could reach 9% of the estimated $2.7 trillion global meat market by 2040, Jefferies analyst Simon Powell forecasts, from less than 1% now.

Outside the U.S., Impossible Foods can be found in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. The EU application was filed Sept. 30 with the Dutch government under the EU’s regulation on genetically modified food and feed, and passed onto the European Food Safety Authority, filings show.

The Redwood City, California-based company also has applications pending in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, according to the filings.

Impossible Foods wants to import finished food products containing heme and won’t be manufacturing the ingredient in the EU, it said in the filing. It has also filed a parallel application for the use of heme under the regulation on flavorings and food ingredients.

Since seeking approval for the GM products can be a complicated process, it may make more sense for Impossible Foods to use a non-GM ingredient in the EU, according to Katia Merten-Lentz, a partner at Keller and Heckman LLP in Brussels.

“The spirit of the European countries is not really against innovation, but, for sure, not in favor of GMOs,” she said in a phone interview. “A GMOs ingredient which appears on the ingredients list could be a bad start in terms of marketing. If I were Impossible Foods, I would do my best to change the heme ingredient.”

--With assistance from Corinne Gretler and Jonathan Stearns.

To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka de Sousa in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin

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