The Impossible Burger was approved for sale too fast with a key ingredient that hasnโt faced enough scrutiny to prove itโs OK to eat, a federal agency in charge of food safety claims.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) is filing a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alleging its approval of the popular product was premature and failed to meet safety testing standards.ย ย
This โdereliction of duty highlights a troubling deregulatory trend which prioritizes corporate profit over public health and safety,โย a CFS releaseย stated.
The Impossible Burger started appearing on menus and store shelves in 2019 and has been heralded as a convincing meat substitute partly because of a unique ingredient that allows it to โbleed.โย
That ingredient, known as soy leghemoglobin, or โheme,โ is a genetically engineered yeast that has never been used in foods before, the CFS claims in its latest brief.ย
Regulators with CFS report a โtroublingโ study done on rats showing heme disrupted reproductive cycles, reduced clotting ability, caused kidney problems and triggered the development of anemia.ย
The FDA initially refused approval of heme in Impossible Burger meat in 2015 because of these issues, according to GMO Science. Impossible Burger came back in 2017 with studies that were โstatistically weak,โ GMO Science reports.ย
โEnthusiasm for meatless products cannot be used as an excuse to skirt food safety laws,โ the CFS said.ย
Heme is modeled after a soybean protein found in the plantโs roots, but also holds more than a dozen other yeast proteins.ย
The CFS argues heme is used in Impossible Burgers only as a color additive and because of that must pass a higher standard when it comes to food safety.ย
Because heme only offers aesthetic benefits, the FDAโs โconvincing evidenceโ standard means heme must pass tougher scrutiny to be deemed safe to eat, the CFS claims.
โFDAโs failure to require Impossible Foods to conduct long-term tests โฆ means it does not have โconvincing evidenceโ that this color additive, consumed by millions, is safe,โ said CFS attorney Ryan Talbott. โThe approval of soy leghemoglobin must be revoked, unless and until truly convincing evidence proves it to be safe.โ
Do you eat Impossible Burger products? What do you think of the safety claims surrounding heme? Let us know in the comments below.ย
Counsel representing the CFE in this lawsuit are Ryan D. Talbott and Sylvia Shih-Yau Wu of the Center for Food Safety.ย
The Impossible Burger Lawsuit is Center For Food Safety v. U.S. Food And Drug Administration, et al., Case No. 20-70747 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.ย ย
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301 thoughts onImpossible Burger Not Tested Enough, Food Safety Regulator Says
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Please add me. I have been buying this and I had no idea. So maddening
Please add me. Iโm sickened.
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Add me.
I have a clotting disorder and would NEVER EVER had eaten this product had I known!
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Add my wife and me,. We try and do whatโs best, oh well
I first tried the meat substitute at a friends bbq. It was very flavorful and held up well over the bbq pit. I have also purchased the Burger King Impossible Whopper many times. I made Lasagna and meatloaf with it and worked out well. However, reading these facts I will not purchase again until Iโm satisfied they are 100% safe. Please add me to this Class Action Suit.
I have purchased this product several times and assumed it must be a safe and healthier alternative to meat, or why would they sale it!? Please add me.
I use to get the impossible burger at restaurants and Burger King until I heard of chemicals being used to make it. This is upsetting that it was known that it had dangerous ingredients in the burger. I stopped eating them and switched to beyond burgers. Please add me to your class action suit.