If you haven't tried them yet, I'm sure you've at least heard of them. Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods sell plant-based meat alternatives. As plant-based and vegan diets continue to gain popularity, these two companies are competing to claim dominance.
The opinions regarding which meat-alternative tastes better are still split. The following, which was taken from Yahoo Finance, is a breakdown of the nutrition facts of both the Beyond Meat burger and the Impossible burger.
If you're concerned about calories, fat, fiber and sodium content then Impossible Foods comes out on top, however, Beyond Meat has more protein and less saturated fat. Another advantage of Beyond Meat is that it is NON-GMO. Impossible Foods also contain soy so keep that in mind if your diet is soy-free. Both meat-alternatives are vegan and gluten-free.
The biggest difference between the two is the source of protein they use. Beyond Meat is made with pea protein isolate (which is the same protein we use for our Vegan Red Velvet Cookies). Pea protein isolate is a powder made from extracting protein from yellow peas. Impossible Foods, on the other hand, uses heme, soy, and potato protein. Heme is what helps make the Impossible burger look like it's "bleeding" when it's being cooked just like real raw meat. Heme is an essential molecule that naturally occurs in plants and animals. The "bleeding" effect may turn off some vegans while may attract real meat-eaters.
A recent survey from Bank of America showed that the number one concern among consumers of plant-based proteins is the health benefits. The survey included 1,400 consumers to see how the public is feeling about all these new meat-alternatives. The survey used a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being "not important" and 5 being "most important"; 56% of respondents said the ingredient list is most important when making a purchase decision.
Other companies are starting to take notice of the plant-based trends. Although Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are the biggest players right now, other companies like Tyson and Nestle are starting to unveil their vegan meat alternatives too. The following two images show which restaurants and grocery stores sell Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods.
Since going public in May, Beyond Meats stock performance and popularity have skyrocketed. The company quickly started partnering with other huge companies including Dunkin', KFC, Del Taco, and others to grow its presence and market share. Even with its shares increasing more than 500% since its IPO, many investors are hesitant and concerned over the valuation.
Impossible Foods began only selling in restaurants. It's now being sold in Gelson's supermarkets in Southern California. Impossible Foods is planning to sell its products nationwide by the middle of 2020.
Just like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods has also begun partnering with some huge names. Their largest partner is Burger King. Just last month, Burger King released the Impossible Whopper in all 7,200 of its store in the United States.
You may be wondering how the Impossible Whopper stacks up against the traditional beef Whopper. Here is a comparison of the plant-based burger and the regular beef burger.
The Impossible Whopper
- 630 calories
- 34 grams of fat
- 11 grams of saturated fat
- 1,080 milligrams of sodium
- 58 grams of carbohydrates
- 4 grams of fiber
- 12 grams of sugar
- 25 grams of protein
Burger King’s regular Whopper
- 660 calories
- 40 grams of fat
- 12 grams of saturated fat
- 980 milligrams of sodium
- 49 grams of carbohydrates
- 2 grams of fiber
- 11 grams of sugar
- 28 grams of protein
Merrill Lynch conducted a survey to find out why some people chose the plant-based burger over the traditional Whopper. Their survey showed that 35% of respondents chose it for health/nutritional reasons; 30% said it was for environmental reasons.
“We are somewhat surprised by the nutritional motivation given that a traditional beef burger and most plant-protein burgers offer similar nutritional value,” the firm wrote.
“However, based on Social Standards, consumer motivations skew more towards sustainability and animal welfare concerns. In fact, animal welfare topics are mentioned 15x more often in plant-based conversations than the average food and beverage topic. That is approximately 5x more significant than that of health or diet topics.”
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