Impossible Burger, impossibly unhealthy?

The Impossible Burger debuted on the market in 2016, touted as a healthy alternative to beef. Loaded with protein, yet plant-based, the genetically modified new “food” bled like beef, without any of the risks of beef…supposedly.

The following year, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents revealed that the FDA disagreed with the company’s safety assessment of its main ingredient — soy leghemoglobin. Despite concerns, the company continued to sell it to the public.

Food companies don’t need FDA approval

How can the company continue to sell the product? It turns out they don’t need the FDA’s approval. I didn’t know that, did you?

Food manufacturers can “self-affirm” their ingredients as safe under the FDA’s GRAS (generally recognized as safe) program.

Pew Charitable Trusts has stated the FDA has no data of 1,000 or more ingredients utilized in foods due to companies’ ability to self-affirm their safety.

Impossible Burger laden with a cancer-causing chemical

Recently it was revealed that the soy and wheat, and perhaps potatoes, used in the product were laden with glyphosate. When the Impossible Burger was recently compared to the Beyond Meat burger (a non-GMO product), it was found to have over 11 times the amount of glyphosate, 11.3 parts per billion to be precise.

If you’re not familiar with glyphosate, it is a known cancer-causing chemical. It made the Prop 65 CA EPA list in 2017 as a known carcinogen.

In addition to causing cancer, it’s neurotoxic, an endocrine disruptor, and causes DNA damage.

There is no safe level of glyphosate in food.

How do you get exposed to glyphosate?

Glyphosate is the primary ingredient in Roundup, a weed killer that’s been used for many years. There has been concern over the product for quite some time, but Monsanto, the original owner of the product, denied vehemently that it posed any health risks.

Internal memos from the company revealed contrary facts. It seems Monsanto and its employees knew very well of the risks and this came to light when the memoranda were released.

Monsanto cleverly sold their company to Bayer in 2016 for $65 billion, a purchase Bayer might be rethinking.

A jury recently awarded $2 billion to couple with cancer from glyphosate use

Recently a California couple was awarded $2 billion in damages after it was proven their exposure to glyphosate in Roundup caused their cancer.

There are over 13,000 Americans who have pending lawsuits against the product.

I didn’t write this blog for the doom and gloom of it all; I personally dislike that. Instead, I want to share some advice when it comes to “new foods” and new products on the market generally.

What were the warning signs that Impossible Burger was a bad idea?

It’s genetically modified.

It uses soy and wheat that are GMO, meaning loaded with glyphosate as these are the highest GMO crops America produces (sugar beet is on the list too).

Fast food restaurants started carrying the Impossible Burger. This was a red flag because we know that good quality food is not what fast food chains specialize in. If they have an interest in it, it means it’s very cheap and therefore low quality.

They made a plant “bleed” like beef. Right there you need to stop and walk away. There’s nothing normal or natural about a plant-based product being designed to “bleed”.

What should you do?

Stick with real food that Mother Nature created.

When your food is being genetically modified or manipulated in a lab, trouble is around the corner. Just walk away and stick with real food.

If you want to eat less meat, there are plenty of natural alternatives we can help you discover.