30-06-2025
Vegan burgers that bleed like meat hit by ‘frustrating' red tape delays
Vegan burgers that 'bleed' like meat have been blocked from being introduced in Britain for four years because of delays and red tape.
Impossible Foods, the Silicon Valley-headquartered company behind the plant-based burger, first applied to launch it in Britain in 2021.
However, its chief executive, Peter McGuinness, said the process had now dragged on for four years, preventing the company from being able to sell its burgers in the UK.
He said: 'We're ready to contribute to the UK economy and be good citizens and put better options out there for the UK consumer that we know they want, and we are a bit frustrated with how long the process has taken.
'It's been frustrating – our team tells us that [the Food Standards Agency] has more information than any other regulator in the world on this ingredient.'
The 'bleeding' burgers use an ingredient called soy leghemoglobin to mimic the texture and colour of meat. While the brand has been able to sell other vegan products that do not contain soy leghemoglobin in the UK, the delays have prevented it from launching its flagship burgers which it claims 'ooze' like meat when cooked.
Impossible was given permission to sell its burgers in the US by American regulators in 2018, and last year gained approval to sell them in the EU.
Mr McGuinness said: 'A few years is a long time – we've had it approved everywhere else.'
Founded in California by a Stanford University professor in 2011, Impossible shot to fame in the years that followed, owing to its proprietary ingredient which gave its burgers an edge over rivals.
However, its plans to expand in Britain come following a slump in the plant-based foods market. Vegan products have seen their sales decline after an initial explosion, which been blamed on concerns over excess processing and high prices.
'Preachy' rhetoric
Mr McGuinness said vegan companies had been 'mis-marketed' by engaging in 'preaching' about their environmental credentials rather than advertising their taste.
He said: 'It was overly climate-centric in the beginning. And these companies had founders that were climate zealots.
'It was 'death to the slaughter cartel', and 'death to the cattle industry' and 'people who eat meat are Neanderthals'. It was a lot of preachy, pokey rhetoric stuff.
'As a result of that whole positioning, people said 'oh, this stuff's elitist', 'it's academic', 'it's for the coasts', 'it's for the richies', that it's woke and all this stuff.
'We did ourselves no favours there. People don't want to be preached to. They don't want to be told what to do, they don't want to be labelled. It p----s people off.'
The businessman, who took the helm of the company in 2022, enacted an overhaul of its marketing and packaging last year in a move designed to make it appeal more to meat-eaters.
He said: 'I'm just trying to be calm and practical and invite people [to try the food]. I know that when we get meat eaters to try our product, they like it. They think it's much better than they thought, partly because they have low expectations. Doesn't matter. It's a backhanded compliment.'
Dr Thomas Vincent, deputy director of innovation at the FSA, said: 'All new food products must undergo a rigorous safety assessment to make sure they are safe for people to eat before they can be sold.
'To carry out the assessment, the FSA requires robust and detailed information from the food business. We have maintained ongoing dialogue with Impossible Foods and are continuing to provide advice throughout the authorisation process.
'This week we launched a new pilot business support service to help companies developing innovative products navigate this process and this service will soon be expanding to support businesses such as Impossible Foods.'
