"Animals convert grass and grain to meat. My mission was to do the same without involving animals"
In 2011, at the age of 57, Stanford biochemistry professor Pat Brown quit his job to launch his plant-based “meat” company 'Impossible Foods'
Like it or not, plant foods will increasingly have to feed the world's population.
The use of animals to convert grass and grain to protein is inefficient and destructive to the planet, and will become an extravagant luxury, Professor Brown tells CNBC 'Make It ' Programme.
We will have to feed more people from less land - to show what is at stake for the planet - the plant crop of soybean occupies 8% of earth’s land area and produces 150% more protein than animals do from a similar area of land.
It also uses less fertilizer pesticides and water,and is far cheaper.
Professor Pat Brown's 'Impossible Foods Company' with its 'Plant Meat Burgers', is a fast growing $4 billion Brand.
'Imposible Food's' juicy meat-tasting vegan burgers, are served in more than 17,000 restaurants worldwide, including Burger King, White Castle and Starbucks. They are also sold in 8,000 grocery stores.
In a video, Professor Brown talks with a Presenter on CNBC 'Make It' programme, about his life before 'Impossible Foods' - (Link to video interview at bottom of this post)
CNBC Presenter - 'How did you create the Impossible Foods Burger'?
Professor Brown - 'Animal meat is popular because it's delicious - but the animal is converting grass and grain, just as we wanted to do without involving an animal.
We thought this is a scientific problem. We needed to understand how animal meat gets its flavour.
We hired molecular biologists, biochemists, biophysicists and basic scientists, to find and unlock what makes animal meat delicious.
How could we find and isolate the properties in animal meat that people enjoy so much?
We discovered when animal meat is cooked a kind of magic happens – there’s an explosion of aroma and the flavour completely changes.
A change of chemical activity like that,told me it was caused by a catalyst that we had to find.
We found the catalyst creating that magic flavour is - Heme!
If you throw Heme into vegetable broth it tastes like meat'.
Professor Brown said that last year 'Impossible Foods' sales increased threefold. This year it’s set to increase again.
It is The Future.
Article summarised by @ijavee
For article in full and video interview with Professor Brown click this link- clicking link will take you away from Steemit. To get back use back arrow.
