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posted by martyb on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the bloody-well-right dept.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved soy leghemoglobin as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption:

Last August, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the FDA hadn't stomached the company's previous GRAS application. The agency concluded that soy leghemoglobin—a protein found in the roots of soybean plants that Impossible Foods harvests from genetically engineered yeast and uses to simulate the taste and bloodiness of meat—had not been adequately tested for safety.

In the application, Impossible Foods argued that the iron-containing protein is equivalent to hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells and commonly consumed in meat. Thus, the protein was safe, the company concluded. It went as far as conducting studies in rats to back up the claim. But the FDA noted that soy leghemoglobin had never been used as an additive before, and the organization wanted data showing that the protein was safe and not an allergen specifically for humans.

[...] At the time, the decision was a searing blow to Impossible Foods, which up until then had fired up the appetites of investors and top chefs alike and savored glowing publicity. Since the company's founding in 2011, big names such as Bill Gates and Google Ventures served up more than $250 million in startup funds, and the impossible patty sizzled on the menus of such high-end restaurants as Momofuku Nishi in New York and Jardinière in San Francisco. The soy leghemoglobin was a big part of that hype, with the company touting it as its "secret sauce."

But the FDA's gut check didn't knock Impossible Foods off the market; it just left a bad taste. In fact, the company wasn't even required to submit its GRAS application to begin with due to the controversial way in which the FDA oversees food additives and GRAS designations. Under the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the 1958 Food Additives Amendment, the FDA allows food companies and their hired consultants to internally test and determine a GRAS designation of a potential new additive all on their own. They can start using it without getting approval from the FDA or even notifying the agency. The FDA only steps in after the fact if problems arise.

Impossible Foods' FAQ says "the heme molecule in plant-based heme is atom-for-atom identical to the heme molecule found in meat". Heme is a component of soy leghemoglobin consisting of an iron atom bound in a porphyrin ring.

Meanwhile, the FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are continuing to fight over which agency will have jurisdiction over "cultured meat" (i.e. lab-grown animal cells for human consumption):

In a daylong discussion of safety considerations, the agency asserted its jurisdiction over products made of chicken, beef, pork, and seafood cells grown in a culture medium, despite recent calls—including a proposal from lawmakers in the House of Representatives—to leave that responsibility to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Cultured meat, also sometimes called clean meat or lab-grown meat, is made by extracting cells from an animal and prompting them to mature into muscle fibers and grow in a bioreactor. No products have yet hit the market, though several companies have suggested that their first generation of cultured meat will be available in the next 5 years.

Previously: Inside the Strange Science of the Fake Meat that 'Bleeds'
Impossible Foods Just Raised $75 Million for Its Plant-based Burgers
U.S. Cattlemen's Association Wants an Official Definition of "Meat"

Related: Cargill, Bill Gates, Richard Branson Backed Memphis Meats Expects Meat From Cells in Stores by 2021


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  • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:46AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:46AM (#719260)

    Instead of "pink slime" we could have had an aristarchus submission. Where is aristarchus? Has he been turned into Pink Slime? SoylentNews is turning into "cultured meat", when everyone was supposed to know that SoylentNews is people.

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:49AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:49AM (#719261)

    So they know its safe after 1 year?

    • (Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @08:04AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @08:04AM (#719287)

      They know it's safe because the Chinese been eating soy for over 3 millennia.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by anubi on Thursday August 09 2018, @11:50AM (2 children)

      by anubi (2828) on Thursday August 09 2018, @11:50AM (#719320) Journal

      How about slipping this into dog food first, and watching the statistics carefully to see how well the dogs take to it?

      We have millions of dogs eating dog food... and most have regular vet visits... and the dogs will enjoy a tastier meal than that ground cornmeal sawdust they normally get. It will also let them get the factories cranked up and optimized to make this stuff in quantity.

      I like this idea... hope it succeeds. But before we put it out as a foodstuff, I'd love to have the assurance that other mammals have been eating it as well, for a couple of years, and no statistical trends showed up. Too many things look good in a lab, then don't pan out in the field.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:43PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:43PM (#719361) Homepage
        Yay, and that will liberate the not-fit-for-human-consumption meat from the dog-food market, so that we can finally supply all the food banks in San Francisco!
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 4, Touché) by bob_super on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:44PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 09 2018, @05:44PM (#719498)

        "Don't you dare threaten dogs with science experiments!" - Peta
        "We agree with Peta, it's cheaper to get feedback from humans anyway" - The industry

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @12:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @12:45PM (#719340)

    maybe this will also allow artificial blood and finally pacify all them blood suckers.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:42PM (5 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday August 09 2018, @01:42PM (#719359) Homepage
    "hemoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells and commonly consumed in meat."

    Erm, nope, that myloglobin, meat isn't bloody, it just looks that way. It's almost entirely unrelated to haemoglobin apart from the fact that it also contains a 'heme' group (which act as the oxygen transport), and also belongs to the large family of globins.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @02:50PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @02:50PM (#719395)

      It's the first word you quoted in your reply, and you can't even spell it correctly? Dude. Duuuude...

      • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:08PM (3 children)

        by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 09 2018, @04:08PM (#719441)
        He just used the fruity British spelling of it. Both are perfectly correct.
        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:53PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 09 2018, @06:53PM (#719538)

          Hæmoglobin, not hæmaglobin, you chæky poofter!

          • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday August 10 2018, @06:38AM (1 child)

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Friday August 10 2018, @06:38AM (#719824) Homepage
            No, you're confusing English, the language I use, with Latin or Greek, the origins of part of the word. The actual origin of this precise current word is the historical haematoglobulin.
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
            • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @01:50PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 10 2018, @01:50PM (#719901)

              I'm afraid you're confusing a misspelling that you make with English, the language you're trying to use.
              As evidence, I offer the following UK-based online dictionaries, none of which recognize your "haemaglobin" spelling:
              Cambridge [cambridge.org]
              Collins [collinsdictionary.com]
              Oxford Living Dictionary [oxforddictionaries.com]
              MacMillan [macmillandictionary.com]
              (I also checked Chambers, but can't post a link because their search function doesn't use nice URLs. They don't recognize it either.)

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by legont on Friday August 10 2018, @02:07AM

    by legont (4179) on Friday August 10 2018, @02:07AM (#719741)

    Are we going to get it as well? Would be the most nutritious, I guess.

    How about my steak made from my own butt? Do I have a right to do whatever I want to my body including eating it? People eat their nails all the time, you know. Should be less controversial than abortions.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
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