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So the major thing that Impossible Foods puts in that "makes it taste like meat" is leghemoglobin, which is an ortholog of regular hemoglobin from cows blood, though in this case it was isolated from a legume. The argument, as I've heard it, is that since it's an oxygen binding molecule, it catalyzes all kinds of tasty reactions when you brown it.

They do list all their ingredients [0], and you can take a look and see whether there's anything objectionable to you. If you're going by the "5 ingredients or fewer" heuristic, then it doesn't qualify. Avoiding "chemicals" is impossible, since everything is made out of chemicals, and just limiting to naturally occurring chemicals is no better of a guideline because cyanide, asbestos, and arsenic are all "natural".

As a sibling comment notes, it's likely not significantly better or worse for you than a standard beef whopper

[0] https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/3600189374...



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