Impossible Burgers coming to Singapore in first half of 2019

Las Vegas

COMPANIES backed by Singapore investors made their presence felt at the CES show in Las Vegas last week. They included an Indian haptic suit maker and crowdfunded South Korean firm Pivo, which has created tools to help one perfect the art of the selfie.

But the firm that made the biggest splash was Temasek-backed Impossible Foods, which held a cookout at the Mirage hotel the night before the annual tech show opened in Las Vegas.

The California-based firm revealed a band new recipe for plant-based "ground beef" called the Impossible Burger 2.0.

Founder Pat Brown told BT that Impossible Burgers will be served in Singapore in the first half of this year.

"We are in very advanced discussions with quite a number of customers. We have talked with a number of restaurants in Singapore already, we know quite a number of them that we're going to launch with," he said.

Initially, its product will be shipped to Singapore instead of being made there. But Dr Brown added: "We are certainly considering, eventually, that Singapore might be a good place to have manufacturing and maybe some product research. We haven't committed to that but it's definitely something we are thinking about."

At the event, BT got a first taste of the new patties, and they passed as meat. Prepared as tacos and tartare, however, the plant-based meat tasted mainly of salt.

The new recipe is said to be more juicy and nutritious than the first version, and can be used with any ground beef recipe. The earlier version would fall apart when cooked over an open flame grill.

The new recipe features completely new ingredients, such as potato proteins that firm up when they cook. Cellulose is used, and normal culinary binders.

Impossible Burger 2.0 will hit grocery stores in the US a few months from now, "priced within the range of ground beef in the stores in which it's sold", Dr Brown said.

The company is also working on a recipe for plant-based solid-cut steaks.

READ MORE: Singapore-backed technology firms make waves at CES

KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE

BT is now on Telegram!

For daily updates on weekdays and specially selected content for the weekend. Subscribe to t.me/BizTimes