Livestock and environment
It is certainly no news that livestock is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, which directly impacts climate change in the world. The sector is responsible for 14.5% of the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, mainly methane and nitrous oxide, two substances that play important roles in the greenhouse effect. Methane, mainly produced by enteric fermentation and manure storage, affects global warming 28 times more than carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide, arising from manure storage and the use of organic/inorganic fertilizer, is a molecule with a global warming potential 265 times higher than carbon dioxide.
Additionally, meat products have the largest water footprint compared to any other agricultural commodity. One kilogram of beef requires about 18,000 liters of water to be produced while one kilogram of pork requires about 6,000 liters of water. Just as a comparison, the water footprint of one kilogram of soybeans is 900 liters of water.
Pressure for change
With those alarming numbers, fast food sector is in the spotlight, suffering from increased pressure to change and transparency in their sourcing of meat for their burgers and other items such as nuggets as well as dairy products. In January 2019, a coalition of investors with around $6.5 trillion under management, signed a letter to fast food giants such as McDonalds, Burger King, Domino’s, KFC and others asking them to “enact meaningful policies and targets” to reduce the carbon footprint of their meat and dairy supply chains. Animal agriculture, they argue, is one of the highest emitting sectors without a low greenhouse gas emission plan.
So how fast food chains are responding to the pressure for change?
Meet Burger King’s IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER
Launched on April 1, 2019, in 59 St. Louis, Missouri Burger King’s outlets, the burger is certainly no April fools joke and has a promising potential to drastically reduce the meat consumption in one of the biggest fast food chains in the world.
The burger is made of soy and potato proteins, coconut and sunflower oil, and heme. In a strategic marketing campaign, Burger King launched the product with several online actions such as the “Impossible Whopper Tour”, where the product is launched gradually in different states of the US, attracting attention and hype to the launch. Furthermore, the most attractive campaign highlights the product’s competitive advantage : the burger is supposedly exactly the same as the meat-based Whopper. In the campaign shown below, frequent customers are unable to differentiate taste and texture of the Impossible burger from its original “brother”. The chain claims that even employees are unable to tell the difference between them.
This last characteristic is probably the most interesting and promising one for Burger King to really make an impact on climate change. Burger King plans to disrupt the industry to perhaps one day, having their complete menu based on “Impossible” raw materials, without losing their customer base. By doing so, they could even increase the fast food market’s size by targeting vegetarian customers, getting a bigger chunk of market share. The distaste of “meat lovers” for plant-based products is currently the biggest barrier for people to consume less meat in their daily life. If “Impossible” meats are proven to be safe, tasty and healthy, there are basically no barriers for this switch to happen.
IMPOSSIBLE Impact
By investing in R&D and innovation such as the Impossible Whopper, Burger King is adapting its business model to not only create a competitive advantage but also create an impact on the climate change and the water footprint of their products. It’s interesting to notice that an essentially meat-based business is currently using an apparent contradictory position (the eternal battle between meat lovers and vegetarians) to disrupt the industry in a positive way. If the product proves to be a success, other chains will likely follow the trend and put their investments in creating environmentally friendly solutions that will help alleviate the pressure for action and also attract a growing market composed by not only vegetarians but environmental conscious consumers.
If there is a gradual switch to plant-based products in fast food chains, there will be a drastic reduction of the meat consumption in the world, greatly helping to reduce greenhouse gases emissions and water consumption. If the technology develops in the future, there is a potential to an even greater change if meat consumption is completely banned and replaced by plant-based or even laboratory grown “fake” meat that tastes and feels exactly like real meat. Incentives need to be imposed and aligned with existing technology, but the pressure made by investors is a great start.
As for Burger King, their next steps should be launching this campaign worldwide after testing the market in the US in order to increase impact and reach. Furthermore, they should also research substitutes for their dairy products (for example soy milk) and reduce overall water consumption in their operations as well as pressure suppliers to be transparent about their water usage and gas emission policies. An influential company such as Burger King can certainly be the drive of change to the whole operational chain around them. As Unilever, they have here the golden chance to lead the sustainable movement for a better future.
The Impossible can make the future possible.
Authors:
Clemence Malinge
Lucas Murata
Mudita Suri
Sources
- https://foodtank.com/news/2013/12/why-meat-eats-resources/
- https://academic.oup.com/af/article/9/1/69/5173494
- https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47029485
- https://mothership.sg/2019/04/burger-king-meatless-plant-based-impossible-whopper/
- https://impossiblefoods.com/burgerking/
I’m really curious to see what this Impossible burger tastes like, and whether or not meat-lovers can make that mental leap to eat a vegetarian burger and get the same satisfaction.
In various countries around the world, there is often culture and tradition based around meat consumption and so the strategy for rollout and circulation of the idea of a meatless meaty burger needs to be carefully considered. Perhaps these fast food companies can realize greater market penetration by shifting commonly held beliefs about meat, stressing the positive environmental impact, and targeting younger audiences who may have less mental hurdles to overcome. Targeting the low hanging fruit and gaining a mass following could provide momentum needed to get this to be a trend.
Thanks for the post guys! In terms of adoption, there’s another potential challenge – plant-based meat burgers typically don’t have the health benefits of veggie burgers / meat free diets. They have to use lots of fats to imitate the taste and texture of meat, and might even be less healthy than meat itself. So it’s challenging to appeal to health-conscious consumers. The focus will have to be on the environmental impact, or simply price
This topic is super interesting! One thing that occurs to me as we shift towards “impossible” meats is how we as humans might need to evolve biologically. In some cases there are people who have tried to go vegetarian but are forced to go back to incorporating some meat in their diet due to serious nutrient deficiencies. Everyone reacts differently to diet changes, but it would be interesting to have guidance from doctors and/or dietitians on how people can move towards being vegetarian (and therefore decreasing demand for meat) in a manner that won’t seriously affect their health.
It is great to see top companies like Burger King taking on these type of initiatives. However, as I read this I started to wonder until which point there are willing to take this. It seems that this raw material will greatly increase their production costs in an already very low margin business, so will be interesting to see if it is sustainable in the long term and if other fast food chains embark in similar initiatives. For the moment it seems more of a marketing campaign rather than something that it is going to expand over the world restaurants.
Great post! I think there is global momentum around developing meat substitutes and high-protein alternatives; plenty of VC money has gone into companies in this space over the last 12 months or so. It’s good to see that a large chain such as Burger King is adopting a meat substitute. I’m curious to know how it affects their bottom line – if BK were to replace all their meat burgers with Impossible substitutes, would their profitability increase or decrease? Also, the long term effects of consuming these food products, ‘synthetics’ if you may, are not very well understood. Although it’s imperative that we develop these synthetics from a food sustainability standpoint, aren’t we moving away from self-sustainability in the sense that in a few decades most of our food might be cultivated in labs and produced by machines? A far cry from the days of our grandparents when they used to rear animals in their backyard for domestic consumption.
Great post! I am also following the impossible meat trend with interest, and even had the chance to try one recently.
Although this plant-based burger is certainly a positive trend in terms of Burger King’s carbon and water footprint, I find it noteworthy that the product’s advertising contains no messaging about the burger’s “green” qualities. Instead, the rollout of the impossible whopper appears more like a publicity stunt (for meat-eaters like me who want to try it once) or a bid at increasing market share (by catering to vegetarians). I am therefore cautiously optimistic about the potential for this product to help make food consumption more environmentally friendly. On the one hand it offers the most viable alternative yet to meat, but on the other Burger King’s commitment to the environmental cause may not be ironclad.
Thanks for your great post!
This topic is similar to our group’s topic, which talks about fish meat. Food security is an important issue otherwise people’s quality of life will not be sustainable. The general concerns about the impossible meat are i) taste, ii) production cost and iii)stability of the entire supply chain. But I believe that the impossible meat can overcome these issues since there are already some foods which imitate meat but are made of other ingredients among East Asian countries.
I stopped eating meat 3 years ago and I tried the impossible burger here in Singapore at PS Cafe. It really takes like meat! I believe it is a real solution for all the meat lovers to get the taste of meat while contributing to the environment.
Haha also very curious as to what it tastes like, which probably is a good thing as I’m sure we’re not the only ones. Very interesting how this, in the place where you might least expect it, could be a catalyst for change towards meat-alternatives. I recognize how “silly” it looks to some people how you’re trying to replicate meat (shapes) while your product has nothing to do with it, but do personally believe that it can really help in the transition.
This is a very interesting business that was born here in Singapore! In some parts of the world–India, for example, there is less dependency on meat in the cuisine. I wonder whether the invention of this product creates a moral hazard. Would people still continue to want meat and not genuinely wean themselves off of a environmentally-unfriendly product?