Deal Between OSI Group and Impossible Burger May Be Historic

A new collaboration between one of the world’s largest processors of meat and one of the premier makers of an all-plant “meatless burger” may have come in a timely fashion. OSI Group with world headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, has inked a deal to manufacture the Impossible Burger. The latter is the brainchild of Dr. Patrick Brown who launched Impossible Foods in 2011.

The Impossible Burger caught on fast. This meatless substance represents a revolutionary step forward in vegetarian patties made as substitutes for meat. Veggie patties and burgers have been around for a long time, but no one was under any illusions that such products tasted truly meat-like – until now.

The Impossible Burger leveraged high technology, biochemistry and whole teams of scientists working in Silicon Valley to develop a plant-based burger that tastes so much like real meat that most people cannot tell the difference.

In the age of COVID-19, a host of related problems have emerged in relation to meat production. Meat processing plants in the Midwest have been among the hardest hit. Despite a presidential order declaring packing plants a vital service, production has been stymied as hundreds of workers have fallen ill.

Furthermore, a different viral outbreak has devastated hog production in China. The disease has the potential to spread globally. It all translates to increased need for meat substitutes. Demand for products like the Impossible Burger is expected to skyrocket – as they already had been even before the animal and man pandemics emerged.

OSI Group is ramping up a new facility in Chicago specially designed to handle the special requirements of building the Impossible Burger. It is critical that all processes be kept strictly separate from where real meat is handled. Fortunately, OSI Group is among the most advanced food processing entities in the world. Although its focus has been on meat for more than a century, it has long since diversified to handle a wide array of complicated food processing technologies and methods. OSI Group operates in 17 nations and employs about 20,000 people globally. OSI is well-known as the No. 1 processors of hamburgers for McDonald’s.

To know more click The Sustainability Vision of Sheldon Lavin, CEO of OSI Group