Announcing earlier this week at CES 2020, Impossible Foods has added plant-based pork and sausage to its product-line. The company raised nearly $800 million in venture investment to create the products and introduced its new line called 'Impossible Pork Made from Plants' and 'Impossible Sausage Made from Plants' to the showroom attendance.

Impossible Pork is gluten-free and designed for kosher and halal certification, thus opening an untapped market for pork products. Impossible Pork contains fewer calories than conventional pork, as well as less total and saturated fat, no cholesterol, but a higher amount of sodium. However, the protein contain between the plant-based and conventional pork is about the same.

The main protein in the product is soy, with its major fat sources coming from sunflower and coconut oil. The plant-based meat includes amino acids, vitamins and sugars, as well as an ingredient that sets the meat apart from other vegetarian products which is heme. Heme is an iron-containing compound found in all living organisms. Impossible Foods uses a genetically-modified form of heme to produce the meaty flavors and smells that gained the product notoriety.

Domestic Growth

According to the Good Food Institute, a non-profit that supports plant-based businesses, sales of pork alternatives grew nearly 15% in the United States for the year-to-date of April 2019. During that period, demand for jackfruit, which is a popular plant that is used to mimic pork in vegetarian dishes, increased almost 20%.

Beyond pork, the growth and demand for plant-based alternatives to meat has been expanding. Impossible Foods products are served at popular food-chains like Burger King (BKC  ), White Castle, Applebee's (DIN  ), and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (RRGB  ), among others. Beyond Meat (BYND  ), which is a popular competitor to Impossible Foods, has partnered with large food-chains like McDonald's (MCD  ) KFC (YUM  ), Dunkin' Brands (DNKN  ), Blue Apron (APRN  ), Famous Dave's (DAVE  ), and many more.

Plant-based meat is still a small sector compared to the meat industry, but it is growing. Last May, analysts at Barclays (BCS  ) predicted that the alternative meat sector could reach about $140 billion in sales over the next decade, which would be 10% of the global meat industry.

Focus on Asia

Beyond U.S. markets, alternative meat products have huge growth opportunities in Asia.

"Pigs are the single most popular source of meat globally and particularly in Asia," Brown said last month. "Internationally, it's clearly number one, and our goal [and] our mission is global. For us to have an impact, particularly in Asia, pork is kind of a no-brainer."

The Impossible Brand's interest in Asia came before the recent swine flue outbreak, which has dramatically affected regional pork prices and killed an estimated half of China's pig population. Pork in China now costs nearly 70% more than it did last year, according to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics. Pork makes up around 70% of a Chinese citizen's total meat consumption, with the average person eating around 20 kilograms per year.

There is "inherent vulnerability of a supply chain that dependent on animals," Caroline Bushnell, associate director of corporate engagement at the Good Food Institute stated on the manner of China's recent swine flu epidemic. "We're absolutely seeing that this current pork shortage has created a gap that the next generation of plant-based pork is perfectly poised to fill."

Climate Change and Business Impact

"What we're working on is the most significant science project and business endeavor in the world," CEO Pat Brown stated. The company is not just following up their successful debut of the Impossible Burger, which is a plant-based burger that mimics the taste and smell of hamburger patties, but is also continuing to plan their company's strategy to address the "two biggest threats to the world: climate change and the meltdown of biodiversity."

According to Brown, the animal-farming industry is responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than the entire global transportation industry and uses 45% of land that's not covered by ice, using land "that should be capturing carbon through trees and grasslands."

The plant-based meat brands are aiming to eliminate the reliance on meat products from animal farming to help diminish the environmental impact these traditional practices have. For now, plant-based meat is generally more expensive for average consumers than animal meat. But price change can come very soon as companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible grow and make plant-based products more of a mainstream demand.