Impossible Foods Making Grocery Store Debut In California

(RTTNews) - Beyond Meat's main competitor Impossible Foods announced it will make its grocery store debut in California on Friday.

Customers can shop for Impossible Foods' plant-based meat at Gelson's, an upscale grocery store chain with 27 locations across Southern California, including in San Diego and Los Angeles.

Impossible Foods said it will announce more retailers later this month when its burgers are slated to debut at East Coast grocery stores. The company plans to make its burger available in grocery stores in every region nationwide by mid-2020.

Impossible Foods products were previously only available at high-end restaurants and at chains, such as Burger King, Qdoba, Red Robin, and White Castle. The company was waiting for regulatory approval.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the key ingredient in the Impossible Burger as a color additive, allowing the company to offer its products in grocery stores. Impossible Foods products are made with heme, a protein that Impossible sources from soy leghemoglobin, which is found naturally in soybean roots.