Impossible Pork: in Muslim Southeast Asia, an impossible sell?
- The company behind the Impossible Burger is hoping to gain halal certification for its new products Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage
- But in a region where four in 10 people are Muslim, even the name may be unpalatable
When Impossible Burgers launched in Singapore 10 months ago, they were a hit with many curious foodies who were surprised by how much like beef the plant-based products tasted.
But whether Impossible Foods, the company behind the burgers, will be on to another winner with its Impossible Pork and Impossible Sausage is another matter entirely.
Encouraging Muslims to take a bite out of either of these products seems like something of a Mission Impossible in Southeast Asia, where experts say even the names could prove off-putting. More than four in 10 of the region’s population of 665 million practise Islam, in which consuming pork is haram or forbidden.
Pat Brown, the CEO of the company, which debuted the two new products in the United States this week, has said the products were not specifically designed to target people with religious objections, but that seeking kosher and halal certification was “important to us”. The two products are made entirely from plants and contain no animal hormones.
Impossible Foods estimates that about 2.5 billion people worldwide refrain from pork and pork-derived products based on the religious practices of Hindus, Jews, Muslims and some Christian sects.