Reports from people who experienced adverse health reactions following the consumption of the Impossible Burger or other products produced by Impossible Foods have prompted GMO Free USA, a national nonprofit, to launch a public health survey to gather more data from people experiencing similar reactions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not provide the public with a simple procedure to report adverse reactions arising from the consumption of novel foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. GMO Free USA will collect the data and submit it to the FDA.

The highly processed Impossible Burger contains soy leghemoglobin manufactured from GMO yeast, which comes along with 46 contaminating yeast proteins, all of which are new to the food supply and never before consumed by humans. Impossible Foods’ safety testing of these potentially allergenic or toxic proteins was limited to two short term rat feeding studies, one 14 days and the other 28 days. An independent analysis of these feeding studies by molecular geneticist Michael Antoniou, PhD and Claire Robinson MPhil, found unexplained changes in weight gain and signs of potential toxicity in the 28 day study.¹

Consumer advocacy organizations Consumers Union² and Center for Science in the Public Interest³ recently expressed concerns about inadequate safety testing.

As Impossible Foods expands distribution beyond restaurants into grocery stores, it is in the interest of public health to track adverse health reactions. GMO Free USA is urging individuals who have experienced mild to severe digestive or other health reactions following consumption of the Impossible Burger or other Impossible Foods products to participate in the health survey: https://gmofreeusa.org/take-action/impossible-burger-health-survey

GMO Free USA is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit advocating for a clean, healthy food system and educating consumers about the hazards of GMOs and synthetic pesticides.

1 https://www.gmoscience.org/rat-feeding-studies-suggest-the-impossible-burger-may-not-be-safe-to-eat

2 https://www.consumerreports.org/media-room/press-releases/2019/08/statement-on-impossible-foods-beef-with-consumer-reports

3 https://cspinet.org/news/barebones-fda-review-impossible-burger-soy-leghemoglobin-inadequate-20190903

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GMO Free USA

GMO Free USA

GMO Free USA’s mission is to harness independent science and agroecological concepts to advocate for sustainable food and ecological systems. We will educate consumers and other stakeholders about the potential hazards of genetically engineered organisms and advance the application of the Precautionary Principle.

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