Impossible Foods Just Announced It Is Developing a Plant-Based Milk

Plant-based latte lovers now have something to look forward to: Impossible Foods is expanding into plant-based dairy products. After revolutionizing the plant-based market with their popular Impossible Burger, Impossible Foods just announced the beginning stages of plant-based milk that once developed, will taste and function just like the real thing.

The company’s milk strategy follows the same approach they took to their Impossible Burger: Rather than compete with the current plant-based milk brands like Oatly or Califia; its product will replicate dairy milk instead of providing a different taste like some oat or almond milks do.

In an interview with the MIT Technology Review, the founder of Impossible Foods, Pat Brown, explained the company’s long-term goal: “If we have a cheaper, more delicious, healthier product for consumers, I am confident that most consumers in the world will choose it over the current product. And if no one is buying the products of animal agriculture, then there will be no incentive to keep covering the planet with cows. It’s as simple as that.”

Although the product is still in development, the company’s Food Lab recently demonstrated its new product prototype in a virtual conference. In the demonstration, when poured into a cup of hot coffee, their milk mixed into the coffee just like dairy milk, whereas the soy and almond milk they used in the demo slightly curdled.

Although the company is still testing different bases for the milk, according to Brown, like their burger, it’ll likely be soy-based: “We have made prototypes from a number of different plant sources. Soy is a very good choice from a nutritional standpoint and a supply chain standpoint, and for those reasons, I think there's a decent chance that it will be the base protein for our product."

Impossible Foods has already partnered with Starbucks to create an Impossible Breakfast Sandwich, so it’s possible that once the milk product finishes development, your dairy-free Starbucks Frappuccino might feature Impossible milk. If the brand's milk is anything like their burger, you won’t even notice the difference.