Missouri Farm Official: New Whopper a 'Wake-Up Call'

If Burger King wanted good advertising for its meatless Impossible Whopper, it has arrived via an unlikely source—a review by an official with the Missouri Farm Bureau. In other words, a meat lobbyist, per the Guardian. Eric Bohl wrote that he tried the plant-based burger, available for now only in the St. Louis area, and seemed surprised and disappointed to declare, "If I didn’t know what I was eating, I would have no idea it was not beef." But this isn't just a food review—it's a warning to those in his industry. "If farmers and ranchers think we can mock and dismiss these products as a passing fad, we're kidding ourselves," he writes. "This is not just another disgusting tofu burger that only a dedicated hippie could convince himself to eat."

In a second post, he calls the burger's emergence a "wake-up call" for meat farmers. Companies such as Impossible Foods are going after the industry, and it would be a mistake to ignore the threat, writes Bohl. His burger test convinced him that plant-based products are here to stay and will only improve in taste. Bohl's advice: "Livestock farmers must stand up for their products" by spreading the word that animals are treated humanely and that meat is "nutritionally superior." Click to read the original review.