this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
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Chapotraphouse
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The commonalities across brands here are some sort of protein isolate (pea and/or soybean), fat (avocado or coconut oil), a binder (methylcellulose, available over the counter as wallpaper paste), and some additional sources of flavor and color (I think impossible is the one using GMO yeast to make heme, which gives the product a more meaty flavor).
Nutritionally speaking these things are going to be slightly worse than whole foods like beans or tempeh (there's some very limited evidence that suggests that fermentation improves the digestibility of soy) but it's not exactly like vegans eating a balanced diet are coming up short on fiber, especially compared to the typical western diet, and if you're not eating these things as your exclusive protein source you should be fine.
No idea on contamination/food safety but there's not really any red flag ingredients. PFAS mainly come from contaminated water sources if I recall correctly, and lead from contaminated soil, so it probably depends on where the source ingredients are coming from. Anything produced in a bioreactor has to be purified out, so I wouldn't worry about fermentation products.
In terms of environmental/resource impact the fake borgar is considerably lower than a real one and probably marginally above the impact of a block of tofu.
Sore spot for me maybe but I'd just like to point out if you were to eat a burger on a non homemade bun, with a non homemade sauce and cheese you're likely eating the stuff anyway when consuming burger.
Yeah, it's totally safe as a food additive and pretty common, not trying to knock it.