Nearly 80,000 Cases of “Impossible” Meats Recalled Due to Presence of Foreign Matter

Just a few years ago, plant-based meat alternatives were poised to revolutionize the way we eat. In fact, the 2021 Food and Health Survey, issued by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), noted that 24% of adults reported consuming more protein from plant sources that year than in the previous year, and 19% reported eating more pre-packaged plant-based meats.

But after the boom came a bust: Sales began to fall as customers questioned complicatedly engineered ingredients and balked at high prices. Now, Impossible Foods Inc., a Redwood, California-based company and one of the most popular and well-recognized brands of meat-alternatives, is taking another hit as it recalls two popular products sold nationwide.

The recall was voluntarily initiated by the firm after discovering a manufacturing error in which the products may have become contaminated with pieces of metal. The grocery retailer Wegmans, which sold the products, wrote in its own recall notice to consumers that the foreign material came from an aluminum fastener on one of the manufacturing machines.

According to a November 15 report by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the two veggie-based products affected by the recall are:

• Impossible Savory Ground Sausage Meat from plants, 14oz: UPC 8 16697 02108 8; Best by July 3, 2025 to January 25, 2026
• Impossible Spicy Ground Sausage Meat from plants, 14oz: UPC 8 16697 02109 5; Best by June 28, 2025 to January 28, 2026

The company explains why this particular product is so popular among consumers: “These sizzle like the sausage you know and love, but it’s both nutrient-packed AND better for the environment. Our product people say the flavor profile has a ‘herbaceous and peppery bite, which is a great way to describe the flavor and also a really good excuse to use the word ‘herbaceous,’” they write.

Marketing language aside, the recall includes 46,413 cases of the savory sausage meat and 32,536 cases of the spicy sausage meat, totaling 78,949 cases of Impossible products. With eight individually packaged products in each case, the company is recalling a total of 631,592 items.

On December 13, the FDA issued a Class II risk level for the incident, indicating that the products could cause temporary or reversible medical harm, but are unlikely to cause serious illness, injury, or death.

The fact that the products are plant-based appears to be incidental—recent recalls have also roiled the real-meat market with inspections revealing Listeria, E. coli, foreign materials, and other contaminants.

Many experts say that in fact, consuming more plant-based proteins could be crucial to our health. A 30-year study released this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition determined that a higher plant-to-animal protein ratio is associated with a 19% lower risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and 27% lower risk of coronary artery disease (CAD)—giving us all good reasons not to write off healthy meat alternatives.

If you believe you have purchased the contaminated foods, consider returning them to your place of purchase. It’s likely not advisable to consume them.

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