Patrick Brown, founder of Impossible Foods, appears to consider granular accounting a waste of resources. When asked about the waste generated by the use of coconut oil, Brown told The New York Times, "It's such a tiny fraction of the positive impact that we're having, to be perfectly honest. We'll report it if it's necessary, but really, you're totally missing the point if you're obsessing about that kind of stuff. [It's] a ridiculous use of our resources. It will make us less impactful because we're wasting resources to satisfy an Excel jockey rather than to try to save the planet."

But environmental activists are not buying that. As the University of California, Berkley's research director of the alternative meats programs, Ricardo San Martin, told the outlet, "The dominant narrative from the plant-based industry and the venture capitalists supporting it is that these companies are better for the environment, they're better for health, they're better for this and better for that ... [But] so much of what is in these products is undisclosed."

San Martin adds: "Everybody has a supply chain, and there is a carbon footprint behind that chain." Thus, no one knows how much greenhouse gas the manufacture of fake meat generates, nor do we know "how much water they use." And until they are told, activists likely won't make the case for making the switch from real meat to its plant-based alternatives.