Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a range of product showcases at Expo West, Valsoia’s new gelato lines, and Lidl’s upgraded meat alternatives.
New products and launches
The world’s largest tofu maker, Pulmuone, is debuting new Korean-inspired plant-based products at Natural Products Expo West (March 5-7) in California, including cilantro-garlic potstickers, pineapple-teriyaki glazed tofu, black garlic cream noodles, and bulgogi-style rice balls.
More from Expo West, Before the Butcher will showcase its just-launched The Original Butcher Sticks, a range of meat snacks in pepperoni and beef variants.
Vegan free-from brand Whoa Dough has announced its newest product, Brownie Batter Ready-to-Bake, which it will exhibit at Expo West and launch into retail this week.
Whole-cut meat producer Chunk Foods is debuting the latest additions to its US retail lineup at the show, rolling out four new flavours of its pulled steak: barbacoa, Texas BBQ, Korean BBQ, and teriyaki.
South Korean-American vegan cheese company Armored Fresh has announced truffle as the third flavour of its oat-milk-based Zero-Dairy parmesan, set to be launched in May in the US.
Speaking of plant-based cheese, Stockeld Dreamery has launched Spring Scallion and Midsummer Strawberry as its two new cultured cream cheese flavours, after moving its manufacturing to North America. They can be found at Essa Bagel, Zaro’s, Kismet, and Bergen Bagels, with more than 50 other shops to join the list soon.
NFL legend Tom Brady has launched a new vegan sweets brand called Goat Gummies, as part of the former quarterback’s multi-year partnership with Gopuff. The gummies are available at the online grocer’s platform in Sweet Rush, Sour Burst, and Tropic Fusion flavours.
Italian plant-based dairy Valsoia has announced two gelato lines to its portfolio: a no-added-sugar version with a rice and coconut base, and an oat milk range in lemon cake, stracciatella, and pistachio flavours. They’ll soon be available in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Baltics, Czechia and other markets.
And British clean-label alt-milk brand Plenish has introduced Enriched Oat milk, which contains three ingredients and is fortified with calcium, vitamin D, iodine, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and fibre. It’s available at Tesco for £2.25 per litre.
Company and finance developments
US startup Jord BioScience has secured $7M in a Series B round to commercialise microbial technologies to enhance crop inputs and advance sustainable and regenerative farming practices.
Israeli alternative protein innovator Steakholder Foods has entered an agreement with Alumni Capital to receive a $1.25M private placement, as well as an $8M equity line of credit.
Mushroom jerky maker Madarch Cymru (Mushroom Garden) has become one of nine recipients of British national agency Innovate UK‘s £400,000 New Innovators fund.
Japanese cellular agriculture company IntegriCulture has secured ¥200M ($1.3M) in a non-dilutive bank loan, which will be used to invest in an upcoming deal and accelerate R&D.
Vegetal Food, a distributor of vegan products for foodservice professionals in France, has raised €1.2M ($1.26M) in investment from the FPCI Food Invest II fund, in partnership with food consultancy FoodXpert.
Indian plant-based supplements brand Earthful landed a $570,000 investment from Srinivasan Namala and Ritesh Agarwal on Shark Tank India.
Spanish firm Allbiotech has completed the first production run of its Genesys V1 bioreactor, which is a lower-cost solution for early-stage precision fermentation research.
According to a life-cycle assessment, Finland-based Enifer‘s Pekilo mycoprotein for pet food produces 86% fewer emissions than soy protein concentrate, and five times fewer than lamb meat.
Plant-based leader Beyond Meat has been handed a legal victory by the US District Court for the Central District of Florida, which has thrown out a class-action lawsuit brought by some of its investors.
Policy and regulation
The University of North Texas has committed to making 60% of its campus menus plant-based by 2027, building on its 50% target by the end of this year. It comes after the institution ranked second on the Protein Sustainability Scorecard by Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States).
Aussie agrifood company Wide Open Agriculture has received General Administration approval to export its lupin protein isolate to the Chinese market, where it will be initially sold as an ingredient in protein powders, dairy alternatives, and a lupin bean tofu.
In the US, the Plant-Based Foods Association and its sister Plant-Based Foods Institute have unveiled a six-pillar strategy for 2025-27, spanning membership, marketplace, policy, research and education, consumer engagement, and agriculture.
To promote vegan-friendly products in sub-Saharan Africa, certification body V-Label has partnered with food awareness organisation ProVeg Nigeria.
Discount retailer Lidl is continuing its plant-based progress by improving the taste, texture and nutritional value of its own-label meat analogues in the Netherlands, with two-thirds of the products now meeting the Dutch dietary guidelines.
In state legislature, the Colorado House has passed a bipartisan bill to reduce food waste in schools, businesses, universities, and local government institutions. Measures of the legislation include a switch to ‘best if used or frozen by’ instead of ‘sell by’ dates.
Finally, Vegan Events UK has announced the first Swansea Vegan Festival, which will take place at LC Swansea on May 31.
Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.
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