Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Prefer’s beanless coffee latte, Ahimsa Foundation’s $12M factory bet, and Bezos Earth Fund’s alternative protein competition.
New products and launches
Singaporean bean-free coffee startup Prefer has launched its iced oat latte with vegan ice-cream chain Kind Kones.
In the US, plant-based startup Elmhurst 1925 has added three unsweetened non-dairy milks to its lineup, in pistachio, vanilla pistachio, and vanilla cashew variants. They’re available at Sprouts Farmers Market nationwide and on the brand website for $8.99 per 32oz pack.
Californian firm Força Foods has debuted its Milkish watermelon seed milk in the US at Wildroots Coffee in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, PlantBaby’s Kiki Milk, which makes non-dairy milks for kids, has secured a listing at Target stores in California, Hawaii, and Washington. It will be available in original, unsweetened and chocolate flavours in 32oz cartons for $6.99.
Vegan seafood startup Oshi has landed a distribution deal with Sysco, with its salmon now available at five of the latter’s US warehouses, and soon open to customers in all 50 states via Sysco Marketplace.
German discount retailer Lidl has brought back its Ben & Jerry’s style non-dairy ice creams under its Vemondo label in the UK, which are available in Cookie Dough, Choco Fudge Brownie and Peanut Butter Cookie flavours.
And French vegan cheesemaker Jay&Joy has launched its dairy-free camembert, dubbed Albert, at online stores and independent retailers in the UK, priced at £5.80 per 100g wheel.
Company and finance updates
Ahimsa Companies, the holding company that has bought several plant-based businesses over the past year, is investing $12M into a contract manufacturing plant in Ohio to supply major partners in early 2026.
US cultivated seafood firm Atlantic Fish Co has received a $305,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation to scale up its cultured black sea bass.
Wild Earth co-founder Ryan Bethencourt has exited the vegan dog food startup after eight years as CEO, following its bankruptcy and subsequent acquisition by InvenTel.
Germany’s Veganz Group is also seeing a change at the top, with co-founder Jan Bredack stepping down as CEO, following three years of declining sales and a recent restructuring of its operations. He will be replaced with financial expert Rayan Tegtmeier.
Canadian vegan fast-food chain Odd Burger has opened a new location in Edmonton and appointed co-founder Vasiliki McInnes as its new CFO.
Bezos Earth Fund‘s Centre for Sustainable Protein at the National University of Singapore and Enterprise Singapore have launched a Sustainable Protein Startup Competition to identify future-friendly protein solutions, backed by a $3M grant over five years from the fund.
Research, policy and events
In Japan, the Consumer Affairs Agency’s Food Sanitation Standards Council Subcommittee on Newly Developed Foods is advancing discussions on the safety management of cultivated proteins, with an interim draft of the guidelines expected this summer.
In the quest to make cultivated beef feel much closer to its conventional counterpart, researchers from ETH Zurich have developed 3D muscle tissue composed of thick, contracting fibres from myoblasts.
Demonstrating the power of choice architecture, a three-month pilot by Greener by Default, Friends of the Earth and Sodexo saw the sale of 2,000 extra plant-based mains in a corporate cafeteria, simply by swapping one entree at the most popular station and ensuring it featured familiar flavours and an appealing description.
As the UK food industry rallies around the 30-plants-a-week approach, a new study by King’s College London has found that Brits don’t eat enough plants – the median is eight plants a day, but some eat as few as two.
Informa Markets‘s food industry event, Fi India, will host producers of plant proteins, soy products, functional ingredients, and more in Greater Noida (September 3-5).
Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.
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