In what is a significant restructuring move, Colorado-based mycelium meat startup Meati has cut its workforce by 10% and shuttered its pilot plant as it looks to become profitable. Meati, which had let go of 17 employees (about 5%) in June, says the layoffs affect all parts of the business and plans to add 100 additional positions to boost production.
Meati confirmed to Green Queen that the company has laid off 30 employees from its 300-strong workforce, including a few executive-level employees, while the actual number of positions eliminated is 60. The mycelium meat maker says some people in these roles will be deployed to new positions within the company, and those who have been let go will be offered a “comprehensive support package”. This includes severance pay, health insurance plans, career outplacement services, and employee assistance programs.
In January, the company opened a ‘mega ranch’ in Thornton, Colorado capable of producing tens of millions of pounds of its mycelium-based steaks and chicken breasts to rival the output of animal farms. It followed a $150M Series C raise last year, with an extension round last week bringing its total financing to over $325M. In May, it debuted its products at 380 Sprouts Farmers Market stores across the US, and Meati says these are now available at 1,500 stores nationwide.
Restructuring towards profitability
In January, Meati opened a ‘mega ranch’ in Thornton, Colorado | Courtesy: Meati
But despite this recent success, the business has been forced to restructure. “Meati is a young, disruptive company navigating uncharted territory – bringing a novel food to the forefront of a highly competitive industry in a challenging economic climate,” a Meati spokesperson told Green Queen in a statement. “Each of these factors requires us to regularly evaluate every aspect of our operations.”
They added: “These job cuts, while incredibly difficult, are a necessary part of ensuring we achieve a sustainable business model. Despite creating incredible products and an excellent commercial start in the market, we must be nimble and focus on near-term profitability.”
Speaking to the Denver Post, Meati COO Scott Tassani said: “With the cost of capital being higher, there’s a direct challenge for an accelerated pace of profitability. One of the things we have decided is that we have to get to a more sustainable business model that’s not just all about growth and speed.”
Despite the layoffs and closing of its pilot plant in Boulder, Colorado, Meati remains confident about its growth trajectory. “Very few brands have ever entered the market in this way, with immediate category leadership and extreme consumer resonance,” the company’s spokesperson told Green Queen.
“While our path forward has changed shape, we’re confident that the changes we’re making are the right course of action to support Meati’s continued growth and leadership. Meati’s team will continue to grow as nearly 100 additional positions are added in the near term to expand production capacity.”
Tough going for plant-based businesses
Courtesy: Meati
The layoffs at Meati follow similar developments at other plant-based food companies in the last year, with the alt-meat industry experiencing a decline in sales and consumer interest. Alt-meat giant Impossible Foods cut 20% of its workforce (132 employees) in February, after laying off 6% a few months before, while competitor Beyond Meat similarly let 19% of its staff go last October, affecting 200 employees and Eat Just, Inc made 18% of its workers redundant earlier this year.
According to insights firm Circana, retail sales of vegan meat alternatives fell by 12.6% to $106.8M in the five weeks to July 2, 2023, with units down by 19.8% year-on-year. And for the year to July 2, 2023, sales declined by 7.3% year-on-year, while units saw a 15.6% drop. These figures coincide with a Gallup poll that found that the number of vegans has hit a 10-year low this year.
A recent Mintel survey of 1,400 US consumers suggests that only 20% followed a meat-reduced diet this year, with inflation causing 53% of consumers to try fewer new foods like plant-based substitutes. Participants cited taste (48%), nutrition (35%), cost (34%), texture (24%) and processing (21%) as their primary concerns against alt-meat, with 30% of flexitarians avoiding plant-based meat alternatives because they are overproduced.
Meanwhile, companies have ceased operations, filed for bankruptcy, fallen into administration, gone into receivership – or even come close to the brink. But a 2023 Kantar report suggests that while plant-based food brands have seen a 10% drop in sales, private-label supermarket offerings have grown by 14% in the last year. Along these lines, Tassani told the Denver Post: “We are very confident that we will exit the year with thousands of stores carrying our product and we’ll be on the path to profitability in 2024.”
Three months after becoming the joint-first company to gain regulatory approval for cultivated meat in the US, California-based Upside Foods has announced a new commercial-scale manufacturing plant near Chicago. The new facility will begin producing ground cell-cultured chicken products, with an initial capacity of millions of pounds per year.
The 187,000 sq ft is based in Glenview, Illinois, and is titled Rubicon “with an appreciation for its historical significance as a point of no return”. In what is a significant step in the mainstreaming of cell-cultured meat, the factory has the potential to eventually produce 30 million pounds of cultivated meat and seafood products per year, and house cultivators with capacities of up to 100,000 litres.
Upside Foods COO Amy Chen told Green Queen that the facility – one of the world’s largest and most advanced commercial sites of its kind – will start with a broad portfolio of chicken-based formulations, including products like chicken nuggets, chicken sausages, dumplings and patties.
Second cultivated meat facility enables mass production
Upside Foods’ new large-scale production plant leverages the geographical, labour and innovation advantages of Chicago | Courtesy: Upside Foods
The company’s current cultivated chicken, which entered US foodservice via Bar Crenn in August, is manufactured at its Engineering, Production and Innovation Center (EPIC) in Emeryville, California. That plant can currently produce 50,000 pounds of finished cultured meat products annually, with the potential for future expansion to accommodate over 400,000 pounds per year.
“Not only does [EPIC] serve as the pioneering facility for the production and sale of our commercial products, but it also functions as an innovation centre for research and development that guides our scaling efforts,” said Chen.
“On the other hand, our Chicago facility marks our inaugural venture into large-scale commercial production,” she added. “Leveraging the knowledge accumulated from Upside’s EPIC facility in California, this new establishment will propel us to the next level of cultivated meat production.”
The company selected Dallas-based tech firm Jacobs as its design and manufacturing partner for the new plant, and chose the Chicago metropolitan area as its mass-manufacturing base due to the region’s legacy in meat production, a shared commitment to innovation and sustainability, strategic geographical advantages (it’s located at a major transportation crossroads), and its talented workforce.
It comes after the January acquisition of Wisconsin-based cultivated seafood producer Cultured Decadence. Upside Foods, which is worth $1B and has brought in $600M in funding, said this furthers its “commitment to the Midwest”, where it plans a total investment of over $140M. The company claimed this will create 75 new jobs – from warehousing and logistics positions to bioprocessing and food production – as well as other commercial functions.
“This new facility is a significant investment in our communities – creating new good-paying jobs while advancing our ambitious clean energy goals to create a more sustainable future,” Illinois governor JB Pritzker said in a statement. Touching upon Upside Foods’ US regulatory approval, he added: “Their pioneering leadership makes them a perfect fit for the region.”
“We’re excited that the next chapter of our journey towards building a more sustainable, humane, and abundant future will be in Illinois,” said Upside Foods founder and CEO Uma Valeti. “We are grateful for the collaboration and partnership that we have built at the state, county, and local levels in our site selection process.”
Diversifying the product range and bringing costs down
Upside Foods’ EPIC cultivated meat plant in Emeryville, California | Courtesy: Upside Foods
Upside Foods said that while ground chicken is its initial focus, it plans to diversify into other animal-based foods and whole-textured formats in the future. Chen declined to share specifics about the production and market costs of the cultivated chicken but confirmed it would enter the market at a premium. “Our ultimate goal is to reach price parity and eventually be more affordable than conventionally produced meat,” she added.
“That broad journey of technical scale-up, buildout of the supply chain ecosystem, and continuing to move down the cost curve is something we are laser-focused on in our next chapter. For instance, further reducing the cost of cell feed and finding efficiencies in bioprocess scale-up will play key roles in achieving our scale-up goals. We’ve already made tremendous progress on both of these fronts, and continue to invest in developing and testing new production processes to help achieve these goals.”
In 2021, Upside Foods announced a breakthrough development, producing an animal-component-free (ACF) cell feed for its cultivated chicken products. This meant it was no longer using the controversial fetal bovine serum (FBS), and doubtless helped fast-track scalable production as well as earn regulatory clearance. Chen remained coy on whether the company was planning on applying for approval in other countries – Singapore is the only other country that allows the sale of cultivated meat so far – but hinted that “our mission is global”.
She added that following its collaboration with Bar Crenn, the company planned on partnering with additional chefs and restaurants in the US, and eventually selling its products in grocery stores and markets globally: “Ultimately, we want Upside’s products to be available everywhere meat is sold, including retail and foodservice channels.”
A recent consumer poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that half of Americans are unlikely to try cell-cultured meat, with most citing the reason as “it just sounds weird”, half saying they don’t think it would be safe.
Chen, however, remains confident about the consumer appeal of cultured meat. “We’re focused on educating consumers on what cultivated meat is and the potential benefits it can provide,” she said. “We believe they will fall in love with the familiar taste and texture of cultivated meat now that they have the chance to experience it.”
In recent years, the plant-based industry has witnessed hyper-growth and a lot of hype, fueled by venture capital and a promise of sustainable alternatives to traditional animal-based products. However, as the dust settles on initial market enthusiasm, the narrative surrounding this industry is changing.
The initial exclamation that “plant-based is dead” might be a startling realization for some, but it’s merely a natural progression. Like the phoenix, the industry is poised for a rebirth – a more mature, grounded, and realistic phase.
There are two areas where we need to anchor our focus in the short term as an industry, which will enable us to map a new course forward.
1) Understand the fickle consumer mindset
Fueled by a torrent of venture funding, companies leaned heavily into technological innovations, prioritizing the replication of meat, dairy, and eggs. The target was clear: produce products that looked, cooked, and tasted identical to their animal-based counterparts. Yet, in this rush, many overlooked a key component: consumer motivations and purchasing behaviors. Consider this: while 70% of the US population consumes plant-based foods, a recent Gallup poll found that only 4% identify as vegetarian and a mere 1% as vegan. This raises an intriguing question: what drives the majority? Most consumers aren’t driven by a strict dietary lifestyle but instead by flavor, health, or novelty. There’s definitely a significant group enticed by products mimicking their animal-based counterparts in taste and texture, making their dietary transition smoother. However, many of these consumers are now questioning the integrity of ingredients in these “alternative” products. So what are they looking for? Recognizable ingredients, placing taste and health benefits above perfect mimicry perhaps?
Here’s the truth: we don’t really know, but the intersection of behavioral psychology with market data suggests that companies may have placed the cart before the horse. Prioritizing tech-driven mimicry (and valuing it like tech) possibly missed the broader picture: understanding the diverse and multi-layered motivations behind consumer choices. Food is not tech and comparisons to electric vehicles or renewable energy may work in the context of shaping markets, but don’t account for the complex psychology involved in food choices. Let’s focus on understanding consumer intentions, and most importantly consumer purchase behavior (because they don’t always align). There is an undeniable “say-do” gap between what consumers say they want and what they are actually buying, and this gap may be even harder to bridge when it comes to food because of the emotional and cultural influences on food choices. Perhaps once we decode this behavior, we can invest more wisely in the right kind of product innovation.
2) Shift from growth to profitability
As the initial hype subsided, many startups faced a new reality. The mantra of “growth at all costs,” bolstered by hefty valuations and a cascade of venture capital, began to wane. Facing a weaker economic outlook, rising inflation, and higher interest rates, businesses must reevaluate strategies. Especially as investor interest becomes more discerning, aligning with a profitability-focused model. These macroeconomic shifts add to existing challenges: production costs, public funding disparities, and robust competition. The industry is now witnessing a palpable shift towards pragmatic business strategies and clear paths to profitability. To achieve this, companies are being forced with the necessity to “right-size” their operations or face the consequences of running out of capital. This involves not just streamlining processes but actively seeking avenues for collaboration to tackle the unique challenges of retail and foodservice.
And what are these challenges? In retail, securing shelf space is a daunting task, especially with established food giants in the mix. The rise in demand for plant-based products has certainly increased their visibility in stores, but it’s accompanied by increased competition, particularly from private label products that promise similar quality at lower price points. Foodservice, on the other hand, offers a different beast. Here, consistency, scalability, and price points become paramount. Given that most foodservice operators work on razor-thin margins, plant-based options need to be competitively priced, consistent in taste and quality, and scalable to varying demands.
The path forward: we need industry collaboration
With the surge in plant-based companies, the landscape has become a bustling hub of innovation. Yet, the challenges of distribution, intense competition, high production costs, and fluctuating consumer preferences demand a more unified approach. Given these multifaceted challenges, the industry’s survival and growth will depend heavily on collaboration. By pooling resources and expertise, plant-based companies can leverage economies of scale, reducing production and distribution costs, and ultimately improving their margins.
The harsh reality is some brands won’t make it past 2023 and many that do won’t stay independent for long and may need to be consolidated under new management. In this new incarnation of the plant-based space, shared ingredient sourcing, for instance, can offer volume discounts and more bargaining power. Shared marketing, leveraging collective reach, can bring down advertising expenditures. Collaborative research and development can speed up innovation cycles, sharing the financial burden and risk.
In the realms of food service and retail, the nuances run deeper.
In retail, securing shelf space is the biggest hurdle. Traditional meat and dairy industries have entrenched relationships. The hefty cost of slotting fees, promotions, and the battle for endcap displays often stretches the budgets of nascent plant-based companies. While there’s no simple solution to this dilemma, launching co-branded SKUs in high-growth categories may prove strategically advantageous, and achieving cost savings elsewhere may make these expenses more palatable.
For foodservice, while there are a lot more immediate opportunities, the challenges include training staff about new products, ensuring consistency in delivery, and managing varying consumer expectations with creative menus. Here, shared services and turnkey/collaborative concepts that involve multiple brands, collaborative distribution logistics and unified training models can bridge knowledge gaps, streamline operations, and make a significant difference in margins.
Final Thoughts
It’s not the end of the road for plant-based. It’s a bend, a crucial inflection point. As the initial hype subsides, what remains is an industry that’s learning, recalibrating, and reinventing. With a deeper understanding of consumer behavior, a more realistic approach to business growth, and an industry-wide spirit of collaboration, plant-based is poised not just to live but to thrive. In essence, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. Instead, plant-based is on the cusp of a new dawn, a phase where it will not just be an alternative but an integral part of our food landscape.
Earlier this month, McDonald’s added four new meatless products to its Netherlands range and, in a move to promote plant-forward food, listed them before beef on the menu. The new burgers, nuggets and salad join the Beyond Meat-based McPlant, which has been a permanent fixture on the fast-food chain’s Dutch menu since last year, after a successful trial the year before.
Two of the new products are limited-edition, while the other two are permanent. The former category contains the McPlant Steakhouse (a variation of the original McPlant with a “juice steakhouse taste”) and the Meatless McKroket, which is temporarily replacing the original McKroket and has seen its croquet recipe updated to feature jackfruit.
The new Veggie Nuggets and Veggie Chicken Honey Mustard Salad make up the permanent additions. None of these, however, are plant-based by default. The nuggets and salad both contain dairy and eggs, with the latter also having honey as an ingredient. The Meatless McKroket can be made vegan if ordered without the sauce, while the McPlant Steakhouse will be plant-based if you remove the cheese. (While the McPlant uses Beyond Meat, the new products’ supplier hasn’t been disclosed.)
McDonald’s promotes meatless
Courtesy: McDonald’s
The new products coincide with a new campaign by McDonald’s, through which it aims to promote meatless and plant-based eating among its customers. It has reallocated its campaign budgets to support meat-free products more, and positioned these new products alongside chicken options first on the menu, followed by the conventional beef options. (Beef is the highest-emitting food on the planet.)
“At McDonald’s, we are constantly developing the menu,” Dolly van den Akker, impact director at McDonald’s Netherlands, told Duurzaam Ondernemen. “We listen to the wishes of our guests and are happy to take the lead in our sector. We do this by offering responsible choices, such as fruit and vegetables in the Happy Meal, but also by adding more variety to the menu offering.
“However, we know that our guests often have fixed preferences. With this campaign and new introductions, we want to challenge them to go for that unknown, meatless option. Which is really just as tasty.”
The move signposts McDonald’s strong plant-based performance in the EU. It test-launched the McPlant in Sweden and Denmark in 2021, before rolling out the vegan burger in the UK months later. It has taken this trial approach in most countries, including the US, where it initially gained popularity before sales stagnated. The test run in its home market ended in August 2022.
Across the Atlantic, however, the results are more positive. Its permanent UK launch was so successful that McDonald’s launched a Double McPlant this January, and in Germany, all stores now have the McPlant as well as vegan nuggets (also made using Beyond Meat). The Netherlands trial in 2021 saw the McPlant become a permanent menu item last October.
Plant-based fast food goes mainstream
Courtesy: McDonald’s
The new product range is an important step for McDonald’s, the world’s largest food chain, as the fast-food sector aims to meet consumers’ plant-based demands. Burger King has been a leader in this space for some time now – it was recently revealed that one in five of its burgers sold in Germany is plant-based. And a nine-country report by ProVeg International found that Burger King tops the list of fast-food chains with the most plant-based options.
McDonald’s and Burger King – two giant rivals – also use different alt-meat competitors in their products. While Burger King uses Impossible Foods‘ plant-based meat in its meatless offerings in North America, it employs Unilever-owned The Vegetarian Butcher’s alt-meat elsewhere – and in the EU, its vegan bacon is provided by Parisian startup La Vie. Burger King’s meatless options are present in multiple countries internationally, including the UK, Austria, Spain, France, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia, among others.
McDonald’s was third on the list, following Subway. Only 9% of the restaurant’s menu was found to be vegan, with plant-based mains comprising only 3% of the total options and available only in the UK, Germany and South Africa (at the time). The report noted that McDonald’s has an opportunity to make its nearly plant-based options – some have dairy cheese and a ‘plant-based’ patty has animal products – vegan by default.
This extends to the new range in the Netherlands. McDonald’s already makes vegan nuggets in other countries, so could theoretically also introduce the same product in the Netherlands as well, helping it encourage Dutch consumers to change their dietary habits for the planet.
The Netherlands has the highest sales of alt-meat per capita of any European country, with more than 70% of its consumers supporting a shift towards a more plant-based diet. This could explain why the market share of vegan products increased from 1.4% in 2016 to 5.4% in 2021. Here, Subway leads the way in terms of the number of plant-based dishes, followed by Burger King. McDonald’s comes last – after Domino’s and KFC – given that most of its products aren’t vegan by default.
However, there are encouraging signs. McDonald’s new menu positioning follows one of the ProVeg report’s recommendations, which reads: “Integrate plant-based options with similar items and list them first, while repeating them in a separately labelled plant-based section. This will nudge consumers to choose more plant-based options while making it easier to navigate the menu.”
Whether it follows up with more default plant-based options remains to be seen.
Months after resolving all legal disputes with its namesake founder Miyoko Schinner, alt-dairy pioneer Miyoko’s Creamery has launched its first new product range. The cashew-based Plant Milk Cheese Spreads herald a new era for the company and its CEO Stuart Kronauge.
Miyoko’s new cheese spreads, which are inspired by its artisanal cheese wheels and Roadhouse Cheddar offering, employ traditional cheesemaking techniques using a base of organic cashew milk. The new range has four flavours: classic chive, garlic and herb, sundried tomato and Roadhouse Cheddar.
The latter is the star of the lineup and packs a bold, sharp Cheddary flavour. Its ingredient list comprises cashew milk, coconut oil, rice miso, and natural flavourings, colour and cultures. The move comes a year and a half after the company unprecedentedly withdrew its vegan shreds and slices from the market to return to its traditional roots.
“I promise that we will honour the art and craft of cheesemaking, discovering the most nutrient-dense plant milks and transforming them into cheese through natural fermentation, coagulation and ageing to express their unique identity and flavour,” then-CEO Miyoko Schinner had said at the time.
A lot has happened since then. Schinner is no longer at the company she founded in 2014, having been ousted last June and sued by the business’s board earlier this year for an alleged breach of contract, a violation of trade secrets, and stealing company IP.
Miyoko’s vs Miyoko
Courtesy: Miyoko Schinner
This included Schinner’s alleged failure to return confidential items that included R&D materials like “proprietary recipes and plant-based culture configurations”, which is why Miyoko’s Creamery said it “was forced to bring this action to protect its trade secrets and confidential information”.
Schinner said she was “blindsided” by the lawsuit, and confirmed that “we did not arrive at this point by my choosing”. “As we worked to grow the business, conflict grew around the best path forward for future growth while continuing to live our values, founded on the principles of veganism and animal rights, as well as our B Corp status,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post. “That we find ourselves here is representative of the extent to which my views and approach have not always prevailed (especially in the past two years).”
A month later, Schinner countersued the company she founded, alleging that sexism led to her dismissal. She claimed she was forced out after filing multiple HR complaints about recently hired male executives who discriminated against women. She accused COO René Weber (who joined the company in 2021) of mistreating women, excluding them from meetings and withholding critical information. This made it “impossible for her to continue to effectively do her job”, the lawsuit stated.
It added that Weber “openly denigrated women, their expertise and their contributions at Miyoko’s, calling some ‘stupid’ and ‘terrible’” – terms Schinner said Weber never used about men. She added that Weber “mansplained” to her that she didn’t understand the products or company she had founded: “In a markedly gendered tone, he described her ideas and ambition as unrealistic, driven by emotion and whim.” (Weber is still at the company in the same role.)
And after Schinner allegedly raised an HR complaint against operations consultant John Zabrodsky, hired at the request of one of the company’s investors, she said the vegan cheese producer “swiftly retaliated against [Schinner] by demoting her and then terminating her”.
The Miyoko’s Creamery board of directors says Schinner’s exit from the company came as she lacked the necessary skills to take the company to the next level as its CEO.
Turning a new corner
In August, Miyoko’s Creamery appointed former Beyond Meat CMO Stuart Kronauger as its new CEO | Courtesy: Miyoko’s Creamery
In May, however, there appeared to be a resolution between the two parties, both having withdrawn legal claims and settled their disputes. “Miyoko’s Creamery and Miyoko Schinner are pleased that they have resolved all legal disputes between them and that they have withdrawn all legal claims made against each other,” a joint statement read.
“Miyoko’s Creamery acknowledges the tremendous creativity, hard work, and integrity of its founder, Miyoko Schinner, a true pioneer in vegan creamery products, and appreciates her many contributions to the company over the years.”
The company, which has products in over 20,000 retailers worldwide (and 25,000 stores across the US), also unveiled fresh branding with a new-look website and packaging, and in August, appointed former Beyond Meat CMO Stuart Kronauger as CEO. The new Plant Milk Cheese Spreads, which are priced at $6.49 per 8oz container, are the first under her reign.
The company received B Corp status in 2019, and two years later, it won a legal battle against the State of California that granted the company permission to use the term “butter” on its product labels. In 2022, Miyoko’s Creamery raised nearly $7M in equity from undisclosed investors, with one estimate revealing the company has received over $78.6M in funding since its founding. According to Dealroom, the company was worth $260M in June 2022.
Replacing 50% of our meat and dairy intake with plant-based alternatives by 2050 could result in significant climate benefits, reducing agricultural and land-use emissions by 31% and halting the destruction of forest and natural land, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
Shifting to vegan meat and dairy – and reforesting the land spared from livestock production – could double climate benefits, halve the future decline of ecosystems and significantly reduce food system emissions by 2050. If 50% of the leading animal products (pork, chicken, beef and milk) are substituted, land used for livestock would decrease by 12% and water use would be slashed by 10% from a 2020 baseline.
The independent study, published in the peer-reviewed Nature Communications journal yesterday with inputs from alt-meat giant Impossible Foods, found that replacing these animal products could effectively stop forest and natural land degradation – especially in sub-Saharan Africa, China and Southeast Asia – conserve water, and reduce biodiversity loss. This underscores the mission of the newly formed African NGO Plenty Foundation.
In a business-as-usual scenario, demand for meat will rise globally – people are set to be eating 14% more meat by 2030 – and this will lead to a 4% increase in agricultural land. Replacing meat and milk with vegan alternatives would instead shrink this area by 12% by 2050. And there will be additional food security benefits, with undernourishment declining by 3.6% globally, reducing the number of undernourished people by 31 million.
The research aligns with multiple studies that have measured the impact of animal agriculture on the environment. A 2021 revealed that meat accounts for nearly 60% of all emissions from food, while livestock farming has been found to produce between 11-19.5% of the planet’s overall emissions. Further research has shown that animal-derived foods like meat and dairy cause twice as many emissions as plant-based foods, and vegan diets can reduce emissions, water pollution and land use by 75% compared to meat-rich diets.
A similar study has shown that we can avoid 100 gigatons of emissions if three-quarters of people adopt plant-rich diets by 2050. “Understanding the impacts of dietary shifts expands our options for reducing GHG emissions. Shifting diets could also yield huge improvements for biodiversity,” said study lead Marta Kozicka.
The need for policy intervention and investment
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
Co-author Eva Wollenberg acknowledged that a vegan transition would be “challenging and require a range of technological innovations and policy interventions”. It makes events like the UN climate summit COP28 all the more important – this year’s conference is said to be more focused on food than ever before, and will feature policy announcements to help boost food security and reduce agrifood’s climate impact. Additionally, COP28 will be serving mostly vegan food this year.
A shift in consumer perception is vital for increased plant-based adoption. A recent Gallup poll found that 74% of Americans don’t think eating less meat will help the climate crisis, and that figure rises to 77% for dairy. This can be partly explained by the underreporting of livestock farming’s impact on the environment – one study has found that 93% of all climate media coverage doesn’t mention animal agriculture.
The gap in funding will need to be addressed. Research shows that livestock farmers get 1,200 times more public funding in the EU than meat alternative companies, and 800 times more in the US. It further highlighted that 97% of all research and innovation spending between 2014-20 went to animal farmers, aimed at improving production, while in the EU, cattle farmers received at least 50% of their income through direct subsidies.
Public money spent on vegan meat alternatives, meanwhile, was at $42M in this period – just 0.1% of the $35B spent on meat and dairy. “Plant-based meats are not just a novel food product, but a critical opportunity for achieving food security and climate goals while also achieving health and biodiversity objectives worldwide,” said Wollenberg.
Protecting farmers’ livelihoods
Courtesy Canva
Study coordinator Petr Havlík stressed the importance of policy intervention. “While the analysed dietary shifts serve as a powerful enabler for reaching climate and biodiversity goals, they must be accompanied by targeted production side policies to deliver their full potential,” he said. “Otherwise, these benefits will be partly lost due to production extensification and resulting GHG and land-use efficiency losses.”
The authors acknowledge that while the results support the increased consumption of plant-based meat, livestock are still a valuable source of income and nourishment for smallholder farmers. But at the same time, climate change does threaten their livelihoods, so government support will be crucial for a sustainable food shift and better food security.
As the authors wrote in the study: “Appropriate policy and management efforts should be developed to both prevent the environmental risks and to support farmers and other actors in the livestock value chain affected for a socially just transition.”
COP28 made headlines last month when it announced it will serve mostly plant-based food – it signposts the increased focus on food systems at this year’s UN climate summit (November 30 to December 12), in contrast to years past. In addition to mostly vegan catering, the conference will see food policy announcements and a Food4Climate Pavilion.
The link between climate change and agriculture is clear – food systems are responsible for a third of all human-caused global greenhouse gas emissions. The link between climate change and meat should also be fairly obvious – animal agriculture has been found to produce between 11-19.5% of the planet’s emissions, and one study has revealed that animal-derived foods cause twice as many emissions as plant-based foods.
Despite all the evidence, food has been a touchy topic at the world’s top climate summit for years. At COP26 in Glasgow, the UN introduced climate labels to its meat-heavy food menu, with some animal-based dishes having a carbon footprint 30 times higher than plant-based options. But it failed to add food and livestock farming to the agenda. And last year’s summit in Egypt hosted its first-ever pavilions dedicated to food system changes, and yet cutting meat and dairy wasn’t on the agenda.
It hasn’t been helped by the severe underreporting about the impact of livestock farming on the climate crisis (only 7% of climate stories in the media mention animal agriculture), nor the lack of global climate funding dedicated to food and agriculture. Intensive lobbying by the meat and dairy industries – who receive billions in subsidies from many of the governments attending COP conferences – against the plant-based sector exacerbates this issue and leads to misconceptions among consumers – signalled by the 74% of Americans who don’t believe eating meat has an impact on climate change.
COP28 shines a light on food, finally
This year, however, the tide seems to be turning. Last month, the UN confirmed it would be featuring predominantly plant-based food on its catering menu at the conference in Dubai (which saw the opening of the UAE‘s first plant-based meat factory earlier this year). And this was a precursor of what’s to come – COP28 will finally have a heavy focus on food, with policy announcements and another food pavilion rounded off by a dedicated Food, Agriculture and Water Day on December 10.
This day will spotlight investment in innovation, procurement around regenerative agriculture, national transformation pathways underpinned by financing mechanisms, and project preparation, according to Raphaël Podselver, director of UN Affairs at food advocacy non-profit ProVeg International.
He says it’s the “first time we are having real discussions on food and agriculture at a COP summit”, and expects policy shifts aimed at advancing plant-rich diets and protein diversification, improving food security and reducing agrifood emissions.
Courtesy: Food4Climate Pavilion
Podselver calls COP28’s commitment to serve mostly vegan food “excellent progress”, but adds that there’s still work to do to raise awareness among UN nations about food’s impact on the climate, and solutions to cut emissions. “We believe the climate data is helping to push things forward, in particular, the latest report from the IPCC about the need to embrace plant-based diets to tackle climate change,” he says.
The IPCC report suggests that transitioning to plant-rich diets (alongside other alt-proteins) could result in a “substantial reduction in direct greenhouse gas emissions from food production”. But a leaked draft of the original report showed that the authors initially recommended a shift towards plant-based diets – before the wording was softened in the final version.
In any case, Podselver says COP28’s decision is precedent-setting: “We expect to see plant-based catering as well as emissions labelling on food embraced by other summits going forward. We certainly do not see this as a one-off, but rather another stage in a journey towards raising awareness of how to make our diets more climate-friendly.”
Food4Climate Pavilion and the North-South divide
This year’s summit will see a coalition of NGOs set up the Food4Climate Pavilion, the second time a COP conference will host it. This includes groups like ProVeg, World Animal Protection, Compassion in World Farming, Plant Based Foods Institute, Humane Society International, Mercy for Animals, and Four Paws, among others.
The Food4Climate Pavilion will highlight the importance of prioritising the production of alternative protein over animal protein, as well as tackle the overconsumption of meat in the Global North. A region seen as wealthier, and as a group, the world’s richest are responsible for 50% of total emissions, versus 7% for the poorest.
The wealth gap extends to climate consequences, too. A study has found that the richest humans would be primarily responsible for the climate-related deaths of poorer people if global temperatures reach 2°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. The North-South divide was a point of contention at COP26, when thousands of people from the Global South couldn’t attend the conference due to visa and accreditation issues, lack of access to Covid-19 vaccines, and changing travel rules.
Courtesy: Food4Climate Pavilion
Policy shifts and a 1.5°C roadmap
COP28 will witness a host of food policy announcements to help mitigate its impact on climate change. It includes the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s roadmap to limit global temperature rises to the 1.5°C limit outlined in the Paris Agreement. “To make a serious attempt at keeping within internationally agreed temperature targets under the Paris Agreement, we need to enable a shift to alternative protein production as quickly as possible,” explains Podselver.
But this target is under serious threat. Multiple assessments have found that limiting this temperature rise might not be possible, with many directly attributing this to the impact of food and agriculture systems. One study concluded that high-methane food consumption must drop to attempt to meet the target, as current levels of food emissions would cause at least 0.7°C of global heating by 2100.
In fact, research has shown that in a business-as-usual scenario, the world will emit around 1,356 billion tonnes of CO2e by 2100, which would take us well beyond the 1.5°C limit. Even if we stop all emissions from non-food sectors (energy and industry), food emissions alone will surpass the 1.5°C carbon budget.
Can we realistically keep to this target? Podselver points to a World Meteorological Organization report that shows there’s a 66% chance that annual global surface temperatures will temporarily exceed 1.5°C for at least one of the next five years. “The COP summits offer the world a chance of keeping to the 1.5°C target and we hope that by raising awareness of the impact of agriculture on climate change through our Food4Climate Pavilion, we will contribute to meeting that goal successfully,” he says.
He adds that there will be concrete discussions around the deforestation and methane commitments made at COP26. Additionally, the COP28 presidency “wants to get a Leaders Declaration on Food Systems, with concrete commitments to transform our broken food systems and mitigate emissions while ensuring food security for all”.
Revo Foods will launch its whole-cut salmon filet in Rewe Group’s vegan flagship store, Billa Pflanzilla, in Vienna this week, marking the first time a 3D-printed meat alternative will be on supermarket shelves, according to the company. Born out of its collaboration with Sweden’s Mycorena, the mycoprotein-based salmon employs new extrusion tech to achieve the flakiness and juice fibres associated with conventional fish.
The collaboration between the two startups was announced this January, as part of a €1.5M grant from Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, and EU funding programme Eurostars. Titled ‘The Filet – Inspired by Salmon’, the mycoprotein base is a result of this partnership, using Mycorena’s Promyc protein base and engineering it specifically for 3D printing purposes.
Mycoprotein, which is essentially mycelium created from filamentous fungi, first came into the plant-based zeitgeist with Quorn’s meat-free range. The global mycoprotein segment is set to reach $976M in 2032, according to Future Market Insights, so the demand for such foods is clear.
New extrusion tech enables mass production
The “ultra-realistic” salmon filet is the first food produced by Revo Foods’ patented 3D-MassFormer technology. The extrusion tech allows the “seamless integration of fats into a fibrous protein matrix”, which can recreate the flakiness and juice fibres found in conventional fish filets. Using this tech, the startup claims it has developed the first-ever continuous manufacturing process capable of mass-producing 3D-printed food. It can create what Revo Foods calls a “new generation of authentic seafood alternatives”.
“With the milestone of industrial-scale 3D food printing, we are entering a creative food revolution, an era where food is being crafted exactly according to the customer needs,” says Revo Foods CEO Robin Simsa. The brand calls this new process a “gamechanger” for plant-based meat, enabling the creation of a new category of “authentic products” like vegan steaks and filets.
Courtesy: Revo Foods
Its deal with Rewe sees the plant-based whole cut – often described as the “holy grail” of alt-meat – launch into Rewe Group’s Billa Pflanzilla vegan store in Vienna, while European consumers can purchase the new salmon filet from Revo Foods’ website from October. It’s also available in foodservice, starting from Restaurant Adlerhorf in Vienna and Bistro Verde in Copenhagen. The company says it will move the salmon into over 1,500 stores across Europe next year.
The startup received €2.2M grant from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency last June, and closed a €1.5M in its first investment round in 2021. With a host of products already on the market, including smoked salmon, gravlax, salmon spread and tuna spread, it also launched in the UK last year. Its new salmon, which is priced between €6-7 for a 130g filet, was prepared for a panel of 10 tasters by a Michelin-starred chef in 2022 too, with overwhelmingly positive feedback – some questioned whether the dish was actually vegan.
The rise of alt-seafood
Revo Foods joins a growing alt-seafood sector with its 3D-printed whole-cut salmon filet. Industry think tank the Good Food Institute reported a 40% year-on-year increase in pound sales for vegan seafood last year. As of 2021, there were over 120 companies in the overall alt-seafood space, which includes vegan, fermentation-based and cultivated categories.
The seafood sector is inundated with climate and human rights blemishes. Overfishing operations receive $22B in capacity-enhancing subsidies annually – a figure UN special envoy Peter Thomson has called “madness”. Meanwhile, rising demand for seafood has led to higher greenhouse gas emissions, and the heavy fuel use by ocean fishery vessels also contributes to climate change. The use of plastic packaging and the presence of microplastics in the ocean exacerbate the industry’s problems – both of which are highlighted in the 2021 documentary Seaspiracy.
Courtesy: Revo Foods
Speaking to Green Queen last year, Lily Ng, owner of Manhattan-based vegan seafood company Lily’s Vegan Pantry, said: “Overfishing disrupts the food chain. And when populations are diminished, other species will overpopulate, destroying biodiversity and making changes to the entire ecosystem. In the end, our consumption of fish still destroys our planet.”
It has led to increased investment and new product development in the alternative seafood category. Startups like Konscious Foods, Bluu Seafood and Hooked Foods have all received funding this year itself – in addition to the grant received by Revo Foods and Mycorena.
“Alternative seafood is a new category, with limited awareness, whereas meat is more established,” Maarten Garaets, outgoing alt-protein managing director of seafood giant Thai Union, told Green Queen in May. “However, seafood is bound to catch up soon. Health is less of a concern for seafood, whereas sustainability will be more of a lever.”
Months after introducing its mushroom bacon to the Spanish market, Barcelona-based Libre Foods has announced it will be launching the EU’s first mycelium-based whole-muscle chicken breast. The brand hopes to commercialise the vegan chicken by early next year, as the strain of fungi used isn’t considered a novel food and thus doesn’t require regulatory approval.
While Libre Foods initially set out to make mycelium bacon, the regulatory process in the EU meant that had to be put on hold. So the company pivoted to fruiting bodies of mushrooms to launch its vegan bacon last November.
But it’s sidestepping the regulatory obstacle with its new fungi-based chicken, which uses a strain of mycelium not classed as a novel food by the EU. This means it doesn’t need to go through an approval process in the EU, something the company has been specifically focusing on.
“Mycelium itself is not considered a novel food, only certain strains of it are,” Libre Foods CEO Alan Iván Ramos told Green Queen. “Since the early stages of our development, we’ve been working closely with our regulatory counsel to ensure that our strain selection and bioprocess are in line with EU regulations, as to focus our research on optimising the experience, nutrition, and price of our products for an agile and successful commercial rollout.”
Clean-label mycelium chicken wins fans over
Courtesy: Libre Foods
Libre Chicken, which is made using biomass fermentation, has 25% fewer calories than conventional chicken, and outcompetes both its animal- and plant-based counterparts in dietary fibre by more than 25%. And while it currently contains 12.5g of protein per 100g, the company aims to be closer to conventional chicken when it launches.
Manufactured locally in Spain, the mycelium-based chicken breast will be priced more competitively than organic conventional chicken and plant-based chicken breasts, but the brand says the true victory would be price parity with traditional chicken. “So our focus will be on scaling and streamlining our operations quickly and strategically to achieve this in the next three years,” reveals Ramos.
The mycelium is the main element in a short ingredient list – its fibrosity enables the manufacturer to use significantly fewer ingredients. Apart from this, Libre Foods uses “low quantities of salt, natural flavours, and proteins”. This plays into current consumer trends – a global survey by Ingredion last year revealed that more than half of respondents find it important for products to have a short ingredient list.
It’s part of a wider effort to meet customer demands. Libre Bacon, which is now available in over 30 points of sale, has had a retention rate of nearly 100%. And having spoken with the brand’s existing consumers, Ramos says more than 90% have indicated their interest in buying the mycelium chicken breast.
This validates Libre Foods’ goal to put fungi at the forefront of future food. The startup claims it’s the only company “leveraging the entire fungi organism for its product range”, utilising upcycled materials alongside high-performing fungal strains to achieve “industry-leading yields” through its R&D and novel fermentation technology. It now wants to scale up this tech, increase its R&D capabilities, and secure strategic partnerships to commercialise and bring down costs.
And to do so, the startup will soon open a fundraising round to accelerate this development. In April 2022, it received $2.5M in an investment round led by Green Generation Fund, with other participants including Good Seed Ventures, ProVeg International and Veg Capital.
Further mycelium innovations
Courtesy: Libre Foods
Libre Foods plans to scale and commercialise the whole-muscle cut mycelium chicken breast by early 2024, alongside its efforts to expand into the EU. “We aim to follow the same course of what’s been most successful for us with our Libre Bacon,” notes Ramos. “We’ll be launching into foodservice under our Libre brand to gather market insights quickly, iterate according to feedback, and then prepare a wider rollout with a refined and market-validated positioning.”
Green Queen reported in December 2021 that Libre Foods was hoping to be the world’s first company to unveil mycelium-based whole-cut steak. It also had plans to create a vegan seafood range, but that is on the back burner as the brand focuses on its meat lineup. While the shift to fungi-based bacon has been successful and the new chicken is receiving positive feedback, that doesn’t signal an end to the innovation.
“The fascinating aspect of our mycelium is that it serves as a blank canvas for a wide range of products,” explains Ramos. “Our development of Libre Steak is going well, yet we still want to do more research on fungi’s ability to support the bleeding and fatty elements of the steak, which we have every indication they can.”
He adds: “We’ve dived head first into the world of fungi and are truly convinced, after our extensive work, that fungi are the key to transforming our food system. What we’re positioning ourselves to do is to be the company that unlocks it.”
Launched last week, the Plenty Foundation is a new non-profit aiming to address the challenges in Africa’s food system through biotech solutions and key multisector partnerships. Speaking to Green Queen, its founder Arturo Jose Garcia explains how the organisation hopes to boost the continent’s food and nutrition security, and the role alternative proteins can play in creating a sustainable food system.
A fifth of Africa’s population – that’s 278 million people – is undernourished, and 55 million children under the age of five are stunted due to severe malnutrition, according to Oxfam. The Global Network Against Food Crises has found that at least one in five Africans goes to bed hungry, with an estimated 140 million people in Africa facing acute food insecurity.
This is the backdrop the Plenty Foundation is launching in, hoping to reduce undernourishment rates, produce successful R&D outcomes, and increase the adoption of biotech solutions to uplift Africa’s food system. The organisation will combine philanthropy, commercial R&D and market partnerships, blending modern tech with local understanding to enhance and accelerate the development and availability of sustainable food options.
How cultivated meat can help Africa’s food system
Chief among these are alternative proteins like plant-based and cultivated meat products, which will play “a crucial role in transforming Africa’s food systems”, according to Plenty Foundation founder Arturo Jose Garcia. “Cultivated meat offers an efficient and sustainable means to provide high-quality protein without the significant land, water and feed resources required for traditional livestock farming,” he tells Green Queen.
“For regions of Africa facing scarcity, cultivated meat presents an innovative solution to meet the protein needs of the population without exacerbating resource constraints.” Africa’s population is expected to grow from 1.3 billion to 2.5 billion by 2050 (meaning a quarter of the global population would be African) – and the demand for meat is expected to skyrocket with it.
Courtesy: Newform Foods
While the organisation promotes plant-based diets for their sustainability and health credentials, it recognises the “cultural and nutritional importance of meat in many African diets”. This is why it advocates for cultivated meat as a complementary solution, “providing the sensory and nutritional benefits of meat without the environmental drawbacks”.
Jose Garcia adds that different regions of Africa have unique challenges, and each needs tailored solutions. “In some parts of Africa, introducing more animal protein can be beneficial, especially in areas where malnutrition is prevalent,” he says.
“Sub-Saharan Africa faces acute challenges like malnutrition, droughts and limited agricultural infrastructure. Cultivated meat can address malnutrition by providing essential proteins. In Western Africa, where livestock farming is prominent, transitioning to cultivated meat can reduce overgrazing and desertification.”
Partnering with Newform Foods and NGOs
The foundation is enlisting the help of its commercial partner, Newform Foods (formerly Mzansi Meat), Africa’s first cultivated meat company. “We’re embarking on an innovative project: combining cultivated fat with existing alternative protein products,” notes Jose Garcia. “This approach retains the sensory and nutritional richness of meat while drastically reducing the environmental footprint.”
He adds: “Essentially, we’re bridging the best of both worlds – offering the taste and nutritional profile of meat and the eco-friendliness of plant-based sources. Our goal is to provide a holistic solution that caters to cultural preferences, health needs, and the planet’s wellbeing.”
The non-profit says its success wouldn’t just be measured in terms of the number of meals provided, but also in the quality of those meals and the long-term sustainability of the solutions implemented. Its partnership with Newform Foods combines cutting-edge tech with a deep understanding of local needs to offer sustainable and nutritionally rich food options. “We believe that such entrepreneurial initiatives, backed by venture capital and strategic partnerships, can catalyse significant positive changes in Africa’s food systems.”
Courtesy: Plenty Foundation/LinkedIn
The Plenty Foundation has also submitted an application to ProVeg International’s Kickstarting for Good incubator programme, which supports non-profits, impact initiatives and social startups transforming the food system. “While our central commitment is to our collaboration with Newform Foods, we are excited about the potential to collaborate with organizations like ProVeg, especially given their recent expansion into Africa.”
Additionally, the organisation plans to team up with local NGOs on the distribution and acceptance of cell-cultured meat to ensure its solutions are “grounded in local realities”. “Partnering with such entities can significantly enhance our efforts, promoting cultivated meat as a viable, sustainable, and nutritious solution for the African continent,” explains Jose Garcia.
The future is exciting
He’s optimistic about the future of the region’s food system. And why wouldn’t he be? When it comes to cell-cultured meat, consumer reaction is encouraging. An October 2021 poll found that 60% of South Africans are ‘highly interested’ in trying cultivated meat, while a further 53% said they were ‘highly likely’ to purchase products made this way. In fact, 31% said they were open to paying more for cell-cultured meat. Brands like Newform Foods and WildBio (formerly Mogale Meat, which unveiled Africa’s first cultivated chicken) are pioneers in this space, but won’t be the last ones.
“Having witnessed the challenges of industrialised animal agriculture firsthand, the innovations emerging from Africa’s food sector fill me with hope,” Jose Garcia says. “Trailblazers like Essential and De Novo Dairy are redefining food production with their unique approaches. West Africa boasts companies like Veggie Victory and Baby Refill, leveraging indigenous crops for plant-based products.
“Meanwhile, East Africa, with initiatives such as Kelp Blue, explores the vast potential of algae and seaweed as protein sources. With support from entities like Co-Creation Hub and Vegan Africa Fund, Africa is solidifying its position in the global alternative protein scene.”
Cultivated meat can be considered halal if it meets certain criteria, according to three Shariah scholars who advised alt-protein leader Just Eat on the matter. The company, whose subsidiary GOOD Meat became the world’s first cultured meat producer to get regulatory approval in 2020, says it will work along these guidelines to make its cell-based chicken halal-certified.
Halal diets refer to the consumption of food in accordance with Islamic law. In terms of meat, this means animals must be slaughtered in a prescribed way, and certain types of meat and byproducts – including pork and blood products – are prohibited.
Making cultivated meat halal-certified could be a giant step toward the widespread acceptance and adoption of these foods. Halal consumers represent 25% of the world’s population, and the Halal meat market is estimated to grow by 7% annually to reach $375B in 2031. Additionally, research has found that Muslims want to see Halal certification – particularly from their own country’s authorities – to be confident in consuming alt-meat products.
Criteria to make cultivated meat halal-certified
Credit: Eat Just
The Shariah opinion comes from Sheikh Abdullah AlManea, Professor Abdullah al-Mutlaq and Professor Saad Al-Shathry – three widely respected scholars from Saudi Arabia. They reviewed documents prepared by GOOD Meat and attorneys describing how its cultivated chicken is produced, detailing how the cells are sourced and selected, the ingredients fed to the cells to stimulate growth, how the cells are harvested, and how finished products are manufactured.
The scholars concluded that cultivated meat, in general, can be halal if it meets the following criteria:
The cell line is from an animal that’s permissible to eat, like a chicken or cow.
The animal the cell line is extracted from is slaughtered according to Islamic law.
The nutrients fed to the cells are permissible to eat, and don’t include any forbidden substances like spilled blood, alcohol or materials extracted from improperly slaughtered animals, or pigs.
The cultivated meat is edible and does not harm human health, and this is confirmed by specialists, like a country’s food regulatory agency.
Eat Just confirmed to Green Queen that this means cultivated pork still won’t be considered halal, as the Quran prohibits the consumption of meat derived from pigs in Islamic culture. It also means that cultivated meat made from the controversial fetal bovine serum (FBS), which breaches Halal guidance as it’s derived from the blood of unborn calves, cannot be considered halal.
GOOD Meat’s chicken cell line and production process – which have been approved in Singapore and the US – don’t currently meet the halal criteria laid out by the Shariah scholars. Its cultivated chicken isn’t FBS-free yet, but in January, it received the world’s first regulatory approval for serum-free media in Singapore.
The company confirmed that it’s now working on an amendment to its FDA approval for the same, adding that GOOD Meat’s R&D operations have been “free from animal-derived nutrients for over three years”. It will now take these guidelines into consideration to meet halal guidelines for its cell-culture products.
The importance of halal for cultivated meat
Courtesy: Eat Just
A poll commissioned by GOOD Meat last year found that a vast majority of consumers in six Middle Eastern countries – areas with large Muslim populations – would buy cultivated meat and transition from conventional counterparts, as long as it was halal, cost-competitive, and tasted the same as traditional meat.
“If cultivated meat is to help address our future food system needs, it has to be an option for the billions of people around the world who eat halal,” said GOOD Meat co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick. “This landmark ruling provides much-needed clarity on how to ensure that is achieved. All companies should work to build a process to meet these guidelines.”
In a study published in July, Professor Cother Hajat and Dr Sophie Attwood wrote: “Muslim consumers recognise additional potential benefits of cultivated meat for the Halal economy, both in terms creating new jobs for halal meat scientists, as well as helping to grow Muslim-owned food businesses. Greater adoption of cultivated meat may also be viewed by some Islamic jurists and Halal consumers as a step toward Khilafa (guardianship of nature) [Quran 10:14], which is an important principle related to environmental sustainability.”
“More than a billion people around the world adhere to halal food standards, so for cultivated meat to make the leap from novelty to the norm, it is crucial that there are viable pathways to achieve this certification,” said Mirte Gosker, managing director of alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute APAC. “Building a truly inclusive, efficient and secure protein production system requires making high-quality, nutrient-rich and culturally relevant foods available to every facet of society.”
Two years after announcing their US higher education partnership, Israeli food tech startup SavorEat and French catering giant Sodexo are finally launching the first 3D-printing robot for plant-based burgers at the University of Denver.
In 2021, Sodexo North America announced it would be piloting SavorEat’s robot chef system across canteens in higher education institutions in the US. Now, the collaboration will enable students at the University of Denver to try SavorEat’s 3D-printed vegan burgers.
During the announcement of the Sodexo-SavorEat deal in 2021, the caterer said that it was in talks to reach an agreement to distribute the Israeli startup’s products within the North American market. In addition, it revealed that there are plans to launch “additional pilots” in the future, with the view to expand Sodexo’s plant-based offerings in the long term.
Sodexo, a major provider of plant-based meals in the US’s education system, has pledged to cut its carbon footprint by 34% by 2025. In line with that, it announced last year that it plans to turn 42% of its college and university menus plant-based by that year, meaning hundreds of educational institutes in the US are set to feature new plant-forward menus. Its partnership with SavorEat is an extension of this commitment.
SavorEat’s 3D-printing plant-based meat robot
Courtesy: SavorEat
Founded in 2018, SavorEat’s robot chef system prints plant-based meats based on consumers’ preferences. It went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2021, and already tested this system with local hamburger chain BBB last year. SavorEat, which has raised close to $18M in total funding, added to its collaborations last year by teaming up with Israeli catering giant Yazrin-Sella.
“It’s a mix of innovation of meat alternative and digital manufacturing where we can also cook the product,” SavorEat CEO Racheli Vizman told Reuters when announcing the BBB deal. “From the beginning, we believed that the food industry is in need of significant changes in order to remain relevant.
“We choose to boldly look at the changes of our future and to challenge the status quo in the food industry. Through the technology we have developed, we will be able to get to know our customers better, respect them and give expression to their changing needs.”
Speaking about SavorEat’s link-up with Sodexo last year, she said: “I am convinced that Sodexo’s expertise in the international catering market and particularly North America will significantly contribute to the development and acceleration of the penetration rate of our products in the international market, with an emphasis on the US market.”
Husein Kitabwalla, operations and food transformation CEO at Sodexo North America, had added: “Sodexo’s partnership with SavorEat will further extend our ability to deliver the plant-based foods our clients’ customers are demanding in increasingly growing numbers.”
It’s not just the US where plant-based food is making a dent in university menus. This week, more than 650 academics and campaigners in the UK wrote an open letter to British universities calling for a switch to a 100% vegan catering menu to fight the climate crisis, coordinated by the Plant-Based Universities campaign. The Universities of Stirling, Birmingham, Queen Mary, London Metropolitan, Kent, University College London and Cambridge have all previously voted to introduce a fully plant-based menu at their eateries.
Artificial intelligence in the plant-based industry
Courtesy: SavorEat
This is just the latest of a host of developments in the vegan sector leveraging future-facing tech and artificial intelligence (AI). Earlier this month, US food experts launched GreenProtein AI, a project tapping AI and machine learning to optimise the extrusion and texture of plant-based meat.
Latin American food tech brand NotCo has been using AI and machine learning since 2015 to find the best plant-based alternatives for animal products. The patented AI tech, called Giuseppe, is the brains behind the company’s alt-milks, mayo and burgers. Similarly, Singapore’s Howw Foods uses AI to make Hegg, its vegan powdered egg product.
Moreover, a bevy of companies and brands have collaborated with AI companies to develop plant-based products. Bel Foods – the French cheese giant behind Babybel – has partnered with California’s Climax Foods to make vegan products, while industry giant Danone is working with Californian AI firm Brightseed to discover hidden nutrients and compounds in plant crops.
Similarly, mycelium meat producer Meati teamed up with AI company PIPA to accelerate and expand its understanding of the health and nutrition benefits of its nutrient-rich products.
AI is also being used as a marketing tool. US vegan cheese startup Pleese Foods unveiled a campaign last month, where it employed AI to generate whimsical imagery of cheese as a flourishing crop and being grown on trees.
By Sonalie Figueiras, Editor-in-Chief, Green Queen Media and Maarten Geraets, outgoing MD Alternative Protein, Thai Union
There’s no denying that times are tough for the global plant-based industry. Retail sales are down, investors have lost confidence, startups are ceasing operations and the mainstream media is pushing one negative narrative after another. As we look ahead to what’s next, it’s time to also look in the mirror. There are many lessons we as a sector need to learn and here are 10 of them.
1) Make The Consumer the Priority
The category as it stands today is far too technology-driven, we need to move to consumer-centric propositions that leverage strong consumer insights as soon as possible. In fact, we need to START with the consumer. It seems that many, if not most, plant-based brands totally forgot about doing consumer segmentation work when creating their product offering. As any food entry-level exec will tell you, if you don’t know who you’re selling to, you’re selling to no one.
If there’s one plant-based brand that understands marketing and the need to invest in marketing talent, it’s Oatly. Oatly billboards in Shoreditch
2) Invest in Marketing and Marketers
One thing the sector has not done enough is invest in marketing and marketers. From winning concepts to persuasive communication, we need to rethink how we communicate to end consumers. Plant-based brands today are over-reliant on negative storytelling, e.g. ‘we do not slaughter cows’. Not only is this lazy marketing, it’s not the way to get consumers on board. In the polarized world we live in, consumers need positive encouragement and are looking for brands that represent joy.
3) Reassess The Sustainability Agenda
Despite what many of us in the industry would like to believe, sustainability is simply NOT a key driver for consumers, plant-based or otherwise. For many founders in this space, helping to mitigate the consequences of the global climate crisis is a (if not THE) major reason why they started their companies. The reality is that on the consumer side of things, it is a different story- the climate is not a relevant RTB (Reason To Believe). Beyond a small group of early adopters, the average person is not making grocery shopping decisions based on sustainability criteria. Companies need to keep this top of mind when making strategic branding and marketing decisions.
Conventional meat is sold at artificially low prices, but plant-based alternatives must find a way to compete. Source: True Cost Of Meat Penny Supermarket Study Germany, courtesy Heura Foods.
4) Rethink Pricing: No More Premiums
The industry’s pricing strategy is all wrong – we’re pricing at a premium when consumers don’t understand the product’s USP. For a ‘fake alternative,’ as many perceive plant-based meats, the average shopper is not prepared to pay this premium. While it’s true that the industry is in its infancy and lacks the economies of scale that Big Food enjoys, we desperately need to find collaborative ways to bring product costs down and make animal food alternatives as attractive as possible by making them as affordable as possible.
5) Return To Gastronomy: It’s Food, Not Tech
We forgot about the FOOD in Food Tech. We are creating food and our industry seems to forget about this when creating and communicating about products. We have missed promoting the culinary aspect of our product proposition. We forgot to talk to foodies, to celebrate the experience of eating great food, to showcase the gastronomic heights we can reach with our creations, the emotion that food and food culture engenders! Time for food marketers and chefs to get involved and help put the enjoyment of food and gastronomy back into plant-based food!
New protein format Vegbloc: It’s not tofu, or tempeh, and don’t call it plant-based meat! Photos by Gavin Bond/Vegbloc, Graphic by Green Queen Media
6) Stop Mimicking, Start Creating
We are overly obsessed with mimicking animal products and we need to stop. Here we have an opportunity to create entirely new formats and foods and to pick and choose the characteristics that we want to highlight, but instead, we are overly focused on replicating imperfect animal foods. We need to move beyond this and create our own category with its own experience, thus opening up new possibilities and avoiding direct comparisons on things like taste, texture and price.
7) Fund Behavorial Change
We completely forgot about investing in behavioral change theory. Sorry, folks, the plant-based industry is not the EV sector. We expected rapid wins and skyrocketing revenue -growth in a traditional and emotional category like food and that was misguided. Food is not cars! It’s not tech! Asking folks to change what’s on their plate requires a significant cultural, social and behavioral shift and we as an industry need to invest in this work. Changing consumer habits is a multi-decade marathon, not a 3-5 year sprint. What we are creating, what we are offering, what we are promising- all of this will take many years to nurture and grow.
Have we reached peak plant-based nuggets? Consumers are drowning in too many ‘samey’ products. Photo courtesy of Cook Gem blog.
8) Accept that Novelty and Hype Are Over
We (over)shot on the hype! At first, it seemed like a winning strategy. We got global headlines. We got millions of new consumers to try our products. We took over market share. But then…the hype dissipated. Consumers tasted the products, once, maybe twice, and then decided the experience didn’t live up to the hype. Disappointed and overwhelmed with a glut of samey products that were not tasty enough and fighting rising food inflations and a more complicated economic environment, they left and took their grocery budgets elsewhere. Today we’ve got too many brands, little differentiation, and a market too small as it was never really built on strong fundamentals. We need to fight extra hard to gain all those consumers back by getting back to business basics.
9) Double Down On Product Innovation
There is a need for a much more holistic innovation approach in the category, leveraging consumer insights, ingredients, technologies, marketing and sales to come to differentiated propositions for the consumer that excite, inspire and offer novel experiences. Commodity burgers and nuggets is not what inspires the consumer. A new category needs to be created: Plant-Based 2.0.
10) Improve Product Quality
This may be the hardest one to swallow: in the cold, harsh light of day, the taste, texture and nutrition of most plant-based products on the market simply aren’t good enough. After price, which we covered above, taste is the main reason consumers choose the foods they eat. Moreover, the perceived (lack of) nutrition and long, complex ingredient labels don’t help. We have to accept that we have a long way to go before we get to an average industry standard that passes the gastronomic taste, texture and nutrition test. People want to have a pleasurable eating experience! It must wow on the taste front, and frankly, most products on the shelf today simply don’t.
The industry’s raison d’être has not changed: global food systems are under huge pressure, and we can’t solve the climate crisis without reducing animal foods consumption, not to mention that food supply chain disruptions will become a regular reality. As we move towards a world of 2°C warming and 10 billion people, we need to find new, sustainable ways to feed ourselves. Let’s build a future-proof plant-based industry by focusing on what matters: what consumers want and need.
Over 650 academics and campaigners have written an open letter to UK universities calling for a switch to a 100% vegan catering menu to fight the climate crisis. Coordinated by student-led campaign Plant-Based Universities, the letter compares this shift to the fossil fuel divestment committed by 101 universities.
Founded in 2021 by British activism group Animal Rising, the Plant-Based Universities initiative is calling on university vice-chancellors, catering managers and student union presidents to commit to sustainable, 100% plant-based catering. The letter argues that most universities have already declared a climate emergency, and shifting to a vegan menu is a natural step to take next.
Veganism has been found to reduce climate emissions, water pollution and land use by 75% compared to a meat-rich diet. The letter cites Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek’s landmark 2018 study about the impact of food production on climate change. The researchers found that cutting meat and dairy from your diet is the single biggest way to reduce a person’s environmental impact.
The co-signees also point to Harvard University’s 2019 analysis that suggested the UK could be carbon-negative if it combined the switch to plant-based production with rewilding the land freed up by this change.
Plant-based catering menus at universities
Courtesy: Compass Group/UKVI
“We are in a crucial period for the future of all life on Earth, the decisions we make now will shape the future of humanity and the natural world,” the letter reads. “Our young people, many of whom study at your institutions, deserve to know that their universities are actively working to create a future for them to graduate into.”
The campaigners stress that they’re not trying to force people to be plant-based: “Not vegan? That’s okay. We are not asking for individual dietary changes. Students and staff can still bring whatever food they like onto campus. What we are asking for is institutional divestment within procurement in the same way that universities are boycotting fossil fuel companies.”
The letter adds: “We are calling on you to use your positions to speak up and begin the transition to 100% just and sustainable plant-based catering at your own institutions… We truly believe in the power of people to come together and make positive change and we are asking you to step up and be part of building a better, kinder, and safer world.”
Many UK universities have already voted to introduce a fully plant-based menu at their eateries. These include the Universities of Stirling, Birmingham, Queen Mary, London Metropolitan, Kent, University College London and Cambridge – the latter had already removed beef and lamb from its catering menus in 2016. But similar votes in the Universities of Edinburgh and Warwick didn’t pass.
Olympic canoeist Etienne Stott, one of the signatories, said: “The need for universities to act on their own climate research could not be more pressing. The support of academics from over 90 institutions is incredibly powerful and I urge universities to listen to their calls for change.”
Vega catering in the UK
Courtesy: Compass Group/UKVI
The UK is the second-largest market for plant-based food in Europe, according to industry think tank the Good Food Institute Europe. And London is said to be one of the vegan capitals of the world. In 2019, The Vegan Society estimated that there were 600,000 vegans in the UK – about 0.9% of the total population at the time. A December 2022 survey by YouGov found that 2% of Brits identified as vegan (about 1.35 million). And earlier this year, Kantar found that the number of UK adults who prefer vegan food and drink has remained relatively static at 11% across the past three years.
French catering giant Sodexo, which operates at 476 British and Irish sites, found that 10% of all meals sold in 2022 were vegan or vegetarian – up from 8% in 2021. While the healthcare sector accounted for the largest share (17%), schools and universities remained lower at 5%, a surprising figure given younger demographics‘ demand for plant-based food. The company has pledged to increase the number of plant-based options to 33% by 2025 – but it could do with some inspiration from its plan across the Atlantic and introduce a higher share to entice more universities to transition to vegan menus.
Similarly, British caterer Compass Group, which caters to universities and schools (among other institutions), said in 2021 that it plans to replace 40% of the animal proteins throughout its supply chain with alternative sources like plant-based meat to reduce its carbon footprint.
And within the UK, public sector caterers introduced the 20 Percent Less Meat campaign in January 2020, vowing to cut the amount of meat they serve in their billions of meals in schools, universities, hospitals and care homes each year. It’s in line with the country’s National Food Strategy unveiled a year later, which suggests cutting meat consumption by a third.
Earlier this month, GFI Europe suggested that the UK must invest £370M in alt-protein by 2030 to boost its food security. While there have been promising signs for cultivated meat, government funding and public research in plant-based meat has lagged behind. The think tank says more research is needed to help drive down costs and elevate vegan meat’s sensory properties – the two biggest barriers to consumer uptake of plant-based food.
Speaking to Green Queen, GFI Europe’s UK policy manager Linus Pardoe said: “While the UK has many of the right ingredients to play a key role in advancing research to make plant-based foods tastier, healthier and more affordable for consumers, most of the expertise in important fields like crop breeding and food science tends to be funded in a way that focuses on other, more established areas of research.”
In the latest episode of a long-drawn saga, France’s agriculture ministry has drafted a new proposal to ban 21 terms like ‘steak’, ‘beef’, ‘ham’ and ‘grilled’ from plant-based meat labelling. The government has also listed over 120 meat-related terms that can be used only if products have a maximum share of vegan proteins between 0.5% to 6%.
With the proposed decree, France becomes the first EU country to attempt such a ban. But it isn’t the first time it’s tried to impose this. In June 2022, France decided to ban the use of meat-like terms in plant-based products, except for ‘burger’. “It will not be possible to use sector-specific terminology traditionally associated with meat and fish to designate products that do not belong to the animal world and which, in essence, are not comparable,” the decree read.
The proposed ban attracted controversy and criticism from meat-free groups. The European Vegetarian Union and the Association Végetarienne de France filed a complaint against the proposal, which was suspended by the Conseil d’État, the country’s highest administrative court, which argued the timeline was too short and the wording too vague.
Taking matters to the EU
Now, France’s agriculture ministry says it has taken the court’s complaints into account to prepare a new language decree, despite the court itself waiting for guidance from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) before making its final ruling. The ECJ has already protected dairy-related terms like ‘milk’, ‘cheese’ and ‘butter’ since 2017, preventing vegan brands from using them on their product labelling.
The new proposal, which is co-signed by French prime minister Elisabeth Borne, economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maire and agriculture minister Marc Fesneau, only applies to products made and sold in France. The draft has been submitted to the EU Commission for checking against its food labelling regulations. In 2020, the EU parliament voted against a proposed labelling ban on plant-based meat products, allowing vegan companies to market their alternatives as ‘burgers’ and ‘sausages’.
The decree has a list of over 120 meat-related terms like ‘bacon’, ‘sausage’, ‘cooked fillet’, ‘poultry’ and ‘nuggets’ (plus non-meat terms such as ‘liquid whole egg’) that companies can use, as long as the amount of plant protein in these products doesn’t exceed a maximum limit, which ranges from 0.5% to 6%. It essentially means vegan alternatives to such products won’t be able to be labelled this way, as all will contain 100% plant proteins.
“This new draft decree reflects our desire to put an end to misleading claims… by using names relating to meat products for foodstuffs that do not contain them,” Fesneau said. “It’s an issue of transparency and loyalty which meets a legitimate expectation of consumers and producers.”
Courtesy: Magic Bean
Breaching EU regulation
Guillaume Hannotin, lawyer for the Proteines France organisation, which represents makers of vegan and vegetarian alternatives, said “the term ‘plant-based steak’ has been in use for more than 40 years”. He argued that the new decree still breaches EU regulation on labelling for products that – unlike milk – lack a strict legal definition and can be referred to by terms in popular use.
He added that the French government’s move “torpedoes the proceedings in progress before the ECJ”, which were triggered by a complaint from Proteines France itself.
France’s initial proposal last year came the same month South Africa’s agriculture department introduced strict labelling rules for plant-based food, banning all references to ‘meat’ and threatening to seize any products that fail to comply.
A report by ProVeg International last year found that there is no basis for claims of consumer confusion from the labelling of vegan products. 80% of respondents said that it was obvious that products labelled as ‘vegan’, ‘vegetarian’ and ‘plant-based’ don’t contain meat, while 76% actually found these labels helpful to understand and identify the nature of the product.
Consumer preferences are becoming clearer when it comes to plant-based foods – people are drawing a line at genetically modified (GM) ingredients (also known as GMO), even as many vegan products have increased shelf space. This is according to non-profit the Non-GMO Project, which says the biotech industry isn’t getting the message.
When it comes to genetic engineering, shoppers’ preference for non-GM plant-based foods is “only getting stronger”. The organisation says that Non-GMO Project Verified products make up 57% of total plant-based food sales in the US, while those without the certification lag behind. Overall, the demand for Non-GMO Project Verified products has grown by 9% year-on-year.
The non-profit notes that consumer behaviour suggests that not all plant-based products are created equal, with a growing awareness that some may not offer any real benefits over their conventional counterparts in meat, eggs and dairy. This means a GM ingredient may offset a plant-based offering’s perceived benefits.
To illustrate its point, the Non-GMO Project points to data revealing that while 55% of Americans and Canadians believe plant-based foods are better for the planet, 50% think GMO agriculture is detrimental to the environment. It adds that “natural shoppers” are even more committed to this thinking, with 82% finding vegan food eco-friendlier, and 90% preferring non-GM options.
It further infers SPINS data that shows sales of Non-GMO Project Verified frozen plant-based meats and cheeses grew by 71% and 99% from 2019-21, respectively, compared to just 10% and 17% for non-certified counterparts.
“Shoppers are making their desires known by voting with their dollars, and it shows up every time a new food category or trend grows. In the innovative plant-based space, they are again saying that GMOs are not wanted or needed,” said Megan Westgate, executive director of the Non-GMO Project. “We believe products should be labelled so that consumers have the freedom to choose non-GMO in every aisle of the grocery store. If GMOs aren’t going to be labelled, then we’re here to ensure eaters still have the right to avoid GMOs on their whole shopping list.”
Alt-protein’s battle with the GM lobby
Courtesy: New Culture/Instagram
The non-profit says despite these numbers, biotech companies are rapidly accelerating alt-protein development. Perhaps the most famous example of a GM plant-based meat is Impossible Foods, which uses heme, a genetically engineered yeast ingredient that helps burgers ‘bleed’. Such an ingredient is also used by Boston-based Motif FoodWorks in its alt-meat products (the two companies, in fact, are having a patent battle over this).
The Non-GMO Project’s release comes a year after it targeted precision fermentation technology, in support of the dairy industry. Precision fermentation involves genetically modifying microorganisms to produce specific functional ingredients. But the tech has long been in use by multiple industries – it’s used to make things like insulin for type 1 diabetics, vitamins to fortify food products, ‘natural’ flavourings like vanilla extract, and rennet for cheese.
It’s also being used to make plant-based meat. Swedish startup Melt&Marble is tapping the tech to make animal-free fats, while Belgium’s Paleo is using it to make myoglobin for alt-meat. Overall, there are at least 136 companies working in precision fermentation around the world, according to industry think tank the Good Food Institute.
The Non-GMO Project says GM alt-protein is “largely unregulated and unlabeled in the US and Canada” – but animal-free dairy made via precision fermentation has already been regulated by the US FDA. This is why brands have been able to sell alt-dairy products made from this tech. Perfect Day uses precision fermented whey in products made by both other manufacturers and its (soon-to-be former) consumer-facing brands like Brave Robot and Coolhaus. And New Culture makes precision-fermented casein to develop its vegan mozzarella.
Speaking to CNN in 2020, Rachel Konrad, then chief communications officer of Impossible Foods, said the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine all agree that GMOs are safe for human consumption.
From coconut and soy to almonds and oats, there are a host of vegan ingredients that make for a fantastic base for plant-based Greek-style yogurt (or labneh). Here are six of the best offerings on the market.
I’ve had a lot of plant-based yogurts in my time. I’m indifferent to a lot of them – they’re either too thin or too sweet or just too different from the flavour I’m looking for. The texture is also absolutely key for me –hailing from India, I grew up on what we call curd, a thicker, usually homemade version of yogurt used in practically everything, and it’s delightful.
The closest thing to curd I can think of is labneh, a thick Middle Eastern double-strained yogurt or Greek yogurt (also strained, but slightly less thick than labneh). Creamy and perfect for both sweet and savoury applications, my life changed when I found vegan Greek yogurt. If you’re a yogurt fiend like me, you’ll love this list.
Here are some of the best brands selling dairy-free Greek yogurts:
Alpro Greek Style Oat/Coconut/Soy
Courtesy: Alpro
Owned by food industry giant Danone, Alpro first launched its vegan Greek yogurt range in 2019 made from soy (5.8g of protein per serve), introducing five flavours in the UK market. These included the 400g flagship plain soy yogurt, as well as 150g packs of strawberry and raspberry, passionfruit, blueberry and mango Greek yogurts.
In 2021, it expanded its vegan labneh range with two non-soy 350g variants in oat (0.7g of protein per 100g) and coconut (0.8g of protein per 100g). The oat Greek yogurt is fortified with pea protein, while the coconut doubles down on the fruit, using coconut milk (45%) and coconut water (20%). Unlike the soy-based version, these two yogurts have no added sugars, while the oat one is the only variant that is not gluten-free.
Kite Hill Greek Style Plant-Based Yogurt
Courtesy: Kite Hill
Californian plant-based favourite Kite Hill focuses on almond- and soy-based Greek yogurts. Its current lineup features two unsweetened flavours: plain and vanilla and offers 17 grams of protein per serve.
Available in two sizes (5.3oz/150g and 16oz/450g), Kite Hill combines almond milk with soy protein isolate and tapioca starch, with live cultures and flavours being the only other ingredients. This makes for a sugarless, gluten-free, relatively clean-label vegan alternative to Greek yogurt.
Silk Greek Style
Courtesy: Silk
Alpro isn’t Danone’s only brand on this list. Alpro isn’t available in the US, where Danone operates the Silk brand. In 2021, Silk added four vegan Greek-style yogurts to its existing alt-dairy range, all made from coconut milk and containing 10 grams of protein per serve.
Silk doesn’t offer a plain non-dairy Greek yogurt, instead focusing on sweetened varieties. The lineup includes blueberry, vanilla, lemon and strawberry yogurts, all combining a coconut milk base with pea protein. As per the brand’s website, the latter two are available in 5.3oz packs, the blueberry in 12oz (350ml), and the vanilla in 5.3oz and 24oz (680g).
Oykos Coconut Based Greek Style Dairy Free
Courtesy: Oykos
If you thought that’d be it for Danone here, boy were you wrong. In 2010, the food giant launched the premium yogurt brand Oykos in the UK, which deals in both dairy and plant-based products.
Its foray into dairy-free began in 2020, when it launched an Italian-inspired vegan stracciatella Greek yogurt. It’s essentially a sweetened coconut yogurt with chocolate flakes, with natural flavourings and concentrated lemon juice rounding out the taste profile.
Oykos also makes a salted caramel-flavoured plant-based Greek yogurt, with 58% coconut milk content (marginally higher than the stracciatella version) and added caramelised sugar but protein wise, it’s only 0.7 grams per serve.
The world’s biggest oat milk brand – and perhaps most infamously famous alt-dairy brand – also has a whole line of yogurts. While Oatly‘s product line vastly varies from country to country, with certain markets containing drinkable yogurts in cartons, as far as its vegan labneh is concerned, that came about in 2020 as part of its wider UK launch of the Oatgurt line and features approximately 3.3. grams of protein per serve.
The Greek Oatgurt comes in a 400g pot and contains 11% oats (the regular plain version has 12%), rapeseed oil, potato starch and protein, alongside acids, salt, stabilisers. It’s also fortified with vitamins and minerals.
Vitasoy Greek Style Soy Yogurt
Courtesy: Vitasoy
Hong Kong-based soy milk veteran Vitasoy last year announced its foray into the alt-yogurt space with a range of plant-based Greek yogurts in Australia, where it is the top-selling dairy alternative brand.
Its lineup contains four sweetened vegan Greek yogurts in multiple sizes, clocking in at 9.4g of protein per serve. The 450g plain option contains soy milk (with 16% soybeans) and soy protein, with sugar and cocoa butter contributing to the taste profile alongside natural flavouring agents and salt. There’s also tapioca flour and starch, and live cultures, and it’s fortified with vitamins and minerals.
This ingredient list is the base for the other flavours. The dairy-free vanilla and strawberry Greek yogurts come in 450g and 140g pots, containing 90% and 91% of the soy yogurt base, respectively, with the rest comprising a specific flavouring blend. A mango and passionfruit version, meanwhile, is exclusively available in a 140g pack (with 88% of the base).
The plant-based meat train in the US may not be on the backfoot the way some have predicted, with dollar sales reaching $2.2B across retail, foodservice and e-commerce, according to a report by industry think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI). The foodservice sector saw an all-time high of $730M in sales, while the retail industry flatlined at $1.4B.
While the total sales revenue increased by 2% year-over-year, pound sales for plant-based meat in the US declined – this is due to inflation-induced price increases. Vegan protein products in the US saw a price hike of 9% per pound from 2019-22, with a 4% year-on-year rise in wholesale prices in broadline distribution (across multiple product categories). The report also found that plant-based meat consumers make over 30 more foodservice visits per year than the average buyer, spending around $400 more annually.
However, these rates are still lower than conventional meat, which saw a 26% cost increase from 2019-22, and 8% year-on-year for wholesale prices in broadline distribution.
Courtesy: The Good Food Institute
Meat analogues vs traditional plant-based protein
In fact, prices per pound for plant-based beef have come down by 11% from 2019, as more companies achieve scale and favourable distribution agreements. It remains the most popular alt-protein, accounting for 33% of the market. It’s followed by tofu (28%), grains/nuts/vegetable-based products (18%), chicken (11%) and pork (8%). Amid formats, patties dominate sales with a 43% share.
Notably, there has been a shift in consumer preference in the type of plant-based protein. In 2019, traditional plant proteins like tofu, tempeh, and grains, nuts and vegetables captured 60% of pound sales, while analogues like vegan chicken, beef, seafood, etc. made up 39%. Now, that share has flipped, with meat analogues commanding 53% of the market, compared to 46% for non-analogues. (The remaining 1% share is unspecified.)
It points to the increased popularity of plant-based meat in the US, with consumers preferring vegan products aiming to match the taste and texture of conventional meat. The shift in market share is being occupied by vegan chicken (a 123% rise from 2019-22), pork (+57%) and seafood (+149%).
“The growing availability of plant-based products across product and protein types means that operators can increasingly offer plant-based versions of existing menu items across cuisines and formats and appeal to a wider range of customers,” says GFI.
Courtesy: The Good Food Institute
In terms of foodservice locations, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) rule the roost, with 39% of plant-based protein pound sales happening here in 2022. Meanwhile, 19% of sales took place in full-service restaurants (FSRs). These numbers suggest the hospitality industry is still catching up to pre-pandemic levels, with the pound sales for alt-protein down by 1% for QSRs and 5% for FSRs compared to 2019.
And while educational institutions saw a steep fall in alt-protein sales in 2020 due to lockdowns, this figure has rebounded and surpassed 2019 levels by 25%. It’s supported by initiatives like US foodservice provider Aramark promising that 44% of its residential dining menus at 250+ colleges and universities will be plant-based by 2025, and Sodexo’s commitment to making 50% of its college campus menus plant-based by 2025.
Purchase frequency and increased menu options
Looking at demographics, younger (18-24), male, and Black, Hispanic and Asian consumers are more likely to purchase plant-based meat in foodservice operations, which is similar to retail trends. And when it comes to frequency, nearly 10% of Americans purchased vegan alternatives to meat in foodservice in 2022 – the majority (63%) being single-time purchasers.
Only 15% of buyers repeated their purchase twice, and 7% thrice. However, 15% repeated it more than four times, reflecting an eagerness on consumers’ part for more alt-protein options. A 2022 Mintel report found that five in 10 omnivores and eight in 10 flexitarians say that more restaurants should serve plant-based meat alternatives.
Courtesy: The Good Food Institute
GFI’s report underscores the findings another US foodservice-focused report earlier this month by the Plant Based Foods Association, which found that 95% of foodservice operators expect increased or stable sales of vegan food and beverages in the next year, with 76% aiming to continue or increase the number of plant-based meat options. It added that nearly half (48.4%) of all US restaurants currently offer plant-based options on their menus, with a 62% increase in plant-based menu items over the past decade.
GFI says making further progress on taste and price will be key to reaching more meat-eaters and expanding the market, and reiterates that the US plant-based sector is returning to pre-pandemic levels: “The long-term performance of plant-based proteins in foodservice indicates that the plant-based category is continuing to mature.”
Sustainability non-profit Food System Innovations (FSI) has teamed up with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning expert Noa Weiss to unveil GreenProtein AI, a project tapping next-gen tech to optimise the extrusion and texture of plant-based meat.
Last year, a survey by vegan certification body by V-Label found that plant-based meat’s texture is as important as conventional alternatives for 75% of consumers, but only about 60% were actually satisfied with alt-meat’s texture. The findings complement multiple reports that place taste and texture at the top of consumer priorities for plant-based meat.
A new way to process plant-based meat
GreenProtein AI’s founders say vegan meat brands have faced “unique obstacles concerning texture optimisation”. A major reason behind that are the high costs attached to high-moisture extrusion (HME) – one of the two main techniques of transforming plant-based ingredient into fibrous meat (alongside shear-cell tech).
The Institute of Food Technology explains that during HME, proteins undergo thermal and mechanical stresses due to the heating of the barrel and shearing of the screws. This leads to a change in protein structure, and those can be aligned to form a protein network by attaching a cooling die at the end of the extruder. Through this method, a range of textural characteristics can be achieved for the final product.
But while HME is the most widely used process for plant-based meat production, it’s also a highly expensive tech with a larger carbon footprint. This is where GreenProtein AI comes in. “GreenProtein AI focuses on utilising machine learning algorithms to dissect the intricacies of the extrusion process,” project lead Weiss told Green Queen. “Our aim is to refine key parameters such as temperature, pressure and feed rate, effectively transforming the so-called ‘black box’ of extrusion into an optimised and more transparent system. This approach promises to both reduce costs and elevate the texture quality of plant-based meats.”
She added: “Machine learning algorithms are essential for parsing through large data sets to identify patterns that can improve the extrusion process. Those models are the core of our offering. AI methodologies, beyond machine learning, are then useful for integrating these insights into a broader decision-making framework.”
The project aims to collaborate with extrusion facilities and plant-based meat manufacturers, providing targeted insights and solutions to enable a more predictable and efficient production process. GreenProtein AI says this will help enhance the quality and sustainability of alt-meat, as well as bring it closer to price parity with conventional meat.
How can it do so? “Our AI models aim to simulate the HME process, allowing manufacturers to preview potential outcomes and narrow the search field for extrusion trials,” explained Weiss. “By planning physical trials more precisely, we can minimise the need for these expensive tests, thereby reducing the high costs typically associated with HME.”
FSI’s managing director, Max Elder, was also the founder of vegan chicken startup Nowadays, which ceased operations last month. “Nowadays would have benefitted greatly from the predictive models GreenProtein AI is building,” he said.
Courtesy: MyForest Foods
The rise of AI in veganism
“GreenProtein AI demonstrates the incredible power of AI to address real-world industry challenges. We are putting technology to work to remove barriers, allowing the alternative protein industry to achieve its full potential,” Weiss said in a statement. She confirmed to Green Queen that the project is already in talks with several plant-based meat companies for collaboration.
This underlines the growing influence of AI in the vegan industry. Latin American food tech brand NotCo has been using AI and machine learning for years to find the best plant-based alternatives for animal products. The patented AI tech has a name, Giuseppe, and is the brains behind the company’s alt-milks, mayo and burgers. Similarly, Singapore’s Howw Foods uses AI to make Hegg, its vegan powdered egg product.
Many producers have also collaborated with AI companies to develop plant-based products. Bel Foods – the French cheese giant behind the ultra-popular Babybel – has partnered with California’s Climax Foods to make vegan products, while industry giant Danone is working with Californian AI firm Brightseed to discover hidden nutrients and compounds in plant crops.
Similarly, mycelium meat producer Meati teamed up with AI company PIPA to accelerate and expand its understanding of the health and nutrition benefits of its nutrient-rich products.
AI has also been used as a marketing tool. US startup Pleese Foods unveiled a campaign earlier this month, where it employed AI to generate whimsical imagery of cheese as a flourishing crop and being grown on trees.
Sustainability non-profit Food System Innovations (FSI) has teamed up with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning expert Noa Weiss to unveil GreenProtein AI, a project tapping next-gen tech to optimise the extrusion and texture of plant-based meat.
Last year, a survey by vegan certification body by V-Label found that plant-based meat’s texture is as important as conventional alternatives for 75% of consumers, but only about 60% were actually satisfied with alt-meat’s texture. The findings complement multiple reports that place taste and texture at the top of consumer priorities for plant-based meat.
A new way to process plant-based meat
GreenProtein AI’s founders say vegan meat brands have faced “unique obstacles concerning texture optimisation”. A major reason behind that are the high costs attached to high-moisture extrusion (HME) – one of the two main techniques of transforming plant-based ingredient into fibrous meat (alongside shear-cell tech).
The Institute of Food Technology explains that during HME, proteins undergo thermal and mechanical stresses due to the heating of the barrel and shearing of the screws. This leads to a change in protein structure, and those can be aligned to form a protein network by attaching a cooling die at the end of the extruder. Through this method, a range of textural characteristics can be achieved for the final product.
But while HME is the most widely used process for plant-based meat production, it’s also a highly expensive tech with a larger carbon footprint. This is where GreenProtein AI comes in. “GreenProtein AI focuses on utilising machine learning algorithms to dissect the intricacies of the extrusion process,” project lead Weiss told Green Queen. “Our aim is to refine key parameters such as temperature, pressure and feed rate, effectively transforming the so-called ‘black box’ of extrusion into an optimised and more transparent system. This approach promises to both reduce costs and elevate the texture quality of plant-based meats.”
She added: “Machine learning algorithms are essential for parsing through large data sets to identify patterns that can improve the extrusion process. Those models are the core of our offering. AI methodologies, beyond machine learning, are then useful for integrating these insights into a broader decision-making framework.”
The project aims to collaborate with extrusion facilities and plant-based meat manufacturers, providing targeted insights and solutions to enable a more predictable and efficient production process. GreenProtein AI says this will help enhance the quality and sustainability of alt-meat, as well as bring it closer to price parity with conventional meat.
How can it do so? “Our AI models aim to simulate the HME process, allowing manufacturers to preview potential outcomes and narrow the search field for extrusion trials,” explained Weiss. “By planning physical trials more precisely, we can minimise the need for these expensive tests, thereby reducing the high costs typically associated with HME.”
FSI’s managing director, Max Elder, was also the founder of vegan chicken startup Nowadays, which ceased operations last month. “Nowadays would have benefitted greatly from the predictive models GreenProtein AI is building,” he said.
Courtesy: MyForest Foods
The rise of AI in veganism
“GreenProtein AI demonstrates the incredible power of AI to address real-world industry challenges. We are putting technology to work to remove barriers, allowing the alternative protein industry to achieve its full potential,” Weiss said in a statement. She confirmed to Green Queen that the project is already in talks with several plant-based meat companies for collaboration.
This underlines the growing influence of AI in the vegan industry. Latin American food tech brand NotCo has been using AI and machine learning for years to find the best plant-based alternatives for animal products. The patented AI tech has a name, Giuseppe, and is the brains behind the company’s alt-milks, mayo and burgers. Similarly, Singapore’s Howw Foods uses AI to make Hegg, its vegan powdered egg product.
Many producers have also collaborated with AI companies to develop plant-based products. Bel Foods – the French cheese giant behind the ultra-popular Babybel – has partnered with California’s Climax Foods to make vegan products, while industry giant Danone is working with Californian AI firm Brightseed to discover hidden nutrients and compounds in plant crops.
Similarly, mycelium meat producer Meati teamed up with AI company PIPA to accelerate and expand its understanding of the health and nutrition benefits of its nutrient-rich products.
AI has also been used as a marketing tool. US startup Pleese Foods unveiled a campaign earlier this month, where it employed AI to generate whimsical imagery of cheese as a flourishing crop and being grown on trees.
Leading US plant-based food companies are reportedly considering forming a coalition similar to groups behind ultra-successful marketing campaigns like Got Milk? and The Incredible Edible Egg, according to Adweek. Earmarked for a 2024 launch, it’s touted as a response to negative media coverage and targeted ads by Big Ag.
It’s been a rocky couple of years for the plant-based industry. Attacks on sales, attacks by the media, attacks through ads coordinated by the meat and dairy lobby…The sector has taken a hit – and now, it’s looking to fight back.
While there has been no formal formation, Adweek reports that discussions have intensified over the last six months about the coalition, which involves both small startups and larger corporations. Some of the reasons cited for this include the infamous Bloomberg story calling plant-based meat “just another fad”, as well as the Center for Consumer Freedom’s (CCF) repeated targeting of these products’ extra-long ingredient lists.
Adweek reports that the coalition was initially supposed to form this year with a handful of vegan companies (not limited to alt-meat), but complications like “inflation-driven setbacks” have led to a delay. People involved in the coalition say the group will launch next year.
There are no requests for proposals or active searches for an ad agency, but insiders believe it will be a multifaceted national marketing campaign. The coalition is likely to approach creatives with experience in the plant-based category, but it may be asking for pro-bono or discounted work.
Fighting back against Big Ag
The CCF’s smear campaign against alt-meat involved print ads, newspaper op-eds, video features and target websites like Clean Food Facts – with the biggest attack coming during the 2020 Super Bowl, featuring Spelling Bee participants struggling with words like methylcellulose and propylene glycol (which it claimed were “chemicals” used for “synthetic meats”). “If you can’t spell it or pronounce it,” concluded the ad, “maybe you shouldn’t be eating it.”
In response, Beyond Meat debuted an ad earlier this month that spotlit its farmers and subtly tackled misinformation about alt-protein. This was in contrast to Impossible Foods’ more on-the-nose musical commercial. Its CEO Peter McGuinness has previously said that vegan food marketers (including Impossible) haven’t sold themselves well enough to consumers.
Speaking on the UN’s climate change podcast in March, he said: “Now, the meat industry does quite a good job against us, and they’re highly coordinated, they’re well funded, and they’re pretty loud. “So I think we can borrow a page of that book and do it as a coalition, as plant-based companies, and we need to do that very soon.”
It’s also worth noting that Beyond CEO Ethan Brown mentioned “bringing together industry coalitions” during a recent earnings call. The idea has gained widespread support by the sector, according to Adweek. “We believe this is the true catalyst needed to push the category forward,” Daring Foods CEO Ross Mackay told the publication. “A unified approach would simplify the narrative, making it more compelling.”
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
Finding a suitable approach
But some are unsure about the coalition’s potential. Rachel Konrad, the former head of communications at Impossible who is now chief brand officer at VC firm The Production Board, told Adweek: “I’m 100% skeptical that a group would get much of anything accomplished, especially in the short term. And the bigger the group got, the harder it would be to do an edgy, breakthrough, memorable campaign.”
In a separate piece, Adweek also compared different approaches the campaign could take. One executive told the reporter they imagined an ad influenced by the anti-tobacco Truth campaign, honing in on factory farming, slaughterhouse conditions and food safety issues. But there may be a hesitancy to support such an aggressive approach, with some leaders preferring a more educational, ‘myth-busting’ tone.
There is also a list outlining what to avoid. This includes making customers feel guilty about not eating vegetables, demonising cows for their climate footprint, and continuing to push Silicon Valley startups as food tech (because “nobody wants to eat technology”, as one insider puts it).
“The narrative shouldn’t insist on adopting a stringent vegetarian or vegan lifestyle,” Mackay was quoted as saying. “Instead, it should underscore the significant impact that small, everyday changes can help.”
Konrad suggested that while action is critical given the industry is “under siege’, a crisis PR campaign would at best be on the news cycle for 24 hours, and at worst be “some shitty PSA that nobody will give a crap about”. A professional consortium would also not work, she said, because “the game is rigged” against the plant-based sector.
Instead, companies should go hyperactive and be “speaking out whenever there’s an attack ad from animal agriculture and refuting everything, commenting all the time for news stories, putting out massive amounts of thought leadership, being at the UN, at Davos, Ted Talks, creating viral videos and contests for fans, picking up user-generated content, using AI to generate ads for virtually nothing”.
Courtesy: Pleese Foods
Funding could be a challenge
While industry advocacy groups and think tanks like the Plant Based Foods Association and the Good Food Institute exist, their work is much more focused on research than consumer outreach. So a marketing coalition such as this one could represent a turning point for an industry whose fortunes have fluctuated lately.
But one problem is money. Unlike Big Beef and its Beef Checkoff marketing program, which is funded by cattle producers and importers who pay a $1 levy for every live animal sold, there is no such system for the plant-based industry. Food industry veteran and Wicked Kitchen CEO Pete Sparanza admitted as much, telling Adweek that funding for the coalition and its broad-based advertising would be a significant challenge, “because there aren’t a lot of profitable stories right now in the plant-based space”.
Despite that, he did reiterate the need for the industry to stick together as advocates, not competitors. “If we’re going to change the food system for the long haul, we’ll need to cooperate.”
There are umpteen brands making plant-based cheese, but they don’t cater to everyone’s tastes. Some prefer an elevated, luxurious, high-end, gastronomic cheese-eating experience. And in an increasingly crowded, there are a handful of companies that deliver just that. Here are some artisanal vegan cheese brands that are truly a cut above the rest.
A lot of us have eaten the blocks masquerading as plant-based cheese that don’t melt, and taste like no cheese ever has. And that’s okay – there’s a place for those alternatives in a vegan cheese market that’s set to reach $4.4B in 2027.
But there’s also a place for the ultra-cheese fans – the camembert dippers, the burrata savourists, the mozzarella melters and blue cheese aficionados – and these brands are catering to this space with premium, artisanal and mind-bendingly good vegan cheese offerings. Below, we roundup some of the best.
Julienne Bruno (UK)
Courtesy: Julienne Bruno
London-based Julienne Bruno is up there with the very best. Founded in 2020, the brand has three Italian cheeses in its portfolio: a vegan ricotta called Crematta, a stracciatella alternative called Superstraccia, and its flagship burrata substitute, Burrella.
The latter was a winner at the 2023 World Dairy Innovation Awards. All the cheeses are made with soy milk and coconut oil, and naturally fermented through a bespoke system. They also have vegetable fibres and vegan cultures. The company, which raised £5M last November, says this is Collection 01 – so it stands to reason that we can come to expect more premium Italian cheeses.
You can find Julienne Bruno’s plant-based cheeses online, as well as at various health food stores and restaurants in the UK.
I Am Nut OK (UK)
Founded in 2017 by an American-Italian couple living in east London, I Am Nut OK produces artisanal nut-based cheeses. It has a vast portfolio of Italian dairy-free delights, including a buffalo mozzarella, parmesan, stracciatella and herb-infused wedge.
The brand also sells aged cheeses like those infused with black truffle, paprika, smoky charcoal, and Cabarnet Sauvignon, alongside an extra mature C’é Dairy? version. Additionally, I Am Nut OK makes a black pepper log, smoky vegan melted cheese, and a plant-based feta. All cheeses are made using a base of cashews and coconut oil.
You can find I Am Nut OK’s dairy-free cheeses online and at various retailers and restaurants in the UK.
MozzaRisella (Italy)
Courtesy: MozzaRisella/Ooni
Speaking of Italy, organic brown-rice-based cheese maker MozzaRisella hails from Veneto. Since launching in 2017, it has expanded to retail and foodservice both domestically and in the UK. Its flagship product is a mozzarella alternative, which is shaped like a cylindrical log, so you can cut circular slices reminiscent of mozzarella in Caprese salads.
Now, its product portfolio is vast, with vegan smoked, spreadable and medium-hard mozzarella alternatives, as well as blue cheese, ricotta and mascarpone substitutes. MozzaRisella also sells Cheddar and basil-infused mozzarella slices, and has a range of ready meals as well as a basil pesto made with its cheeses.
You can find MozzaRisella online, as well as pizza and fast-food chains across Italy and the UK.
Vertage (US)
Co-founded by award-winning chef Margaux Riccio – who developed a dairy allergy in childhood –Vertage is another US brand making artisanal vegan cheese, but solely for foodservice (as of now). The main ingredients for most of its cheeses is fermented cashews and coconut oil, and the cheeses leverage mycelium fermentation and microbial bio-design.
Vertage’s lineup includes a sliceable mozzarella log (which also contains aquafaba and coconut oil), American Cheddar and Pepper Jack slices (both without cashews, but using shiitake-fermented pea protein), and classic and Everything But the Bagel cream cheeses.
You can find Vertage’s cheeses at various restaurants across the US.
Miyoko’s Creamery (US)
Courtesy: Miyoko’s Creamery
One of the pioneers of the alt-dairy movement, Miyoko’s Creamery has been around for a long time (at least for the artisanal vegan cheese world). While its namesake founder, Miyoko Schinner, is no longer at the brand, the 2014-launched company is still going strong with its range of vegan dairy products.
In terms of cheese, Miyoko’s makes a host of cashew- and coconut-based cultured alternatives. This includes chive, sundried tomato, garlic and herb, European truffle, smoked English farmhouse, black ash, herbs de Provence, and smoked Gouda flavours.
Miyoko’s also makes three mozzarella varieties (classic, smoked and liquid), as well as four cream cheeses, in classic, scallion, cinnamon-raisin and everything seasoning flavours.
Back to the UK, Kinda Co. is an award-winning plant-based cheese brand from Somerset. Also championing cashews, its ingredient lists are as limited as its cheese lineup is vast and varying.
Kinda Co.’s dairy-free cheeses can be divided into blocks and jars. The former comprises smoked (with smoked water), summer truffle, farmhouse, garlic and herb, chilli, blue and feta varieties, while the latter includes a grated parmesan, a nacho dip, and cream cheeses in lemon and dill, farmhouse and sour cream and chive flavours.
The brand also sells limited-edition flavours (the latest was a sundried tomato block), and is very transparent with its consumers. It currently sells an alternative farmhouse block made with a different culture than its regular counterpart – the cheesemonger says it isn’t as happy with its flavour, but to avoid waste, it is selling the cheese at a cheaper markup.
You can find Kinda Co’s cheeses online, and at health food stores and retailers across the UK.
Palace Culture (UK)
Courtesy: Palace Culture
A fully organic vegan cheese brand based in south London, Palace Culture was launched to battle the dairy intolerance of the founder’s son and the conception that plant-based cheese is bland.
Palace Culture makes dairy-free cheese wheels, creamy cheeses and feta from cashews, coconut milk and/or almonds. The wheels contain the former two, with flavours ranging from the European-inspired Sácre Bleu, Ubriaco, truffled camembert, herbs de Provence and mouldy goat’s cheese, to the Korean-influenced Kimcheeze and a minced truffle ash and black pepper variant.
The brand also makes a feta with all three aforementioned base ingredients, alongside a cashew- and miso-based range of cream cheeses in smoked, chives and shallots, truffle and black pepper flavours. On top of that, it offers a ricotta made with just almonds, live cultures, water and sea salt.
You can find Palace Culture’s range of plant-based cheeses online, at various UK retailers, and at London’s Borough Market on weekends.
Umami United, the Tokyo-based startup that makes plant-based egg products, has closed a pre-Series A funding round with an injection of ¥240M ($1.64M). The company plans to use the funds to develop a vegan egg white alternative and enter the US and European markets.
Led by Beyond Next Ventures, the investment round saw participation from Genesia Ventures. Umami United, which was launched in 2022, wants to make an egg white substitute due to a growing demand for complex egg-like functionalities by bakery and confectionery companies. It aims to strengthen its R&D and business development efforts to deliver plant-based food “inspired by wisdom and technology from Japan’s rich food history”.
“This is in addition to our expansion outside of our home market in Japan, into Europe and the United States,” Umami United CEO Hiroto Yamazaki told Green Queen. Within Europe, the brand is looking to enter the UK and Germany first. “We are in the midst of discussions with big players in both the UK and Germany to incorporate our egg replacer products into their plant-based food products. They have tested our products and initial responses are positive.”
He added: “As for the US, we are also in late-stage talks with universities in Southern California to incorporate our products in their vegan menus.”
Yamazaki confirmed that some “big plant-based meat players” are testing Umami United’s clean products to be used as a binding agent. And the new funding will help it find suitable partners to further ramp up expansion.
Made for the consumer
Courtesy: Umami United
Umami United’s egg powder uses wood ear mushrooms to extract an umami taste profile. It does so via a proprietary food processing technique that applies enzymes based on fermentation tech to elevate the richness of egg flavours. The resulting egg powder is said to replicate both the functionality and sensory attributes of conventional eggs.
The company, which is planning a Series A fundraiser for December 2024, uses konjac flour and bittern as the main ingredients for its plant-based egg powder, and achieves the elastic texture of eggs through konjac and tofu. In addition, it makes a vegan egg flavouring powder and pudding mix.
According to Umami United, Japan’s per capita consumption of eggs is 337 annually, making it the second largest egg-consuming country in the world. The company adds that only half of Japan’s eggs are sold directly to consumers, with the rest going to foodservice and manufacturers. And while there are several consumer-facing companies making vegan eggs in Japan – like Ever Egg and Hobotoma – Umami United focuses on B2B operations.
Yamazaki said consumer reception to the vegan egg products has been very positive: “Furthermore, we are seeing more and more Japanese consumers with changing tastes and preferences and heightened health awareness, and this has also motivated these local food manufacturers to prioritise and launch plant-based food.”
Battling egg supply issues
Courtesy: Umami United
Japan has seen egg prices rise recently due to an avian flu outbreak last year, which led to an increase in chicken culling and, subsequently, a shortage of eggs. Products like Umami United – which help bypass a major allergen in eggs – cater to consumers with safer, healthier food options.
“The crisis from the avian flu has led to many big food manufacturers [realising] the negative impacts of their reliance on chicken eggs. Even McDonald’s had to pull their Teritama (teriyaki patty with egg) burgers off their menu due to the egg shortage,” said Yamazaki.
The brand says the shortages and price hikes have triggered co-development projects with Japanese food manufacturers that use its plant-based products as key ingredients. “Even though the situation around the shortage of eggs has been alleviated to some extent, big food manufacturers are turning to alternative eggs or egg replacers as a risk hedge, especially when avian flu is seasonal,” Yamazaki explained. These products are expected to launch in Japanese supermarkets and convenience stores starting this autumn and winter.
Japan, which Forbes just described as having a “thriving” food tech sector, is seeing an uptick in plant-based food sales, with alt-meat purchases set to rise by 5% annually until 2026. In a 2019 survey, meanwhile, 60% of Japanese consumers said they were open to trying more sustainable food options that had additional health benefits.
Moreover, a poll earlier this year found that 5.9% of Japan’s population identifies as vegan or vegetarian, with 26.1% of consumers reporting a reduction in animal product intake (an uptick of 7.1% year-on-year). And in terms of egg substitutes, 1.2% have tried these – that’s about 1.5 million people.
German MPs Tim Klüssendorf (SPD) and Bruno Hönel (Green Party) have proposed a change in the country’s tax laws to reduce the tariffs on plant-based milk to better reflect consumer needs. Currently, alt-milk is taxed at 19%, compared to a 7% levy on dairy. The SDP and Greens are pushing for an equitable VAT rate in the annual tax law negotiations.
Klüssendorf argues that as the central consumption tax, VAT should be based on people’s consumption. Plant-based milk alternatives carry a 171% higher tax compared to conventional dairy, but a ProVeg International report last year found that 28% of Germans drink plant-based milk at least once a week.
Meanwhile, industry think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe found that Germany has the highest plant-based milk sales value in Europe. Another report by the organisation revealed that unit sales of alt-milk grew by 20% between 2020-22 in Germany, but still only make up 13% of the total milk market share. On top of that, GFI says Germans spent €6.60 on plant-based milk on average last year.
Meeting consumer demand
“With the change in eating habits in recent years and decades, plant-based milk has become an everyday alternative to cow’s milk for many. In addition, it is more climate-friendly,” Hönel told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag. For example, oat milk – the most popular alt-milk in the country – needs over 11 times less land, uses 13 times less water and emits 3.5 times fewer greenhouse gases than dairy, according to a 2018 Oxford University study.
“Our system is outdated and needs to be changed,” Klüssendorf said in a LinkedIn post. “The equal tax treatment of milk and milk substitutes is long overdue, because it has long been in line with social realities and puts people on an equal footing in their consumer behaviour.”
Speaking to Welt, he was hopeful of seeing this change come to fruition: “I see a good chance that we will get the necessary majority in the traffic light coalition.”
Hönel did caution that the talks were “dependant on the budgetary leeway”, which is why the FPD (which is in coalition with the SPD and Greens in the central government) is more circumspect on this issue. The party’s VAT expert, Till Mansmann, said: “The following applies to everything: we first have to wait for the tax estimate [publishing this Autumn] and make decisions on this basis.”
Meanwhile, the German Economic Institute (IW) said it would go as far as reducing the VAT to 7% for all non-alcoholic drinks. “That would not only end the differentiation between cow’s milk and vegan milk substitute products, but would finally mean uniform tax rates for almost all foods,” IW tax expert Martin Beznoska told Welt.
Tim Klüssendorf says a tax cut on Germany’s plant-based milk is “long overdue” | Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/CC
Dairy consumption in Germany
Last year, a report found that 32% of Germans were looking to rescue their intake of conventional dairy in the following six months. Meanwhile, research by the University of Hohenheim earlier this month revealed that Germany has the greatest market potential for plant-based milk in Europe (among the countries analysed), with purchases already growing by 62% between 2020-22.
The researchers found that this consumption is driven by a strong attitude towards animal welfare. “Social norms and cultural traditions influence Germans less than people in other countries in this regard,” said Dr Beate Gebhard, head of AK BEST at the University of Hohenheim.
Germany counts the largest flexitarian (55%) and the largest vegan population (approx. 10%) in Europe according to a report published by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service earlier this year, which cited political will as a key lever in shifting consumer attitudes and behavior towards reduced meat consumption.
As a company, Oatly isn’t a stranger to controversy. It’s had its fair share of ups and downs – and each of these has been well-documented. However, in the last year or so, there has been a steady drip of downs rather than ups, which has left the world’s biggest alt-milk company struggling, and we outline the biggest ones.
In recent times, Oatly has been a company making waves in the business and food industries, but it’s not all smooth sailing. The story behind Oatly’s journey has taken some unexpected twists and turns, leaving many curious minds to wonder, “What’s going on with Oatly?”
Oat milk has been the darling of the alt-milk world for some time now and for good reason. You could argue the Malmö-headquartered Swedish company, which was founded over 25 years ago by food scientist Rickard Öste and his brother Björn Öste, put oat milk on the map. The company was the first to do many things, including publishing its greenhouse gas emissions on its product labels, targeting coffee shop baristas as brand ambassadors, and using cheeky marketing campaigns to gain global attention.
In recent years, the plant-based milk sector, and oat milk specifically, has witnessed explosive growth, especially in the US, where it surpassed soy to be the second-most popular plant-based milk (behind only almond). Visit any coffee chain anywhere in the world, and chances are, they can make your latte with oat milk. Oatly is undoubtedly responsible for a large part of this.
However, the cost-of-living crisis has punctured the oat milk balloon. SPINS data reveals that retail sales of oat milk began to show year-on-year declines in the latest quarter in the US. This will hit oat milk brands hard, and not least Oatly, which has had a very rocky few years.
One of the key aspects that have sparked interest is Oatly’s rapid rise to fame. The company’s innovative branding and marketing strategies have catapulted it into the spotlight, attracting both loyal consumers and investors. But with this rapid growth comes scrutiny. Some experts have raised questions about the sustainability claims Oatly makes and whether the company’s production methods truly align with its eco-friendly image.
Controversies have also arisen around Oatly’s financial decisions and partnerships. As the company secured high-profile investments and partnerships, it has faced criticism for potential conflicts between its mission and its financial backers’ interests. This has led to debates about the balance between profitability and ethical considerations, leaving observers to ponder the path Oatly is taking.
Furthermore, Oatly’s expansion into international markets has encountered its fair share of challenges. Cultural differences and regulatory landscapes vary greatly from region to region, and Oatly has faced obstacles in maintaining a consistent image and message across different markets. This has triggered discussions about the complexities of global expansion for a brand rooted in specific values and messaging.
In the last 18 months or so, the world’s premier oat milk company has faced lawsuits, recalled and withdrawn products, seen sales and stocks plummet, and supplies hit – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Below, we take a closer look at what’s gone down in the Swedish plant-based giant’s backyard.
1. The stock crash
Courtesy: Oatly
Oatly made a ton of waves leading up to its US IPO in May 2021, setting a mammoth $10B valuation after warding off the backlash from its Blackstone deal. Its first public trading day ended at $22, even though its stock was priced at $17. It was an incredible milestone for one of the plant-based industry’s giants.
But since then, its stock has crashed by as much as 94%, according to financial research company The Motley Fool, hovering at just under $3 in the past month. If the stock trades below $1 for over 30 days, it’s in danger of being delisted by the NYSE. So, what gives? A combination of the post-pandemic supply chain issues and the cost-of-living crisis have hit OTLY hard. While the company saw a 10% year-on-year revenue growth in Q2 2023, it has slashed its sales forecast for the year to less than half, down from 23-28% to 7-12% and investors can’t seem to rally behind it.
2. The supply chain issues
Oatly’s supply issues have been hit by a range of different events. For one, extreme heat led to severe droughts that ravaged oat crops in Canada and the US. The former saw oat production fall to an 11-year low, while the latter had its lowest oat yield ever.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – a major oat exporter – further exacerbated the shortage, as Ukraine placed an export ban on oats and wheat. Another contributing factor to raw material shortages was the rail shipping delays, brought upon by difficult weather conditions.
All this led to Oatly looking outside of its regular oat suppliers, pushing the cost of supply chain turbulence toward the consumer. It meant the world’s most famous oat milk became more expensive. The brand also announced three new global production facilities to address raw material shortages, but those plans are reported to have been shelved or put on hold due to high construction costs and supply chain issues.
3. The restructuring of manufacturing operations
Courtesy: Oatly
In November last year, Oatly posted below-expectation Q3 earnings, “largely driven by Covid-19 restrictions in Asia, production challenges in the Americas, and continued foreign exchange headwinds”. To address its supply chain issues and overhead costs, it announced plans to restructure its manufacturing operations and reduce headcount by 25% across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).
Calling it a “reset plan”, the business stated its intention to shift to a hybrid manufacturing model to reduce production costs across EMEA. “This move towards a more hybrid network is expected to significantly reduce our future capital expenditures and have a positive effect on our cash flow outlook,” then-CEO Toni Petersson explained. The company also looked to address issues at the Utah manufacturing plant that reduced its production.
4. The leadership changes
Speaking of CEOs and restructuring, Oatly has undergone major leadership changes in the last year. It tapped former Mars executive Jean-Christophe Flatin to replace the outgoing Petersson. This represents a significant change, given Petersson’s decade-long stint overseeing Oatly’s rise from niche fledgling to industry leader.
In June, Petersson stepped into the role of co-chair of the board as Flatin sought to turn the business’s fortunes around. The former played a key role in building Oatly’s brand, and this move was described as a shift from a marketing-focused CEO to an operations-led leader.
5. The product recall
Courtesy: Oatly
While Oatly has suffered multiple drops in its stock over the last 18 months, in November 2021, it saw a 20% fall in shares directly due to a warning about its products’ quality, as well as delivery delays.
The Swedish brand said it was “investigating a quality issue”, which later turned out to be a problem with one of its North American manufacturers, Lyons Magnus. Five of Oatly’s products were voluntarily recalled in August 2022, including two sizes of its specifically slim-packaged Barista oat milk, and three 11oz offerings comprising its original, Barista and chocolate milks.
The FDA warned people not to consume such products because they may be contaminated withcronobacter sakazakii and clostridium botulinum, which can lead to a host of health issues including food poisoning, UTIs, vision problems, and worst case, respiratory paralysis.
These contaminated packs of Oatly appeared on the shelves of Target and Starbucks, and both companies faced a subsequent class-action lawsuit by a customer who fell ill after consuming the oat milk. The entire ordeal also hit the alt-dairy giant’s reputation in an increasingly post-Covid health-conscious world.
6. The product withdrawal
In the UK, Oatly pulled back its range of vegan ice-cream tubs earlier this year. “We launched an ice-cream tub which has been successful, was on sale in many markets, and does very well for Oatly,” a spokesperson told FoodNavigator. “But it didn’t hit the milestones we expected from a UK perspective… Like most businesses, we’re always looking to review our ranges, working out what’s working …and we decided that the ice cream tubs weren’t working well enough for us.”
Explaining the decision to the Guardian, the company hinted at a struggle with increased competition: “Given a number of our plant-based friends are doing great work on this shelf already, we made the decision to move away from ice-cream tubs in the UK for now.”
With a growing number of competitors in the global alt-dairy space, Oatly no longer has the market dominance it once enjoyed, as it faces off against legacy, novel and private-label brands, especially as consumers have their wallets squeezed.
The alt-dairy aisle is a crowded space. Just in the UK, where it withdrew its ice-cream tubs, oat milk brands include the likes of Alpro Oat, Califia Farms, Mighty, Innocent, Minor Figures, Rude Health and Oaty Bruce – to name just a few. And this is before we start accounting for supermarket own-label milks – all of the UK’s biggest grocers have introduced their own oat drink at similar or lower price points, with many even launching barista editions.
7. The ad ban
Courtesy: Oatly
In January 2022, Oatly was hit by an ad ban by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), following 109 consumer complaints. For a brand that prides itself on its marketing prowess, this was a big blow.
The ASA argued that one of Oatly’s ad campaigns contained unsubstantiated environmental claims in its comparison of oat milk with conventional dairy. For example, one commercial – with the tagline “Need help talking to dad about milk?” – stated that Oatly generates 73% fewer carbon emissions than milk. The comparison was between Oatly Barista and full-cream milk, but the ASA said consumers would understand it to mean all of Oatly’s products.
In two newspaper ads, the oat milk giant stated that more than a quarter of global emissions come from the food industry, with meat and dairy accounting for half of that. The ASA called the ad “misleading”, saying that Oatly had included fish and eggs as part of meat and dairy, but people may assume it has a narrower definition.
It affected an already-hit reputation, with the brand facing three lawsuits in New York after being accused of greenwashing by investors in 2021. Oatly also had to pause promotional activities in the last two years due to supply chain problems – and promised to go on the offensive this year with its promotions, despite marketing guru Peterson’s shift to a board position.
8. The risky PR campaign
Last October, the company took its bold and wacky brand image to a new level with F*ck Oatly, a website listing all the various controversies the brand has faced in recent years. Oatly calls it a “site devoted to helping our fans – and the thousands of people who hate us – better understand everything that’s ‘wrong’ with our company”, adding that “it’s super convenient to have the latest boycotts and criticisms all in one place”.
It recounts the Blackstone controversy, its Glebe Farm lawsuit, and the TikTok outroar about its ingredients list, among others. The website has also spawned four sister sites (Fckfckoatly.com, Fckfckfckoatly.com, and so on), where you can register your hate with a click. Thousands have already done so (of course, that is part of the fun).
While it’s an exercise in transparency – “we’re not the type of company to hide from moments like these” – it’s also a risky PR strategy. Data journalist Clara Murray argues that wanting to “have the last word in an Instagram comment war” is petty, and criticised Oatly for showing “no empathy” for Glebe Farm, who was hit with a £300,000 legal bill.
Murray also points out that the website excludes the UK ad ban. She concludes: “The biggest problem I have with F*ck Oatly might be the most obvious one: it neatly compiles a host of negatives that most consumers have probably long forgotten.”
9. The Asian decline
Oatly’s China factory | Courtesy: Oatly
When Oatly cut its revenue forecast this year, the market that saw the biggest fall was Asia, with a near 15% drop in quarterly sales. The brand had been expanding in Asia, with a new factory opening in China and a joint facility in Singapore – when Oatly launched in the Lion City in 2020, its own survey found that a third of Singaporeans hadn’t heard of plant-based milk.
Oatly planned to change that and increase awareness, but it seems it hasn’t worked out that way. Domestic competitors have encroached on market share and the company blames its decline in Asia, which represents 19% of its market revenue, on “a slower-than-expected post-Covid-19 recovery in China”. This is despite a rise in plant-based milk adoption in the continent, where soy (understandably) reigns supreme.
The brand’s COO Daniel Ordonez said it can’t continue to justify “significant investments with uncertain payoffs”: “We will be therefore slowing down on SKU expansion and eliminating many unnecessary SKUs… and migrating to a more simplified cost structure.”
Flatin added: “We are refocusing on our core business, which means food service and very few key retail partners only in key cities.”
Going forward, can the once-pioneering company turn things around? The jury’s still out, but given the brand’s track record, it would be foolish to discount it.
Plant-based meat may be getting caught in the culture wars, and US brands that emphasize climate and environmental concerns may be putting off conservative consumers who are reluctant to try such products, according to new research.
By Jennifer Yule, Lecturer in Marketing, The University of Edinburgh
It’s difficult to tell if the recent wave of anti-vegan sentiment has affected the plant-based meat market, but denigrating the image of vegans has certainly gone mainstream.
Alongside negative comments about people who don’t eat meat by figures like Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson, anti-vegan rhetoric has even slipped into political discourse: Suella Braverman recently referred to supporters of Just Stop Oil campaigners as “Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati”. It seems our protein choices have become a surprisingly loaded issue.
These days, consumers are faced with a dizzying array of choices when it comes to protein, particularly since US plant-based producer Beyond Meat started its quest to disrupt the market in 2012. Since then, its innovative take on the veggie burger, made from pea protein to mimic the taste and texture of meat, has helped the company become a runaway success.
But despite sustained growth for several years, sales of plant-based meat products are now stagnating. Even market leaders like Beyond Meat are hitting significant lows.
The environmental benefits of adopting a diet that is less reliant on meat have been well-established. As UK nature presenter David Attenborough has pointed out: “We must change our diet. The planet can’t support billions of meat-eaters.”
So, working out why consumers are cooling towards this once-hot product is crucial, not only from a business point of view but to support the environmental benefits of low- or no-meat diets.
Price and healthiness are important. However, a growing ideological divide over the environment means traditional ways of encouraging people to eat plant-based meat – promoting its green credentials – could be harming sales, according to research.
Criticism of plant-based meat
The plant-based meat market has certainly been criticised for high prices compared with animal meat. It also tends to be more expensive than traditional vegan protein sources, such as beans, lentils and tofu. Given the cost of living crisis, consumers are forced to make frugal choices when it comes to their shopping baskets, and may reject what could be seen as a premium product.
Others have questioned the healthiness of meat substitutes. As plant-based meat is a relatively new product, the long-term health implications of directly replacing animal meat with it are unknown. Research also warns against assuming that plant-based meat is nutritionally equivalent to animal meat.
But alongside price and healthiness, image also plays an important role in the success of plant-based brands, according to my research with Krista Hill Cummings of Babson College, Massachusetts. In particular, how brands present the environmental benefits of plant-based meat can have a significant impact on the kinds of consumers that buy this type of food.
The issue of climate change and environmental concern is politically polarising, however. Since the 1990s, environmentalism has been depicted as a left-wing ideological issue, particularly in the US. So, our study sought to examine the role of political beliefs in driving sales of plant-based meat by, first, establishing a link between a person’s ideology (either conservative or liberal) and their desire to engage with the plant-based meat market. This means everything from becoming aware of the product and developing opinions on it, right through to buying and eating plant-based meats.
A different survey shows that more than half (53%) of US consumers who have not bought or tried plant-based meat may be reluctant to buy a product they view as “woke”. Our study further highlights the political divide in views about plant-based meat, with the conservative consumers we polled less likely than liberals to try it, and generally less interested in even considering it.
We analysed press releases from Beyond Meat to understand how the benefits of plant-based meat are being communicated to consumers, to see if this could be a driver of the ideological divide over plant-based meat. We found that taste, health and the environment are the main messages used by the firm.
Taste and health are product benefits that appeal to both liberal and conservative consumers, according to otherresearch. However, the environment emerged as a more controversial topic. This issue polarised liberal and conservative consumers when it came to perceiving climate change as a problem that could or should be addressed by eating plant-based meat.
Testing ads about the environment
To further test the idea that the environment could cause problems when advertising to conservative consumers, we created different messages, varying the environmental content. We developed mock Facebook ads that described either the health and environmental benefits of plant-based meat, or just the health benefits. We found that advertising content based on the environment turned off the conservative consumers involved in our study.
Of course, our study was carried out among US consumers. But the trend of political polarisation seen across Europe, and recent comments about the vegan “wokerati” lifestyle from UK public figures, means we could see similar results in other countries.
Shoppers have a growing choice of non-meat protein products but not everyone is keen to try them. www.hollandfoto.net/Shutterstock
For an advertising message to successfully resonate and change either a consumer’s attitude or behaviour, “congruence” is required. This is when the message content aligns with the characteristics of its recipient. We found that environmental messaging is incongruent to conservative consumers, meaning these ads don’t spark either their curiosity or interest. Without that spark, you can’t engage consumers.
More research into, and development of, alternative meats could no doubt improve the nutritional profile, taste and texture of these products, but the environmental case for reducing meat consumption in our diets is clear. Plant-based brands need to change the way they speak to consumers about this issue to better engage steadfast meat-eaters.
Only 1% of Americans say they are vegan – down from 3% in 2018 and 2% in 2012 – according to a new Gallup poll. The number of vegetarians, meanwhile, has also dropped from 5% in 2018 to 4% in 2023.
The Gallup survey, conducted with 1,015 Americans in July, found that political liberals adults were among the demographics most likely to be vegetarian. 9% of liberals identify as vegetarian, three times as high as political moderates or conservatives.
Lower-income Americans were around twice as likely as middle- (4%) and upper-income (3%) consumers to be vegetarian. The same goes for vegans, with lower-income individuals (3%) thrice as likely than the rest (1%) to identify this way. This is surprising, especially in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis – given one common criticism about veganism is the higher costs associated with it.
At 6%, women, meanwhile, are more likely to be vegetarian than men (2%). But in terms of vegans, more men (2%) said they identify that way than women (1%). People of colour (5% vegetarian, 2% vegan) are more likely to be meat-free than non-Hispanic white consumers (4% vegetarian, 1% vegan).
Counterintuitive consumer data
Courtesy: Gallup
In terms of age, the poll found that all subgroups had the same percentage of people identifying as vegetarian, but more people aged 55 and over (2%) said they were vegan, compared to 1% for 18-34 and 35-54. It seems counterintuitive, given that 76% of Gen Zers say climate change is one of their biggest concerns, and recent research showing that veganism can cut emissions by 75% compared to meat-rich diets. Seperate data also shows that 60% of American Gen Zers are open to a tax on meat.
Additionally, a January 2020 poll by Gallup found that 70% of Americans cited concerns about the environment as a reason for reducing their meat intake.
These demographic differences, however, aren’t as pronounced as previous Gallup polls about the topic. And conflicting data shows that plant-based foods are in demand. The Plant Based Foods Association found that vegan food sales hit $8B in the US in 2022.
Gallup itself says that alt-meat products are “becoming more commonplace in grocery stores and restaurants”, with four in 10 Americans having tried them. Complementing these findings, research by alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute has found that 93% of Americans who buy plant-based meat alternatives are neither vegetarian nor vegan.
But the pollsters argue that “these changes have not been met with an increase in Americans’ adoption of vegetarian or vegan diets, as less than 5% of US adults follow either eating approach”. Recent revenue drops for the likes of industry giants Beyond Meat and Oatly – combined with plant-based brands ceasing operations or coming close to it reflect the challenges facing the sector and the Gallup data certainly offers additional context.
Recreating animal muscle tissues from plants is like climbing a mountain – and this is why whole cuts have been referred to as the ‘holy grail’ of plant-based meat. While most vegan meat companies stick to mince, these six startups are succeeding in replicating conventional whole-cut beef without any animal ingredients.
Plant-based companies have mastered the burger. Even the chicken nugget. But it’s the next step that’s proved the most challenging – and exciting. Whole cuts have their own charm and there’s no substitute for the textural complexities they present to the eater. So why should non-meat-eaters miss out?
These are a few companies that ensure they don’t.
Juicy Marbles, Slovenia
Courtesy: Juicy Marbles
First off, what a name! The Slovenian food tech brand takes the crown in my super-important (to me) plant-based meat nomenclature rating list.
Launched in 2021, Juicy Marbles (which has raised $4.5M in total funding so far) makes an “ultra-tender” plant-based whole-cut filet mignon using its patent-pending ‘reverse grinder’ tech that mimics the muscle texture and marbling of conventional steak. It does so with soy and wheat proteins infused with beetroot powder, yeast extract and other natural flavours. There’s also sunflower oil, carrageenan and Big Meat enemy methylcellulose, and it’s fortified with iron and vitamin B12.
One whole tenderloin, which comes in at 756g, sets you back $60. That’s about $10 for six thick-cut steaks. Speaking of, the brand sells thick-cut steaks in addition to the loin, and will soon launch the world’s first plant-based pork ribs with edible bones (yes, you read that right). You can buy its products online in the US, UK and EU, as well as select retailers (including Waitrose in the UK).
In her review for Green Queen, our writer Amy Buxton put it succinctly: “I’ve eaten beef that tasted less like beef than this beetroot-infused soy protein did.” Now that’s a steak that will have you clutching your, erm, juicy marbles.
Chunk Foods, Israel
Courtesy: Chunk Foods
Iron Man loves this meat. What else is there to say?
Robert Downey Jr’s FootPrint Coalition-backed Israeli startup Chunk Foods makes whole ‘chunks’ of vegan steak from cultured soy and wheat. The whole-cut filet mignon is fortified with vitamin B12 and iron too, and undergoes a solid-state fermentation process.
Chunk Foods’ plant-based beef has appeared on the menus of several New York City restaurants, including Coletta, Anixi and The Butcher’s Daughter. And earlier this month, it became the first vegan steak to appear on the menu of a steakhouse chain in the US, after it collaborated with Charley’s Steak House in Orlando.
The whole-cut meat does cost $69 at the Florida eatery, but that’s on par with most of the other steaks on the menu. And it won the ‘Plant Based Meat Product of the Year’ at the fourth annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards this month. Chunk Foods, which has secured $17M in total funding, is also working on pork, lamb and poultry alternatives.
Redefine Meat, Israel
Courtesy: Redefine Meat
With total investment of $180M, Israeli startup Redefine Meat is one of the most well-known whole-cut alt-meat players, using 3D printing to develop fibres that resemble animal muscle tissues. And the 2018-founded company makes whole-cut beef tenderloin and lamb flanks so good that it has the attention of multiple Michelin-starred chefs and restaurants.
Perhaps most notable is Marco Pierre White, whose star gave rise to the celebrity chef genre. The British chef created two recipes with Redefine Meat’s steak and added them to the menu of his 40-strong restaurant estate in the UK. French chef Alexis Gauthier, who famously turned his Michelin-starred Soho flagship in London fully vegan, also put Redefine Meat’s steak on his tasting menu.
Other high-end locations to serve Redefine’s products include Ron Gastrobar locations across Amsterdam, Hotel Montefiore in Tel Aviv, and Burger Bear, Chotto Matte and Selfridges in London. Globally, you can find Redefine Meat’s products in 1,872 locations.
Green Rebel, Indonesia
Courtesy: Green Rebel
Indonesian plant-based giant Green Rebel‘s product portfolio is vast: from whole-food plant-based proteins and vegan cheese to whole-cut meats and vegan fried eggs. It has also collaborated with global brands like Starbucks, IKEA, Nando’s and AirAsia.
In 2021, it unveiled Asia’s first plant-based whole-cut beef and chicken steaks. While the chicken was created with soy protein, the Beefless Steak combines soy protein with shiitake mushrooms. Apart from that, it contains only seaweed flour, coconut oil, natural seasonings and water.
Green Rebel, which is reading for a Serie A after closing an oversubscribed $10M pre-A round, first launched into two of Indonesia’s largest steakhouse chains, ABUBA Steak and Pepper Lunch. Now, its products are available in a wide range of retailers and restaurants across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.
But when it comes to plant-based meat, In 2020, Novameat produced its second version of the whole-cut steak, calling it the “most realistic” alternative yet. It used a combination of tissue engineering and technology that enabled micro-structured tridimensional 3D printing, with pea, rice and algae fibre protein and a combination of fats and colourings.
With all-time funding of over $6M, Novameat’s portfolio includes plant-based shredded beef, chicken fillets, pulled chicken and turkey pastrami, and at this year’s Future Food Tech conference in San Francisco, it showcased its Nova Beef, which resembled conventional short ribs.
Project Eaden, Germany
Courtesy: Project Eaden
Launching into a media maelstrom after some time stealth with a seed funding round that brought in its total investment to €10.1M ($11M) this January, German startup Project Eaden is banking on its technological prowess for its plant-based steak. The company says its novel bio-fibre tech is similar to fibre-spinning for synthetic fibre, which is used across other industries like textiles, aviation and automotive.
Project Eaden is using the same technology for meat – and says it’s highly scalable and affordable, claiming these fibres can be designed with precision to meet technical requirements, including elasticity, water-binding ability and strength. The ultra-thin fibres are bundled into strands mimicking conventional muscle tissues and then blended with vegetable fats for a near-identical vegan marbled steak.
The company says it plans to go to market at the end of the year, According to a January announcement, the company will begin prototype production in a laboratory soon, before moving to a highly automated production facility. Currently, you can sign up to be the first to try its “ultra-realistic” vegan steak.
Singaporean plant-based brand HAPPIEE! – a subsidiary of Growthwell Foods – has secured listings with UK retailers to introduce its vegan frozen seafood range to the market. The company’s plain and breaded seafood alternatives are already available at online retailer Ocado, and will launch at Tesco – the UK’s largest supermarket – next month.
Launched in 2022, the brand has already been available at multiple retailers and restaurants in Singapore with its range of soy-based chicken nuggets and popcorn. Now, it makes its UK debut with a range of vegan seafood – the country is Europe’s second-largest consumer of plant-based seafood – which includes breaded and plain shrimp, breaded calamari, and squid rings. Additionally, HAPPIEE! is also introducing one non-seafood alternative, a vegan lamb shawarma.
Capitalising on frozen
Courtesy: Growthwell Foods
All the seafood products contain tapioca, konjac flour and potato starch, and are free from soy, trans fats and GMOs. HAPPIEE!’s parent company, Growthwell, already has a portfolio of multiple plant-based food brands. It secured $22M in a Series A funding round in November 2021, while opening a new innovation centre to scale up research and development for plant-based meat and seafood.
The products are available for purchase at Ocado and will be on 364 Tesco shelves next month, before a more widespread expansion planned for January 2024. It comes as the frozen food segment sees continued growth in the UK. According to Tesco, 31% of British adults bought more frozen food at the end of last year, and they will continue to do so this year. Additionally, 19% who had not previously bought frozen food began purchasing it to save money.
“Our aim is to foster a continued shift towards eco-friendly choices, reducing our dependence on the seas for a sustainable future,” said HAPPIEE! commercial manager Rosie Bambaji. “We’re on a mission to bring genuine change to the category, filling in the gaps so that flexitarians and vegetarians aren’t missing out on their favourite dishes and cuisines.”
The problem with seafood
Courtesy: Growthwell Foods
HAPPIEE!’s UK debut comes during a host of other developments in the global plant-based seafood sector. South Korea’s Unlimeat debuted its upcycled vegan tuna this month, while startups like Konscious Foods, Bluu Seafood and Hooked Foods have all received funding this year. Meanwhile, two European brands received a €1.5M grant to create 3D-printed mycoprotein to replace seafood.
According to industry think tank the Good Food Institute, pound sales for plant-based seafood grew by 40% year-on-year in 2022 and as of 2021, there were over 120 companies in the alternative seafood space (which includes vegan, fermentation-based and cultivated seafood).
The seafood industry is rife with environmental and human rights issues. The growing demand for seafood has led to overfishing and, subsequently, higher greenhouse gas emissions, while the heavy fuel use by ocean fishery vessels also contributes to the climate crisis. The 2021 documentary Seaspiracy details the endemic issues attached to this sector.
“The average consumer is becoming more aware of animal welfare and sustainability,” Maarten Garaets, alt-protein managing director of seafood giant Thai Union, told Green Queen in May. “And this is becoming a more important part of the selection criteria when they are buying food, but this is still a very small group.”
He added: “Alternative seafood is a new category, with limited awareness, whereas meat is more established. However, seafood is bound to catch up soon. Health is less of a concern for seafood, whereas sustainability will be more of a lever.”
Canadian cultivated meat startup The Better Butchers has revealed plans to open what would be the world’s first exclusively cultured meat butchery within the next two years. The brand says it wants to be Canada’s first company to launch cultivated meat to market, and has had “positive discussions” with regulatory authorities in the country.
The startup is founded by Mitchell Scott, who was the former co-founder of US plant-based meat brand The Very Good Food Company. Scott was terminated as company CEO in 2022, and the business itself went into receivership this year.
“When I was unceremoniously exited from the plant-based food company I co-founded, I started looking into it and ended up building out a team to start the world’s first cultivated butchery,” Scott told Vegconomist. “In addition to having the potential to solve massive environmental, ethical and health concerns, I think cultivated meat can also solve some of the consumer adoption issues facing plant-based meat, such as taste, texture, and long ingredient lists.”
The Better Butchers plans to open its cultivated meat butchery in Vancouver in 2024, and is currently also focusing on a direct-to-consumer product portfolio, with plans to enter foodservice and wholesale in the aftermath. The brand is working on prototypes of cultivated pork sausages, meatballs and marinated steaks.
Canada’s regulatory process
Courtesy: The Better Butchers
Scott said the company has had positive discussions with regulators for a potential approval of The Better Butchers’ cultivated meat products. He expects just over a 12-month process to get the regulatory seal, once the prototypes are complete in Q1 2024.
According to industry think tank the Good Food Institute, Canada has stated its intent to regulate cultivated meat under its current novel foods regulations, instead of considering new regulatory approaches. Authorisation requires a premarket proposal with detailed information about the product. And the approval process is made up of three parts: a ‘letter of no objection’ for human food use; a premarket assessment for new animal feed, regardless of whether the product is intended for that purpose; and an environmental assessment.
Canada’s regulator, Health Canada, is also working in tandem with Food Standards Australia New Zealand on applications of GMO food safety assessment components. The collaboration will see one body take the lead while the other peer reviews, which streamlines the regulatory process, saves costs for both applicants and agencies, and maintains regulators’ independence for final approval.
Meanwhile, since the US is already further up the regulatory ladder after becoming only the second country to approve the sale of cell-cultured meat this June, The Better Butchers plans to pursue approval in that market too.
Cultivated meat in Canada
Courtesy: The Better Butchers
Interest in cultivated meat in Canada is booming. A new report published last week by the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) and Fiddlehead Technologies found that there have been 22 patent filings for cell-based meat tech in the country since 2020, with nine companies working in the nation’s cultivated meat sector. Meanwhile, media coverage about the topic has been more positive in recent years. And Canadians increasingly searched for terms including ‘lab-grown meat’, from its production process to its availability for sale.
GFI also notes that last year, Canada invested in cultivated meat development and commercialisation through the government-funded non-profit Ontario Genomics. It collaborated with Germany’s The Cultivated B. to build a 130,000 sq ft cellular agriculture facility, which will provide a domestic supply of bioreactors. Ontario Genomics also partnered with the CFIN for AcCELLerate-ON, a CAD$900,000 competition for cultivated food and beverage projects. Three of the winners of last year’s contest focused on cultivated meat and seafood.
While The Better Butchers wants to be the first company to bring cultivated meat to Canada’s market, a host of other businesses are working on cell-cultured meat and seafood in the country. And last year, Canada saw the opening of a new Institute of Cellular Agriculture, born out of a strategic partnership between leading cultivated protein investor Cult Food Science, the University of Alberta, and New Harvest Canada.
As for butcheries, while The Better Butchers could very well be the first brand to open a butchery exclusively featuring cultivated meat, it won’t be the first butchery to offer cultivated meat. That honour rests with Singapore-based Huber’s Butchery, which put cultivated meat by GOOD Meat (the first company to receive regulatory approval for cultivated meat, also in Singapore) on its display and menu last December.
