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Category: Alt Protein

  • Impossible Foods’ New Ads Will Make You Want to Switch Up Your Meat

    Impossible Foods has launched a summer ad campaign
    3 Mins Read

    It’s the Summer of Impossible according to a stellar new ad campaign for Impossible Foods from Terry Crews’ Super Serious creative agency.

    No one wants summer to end and Impossible Foods is making that known even before the season is officially underway next week. The Bay Area vegan meat company debuted its new ad campaign during the 76th Annual Tony Awards on Sunday and it’s award-worthy itself.

    The Summer of Impossible

    The campaign (“Making Meat History”), led by the new agency Super Serious — an up-and-coming creative studio co-founded by actor and TV host Terry Crews, alongside Matthew O’Rourke and Paul Sutton — sees the Emmy-winning director Jake Scott direct the musical spot that journeys back through meat’s history. Think the 2022 Super Bowl spot for failed crypto giant FTX that sees Larry David ringside to some of the most major inventions throughout history meets another Super Bowl ad, 2021’s Oatly spot where CEO Toni Petersson and a keyboard find musical harmony in a field of oats.

    The second in the Impossible campaign series, “The Summer of Impossible,” positions Impossible not so much as a meat substitute just for vegetarians or vegans, but as meat from plants for anyone who loves the taste of meat. This campaign is made up of multiple shorter vignettes, juxtaposing the Impossible Burger with traditional animal meat burgers as they discuss their differences and similarities.

    “We need to welcome consumers into the plant-based space and give them a reason to choose Impossible,” Leslie Sims, Chief Marketing & Creative Officer of Impossible Foods, said in a statement.

    “These campaigns are lighthearted and approachable by design to make the choice between our products and animal meat feel less intimidating.”

    ‘Meat – just made from plants’

    The campaigns mark a new era for Impossible Foods, which has historically followed a traditional marketing strategy including high-profile partnerships and word-of-mouth. But under Sims’ new leadership, the company is enhancing its marketing strategies to attract a broader demographic, extending beyond just vegetarians and vegans. Similar campaigns worked well for Beyond Meat, Impossible’s chief rival, when it debuted at Carl’s Jr.

    Impossible Burger
    A range of plant-based burgers claim to deliver a meaty experience. But Paleo says it can improve them. Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    “We want consumers to know they don’t have to give up the meat they love. Impossible products are meat – just made from plants – so they’re still delicious and have a ton of other benefits,” Sims said.

    The campaigns follow major shifts within the organization after Peter McGuinness was appointed CEO last year. McGuiness scrapped plans to IPO earlier this year, and in March, the company announced cuts to about 16 percent of its workforce.

    But despite the hiccups, sales for the brand have been strong as it launched new products and entered new key markets. While the plant-based meat category has seen lackluster sales, particularly over at Beyond Meat, Impossible reported a 50 percent hike in retail sales last year.

    The post Impossible Foods’ New Ads Will Make You Want to Switch Up Your Meat first appeared on Green Queen.

    The post Impossible Foods’ New Ads Will Make You Want to Switch Up Your Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Climax Foods Debuts ‘World’s First’ Plant Casein: ‘One of the Most Important Scientific Breakthroughs’

    pizza
    4 Mins Read

    AI food tech startup, the Bay-Area-based Climax Foods Inc., has debuted what it says is the world’s first plant-based ingredient that mimics the functionality, flavor, texture, melt, and stretch of the dairy protein casein.

    The new innovation positions Climax Foods as the plant-based pioneer in successfully reproducing the utility, consistency, and flavor of the primary protein in animal milk for use in a range of applications, namely cheese. Climax’s plant-based casein is devoid of hormones, antibiotics, and the top eight food allergens. In addition, Climax Foods’ groundbreaking “precision formulation” technique enables the sustainable production of this protein at scale, price-wise equivalent to traditional animal-based casein.

    Recreating the complexity of dairy

    Existing plant-based dairy alternatives are typically mixtures of oil and starch that can disappoint conventional cheese fans in terms of nutrition, texture, and performance. Climax says that despite more than $1.5B of funding invested into multiple companies aiming to manufacture a casein substitute through precision fermentation, significant scalability, and regulatory issues persist. Climax’s scientists, utilizing AI and plant-based ingredients, have discovered an alternative approach by identifying abundant and naturally occurring plant proteins capable of imparting genuine melt and stretch to plant-based cheeses.

    “As foodies and scientists, we have a profound appreciation for the complex flavors and textures of dairy products, but also recognize their vast inefficiencies — such as requiring 700 gallons of water to make one pound of cheese,” Climax CEO and Founder Oliver Zahn, a Harvard-trained astrophysicist, and alum at both Google and SpaceX, said in a statement. “Our production process uses 500 times less water at our current pilot scale.”

    climax cheese
    Climax is bringing its vegan cheese to market | Courtesy

    According to Daniel Westcott, Head of Protein and Texture at Climax Foods, the company can achieve this without the need for genetic modification as well — a major barrier to entry in key markets including the European Union.

    “An immeasurable range of protein diversity and combinations already exists; we simply use data science and machine learning to pay very, very close attention,” Westcott said. “This gives us the ability to model and verify formulations at the microscopic level in a fraction of the time that it would take a traditional approach. And while we love learning through data science, we generate our data by making cheese, which means that the busiest half of our lab is the kitchen.”

    Climax Foods’ “precision formulation” process combines data science with machine intelligence to uncover ideal ingredient and process combinations that maximize the potential of plant sources. Compared with the centuries-long trial and error methods traditionally used in food innovation, Climax Foods’ AI-enabled precision formulation process condenses this procedure into mere weeks.

    New Culture, another Bay Area company working to replicate casein, just made its market debut at Nancy Silverton’s Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles. Unlike Climax, though, New Culture taps precision fermentation, a novel tech that uses microbes to recreate the dairy protein. While that cheese can serve as a stand-in for dedicated dairy lovers, it brings with it the allergen risks common with conventional dairy.

    Zahn says Climax is able to offer “a better way to everyone, especially hardcore cheese lovers,” through its tech.

    “To do this, we committed ourselves to understanding, on a microscopic level, what makes animal-based foods so craveable, and used that understanding to determine the precise steps needed to get that same exact performance from plant sources like seeds,” Zahn says.

    ‘One of the most important scientific breakthroughs in food in the last six thousand years’

    “We’re not changing any ingredients genetically; we’re using what is already there. The difference comes from our depth of knowledge of the rich biodiversity of the plant kingdom down to a cellular level. Plants can impart all of the same texture, taste, and performance of animal-based ingredients – our AI-enabled Deep Plant Intelligence platform takes away the guesswork. For our casein replacement, our AI platform and precision formulation process helped us uncover a mechanism in specific plant proteins that imparts indistinguishable melt and stretch and mouthfeel from casein while also dramatically improving nutrition.”

    Climax is working to revamp Bel Group’s vegan cheese | Courtesy

    Climax’s vegan casein-based cheeses have already earned the support of Michelin-starred chefs including Dominique Crenn and Jean Georges Vongerichten, as well as plant-based chefs Tal Ronnen, and Matthew Kenney. Major cheese manufacturers such as The Bel Group are also excited by the potential; Climax Foods has in aiding the redesign of Bel’s French staple cheese products into plant-based versions.

    “Caseins are involved in all dairy transformations including cheese, yogurt, cream, and others,” said Anne Pitkowski, Bel Group’s Director of Research and Applications. “They are directly responsible for the product texture, stability, and, moreover, bring the very unique property of stretchability. Those properties are linked to the specific micellar structure of the casein assemblage that, until Climax Foods’ discovery, had not been met anywhere else in nature.”

    While the company’s current focus is on dairy products, Zahn says that Climax Foods’ precision formulation process holds potential for the replacement of any type of animal-based food in the future.

    “This is one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in food in the last six thousand years,” Zahn said, “but we are only getting started.”

    The post Climax Foods Debuts ‘World’s First’ Plant Casein: ‘One of the Most Important Scientific Breakthroughs’ first appeared on Green Queen.

    The post Climax Foods Debuts ‘World’s First’ Plant Casein: ‘One of the Most Important Scientific Breakthroughs’ appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Vegan Seafood Startup Plantish Rebrands as Oshi As It Eyes Global Market

    3 Mins Read

    Plantish, the innovative Israeli company acclaimed for its cutting-edge plant-based salmon produced via unique, patent-pending additive manufacturing technology, has announced a rebrand to Oshi.

    Oshi says the renaming event symbolizes a substantial evolution for the brand as it embraces its transition towards becoming a global food entity, readying itself for a U.S. product debut later this year.

    To this point, Oshi has raised $14.5 million in funding. Among the notable investors are Unovis, renowned for its financial backing of industry players like Beyond Meat and Oatly. Additional backers includes Pitango, TechAviv Founder Partners, SOMV, SmartAgro, E2JDJ, Alumni Ventures, HackSummit, and OurCrowd.

    The company, established in March 2021, boasts a roster of notable collaborators, encompassing Michelin-starred chefs, famed cookbook writer Adeena Sussman, and content producer Nuseir Yassin from Nas Daily.

    ‘A transformative journey’

    “By rebranding to Oshi, we are embarking on a transformative journey to position ourselves as a leading global seafood company,” Ofek Ron, Co-Founder and CEO of Oshi, said in a statement. “Our new name, which stems from the word ‘Ocean,’ represents our values and our commitment to delivering exceptional seafood products that resonate with consumers worldwide. We are dedicated to offering a sustainable and delicious alternative to conventional seafood while promoting a healthier and more environmentally friendly food system.”

    Courtesy Oshi

    With the vast majority of global fish intake (more than 70 percent) being attributed to whole-cut styles like entire fish or fillets, Oshi has a strategic goal to instigate a sea-change in the alternative seafood domain through its introduction of whole-cut, plant-based salmon.

    In the past, the technical hurdles of creating whole-cut alternatives resulted in a lack of options in the alternative seafood industry, which has predominantly been confined to products like fish fingers and fried fish. Oshi’s pioneering additive manufacturing technology has surmounted these limitations, laying the groundwork for a new, sustainable methodology in plant-based seafood creation.

    Global vegan seafood market

    Oshi is targeting a launch into the U.S. restaurant industry by the conclusion of this year, with ongoing chef collaborations to fine-tune product offerings ahead of the much-anticipated launch. Concurrently, the company has solidified a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Coop for distribution collaboration on Oshi’s salmon fillets in 2025. Coop Group, one of Europe’s leading retail giants with more than 7,000 outlets, seeks to provide its customers with a sustainable, superior alternative to traditional salmon through this partnership.

    Good Catch Salmon Burgers
    Good Catch Salmon Burgers | Courtesy

    Oshi’s U.S. and European debuts will see it join an emergent seafood successors category led predominantly by the Wicked Kitchen empire that boasts the U.S.-based Good Catch and the recently acquired Current Foods.

    Elsewhere, global seafood leader Thai Union has stepped up its vegan seafood offerings as well as led an investment into French algae startup Algama. And in Canada, Toronto’s New School Foods debuted its first product earlier this year: a plant-based whole-cut “raw” salmon filet that works and tastes just like conventional.

    The post Vegan Seafood Startup Plantish Rebrands as Oshi As It Eyes Global Market first appeared on Green Queen.

    The post Vegan Seafood Startup Plantish Rebrands as Oshi As It Eyes Global Market appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • UK’s Meatless Farm Makes Team Redundant As It Prepares For Bankruptcy

    3 Mins Read

    Meatless Farm, the UK-based plant-based meat company founded in 2016 by Danish entrepreneur Morten Toft Bech, may be facing bankruptcy after being unable to secure additional funding.

    As first reported by The Grocer today, a notice of intention to appoint administrators was filed last Friday and all employees at the company’s Leeds headquarters were made redundant.

    As recently as two weeks ago, the company warned shareholders it was facing millions in losses and needed to find a buyer to stave off administration. The company has raised over £40 million in funding to date, with the latest round closed in 2021 via crowdfunding.

    While the company has not made an official announcement, the Meatless Farm website is no longer operational and the brand’s products can no longer be found in supermarkets and other former retail partners. The company’s last Instagram post was from over a week ago and the last LinkedIn post dates from almost two weeks prior.

    Just over a month ago, the company announced the launch of four new products, which it described as “the UK’s first branded plant-based meat-filled pasta” and debuted “the UK’s first Automated Plant Machine (APM)”, a vending machine dispensing free plant-based foods, as part of the Veganuary 2023 campaign in January.

    The company’s commercial director Tim Offer announced he was looking for a new role over the weekend in a social media post, writing: “Sadly my time at Meatless Farm has come to an end. After a fantastic 10 months leading a talented and highly engaged sales team the business has unfortunately made all the teams redundant. I learnt a huge amount in a short space of time and have absolutely loved the people and the brand. I am now actively looking for new opportunities as #SalesDirector, #commercialdirector , #headofsales in #FMCG.”

    Meatless Farm’s plant-based range, made primarily from pea protein (like its US counterpart Beyond Meat) and rice protein, included mince, burger patties, Chipolata sausages, steaks, chicken breasts, meatballs and a range of ready meals. The brand’s products could be found at various UK supermarkets including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and the Co-op. In the US, the company inked a distribution deal with over 600 Whole Foods stores.

    In addition, the company had a dedicated foodservice offering for restaurant partners and famously secured a nationwide placement on the menus of UK pub chain Wetherspoons’ 900 locations in 2019.

    In a March 2023 interview with Business Leader, Toft Bech said that Meatless Farms’ 2022 sales were up 30% year on year and the company was hoping to close a £35 million funding round. When asked whether the vegan bubble was going to burst, he replied: “t is clear that the plant-based movement is here to stay. Over the last year Meatless farm has seen double-digit growth thanks to greater innovation and consumer demand despite the ongoing challenges posed by both the cost-of-living crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.”

    Andy Shovel, co-CEO and co-founder at fellow British vegan meat brand THIS commented on the news in a statement via email: “It goes without saying that our thoughts as a team, go out to everyone who works at – or with, Meatless Farm. It must be a massively stressful time. It’s also a symptom of a category which is consolidating and reacting to consumers’ need for brands which really signpost quality, and very little departure experientially, from eating animal-based food. This rationalisation is very typical of high-growth and emerging categories, for instance craft beer and smoothies saw a similar process.”

    This is a developing story.

    The post UK’s Meatless Farm Makes Team Redundant As It Prepares For Bankruptcy first appeared on Green Queen.

    The post UK’s Meatless Farm Makes Team Redundant As It Prepares For Bankruptcy appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Can JBS Distance Itself From the ‘Deforestation Beef’ Label With Cultivated Meat and Methane Biogas?

    cow
    4 Mins Read

    Brazilian meat processing giant JBS has announced that its first large-scale cultivated meat production plant is in development by its subsidiary, BioTech Foods, located in Spain as it adds methane biodigesters in nine Brazilian cities.

    JBS, which took a 51 percent controlling stake in BioTech Foods in 2021, says the San Sebastian facility will produce about 1,000 metric tons of cultivated meat annually, but it will have the potential to quadruple its capacity to 4,000 metric tons on a yearly basis.

    The new cultivated meat facility is set to culminate by the middle of 2024. Once completed, JBS says it will boast the title of the world’s biggest cultivated meat plant.

    Cultivated protein production

    “The new BioTech plant puts JBS in a unique position to lead the segment and ride this wave of innovation,” Eduardo Noronha, JBS USA’s head of value-added business, said in a statement.

    “With the challenges imposed on global supply chains, cultivated protein offers the potential to stabilize food security and global protein production,” said BioTech Foods co-founder and CEO Iñigo Charola.

    Cultivated meat | Courtesy BioTech Foods

    The move could signal a sea change for the protein industry. While cultivated meat has yet to receive widespread regulatory approval, a number of companies are poised for market entry when given the green light. Singapore, which first approved California-based Good Meat’s cultivated chicken in 2020, is expected to extend its approval to more companies in the near future. The U.S. has also seen two FDA protocols cleared by Upside Foods and Good Meat. They must now pass USDA inspections before approved for the market.

    That could be imminent as well as Good Meat recently hosted USDA inspectors at its U.S. headquarters. According to Eat Just, Good Meat’s parent company, the USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, Sanah Baig, tasted the company’s cultivated meat.

    “We appreciate the integral work that the U.S. government and advocacy groups like The Good Food Institute are doing to ensure that we have a safe, secure, and more sustainable food system for the future,” Eat Just said in a LinkedIn post.

    Can JBS clean up its protein production?

    The cultivated meat facility news also comes as JBS has announced the installation of methane gas biodigesters in Brazil — the largest project of its kind in Brazil’s protein sector. The biodigesters produce biogas, a clean energy source made from captured methane; livestock is a leading producer of methane emissions — a heat-trapping gas more potent than C02. The project is expected to be operational this month at nine Friboi plants in São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, and Rondônia.

    According to JBS, the biodigesters will help the meat giant reduce its Scope 1 emissions by 65 percent, reducing its total Scope 1 emissions by nearly 25 percent across all of Brazil.

    “In line with our circular economy actions, the biodigesters will reduce our methane emissions and initiate the production of clean and renewable energy,” JBS corporate sustainability officer Maurício Bauer, said in a statement.

    “This project strengthens our view that agribusiness is part of the solution for addressing the challenges of climate change that the world is facing.”

    Photo by Mark Stebnicki at Pexels

    JBS has long come under scrutiny for its ties to deforestation. Brazil is now the leading exporter of beef, much of which comes at the cost of large swaths of the Amazon rainforest. A report late last year found 17 percent of JBS’ cattle came from “irregular” ranches linked to deforestation.

    JBS is one of more than a dozen major agriculture firms that have made pledges to remove suppliers linked to deforestation from their supply chains by 2025, but critics say there are loopholes in its commitment.

    In March, the nonprofit World Animal Protection named JBS the worst offender in a new scorecard ranking the meat industry’s climate impact.

    Lindsay Oliver, Executive Director, World Animal Protection U.S. said JBS is the “worst contributor” of factory farming emissions in the world. “This scorecard further exemplifies the corruption on which JBS is built and the exploitation of both animals and humans on which it profits,” Oliver said.

    According to World Animal Protection, the emissions from JBS-helmed factory farms produce the emissions equivalent of 14 million gas-powered vehicles per year.

    The post Can JBS Distance Itself From the ‘Deforestation Beef’ Label With Cultivated Meat and Methane Biogas? first appeared on Green Queen.

    The post Can JBS Distance Itself From the ‘Deforestation Beef’ Label With Cultivated Meat and Methane Biogas? appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Alt Protein’s Design Language: Creating Mainstream Desire To Drive Food System Change

    10 Mins Read

    Alt protein brands are out there to save the world. But without creating mainstream desire they won’t win the hearts and stomachs crucial to making their visions a reality. Three emerging design patterns show us the way to cross the alt protein chasm into the mainstream.

    A decade ago, Dr Mark Post, co-founder of what would become the cultivated meat company Mosa Meat, fried up the first “in vitro burger” on live TV from a studio in London. Since then, investors have poured $14 billion worth of funding into the alternative protein space in order to find new ways to create animal-like foods and a lot has changed.

    Advances in science across plant-based, fermented and cultivated subsectors of the broader alternative protein space have given consumers some seriously impressive products, many of which cook, taste, smell and look like their animal-derived counterparts. We’ve got supermarkets displaying an array of plant-based brands milking every imaginable nut and legume. We’ve got ice cream and cream cheese made with dairy proteins from precision fermentation. We’ve even got cultivated chicken for sale to the public on a small island on the equator (hello Singapore!). The progress the industry has made in the past few years has been nothing short of amazing.

    So why aren’t more people choosing alt proteins when they want to eat meat, drink milk, or schmear their bagel? A big missing piece of the puzzle is desire. 

    Why desire is hard

    Even in the most progressive regions of the world, the market share of alternative meats is stuck in the low single digits. Alternative dairy, which is considered the most successful of all the plant-based food categories, is still only reaching the low teens. That’s because building mainstream desire for new foods is hard.

    Fundamentally, desire is hard because it’s not just an engineering problem. Desire is a multi-pronged cultural problem, with deeply entrenched beliefs central to people’s identities. If you tell a group of Italians someone is trying to replicate their prosciutto and burrata in a lab, you get angry marches in the streets. Desire is a behavioural problem, with the double hurdles of trial and repeat. If a startup rushes a mediocre product out to market it faces a significant risk that consumers will not give it a second chance. Desire is an emotional problem, with hot buttons that can trigger a herd mentality. A simplistic headline amplified by today’s media echo chamber can create a negative halo or backlash around the whole category. There is no single equation or formula that leads to desire.

    Desire is also hard because alt-protein brands are outgunned when it comes to marketing spend. In the past decade alone, Unilever, a single conventional food company, spent $103 billion on marketing alone – think enticing packaging, expensive billboards, and well-designed shelf wobblers – seven times more than the entirety of all alt protein investments including product development and factories.

    Or consider US beef. US cattle producers and importers are legally bound to pay a levy of $1 for every live animal sold, which in turn funds the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, an organization that runs the country’s Beef Checkoff program, a national marketing and research program designed to increase the demand for beef at home and abroad. The contributions give the program an annual budget of close to $40 million to spend on marketing, including sophisticated disinformation campaigns. No such alt protein checkoff exists.

    Design as a strategic point of leverage

    Fortunately, we have a powerful tool in our arsenal that can help us cut through the barriers and outsmart vs. simply outspend the established order. In our hyper-visual culture where the phone always eats first, we can use strategically crafted design to connect with consumers on a more visceral level and help drive desire.

    To better understand what works and what doesn’t, we examined the design codes used by the top fifty B2C alt protein brands from across the plant-based, fermented and cultivated segments of the industry. Design codes are simply conventions that are used to communicate meaning. They can include colors, brand names, logos, imagery, or the tonality of marketing copy.

    One specific tone of green can bestow crowns onto eco-royalty, while another can officially be the world’s ugliest color, so repulsive that regulators use it to stop people smoking. Brand names can be AGGRESSIVELY CAPITALISED or approachably set in friendly lowercase. Imagery can portray cows on idyllic grassy pastures or simply mouthwatering food porn. You get the point.

    What we found are eight distinct design codes across the alt protein category. A good way to understand them is by grouping them into three buckets. Brands using residual codes date back to the origins of the category and haven’t evolved with the times. Dominant codes are used by the bulk of the brands shaping the category today. More recently, a new generation of brands are using emerging codes that show us the future of the category. Let’s examine each one of them in turn.

    Residual design codes: the traditional approach

    In all the excitement around the latest precision fermentation technique or cultivated growth medium, it’s easy to forget that the OGs of alt protein date back to the 1980s. Many of them are unfortunately still stuck there design-wise.

    These are the veggie burgers of the past that many of us have tried and written off a long time ago. Their design language lacks desire and doesn’t give today’s consumers a reason to re-evaluate them. Photoshopped milk splashes and airline-food-style photography simply don’t cut it anymore.

    Dominant design codes: driving today’s conversation

    In the present-day alt-protein world, we found that four distinct brand design narratives dominate: 

    Beyond Preachy brands take the Silicon Valley 101 playbook and promise to unseat obsolete technology (animals) and do well by doing good. In their earnestness, however, they’re letting judgment and preachiness get in the way of desire. Do normal people want to think about land use and greenhouse gases over breakfast? Probably not.

    Turning up the volume to 11, Shock & Awe brands define themselves by what they’re up against instead of what they stand for. Impossible quests are embarked upon, blood is splattered on the walls, and the calves keep their milk. These brands get our attention, but do they build any kind of long-lasting relationship with the consumer? The shock of the new tends to wear off.

    A different, softer tack is taken by Fantasy Farms brands. Their names and their soothing pastel colour palettes want us to associate their products with the farm-to-table ethos – except there is no farm. When you click on where to find us on the Califia Farms website, you’re guided to a WeWork in downtown LA. Time will tell whether people see through this, and whether they care.

    Finally, Future Cool brands don’t try to hide the lab, they embrace it. They celebrate the future and try to make it cool. Their swag screams “LAB TO TABLE” in, what else, Helvetica font. This minimal approach certainly feels premium, but is it too cold to tap into the desire inherent in food?

    The alt protein chasm

    At this point it’s useful to remind ourselves of a 30-year old theory of how people adopt innovations. In Crossing the Chasm, his seminal book on innovation, author Geoffrey Moore describes how early visionaries have very different expectations of products than mainstream pragmatists, and how fundamentally different techniques need to be used to cross the chasm between the two. This is exactly where alt protein is today. 

    Yes, improvements are needed when it comes to the taste and texture of the products on shelves today. And yes, prices need to come down as we increase scale. But even the many benefits already on offer today aren’t consistently connecting with consumers, and that’s because the residual and dominant design codes we’re using have gotten us to the early market, but they haven’t gotten us over the chasm.

    The Alt Protein Chasm – Courtesy The Shift & Co

    Emerging design codes: showing the way forward

    These three design codes are where things get interesting. The brands using them are starting to show us how to cross the chasm and build mainstream desire with a more mass consumer.

    Embrace the Core brands refuse to be confined to a niche and are looking to normalize the alternative. They celebrate what people love about the category without being preachy. Doubling down on appetite appeal, they make alt protein fun, approachable, and ultimately a better version of the status quo.

    Loud & Proud brands are a more confident evolution of the dominant Shock & Awe code. The revolutionary flags and clenched fists are still there but these newer brands don’t need to put others down to make themselves stand out. A liberal sprinkling of attitude helps them, and their consumers, make a statement.

    Last but not least, Retro Comfort brands are a more sophisticated evolution of Fantasy Farms. They use the almost subliminal familiarity of the past to make alt protein seem non-threatening and wholesome. What could go wrong with a smiling sun made of mycelium?

    So where do we go from here?

    To have a chance of moving the needle on the global food system we must stop preaching to the converted. Using some of the emerging design codes we’ve identified, and building them into more brands can help. We should push them, test them, refine them, and evolve them. As we do, here are five things to focus on:

    1. Go for the persuadables. While every alt protein brand should have its own segmentation and view of the market, they’re likely to find there’s a small portion of consumers who are super engaged, a similar portion of rejectors who will simply never care, and a big majority of persuadable people in the middle. Target them, don’t settle for a narrow niche.
    1. Understand the culture. Frame your brands with a deep understanding of local food cultures. A schnitzel is different from shawarma, is different from Buffalo wings, is different from karaage – even though all of these dishes can be made from plant-based chicken.
    1. Be familiar, with a twist. Don’t obsess over always being 100% new and different. Remember that apps on the iPhone looked like they were made out of wood and green felt for the first six generations of the device. Use familiarity to your advantage as you go mainstream.
    1. Tesla the sustainability. Don’t lead with sustainability. A Tesla product page talks about getting from 0-60 in 3.1 seconds, having a 333-mile range, and having a 5-star safety rating, not sustainability. It’s a better car that just happens to be electric. Present a better protein that just happens to be sustainable.
    1. Show what’s in it for me. Always come back to what’s in it for the consumer. Don’t just talk about the nutritional content of your protein, but have Chef David Chang explain how it cooks better because it can be grated on a salad, put in a sandwich, basted in butter, or roasted in an oven. 

    Let’s rewind back to that first in-vitro burger at the start of the article. It was eventually revealed that one of the people funding the project was none other than Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. He went on to describe three potential scenarios for the future of food. “One is that we’ll all become vegetarian,” he said. “I don’t think that’s really likely. The second is, we ignore the issues — and that leads to continued environmental harm. And the third option is, we do something new.”

    Let’s do something new folks. And let’s also use the power of design to make the change we need irresistible.

    All images and graphics courtesy of The Shift & Co.

    The post Alt Protein’s Design Language: Creating Mainstream Desire To Drive Food System Change first appeared on Green Queen.

    The post Alt Protein’s Design Language: Creating Mainstream Desire To Drive Food System Change appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • ChatGPT Founder-Backed Uncommon Raises $30M In A Series A For RNA-Driven Cultivated Pork

    uncommon bacon
    3 Mins Read

    Uncommon, the Cambridge-based biotech start-up that’s turning cellular innovation into appetizing, environmentally friendly meat products, has secured $30 million in Series A funding.

    Uncommon’s Series A was led by Balderton Capital and Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from Red Alpine, East Alpha, and previous investors including Max and Sam Altman, of OpenAI and ChatGPT fame, along with Miray Zaki and Sebastiano Castiglioni. The new influx of capital will drive Uncommon’s efforts to refine its offerings, scale up production, and navigate the regulatory approval process.

    RNA-based cultivated meat

    Formerly known as Higher Steaks, Uncommon is poised to transform the global pork market with its groundbreaking approach. In a world where consumers demand affordable, high-quality, and readily available food, Uncommon answers with an innovative solution. The company uses patent-pending RNA technologies to produce bacon and pork belly from a single animal cell sample, promising a more sustainable and ethical future for meat production.

    Who’s Right About the Future of Cultivated Meat? Does It Matter?
    Courtesy Uncommon

    At the heart of Uncommon’s revolutionary strategy is RNA, the molecule that instructs cells to produce protein. With this, the company can create delicious meat products that can compete with traditional meat in terms of price, scale faster, and offer safer, healthier alternatives without the need for gene editing.

    “Our unique approach to cellular agriculture drastically reduces the raw materials needed for alternative protein production and eliminates the need for antibiotics and animal products,” Benjamina Bollag, founder and CEO of Uncommon, said in a statement. “As the only cultivated meat leveraging RNA technologies, we believe we have a competitive advantage that could help us become the largest protein company in the world. I’m delighted with the progress we’ve made so far as a company and look forward to working closely with our new and existing investors to continue to build on this progress and make a difference to global health.”

    Disrupting the global pork market

    Not only is Uncommon committed to developing delectable and health-conscious products, but its mission also involves addressing the environmental impact of the meat industry. Uncommon’s cultivated meat requires only a fraction of the resources used in traditional livestock farming. As such, it can contribute significantly to the reduction of carbon emissions globally.

    Courtesy Uncommon

    Moreover, Uncommon’s goal extends beyond sustainability. By 2035, the company aims to hold a five percent share of the global pork market through its cultivated meat products. Uncommon’s strategy involves capitalizing on the growing cultivated meat industry, estimated to be worth $427 billion by 2040. With the fresh capital injection, they plan to ramp up production at their pilot manufacturing facility at Cambridge Technopark, expand their team, and bring the cost of goods down.

    Michael Sidler, Partner at Redalpine, put it bluntly: “Uncommon’s completely novel approach holds immense potential to revolutionize the cultivated meat industry and overcome the notorious scalability and pricing obstacles that companies in this field face.”

    The post ChatGPT Founder-Backed Uncommon Raises $30M In A Series A For RNA-Driven Cultivated Pork first appeared on Green Queen.

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  • Meati Foods Scores a Home Run With MLB Hall of Famer Derek Jeter Investment

    Derek Jeter
    3 Mins Read

    Derek Jeter, the former New York Yankee shortstop and Major League Baseball hall of famer, has joined a number of high-profile celebrities backing Colorado’s Meati Foods.

    Meati Foods isn’t short on capital; the company has raised more than $250 million following its recent Series C funding round. But Jeter’s commitment to Meati Foods stretches beyond mere financial involvement; the high-profile investor has also pledged his services as an advisor to the company.

    ‘Making a real difference’

    Jeter, who was guided by three essential factors when exploring investments in this field — nutrition, sustainability, and taste — found Meati Foods to be a match. “Meati certainly delivers, with great quality steaks and cutlets and an institutional emphasis on high nutritional value and sustainable practices. As we look to the future, the choices we make and the impact we leave are critical, and I appreciate the way Meati has dedicated efforts to making a real difference,” Jeter said in a statement.

    Meati mycelium steak | Courtesy

    President and COO of Meati Foods, Scott Tassani, views Jeter’s involvement as a noteworthy testament to the company’s product. “Derek has seen endless products cross his desk for partnership consideration, and we’re honored by his support and inspired by his passion for a more sustainable, equitable, nutritious food ecosystem,” Tassani said.

    Jeter’s investment in Meati expands on his portfolio, which already includes Performance Kitchen, Amass, and Bespoken Spirits. A philanthropist at heart, he established the Turn 2 Foundation in 1996, which promotes healthy lifestyles among the youth and has since given out over $34 million in grants.

    Transforming the food system

    Established in 2017, Meati Foods has set out to transform the food system into a more delightful, nutritious, fair, and sustainable model. The debut line, Eat Meati, includes mushroom root-derived cutlets and steaks. After an overwhelmingly successful launch through its online shop, the company is planning a nationwide omnichannel rollout late this year.

    Courtesy Meati Foods

    The company has enjoyed a significant amount of media attention for its mushroom-based clean meat. Its earned support from several culinary figures including television host and philanthropist, Rachael Ray; David Chang, the brain behind Momofuku and Majordomo Media; Sweetgreen co-founders Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman, and ex-senior policy advisor for nutrition at the White House, Sam Kass.

    The partnership with Jeter builds on the brand’s recent rollout across Sprouts stores throughout the U.S. in March. In January, the company announced its “mega ranch” in Colorado, which it says can rival the output of conventional animal farms.

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  • BettaFish Launches Vegan Canned Tuna As It Hits a Conservation Milestone

    3 Mins Read

    Honoring World Ocean Day on June 8, alternative seafood start-up BettaFish has unveiled its latest sustainability data, spotlighting strides made through a unique product line centered on seaweed, a regenerative and biodiversity-supporting marine resource.

    According to BettaFish, its vegan seafood alternatives have prevented 122 tons of tuna and 124 tons of bycatch from being consumed since its launch in 2021. Yet, the company says it’s far from done, as the Berlin-based startup set to launch its newest product, the Tu-Nah can, soon available via an exclusive waiting list.

    ‘Good impact food’

    World Ocean Day holds special significance for BettaFish, a company dedicated to preserving the world’s oceans. “Seventy percent of the Earth is covered by water, yet we mainly rely on the remaining 30% to feed our population,” Co-Founder Deniz Ficicioglu said in a statement. BettaFish has aligned itself with The Ocean Project’s #Protect30x30 campaign, aiming to safeguard 30 percent of the world’s land and waters by 2030, leveraging seaweed’s ecological benefits in the process.

    Seaweed harvest for BettaFish
    Seaweed harvest for BettaFish | Courtesy

    Seaweed, a “good impact food”, flourishes without requiring soil, freshwater, fertilizers, or pesticides, simultaneously restoring equilibrium to fragile marine ecosystems. It also presents a sustainable alternative to fishing that upholds the economic stability of fishing communities without necessitating relocation inland. The promise of transitioning from fishing to seaweed cultivation has been realized in collaborative efforts with partners like Seaweed Solutions.

    Tu-nah

    Deniz and his co-founder Jacob von Manteuffel, in collaboration with food technologists and chefs, have crafted Tu-Nah, an authentic tuna substitute that is entirely plant-based, packed with protein, and free of soy and wheat. This innovation targets the $42 billion tuna market, where 43 percent of the global tuna stocks are fished at biologically unsustainable levels, according to FAO.

    Good Catch’s top-selling vegan tuna | Courtesy

    The impact of BettaFish’s seaweed-based foods has resonated across Europe, reaching Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Greece, and the U.K. Since its Tu-Nah Sandwiches launched in October 2021, BettaFish has served 62.2 tons of Tu-Nah, which it says spared 122 tons of conventional tuna from being removed from oceans and avoiding 124 tons of bycatch. Moreover, through seaweed cultivation with local farms in Norway and Ireland, BettaFish has absorbed 1.32 tons of CO2 and conserved 1.25 million liters of freshwater.

    Plant-based seafood is on the rise with a number of companies entering the market in recent years. Last month, Wicked Kitchen, which owns the vegan tuna leader Good Catch, announced the acquisition of Current Foods — a  startup specializing in plant-based seafood for fine dining establishments and food service operations across the U.S. and Europe.

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  • E.U.-Funded Project Proposes Eco-Friendly Dietary Policies

    3 Mins Read

    The Smart Protein project, funded by the E.U., has released a comprehensive document recommending policy measures to transition Europeans towards more environmentally friendly dietary choices.

    The new Smart Protein report suggests utilizing various policy tools that include the implementation of labels on food items indicating sustainability factors, such as carbon footprint, water consumption, and transportation miles. The report further advocates for more European Union countries to eliminate VAT taxes on fruits and vegetables, a policy currently in effect in only four member states.

    Making sustainable food the default

    The Smart Protein Policy Brief also encourages the promotion of plant-based food in public establishments such as schools, hospitals, and local government buildings. “Animal agriculture is responsible for about 17 percent of carbon emissions in the E.U., so it is vital that the E.U. focuses on implementing policies that promote more climate-friendly food,” Juliette Tronchon, ProVeg International’s Senior Policy and Public Affairs Specialist and co-author of the report, said in a statement.

    soy
    Plant-based protein such as soy could help the E.U. meet its sustainability targets. Courtesy Canva

    Tronchon also stresses that animal agriculture contributes to lifestyle diseases, global hunger, and animal suffering. “Replacing animal products with plant-based and cultivated foods offers the E.U. a multi-pronged solution to these problems,” she said.

    “We urgently need positive and comprehensive policies to support the growth in demand for plant-based products, particularly products that are alternatives to animal-based ones,” Tronchon said. “The plant-based sector is attracting more and more consumers, while current European regulations are slowing down the process. With this Smart Protein Policy Brief, we want to emphasise the fact that regulatory and policy reforms are needed if the E.U. wants to achieve its goal of making European food systems healthier and more sustainable.”

    However, the allocation of funds for sustainable protein research is a fraction of the E.U.’s Horizon Europe program’s current budget. Only €32 million of its €95.5 billion budget is dedicated to this cause. Falk Hemsing, International Policy Officer at ProVeg and co-author of the report, says that plant-based alternative products are barely mentioned in the E.U.’s agriculture promotion policy, while the livestock sector, with its high carbon emissions and high water usage, receives considerable funding.

    Sustainable food labeling

    The report pushes the European Commission to take action in four key areas: labeling and marketing, public food procurement, VAT rates, and subsidies. Specifically, they recommend introducing a front-of-pack sustainability labelling scheme for food products, establishing an E.U.-wide definition for “vegan” and “vegetarian”, and promoting plant-based foods in the E.U.’s criteria for sustainable public procurement.

    Marine foods like seaweed offer a sustainable solution. Photo by Silas Baisch at Unsplash.

    Cindy Schoumacher, Policy Officer at the European Commission DG Research and Innovation, highlighted that plant, microbial, or marine proteins are among the key research areas for a sustainable food system. “Smart Protein is providing key information to fill knowledge gaps on alternative proteins and contribute to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal,” she said.

    The recommendations come on the heels of a recent report that found while livestock in particular are a leading contributor to global warming — producing about 15 percent of all emissions — only 7 percent of climate content mentions animal agriculture’s role in climate change.

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  • Celebrity Chef Marcus Samuelsson Joins Aleph Farms as Investor and Culinary Advisor

    Chef Marcus Samuelsson joins Aleph Farms
    3 Mins Read

    Renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson has made an investment in Aleph Farms, Israel’s leading cellular agriculture company, and will serve as an advisor and launch partner in the United States.

    The collaboration between Samuelsson and Aleph Farms represents a significant step forward in the pursuit of sustainable and ethical food solutions. As the company continues to innovate and expand its product line, these high-profile relationships will play critical roles in accelerating the widespread adoption of sustainable protein.

    Chef-approved

    Samuelsson, known for his culinary expertise and commitment to diversity in the culinary world, will work closely with Aleph Farms as they approach the commercialization of Aleph Cuts, the world’s first cultivated steaks.

    Aleph Cuts Petit Steak
    Aleph Cuts Petit Steak, Courtesy Aleph Farms

    Didier Toubia, CEO and Co-Founder of Aleph Farms, expressed excitement about the partnership with Samuelsson. “Aleph Farms builds partnerships based on shared values. Like us, Chef Marcus believes in making a positive impact on our food systems with creativity, courage, and care.” Toubia said. He emphasized that Samuelsson’s experience and focus on creating accessible and inclusive cuisine make him an ideal collaborator in developing and promoting Aleph Cuts to a broader global audience.

    In his role with Aleph Farms, Samuelsson will provide culinary advice and contribute to product development and go-to-market strategies. He has also made a personal investment in the company. Once regulatory approvals are obtained from the FDA and USDA, Samuelsson plans to serve Aleph Cuts in his restaurants in the United States.

    ‘Bringing delicious, cultivated meat to the table’

    “It’s essential that we look for new ways to feed our planet sustainably, which is why I was attracted to the mission of Aleph Farms and being part, both as a chef and as an investor, in bringing delicious, cultivated meat to the table,” Samuelsson said. He believes that the cultivation of meat is a pioneering movement that will become increasingly important and commonplace in our lives.

    Aleph Cuts
    Aleph Cuts | Courtesy

    With a decorated career, including multiple James Beard Foundation awards and appearances on popular TV shows, Samuelsson brings his expertise and influence to the partnership with Aleph Farms. He is also a dedicated philanthropist, involved in initiatives that support underserved youth and community kitchens during the covid pandemic.

    Aleph Farms is actively working with regulatory agencies worldwide to prepare for the commercial launch of its first product, the Petit Steak. The company uses non-modified cells of a premium Black Angus cow to grow its meat products, ensuring no slaughter is involved. Aleph Farms aims to contribute to sustainable and secure food systems while prioritizing animal welfare. Its ‘Whole Animal’ approach includes plans to produce various cuts of steak and other products based on animal cells, such as cultivated collagen.

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  • MyForest Foods Nabs $15 Million in Series A Extention To Scale Mycelium Pork Bacon And Beef Jerky

    3 Mins Read

    MyForest Foods, maker of mycelium pork-free whole-cut bacon alternative MyBacon, has announced it has secured $15 million in Series A-2 funding and has appointed a new CEO.

    MyForest Foods raised the funds from Ecovative, the mushroom packaging parent company it spun out of in 2020. Ecovative recently raised a series E funding round totaling $30 million and led by Viking Global Investors.

    MyForest, formerly known as Atlast Food Co, closed a $ 40 million Series A round in 2021 which famously included Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr’s Footprint Coalition Ventures. In April 2022, the startup secured a $15 million venture loan from Connecticut’s Horizon Technology Finance Corporation which it said was used to finance further production facility built-outs.

    Expanding horizons with series A-2 funding

    MyForest Foods says it will use the funding to invest in its retail expansion and enhance its food service reach across the Eastern Seaboard, including New York City. MyBacon is currently on the shelves of over 100 retail locations throughout the Northeast including at multiple Fairway Market and Gourmet Garage store locations throughout Manhattan. As MyForest Foods continues to expand its market presence, it aims to meet the rising consumer demand for sustainable, plant-based alternatives, making a positive impact on the future of food.

    The company’s bacon is made using mycelium, the root-like structure of fungi that MyForest Foods treats using solid-state fermentation process that results in a texture very similar to pork meat. By leveraging this technology, the company says it can address the growing challenges of global food production, including environmental sustainability, resource scarcity, and animal welfare.

    New CEO appointment: food industry veteran joins the team

    In tandem with the funding announcement, MyForest Foods has appointed food industry veteran Greg Chewcuk as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Shewchuk was the CEO of the food allergy prevention company SpoonfulONE, which Nestlé acquired in late 2022, and has had senior leadership positions at Campbell Soup Company, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Mondelēz International, Cadburys Schweppes PLC, and Unilever.

    “MyForest Foods was founded by a team of innovators with a passion for growing mycelium, an insight into how to grow whole-cut meats, and a vision to eliminate factory farming. Having proved the viability and consumer demand for our flagship MyBacon product, now is the optimal time to bring on an experienced industry leader as we move to commercial scale,” said Eben Bayer, MyForest Foods’ Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board in a statement.

    “I’m thrilled to bring Greg on board and leverage his savvy marketing and consumer packaged goods experience. With his expertise, our team will expand access to our delicious MyBacon, launch new whole cuts, and create a healthier, tastier, more sustainable world.”

    Chewcuk said of the news: “MyForest Foods has impressed me with its high-quality, delicious meatless products that support consumers’ ​​desire for more eco-conscious food choices. There’s a reason why MyBacon was recognized by TIME and Fast Company as one of the most innovative food inventions on the market today.”

     “With this new funding and renewed commitment from our investors, my goal is to double down on our marketing and sales functions to take the MyForest Foods brand to the next level.”

    New products on the horizon

    MyForest is planning for the launch of its second product, dubbed MyJerky, a beef jerky analogue made with its mycelium, albeit with different flavorings than MyBacon.

    MyForest produces its mycelium slabs in a production facility in New York State. Unlike competitors such as Meati Foods who grow their mycelium in steel fermentation tanks, Bayer told AgFunder MyForest grows its slabs on “beds of pre-treated hardwood chips”.

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  • LeBron James’ Uninterrupted Backs ‘Game Changers’ Sequel: ‘We Couldn’t Be More Thrilled’

    game changers
    3 Mins Read

    Uninterrupted, a subsidiary of The SpringHill Company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, has teamed up with the creators of 2019 ‘s The Game Changers documentary to produce a highly anticipated sequel.

    The original Game Changers film, directed by Louis Psihoyos, and featured executive producers James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan, Lewis Hamilton, Chris Paul, and Novak Djokovic, showcased the remarkable rise of plant-based eating in professional sports. Some of the world’s top athletes, including Olympians featured in the film, have adhered to a plant-based diet.

    LeBron James’ Uninterrupted

    The film explored the physiological advantages of a plant-based diet, looking at performance and bloodwork, among other determining factors in overall health. With heavyweights like Schwarzenegger and Hamilton featured in the film, it was an instant hit.

    The film has been viewed more than 100 million times and the documentary is widely credited with sparking a significant shift in global eating habits.

    The sequel will be co-directed by Stephanie Soechtig and Kristin Lazure, known for their work on acclaimed films such as Fed Up, Knock Down the House, The Devil We Know, and the upcoming Poisoned on Netflix. Produced in collaboration with their production company Atlas Films, the feature documentary is set to begin production in the coming summer. The executive producers for Uninterrupted include LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Jamal Henderson, and Philip Byron, with Matt Rissmiller and Naomi Wright serving as co-executive producers.

    Commenting on the collaboration, James Wilks, producer and star of The Game Changers, expressed his excitement, stating, “With The SpringHill Company’s proven ability to merge athlete-driven storytelling with progressive subject matter, and Stephanie and Kristin’s talent for blending engaging personal narratives with impactful investigative journalism, we couldn’t be more thrilled about this team.”

    ‘Game Changers’ return

    The sequel will delve into the profound impact of food choices not only on personal performance and health but also on broader issues such as children’s health, food justice, and the environment. Several of the original executive producers are expected to return for this second installment, which will feature an impressive lineup of athletes and entertainers. Together, they will tackle challenging food-related topics and present compelling stories from various continents.

    LeBron James’ Uninterrupted is backing the GC sequel

    Soechtig and Lazure, the co-directors, expressed their enthusiasm for joining the team, saying, “The Game Changers had a profound impact on us as individuals and filmmakers. We know there’s much more to explore, and we are thrilled to be a part of this project.”

    Philip Byron, Head of Unscripted & Docs at The SpringHill Company, emphasized the unique opportunity to expand on the cultural conversation ignited by The Game Changers, addressing the critical role food plays in tackling pressing issues of our time.

    “The SpringHill Company has evolved into a full-service production company, and we are thrilled that James Wilks and Joseph Pace selected us to help craft their highly anticipated sequel and equally excited to work with Stephanie and Kristin on the first of hopefully many projects,” Byron said.

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  • Shiok Meat’s Sandhya Sriram Gets Personal: ‘As A Pioneer, You Have To Break A Lot More Barriers And A Lot More Glass Ceilings’

    13 Mins Read

    Sandhya Sriram is co-founder and CEO at Shiok Meats, a Singapore-headquartered cultivated meat and seafood company founded in 2018 that has raised over $30 million in funding. Below, she talks to Green Queen‘s Sonalie Figueiras about where cell-based seafood is going, her views on the future of cultivated meat, how investors should be thinking about the space, and going public with the personal.

    Editor’s Note: This interview was recorded live on Tuesday, May 30th 2023 during the City University of Hong Kong’s Webinar Series The Future of Food: Seeking Sustainable Solutions. Watch the full video interview, including a Q&A with questions from students across Asia HERE.

    This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

    I’m thrilled to be here with you,  one of the pioneers of cultivated meat and seafood. I really appreciate you doing this. You’re always so generous with your time and your expertise and your leadership. I want to start by asking you, one of the early people in the space, and definitely in Asia, one of the first faces that anyone saw, how are we doing in terms of cultivated meat and cultivated seafood in Asia and also globally? Are we where you thought that we would be when you started? 

    Sandhya Sriram: Sure, that’s a lot of complicated questions. [Laughs]. I think with any startup, any disruptive industry, any novel industry, you expect more downs than ups. And honestly, when I started in 2018, in this industry, I did not expect things to go as well as it went for specifically Shioak Meats and the way Singapore brought up the 30 by 2030 food story, and the amount of funding that went into this industry, and I’m not going to say it was easy capital raising, but definitely it was positive capital raising, with really good investors coming in, and you know, believing in this. 

    So, I did not expect it to go that positively or that well, as as, as we started the company, I was expecting more down days.

    In fact, even with the pandemic, fundraising wasn’t that bad, even with investors, you know, looking at you only on Zoom and not being able to taste your product or visit your facility. But this was the time when capital was easily available, there was plenty of capital and everybody was into food tech, right? 

    GQ: What’s your outlook in terms of the timeline for the industry over the next few years?

    Sandhya Sriram: I used to say this from day one: the world has a cycle of five years for a new technology or industry- it’s extremely sexy for five years. And then after that, it doesn’t go away, it’s still there, but something else is sexy. And when we started in 2018, around 2019, food tech became extremely sexy in Asia, be it the launch of Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, then Omni Foods, and then a lot of cultivated meat companies coming up, Singapore announcing the 30 by 2030 campaign, and approving the first cultivated product, so everything was extremely “up” for this industry. And we are sort of in the tail end of that five years, as you can see. And that has come with market changes, funding issues, companies not being able to scale…Regulatory-wise, it’s going the right way, but still, not many companies have gotten approval. So I would just say I’m not surprised. I’m not surprised about where we are. I’m not surprised by the challenges we have faced. I’m not surprised that we have seen the bad days. 

    What I am very mindful of is over-promising by the industry- over-promising with the research that we’re doing or over-promising by the companies themselves. I think the market is correcting itself right now and in the industry, we are all keeping it truthful right now. 

    But that also comes with a caveat- when you’re fundraising, you can’t tell an investor that you will make money for them 20 years down the line. You have to have some sort of a projection in place for them to see their return on investment. It’s quite complex, how do you talk about timelines when you launch and as you progress. 

    I’m not surprised as to where we are. The future of alt protein is 100% there, I don’t think it’s ever going away. The next few years are all about who can make it and consolidation. Unfortunately, some companies are dying and some of that technology is dying. But all of that is part of any industry- it is what it is. You can’t expect all 100 [cultivated meat] companies to do well. It’s survival of the fittest. 

    GQ: It’s very interesting to hear you say that you didn’t think it would go as well as it did. I think it’s also fair to say that there was probably a little bit of hype, there was also probably a lot of capital and interest in a field that let’s face it, most of us didn’t really understand five years ago and didn’t really know much about. In terms of concrete predictions, and I know predictions are a fool’s business to some extent, but just to understand from someone like you who’s in the space- do you anticipate there being more companies being founded in the cultivated industry? And do think more of those companies will be in Asia? 

    Sandhya Sriram: I don’t foresee many companies starting up now, especially with the markets as they are. And I think the whole industry is going through a bit of skepticism with challenges around scaling and the issues that we’re facing in funding. So I don’t foresee too many companies starting new. But I do foresee ancillary companies starting, for example, media bioreactors infrastructure, a lot more contract manufacturing organizations being set up for scale-up, and offering infrastructure for production. And I also foresee a lot more food like traditional or established food companies coming into this space via consolidation. So that’s what I am sort of forcing for the next decade or so.

    GQ: That’s really interesting. Just building on that, one thing that I’ve noticed about cultivated seafood, is that it’s one of the few sub-sectors of alt protein where we’ve seen Big Food companies in Asia, Big Seafood, specifically, get involved. So you Vinh Hoan in Vietnam and Thai Union getting involved in cultivated, whereas you don’t see as many Big Meat companies in Asia getting involved in cultivated meat. Why is that?

    Sandhya Sriram: Actually, it’s a good question. Yes, traditional or Big Meat producers haven’t really gotten into the Asian side, but the Western meat companies have, like Tyson and Cargill, right? That’s also because if you look worldwide, seafood production is mainly in Asia, whereas meat production is not. If you look at the numbers, seafood is the most consumed protein in this part of the world and is mostly produced in Asia. So you have the big leagues like Thai Union and CP Food all getting involved here. 

    It’s interesting because these companies, when they approached us or when we approached them, they said they understand that technology is the only way that they can keep their business long term, [it’s the only way] the way they can live up to the demand and the supply chain issues, that they can make sure that their businesses are still alive in 100 years to come. These companies know that disruption and technology is what’s going to happen. 

    One of the companies that we were working with, and they are invested as well, they initially used to do proper traditional fishing and everything was done by hand, manually. They realized 10-20 years down the line, okay, this is not going to work because we are producing a lot more, we have larger fish farms, everything has to be automated now. So they set up automated lines for everything from de-heading the fish to scaling them to processing them to the packaging. And I’ve gone to their production facilities and they are extremely impressive- fully automated, much less manpower, very clean, and very well done. But they also know that may not be enough to supply the growing global population [and service] the growing demand in the future. 

    Given that there are only so many fish farms you can set up, there are only so many animals in the ocean, they realized, okay, plant-based is one way to go, cultivated is another way to go. So why not explore these technologies? But they are not able to innovate internally, so they started investing in companies like ours. 

    Eventually the idea is for them to use us as a production hub. They will do the distribution and the sales, which is exactly what we are looking for. We are technology people, we are not looking to sell our products large scale, at least I can speak for Shiok means our idea is to license out the technology so that food companies like Thai Union, CP and any other seafood company can use it in the future to actually produce seafood the way we do.

    GQ: They get to do what they’re good at, which is logistics, sales, marketing, and you get to do what you’re good at. They are essentially, and you see this in a lot of industries, outsourcing the R&D, to some extent. 

    You wrote a LinkedIn post a couple of weeks ago that was very moving and very transparent about the challenges that you have faced as a South Asian woman founder in Asia in a deep-tech space, and more specifically, in the cultivated meat and seafood space. I wanted to ask you about writing the post and some of the challenges that you’ve faced on your journey. What’s been the hardest part? What were you thinking about when you wrote that post?

    Sandhya Sriram: So I have a rule. I don’t post anything when I’m emotional, when I’m angry when I’m bitter. All those emotions pass through and it’s very easy to get on social media to just express everything at that given point. But you’re not thinking straight when you’re extremely emotional. So I have a rule that I will always think, I will rest, I will take a few weeks, and then I will post something. And anything that I post is well thought-out, it’s not done in a hurry. 

    I write it, I read it, I go through it, I go back and edit it. I don’t want to hurt anybody. That’s my ultimate aim at the end of the day. But I also want to be sure that I can tell what is my opinion, and I don’t think everybody needs to have the same opinion or agree with me. I think most of them will disagree with a lot of things that I say. But it’s my point of view. And I want to make sure that I’m able to voice it. Because I also realize there are 500 people that are not voicing it. And they’re struggling with the fact that they have to keep it within themselves. So I’m thinking about the 500 people that are probably going through the same thing that I’m going through. Over time, I’ve realized that people actually appreciate my candidness and openness. It’s not very easy as an Asian to do that. Actually in Asia, it’s not very well appreciated. 

    GQ: Yes…as Asians and Asian women in particular, we are taught not to share our feelings in a public forum. 

    Sandhya Sriram: I’ve been told by a lot of people in Asia: don’t share your troubles, share only the good things. And I think, well, that doesn’t inspire anybody. On Instagram or social media, we show only the good part of our lives. And we don’t show the bad part. I think, let’s share everything, right? Especially as an entrepreneur, when people are inspired by you, they should know what you’re going through all the things, the bad, the good, the ugly, the best, the better, and everything. And as I said, I don’t post when I’m bitter, angry or emotional. So that post took me three hours to write. And it took me a lot of editing, it took me a lot of back and forth, thinking should I do it? Should I not do it? What will that person think? What will this person think? What will my investors think? What will the media think? And then I said, you know what? I need to listen to myself for once. Let’s just do it because I have things to say. And it is honest things that I’ve been going through. And I personally put it there, it’s my opinion, it’s my experience, it’s personal. And it doesn’t have to essentially agree with all of you. But certain parts of it can agree with you, certain parts can not agree with you, it’s fine. That is what it is.

    I would be happy to read somebody else’s thoughts as well about running a company. It’s not easy, running a company of 60 people, then letting go of 30 people. It’s not easy raising $30 million. It’s not easy being a pioneer.

    You know, pioneer is used as a positive word, and actually, for me, it’s got a negative connotation. It’s like, oh, my God, you’re the first! And that means you have to break a lot more barriers and a lot more glass ceilings and face a lot more issues. 

    Essentially, I’m a very resilient and very strong person, I can tolerate a lot. But that doesn’t mean I’m not human. So that post was about being human and being vulnerable. And also telling the world that I may look extremely strong, but I’m human and I have emotions also. And these are my thoughts, from my point of view. It is what it is, if you don’t like it, don’t read it. 

    GQ: In the post, one thing that really came out was that for the past few years, Shiok has been working on scaling cell lines for the three crustaceans you are addressing, so lobster, shrimp and crab. And in the post, you talk about how it has been very, very challenging to scale those lines. Can you share more about this?

    Sandhya Sriram: So I think around last year, we realized, okay, seafood is gonna take longer than [what we thought]. And by then we had already acquired the red meat company Gaia Foods. And honestly, when we acquired them, it was strategic, it was opportunistic, but it was also Plan B for us from day one. We knew that seafood is going to take time. 

    To give a background to everybody listening here, seafood in general doesn’t have any background research. If you go to PubMed, or you go to Google, you can’t really find any research on stem cells for seafood, because stem cell research was done on animals that are closer to humans, like mammals, so that you understand human biology for human diseases and cancer treatment and all of that. So nobody really looked at stem cells from shrimps. 

    So when we started Shiok, it was a blank whiteboard. As a scientist, that’s super exciting, because that means you can make new discoveries, new IP, new patents, all of that. But that’s also not the best start for a startup or a company, which needs to make money in three years, five years, ten years- whatever it is. 

    So I think we went into it, we went into it knowing that it’s going to take time, but we thought it would be about four or five years until we figured it out. But last year, our fourth year, we said, okay, let’s take a pause here. We have tried as much as we can with the scale, and it’s not working, we are facing some issues that we could not have predicted that we would face because unless you scale up to a certain extent, you will not know. Only when you reach that destination, you realize, okay, there’s something wrong there. And then you have to figure out a different path to go for. So we said okay, we went two steps forward, but we also went six steps backwards. So let’s put a pause there. Let’s figure out that first step or second step again. 

    But in the meantime, we are a startup, and we have raised cash. We are answerable to our investors, let’s try to see what else can be accelerated. We thought of many other things that we could do with our technology. But then we said, well, we have red meat. Red meat is a more established and studied technology. There are many companies that are doing red meat and are closer to commercialization. So why not push that, even though it’s not the most competitive, or the most unique technology? Let’s do that first. 

    In the meantime, let’s figure out seafood. Nobody’s stopping seafood, we’re not stopping working on seafood, we just need more time. And so that was a conscious decision that we made in the company, to see what can be our first product. The survival of the company is very important. 

    For me, it came to a point where as a CEO and a founder, I asked myself: should I run a company for X amount of time with 60 people? Or Should I run it for 10x the amount of time with only 10 people? I’m going to choose the latter, right?  I want the company to survive, the business to survive, the technology to survive. 

    So it’s been hard, it’s been extremely hard, as you know from my LinkedIn post, but I think at the end of the day, my fiduciary duty is to the company and the business. So I will make the decision that I make for the company, not for me, not for individuals, it’s for the whole company.

    Listen to the rest of the interview here.

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  • India’s Shaka Harry Makes Its International Debut In With 15 Plant-Based Products In Singapore

    Shaka Harry
    4 Mins Read

    Leading Indian plant-based protein label Shaka Harry has announced its expansion into Singapore.

    The expansion marks the company’s first foray into the international market. Shaka Harry is set to introduce 15 innovative products at Mustafa Centre Singapore, a four-level retail hub and iconic shopping mall known for its 24-hour market-style shopping experience.

    To support the launch in Singapore, Shaka Harry has planned a range of marketing and promotional activities. These include in-store demonstrations, engaging social media campaigns, and collaborations with local food bloggers and influencers. The company also aims to establish partnerships with local restaurants and food service providers to incorporate their products into their menus.

    ‘A timely and important solution’

    “Expanding our business to Singapore, a country globally recognized for its commitment to promoting plant-based diets and addressing public health, environmental, and ethical issues, holds significant importance for Shaka Harry,” Anand Nagarajan, co-founder of Shaka Harry, said in a statement.

    “We are delighted to bring our products to discerning consumers in a country that shares our dedication to promoting plant-based diets and creating a more sustainable and compassionate food system. We are confident that our products will appeal to the growing number of individuals embracing flexitarian diets and seeking healthy, delicious, and environmentally friendly food options,” Nagarajan said.

    “Mustafa Shopping Centre Singapore is proud to announce the launch of Shaka Harry, a plant protein company backed by the legendary cricketer MS Dhoni,” said Mohd Saleem of Mohamed Mustafa & Samsuddin. “Shaka Harry’s innovative approach to sustainable and ethical protein production is a timely and important solution to address the challenges faced by our planet. We are excited to offer our customers access to Shaka Harry’s delicious and nutritious plant-based products, and we believe that this partnership will help create a brighter and more sustainable future for all.”

    Sandeep Devgan, Shaka Harry co-founder says the timing couldn’t be more exciting for the brand. “Collaborating with Mustafa Centre will give us the impetus to propel the Shaka Harry brand in the global marketplace,” Devgan said. “Already established as the best-performing brand in online stores where we have a presence, we are now poised to launch our exclusive range of 15 products in Singapore alongside Mustafa. Food is a pivotal area where sustainability can make significant strides, and Singapore is at the forefront of adopting cultivated meat and plant-based diets worldwide.”

    India’s global expansion

    According to Devgan, India’s government, along with APEDA (the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority), is actively promoting the export of plant-based food. “We are excited to be part of this growth story and build momentum,” he said. “India’s plant-based food products are highly regarded overseas due to their ethical values and contributions from foodservice operators and retailers. Building a consumer segment in the food industry necessitates a well-designed product range, deep expertise in taste and flavor, and a consistent customer experience. Our dedicated team at Shaka Harry is committed to creating the best plant-based food products in terms of taste and quality.”

    GOOD Meat Cultivated Chicken Skewer in Singapore Butchery – Credit EAT Just, Inc

    Both India and Singapore have emerged as global hotspots for the alternative protein industry, attracting startups and innovations. While much of India’s development is happening with regional brands, Singapore has become a hub for international brands across a range of categories including cultivated meat, where Singapore is currently the only country to approve it for sale and consumption.

    A recent survey on Singaporean dietary habits revealed that consumers are excited about the options; 46 percent of respondents expressed a willingness to adopt a plant-based diet due to health concerns, while 39 percent follow a flexitarian diet. The plant-based trend in Singapore has experienced an impressive average compounded growth rate of over 12 percent in the past four years, driven by health consciousness, taste preferences, and dietary restrictions related to religion or ethics. Notably, this trend has garnered an overwhelming 94 percent positive sentiment among consumers in Singapore.

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  • Upstream Foods Says Cultivated Fat Will Help Plant-Based Seafood Market Surge

    salmon
    3 Mins Read

    When it comes to seafood alternatives, the choices are limited. Dutch start-up Upstream Foods aims to change that by cultivating fat from salmon cells for the plant-based seafood market.

    The alternative seafood sector has seen significant growth in the U.S., with both dollar and unit sales experiencing a 53 percent increase last year, according to the Good Food Institute (GFI). This upward trend is expected to continue. But to truly appeal to mainstream consumers, alternative seafood needs to elevate its quality.

    As consumer demand for sustainable alternatives continues to grow, companies like Upstream Foods are striving to meet the challenge and provide high-quality options. Upstream Foods’ innovative approach to cultivating salmon cell fat for use in plant-based seafood aims to revolutionize the industry.

    ‘Next level fat’

    Kianti Figler, founder and CEO of Upstream Foods, emphasized the need for improved product quality during her speech at F&A Next, an event hosted by Rabobank, Wageningen University & Research, Anterra Capital, and StartLife. She acknowledged that the current offerings do not yet match the taste and quality expected by consumers, Food Navigator reports.

    Plantish vegan salmon | Courtesy

    “When we’re talking about taste, we’re talking about fat,” she said at the event. “To take plant-based seafood to the next level, we need next level fat.”

    According to recent TURF analyses, the main reasons consumers would choose plant-based seafood are flavor (78 percent), the potential to reduce overfishing (7 percent), omega-3 content (3 percent), lack of bones (1 percent), and contribution to reducing plastic waste (1 percent). GFI suggests that once consumers have a positive impression of alternative seafood flavors, messaging focused on these additional benefits can make the products more appealing.

    Figler agrees with this approach and believes that taste and fat are closely linked. Upstream Foods’ solution involves cultivating fish fat from salmon cells through cellular agriculture. The company develops a proprietary cell line from salmon cells, cultivates them in a bioreactor, and then combines the fat with a plant-based matrix.

    Scaling up

    Upstream Foods is currently optimizing its salmon cell line and establishing its process at a lab-scale. The company foresees the main challenge in scaling up will be reducing production costs.

    Figler acknowledges that cost efficiency is a significant hurdle faced by the entire industry, as the infrastructure has primarily been designed for the pharmaceutical sector, lacking incentives for ingredient cost reduction.

    fish
    Courtesy Martin Widenka via Unsplash

    “Making this entire process cost efficient is, I think, the biggest challenge we’re all facing,” Figler said.

    While Figler expressed a desire to enter the European market first, she noted that the time-consuming process of submitting a Novel Foods application to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) might not be feasible for a start-up. Instead, Upstream Foods plans to focus on the U.S. market, aiming to scale its process and file for regulatory approval within four years.

    The road to market entry involves developing a proof of concept with global plant-based seafood players, followed by raising €3 million in seed funding. Upstream Foods plans to scale its process to 30L and then 100L, with further increases in scale before seeking regulatory approval in the U.S.

    While Europe may not be the initial market for Upstream Foods due to the challenges associated with EFSA approval, the company remains optimistic about the future of plant-based seafood and the potential to offer quality products that satisfy consumers’ taste preferences while delivering health benefits and affordability.

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  • Quorn Foods And Prime Roots Partner To Expand Mycelium Meat Category

    Prime Roots is made from koji mycelium
    3 Mins Read

    Leading mycoprotein producer, U.K.-based Quorn Foods, has made a minority investment in the Berkeley-based vegan meat startup Prime Roots.

    Quorn pioneered the mycoprotein category, and its new partnership with Prime Roots, which relies on koji mycelium —Japan’s “national yeast” — for its vegan meat, will see both companies expand their reach and product range.

    Mycelium meat market opportunities

    The companies say they will collaborate on new product offerings using their novel mycelium tech. Quorn’s products currently dominate the frozen category while Prime Roots has targeted the deli case since its launch in 2017; it offers vegan versions of turkey, ham, salami, pepperoni, and bacon as well as pâté and foie gras.

    Kimberlie Le, Prime Roots’ Co-founder and CEO, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership: “We are thrilled to partner with Quorn, the leader in mycelium-based proteins to create breakthrough innovations together and to bring great tasting foods that are better for you and for the planet to mass markets,” Le said in a statement.

    Prime Roots charcuterie board
    Prime Roots charcuterie board | Courtesy

    “Prime Roots is doing great things in developing the U.S. meat-free deli category, and we’re excited by the opportunity we now have to share knowledge and collaborate with Kimberlie and her team,” said Quorn’s CEO, Marco Bertacca.

    The alliance announcement comes in the wake of Prime Roots’ recent $30 million Series B fundraise aimed at escalating production for nationwide distribution.

    “People are asking for sustainable meat options that taste good, make them feel good, and do good with less planet impact,” Le said in a statement accompanying the Series B announcement. “Prime Roots delivers on all three: taste, nutrition, and sustainability.”

    According to Le, the recent funding is an indicator that there is a growing market demand for alternatives to conventional meat.

    Health benefits of mycoprotein

    The news also comes on the heels of recent research published in the European Journal of Nutrition looking at Quorn’s health benefits, particularly on the propagation of friendly gut bacteria. The research, published in February, found that the study participants who consumed mycoprotein had “statistically significant” decreases in biomarkers for colon cancer than the group that did not consume the mycoprotein.

    Courtesy Quorn

    “The study showed that this dietary change delivers a significant reduction in genotoxicity and an increase in beneficial gut microbes,” the researchers noted. “Our findings suggest therefore that this high-fiber protein source provides a good alternative to meat in the context of gut health and could help to reduce long-term bowel cancer risk.”

    Other research, published in 2019, found that Quorn’s mycoprotein increased muscle building in participants at more than double the rate of the group who consumed dairy.

    “These results are very encouraging when we consider the desire of some individuals to choose non-animal derived sources of protein to support muscle mass maintenance or adaptations with training,” said Dr. Benjamin Wall, Associate Professor of Nutritional Physiology, University of Exeter.

    “Our data show that mycoprotein can stimulate muscles to grow faster in the hours following exercise compared with a typical animal comparator protein (milk protein),” he said.

    Last week, Quorn’s UK parent entity Marlow Ingredients announced a collaboration with Danish food start-up Tempty Foods to introduce a range of meat alternatives featuring mycoprotein, the fungus-derived “super protein” the company says is more sustainable than conventional protein sources.

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  • These 8 UK Agri-Tech Startups Want To Future Proof South East Asia’s Food System

    4 Mins Read

    From improvements to yield, cost savings, and increasing climate resilience, there is much to change about the way we make food, especially given how much impact climate change will have on global supply chains, particularly in Southeast Asia.

    I found it fascinating to watch eight innovative agri-tech start-ups from the United Kingdom give their grand pitch in Singapore, a country that has little agricultural activity, at the Gateway to Asia Technology Showcase as part of Innovate UK Global Incubator Programme, and each of them left me feeling inspired and hopeful about the future of food. Here’s everything you need to know about each company and its mission.

    OlaTek

    Did you know that approximately 30% of all fish does not end up on our plates, but rather in our ocean, as waste? Further, this waste results in the contamination of marine ecosystems. Given how much we fish (and how much fish we consume), that’s a significant waste stream that can be upcycled. This is why start-ups like OlaTek are turning fish waste into something valuable- the team is currently working on a proof-of-concept whereby no fish waste gets sent back into the ocean. Even though they’re only just starting with lubricants for the F&B industry, they are expanding to other use cases. 

    Koolmill

    If you’ve heard about Software-as-a-Service, meet Machinery-as-a-Service. Koolmill aims to develop rice harvesting technologies that reduce grain loss and improve efficiency during production by creating a gentler way to process rice. The company’s mission is to help us use what we have more effectively and their motto, which left me giggling, is “be nice to rice”.

    Straw Innovations

    Southeast Asians love their rice, and like Koolmil, this company also wants to transform the industry. When rice gets harvested, its stems and leaves (also known as the straw) get left behind because it’s tricky to collect them, and they end up rotting or burning. This process releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas (and a key reason for rice’s hefty environmental footprint). Straw Innovations is developing a rice AND straw harvester, allowing you to leave less of a stubble (!), a cleaner way to shave the world (excuse the pun).

    Fotenix

    This company says it wants to create the metaverse of agriculture. With a slew of cool videos showing how they use small cameras to take pictures of plants growing in high-tech farming environments, this company uses these pictures to develop digital twins that can give you an amazing array of insights. Imagine being able to see when a plant gets diseased, the presence of pests and so much more without actually going to see the plant. Turning these images into assets, this company brings the real world into the digital one to help you better grow food.

    Intelligent Growth Solutions

    A vertical farm technology company founded by an actual farmer (fairly rare, believe it or not!), this startup has its own patented solutions of vertically-stacked growing systems to create ideal conditions to grow your plants. In a country with highly competitive uses for land, innovations in this space would allow us to maximise food production using far less space than conventional land-based agriculture.

    uFraction8

    As the cultivated meat market gains traction, key challenges around scaling remain, mostly tied to production capacity. The industry needs more efficient, resilient solutions in order to both lower costs of production and achieve economies of scale. This start-up is innovating new ways to build what it describes as the most efficient and scalable filtration solutions that have ever existed to solve the problems with harvesting and processing microbial cell cultures. The company’s enabling technology could remove major barriers as their product could be an important enabling technology that could make meat from cellular agriculture more accessible.

    Bright Biotech

    Bright Biotech is part of the relatively new sector of molecular farming, a type of food production technology that makes use of plants as production houses. The company uses chloroplasts to obtain large amounts of high-value proteins from plants using light, which results in scalable and low-cost proteins that can help cultivated meat players overcome their protein supply challenges.

    Higher Steaks

    Last but not least, is Higher Steaks, the startup with the punniest name by far. The company specialises in cultivated fatty meat and unveiled the world’s first cultivated pork belly and bacon without the use of genetic engineering last year. In fact, the company shared that they are working on “dong po rou” (braised pork belly) specifically for the Asian market. It’ll be interesting to see how they replicate the texture and melty characteristics of such a dish. High stakes indeed.

    Mounting challenges means a host of opportunities for innovative startups to truly revolutionise the way we produce and consume food. It was empowering to witness the passion of the founders of these companies as they take on the opportunity of a lifetime: securing a stable, nutritious, and climate-friendly future of food.

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  • Fermbox Bio and Dyadic International Announce a Global Partnership for Sustainable Bio-Alternatives

    3 Mins Read

    Indian-based synthetic biology company Fermbox Bio, known for utilizing microbial precision fermentation for sustainable production of bio-alternatives, is joining forces with global biotechnology company Dyadic International Inc.

    The collaboration marks Dyadic’s first venture with an Indian entity for non-pharmaceutical uses on its renowned Dapibus platform. The partnership leverages the product development and process engineering expertise of Fermbox Bio, coupled with Dyadic’s proprietary filamentous fungal-based protein production platform, aiming to design, manufacture, and commercialize ground-breaking, animal-free alternative proteins and biomaterials.

    Biomaterials manufacturing

    Dyadic International Inc. and Fermbox Bio are both dedicated to creating sustainable and commercially viable products. Fermbox Bio is known for co-developing, manufacturing, and commercializing biomaterials for global markets, whereas Dyadic International Inc. is at the forefront of creating microbial platforms to meet the global demand for protein bioproduction and alternative proteins.

    Photo by Louis Reed at Unsplash.

    “We are very excited to partner with Dyadic to bring our complementary skills to action and use its novel Dapibus platform to create alternative biomaterials that are not only sustainable but also economically viable,” Subramani (suBBu) Ramachandrappa, Ferbox’s founder, said in a statement.

    “Our joint expertise across expression systems and execution capabilities from lab to large-scale manufacturing, uniquely positions us for success. We have a long-standing relationship with Dyadic leadership, and we believe that this co-development agreement can potentially accelerate the timelines for both companies to bring new and commercially viable bio-alternates to the market sooner.”

    Fermbox Bio, operating in both India and the U.S., is strategically positioned for global collaborations, benefiting from access to Indian scientific talent and manufacturing capacities. This collaboration, along with India’s prowess in gene expression, enzymatic pathway engineering, and low-cost manufacturing, could thrust the alternative protein sector forward, positioning India as a potential global supplier.

    “I am excited to announce this fully funded co-development and marketing agreement with Fermbox which is consistent with our business strategy of focusing on near-term commercialization opportunities that can create shareholder value,” said Joe Hazelton, Chief Business Officer of Dyadic.

    ‘End-market animal-free protein products’

    “Fermbox has extensive expertise in bio-alternatives development and microbial precision fermentation which we expect will accelerate our ability to exploit the Dapibus platform and expand Dyadic’s product offerings for non-pharmaceutical alternative proteins applications, such as food, nutrition, wellness, and other bioproducts,” Hazelton said.

    supermarket shopping
    Courtesy Pexels

    “We anticipate this collaboration will enhance our market penetration into the alternative protein markets, while at the same time continuing to pursue our biopharmaceutical activities which are advancing at a rapid pace. We believe that this collaboration will further leverage our proprietary Dapibus platform toward developing and commercializing multiple end-market animal-free protein products.”

    This collaborative model is setting a precedent, according to Nicole Rocque, Senior Innovation Specialist at The Good Food Institute (GFI) India. She says that a co-development partnership of this kind highlights the emerging role India can play in the global SynBio industry. “India has the potential to be a leader in the development of sustainable alternatives that have the potential to feed a growing population while showcasing a model of growth for other emerging markets.,” Rocque said.

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  • Green Rebel’s Vegan Chicken Launches At Nando’s Singapore

    Green Rebel x Nando's
    3 Mins Read

    Indonesia’s whole-cut plant-based meat brand Green Rebel has announced a partnership with Nando’s Singapore for a limited menu collaboration.

    The announcement marks the first time Nando’s, the South African-based chicken chain, has launched a plant-based menu option in Singapore. The new meatless Green Rebel Chick’n Steak is part of Nando’s “The Great Pretender” campaign.

    Green Rebel x Nando’s

    The new sandwich contains 18 grams of protein per serving and 7 grams of fiber — about the equivalent of 250 grams of spinach. The sandwich is rolling out to all six Nando’s locations in Singapore.

    The partnership marks a milestone for Green Rebel, which launched in Singapore last year. The company’s products are available in 1,500 locations across Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

    Green Rebel at Nando's
    Green Rebel at Nando’s | Courtesy

    “The way to convince more people in Asia to try plant-based foods is with products that work great in favourite local dishes,” Michal Klar, general partner at Better Bite Ventures told Green Queen last year following Green Rebel’s Series A funding round. “Green Rebel is doing exactly that by offering plant-based meats with authentic flavours like Indonesian beef rendang, chicken satay and more.”

    Last November, the company announced its expansion into the nondairy category with the launch of cheese, sauces, and dressings.

    Singapore as a vegan launchpad

    Singapore is increasingly cementing itself as a launch pad for vegan products. A confluence of increased consumer consciousness about environmental sustainability and ethical consumption has seen a rise in the demand for plant-based and alternative protein options across the nation. Singapore’s innovative, tech-forward business climate is ideal for the development and promotion of such products.

    Most recently, Dutch food technology pioneer Meatable hosted its first-ever cultivated meat-tasting event in Singapore — the only country that has approved cultivated meat for sale and consumption.

    meatable
    Courtesy Meatable

    Startups and multinational corporations alike are capitalizing on the opportunity. Recognizing Singapore’s potential, they’re launching an array of vegan alternatives, from lab-grown meat to plant-based dairy and egg substitutes. The government is also supportive of this burgeoning sector, contributing funds and resources for research and development in the food-tech industry.

    Crucially, Singapore’s status as a cosmopolitan city, with its diverse population and culinary tastes, makes it a fertile testing ground for new vegan products. Businesses are able to reach a broad spectrum of consumers and gain insightful feedback to continually improve their offerings.

    Furthermore, Singapore’s strategic location in Asia allows companies to expand into other markets in the region easily. Its role as a launch pad for vegan products underscores its broader ambition to become a leader in sustainable and innovative food solutions. This trend is likely to continue as the global demand for vegan and plant-based products grows.

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  • Hong Kong’s DayDayCook Partners With Nestlé on Shelf-Stable Vegan Meal Range

    2 Mins Read

    Hong Kong-based DayDayCook and Harvest Gourmet, Nestlé’s strategic brand, have joined forces to create a new range of plant-based meal options.

    The new collaboration brings to market a line of shelf-stable products that incorporate Harvest Gourmet’s vegan ingredients sourced domestically. DayDayCook has traditionally focused on meal delivery kits for the home chef.

    “I am super excited to see this collection launch and come to life,” Norma Chu, Founder and CEO of DayDayCook, said in a statement.

    ‘Special yet accessible’

    The focus of the new vegan meat product range is to create something “special yet accessible” DayDayCook says. “We want to wow [customers] and bring them back to the fundamental of eating delicious and healthy meals with a dash of nostalgia for flavor.”

    According to the company, the partnership with the Nestlé R+D Accelerator worked to develop foods that will resonate in a positive way with the Chinese audience as well as create a buzz within the plant-based market.

    “We have been so honored to have the privilege of working with Nestlé, the largest food company in the world,” DayDayCook said. “During this process, we tried the full range of [plant-based meat] ingredients produced domestically by Nestlé  China. With such a strong root in R&D, we were impressed by how much variety of plant-based ingredients were readily available. Then, we took it upon ourselves to create the most delicious and easy-to-make meal kits with these Harvest Gourmet ingredients.”

    float foods eggs
    Float Foods’ OnlyEg looks, cooks, and tastes like chicken eggs | Courtesy

    Last December, Singapore’s Float Foods, known for its egg replacement OnlyEg, partnered with DayDayCook to bring its vegan egg to its Hong Kong consumer base.

    “People have enjoyed the experience of cooking and eating at home but are also hard-pressed for time and energy. The OnlyEg Meal Kits offer the chance to elevate the dining experience by introducing clean, contemporary, healthy meals,” Norma Chu, Founder, and CEO of DayDayCook, said in a statement. “Eating a healthy protein-rich meal should be accessible to everyone and bring a sense of celebration at the same time.”

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  • Lewis Hamilton-Backed Neat Burger Secures $18 Million Series B: ‘A Major Milestone’

    neat burger
    4 Mins Read

    The U.K.-based Neat Burger, the plant-based restaurant chain supported by influential figures like Lewis Hamilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, is set to expand its global reach following a successful $18 million Series B fundraising round.

    Despite the challenging macroeconomic backdrop, Neat Burger has emerged as a leading player in the plant-based food industry. The recent fundraise saw Formula One Champion Lewis Hamilton reinvest, alongside Chimera Capital. Notable new investors include LionTree, New Theory Ventures, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, and model and actress Sara Sampaio.

    Since its launch in 2019, Neat Burger has rapidly grown to become one of the world’s fastest-growing plant-based food groups and has garnered a reputation for its pioneering approach to appeal to both flexitarian and plant-based consumers.

    ‘A major milestone’

    The company’s focus on high-quality, fresh ingredients without compromising on taste has helped to make plant-based eating accessible and enjoyable for its customers. Neat Burger’s purpose is to offer ethical, sustainable, and delicious plant-based food served with passion and style.

    “We are thrilled to have reached this major milestone in Neat Burger’s journey with a successful fundraise from previous investors alongside an impressive group of new investors,” Tommaso Chiabra, Co-Founder of Neat Burger, said in a statement.

    “This is a pivotal moment for our business, and it allows us to accelerate our growth plans. With the successful launch of our New York location and record first quarter under our belt, we have demonstrated the strength of our brand, and are now well-positioned to bring our award-winning plant-based food to the growing number of consumers in the U.S. and worldwide who are embracing a healthier and more flexitarian lifestyle,” said Chiabra.

    Neat Burger
    Neat Burger is exceeding sales projections | Courtesy

    Leading the round is B-Flexion, a private institutional investment firm founded by Ernesto Bertarelli, which focuses on sustainability.

    “I love how Neat Burger is on a mission to make plant-based eating more accessible to everyone,” Chiara Bertarelli said om a statement. “Our generation is paving the way and driving this change, with research showing once Gen-Z adopt a vegan or flexitarian diet, 70 percent stick with it. So, the key is getting people to try it and integrate it into their daily lives. First impressions count and Neat Burger’s approach, combining fun and sustainability, has the potential to change the world.” Bertarelli is a recent Harvard University graduate and will now serve as Neat Burger’s Sustainability Advisor.

    The investor support not only recognizes Neat Burger’s growth potential but also acknowledges its unique and innovative approach. Neat Burger prioritizes an engaging restaurant experience that inspires consumer curiosity and encourages the adoption of a meat-free and flexitarian lifestyle. The group’s London restaurants have shown record-breaking performance in the first quarter of this year, with like-for-like sales up by 20 percent.

    Central to Neat Burger’s menu are its fully plant-based offerings, providing health-conscious consumers with guilt-free options for enjoying all-American burger classics. The Neat Burger patty is crafted with a blend of nutritious superfoods such as mung beans, quinoa, and chickpeas, and is rich in healthy fats and protein.

    Neat expansion

    Earlier this year, Neat Burger made its U.S. debut in New York. “We see New York as a tastemaker gateway to the U.S. and by all metrics it has been our most successful launch to date,” said Zack Bishti, Co-Founder and CEO of Neat Burger. First-month sales exceeded expectations, making it the best-performing store in the entire Neat Burger portfolio.

    Neat Burger New York
    Neat Burger New York | Courtesy

    “New Yorkers have good taste and strong opinions and we’ve been thrilled to see customers continually return,” said Bishti. “We’re at the heart of the growth in plant-based diets and our proximity to the customer voice sets us apart. In response to the growing demand for cleaner ingredients, we’ve incorporated healthier options into the New York menu, while continuing to serve our growing community food that’s as sustainable as it is delicious.”

    The chain is also expanding with restaurant launches in Italy and the Middle East. Additionally, the company is growing its business-to-business vertical by forming partnerships with hospitality groups and businesses aiming to achieve net-zero targets by shifting to plant-based offerings.

    The success of Neat Burger is reflected in its growing fanbase and also in widespread industry recognition. The company has been honored with the prestigious U.K.’s Best Vegan Restaurant of the Year award at the Deliveroo Restaurant Awards for two consecutive years. These accolades highlight the positive response and acceptance of Neat Burger’s innovative approach to plant-based dining.

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  • The Vegetarian Butcher Taps Michelin Chefs for Its First Cookbook

    The Vegetarian Butcher
    2 Mins Read

    The Vegetarian Butcher, the Unilever-owned Dutch plant-based meat brand, has launched its first cookbook “New Meat.”

    The new cookbook builds on the success of the Vegetarian Butcher’s offerings since it launched in 2010. “New Meat” features 100 classic meat dishes made for “open-minded meat lovers.”

    The book builds on the success of The Vegetarian Butcher, which started out in The Hague, offering meat-free options out of a butcher shop after ninth-generation farmer and meat lover Jaap Korteweg gave up eating meat. The company has been a leader in replicating sausage, mince, and burgers, with placement in 55 countries and more than 40,000 retail outlets.

    open cookbook
    The Vegetarian Butcher’s New Meat cookbook

    “I was hooked on the taste of meat and my idea was how we can produce meat without animals with the same taste, the same texture, the same experience,” Korteweg told the World Economic Forum in 2019.

    “People like meat,” says Korteweg. “But it’s not necessary to live without it, you can eat as much meat as you want, without the use of animals.”

    The book features recipes from Korteweg along with a range of contributions from eleven top chefs including those from Michelin-starred chefs Asimakis Chaniotis, the executive chef at Pied à Terre in London; James Goodyear, the head chef at Adam’s; Ricky Saward chef at Seven Swans in Frankfurt, the first vegan restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star and Michelin green star for sustainability; and Andrew Pern, chef and owner of the Star in North Yorkshire.

    Vegetarian Butcher sausage roll
    Vegetarian Butcher sausage rolls | Courtesy

    “New Meat” aims to spotlight the diversity plant-based meat offers. It features five of the Vegetarian Butcher products including vegan Chicken Chunks, the vegan Raw Burger, vegetarian Meatballs, vegan Chicken Breast, and the vegan Crispy Chicken Burger.

    The book features cooking tips and tricks for working with plant-based ingredients on recipes including vegan Wellingtong, Bourguignon, and Indian Butter Chicken. “All of them showcasing the best of plant-based, sacrificing nothing in terms of taste, texture and traditions.”

    Recipes cover five categories: Weekdays; Breakfast, Brunch & Lunch; Weekends; Snack Time; and Classics. Most of the recipes were developed by recipe developers, food stylists, and lifelong cooks José van Mil and Fleur van Mil, and photographed by Remko Kraaijeveld.

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  • Babybel Maker Backs AI-Powered Climax Foods To Make Develop Game-Changing Plant-Based Cheese

    3 Mins Read

    French cheese giant the Bel Groups is investing in and partnering with Californian biotech startup Climax Foods to develop AI-powered plant-based, sustainable and nutritious cheese products.

    French global food plater the Bel Group, known for its popular branded cheese products, has announced a unique partnership with biotech Climax Foods with the aim to develop a new generation of plant-based cheese products to help address the challenges facing the dairy industry amidst a worsening climate cirsis. Their goal is to create plant-based versions of Laughing Cow®, Kiri®, Boursin®, Babybel®, and Nurishh® brand foods with a focus on making low-carbon footprint products nutritious, affordable and are indistinguishable from their dairy counterparts. To achieve this, the two companies will leverage data science and artificial intelligence (AI) along with their complementary capabilities and expertise. Bel has acquired an equity stake in Climax Foods Inc. to support the development of their innovative solution.

    “Food is a key lever to address climate change, and we, at Bel, have a strong determination to explore new territories and develop innovative solutions that will define the future of food, for all,” said Cécile Béliot, CEO of the Bel Group in a press statement. “The products we will develop in partnership with Climax have the potential to make a big difference: they can meet the three-fold challenge of sustainable, nutritious, and accessible. This collaboration epitomizes our co-innovation strategy by combining their distinctive technological data science and AI platforms and expertise with Bel’s pioneering and historical knowledge.”

    Using predictive analytics and AI, Climax Foods has developed a comprehensive understanding of the molecular structure of animal-based foods. This knowledge allows them to create plant-based versions with identical texture, flavor, and nutrition density. By leveraging their AI technology, Climax Foods says it can expedite the product development process and harness the vast potential of the plant kingdom to create innovative plant-based recipes in a fraction of the time that it would take to do this manually.

    Climax Foods CEO Dr. Oliver Zahn said: “AI and data can be game changers in food in terms of delivering optimal taste and texture while at the same time making it affordable and sustainable. Evolving recipes over time is what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years. In addition to changing consumer preferences, climate change requires us to accelerate the evolution of food. Together with Bel, we can make a significant positive impact so that people and the planet are better off.” 

    California-based Climax raised $7.5 million back in 2020. Zahn, a former data scientist at Google, SpaceX and plant-based food tech giant Impossible Foods, attracted backing from GoogleX co-founder Tom Chi, Manta Ray Ventures and S2G Ventures. Earlier this year, the company said it was working with  Caroline Di Giusto, a global expert in conventional cheesemaking, and building a pilot and production hub in Petaluma to develop its “Deep Plant Intelligence”, which it describes as “a combination of molecular-level data about animal products and its proprietary plant-based ingredients database”

    Climax Foods’ team of food scientists has already developed multiple prototypes of specialty cheeses, such as blue, brie, feta, and goat varieties that closely mimic their dairy counterparts. Bel plans to introduce these new plant-based products in the U.S. and Europe before the end of 2024, which will help towards achieving the company’s goal of achieving a balanced portfolio of 50% dairy products and 50% plant-based/fruit products. Bel is looking to be part of a transition towards a new food system model that can feed 10 billion people by 2050 while limiting environmental impact.

    Caroline Sorlin, Chief Venture Officer of Bel, said: “Our group has always distinguished itself in its ability to dare and change the game with its innovative products. The challenge of the food transition is so big that collaborative innovation and the merging of skills is imperative. This partnership is definitely a source of pride, but above all, it is excellent news for the plant-based cheese market.”

    Bel, which has already debuted a plant-based version of Babybel and has its own plant-based cheese brand Nurishh, announced last year it was partnering with U.S.-based Superbrewed Food to develop dairy-free cheese via biomass fermentation and with French precision fermentation dairy company Standing Ovation to create microbe-based casein proteins to use in Bel’s suite of cheese products.

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  • $8 Billion U.S. Plant-Based Food Sector Shows ‘Momentum and Resilience’, PBFA Report Finds

    supermarket milk set
    5 Mins Read

    In its State of the Marketplace 2022 Summary Report, the Plant Based Foods Association takes a deep dive into the category and identifies key trends ahead.

    Despite inflation over the last year and lackluster sales for several plant-based category leaders that dipped the sector by 3 percent, 2022 still saw growth, the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) says in its latest industry report. Overall, U.S. plant-based food sales grew 6.6 percent, bringing the category to $8 billion for the year.

    Courtesy PBFA

    “The plant-based foods industry’s momentum and resilience – built on robust consumer demand – is evident across 2022 retail and e-commerce sales and foodservice performance,” Julie Emmett, PBFA Vice President of Marketplace Development, said in a statement.

    “We know consumer interest is strong, now it’s a matter of continuing to increase access and awareness for existing and future innovative plant-based options and furthering the exciting potential of this industry,” Emmett said.

    The findings

    The rise in plant-based sales comes from the increasing adoption by mainstream, flexitarian consumers, the report says. Sixty percent of total U.S. households are now regularly purchasing plant-based alternatives to conventional animal products, with 80 percent repeating those purchases.

    This increase in plant-based purchases comes as animal-based food sales have declined, PBFA says, with plant-based seeing particularly noteworthy growth across eggs, protein powder, coffee creamer, RTD beverages, and dips and spreads. The categories driving the bulk of sales continue to be milk, followed by meat, creamer, ready-meals, and ice cream.

    Courtesy PBFA

    “The variety of standout categories speaks to the expansion of consumer interest in plant-based options for every eating occasion, from post-workout smoothies to morning coffee to indulgent meals,” PBFA notes.

    As the sector leader, plant-based milk is now in more than 40 percent of U.S. homes, the report finds, accounting for 15 percent of all fluid milk sales, with 75 percent of those consumers repeat buyers. The vegan milk category grew nine percent to $2.8 billion in 2022.

    “Against a backdrop of heavy inflation, plant-based milk units declined by two percent,” the report notes. “As consumers stretched their dollar across total food sales, the price gap between plant-based milk and animal-based milk impacted overall purchasing. In comparison, animal-based milk was also down two percent in units, but saw a 12 percent increase in dollar sales, illustrating the outsized role of inflated
    pricing in growing sales figures for animal-based milk.”

    Courtesy PBFA

    While vegan meat sales remained steady over 2021 numbers, the report notes the category is diversifying, with vegan chicken driving the bulk of sales. The frozen vegan meat category grew by five percent and shelf-stable options grew by more than 80 percent while refrigerated saw a 13.5 percent decline. “Many plant-based meat segments — such as filets; steaks; cutlets and jerky snacks; and nuggets, tenders, and wings — are growing in both dollars and units, while plant-based chunks and strips, deli slices, and meatballs are growing in dollar sales, demonstrating consumer adoption of many different varieties of plant-based meat,” reads the report.

    The future of plant-based

    It’s not just consumers stocking vegan options in their refrigerators that drove the growth; the report shows 48 percent of U.S. restaurants now offer plant-based or vegan menu options, “a percentage that has grown steadily, without decline, over the past decade.”

    Online sales also increased for plant-based foods, accounting for 6.4 percent of total online sales, compared to 4.5 percent in grocery retail.

    “In recent years, we’ve noticed more and more people embracing a conscious way of living,” says Heather Brand, Thrive Market’s senior category manager. “Consumers are more mindful of their impact on the environment, their health, and animal welfare. This has led to a surge in popularity of plant-based foods and products, as people look for healthier and more sustainable options.”

    In just the five years since the PBFA began reporting on the sector, it says the sector has gone from six categories to 20, and growth is expected to continue.

    “The plant-based foods industry has proven its resilience, weathering unprecedented challenges to maintain cross-category market shares and achieve $8 billion in U.S. retail sales,” says Rachel Dreskin, PBFA CEO.

    Courtesy PBFA

    “This success is a testament to the dedication of consumers who are looking for plant-based options for every eating occasion, and the innovative brands and marketplace partners who are working to meet growing demand for sustainable, healthy, and delicious options,” Dreskin said.

    PBFA, which worked with the think tank nonprofit The Good Food Institute to analyze the sales data, also found that while inflation affected every segment of the food industry in 2022, the average retail price of animal-based foods increased more than plant-based options. The animal sector increased by an average of 15 percent, while plant-based foods saw only a ten percent spike.

    Despite the economic and environmental benefits of increasing plant-based food, consumers are still largely motivated by health, the report found. The environment is the second motivating factor followed by animal welfare.

    Seventy-three percent of consumers consider themselves health-conscious, says PBFA, but they’re still motivated by taste and affordability. Younger consumers, particularly Gen Z, are aiming to reduce their carbon footprint, with 79 percent going meat-free one day per week and 65 percent wanting a more plant-forward diet.

    “While there is still much to be done by food system stakeholders to sustain and accelerate the momentum of the plant-based foods industry,” PBFA says, “the findings of this report affirm our confidence as an organization and an industry that we, collectively, are on the right path.”

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  • Germany Drops ‘Completely Unreasonable’ Meat Consumption To Record Low

    german food

    3 Mins Read

    Germans keep reducing their meat consumption, a new report finds.

    New data released by the Federal Information Centre for Agriculture in Germany shows that meat consumption per capita decreased by approximately 4.2 kg in 2022, dropping to 52 kg per person, the lowest it has been since the calculations began in 1989. This aligns with previous findings that 55% of Germans consumers describe themselves as flexitarian, the highest level in Europe.

    The findings

    The report also reveals that Germans consumed around 2.8 kg less pork, 900 grams less beef and veal, and 400 grams less poultry in 2022.

    The numbers show net production of animal meat in the country was down, with 9.8 percent less pork and 8.2 percent less beef and veal produced domestically compared to 2021, and a nearly three percent reduction in net production of poultry meat.

    sausage
    Photo by Александр Трубицын via Pexels

    Germany was eighth on Our World In Data’s 2020 list of top meat-eating countries per capita.

    Germany’s declining meat consumption trend has continued over the past few years — a shift reinforced by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach’s call to consume less meat. In 2022, he declared that “we will have to eat much less meat,” adding that “in the long term, we could reduce meat consumption by 80 percent. Not only in Germany, but worldwide, because it is simply very difficult to produce meat without massive CO2 waste.”

    The German minister also said meat consumption in Germany is “completely unreasonable” in many respects, “bordering on the delusional if you think about it.”

    Lauterbach says it starts with cruelty to animals, “the animals usually live in torment, the cheap meat cannot be produced otherwise.”

    Source: ProVeg

    Plant-based on the rise

    Meanwhile, Nielsen data revealed that sales of plant-based foods in Europe grew six percent in 2022, reaching €5.7 billion — a 22 percent increase over 2020. Germany accounted for the highest sales value of plant-based food across Europe, while the Netherlands had the highest average plant-based food spend per capita.

    ProVeg’s Vice President, Jasmijn de Boo, highlighted that public procurement of plant-based foods, policies to encourage the growth of the plant-based industry, investment in alternative protein product research and innovation, and incentives for farmers to transition away from meat and dairy production are among the actions urgently needed to avoid climate breakdown. She emphasized that other countries should replicate the trend seen in Germany.

    Raging Pig
    Raging Pig launches at Vincent Vegan in Germany | Courtesy

    “We’re really pleased to see the continued decline in meat consumption in Germany, which has been helped by people following flexitarian diets,” de Boo said in a statement. “It is imperative that policies are implemented to ensure that the trend seen in Germany is replicated elsewhere.

    The news comes on the heels of Raging Pig’s vegan bacon national rollout across Germany’s Vincent Vegan restaurant chain. The country has seen other notable vegan launches recently, including the expansion of Singapore’s TiNDLE vegan chicken into 6,000 German retailers.

    De Boo says the slow in meat consumption is good news for the environment, for people’s health, and animals. “Animal agriculture is responsible for about 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, along with widespread deforestation, and the pollution of waterways,” she said.

    “We can no longer ignore the need to significantly transform the food system to ensure a more sustainable future for all, and the good news is that the solutions are already out there to reduce meat and dairy consumption by encouraging a flexitarian diet.”

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  • Mycorena’s Sustainable Fungi-Based Fat Mycolein Makes Its Market Debut

    Mycorena's mycolein
    3 Mins Read

    Following its release in 2021, Sweden’s Mycorena says its fungi-stabilized sustainable fat dubbed Mycolein, is now available for sale.

    Mycorena first announced its fungi-based fat that mimics animal fat in late 2021. The product earned high praise for its superior behavior and sensory qualities that outperformed plant-based fats such as coconut oil. The product, which is being marketed as Mycolein, is now ready for its retail launch under the company’s mycoprotein brand Promyc, currently available across select European stores.

    “Recognising the challenges faced by our partner food companies in sourcing a stable fat ingredient, in 2021, we launched the first fungi-stabilised fat as a prototype product,” Ramkumar Nair, Founder & CEO of Mycorena, said in a statement.

    ‘Unparalleled benefits’

    “At that time, we were still determining the product’s scalability, as has been the case with many similar products launched in the market. And now, after nearly 1.5 years of development, we have successfully created a full-scale process for producing the product and are fully prepared to launch it commercially,” Nair said.

    The product underwent extensive trials and tasting with plant-based partners including the vegan steak producer Juicy Marbles and meat alternative producer Dalco Foods.

    Courtesy Juicy Marbles

    “We are incredibly grateful to our partner companies who have supported us with extensive verification and product development trials. It’s satisfying to hear that the addition of Mycolein has elevated their products’ palatability and sensory offerings,” Nair said.

    Mycorena says the product is now better than ever and holds significant potential for improving the sustainability of the food sector. Mycolein offers “unparalleled benefits,” the company says, due to its versatile nature that enhances the juiciness and flavor of any food product, including plant-based and alternative protein and meat products, “with superior qualities similar to animal fat or as a healthier fat in meat products.”

    A healthier vegan fat

    Compared to animal fats and popular vegetable fats, Mycolein has a better nutritional profile and delivers the same, or even better organoleptic results, “making it a healthier and more desirable option.”

    Unlike most fats, Mycolein is also a source of dietary fiber, offering more than a 40 percent fat reduction compared to other fats. The clean label fat also contains very little saturated fat — 85 percent less than coconut fat. It joins a burgeoning designer fat category that’s seeing fermentation and cell tech advance sustainable alternatives to animal fat and palm oil.

    Mycorena's Promyc meat
    Mycorena’s Promyc meat | Courtesy

    “Our fat solution stabilises emulsions, locks in all of the product’s flavours, and maintains its juiciness during cooking. Compared to conventional vegetable fats, our solution is healthier. In addition, the tailored recipe of our solution allows for the introduction of additional flavours and fortification, such as Omega 3,” says Joan Lluch Casarramona, Food Specialist at Mycorena.

    According to Mycorena, using mycelium biomass in its Mycolein is a novel use of the material, something the company says can revolutionize the industry. The company already operates the largest mycoprotein factory in Europe.

    “The potential applications of this technology are limitless. While we initially focused on enhancing food products through fat solutions, this is only the beginning,” says Sandra Zachrisson, Head of Product Innovation at Mycorena. “Our ultimate goal is to leverage this technology to unlock new, sustainable solutions for food manufacturing.” 

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  • 70% of Gen Zers Interested In a Vegan Diet for Their Health, Not the Environment

    gen z eating
    3 Mins Read

    Gen Z is driving the rapidly growing plant-based food market. According to a recent survey, 70 percent of Gen Zers say they plan to pursue a vegan diet in the next five years but the reasons don’t necessarily track with their climate concerns.

    Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — have become the driving force behind the vegan food market. According to a recent survey conducted by Medical Inspiration Daily For Stronger Society (MIDSS), more than half of Gen Z chose to go vegan due to health benefits.

    MIDSS surveyed more than 3,000 vegans and non-vegans earlier this year to gauge their interest in, commitments, and motivations for the vegan diet.

    The findings

    Studies suggest that a vegan diet can promote better heart health, and healthy weight management, as well as reduce the risk of chronic diseases. More than 51 percent of the survey respondents said they chose a vegan diet due to its health benefits.

    Obesity has become a growing issue for young people, particularly in the U.S., with almost 20 percent of children and adolescents being obese. Obesity increases the risk of type-2 diabetes, asthma, joint problems, and other chronic diseases. Eating plant-based food helps prevent obesity and associated chronic diseases.

    Photo by Toni Koraza at Unsplash.

    Surprisingly, given Gen Z’s interest in climate action, the report notes that only 17 percent of Gen Z survey respondents say they follow the diet for environmental benefits. Nearly half of non-vegans said they doubted the positive environmental impact of the diet. Forty percent of respondents believe veganism has a positive impact on the environment. Only 17 percent of Gen Z survey respondents say they chose to go vegan for ethical reasons.

    Craving animal products and the feeling of missing out on good food are the main barriers to adopting a vegan diet, according to more than 30 percent of Gen Z who participated in the MIDSS survey.

    Vegan or not, the majority of Gen Z vegans have a positive attitude toward the vegan trend, with less than one-third remaining neutral.

    Barriers to entry

    The survey also revealed there are still hurdles to overcome, however; one in ten Gen Z vegans thinks that treating a vegan diet as a trend is “weird,” and some people are faking it to fit in and be cool “rather than for the actual benefits that come with being vegan.” Many also dislike vegan influencers, believing they “give it a bad name” and “make us look bad.”

    Courtesy Shutterstock

    Gen Z is also taking a proactive role in educating those around them about the benefits of veganism. Sixty percent of vegans say they educate others, hoping that more people will follow in their footsteps. Additionally, about 51 percent of vegans stated that understanding the health benefits was the biggest barrier to starting a plant-based diet.

    MIDSS says that despite the common belief that eating vegan is expensive, a vegan diet consisting mainly of vegetables, legumes, and whole grains is considerably cheaper than a diet rich in animal foods.

    The cost of plant-based meat substitutes can be expensive, but it is not a necessary part of the vegan diet. The meat-substitute market is currently valued at more than $10 billion and is estimated to reach almost $34 billion by 2027. Plant-based food options are increasing, and this trend is likely to continue as Gen Z grows older.

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  • 10 Companies Awarded China’s First Vegan Food Standard Certification

    Green Monday Raises USD 70 Million Plant Based Asia

    3 Mins Read

    China’s shift to a more sustainable food system took a significant step forward with the introduction of the country’s first domestic vegan food certification program and the first ten recipients.

    The China Vegan Society and the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation say the China Vegan Food Standard Certification seeks to standardize vegan claims within the Chinese market, increase transparency and consumer trust for vegan products, and aid in supporting consumers and food producers interested in animal-free options.

    The certification is also the first vegan certification to include a subcategory for vegan foods that do not contain garlic, onions, leeks, chives, and asafetida, which up to half of Chinese vegans and vegetarians avoid for religious and health reasons.

    China Vegan Food Standard Certified

    During a recent online conference, nearly 20,000 viewers learned about the first recipients of the China Vegan Food Standard Certification.

    dumplings
    Demand for plant-based food is on the rise across Asia

    Ten companies covering diverse food categories across the full food industry received the certification, including Veggie Ark, Green Monday, Ecobuyer, Deepure, Yeyo, Seleglu, GENBEN, Su Man Xiang, Liu Wei Zhi Ji, and Shu Jia Niang Food.

    The certification program’s first recipients cover a range of plant-based food offerings, from organic farming and vegan restaurants to health foods, alternative protein products, and vegan OEM manufacturers.

    Representatives from each organization introduced their brands and shared their perspectives on how the certification will advance veganism in China in the short term and establish vegan industry standards to lay a crucial foundation for future development.

    Cultivating a sustainable food future for China

    The certification program’s aim is to provide better-served consumers, more sustainable vegan product offerings, increased food biodiversity, the transition toward healthier food consumption and production patterns, and a better-regulated and more transparent vegan food industry.

    CBCGDF Deputy Secretary General Ma Yong emphasized the historic importance of plant-based diets in China’s traditional culture and their crucial role in supporting China’s sustainable future growth.

    haofood chicken
    Haofood’s new pulled vegan chicken is made from peanuts | Courtesy

    The certification development committee included VegRadar, a vegan information service platform offering a fully WeChat-enabled restaurant locator app and multi-channel media platform, and Dao Foods, an impact-oriented incubator and investment firm that invests in plant-based and alternative protein companies based in mainland China.

    In January, China took first place in the 2022 ProVeg Innovation Challenge APAC event. The country has also seen a number of alternative milestones this year including CellX announcing the first cultivated meat factory in China and Jimi Biotech unveiling the country’s first cultivated chicken. Haofood also debuted chicken made from peanuts in another industry first.

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  • Aqua Cultured Foods Raises $5.5 Million in Seed Funding to Disrupt ‘Big Fish’ With Fungi

    3 Mins Read

    Aqua Cultured Foods has announced $5.5 million in a Seed funding round to accelerate its mycoprotein-based seafood.

    The new funding was led by Stray Dog Capital, a venture capital fund that specializes in investing in alternative protein ventures. Other participants included H Venture Partners, Aztec Capital Management, and Amplifica Capital, as well as follow-on investments from current investors Supply Change Capital, Big Idea Ventures, HPA, Aera VC, Kingfisher Family Investments, and Swiss Pampa. The funding round also included a strategic investment from CJ CheilJedang, a South Korean-based global food and bio company.

    Fungi-fermented seafood

    Aqua Cultured Foods says the new funding will be used to equip new facility, scale up production, bring products to market, add key talent, and expand its roster of restaurant and foodservice outlets for product introductions this year.

    According to Aqua Cultured Foods’ CEO Anne Palermo, the company is grateful to have mission-aligned partners that offer strong strategic value for the next phase of its growth. “Being good stewards of investor capital is important to us, so along with hitting milestones earlier than expected, we are benefiting from government programs, academic resources, and other advantages to get to market quickly,” Palermo said.

    This Women-Led Startup Is Growing the 'Holy Grail' of Vegan Seafood From Microbes
    Courtesy Aqua Cultured Foods

    Aqua Cultured Foods is known for its low cost of scaling and path to price parity, thanks to proprietary fermentation methods that use relatively affordable inputs and equipment. Recently, the company acquired a food-grade facility that was already built out nearly to its requirements.

    The company estimates that this will save more than a million dollars in construction costs. Additionally, Aqua Cultured Foods was recently accepted into the Illinois Office of Business Development’s EDGE program, which provides tax incentives to growing companies, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes over the next decade.

    Stray Dog Capital Partner Johnny Ream spoke highly of the founding team, product, and key partnerships, saying, “the work Aqua is doing with alt-seafood has immense potential to drive both human and planetary benefits in a massive $100B+ global market.”

    Scaling sustainable seafood

    According to a recent report, the global vegan seafood market was valued at $42.1 million in 2021 and is projected to reach $1.3 billion by 2031 with a CAGR of more than 42 percent.

    Aqua Cultured Foods approach to producing seafood alternatives is unique. The company is developing calamari, shrimp, scallops, and filets of tuna and whitefish with proprietary mycoprotein fermentation processes that do not use any animal inputs, genetic altering, or modification. Unlike plant-based processed foods that are formulated with starches and protein isolates, Aqua’s alt-seafood retains its naturally occurring fiber, protein, and other micronutrients. The company also produces minced “seafood” fillings for applications such as dumplings, ravioli, and sushi rolls.

    Courtesy Aqua Cultured Foods

    The alternative seafood market is rapidly growing as consumers become more aware of the environmental impact of commercial fishing and the health risks associated with consuming seafood. Fish farming practices result in habitat destruction, pollution, and the spread of diseases to wild fish, and the industry relies heavily on antibiotics and wild-caught fish for feed.

    Moreover, seafood, particularly finfish, is a source of foodborne illness caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Aqua’s products offer a more sustainable and healthier alternative to traditional seafood, and its innovative approach has the potential to disrupt the $100 billion-plus global seafood market.

    The post Aqua Cultured Foods Raises $5.5 Million in Seed Funding to Disrupt ‘Big Fish’ With Fungi appeared first on Green Queen.