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Category: Alt Protein

  • Beef Lite: Impossible Foods Launches New Meat Alternative With 45% Less Fat Than Animal Version

    3 Mins Read

    California food tech Impossible Foods has announced a new Beef Lite product with a lower saturated and total fat content that cooks like 90/10 lean beef from cows.

    US plant-based meat company Impossible Foods has expanded its plant-based product portfolio with the launch of a new product dubbed Beef Lite, a leaner and less fatty version of their vegan-friendly Impossible Beef mince.

    Beef Lite has been created to be “better than lean ground beef” according to the company. The product features 21 grams of protein per serving and no trans fats or cholesterol. Compared to 90/10 lean ground beef, it has 75% less saturated fat and 45% less total fat. In addition the company called out Beef Lite’s sodium content as 33% lower than plant-based beef product from an undisclosed competitor.

    The company says Beef Lite can be used in the same cooking applications that consumers use beef for including tacos, lasagna, meatballs and stir-frieds and describes the product’s environmental footprint as being “a fraction of the land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions” of that of lean ground beef from cows. In addition, Beef Lite does not contain any hormones or antibiotics, both of which are uses heavily by the industrial livestock industry.

    Beef Lite remains a more expensive option than lean beef from cows. A 12-ounce pack of Beef Lite retails for $8.99, which is approx. $11.98 per pound. This is compared to $5.64 for a pound of Walmart’s All Natural 90/10 Ground Beef Sirloin and $5.98 for a pound of Marketside Butcher Grass-Fed 90/10 Ground Beef (also sold on Walmart’s website).

    Courtesy Impossible Foods

    “We’re constantly working to compete with beef in all of the ways that matter to consumers, including nutrition,” said Peter McGuinness, president and CEO of Impossible Foods. “A lot of health-conscious fans and shoppers are looking for a plant-based beef option that’s high in protein and nutrients with even less fat, and Impossible Beef Lite is our solution to that. It’s got 21 grams of high-quality protein, a whopping 75% less saturated fat than lean ground beef from cows, and of course no cholesterol. It’s a perfect plant-based way to customize all of the great recipes that call for lean animal ground beef.”

    The is the fourth new Impossible product announced in 2023, with the news coming just a few weeks after the company debuted three new plant-based chicken products including Impossible Spicy Chicken Nuggets, Impossible Spicy Chicken Patties, and Impossible Chicken Tenders. In 2022, Impossible added sausage links, animal-shaped chicken nuggets, chicken patties and a range of eight ready-meal bowls.

    Impossible products are available at over 30,000 grocery stores across the US. Beef Lite is being rolled out at select stores in the fresh meat aisle and will add more locations over the next weeks.

    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    According to the company, Impossible is the fastest-growing plant-based meat brand in US retail with over 50% in sales growth in 2022, and its flagship Impossible Beef product is the the best selling-retail plant-based meat product in the US by volumes and dollar sales. The company has worked to improve taste, texture and the nutrition profile of its meat-free beef since its launch in 2016, updating the recipe both in 2019 and in 2022, when it reduced saturated fat content by 25%.

    In a wide-ranging interview with TIME last month about the media controversy around plant-based meat in the US, McGuinness said that Impossible’s nutritional profile was a key driver for consumers of the brand: “It is zero trans fat, zero cholesterol. So you’re eating zero-cholesterol beef. No matter who you are—you’re crazy educated, you’re less educated, you’re rich, you’re less rich, you’re in the middle of the country, you’re on the coast—I don’t think people love cholesterol. So cholesterol-free meat that tastes damn good? Sounds pretty good to me.”

    The post Beef Lite: Impossible Foods Launches New Meat Alternative With 45% Less Fat Than Animal Version appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Forget Princess, I Want To Be A Scientist: Celebrating Food Tech Researcher Maya Benami This IWD

    16 Mins Read

    If you’re in the know in the food tech world, then you will surely have heard Maya Benami’s name. The Israeli food-tech scientist is the secret research whisperer to the global alternative protein industry, consulting on all matters of R&D and her clients include startups, big corporates, governments and investors from all four corners of the globe.

    Maya is someone I deeply admire and respect and I have personally turned to her for advice and insights more times than I can count. While we often lionize founders and funders, we’d be nowhere without scientists, which is why I could not think of anyone better to celebrate and interview this International Women’s Day.

    Below, I talk to Maya about how she became a scientist, the challenges faced by women in STEM, why Israeli women are so strong and confident and how she balances life, work and family.

    Can you tell us a little about your background and where you are from? 

    As the product of an Israeli father and a German-American mother and moving around in the U.S., I had the privilege to experience growing up among different communities and types of people. However, my desire to explore my paternal roots and live in a desert to study water science prompted me to move to Israel 15 years ago. Since then, I have earned a master’s and a doctorate in microbiology and hydrology, volunteered, traveled or studied in more than 30 countries, worked in multiple environmental and human health industries, and started a family here in Israel.

    Through the lens of biology and chemistry, I’ve found a framework to explore, test, and question the inner workings of our world. 

    How did you become a scientist?

    My experience may resonate with many immigrants and those who have grown up among them. My own family of mixed heritage, many with Jewish roots, and continual exposure to the stories of others in diverse communities marked me during my upbringing in the United States. These experiences instilled in me a profound appreciation for education, travel, language acquisition, critical thinking, and a refusal to accept things at face value. These values align with the scientific mindset, where independent thought, exposure to new concepts, perseverance, and curiosity are vital to success.

    Through the lens of biology and chemistry, I’ve found a framework to explore, test, and question the inner workings of our world. They are fields that demand rigorous investigation, a deep commitment to intellectual curiosity, humility, and the willingness to challenge conventional wisdom. For me, nurturing scientific discovery has become a way of life that continually challenges me to create structure and organization in my own world, and surprisingly also opened the doors for me to discover how others approach the world more objectively.

    How did you end up getting into food tech?

    Over fifteen years of academic and industry-based work in environmental and human health has taken me on an interesting journey via exploring and writing about cutting-edge technologies across diverse disciplines in several countries. From tackling issues in agriculture via proper wastewater treatment, effective pathogen eradication to extend food shelf life, or examining how plant compounds affect mammalian cell physiology, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with diverse teams to study and test the latest tools and techniques and publish our findings. I was using techniques and applications that are now more widely applied in novel food production, such as molecular biology, wastewater treatment membranes, microbial and mammalian cell cultivation, and fungal biotechnology.

    While attending GFI’s inaugural conference here in Israel in 2017, I discovered the immense potential of these cross-over technologies for scaling sustainable food production. I realized that my unique, cross-disciplinary approach to R&D challenges could offer a significant advantage. Through my consulting and technical due diligence services, I leverage my diverse background to provide companies and investors with innovative solutions that can save costs while addressing societal challenges like climate change. As global investment in R&D continues to increase and become more expensive, proper planning and cross-disciplinary collaboration have never been more critical. I hope my approach to R&D challenges can help accelerate innovation, improve products and services, and pave the way for a more sustainable future. 

    I consider it very important to give back what I have been given and devote significant time pro bono each week to supporting young start-ups.

    What exactly do you do for work?

    Today, I use my degrees and international experiences as an R&D consultant, specializing in the global alternative protein industry. My clients, which range from large food and biopharmaceutical companies to forward-thinking agriculturalists, rely on my guidance to help them navigate the intricacies of this rapidly-evolving field. I also regularly perform technical due diligence and consult for investors seeking to capitalize on cutting-edge food and microbial technologies like fermentation, cellular agriculture, novel ingredients, and molecular farming. It’s a thrilling time to be at the forefront of this industry, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help shape its future.

    But I try not to limit my efforts to just the big players. I consider it very important to give back what I have been given and devote significant time pro bono each week to supporting young start-ups, students, and scientists who share my vision for creating a more sustainable food system. Through this type of networking and mentoring these past years, I’m also co-leading a small global team to create an alternative protein product taste and consumer review database called Taste Like, which should launch to the public in the coming months. 

    I have had the opportunity to work with many innovative (and surprisingly many female-led) Israeli companies.

    What are some of the companies you have worked with in food tech?

    I owe much of my success in the consulting industry to Bright Green Partners, a boutique alternative protein consulting firm, where I have been part of exceptional consulting teams for almost three years. Through Bright Green Partners, I have been the lead technical consultant to solve R&D problems for sizeable global food and biopharmaceutical companies. I am also very grateful to InnovoPro, one of Israel’s leading chickpea food companies, which gave me my first consulting and writing project. I have also had the opportunity to work with many innovative (and surprisingly many are female-led) Israeli companies such as GreenOnyx, which produces water lentils, Nuversys, which specializes in fragile ingredient encapsulation, Aleph Farms, which cultivates meat, and BioRaptor.AI, which offers an AI-powered insight platform for food and biopharma. On an international level, I have consulted for Novozymes, Aqvita, and a range of generalist and food-focused venture capital firms seeking due diligence on food and medical-related technology investments. Some of this due diligence led to successful investments or acquisitions of companies that produce cultivated meat, insect alternatives, contaminant detection technologies, and novel plant or fungal-based ingredient production.

    Women are actively encouraged to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in Israel.

    Israel seems very supportive of women in science. Is that fair to say?

    Yes, in most parts of Israeli society, a well-developed scientific and technological sector provides exposure opportunities to young men and women alike. Women are actively encouraged to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in Israel, and many initiatives are in place to support them. One of the first things I remember upon landing in Israel to begin my master’s degree was that a female, Muslim Ph.D. student in my lab was encouraging me to apply to as many grants as possible: she had recently found out that she was able to net a larger salary per month than one of our male advisors. It also helps to see role models and be mentored by them. I was lucky to be mentored by a strong female in science, my original advisor Dr. Osnat Gillor, who also constantly encouraged me to apply for grants, go to conferences, and publish my work. Cultural norms are generally also more accepting here in Israel of a woman leaving the work day earlier than usual to pick up and care for children. Work days and deadlines are also generally more flexible. 

    Within the international Jewish community and inside Israel, many organizations and initiatives specifically focus on encouraging and supporting women in STEM, especially immigrant and minority females. These include programs that provide mentorship, additional financial support, networking opportunities, and access to professional development resources for women in STEM fields. 

    There is, of course, a long way to go. There is still a gender gap in STEM fields in Israel, as in many other countries. There are many sectors of Israeli society where women and men cannot access the benefits I wrote above. Women remain underrepresented in specific scientific areas and leadership positions, facing barriers such as bias, discrimination, and lack of access to funding and resources. However, there is a growing awareness of these issues in Israel, and some efforts are being made to address them.

    By giving women equal opportunities to serve in the military, the IDF aims to challenge gender stereotypes and encourage greater gender diversity in most areas of Israeli society.

    I don’t want to stereotype but on average, it seems most of the Israeli women I know are super tough and confident. Is there something specific about Israeli culture that makes it so? Is it because Israeli women, like Israeli men, undergo military duty?

    The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has taken steps to ensure that women are integrated into the military and given equal opportunities to serve in various roles. Women can serve and lead combat units, intelligence, and technological roles as well as provide administrative and support positions. In addition, the IDF provides equal pay and benefits to male and female soldiers. These policies aim to create a more equal society by promoting gender equality and breaking down traditional gender roles. By giving women equal opportunities to serve in the military, the IDF aims to challenge gender stereotypes and encourage greater gender diversity in most areas of Israeli society. The mandatory military service in Israel also cultivates a sense of close community and creates a natural networking base, which is critical for future work opportunities regardless of gender. It brings together people from diverse backgrounds, further promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration and fostering innovation. When a farmer can work alongside a physicist in the IDF, these types of relationships further promote cross-disciplinary collaboration and foster innovation, which can benefit all sectors of society. 

    However, beyond a form of an equalizing factor that the IDF brings to society, large parts of the Israeli population are not required or choose not to participate in serving. I believe it may be more about the hardships and navigating mixed cultural values, which may affect how Israeli women approach the world. 

    First, Israel is a country with an interesting mix of many strong cultures that emphasizes self-reliance and reliance upon your community connections. All Israelis are generally encouraged to become educated, question authority, and be self-aware and assertive. Israel is also a country that values risk-taking and finding solutions at all costs.

    Second, Israel is still quite a new country with a past and current history of conflict and adversity, requiring its citizens of all ethnicities to be resilient and adaptable. Daily life in Israel is expensive and bureaucratic, with the need to be resilient and adaptable. Travel is a common pursuit that also fosters a sense of autonomy and worldliness from a young age. Israeli women are accustomed to living in discomfort, advocating for themselves and their families, and overcoming obstacles when plans change last minute (e.g., running to a bomb shelter).

    Third, Israeli women have high education rates and are well-represented in many fields such as law, education, medicine, and the sciences. This representation empowers and inspires Israeli women, and this progress can be traced back to the 1960s with the region’s first female Prime Minister, Golda Meir. Historically, women also played a vital role in building the first settlements of the country, and in the early years of the kibbutz movement, they were encouraged to participate in traditionally male-dominated fields. The stories of women and men in our families surviving the Holocaust and many Israeli wars, establishing kibbutzim, and sharing their other experiences have left a lasting impression on the current generation. 

    Despite these advancements, Israel still faces significant challenges in promoting gender equality and protecting their most vulnerable people. Domestic violence, harassment, trauma, limited promotional opportunities, wage disparities, and access to mental health services remain pervasive. Additionally, women have historically been underrepresented in Israel’s highest ministerial offices and continue to have limited political opportunities, which sets Israel apart from most Western nations. 

    My female advisor pulled all of us females aside, and she urged us to interrupt the men and contribute more.

    What challenges do women in science face?

    I believe there is a very high rate of both women and men who experience imposter syndrome in the sciences, as I discovered when interviewing numerous scientists for a book I wrote during my PhD. Impostor syndrome is a fear of being exposed as a fraud due to self-doubt about one’s skills and accomplishments. We don’t talk about this enough for also the fear of being seen as “naïve.” However, women and men react to this phenomenon differently. For example, the imposter syndrome can harm women’s confidence and make it challenging to speak up during meetings or ask for further guidance, leading others to view us as less knowledgeable. 

    I recall one lab meeting where out of the lab of six women and two men, the two men completely dominated the meeting with questions and answers to their questions. It prompted my female advisor to pull all of us females aside, and she urged us to interrupt them and contribute more. Especially in Israel, where assertiveness in meetings is highly valued, a male advisor also commented to me once that my failure to interrupt him during private meetings to get to an answer more quickly showed him that I possessed less initiative compared to a male colleague who did.

    The way women and men navigate the worlds of science and business, which are becoming increasingly important in academic and industry-based technical fields, differs significantly. Men tend to dominate executive roles like CEOs and CTOs, often taking the lead in risk-taking and finding cost-effective solutions to technical challenges. In contrast, women face greater obstacles in achieving these positions and being heard that their ideas matter.

    For women in science, balancing work and personal life can be a real tightrope act, especially when they also have caretaker responsibilities. Preparing and conducting experiments can demand long hours and inflexible schedules, leaving little room for personal obligations. On top of that, the constant pressure to deliver usable results, amidst the many failed experiments, and publish papers that undergo endless changes or rejections from peer reviewers, can be daunting. To complicate matters further, obtaining funding and the opportunity to attend international conferences is a luxury for many female scientists. This can hinder career advancement as these events provide valuable opportunities to present work, form beneficial collaborations, and network with peers.

    What does International Women’s Day represent to you? 

    International Women’s Day is a vital reminder of the ongoing struggle for gender equality and women’s rights worldwide. It is an opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements and contributions to society while recognizing the challenges and barriers that still exist for over 50% of the global population.

    In terms of International Women’s Day and food, women are the center of where we should be improving and celebrating. Women play a crucial role in food production and purchasing. Across many regions, women participate in all stages of the food production cycle, from planting and harvesting to processing and selling products for consumption or commercial purposes. In developed and non-developed regions, women are almost universally the primary decision-makers in buying and preparing food for our families. Domestically, women are the center of knowledge and decisions regarding the preferences influencing food choices, cooking methods, and nutrition practices for multiple generations of large families. Both in the first and third worlds, we need access to affordable, nutritious, and preferably tasty food to improve dismal maternal and childhood mortality and morbidity statistics, such as half of preschool children and two-thirds of non-pregnant women (globally) being micronutrient deficient. Statistics like these are also a significant reason I entered into the intersection of science and nutrition – to address childhood and female malnutrition effectively and hopefully promote more sustainable food production. 

    Ask or be insistent about receiving credit for your work early on, so a paper trail can be made of your accomplishments.

    What advice do you have for the younger generation of women coming up in the world and in their careers?

    Prioritize your mental and physical health. It takes courage to ask for a break or additional support when faced with challenges or problems. In most cases, others are more than willing to lend a hand or provide a fresh perspective, but they may not know what you need until you effectively communicate it. Don’t be afraid to seek assistance from a variety of sources inside your industry or outside of it (like family and friends), as it can lead to finding alternative solutions or new ways of approaching a situation while creating the opportunity for what others want – the feeling of being useful. Asking for help can create the opportunity for a new friendship or deepen an existing relationship.

    Ask or be insistent about receiving credit for your work early on, so a paper trail can be made of your accomplishments. Whether asking for your name to be put on a paper after contributing even a little bit or asking for better compensation, speaking up becomes easier the more you practice. 

    Building a support network can be instrumental in overcoming obstacles and achieving success. You can maximize your potential and accomplish your goals by surrounding yourself with supportive, positive people and creating a database of resources and tools you can access in times of stress.

    Individuals in scientific fields often lack training in business economics.

    What are the biggest challenges facing women in ‘future of food’ technical roles?

    Successful leaders of food technology companies must have a strong technical background to oversee product development, scaling, and safety processes effectively. Creating new food products often involves specialized technical knowledge and hands-on experience in several disciplines, including food science, ingredient chemistry, and microbiology. However, individuals in scientific fields often lack training in business economics. In recent years, there has been a growing need for professionals who understand complex scientific disciplines and food formulation processes while possessing astute business acumen.

    Furthermore, advancements in the novel foods movement and emerging technologies and ingredients produced by them, like fermentation, cellular agriculture, and molecular farming, have introduced new challenges in food production. These techniques require different approaches to creating food products, necessitating a deeper understanding of cell biology, bioprocessing, and plant and food science to stay current and innovative. Atop of the natural complexity of novel food production, technical leaders must keep up to date on new food regulations in multiple markets, and rapidly changing consumer preferences, effectively juggle investor, partnership, and client relationships, and keep expenses down through optimized supply chain management. Some are also tasked to be the face of the company in terms of public relations and marketing. 

    Science is a collaborative industry where success should be measured by contributing to a better understanding of human, animal, or environmental problems. 

    What do you wish could change about women in science?

    Acquiring a research-based graduate degree or technical position in the sciences is principally thought of as an achievement based on intellectual rigor: this is only partially true. Many agree that maintaining discipline and stamina can prove to be more significant challenges than natural intellect. Perseverance is critical when facing obstacles such as failing experiments, difficult advisor relationships, lack of funding, and rejected publications. Even when transitioning to a highly technical job, the need for grit, supportive mentorship, and continual financial or knowledge-based resources remain essential.

    Developing a network of supportive relationships within and outside of science can go a long way in overcoming these challenges. Rather than relying on your natural abilities in math and memorization, having a passion for a subject, perseverance, and a supportive network to find solutions can outweigh many deficits in these areas. Personally, I was fortunate to have access to and find the time to attend weekly math and science tutoring throughout my undergraduate and graduate degrees. 

    I would hope that we eventually shift the perception that success in science is defined solely by reaching high-ranking positions like CTO, patent creator, professor, or publishing in prestigious journals. The truth is that science is a collaborative industry where success should be measured by contributing to a better understanding of human, animal, or environmental problems. Any person, whether a citizen scientist or a student, who contributes to this cause and communicates it effectively is a successful scientist, in my opinion.

    Producing usable research findings is a collaborative effort requiring a team of individuals working together for many months or years. From lab managers and technicians to interns, department secretaries, scientific writers, donors, and more experienced colleagues, every team member plays a crucial role in the success of an experiment and the publication of its findings. Effective mentorship and financial resources are also essential for success in the scientific industry. As someone who now works in the industry, I have continued to benefit from mentoring others and being mentored by those with more experience.

    I’m honest and ask for help a lot..no one can do it all without that “village.”

    How do you balance work, family, and everything else?

    Juggling multiple responsibilities can be challenging for anyone, but I find that as a woman, the expectations placed on us in regard to food preparation, cleaning, work, self-care, and raising a family are increasingly challenging to balance. Managing everything at once is impossible, so I’m honest and ask for help a lot. I’ve learned to approach modern-day life with a willingness to outsource and compromise on expectations. Although I’m lucky and privileged to work from home primarily, this type of work creates collisions of family time, work, and domestic responsibilities. 

    For instance, my daughter is currently sitting next to me, working on a puzzle while I tackle emails and respond to this article. A few minutes ago, a homemade food delivery guy (I am not a fan of cooking, but my neighbor is) dropped off half a week’s worth of meals, and in the background, I’m listening to the hum of the washing machine. I’ll run some errands on the way to dropping off my daughter at her babysitter’s before heading to an on-site meeting. Later in the evening, I’ll join a virtual meeting with international clients while my husband puts our daughter to bed. There are rarely any days off and I combine my “relaxation time” of watching a Netflix episode with washing dishes, for example. It’s a lot to manage; no one can do it all without that “village.” In my attempt to be humble and honest with myself and others, create a support network (and prioritize assisting back those who help me), and stay as organized as possible, I can generally navigate the demands of modern-day life.

    The post Forget Princess, I Want To Be A Scientist: Celebrating Food Tech Researcher Maya Benami This IWD appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Whole Food Mushroom Root Protein Maker Meati Rolls Out Across Sprouts Nationwide

    4 Mins Read

    Mycelium protein company Meati Foods is launching chicken-like cutlets and beef-like steaks made from mushroom root at Sprouts grocery stores across the US.

    Meati Foods, which makes whole-food animal protein products from mycelium, says that its range of mushroom-based beef steaks and chicken cutlets is now available at 380 Sprouts Farmers Market stores across the United States after a successful pilot last summer.

    The company’s retail-ready range, dubbed Eat Meati™ includes alternatives to beef and chicken such as a Classic Cutlet, a Crispy Cutlet, a Classic Steak and a Carne Asada Steak. The products will be sold in the frozen meat aisle of Sprouts stores.

    Source: Meati Foods

    “The high demand for Meati products at our early Sprouts locations in Colorado made it clear that people have been waiting for a differentiated, animal-free protein that tastes great while delivering an outstanding nutritional profile,” said Scott Tassani, Meati’s president and COO.

    Meati uses fermentation technology to produce meat-like products made primarily from mycelium, the root portion of a type of mushroom. The company says it can transform “a teaspoon of spores into hundreds of cows’ equivalent of whole-food protein” in a mere few days using what it describes as “a nearly infinitely scalable platform”.

    “We look forward to continuing to demonstrate how well Meati complements a broad spectrum of preparations, within the weekly rotation for meat-eaters and non-meat-eaters alike,” added Tassani. 

    Source: Meati Foods

    ‘Repeatedly sold-out online’

    The company launched at select retail locations last July, but this marks the first time consumers will be able to purchase the products in-store across the country. Previously Meati’s line was available online (where the company says its products would “repeatedly” sell out and the plan is to do a national omnichannel rollout in late 2023. The company works with food service providers who feature their mushroom-based protein on their menus; this past November, Meati debuted its Carne Asada Steak at the Sweetgreen salad chain.

    “At Sprouts, our focus has always been on bringing the latest and best in fresh, natural and organic food to our customers,” said Kristen Zoldan, Sprouts’ Category Manager of Meat. “Meati products exemplify this mission, and we’re delighted to play a role in introducing the brand to the world.”

    Meati Science Advisory Board

    Last week the company shared it had formed a Meati Science Advisory Board (MSAB), made up of leading nutrition and food science scientists, in order to research the health benefits of mycelium and its nutritional features as a whole-food protein source.

    Joining the board are Dr. Harold Schmitz, chairman of the MSAB, is a General Partner at The March Group and Senior Scholar in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), Dr. Carl L. Keen, Professor Emeritus in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition, who worked on California’s Proposition 65, Dr. Roberta R. Holt, Associate Researcher in the UC Davis Department of Nutrition, Dr. Justin Siegel, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the UC Davis Genome Center and Dr. John Munafo, Flavor Science Director at the University of Tennessee Department of Food Science.

    Dr. Justin Whiteley, CTO and co-founder of Meati Foods said of the new board: “At Meati, we believe consumers and the environment win when we invest in rigorous scientific understanding of our products, and the MSAB was created with that goal in mind.” 

    Source: Meati Foods

    Chef’s Collective and a new production facility in 2023

    In January of this year, the company announced the opening of a large-scale production facility in Colorado that it said could “rival the output of conventional animal farms”.

    In February, Meati shared a new chef-led “Meati Culinary Collective” by food industry stalwarts David Chang, Tom Colicchio, Evan Funke and Charlie McKenna which would give its consumers the chance to taste Meati in products created by the chefs.

    This comes on the heels of a $150 million Series C in July of last year, which included backing from Chipotle’s Cultivate Next Fund. The fast-casual leader said it would work with Meati to accelerate its production, create new products and assist with retail expansion.

    “Meati was founded on a commitment to develop food solutions good for the health of people and the planet, and we are excited to strengthen this commitment by working with the MSAB to unlock the vast potential of our mycelium and mycelia in general,” said Dr. Justin Whiteley, CTO and co-founder of Meati Foods. “At Meati, we believe consumers and the environment win when we invest in rigorous scientific understanding of our products, and the MSAB was created with that goal in mind.” 

    The post Whole Food Mushroom Root Protein Maker Meati Rolls Out Across Sprouts Nationwide appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Expo West 2023 in Numbers: 25% Vegan Booths, 100+ Alt Protein Brands, 60k Visitors

    5 Mins Read

    The ‘Superbowl’ of the CPG industry takes place in California this week and future food products are gaining ground on the show floor with a quarter of the booths featuring vegan products and over 100 alternative protein companies in attendance.

    Natural Products Expo West, or Expo as insiders affectionately refer to it, the New Hope Network by Informa Markets trade show and conference returns this week to the Anaheim Convention Center in California where tens of thousands of people from the natural and organic food and beverage industry will descend upon the Los Angeles-adjacent to launch, taste, sell, promote, market, negotiate and more.

    While Expo West is always packed full of brands looking for retailers and B2B buyers on the lookout for star products, it’s also popular with industry experts, investors, trendspotters and journalists thanks to the show’s reputation as a hotbed for emerging brands (many of which make their national debut at the show), food and beverage trends and new product innovations, with a slew of companies launching additional flavors and formulations during the five-day event.

    “Every year at Expo West we foster the connection between emerging brands who are impacting the landscape and industry pioneers who have paved the way for decades. This event highlights the importance of community engagement and the role everyone plays to create a more sustainable packaged goods industry,” said Lacey Gautier, VP of Events and former Group Show Director at New Hope Network.

    60,000 expected visitors

    For CPG brands in the natural and plant-based space, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better show in terms of sheer numbers. After canceling the 2020 and 2021 events due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the show returned last year with 2,700 exhibitors and over 57,000 registered attendees, compared to 3,600 booths and 86,000 visitors in 2019. This year, the official Expo website lists 3,187 exhibiting booths and as per a BEVNet social media post, 60,000 expected participants are expected to visit, the bulk of which are product buyers.

    Booths don’t come cheap. According to reporting by Forbes last year, booths usually start at around $15,000 (though there are more budget-friendly options for very early-stage companies), and if you factor in travel, booth design, samples and other related costs, companies can end up spending close to $100,000.

    Source: Green Queen Media

    Over 100+ alternative proteins making an appearance

    While Expo West does include animal products and is not exclusively vegan, alternative protein and plant-based brands are highly visible on the show floor.

    According to the non-profit The Good Food Institute, a global think tank for the industry working to make alternative proteins affordable and accessible, there are over 100 alternative protein companies exhibiting at the show this year, approximately 3.2%. In their dedicated event guide, the authors write that the list was “created by compiling all exhibitors tags related to alternative proteins and cross-referencing with GFI’s alternative protein company database to filter for companies creating products that contain direct replacements for animal products (meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy)”. Further, they specify that brands and “companies focused on inherently plant-based foods, such as chickpeas and kale” were not included in the list.

    Of the 100+, the vast majority were companies with products derived from plant-based technology. We noted 6 companies in the list marked in the fermentation category, and of those, only two use precision fermentation, including The Urgent Company (better known as animal-free dairy leaders Perfect Day) and Tomorrow Farms, a company that makes milk using Perfect Day’s cow-free whey protein. There will be no cultivated meat startups at Expo West, unless you count Eat Just, which will be showcasing its plant-based JUST Egg products, as the company owns cultivated chicken maker GOOD Meat.

    25% of the booths have vegan products

    The Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA), a U.S.-based trade association that represents over 350 North American plant-based food companies published a list of their own featuring 76 of their members (2.5% of the show booths).

    Based on Green Queen‘s own analysis, 333 exhibitors describe themselves as plant-based, or 10.5% of the total. Note: Not all plant-based food companies are PBFA members. 785 exhibitors identify as vegan (25%), while only 71 use the term vegetarian (2.2%).

    Further, 29 booths (just under 1%) say they have products grown using regenerative agriculture, a term that has been gaining ground in recent years, compared to 268 marked as certified organic (8.4%). 237 exhibitors feature gluten-free products (7%).

    Future food tastings galore

    A bevy of future of food brands will be hosting tastings at the show including plant-based chicken company TiNDLE who will sample their just-debuted retail range and newly acquired plant-based gelato brand Mwah!; Nestle-owned SweetEarth will spotlight new recipes; Planet Based Foods, who are looking to debut both their plant-based taquito line and their hemp-based ice creams; Upton’s Naturals, who will feature their seitan products; Daiya Foods will give their new chicken frozen pizza and flatbread SKUs a whirl; and OMNI Foods will present new packaging as well as just-launched crystal dumplings and Asian flavoured bao buns.

    Beyond the trade show, Expo West hosts a content-heavy conference of talks and fireside chats. One highlight of the programme? Miyoko Schinner, founder and former CEO of Miyoko’s Creamery, who is facing a lawsuit from the company she started, will be making an appearance in a panel titled ‘Navigating Challenges Women Face in Leadership Roles in Natural Foods’, in what promises to be a packed room.

    A make or break show

    It’s been a challenging few months for consumer-facing brands with rising inflation, high energy costs, continued supply chain disruptions and a decrease in VC funding. Plant-based companies in the US have faced especially bumpy skies. Expo West could be make-or-break. As one Forbes editor writes, Expo West could be make-or-break: “The over-correction — to much-hyped valuations, sky-high deal multiples and overzealous investors — is here, and the tension will be on full display next week at the Super Bowl for the food industry, better known as #ExpoWest. In a matter of months, the market stepped back from over-valuing food startups and started demanding more, like profitability and stronger metrics. These dynamics are making it tough for hundreds of brands that have run out of cash, and now they’re in the awkward position of needing to ask for more—from the same investors who are far more risk-averse and are trying to make up for bad past deals.”

    The post Expo West 2023 in Numbers: 25% Vegan Booths, 100+ Alt Protein Brands, 60k Visitors appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Celebrity-Backed Immi Raises a $10 Million Series A for ‘Improbable’ Vegan Ramen

    Immi ramen

    3 Mins Read

    The world’s first low-carb, high-protein, and 100 percent plant-based instant ramen brand, Immi, has announced a $10 million Series A funding round.

    Immi’s investment was led by Touch Capital, with participation from celebrity investors, including Naomi Osaka, Usher, Apolo Ohno, David Grutman, Kygo’s Palm Tree Crew, and Gryffin.

    ‘Managing the improbable’

    The investment was led by Touch Capital, which praised Immi’s success om managing “the improbable” by transforming instant ramen into a low-carb, high-protein, and plant-based product “that is just as crave-worthy as its classic comfort food predecessor.”

    In a statement, Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan, Immi’s co-founders, said the funding enables the team “to further improve the quality of our products, expand retail distribution, bring down prices, and continue broadening access to nutritious and delicious Asian American food.”

    Immi ramen
    Immi raises $10 million in a Series A | Courtesy

    Lee and Chanthasiriphan came up with the idea for Immi after seeing their families struggle with chronic, diet-related health conditions. Both grew up immersed in the farms and noodle stalls of their Taiwanese and Thai family food businesses.

    Since launching two years ago, Immi has seen success for its three flavors – Black Garlic “Chicken,” Spicy “Beef,” and Tom Yum “Shrimp.” Last year, it moved from online sales into retail channels, including placement in Wegmans and Whole Foods, where it has seen strong growth.

    Celebrity support

    Celebrity investors, including tennis great Naomi Osaka, singer Usher, and Olympian Apolo Ohno also expressed excitement about the investment.

    Osaka said, “I’m excited to announce my investment in Immi, which has revolutionized the ramen industry with a low-carb, high-protein, plant-based, and delicious alternative to one of my favorite childhood foods.”

    Usher said food, like music, “has always been at the center of culture, and I am excited to play a small part in this new wave of global flavors with Immi.”

    Immi co-founders Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan
    Immi co-founders Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan | Courtesy: Immi

    “I value my nutrition and health more than anything else,” said Apolo Ohno, eight-time Olympic medalist, most decorated American Winter Olympian, U.S. Olympic Hall of Famer, “I’m excited to invest in Immi, which has allowed me to bring ramen back into my life again.”

    Immi says the new funding will help it hire key leadership roles, support retail sales, operations, finance, product, and growth. The financing will also support product development research, as the brand plans to launch a series of new permanent and limited-time flavors, as well as co-branded partnership flavors.

    The instant noodle industry has been growing in recent years; according to a report by Grand View Research, the global instant noodle market is expected to reach $45.67 billion by 2025 as demand for convenience food products, along with the rise in disposable income levels of consumers, both continue to rise. The plant-based food market is also expected to continue its ascent, reaching $74.2 billion by 2027, Grand View reports.

    The post Celebrity-Backed Immi Raises a $10 Million Series A for ‘Improbable’ Vegan Ramen appeared first on Green Queen.

  • TiNDLE Parent Next Gen Foods Acquires UK Plant-Based Gelato Startup To Recreate ‘Memorable Falvor of Dairy’

    6 Mins Read

    TiNDLE parent Next Gen Foods has acquired a plant-based gelato startup Mwah! based out of London as part of a wider strategy to expand their brand portfolio.

    Next Gen Foods, the parent company of global plant-based chicken brand TiNDLE, announced today that it has acquired a plant-based gelato company based in London. Mwah!, a two-year-old startup co-founded by experienced hospitality veterans Damian Piedrahita and Claudia Comini, makes vegan and lactose-free Italian-style ice cream from plant-based ingredients. Their first product, Madagascan Vanilla Gelato, is made from cashews, coconut oil, vegetable fibers, natural flavors, sugar, salt, and organic Madagascan vanilla.

    According to a press release, “through a carefully designed process that combines natural flavorings –along with selected plant-based proteins and lipids – the team can recreate the qualities of pure cream”. Mwah! plans to apply this process to a wider range of plant-based dairy products that will “provide the memorable flavor of dairy.”

    Piedrahita and Comini meet while working as consultants for F&B brands. In 2019, they joined forces to create a plant-based ice cream brand that could mirror the creaminess of animal dairy. They closed a $2 million seed round in 2022 led by Next Gen Foods to fund the R&D of their first product, a gelato. Both Piedrahita and Comini will join Next Gen full-time as part of the acquisition.

    “We’re thrilled to be joining the Next Gen Foods family. We know they are the right company to help us expand and tap into the rising consumer desire for more innovations in taste and decadence from the dairy category,” says Damian Piedrahita, CEO and Co-Founder at Mwah! “Our plans are to introduce our signature creamy and indulgent products this year – with our unique, best-in-class gelato experience – and looking forward to hearing feedback from dairy lovers everywhere.”

    Next Gen will debut the gelato at Natural Products Expo West, North America’s largest trade show for natural and organic brands this week, where they will serve attendees a plant-based rendition of chicken, waffles and ice cream featuring TiNDLE. Next Gen says Mwah! will leverage TiNDLE’s existing F&B relationships to introduce its products in UK restaurants over the next few months.

    Mwah! will leverage existing distribution through Next Gen Foods to support the introduction of its products to key markets, including the United Kingdom.

    Courtesy Next Gen Foods

    Singapore-headquartered Next Gen, which was named to Fast Company‘s World’s Most Innovative Companies 2023 list last week, has raised over $130 million to date, including a record-breaking Series A for plant-based meat. After debuting in restaurants across North America, Asia and Europe, TiNDLE launched its first line of retail products in over 6,000+ German supermarkets earlier this year and will launch in the US later in 2023 after a limited meal-kit debut created by celebrity chef Chad Rosenthal on the direct-to-consumer marketplace, Goldbelly, this past January. Starting this month, folks in New York City and Miami can find a selection of TiNDLE’s retail products at the lifestyle concept store SHOWFIELDS.

    Green Queen spoke to Next Gen CEO Andre Menezes about the acquisition, why they chose ice cream as their second brand category, and what’s coming up for the company.

    Green Queen: Will Mwah! be under the Next Gen Foods umbrella, and separate from TiNDLE?

    Andre Menezes: We’re welcoming Mwah! to the Next Gen Foods family of brands. TiNDLE will remain focused on plant-based chicken and growth in that category, while Mwah! will develop new and delicious dairy-inspired products. 

    Green Queen: Can you share more details about the acquisition deal? Was it cash or equity or both?

    Andre Menezes: We can’t disclose specifics about the deal terms, but can share that we’ve been involved with the business for a couple of years now. Jean (Madden, Next Gen’s CMO) and I previously sat on the Mwah! board of directors, prior to the acquisition, as Next Gen also was an investor in their two first rounds, which totaled over $2 million. Today, we’re excited to formally welcome Mwah! to the Next Gen team. 

    Green Queen: How did you first meet the Mwah team?

    Andre Menezes: I had the opportunity to meet both Claudia and Damian a couple of years ago in Singapore, while I was working at Singapore’s largest food distributor and selling other plant-based products in 2019. Both of them had established careers in the F&B industry – Damian as a chef and Claudia as a barista and mixologist. Damian also had his own culinary consultancy that helped develop plant-based gastronomy programs for hotels and restaurants, many of which were global luxury brands that had outlets in Singapore. Both of them have also been plant-based for many, many years and were working on some delicious early prototypes of Mwah! products. 

    We connected in those days (before Next Gen Foods, Mwah!, or TiNDLE even existed) and shared similar outlooks and approaches in developing great consumer food brands – that also just so happened to be plant-based. Like we’ve done with TiNDLE, Mwah! was looking at taste and texture as key drivers of a great consumer experience, and so we kept in touch and supported as mentors and helped incubate Mwah! into what it is today. 

    Courtesy Next Gen Foods

    Green Queen: Will the team be staying on?

    Andre Menezes: Damian and Claudia will remain as co-founders and lead the development of Mwah!. With the acquisition though, we see a lot of synergies and areas of opportunity for the TiNDLE and Mwah! brands to collaborate and share resources.

    Green Queen: Ice cream seems quite different from meat as a category. Why not go for plant-based fish or cheese to complement your existing products? 

    Andre Menezes: When Timo (Recker, co-founder and Chairman) and I started Next Gen in 2020, we didn’t intend to only develop one core product and stick with it. We wanted to offer a diverse range of global food brands and products that were not only great-tasting and high-quality, but also could make an impact on the planet. We started with chicken first, of course, but we’re always looking to enter other categories (including other meats, seafood, and dairy) after successfully launching TiNDLE. We always start with consumers and the emotional connection they have to food, and both delicious chicken dishes and ice cream share indulgence when it comes to that emotional experience.

    We also see immense growth in the plant-based dairy market, which is expected to reach over USD 31.5 Billion by 2028. Right now, many plant-based dairy products are focused on the source (i.e. oat milk from oats, soy milk from soy, etc.) and not necessarily on experience and flavor. What we found impressive about Mwah! is that they aren’t limiting themselves to a dairy alternative source (e.g. cashews, dates, oats, etc.), but instead are focused on the right source for the right consistency and creaminess of the product being developed.

    Gelato is a tough consistency and experience to perfect (if not one of the toughest for dairy products), but we found that in tasting Mwah! that they were able to emulate that unique flavor and creaminess of dairy. So far, we’ve seen that they’re one of the first to do this for the plant-based dairy category that rivals some of the world’s greatest ice cream and cheese makers.

    The post TiNDLE Parent Next Gen Foods Acquires UK Plant-Based Gelato Startup To Recreate ‘Memorable Falvor of Dairy’ appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Daisy Lab Closes a $1.5 Million Seed Round to Redirect Dairy-Dependent New Zealand

    3 Mins Read

    The New Zealand-based women-led precision fermentation start-up, Daisy Lab, has successfully closed an oversubscribed Seed funding round.

    The NZD $1.5 million (USD $930,000) Seed investment was led by The Values Trust, Icehouse Ventures, and Outset Ventures. Daisy Lab says it will use the funding to scale up production of its microbial whey protein and continue its research into caseins.

    Dairy-identical protein

    Daisy Lab aims to use its technology to produce high-quality, dairy-identical proteins without the need for cows in order to deliver dairy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water use. Animal agriculture is currently New Zealand’s largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Daisy says the technology has the potential to revolutionize the food industry and address some of the planet’s most significant challenges, such as climate change and food insecurity.

    “We are thrilled to have closed our seed funding round and are grateful for the support of The Values Trust, Icehouse Ventures, Outset Ventures, Even Capital, and our other investors, among whom are a number of experienced angel investors like Paul Davidson, Serge van Dam and Adam Clark,” Daisy Lab co-founder and CEO, Irina Miller, said in a statement. “This funding will allow us to accelerate the development of our precision fermentation technology and bring our innovative products to market quicker.”

    New Zealand has a long history of dairy innovation, said Emily McIsaac, Daisy Lab co-founder and Operations Manager. “We are looking forward to strengthening our collaboration with the food industry and contributing to the transformation of our global food system”.

    “We have an ambitious vision for the future of food production, and this funding will help us get there faster,” said Dr. Nikki Freed, co-founder and Chief Science Officer. “We are excited to continue developing our technology and bringing our innovative products to market.”

    Daisy Lab team

    According to Sarah Park, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Even Capital, Daisy Lab’s all-female founder team has the “enviable combination” of domain-expertise, scientific pedigree, and grit. “The company’s infographic, depicting 80 dairy cows being replaced by one precision fermentation tank to produce dairy-identical proteins, was a hugely impactful and enlightening moment. As investors, they are looking for solutions that can meet global demands as well as having a positive environmental impact.”

    The Daisy Lab team
    The Daisy Lab team | Courtesy

    Precision fermentation is a rapidly growing field that allows companies to produce high-quality proteins and other biomolecules without the need for animal agriculture. Daisy Lab joins category leaders including Perfect Day and Remilk in developing novel ways to produce dairy-identical proteins using precision fermentation.

    The raise comes as the company announced the appointment of Leon Clement as the Board Chair. Clement has more than 20 years of experience in the traditional dairy industry, having held senior leadership positions in consumer products and dairy manufacturing across multiple geographies. He will work closely with Daisy Lab’s leadership team to provide strategic guidance and support as the company continues to grow and innovate.

    The post Daisy Lab Closes a $1.5 Million Seed Round to Redirect Dairy-Dependent New Zealand appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Expectations vs. Reality: It’s Time To Change The Investor Conversation Around Sustainable Food

    12 Mins Read

    No single approach will offer a silver bullet solution to all problems within the food system — no matter how large the opportunity or dire the need.

    When expectations exceed reality, outcomes that may normally be considered successes are seen as failures. I’ve been witnessing the disconnect between expectations and reality in sustainable food for a while now.

    On one side, there’s the pitch that individual startups will save the planet and take over the multi-trillion dollar industrial animal agriculture industry along the way. This side pitches the idea of food companies growing in ways only seen in the tech space, since the need is so dire and the opportunity for disruption is so massive. This has inevitably led to food startups being valued like tech startups, with expectations that the size and rate of growth will be immense.

    On the other side, there’s the reality that regardless of the amount of R&D, IP, or clever marketing tactics, all of these companies are simply producing food for people to eat. They take different amounts of time and money to scale, and they should be valued like….food companies. Maybe a premium can be applied to some with exceptional solutions to certain problems, but they are still food companies.

    Recently Beyond Meat has been painted to have lost $13 billion dollars of value; however, I would argue that it never should have been valued that highly in the first place. Historically, CPG food companies are valued between 2–5x revenues. There are outliers to that, but generally, 2–5x is the norm. Knowing this, it’s clear that at a $14 billion market cap, which was over 35x revenues, Beyond Meat was highly overvalued.

    Public market investors had expectations that were not based on reality. The reality is that Beyond Meat is a CPG food company generating ~$450M a year in revenue and selling food for consumers to eat. With 2–5x revenue being the norm, it is reasonable to expect Beyond Meat to trade at a market cap between $900M and $2.3B. If some want to price in rapid growth, then going a bit above $2.3B could make sense, but it’s hard to argue a 35x+ revenue multiple being grounded in reality.

    Now imagine the perception of Beyond if the story went like this: Beyond Meat IPOs at $800M and steadily grows its market cap to $1 billion. Retail investors who bought in early are now up 25%+, and the decisions by the company to focus on profitability are welcomed in the difficult broader macro-economic environment that’s affecting all industries worldwide. Investors now feel quite positive about Beyond Meat as it goes from being a startup to a larger, more established CPG company.

    The Reality

    Today, Beyond Meat sits at ~$1 billion in market cap, representing an ~2.2x revenue multiple — right in the range of historical norms for CPG companies.

    Despite this valuation being more appropriate, the story of Beyond Meat is one of failure and loss for those with greater expectations. To them, it doesn’t matter that this small food startup became a billion-dollar organization. Instead, it is a major letdown.

    Now, when looking at other areas within the sustainable food ecosystem, the goal should be to set realistic expectations, so companies progressing our food system are not portrayed as meaningless failures.

    So how do current expectations in cultivated meat mesh with reality? Let’s talk about it.

    Big Things are Happening in Cultivated Meat

    After many years of splashy headlines and big promises, the cultivated meat space has recently seen some major progress. In 2022 alone, there seemed to be a new major event happening worldwide on a continual basis.

    Some developments to note are:

    1. January: San Diego-based cultivated seafood company BlueNalu collaborated with sushi restaurant operator Food & Life Companies to develop bluefin tuna for Food & Life Companies’ 1,000+ restaurants across Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, and mainland China.
    2. February: One of Asia’s largest food and biotech companies, CJ CheilJedang, is entering the cultivated meat industry in partnership with KCell Biosciences, a startup focused on cell culture media. The companies will construct a cell culture media facility in Busan, South Korea.
    3. March: Israel-based SuperMeat announced a strategic partnership with large Japanese food manufacturing company Ajinomoto to pool R&D capabilities for the development of cultivated meat products.
    4. April: Mogale Meat and Mzanzi Meat develop Africa’s first cultivated chicken breast and beef burger, respectively.
    5. May: Israel-based cultivated meat company MeaTech 3D announced that its subsidiary Peace of Meat signed a strategic agreement with mycoprotein company ENOUGH to develop hybrid cultivated and fermentation-based products.
    6. June: China-based cultivated meat startup Joes Future Foods debuted China’s first cultivated pork belly at the New Technology Conference.
    7. July: Shiok Meats signs a partnership with Minh Phu Seafood, Vietnam’s largest conventional shrimp company, to develop a combined R&D facility focused on cultivated meat.
    8. August: Singapore-based Gaia Foods (a subsidiary of cultivated seafood company Shiok Meats) and Switzerland-based Mirai Foods have entered a strategic partnership to develop cultivated beef. The companies will collaborate on ingredients manufacturing and distribution, with plans to launch cultivated beef in Singapore and Switzerland.
    9. October: Vow Foods opened the largest cultivated meat facility in the southern hemisphere.
    10. November: APAC Cellular Agriculture signs MOU solidifying “cultivated” nomenclature.
    11. November: Tasting of GOOD Meat at COP27.
    12. December: GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken becomes the first cultivated meat to be sold in a butchery.

    *Thanks to our friends at The Good Food Institute for this list!*

    With all of this buzz, it feels as if this potentially game-changing solution may be in the mouths of US consumers soon. This felt even more feasible after the US FDA gave the green light to UPSIDE Foods’ cultivated chicken, showing signs of major regulatory progress required for the sale of cultivated meat.

    One additional announcement that caught major attention, including my own, was the move by Believer Meats to build the world’s largest cultivated meat plant in Wilson, North Carolina. This 200k square foot facility is expected to cost ~$124M to build (a fraction of the company’s most recent $347M Series B) and produce 10,000 metric tons of cultivated meat.

    This Feels like a Big Deal

    On an absolute basis, this is a big deal. Ten thousand metric tons of meat is a lot.

    To put this into perspective, consider the following:

    • 10k metric tons is equal to 11,023 US tons (because in the US, it’s always fun to make things make slightly less sense), or roughly 22M pounds (that’s a lot of chicken).
    • How many chickens exactly? Since the average broiler chicken is 6.46 lbs and accounts for 20% loss during processing, the average amount of meat per chicken is roughly 5.17 lbs. Therefore, Believer Meats would be saving the lives of 4.27M chickens annually with this one facility. To put that into perspective, if all of those chickens were their own city in the US, they’d make up the second-largest city in the country, only behind New York City.
    • As for feeding people, chicken consumption per capita in the US was at 100.6 lbs, meaning this facility could satisfy chicken demand for 219,147 people. That’s the same as feeding the entire city of Tacoma, Washington.

    Saving over 4M lives and feeding over 200k people would be quite the achievement.

    But What About the Financials?

    Believer Meats is far from a charity, and there have been many question marks around the economics of cultivated meat companies, especially given the large amounts of investment dollars they’ve raised.

    To understand what potential revenue from this plant could look like, we can apply a basic approach:

    • Start with current chicken prices, which sit at $2.72 per pound for chicken breast
    • Apply a premium to account for Believer Meats being one of the first companies in history to offer cultivated chicken to consumers. Picking this premium isn’t easy, but I’m making the assumption that much of the first chicken products created from this facility will be sold in high-end restaurants (or to consumers who can afford a major premium). If we apply a 5x premium, then we can assume Believer Meats is selling products for $13.60/pound. Maybe it will be higher, maybe it will be lower. I have no clue.
    • At $13.60/pound, and 22M pounds, that represents annual revenues of ~$300M

    That topline number of $300M from one facility can vary widely depending on the assumptions and the approach used by Believer. Pricing assumptions can be changed, and even slight changes in the expected inclusion rate of cultivated cells versus plant-based ingredients can drastically change the amount of product available for sale (i.e., 100% cultivated vs 50/50 cultivated/plant-based).

    $300M may be both a high or low estimate, but either way, the path to real dollar creation is much more tangible. Considering Believer Meats mentioned an ability to create chicken breast for $1.70, as well as ~$6M of annual salaries for plant employees, it also seems positive unit economics are not out of the question (though I am a bit skeptical on the $1.70 number).

    Additionally, while the company may have had to foot the bill for this first major facility, this will allow them to prove out the operations and economics of a cultivated meat facility, thus allowing them to tap into traditional capital market mechanisms for CAPEX financing needs for future builds (i.e., project finance/debt).

    So it looks like the end of industrial animal agriculture is here, and that the economics are on the side of cultivated meat, right?!

    Time to Reel In Those Expectations

    As amazing as these achievements are for an individual company, it’s just the very beginning for the space in terms of true impact on the food system.

    In terms of overall consumption, the Believer Meats production of 10k metric tons of chicken represents just 0.02% of the ~49M metric tons of meat produced in the US annually, and 0.008% of the ~133M metric tons of poultry produced globally.

    And that’s just the US meat and global poultry market for comparison. When we look at the overall meat space, that number jumps up to almost 350M metric tons plus another ~200M metric tons of seafood.

    Now if we assumed any cultivated meat facility could produce 10k metric tons of meat or seafood annually, then to fill the demand for the ~500M metric tons currently produced would require 50,000 facilities. At $100M per facility (~20% lower than the Believer Meats facility cost), that implies ~$5 trillion (with a “T”) of CAPEX costs for the facilities alone.

    Let’s also not forget that meat consumption is not static and is expected to rise dramatically over the next few decades to 555M metric tons (from the ~350M today). This 205M metric ton increase, alone, would require ~$2 trillion of CAPEX costs for the facilities (this doesn’t account for increased seafood consumption).

    To date, total investments in alt proteins over a 12-year time frame are sitting around $15B. At this rate of investment, it will take about 3,000 years to fund the CAPEX needed to create enough cultivated meat facilities that would replace industrial animal ag in its entirety.

    Yes, in reality, cultivated meat companies will be able to tap into traditional capital markets (i.e., project finance) once operations are more proven, so larger dollars will flow into the space faster.

    And yes, these are all projections with major assumptions, and “garbage in, garbage out.” So just for the sake of it, let’s say I’m off wildly on the $7+ trillion CAPEX need and cut it by 85%. That’s still $1 trillion of CAPEX needed.

    No matter how you look at it, the reality is that cultivated meat is not on the cusp of completely upending the traditional animal ag market.

    Industry Insiders Know This

    Every person I know in the cultivated meat industry is well aware this is only the beginning. There is not some false understanding from the sustainable food community thinking otherwise.

    So What’s the Issue?

    If industry insiders (i) know about the massive hurdles to be overcome in cultivated meat, AND (ii) that knowledge is widely shared with the public, expectations should be based on reality. This would also mean that no one will be disappointed with the progress of the cultivated meat space. Right?

    Wrong.

    The real problem that exists, resulting in widespread unrealistic expectations, is the portrayal of each sustainable food innovation as if it were the single, silver bullet solution to all issues facing the food system.

    This means each time any new potential solution is presented, it is examined in a silo. This silo shows what it will take for that single solution to solve all of the problems that exist, which unsurprisingly results in the new solution facing impossibly large hurdles.

    This first occurred with plant-based meat alternatives being portrayed as a silver bullet solution. When realism set in, it left the market viewing startups that turned into $1B+ organizations as failures.

    This framing can be applied to any form of sustainable food solutions with the same outcome. Whether it’s plant-based meat, precision fermentation, biomass fermentation, molecular farming, vertical farming, etc. — there is an endless list of sustainable food innovations that will all be presented with impossibly high hurdles to overcome if they are expected to be the one, silver bullet solution to the food system’s problems.

    The reality is that whether it’s plant-based meat or cultivated meat or precisions fermentation dairy, each of them is one of the many solutions needed to shift to a sustainable food system and it will serve its intended purpose — to reduce the reliance on industrial animal agriculture as the sole source of real, animal-based meat and seafood for those (i) not willing to give it up and (ii) open to eating products produced in this manner.

    The New Expectation

    Going forward, expectations for any sustainable food solution should be based on the reality that it will be one of many solutions filling a need in the food system. No single solution will take over the entire market, address every need, or attract every consumer. Instead, all solutions will collectively work together to take a bite out of the currently unsustainable multi-trillion-dollar global food system with the hope that they all help us reach a symbiotic relationship with the planet.

    Additionally, continual innovation will occur within each industry, allowing them to become better, more efficient, and more desirable to consumers. There will also be new innovations that emerge, unlocking entirely novel opportunities that could improve our food system further. Maybe these new innovations will address major hurdles in existing segments (i.e., growth media costs, bioreactor scalability, downstream processing costs, etc.) or create new categories entirely.

    As investors in the sustainable food space, we have seen first-hand how new innovations emerge over time, opening up entirely new opportunities. The types of companies and technologies in which we invest today are noticeably different than what we invested in back when the industry was first emerging. And, we fully expect to see opportunities five years from now being different from what we see today.

    The one timeless consistency is that each new innovation has the potential to help catalyze a shift to a more sustainable food system.

    Where Do We Go From Here?

    For cultivated meat, for example, the new expectation should be that it will likely be a smaller fraction of the overall animal agriculture market. How small? — That’s not clear. Maybe it becomes 1% by 2050 (5M+ metric tons) and there are only a handful of successful companies in the space owning a share of the $50B+ cultivated meat industry. Or, maybe It’s 10% (50M+ metric tons) and there are many successful companies owning a share of a $500B+ industry.

    A lot of that depends on continued innovation, cost reductions, and scale, but either way, the cultivated meat industry has a chance to be one of the many food system solutions our planet needs, while also creating a multi-billion dollar industry that does not currently exist.

    The same can be said about the myriad of potential solutions — they may all have a chance to be one of the many food system innovations we need with the potential to create meaningful impact and value. And none offer a silver bullet solution.

    Without question, hyperbolic statements will continue to be made making us think otherwise:

    • Startups will continue to make grand claims to attract investors
    • Investors will continue to hype up their portfolio companies
    • Activists and non-profits will continue to emphasize the urgency
    • And, reporters will continue to create clickbait headlines that are overly optimistic or pessimistic, because expectations based on reality are boring

    Despite this, reality will sit somewhere within all of this noise, so we must constantly remind ourselves that (i) many solutions are needed and (ii) the opportunity is so large that all solutions have the chance to create meaningful impact and value.

    A failure to shift our expectations will result in widespread disappointment and possibly lead to an underinvestment in innovations with legitimate potential for positive change.

    Set expectations, accordingly.

    A version of this article was previously published on Medium. 

    The post Expectations vs. Reality: It’s Time To Change The Investor Conversation Around Sustainable Food appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Plant-Based Egg Leader Debuts New Frozen Breakfast Meal Range Amidst Focus On Profitability

    3 Mins Read

    Eat Just Inc has launched new ready-to-eat frozen meals made with its popular plant-based folded egg, partnering with cult condiment brand Fly By Jing on the first flavor.

    Eat Just’s plant-based egg division, JUST Egg™, has debuted a new line of frozen breakfast ready meals dubbed JUST Egg Meals featuring vegetables mixed with bites of its JUST Egg folded products in what the company describes as “only fully plant-based breakfast options available at major retailers”. The range will roll out at Whole Foods Market stores across the country this month, followed by a wide selection of other retailers over the next months.

    “Developing innovative and delicious new ways to eat JUST Egg is at the core of what our team does every day, and I’m immensely proud of this new product because it gives people a simple and quick way to enjoy a wholesome and flavorful plant-based meal to start the day,” said Chef Nate Park, JUST Egg’s director of product development.

    The range’s first flavor, Chili Crisp, features plant-based egg bites, sugar snap peas, roasted red pepper, and carrots mixed with the cult condiment Fly By Jing, a spicy Sichuan sauce made from chillies, fermented black beans and crispy shallots.

    “We were thrilled to partner with Fly By Jing to add a bold, savory spice to the dish, which ties it all together,” added Park.

    Convenient, high in protein and plant-based

    JUST Egg Meals are sold in the freezer section and are priced at $7.99-$8.99. The company says the meals are convenient and simple to require- according to a statement: “simply toss it in a skillet straight from the freezer”.

    Each meal offers 9 grams of protein which primarily comes from mung beans, just like the company’s other plant-based egg products, and marketing materials point out this is higher than the average chicken egg per serve (around 6 grams of protein for a large-sized egg).

    According to the company, the brand has achieved its highest-ever household penetration since launching four years ago and its JUST Egg Folded product, which came onto the market in 2020 grew 24% in dollar sales in 2022 and has one of the highest repeat purchase rates among consumers in the frozen breakfast meal set.

    Courtesy Eat Just Inc.

    ‘Plants don’t get the flu’

    The US has been undergoing egg shortages after a series of deadly avian flu outbreaks. Faced with empty supermarket shelves or eggs on sale at record prices, consumers have been cutting back on chicken egg purchases and exploring alternatives such as Eat Just’s liquid and folded products made from mung beans, which are sold nationwide.

    The company went on a marketing spree, taking out an ad in the New York Times with the cheeky slogan “plant don’t get the flu” and taking over digital ad space at 800+ EV charging stations outside major supermarkets.

    “We’ve reminded consumers and customers… that we’re available,” Matt Riley, Eat Just’s chief revenue officer told CNN. “Solving for crises like this is one of the primary motivations for us to exist.”

    A focus on profitability

    Last week, founder and CEO Josh Tetrick announced the company was shaving off close to 18% of its employees (about 40 staff members, most of them US-based). Tetrick said that despite record sales volume for their liquid and folded plant-based egg products, in part driven by the chicken egg shortages, Eat Just’s egg division is still not profitable and his 2023 focus was getting there. He said that other measures towards that goal included reducing ingredients costs and increasing production efficiency. “We should be at the place where it’s able to operate profitability without the need for any external capital,” Tetrick said.

    The post Plant-Based Egg Leader Debuts New Frozen Breakfast Meal Range Amidst Focus On Profitability appeared first on Green Queen.

  • $114 Billion Meat Giant Cargill Partners With Cubiq Foods to Scale Plant-Based Fat

    burger

    3 Mins Read

    Cargill, the world’s third largest meat producer, has recently announced its extending its partnership with food tech startup Cubiq Foods to co-develop and commercialize plant-based fat technologies.

    The agreement aims to accelerate the commercialization of Cubiq’s novel fats, including its Go!Drop emulsion — a fat designed to bring a more realistic taste and texture to plant-based meat and dairy products.

    Plant-based fat

    Cargill invested in Cubiq last spring when it joined a $5.75 million funding round led by Moira Capital Partners, SGEIC and Newtree Impact. Cargill, which saw revenue of more than $114 billion last year, participated in the round and announced its plans to extend its partnership with the Barcelona-based fat producer.

    Go!Drop is made from an emulsion of vegetable oils and water and Cubiq says it can be widely used across food product development. The partnership also gives Cargill access to Cubiq’s existing plant-based portfolio of ingredients that include plant proteins and texturizers, along with traditional fats and oils.

    Cubiq Founders Jordi Bladé, Dr. Raquel Revilla, and Andrés Montefeltro
    Cubiq Founders Jordi Bladé, Dr. Raquel Revilla, and Andrés Montefeltro | Courtesy

    “By embracing new technologies, harnessing our full ingredient toolbox, and leveraging our global application knowledge, we’re poised to accelerate the development of the next-generation plant-based products,” Vivek Cherian, Meat and Dairy Alternatives Category Leader for Edible Oils at Cargill, said in a statement. 

    “Signing the joint development and commercial agreements represents the next phase in our partnership, as our groundbreaking technology is now ready for application development, production scale-up and widespread commercialization – roles that Cargill is uniquely equipped to help us advance,” said Andrés Montefeltro, Cheif Executive Officer at Cubiq Foods. “Together, we’ll help food manufacturers and consumers reimagine what’s possible in the quest for healthy and satisfying foods.”

    Closing the ‘flavor gap’

    The partnership represents a joint effort to close the “flavor gap” in plant-based foods by replicating the visual appearance, mouthfeel, and bite of conventional animal fat.

    Cargill CEO David MacLennan. Photo by Cargill.

    Cargill says most current plant-based options do not meet consumers’ expectations for taste and quality. It says Cubiq’s line of “smarter” fats can help to enhance the flavor profile of plant-based products, while also offering many advantages over traditional animal fats and tropical oils used in food production.

    The partnership builds on the increasing commercialization of plant-based food technologies. According to a report by Meticulous Research, the global plant-based food market is expected to reach $74.2 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 11.9 percent from 2020 to 2027.

    This growth is driven by several factors, including increasing consumer demand for plant-based products, concerns over the environmental impact of meat production, and advancements in food technology.

    The post $114 Billion Meat Giant Cargill Partners With Cubiq Foods to Scale Plant-Based Fat appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Mosa Meat’s New Cell Feed Supply Chain Will Bring Cultivated Meat Prices Closer to Conventional

    3 Mins Read

    Dutch cultivated meat pioneer Mosa Meat has announced a partnership with its investor Nutreco to develop a cell feed supply chain.

    The Letter of Intent signed with Nutreco will support the development of a cell feed supply chain that can expedite production and scalability, Mosa Meat announced. Nutreco is an expert in developing sustainable feed solutions for animal agriculture.

    Food-grade cell feed

    The company’s scientists say they have successfully substituted more than 99 percent of the base cell feed by weight with food-grade ingredients marking an industry milestone for cultivated meat development. According to Mosa, it’s proof that producing high-quality cultivated meat with food-grade ingredients can be done at a lower price point.

    A burger made from Cultured Beef, which has been developed by Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday August 5, 2013. Cultured Beef could help solve the coming food crisis and combat climate change. Commercial production of Cultured Beef could begin within ten to 20 years. Photo credit should read: David Parry/PA

    “Our partnership with Nutreco represents our commitment to further develop the cellular agriculture supply chain and bring down costs,” Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat, said in a statement. “Our scientific results are an industry first, proving that food-grade ingredients perform equivalent to pharma-grade in cell feed. This will represent a significant cost savings as we scale up production.”

    “At Nutreco, we innovate to produce feed ingredients more sustainably and create feed formulations optimised to deliver the highest yields for protein producers. Through our collaboration with Mosa Meat, we mastered a crucial step in creating affordable, food-safe and scalable nutritional solutions for the cultivated meat industry,” said Susanne Wiegel, head of the Alternative Protein Programme at Nutreco. 

    The announcement builds on a REACT-EU grant Mosa Meat and Nutreco received in 2021 for their collaborative Feed the Meat project aimed at reducing cultivated meat costs while also filling out the supply chain for scalability.

    Reducing media costs

    One of the main challenges of cultivated meat is the high cost of producing the cell feed — the nutrient-rich broth that cells are grown in. Mosa Meat says recent experiments saw fully maturing beef cells that were fed solely with food-grade substitutes — delivering similar cell density to cells fed with more costly pharma-grade material.

    Photo by Louis Reed at Unsplash.

    Mosa Meat is a pioneer in the cultivated meat category; in 2013, it unveiled the world’s first hamburger made from lab-grown meat, which cost €250,000 to produce. Since then, the company has been working on reducing the cost of producing cultivated meat to make it more affordable and accessible. In 2022, it published its technique for replacing the controversial growth medium, fetal bovine serum, in the journal Nature Food. It achieved that milestone without genetically altering cells.

    The post Mosa Meat’s New Cell Feed Supply Chain Will Bring Cultivated Meat Prices Closer to Conventional appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Heura Saw a 260% Increase In International Vegan Meat Sales in 2022

    heura burgers
    3 Mins Read

    Spanish-based plant-based food tech startup, Heura, says it increased its international sales by more than 260 percent in 2022, defying category dynamics.

    Despite the global economy and the stagnant U.S. plant-based market, Heura says it increased its turnover by 80 percent in 2022 with a focus on technology and sustainability as it helps to lead the European plant-based movement.

    Dominating Spain’s plant-based meat category

    Heura says its efficient and scalable model has led it to dominate Spain’s plant-based category growth, owning 80 percent of the increase.

    It’s also seeing rapid expansion across Europe; in 2020, only six percent of its sales occurred outside Spain; by 2021 it hit 12 percent, and 23 percent in 2022.

    Heura sausages | Courtesy

    The U.K. saw a sixfold increase in availability last year with one of the region’s leading supermarket chains, Waitrose stocking the products. France’s increased interest in plant-based options at major retailers Super U and Casino Géant contributed to 30 percent of the overall plant-based category growth in France. Heura says it also increased sales in Italy by 240 percent and expanded in the DACH region, with major retailers Billa (Austria) and Migros (Switzerland) stocking its products.

    Heura says it has become the brand with the highest level of repeat buys in the plant-based category at more than 50 percent. The company dominates the top-ten plant-based SKUs in Spain at 60 percent. It says new product innovations contributed to 37 percent of sales last year. H

    Food service partnerships including Domino’s Pizza in Spain, Dishoom in the U.K., and Poke House in Italy have helped to open up new revenue streams and product development. Heura also partnered with companies including Irco Restauración Colectiva, Iberoject, and Tutti Food Group to increase plant-based options in schools and airlines.

    Advancing plant-based food tech

    Heura also launched Good Rebel Tech (G.R.T.) — a new approach to food technology that provides a competitive advantage and solves some of the biggest category challenges including nutrition density and taste. Heura says G.R.T. delivers on taste and texture — something it says is evident in its more than 50 percent repeat rate and that its customer base is 90 percent flexitarians.

    Heura founders Bernat Ananos Marc Coloma
    Heura founders Bernat Ananos (l), Marc Coloma (r) | Courtesy

    “The last year was a pivotal one for Heura,” Heura co-founder and CEO Marc Coloma said in a statement. “Each step forward for Heura in 2023 is designed to lead a net-positive food system by 2028. We are working to democratize delicious nutrient-dense foods that have a positive climate impact for people across Europe. Our experienced R&D team and world-leading academic and expert partners are creating proprietary technologies that will change the face of the plant-based food industry and unlock the true potential of the movement.”

    The banner year for Heura also comes as it joined the UN Global Compact effort, working to develop more sustainable technologies for a net-positive food system. Heura will conduct comparative LCAs for all of its products later this year.

    The post Heura Saw a 260% Increase In International Vegan Meat Sales in 2022 appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Higher Well-Being Consumers Are More Willing To Consume Cultivated Meat, Shows New Research

    Meatiply's cultivated duck meat
    3 Mins Read

    A new study suggests that there is a positive correlation between consumers’ psychological well-being and their willingness to consume cultivated meat.

    Researchers at Singapore Management University’s School of Social Sciences surveyed 948 Singaporean adults in June and July 2022 using an online questionnaire with the goal of examining the relationship between psychological well-being and their willingness to eat animal meat derived from cellular agriculture. The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Direct.

    This marks the first time that research has shown there is a positive relationship between a person’s psychological well-being and their willingness to consume cultivated meat. The results reveal that the increased willingness of the participants to eat cultivated meat can be further explained by a better understanding of the benefits of cultivated meat including its safety and its societal benefits.

    Higher well-being and willingness to eat cultivated meat are linked

    Professor Dr. Angela KY Leung, Ph.D., who co-led the study, told Green Queen that the general hypothesis they had when conducting the study was a positive correlation between psychological well-being and acceptance of cultivated meat. 

    Leung said well-being was defined as a positive mental state. “This has to do with people’s cognitive and affective evaluations of their life. The cognitive component concerns people’s appraisal or perception of life satisfaction, and the affective component concerns their emotional experiences (i.e., the experience of higher levels of positive emotions or lower levels of negative emotions).”

    Sample questions included: “In the past month, how often did you feel…(never to everyday)?” with participants able to choose between the following answers: Happy; Interested in life; Satisfied with life; That you liked most parts of your personality; That your life has a sense of direction or meaning to it.

    The researchers told Green Queen that while they were not very surprised by the findings, it was encouraging to see the research providing empirical evidence to support a positive relationship between people’s psychological well-being and their receptivity to the novel food of cultivated meat for the first time.

    Leung said: “It is also very insightful to find out why higher well-being people tend to have a more accepting attitude towards cultivated meat – their higher willingness is driven by the perception that cultivated meat is as healthy and nutritious, as safe as, and has the same sensory quality as conventional meat, and is beneficial to the society.”

    Marketing takeaways for cultivated meat companies

    When asked what cultivated meat companies and ecosystem players could take away from this research, Leung said that startups should focus on the well-being profile of their future consumers, target higher well-being individuals, and make use of information related to health and safety issues and societal benefits afforded by cultivated meat in their information campaigns and company materials.

    She added that they should also look at country happiness and well-being indices to focus their marketing efforts on geographies with a higher happiness index. “They can seek to first promote greater awareness of cultivated meat in these societies, and over time higher public acceptance can be picked up by other countries to make advocacy efforts more effective.”

    Leung said that cultivated meat companies should consider leveraging search advertising in their go-to-market strategies, targeting higher well-being consumers in ads and other digital marketing campaigns who are likely to perform online searches using keywords such as ‘healthy meat’, ‘safe meat’ and ‘environmentally friendly meat’.

    Asian consumers open to cultivated meat

    There is still very little research on consumer attitudes towards cultivated meat though separate studies conducted in Singapore and Hong Kong suggest Asians have a positive initial view of such products compared to Australians, with one study showing that Indian and Chinese people have a more favorable view of the technology than participants in the US. According to findings published last year, “food neophobia and uncertainties about safety and health seem to be important barriers to uptake of this technology.”

    The post Higher Well-Being Consumers Are More Willing To Consume Cultivated Meat, Shows New Research appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Aleph Farms Increases Its Cultivated Meat Capabilities With 2 Key Moves

    3 Mins Read

    Israeli cultivated meat manufacturer Aleph Farms has announced the acquisition of a manufacturing facility in Modi’in, Israel, and related assets from biotechnology firm VBL Therapeutics, along with a new manufacturing agreement with ESCO Aster in Singapore.

    Aleph Farms says it’s moving closer to increasing its production capabilities with its two new arrangements in key markets. Israel ranks second globally in cultivated meat investments, and Singapore is currently the only country that has approved cultivated meat for sale and distribution.

    Aleph says it plans to bring its thin-cut steak grown from cells to market in both Israel and Singapore.

    A clear roadmap to scalability

    “Building up production capacity quickly in those locations while keeping capital investment lean provides a clear roadmap to scalability,” Didier Toubia, CEO, and co-founder of Aleph Farms, said in a statement. “Beyond Israel and Singapore, we plan on building additional strategic assets worldwide as part of our effort to bring more security and resilience to food systems.”

    aleph farms facility
    Aleph Farms’ 65,000-square-foot facility in Rehovot, Israel. Photography: Amit Goren

    Aleph Farms’ acquisition of VBL Therapeutics’ assets and technology transfer from its pilot production facility in Rehovot, Israel, will increase local output in response to the rising demand for quality protein, the company says. Dror Harats, MD, Chief Executive Officer of VBL, said its state-of-the-art facility will enable Aleph Farms to “unlock value and ramp up local production.”

    ESCO Aster is the world’s first and only company with full regulatory approval from a government authority to produce cultivated meat for commercial sales and consumption. It works with California’s Eat Just to produce its cultivated Good Meat, the only approved cultivated meat for sale in the world.

    Aleph Farms aims to be the second; it will work with ESCO Aster to expand production in Singapore. The partnership will enable the company to work towards its goal of establishing agri-food capabilities that can satisfy 30 percent of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally and sustainably by 2030.

    “We are proud to be working with Aleph Farms to bring its cultivated steak to Singapore,” said Xiangliang (XL) Lin, CEO of ESCO Aster and Deputy CEO of ESCO Lifesciences Group. “As part of our contract manufacturing MOU, we will work together with religious authorities on obtaining a halal certificate for our facility, enabling our collaboration with Aleph to expand to even more of the broader region.”

    Cultivated meat in Israel

    The demand for sustainable protein such as cultivated meat is on the rise globally as concerns about the food system continue to point to necessary shifts in the agricultural sector.

    Aleph Farms Cultivated Beef Steak
    Aleph Farms’ aims to bring its kosher-certified cultivated steak to market this year. | Courtesy

    According to a recent report by Meticulous Research, the cultivated meat market is expected to grow from $12.9 million in 2020 to $572.5 million by 2030. The report also notes that the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at the highest CAGR due to the increasing demand for meat alternatives.

    Israel continues to be a leader in the cultivated meat category, according to a recent report from the Good Food Institute. The report notes a 130 percent increase in early-stage Israeli-alt protein companies between 2021 and 2022, and last year, Israeli-based cultivated meat companies raised more than $450 million — second only to the U.S.

    The post Aleph Farms Increases Its Cultivated Meat Capabilities With 2 Key Moves appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Beyond Meat Turns A Financial Corner, Promises Lower Prices and Healthier, Tastier Products in 2023

    3 Mins Read

    Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown spoke to analysts during an earnings call with confidence and optimism for 2023, promising to better market the health profile of its products, improve the taste of one of its “core platforms” and lower prices.

    It’s hard to argue with the fact that the company had a rough 2022 but after releasing better-than-expected results thanks to improved gross margins, Beyond may be turning a corner.

    “As we navigate current conditions, we remain intently focused on positioning Beyond Meat to capture the vast opportunity to be a major protein provider in the $1.4 trillion meat industry and play a leadership role in transitioning global consumers to delicious plant-based meats in support of critically important health, climate, environmental, and animal welfare objectives”, Brown said in a statement.

    BYND performance in numbers

    In its latest earning reports, Beyond shared that fourth-quarter revenues are down 20.6% year on year, with net revenues at $79.9 million. While revenues are down 9.8% at $418.9 million for the full year of 2022 aswell, with net losses at $366.1 million, annual performance met the earnings expectations range of $400 to $425 million set by the company last October.

    The stock may still be a ways off its May 2019 IPO price of $25, the BYND stock has rallied of late, closing at $18.77 yesterday (February 27) from a low of $11.82 in November.

    In a bid to strengthen the company’s position, Brown outlined a strategy that looks to reduce operational expenses and improve margins. The company reduced its headcount by close to 20% this past October, is decreasing some marketing efforts and focusing on more targeted campaigns for key demographics, is lowering the number of co-packers it works with in North America from 8 to 3 and says it is reducing its inventory by 17%.

    From growth above all to long-term sustainability

    Brown told analysts that he believes the changes the company has made to transition from an “operating model that prioritizes growth above all” to a  “sustainable long-term growth” model are working. “We have confidence that the efforts properly done will over time generate outsized gains,” he said. “We are demonstrating clear and meaningful early progress.”

    Brown spoke about the work the company continues to do to decrease product pricing: “As our volumes increase and we start to take advantage of some of the manufacturing improvements we’ve made and start to get to some of the lower-cost ingredients that we’ve been able to negotiate, you’ll start to see a more sustained, lower cost product.”

    On the subject of cashflow CFO Lubi Kutua kept things open-ended, saying the company would go out for funding “if it makes sense for us to do some sort of a raise and put more of a buffer on the balance sheet” adding that the company says it plans to be cash flow positive by the second half of the year.

    “Skeptics, rarely, if ever, make progress happen”

    Concerns around the future of the US plant-based meat industry can feel like misinformed media hype, with Beyond competitor Impossible Foods experiencing strong growth and markets like Asia showing steady and long-term potential.

    Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea and Chairman of the Board at Beyond shared his thoughts on the company’s evolution to date and commented on its naysayers in a social media post today, writing: “As with any disruptive idea, there will be skeptics. It’s easy to second-guess the innovator – and since most start-ups don’t work out, skeptics often get to claim they were right. But skeptics rarely, if ever, make progress happen, and we certainly can’t rely on them to reinvent our grossly distorted food system. As BYND continues to make advances, such as Beyond Steak, it becomes easier to envision a day when our grandchildren will find it hard to believe our diets were centered around a system that relied on the misery and slaughter of billions of sentient creatures – animals that have as much personality and desire to live as the dogs and cats we welcome into our homes.”

    The post Beyond Meat Turns A Financial Corner, Promises Lower Prices and Healthier, Tastier Products in 2023 appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Anonymous Petitioner Challenges Perfect Day’s Patents for Dairy-Free Whey

    Perfect Day Raises $350M in Late-Stage Funding Round As Brand Prepares to IPO
    3 Mins Read

    Perfect Day, the leading producer of precision fermentation whey, has had its US patent challenged by an anonymous petitioner.

    The news of the patent challenge broke yesterday. While the request has not been made public on the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website, it is now visible through the online tool PatSnap, AgFunder News reported.

    Patent challenge

    The patent challenge relates to Perfect Day’s dairy substitutes, its methods of manufacturing its animal-free whey, and the end products they’re used in including milk, cheese, ice cream, and yogurt. Perfect Day holds a number of patents for its tech since it launched in 2014.

    Perfect Day uses a genetically engineered strain of the filamentous fungus Trichoderma reesei to create beta-lactoglobulin whey protein that looks, tastes, and performs like conventional whey made from cow’s milk. Perfect Day dubbed the “animal-free” whey category and others have followed suit with similar naming conventions, but the term is not currently regulated.

    Courtesy Perfect Day

    While this petition challenger remains anonymous, the New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has challenged Perfect Day’s IP in other jurisdictions, including a recent victory against Perfect Day in Australia.

    Now, the challenger claims the USPTO should never have issued Perfect Day the patent in the first place. They’ve requested an ex-parte “re-examination” of the patent based on several objections.

    “The two pillars of the applicant’s [Perfect Day’s] argument, one being the existence of a structural difference between natural beta-lactoglobulin [from a cow] and recombinant beta-lactoglobulin [made by Perfect Day’s microbes], and the second being that this difference causes unpredictability of beta-lactoglobulin functionality, are proven as false,” reads the challenge.

    “While we are unable to comment on this particular issue, we can share unequivocally that we remain confident in our IP and will continue to vigorously defend it to ensure that we can continue to build a kinder, greener tomorrow,” Nicki Briggs, Perfect Day’s VP of corporate communications told AgFunder News.

    Dairy-free whey

    Perfect Day was the first to commercialize dairy-free whey — but in recent years the category has seen a groundswell of startups using microbial fermentation to recreate dairy.

    General Mills Brand Bold Cultr Debuts As First Major U.S. Precision Fermentation Cheese Launch
    General Mills’ Bold Cultr precision fermentation cheese

    One competitor, Israel’s Remilk, recently snagged a General Mills partnership for the food giant’s precisions fermentation Bold Cultr cheese that initially belonged to Perfect Day.

    Other manufacturers in the precision fermentation dairy space include Imagindairy, also out of Israel, U.S.-based Change Foods and New Culture, Germany’s Formo, Those Vegan Cowboys in Belgium, and All G Foods in Australia, among others.

    The post Anonymous Petitioner Challenges Perfect Day’s Patents for Dairy-Free Whey appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • The Soy Milk Waste Market Is About to Have a Plant Protein Moment

    Luya Foods
    3 Mins Read

    As Luya Foods brings its vegan meat made from soy milk waste to the largest Swiss retailer, Migros, a Singapore startup secures funding to expand its soy milk waste production.

    Swiss-based Luya Foods says its new marinated vegan meat brings authentic flavors to home chefs “for anyone looking for a healthy and sustainable alternative” to conventional meat. Luya cites the juicy texture of its new products as being perfect for marinating and seasoning. The new offerings include Teriyaki, Curry, and Nature Chunks.

    Luya upcycles organic okara — the by-product from tofu and soymilk production — in its vegan meat, which is also made from mycelium and chickpeas. It says more than 14 million tons of okara are wasted globally every year.

    Mycelium-based and minimal ingredients

    Luya, a 2021 spin-off of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, says it is on a mission to create a new generation of alternative protein using a patent-pending proprietary mycelium fermentation platform.

    luya
    Luya launches new vegan meat products | Couretsy

    The new products come as Luya’s pilot plant in Bern readies to go live; it will expand the brand’s fermentation capacity and build a fully automated processing line. “With the new line throughput will be drastically increased and the production capacity for growth plans in 2023 and 2024 will be secured”, said co-founder Tobias Kistler. The new facility will help the brand expand its product offerings.

    According to Luya, it has earned support from professional chefs as well as home cooks. For them, the quality lies in the purity of the product — all-natural ingredients that are free from additives.

    “We have spoken to a lot of consumers after our retail launch in May 2022 to understand how Luya is perceived and have incorporated the consumer feedback in the design update of our packaging”, co-founder Flavio Hagenbuch said in a statement.

    An assessment conducted by the independent sustainability consulting firm Eaternity found Luya’s production reduces CO2 by 94 percent compared with conventional beef. Water usage is reduced by more than 53 percent. Luya is one of only a handful of companies to receive the coveted three-star label from Eaternity for its outstanding environmental record.

    Soy milk waste market

    The news comes as Singapore-based SoilLabs raises $370,000 USD in Seed funding from Japan’s Sanyo Chemical and Singapore’s Hafnium Ventures to expand its okara protein.

    luya
    Luya’s new products hit major Swiss retailers | Courtesy

    “The funding gives us a strong platform for both the commercialisation of our current technologies and building a strong pipeline of complementary technologies and end product applications,” Mauro Catellani, CEO of SoiLabs said in a statement.

    SoilLabs uses okara in cheese and soup products. It recently signed an MOU with Sanyo Chemical for product development in Japan.

    “With Sanyo’s investment, it also brings with it a close collaboration with a strong industrial player and we look forward to working in partnership with them as we develop the Japanese market,” Catellani said.

    “As a business, a key part of our strategy is on sustainability and in supporting value creation in local industries,” said Sanyo’s President and CEO Akinori Higuchi. “SoiLabs’ recycling of soy processing waste into value-added products is completely aligned with this strategy. In addition, it gives us the opportunity to bring added value to the soy processing industry both near our home base in Kyoto and throughout Japan.”

    The post The Soy Milk Waste Market Is About to Have a Plant Protein Moment appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Plant-Based Diets Provide Complete and Balanced Nutrition for Dogs, Study Finds

    3 Mins Read

    A new study provides evidence that plant-based diets can offer complete and balanced nutrition for dogs across multiple life stages.

    The 12-month study, conducted by clinician-scientists at Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Veterinary Medicine, is the first comprehensive investigation into the long-term effects of a plant-based diet for dogs.

    V-Dog’s complete plant-based diet for dogs

    “We’re thrilled to share the results of this groundbreaking study, which demonstrates that a nutritionally complete plant-based diet can maximize the health and quality of life for dogs and reduce carbon paw-prints,” Darren Middlesworth, President and CEO of V-Dog and V-Planet, said in a statement.

    “The research underscores that a healthier, cruelty-free option for pet owners also has the potential to positively impact the environment and other animals. As ethical vegans first and a company second, we couldn’t be more proud to offer v-dog and v-planet as an innovative solution to these pressing issues,” Middlesworth said.

    While the study used the V-Dog dog food brand as an exemplar for a nutritionally complete plant-based diet, the brand did not commission the study. The study’s findings were presented earlier this month at the Western Vet Conference in Las Vegas.

    Photo courtesy V-dog

    The study’s key findings suggest that commercially available plant-based dog food products in the U.S. can provide all the necessary nutrients for a well-balanced diet for adult dogs — including dogs that are considered endurance athletes showed optimal performance on a meat-free diet.

    The study authors say the aim of the research is to raise awareness about the impact of conventional dog food on animals and the environment as pet food is responsible for nearly 33 percent of the environmental impacts from industrial animal production in terms of land use, water consumption, fossil fuel use, biocide production, and waste production.

    Conventional dog food is often made from poor-quality animal products that have been linked to health issues.

    According to the research, dogs show an evolutionary adaptation that enables them to optimize carbohydrate metabolism, which makes the plant-based diet exceptionally suitable for most dogs.

    Sustainable pet food

    The research provides essential information for pet owners looking to make informed decisions about their pet’s nutrition and the impact of their pet’s food on the environment. While the demand for vegan dog food has grown in recent years, it’s still widely looked at as lacking in nutrients and unsuitable for long-term animal health. But the researchers say that’s not the case.

    Photo by Maksim Goncharenok at Pexels.

    “As animal lovers ourselves, we’re thrilled to offer a complete and balanced plant-based diet for dogs that is backed by independent clinical research,” said Lindsay Rubin Carvalho, VP of V-Planet.

    “This study reinforces what we’ve known all along – that a nutritionally complete plant-based diet can extensively provide health benefits and protection for dogs,” Rubin Carvalho said.

    “Our mission is to offer the best nutrition for our furry family members while also promoting a more sustainable and compassionate world for all animals.”

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  • IKEA Will Eliminate Dairy Products from Menus by 2030 As It Goes All In On Sustainability

    2 Mins Read

    IKEA, the Swedish furniture giant, says it will eliminate dairy products from its cafe menus by 2030 as part of the company’s sustainability goals, which include becoming climate positive by 2030.

    According to IKEA, it serves more than 650 million customers each year across its restaurants, cafes, and bistros.

    Ditching dairy to be ‘people and planet positive’

    The company’s new sustainability plan, called “People and Planet Positive,” is targeting carbon emissions and resource reductions across IKEA’s operations, including a focus on more plant-based food in its restaurants.

    ikea ice cream
    IKEA added dairy-free ice cream options across several locations | Courtesy

    Late last year, IKEA announced a sustainable food hall concept that offers a range of sustainable and healthy food options including salads, smoothies, and plant-based dishes with ingredients sourced locally and organically whenever possible.

    The food hall will also focus on reducing food waste. The company has already implemented several strategies to reduce its food waste across its cafes and restaurants, including using “imperfect” produce as well as donating excess food to local charities. In 2021 it produced a food waste cookbook.

    Sustainable food at IKEA

    The food hall and dairy-free commitments build on IKEA’s sustainable food catalog; it currently offers plant-based versions of its Swedish meatballs, hot dogs, and other cafe staples including ice cream.

    According to the United Nations, animal agriculture is responsible for roughly 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. A survey conducted by GlobalData revealed that 23 percent of global consumers are reducing their animal product consumption, with 70 percent pointing to the health and environmental benefits.

    IKEA added plant-based food to its Indonesia stores in 2021: Courtesy

    Another recent survey found that young people in particular are “ashamed” to order dairy in public — opting instead for sustainable alternatives such as oat or almond milk. Coffee chains including Blue Bottle and Stumptown are now defaulting to oat milk instead of conventional dairy.

    IKEA says it has been actively working to improve animal welfare across its supply chain. The company has committed to sourcing all of its animal products from farms that meet higher welfare standards by 2025.

    In 2021, IKEA earned the Global Climate Action Award from the United Nation for its leadership in sustainability, including its efforts to become climate positive by 2030.

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  • Japan’s Prime Minister Embraces Cultivated Meat As Part of the Country’s Sustainable Future

    Prime minister of japan fumio kishida
    3 Mins Read

    Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says the country will move forward with a plan to develop an industry of “cell agriculture” bringing a focus to cultivated meat and fish as a means to reduce the country’s carbon footprint.

    Prime Minister Kishida is looking forward to creating a new agriculture sector that will increase the country’s sustainability he said in a statement.

    ‘A new market’

    “We will develop the environment to create a new market, such as efforts to ensure safety and the establishment of labeling rules, and foster a food tech business originating in Japan,” Kishida said.

    In his statement, Kishida emphasized the importance of supporting a sustainable food supply and contributing to solving the world’s food problems. He highlighted the potential of food tech, including cultivated meat, to create a new market and foster a food tech business sector in Japan.

    Cellular agriculture is currently seeing a boom in investments and developments despite lagging regulations outside of Singapore — currently the only country that has approved cultivated meat for sale and consumption. The U.S. recently granted its first GRAS status to cultivated chicken developed by California-based Upside Foods. But it must still clear USDA regulations before it can be approved for sale.

    GOOD Meat cultivated chicken
    Available in Singapore, GOOD Meat’s cultivated chicken is currently the only approved cell-based meat for sale. | courtesy Eat Just

    The regulatory framework around cultivated meat is also still evolving globally and Japan specifically has not yet approved cultivated meat or safety standards for raw materials and manufacturing processes have not yet been established.

    According to Japan’s Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare Katsunobu Kato, “While paying close attention to the state of research and development, scientific findings on safety, and international trends, we will further consider what measures are necessary in terms of safety.”

    Food labeling on cultivated meat is another issue that needs to be addressed. Consumer Minister Taro Kono expressed his support for cultivated meat, saying, “I think cultured meat has a lot of potential. When the safety is confirmed and it hits the market, I’d like to make an effort to properly label it.”

    Cultivated meat’s global impact

    The development of cultivated red meat has the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impact of animal agriculture.

    Upside Foods has built a massive cultivated meat factory in California despite lagging regulations. Courtesy

    According to a study by the University of Michigan, lab-grown meat could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 96 percent, land use by up to 99 percent, and water use by up to 96 percent, compared to traditional animal agriculture.

    At a House of Representatives Budget Committee Prime Minister Kishida told Nobuhiro Nakayama of the Liberal Democratic Party that food tech, including cellular foods, “is an important technology from the perspective of realizing a sustainable food supply. We have to support efforts that contribute to solving the world’s food problems.”

    Last year, Japanese cellular agriculture startup IntegriCuture closed a $ 7 million Series B funding round to develop affordable growth mediums and other tech solutions for the cultivated meat sector, with the aim of making its work open source so as to accelerate the sector’s commercialization. 

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  • Paleo Raises €12 Million for Precision Fermentation That ‘Lifts Obstacles’ to Realistic Alt Meat

    3 Mins Read

    Belgian precision fermentation company Paleo has secured €12m in a Series A funding round to accelerate its myoglobin use in plant-based meat and fish.

    The funding was led by DSM Venturing and Planet A Ventures, alongside Gimv, SFPIM Relaunch, Beyond Impact, and Siddhi Capital. According to Paleo, the first plant-based foods containing its novel ingredients could be on the market as early as 2025.

    Fermented myoglobin

    Paleo’s myoglobin is a particularly interesting development in the alternative protein sector, and one of the first to use the tech in the alternative meat sector — most have focused on dairy. Paleo says its tech could provide a more authentic meat and fish alternative, particularly as the category aims to attract flexitarians who still want the conventional meat experience but are also seeking out more sustainable options.

    “Adding our ingredients to plant-based meat alternatives is a game changer that brings the experience of ‘real’ meat,” Hermes Sanctorum, co-founder and CEO of Paleo, said in a statement. “You can smell it, you can taste it, and you can see it because our ingredients provide that vibrant red color that transforms into caramelized brown when you grill it. And no animal is involved whatsoever defining our ingredients as vegan.”

    paleo team
    Paleo is one of the first companies to use precision fermentation in alternative meat production. Courtesy

    Precision fermentation is proving to be one of the most resilient segments in the alternative protein category. The industry has gained momentum in recent years, proving to be both versatile and scalable. The recent launch of the Precision Fermentation Alliance has given the industry a more unified voice, aimed at better promoting the use of the novel tech in developing alternative proteins.

    “The market for plant-based meat and fish is ready to grow further, provided that consumers find the taste convincing. There’s only so much you can do with artificial coloring and additives,” Sanctorum said. “Paleo developed a technology to produce ingredients that lift these obstacles.” 

    “The food industry has barely scratched the surface of what is possible with precision fermentation, and Paleo will be at the forefront of this revolution in food production,” said Andy de Jong, co-founder and COO.

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

    “Transitioning to a plant-based diet is crucial for accomplishing our net-zero objectives,” Jan Christoph Gras, Partner at Planet A Ventures, commented. “Animal agriculture accounts for nearly 15 percent of total global emissions, while also driving biodiversity loss, water consumption, and nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. With its innovative precision fermentation technology, Paleo has broken down barriers to the widespread adoption of plant-based meat alternatives. Its realistic taste and highly functional protein make it an attractive option for even the most skeptical consumers of meat and fish substitutes.”

    According to a report by Meticulous Research, the global alternative protein market is projected to reach $17.9 billion by 2025. This growth is being driven by increasing awareness of the environmental impact of meat production, as well as concerns over animal welfare and health. The report highlights that plant-based proteins are expected to dominate the alternative protein market over the next five years, due to their lower cost and wider availability.

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  • 3 New Impossible Foods Plant-Based Chicken Products Announced Amidst Record Growth

    4 Mins Read

    Amidst record sales growth, Impossible Foods has grown its ‘meat made from plants’ range with three new retail plant-based chicken products while additional layoffs confirmed.

    California food tech Impossible Foods has expanded its plant-based chicken offerings with the launch of three new products namely Impossible™ Spicy Chicken Nuggets, Impossible™ Spicy Chicken Patties, and Impossible™ Chicken Tenders that will be available in the frozen aisle at select retailers, with national availability coming in the next few months. 

    These new additions add to their existing selection of plant-based beef, pork and sausage, as well as the chicken nuggets they launched back in 2021 and the Wild Nuggies™ aimed at children that come in various endangered animal shapes. Impossible tested a chicken patty format last year when it tested them at Burger King US at select locations in Ohio.

    The plant-based chicken space is becoming increasingly busy. Competitor Beyond Meat debuted its plant-based chicken tenders in 2021 and launched them at retailers last year. Newer entrant TiNDLE announced a new line of retail products including plant-based chicken patties, nuggets, tenders, popcorn chicken and wings in Germany and says it will debut them in the US later this year. Other popular brands in North America include Daring Foods, Nuggs, Quorn, Alpha Foods, Vegan Fried Chick*n (VFC) and Gardein.

    The Impossible difference

    In a press release, the company cited the results of a blind consumer test that showed their nuggets outperformed those of a leading animal chicken brand 3-to-1, with participants ranking them higher on flavor, texture and overall appearance.

    “Our chicken products caught on fast with consumers, and they’ve served as a successful entry-point to our brand,” said newly appointed Chief Demand Officer Sherene Jagla. “In retail, our original nuggets are leading the plant-based chicken category in dollar sales, and in food service, consumers prefer them to animal chicken nuggets. We’re excited to expand on the platform’s success, and we expect this category to continue to be valuable for our brand.”

    Impossible Foods was founded in 2011 by Stanford scientist Pat Brown with a mission to help end industrial animal agriculture by creating meat from plants. The company’s signature Impossible Burger made headlines across the world when it was first unveiled in 2016. According to a lifecycle analysis published on the company’s website, Impossible chicken products use “44% less water, 49% less land, and emit 36% less greenhouse gas emissions than their animal counterparts.”

    Courtesy Impossible Foods

    Media backlash amidst ‘record sales’

    The plant-based meat industry has faced strong media backlash and flat sales of late, but Impossible has repeatedly said it is on a growth trajectory, with retail sales up 55% year on year. When asked if the growth included food service and other business verticals, a company spokesperson told Green Queen the company was doing across the board.

    Impossible Foods said in a statement it has “achieved record sales in 2022” and is the “fastest growing plant-based meat brand in US retail stores” with its plant-based beef product described as “the best-selling product by volume of any plant-based meat brand in the US”.

    In an interview with TIME magazine, CEO Peter McGuinness said that the plant-based category was in its earliest days and critiques were one-sided, commenting, “You have a $7 to $8 billion global category of plant-based meat that’s been around for 20 years, and it’s a fad?”

    He added that the category is still relatively unknown by the average consumer “I believe it’s yet to be built and created” and has plenty of room to expand. “Right now, we have 17% awareness. So 83% of the country’s never even heard of us. We have 5% household penetration; 95% of the country hasn’t even tried us yet, and we’re still growing at those growth rates”.

    The company’s products are stocked at over 30,000 grocery stores and used in over 45,000 food service locations across the US, and the brand has entered 8 different countries and territories worldwide including Australia, the UK, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

    Courtesy Impossible Foods

    More layoffs announced

    Like many Bay area companies, particularly in the tech sector, the company has announced layoffs, first in October, when it confirmed a 6% reduction in staff, and earlier this week, with Food Dive reporting the company had cut 132 jobs including engineers, researchers and scientists, citing filings made with the California Employment Development Department.

    When asked if the job cuts would impact Impossible’s near-term R&D plans, a company spokesperson told Green Queen: “We took steps last week to position our business for sustainable, balanced growth over the long term by bringing our costs more in line with our revenue, which includes reducing our workforce. We remain very confident in the strength of our business and our future growth, and we’re grateful to all of the talented, dedicated employees who have contributed to our mission”.

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  • Cambridge Student Union Vote Ousts Meat and Dairy From All Campus Menus

    cambridge
    3 Mins Read

    The trend among young people to reduce their animal food consumption as a move to slow climate change came to a head at one of the world’s most esteemed universities. Cambridge’s campus is now vegan.

    The student body at the University of Cambridge has voted overwhelmingly in favor of transitioning the campus menus to 100-percent vegan offerings, the university reports. The vote, which came down from the university’s student union, called for talks with the Cambridge catering services about removing all animal products from the campus cafes and canteens.

    The move mirrors trends among young people, such as the “shame” over ordering dairy in public, according to a study published last year.

    Cambridge goes vegan

    The student body vote will bring changes to the campus, but it’s not a guarantee that Cambridge’s catering services will go all vegan elsewhere. But it does provide “an extremely strong mandate for colleges to begin transitioning to 100 percent plant-based menus,” the campaign noted.

    Courtesy Canva

    More than 70 percent of student representatives voted in favor of the motion after a four-week consultation process. The decision was influenced by The Plant-Based Universities campaign, a platform supported by the activist group Animal Rebellion. It has been lobbying for the menu shift as a way to address the climate and biodiversity crises. The U.K.-based campaign involves students at more than 40 institutions across the country urging their universities and student unions to shift to plant-based catering.

    “The university catering services has already made important strides, for example in 2016 when it removed beef and lamb from all its menus. We look forward to working with them on the next necessary steps,” William Smith, a Cambridge supporter of the Plant-Based Universities campaign, told The Guardian. Smith says the shift away from meat could significantly reduce the esteemed university’s environmental impact as well as showcase its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.

    Universities embrace plant-based food

    The move toward plant-based menus in universities is not new. According to a report by the Vegan Society, between 2016 and 2019, the number of universities that offered vegan food options increased by 46 percent. Additionally, research by the U.K.’s largest student accommodation provider, Unite Students, found that 57 percent of students surveyed wanted more vegan options in their campus canteens.

    Courtesy Sander Dalhuisen via Unsplash

    A number of universities have already made moves to increase their vegan options. In 2019, the University of Cambridge was named the U.K.’s most sustainable university in the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings, partly due to its efforts to reduce meat consumption. The University of East Anglia, the University of Sheffield, and Goldsmiths, University of London have all announced plans to become more plant-based.

    According to a University of Cambridge spokesperson, the university removed ruminant meat (beef and lamb) from the campus menus in 2016. The university also has a sustainable food policy in place that promotes plant-based options, including the removal of unsustainable fish and efforts to reduce food waste across the campus.

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  • Plant Sifu and Shanghai Lao Lao Team Up to Reimagine Classic Shanghainese Dishes

    3 Mins Read

    Plant Sifu, Hong Kong’s first locally produced plant-based meat brand, has partnered with Shanghai Lao Lao, a local chain of bistros that specialize in xiao long bao and hand-pulled noodles, for the introduction of a plant-based meat menu.

    Plant Sifu’s newest partnership celebrates Shanghai Lao Lao’s foray into new-age Chinese cuisine. Shanghai Lao Lao has selected four of its most famous dishes to be reimagined using Plant Sifu plant-based pork, including xiao long bao, one of the chain’s most famous items.

    Transforming traditional Chinese cuisine

    The collaboration marks a first for the popular Hong Kong food chain in exploring the world of plant-based meat alternatives.

    “Our collaboration with Shanghai Lao Lao represents the first ever plant-based menu for this authentic Shanghainese label under the Café de Coral Group,” Joshua Ng, co-founder of Plant Sifu parent company Good Food Technologies, said in a statement.

    “Since the brand is known for its exceptional craftsmanship, authenticity and quality, its endorsement is a major testament for Plant Sifu as the preferred plant-based option for Chinese and Asian cuisines. The debut menu includes a plant-based version of xiao long bao, the globally renowned Shanghainese dim sum staple, which is also Shanghai Lao Lao’s number-one selling item.,” Ng said.

    Braised beancurd & minced plant-based meat in spicy sauce at Shanghai Lao Lao – courtesy Plant Sifu

    Plant Sifu uses high-quality non-GMO soybeans to create products that it says are rich in protein, and contain no added MSG, preservatives, or colorings. The brand is already popular with Hong Kong’s top chefs and Michelin-starred restaurants for its versatility and mild flavors.

    Stanley Wong Yiu Man and Chan Kim Fung, Assistant Executive Chefs of Shanghai Lao Lao, said that they want to popularize plant-based food in traditional Shanghainese staple dishes through this collaboration with Plant Sifu. They say that offering a plant-based alternative to signature dishes gives customers, both loyal and newcomers, a comforting sense of familiarity when trying something “new.”

    Asia’s palate transformation

    According to a report from the China Cuisine Association, the global meat-substitute market is expected to reach 320 billion yuan ($50 billion) by 2025. Asia, which consumes the most meat in the world, is experiencing a shift toward plant-based protein due to growing health and environmental concerns. Hong Kong’s plant-based market is also seeing a surge in demand, with Hong Kong consumers looking for more sustainable options.

    plant sifu
    Plant Sifu recently partnered with Hong Kong’s Nosh Source: Plant Sifu

    The new Shanghai Lao Lao offerings include steamed vegan pork dumplings, stir-fried string beans with plant-based meat, noodles in spicy sesame and peanut soup with minced plant-based meat, and braised bean curd and minced plant-based meat in spicy sauce. The menu items are available at all Shanghai Lao Lao locations through April 30.

    The announcement follows Plant Sifu’s recent collaboration with another of Hong Kong’s mainstays, the based meal kit delivery service, Nosh. That collaboration sees a number of innovative menu items available and also runs through April 30.

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  • Investments In Early-Stage Israeli Alt Protein Companies Grew 130% Between 2021-2022: Report

    4 Mins Read

    Good Food Institute Israel details the strength of the alternative protein market in Israel in a new ‘State of The Industry’ report.

    The new Good Food Institute Israel (GFI) report, entitled Israel – State of Alternative Proteins, showed that in 2022, Israeli startups raised more than $450 million in investments for alternative proteins, making it the second-largest country for alternative protein investments after the U.S.

    The findings

    Israeli companies accounted for approximately 15 percent of the total capital raised for the sector and 60 percent of all investments in Israeli food tech firms went to alternative protein startups. While the amount of investment in the industry decreased in 2022 from $623 million in 2021 to $454 million, GFI says Israel is still a key player in the global food tech market. Seed investments in alternative protein startups grew 130 percent in 2022, according to the report.

    The alternative protein sector in Israel includes plant-based substitutes for meat, dairy, and egg, cultivated dairy, meat, and seafood made from cells, and various fermentation processes and products using techniques.

    GFI Israel CEO Nir Goldstein said the global trend in 2022 was moving toward an “arms race” for alternative proteins, with countries such as China, France, the U.K., and Denmark making significant investments in the field. Goldstein said that while Israel could become a center for both R&D and industrial manufacturing, there’s every reason to emphasize regional manufacturing of food in order to further drive down the sector’s carbon footprint.

    Aleph Farms Cultivated Beef Steak
    Aleph Farms’ aims to bring its kosher-certified cultivated steak to market this year. | Courtesy

    “We have seen large countries follow along with President Biden in the U.S., who ordered to put together a strategy to bolster biotech, including alternative proteins,” Goldstein told The Times of Israel. “China has a five-year strategy, and smaller countries like the U.K. and Denmark have made significant investments, and this raises the question of what is the future of Israel after we got an edge now as a startup nation? Can we become a scale-up nation?

    “We believe that food needs to be manufactured as close as possible to where it is consumed for sustainability and economic reasons but Israel can definitely become a center for both R&D and industrial manufacturing,” Goldstein said.

    Israel ranks second to the U.S. in fermented proteins, attracting 18 percent of global investments with $147 million secured in 2022. In the cultivated meat subsector, Israeli companies drew more than $105 million in investments, accounting for approximately 12 percent of the total investment in the sector worldwide. In the plant-based alternative proteins sector, Israeli startups attracted $200 million in capital, or 16 percent of the global sector investment.

    Funding local startups

    According to GFI, local startups entered the alternative protein space last year, with four in the cultivated area, four in plant-based, and four in fermentation-derived products. Over the past two years, alternative protein startups raised more than $1 billion in funds from venture capital firms.

    GFI Israel noted that food tech investments in Israel were impacted the least by the market slowdown compared to other tech sectors, with private investments in the tech sector dropping by 42 percent YoY, while investments by venture capital firms in alternative protein startups declined by 20 percent, from $553 million in 2021 to $445 million in 2022.

    Remilk
    Israel’s Remilk is producing dairy via precision fermentation | Courtesy

    Goldstein said that the issue of national food security became more dominant in the food tech industry due to crises in Ukraine, the pandemic, and increasing cases of swine flu. Governments and investors are looking for more resilient and efficient ways to produce proteins, he said. Notable deals in the Israeli plant-based protein sector in 2022 included a $135 million investment in Redefine Meat, a maker of 3D-printed plant-based meat products, and a $124 million investment in Remilk, a developer of animal-free milk and dairy.

    “In order to stay competitive as large global governments invest a lot of money to try to get Israeli startups to open manufacturing sites overseas, we need to move quickly and make sure that we have plans for the academic and startup sector that is experiencing difficulties given macroeconomic conditions, and that we have a plan for industrial incentives and regulation,” Goldstein said. “Those are the four pillars that the government must address in the coming months.”

    Goldstein says the Israeli government could offer state-backed loans to get startups in the sector up and running. “That would allow the startups to overcome the relative shortage in venture capital-backed investments in today’s market conditions,” he said.

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  • New Survey Finds Investors Still Optimistic About Alt Protein Despite Recent Growth

    meatballs
    3 Mins Read

    Investor appetite for alternative proteins is still strong despite a decline in investment growth in 2022, says think tank the Good Food Institute and a new survey on 2022 investments into the alternative protein sector.

    The $14.2 billion that the alternative protein sector has attracted over the past decade has been driven by investments that have nearly doubled every year on average, with a particular surge in funding since 2020, says the Good Food Institute (GFI).

    The findings

    However, GFI’s new analyses of Pitchbook data show that alternative protein companies raised $2.9 billion globally in 2022, a decrease of 42 percent YoY. While a decline in investment, the report notes that the deceleration was in line with broad market trends, and most investors still remained optimistic about the sector over the long term.

    The covid pandemic led investors in the food and agriculture sector to focus on supply chain resilience and the disruption to the meat industry. “Companies that start during this economic downturn will build efficient operations and have a running start as the economy improves again,” Guatam Godhwani, founder and managing partner at Good Startup, noted in the report. “Historically, some of the best companies have been started during difficult economic times.”

    Impossible Foods patties
    Impossible Foods is a leader in the alt protein industry | Courtesy

    GFI found that the deceleration of alternative protein funding in 2022 was in line with the decline in overall funding across all sectors. Additionally, the report notes that half of the world’s largest protein producers are investing in alternative proteins, up from 28 percent in 2021.

    Large food companies are also seeing protein diversification as a material business issue, with 35 percent of the 23 largest food manufacturers and retailers globally committed to increasing the volume or sales of meat alternatives and/or dairy alternatives.

    While the sector experienced challenges, there were also successes in 2022, with distribution picking up for fermentation-enabled proteins and several large food companies launching plant-based versions of long-branded food products. Further, quick-service restaurant chains experienced a resurgence in plant-based menu launches.

    The early days of a game-changing industry

    Of more than 100 investors active or interested in alternative proteins, the survey found that 99 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they are optimistic about the alternative protein industry over the long term. Forty-five percent of respondents noted that their investments in alternative proteins did not slow down in 2022, and 87 percent of respondents expected to make investments in alternative protein companies or funds in 2023. Respondents expect to increase investment in the more novel alternative protein categories, especially fermentation, cultivated dairy, and alternative fats.

    ImpacFat is the first company to make cell-based fish fat
    ImpacFat is the first company to make cell-based fish fat and the category is positioning itself for a boom | Courtesy

    The report also notes that the current fundraising market may improve the quality of opportunities for startups and investors alike, with startups seeing an alleviation of pressure to “grow at all costs” and investors finding themselves with more time to explore and research deals with more favorable valuations and deal terms.

    While the decline in investment growth in 2022 may have been in line with broader trends, investor appetite for alternative proteins remains strong, with investors seeing potential for growth in the sector.

    “We’re in the early days of a game-changing industry, during one of the most unusual market environments of our lifetimes,” GFI says. “The road ahead will be challenging and complex, but from our estimation, the good food future is bright.”

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  • Mush Foods Targets ‘Hybrid Meat’ With Mycelium Protein That Blends With Beef

    Mush foods burger
    3 Mins Read

    On a mission to make meat hybrids mainstream, Israel-based Mush Foods is now offering a mushroom-derived 50CUT mycelium protein ingredient as a solution aimed at reducing animal protein in meat products.

    Mush Foods says 50CUT serves as the perfect complement to beef and caters to carnivores and flexitarians who don’t want to compromise on taste, texture, and nutrition. The ingredient’s taste, formability, texture, aroma, and color are tailored specifically for blending with conventional beef, making it an ideal ingredient for a range of meat hybrids.

    Food sidestreams make for more sustainable meat

    Mush Foods uses a pioneering proprietary technology for upcycling food sidestreams from local manufacturers to grow the mycelium. The mycelium network is an underground system of fungi that breaks down forest plant matter and nourishes the mushrooms growing above ground as well as the surrounding ecosystem. Mush Foods’ fermentation platform recreates the underground growth conditions, without light and uses minimal land, energy, and water.

    “Our mycelium ingredient is grown from food waste, making it highly sustainable and exerting a minimum carbon footprint,” Shalom Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Mush Foods, said in a statement. “It also grows exceptionally fast: While it takes a year to grow a cow, and four months to grow soy, it takes only eight-ten days to grow mycelium, making it a highly scalable — and affordable — option.”

    Mixing mycelium in with conventional beef.
    Mixing mycelium in with conventional beef. Courtesy Mush Foods

    Mycelium is a whole protein that contains all the essential amino acids, is rich in fiber and vitamins, and contains no saturated fat or cholesterol. It also acts as a natural binder and possesses a natural umami flavor similar to meat, eliminating the need for masking agents or added flavors. Mycelium fibers maintain the volume of the ground meat matrix by absorbing the meat juices, further preserving flavor and making the addition of fillers such as texturized proteins unnecessary.

    “In a world where we are seeing more flexitarians than ever before, the Mush Foods team is doing something very unique and forward-thinking by creating a meat hybrid product that delivers the protein and taste that people expect, while also reducing the environmental impact of beef production,” Brian Frank, co-founder and managing partner at FTW Ventures, said of its portfolio brand.

    Clean label meat alternative

    Mush Foods’ 50CUT ingredient is a clean-label, nutritious, and natural complement to beef that appeals to even the most devoted meat lovers. In November 2022, a pilot study of 4,000 participating employees drawn from various financial institutions in New York found that Mush Foods’ 50CUT hybrid beef and mycelium burger scored the highest out of 11 main dish options.

    Mush Foods will be featured at the Future Food Tech event in San Francisco in March 2023, where Daniel will participate in a panel.

    Courtesy Better Meat

    “This technology is truly remarkable, as it not only allows for a new protein source that is sustainable, nutritious, and clean-label, but it also allows for a new way to reimagine meat hybrids and the texture and flavor they deliver,” says Amir Zaidman, Chief Business Officer of The Kitchen FoodTech Hub. “For this reason, we are sure Mush Foods will be a gamechanger.”

    The company isn’t the first to focus on reducing beef in meat products with mushroom-based fillers. The Better Meat Company has been working on it for years. But consumers have yet to embrace the trend. Mush Foods says it aims to change that.

    “To make a true impact, the product must benefit consumers and food companies as well as restaurateurs,” says Daniel. “All are attuned to evolving food trends and do not want to compromise when seeking quality alternatives that are affordable, nutritious, tasty, and kind to the planet, Mush Foods ticks all the right boxes.”

    The post Mush Foods Targets ‘Hybrid Meat’ With Mycelium Protein That Blends With Beef appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Latin America’s First Vegan Fast Food Chain Embraces the Joy of Plants

    joy plants and burgers
    3 Mins Read

    As the demand for vegan food continues to expand across the globe, Joy Burgers & Plants is the first vegan fast food chain to open in Latin America.

    Joy Burgers & Plants opened its doors in Argentina last October. Joy offers a range of animal-free burgers, chicken, mac and cheese, nuggets, and more fast-food staples, all served in compostable and recycled packaging.

    ‘Franchising in mind’

    According to Patricio Lescovich, one of the founders of Joy, the brand was developed with franchising in mind, leveraging the extensive experience of the founders of Hell’s Pizza and SushiClub. Lescovich is also behind the Argentinian burger restaurant named after (mostly vegetarian) actor, Kevin Bacon.

    Joy is adding two more locations before the end of the fiscal quarter, with two other openings slated for later this year.

    joy fast food
    Joy Burgers & Plants is expanding in Argentina | Courtesy

    In addition, Joy has partnered with Argentina’s leading plant-based alternatives company, Felices las Vacas, to develop its burgers and chicken alternatives.

    Felices las Vacas has the logistics and production capacity to supply Joy’s rapid expansion plans. The company started selling soy milk in Buenos Aires in 2016 and now has an award-winning plant-based portfolio with nearly 40 products, including dairy, meat alternatives, ice cream, snacks, sweets, and drinks.

    LATAM embraces plant-based

    The popularity of plant-based protein in Latin America is on the rise. A study by Innova Market Insights found that 57 percent of Latin American consumers are trying to increase their consumption of plant-based protein, citing health and environmental concerns as the main motivators.

    As the demand for plant-based protein continues to grow, food companies are taking notice. Leading LATAM’s shift is the Chile-based NotCo, which recently partnered with fast-food giant Burger King in LATAM. It also recently joined forces with Kraft Heinz.

    Kraft Heinz and NotCo have signed a joint venture agreement earlier this year

    Founded in 2015 by Matias Muchnick, Karim Pichara, and Pablo Zamora, NotCo uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to create plant-based products that taste and feel like their animal-based counterparts.

    NotCo is also providing vegan chicken for Joy.

    Both NotCo’s and Joy’s success in the plant-based food industry highlights the growing demand for sustainable and healthy food options outside of the U.S. and Europe.

    “Sometimes you can have an excellent product and a market that is not ready to receive it,” Lescovich told Forbes Argentina last year. “But is not the case. Ours is a country that is always innovating in terms of gastronomy, on par with what happens in other parts of the world. We are prepared for a 100% vegan fast-food chain. Because Joy, in addition, is not just a hamburger restaurant for people who do not eat meat. A good part of our consumers are flexitarians, people who like the taste of meat but who try to reduce their consumption. Not only for a matter of food but also for awareness of animal care and the environment.”

    The post Latin America’s First Vegan Fast Food Chain Embraces the Joy of Plants appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • With $6 Million In Funding, Planetarians Plots a Future for Low-Carbon Vegan Meat

    3 Mins Read

    Planetarians, the San Francisco-based company that creates plant-based protein from minimal ingredients, has received a $6 million venture capital infusion to help it move to its next phase of commercial production.

    San Francisco-based Mindrock led the Seed II investment round, with support from Traction Fund, Techstars, SOSV, and ZX Ventures, the corporate venture arm of AB InBev — the world’s leading beer brewer, which has recently turned its focus toward the plant-based sector.

    Two-ingredient vegan meat

    Planetarians, which was founded in 2013 by Aleh Manchuliantsau and chef Max Barnthouse, uses spent yeast from commercial fermentation facilities and native plant proteins, such as soy leftover from the vegetable oil extraction process to produce its whole-cut carbon-neutral vegan protein that is made from just two ingredients.

    “It took 7 years of R&D to work through the long list of ingredients that are possible for plant-based proteins,” Manchuliantsau said in a statement. “before we realized that one readily available fermented protein, spent yeast from breweries, could combine with soy flakes and other native plant proteins to deliver a meaty taste and texture at a low cost compared to the alternatives.”

    “We are deeply grateful for the support of Mindrock, AB InBev, and the rest of our investors,” said  Barnthouse.

    planetarians co-founder
    Planetarians co-founders Max Barnthouse and Aleh Manchuliantsau

    The new investment will be used to build a pilot facility and ramp up sales. The company has already verified its technology works at an industrial scale and has secured its first commercial contract. Manchuliantsau said the facility can be as small as 3,000 square feet because it gets the fermented product without having to do that process itself.

    Food waste potential

    “While the protein industry was developing new ways of manufacturing that poured money into expensive infrastructure,’ said Ulvi Rashid, head of investments at Mindrock, “Planetarians acted from first principles to re-purpose already existing ingredients to create affordable and sustainable meat.”

    anheuser busch
    Anheuser-Busch InBev is identifying new market opportunities for spent beer yeast and grains | Courtesy

    True to its name, Planetarians is tackling one of the biggest reasons people are shifting away from conventional meat: its carbon footprint. Analysts at IAMECON calculated that Planetarians vegan meat has a carbon footprint that’s 50 times better than animal meat and nine times better than most other plant-based meat, due in large part to its upcycling of existing ingredients leftover from other industries, which lowers both water and power consumption. “Eating Planetarians Vegan Meat once a week equals planting 19 trees,” the company says.

    Planetarians has already tested its product with hotels, restaurants, and schools, and has secured its first commercial contract. It is now preparing its second line and is collecting orders to begin production in October. It is also working with AB InBev to place its lines across every brewery it has around the world.

    “Like many other hard-working entrepreneurs and scientists, we have been trying to discover an alternative protein that hits all the marks,” Barnthouse said. “I think we have finally found it. I cannot wait to see Planetarians’ technology deployed across every brewery in the world.”

    The post With $6 Million In Funding, Planetarians Plots a Future for Low-Carbon Vegan Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Miyoko’s Creamery Lawsuit: Case Filed By Plant-Based Dairy Company Against Founder

    3 Mins Read

    Plant-based dairy company Miyoko’s Creamery has filed a case against founder Miyoko Schinner alleging breach of contract and company IP misappropriation.

    Earlier today, Green Queen received a PDF copy of court filings detailing that on February 16, Miyoko’s Creamery filed a complaint case in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California naming founder and former CEO Miyoko Schinner as the sole defendant.

    The filings cite a range of complaints against Schinner: Breach of Contract, Violation of Defend Trade Secrets Act, Violation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, Breach of Duty of Loyalty and Breach of Promissory Note.

    According to the filings, Schinner allegedly stole company IP and “hatched a plot to steal the Company’s property, trade secrets, and confidential information so that she could create a competing company.”

    In the documents, the company says it issued multiple notices to Schinner upon discovering her plans and asked her to return the confidential items which included R&D materials such as “proprietary recipes and plant-based culture configurations”. It claims Schinner did not comply and as a result, the company “was forced to bring this action to protect its trade secrets and confidential information.”

    Further allegations against Schinner mentioned in the filings include not being able to develop or maintain a strong executive team, repeatedly missing performance and financial targets, refusing to facilitate a smooth transition following her departure as CEO, and enlisting the help of now-former company employees to help her steal company documents.

    Legal news service Law360 first reported the lawsuit.

    Green Queen has reached out to Schinner for comment and this story will be updated when we hear back.

    Schinner was removed as CEO last June

    On Thursday (February 16), the company issued a press release stating that it has parted ways with company founder Miyoko Schinner citing “a new stage of growth” for the organization. The company said Schinner had exited as CEO and was no longer involved in day-to-day operations. It announced that it had hired executive search firm Heidrik & Struggles to help find a new CEO and that existing company CFO Jon Blair had taken on the role of interim President “to guide this transition” in the meantime. Schinner remains as board Chair.

    In the court filings, the company says it “unanimously terminated her as CEO to move her to a more appropriate employee role” and that the company’s rapid growth “required a CEO capable of taking on the increased responsibilities that come with an expanding business and the management of a larger company.”

    In a social media post commenting on the news, Schinner said that her removal as CEO “occurred months ago in June 2022” and that “negotiations for my continued involvement stalled before Christmas”, concluding that “we did not arrive at this point by my choosing”.

    Credit: Miyoko’s Creamery

    Miyoko’s Creamery: a vegan dairy pioneer

    Miyoko’s Creamery (originally Miyoko’s Kitchen) was founded in 2014 by Schinner, a longtime vegan chef, cookbook author, activist and TV presenter.

    The company, which earned B Corp status in 2019, produces a range of vegan dairy products aimed at consumers and food service including cashew-based artisan cheese wheels, a popular European-style butter, cream cheeses and other plant-based dairy spreads, and liquid mozzarella.

    According to a 2021 press release, the company’s products are sold in over 20,000 retailers worldwide.

    Two years ago, Miyoko’s won a legal battle against the State of California that granted the company permission to use the term “butter” to describe its products after winning a preliminary injunction in 2020, with the Judge commenting that “the State’s showing of broad marketplace confusion around plant-based dairy alternatives is empirically underwhelming.​” 

    That same year, the company raised a $52 million Series C funding round led by PowerPlant Partners, with participation from CPT Capital, Obvious Ventures, Stray Dog Capital and JMK/Cult Capital.

    Last year, Miyoko’s raised just under $7 million in equity from undisclosed investors; BizJournals reported the company has received over $78.6 million worth of funding since its founding. According to data published on Dealroom, the company was valued $260 million as of June 2022.

    This is a developing story.

    The post Miyoko’s Creamery Lawsuit: Case Filed By Plant-Based Dairy Company Against Founder appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.