Indonesian plant-based startup Arummi has raised $2M in seed funding to expand the distribution of its cashew milk line nationally and across Southeast Asia.
Arummi, a Jakarta-based producer of cashew milk, has secured $2M in financing from international investors to scale up its operation.
The round was led by Singaporean VC firm Beenext, Korea Investment Partners (the VC arm of one of South Korea’s largest private financial groups), and Switzerland-based Fondation Botnar.
“The funds are going toward scaling distribution, deepening brand awareness, and product development to expand our range over time,” CEO Nacitta Kanyandara, who co-founded Arummi with Raja Abdalla in 2022, tells Green Queen.
The firm is banking on Indonesia’s standing as one of the world’s top cashew producers. Most cashew farms in the country are owned by smallholders, so the nut is vital to the local economy.
Further, Arummi aims to address the high prevalence of lactose intolerance (representing over two-thirds of children and older adults) and the growing interest in plant-based milk (over seven in 10 consume these products once every fortnight).
Courtesy: Arummi
A cashew milk endorsed by the World Barista Champion
“Each region has its own ‘hero’ plant-based milk ingredient: soy in China, almond in the US, oat in Europe,” notes Kanyandara. “In Asia-Pacific, which produces more than 60% of the world’s cashews, cashew is the natural choice. It’s familiar in local diets, naturally creamy, and well-suited for the region. Over time, this local advantage also supports our goal of making plant-based milk more accessible.”
Arummi’s current range comprises a classic cashew milk and a barista edition. The former contains 6% cashews, emulsifiers and stabilisers, synthetic cashew and vanilla flavourings, and a vitamin and mineral premix. The barista version, meanwhile, has 5.5% cashews, plus sugar, salt, and some of the aforementioned additives.
Is the startup concerned that the long ingredient lists may deter clean-label-seeking consumers? “We’re always improving our products, including simplifying ingredients where possible while maintaining quality,” says Kanyandara. “All of our products are BPOM-approved, Halal-certified, and go through strict quality control, so consumers can be confident in what they’re drinking.”
Though the protein content is low (1g per 100g), Arummi’s real USP is in the micronutrient mix in the classic flavour, which offers 45% of the daily recommended intake of vitamin B2 and E, 35% of vitamin B9 and D, 30% of calcium, and 20% of vitamin B12 per serving.
As for the barista milk, Arummi has roped in Mikael Jasin, the 2024 World Barista Champion, as its brand ambassador, working with him on the R&D to ensure the product works well in coffee and tea, the two main vehicles of milk consumption in Southeast Asia.
“In fact, it was used in his winning routine at the 2024 World Barista Championship. That level of recognition speaks to the quality of our product and its ability to meet the highest global standards,” says Kanyandara.
Courtesy: Arummi
Arummi works with co-manufacturers in Indonesia, with its current capacity able to support distribution across 10 cities and having the flexibility to scale as demand grows. This also helps it keep costs low.
“Our 200ml pack retails at Rp9,900 (60 cents) and our one-litre pack at Rp39,000 ($2.30), positioned competitively within the plant-based milk category,” she says. “Thanks to regional sourcing and scale efficiencies, we see a clear path toward reaching price parity with dairy.”
Arummi expects a strong 2025 after sales tripled last year
The company’s products are already available in more than 650 retail stores and 3,000 coffee shops and restaurants. To date, it has sold over 750,000 litres of its cashew milks.
Armed with the fresh capital, it is now eyeing further expansion. “Right now, our priority is Indonesia, where dairy alternatives are still in an early stage. In the long run, we see strong potential across Southeast Asia given the region’s close ties to cashew production and consumption,” outlines Kanyandara.
“Our focus remains on making cashew milk the hero product. At the same time, we’re exploring product development opportunities that build on cashew’s strengths and meet everyday consumer needs,” she adds.
Its $2M raise comes amid the most dire landscape for food tech investment in a decade. Last year, funding for plant-based food startups fell by 64% in 2024, reaching $309M. That trend has continued, with these companies receiving just $180M in the first six months of 2025, $100M of which came from a single debt financing deal for Beyond Meat.
Courtesy: Arummi
So how did Arummi convince investors to back its cashew milk? “Our pitch was rooted in both the market potential and our execution. More than 70% of Indonesians and Asians are lactose-intolerant, yet dairy is still the default,” explains Kanyandara.
“There’s a massive opportunity to provide a locally relevant, affordable alternative. We’ve stayed focused on one product and clear about our vision, and we’re fortunate to have partnered with investors who believe in that vision.”
It didn’t hurt that Arummi’s revenue skyrocketed too. “We’ve seen strong momentum. Our sales more than tripled between 2023 and 2024, and 2025 is shaping up to be another strong growth year. What’s exciting is that this is driven by a single product, with growth coming from velocity and repeat purchases,” the CEO reveals.
Over the next 12 months, Arummi plans to strengthen its retail presence, expand café partnerships, and improve its supply chain efficiency. “In five years, we see Arummi as the leading plant-based dairy brand in Southeast Asia – proof that a local ingredient can go global,” she says.
Aleph Farms CEO Didier Toubia on why the cultivated meat firm hasn’t launched yet, its plans for the UAE, its ongoing fundraise, and comparisons with the dotcom bubble.
It has been 21 months since Aleph Farms was approved to sell cultivated beef in Israel, 15 months since it laid off 30% of its staff, and six months since it raised $7.5M in the first closing of a fresh funding round.
A rollercoaster would be a good way to describe the startup’s previous two years, which included regulatory applications in Switzerland, the UK, and Thailand, and a $21.5M via a SAFE that converted earlier this year.
It is one of the longest-standing cultivated meat companies around. Whether cultivated meat is a technology trigger, at its peak of inflated expectations, or under the current trough of disillusionment in the Gartner hype cycle, Aleph Farms has been there for the whole ride.
Now, the industry is fast-approaching the next stage: the slope of enlightenment. Aiming to lead the way is what co-founder and CEO Didier Toubia calls “Aleph Farms 2.0”.
“Aleph Farms today is very different from the Aleph Farms of 2021-22,” he tells me. “We implemented a lot of changes… to make sure that Aleph Farms is actually in the best position to lead this new category for cultivated meat.”
In 2023, the model of the cultivated meat industry was to go big and fast—expand scale at all costs and launch as quickly as possible. As capital costs increased and investors became more risk-averse, Aleph Farms began focusing on profitability instead by becoming leaner and more capital-efficient.
“We have paused our investments in large plants and big facilities, and postponed our launch to really take the time first to reduce our costs, improve the scalability of our platform, and build the foundations right before we expand,” says Toubia.
He adds that the layoffs last year were part of this – today, the firm has around 40 employees. Moreover, it has decided to recede from the US, instead prioritising smaller markets with lower volumes first. This would help reach profitability faster, which in turn would make it easier to raise money.
Regulatory updates and plans for UAE and EU
Courtesy: Aleph Farms
Toubia says Aleph Farms is likely the most advanced company in the regulatory approval processes in Switzerland and the UK (where at least four others have filed). In the latter country, the firm is part of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) regulatory sandbox, and was the first to reach the ‘validation’ and ‘suitability’ phases, leaving it three steps away from approval.
“The FSA in the UK is very professional, and I think they’ve really taken to this issue proactively,” he says. “There are good chances that they would actually be the next to prove a cultivated meat product. Of course, I hope it will be Aleph Farms. But, you know, any approval is good for the industry.”
The startup’s filing in Singapore predates these applications. The city-state was the first to clear cultivated meat for sale (back in 2020), and has since issued another approval. Aleph Farms – like a dozen or two others, according to Toubia – is still awaiting a decision.
“It has been delayed for a bunch of reasons,” he says. “After being the first country to approve cultivated meat at the time, they really want to make sure that they are not perceived as a country where it is easy to get approvals.”
The raft of applications has put a strain too. Toubia believes many companies that have filed for approval don’t actually intend to conduct business in Singapore – they just thought it would be easy to get clearance.
“We do see Singapore as a hub for Asia,” he argues. “We’re big believers in Singapore. We believe that the potential is great and that it’s a great footprint for us in Asia. So we remain very committed and excited about the opportunity in Singapore.”
Further, Toubia reveals that Aleph Farms plans to pursue regulatory approval in the EU (where two companies have already filed), as well as the UAE, which would be an entirely new region of focus for cultivated meat.
“We have a strong agenda in terms of food security at Aleph Farms, which is raising a lot of interest, essentially because of the geopolitical tensions, tariffs and disruptions of supply chains globally, especially for animal proteins,” he explains.
Aleph Farms optimises tech and production strategy
Aleph Farms operates a 65,000 sq ft facility in Rehovot, Israel | Courtesy: Amit Goren/Aleph Farms
Speaking of approvals, when Aleph Farms earned the green light in Israel, it was contingent upon clearing a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) inspection for its production facility. That is still pending, though the company has transferred its production onto its new “platform 1.2”.
This is an optimised, simplified version of its initial tech, with faster timelines, greater efficiency, and fewer steps. “We are now in the process of completing the GMP and all the other certifications to be able to start producing commercially with this new platform,” says Toubia.
“We want to make sure that when we launch, we have continuity in the delivery of products,” he adds. “We’ve seen in the industry that sometimes, launching a product which is very expensive, not available, then pulling it back from the market is actually doing more harm than good.”
A recent independent analysis showed that Aleph Farms’s cultivated steak could be produced at $6.45 per lb and sold in wholesale for $12.25, generating annual net profits of $78.5M. With further process enhancement, the cost of goods sold could fall to just $4.08 per lb.
The firm operates a 65,000 sq ft plant in Rehovot, Israel (with a capacity to initially produce 10 tonnes of cultivated steak annually), has signed a co-manufacturing deal with Singapore’s ESCO Aster, and is building a factory in Thailand with biotech firms BBGI and Fermbox Bio.
Moreover, this month, Aleph Farms teamed up with The Cultured Hub, a biotech facility situated in The Valley in Kemptthal, Switzerland, to produce cultivated meat. It’s meant to be a regional hub that serves as a “cornerstone” for expanding capacity in Europe.
“We’re walking the talk, building and setting up production capacities closer to our markets, and taking operations out of Israel. It also demonstrates the feasibility of our strategy for relying on partners for production,” says Toubia. “The plan with The Cultured Hub is to use the existing plant in the capital, but also to further explore opportunities to operate additional, larger-scale plants, with a focus on Europe.”
Where would these be located? “It could be, of course, in Switzerland, but [we’re] also looking at opportunities in the UK and in Eastern Europe.”
‘Indulgent like beef, healthy like chicken breast’
Courtesy: Aleph Farms
It’s not just the production process that Aleph Farms is fine-tuning. “We’ve also done a lot of work on the product itself,” says Toubia. “I think that it’s important to get the product right, at the right price and to the right consumer – more important than the technology itself.”
He continues: “That’s something that sometimes other cultivated meat companies are not necessarily spending enough time on. There’s a lot of focus on technology and not necessarily on getting the product right.
“People will not buy a product just because it’s a cool product made by an advanced technology. Aleph Farms is the only company cleared today [to sell] cultivated beef products with natural cells – not immortalised, not GMO – as whole cuts.”
The firm’s first product is a Black Angus Petit Steak, and it’s working on a thicker steak too. “We’ve done a lot of work to really focus on trends for proteins… providing an optimised nutritional profile for the product that’s high in protein, low in calories and fat, high in micronutrients, to really target this segment of the market,” he says.
Another trend that’s amplified of late (thanks to the rise of GLP-1 drugs) is healthy indulgence. “A lot of people today want to eat less, but want the portions to be both indulgent and tasty and healthy at the same time,” he explains.
“And today, beef is considered indulgent and tasty, but not as healthy, for instance, as chicken breast, just because it’s heavier to digest, and richer in calories, fat, and cholesterol. Our goal is to deliver a new product that is healthy like a chicken breast, but indulgent like a beef fillet.”
Toubia says this is a new niche that would appeal to several consumer groups: “We need to make sure we’re targeting a segment large enough to really drive scale-up and traction in the market.”
Aleph Farms looking to raise up to $25M by year-end
Courtesy: Aleph Farms
To date, Aleph Farms has raised $147M, including the $29M it announced from the SAFE conversion and new funding. Now, it’s working on a second closing of the latter round by the end of the year, targeting a cumulative raise of $20-25M (including the $7.5M from March).
“The refocus away from scale into building a profitable business also implies a plan where we intend to raise much less money than the plans we had in 2021-22, because today, investors really want to see capital efficiency,” says Toubia.
“They want companies with less capital to reach more significant milestones and become profitable. So relying on external partners for the production is also where to minimise all direct investment in capex and equipment.”
Aleph Farms has a three-phase plan to maintain its leadership in the industry. The first stage is centred on growth foundations, with the business aiming to launch products with restaurant partners in Israel and Singapore by 2027, as well as achieving positive gross margins.
The second phase focuses on profitability between 2027 and 2028, and involves expansion in Asia-Pacific and the EU, building capacity, and garnering government support and offtake agreements.
It’s only after 2028, in the third phase, that Aleph will go all-in on scale. The company aims to launch in the US and Japan, while introducing new products and entering premium retail stores.
Cultivated meat akin to the dotcom bubble
Courtesy: Aleph Farms
Toubia compares the cultivated meat sector to the dotcom bubble of the late 90s. “We saw a lot of companies raising a lot of money and valuations going to the sky. A lot of junk and not very good companies were funded, with a strong focus at the time on scale and gaining a user base, rather than focusing on profit,” he recalls.
Then came the crash, with the value of the Nasdaq index sinking by 78%. “Companies were able to really rethink their business and their focus on building real, profitable businesses,” he says. Those who did – Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft among them – emerged from the slump and own the market today.
“It’s not a perfect analogy, but the same process is happening with complementary proteins,” he says. In 2020-21, a lot of money flowed into the space, but capital in this sector has shrunk alarmingly in the years since.
“After this excess of 2020, we’ve seen an opposite kind of excessive situation where, in 2023-24, many investors stopped completely investing in the space,” he explains. “Today, we’ve started seeing a kind of a rebound of the sector, which is much more rational and focused on… analysis of the fundamentals of the companies.
“In the next five years, we see a smaller group of companies really emerging as the category leaders. And those companies would be the ones which understand the market and the consumer, which are developing the right product at the right price for the right consumers, which are going to maintain the costs and focus on operational efficiency,” says Toubia.
“I believe Aleph Farms will be part of those few leaders emerging from the last two years of downturn.”
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Bel Group’s Stranger Things-inspired vegan cheese, Planta’s return, and Veganuary’s six-month poll.
New products and launches
French dairy giant Bel Group has partnered with Netflix to launch a spicy vegan version of its Babybel cheese, called Hellfire, in the UK to mark the final season of Stranger Things. It’s available at Sainsbury’s and Morrisons for £2.45 per 120g pack.
Courtesy: Bel/Nikolay Popov/Getty Images
UK firm Whitworths has introduced a walnut-based minced meat alternative, calling it the country’s “first unprocessed meat-free mince”. The Nutty Kitchen Supermince comes in original, Indian, Italian and Mexican flavours, and will be available on its website and on Ocado.
Meanwhile, plant-based leader Beyond Meat has launched its steak pieces in nearly 250 Sainsbury’s stores and on Ocado.
In London, legacy vegan restaurant Mildreds has partnered with ready meal playerGrubby to offer some of its signature dishes for at-home cooking, including kiri hodi, bokkeumbap, and a Korean fried chicken burger. The limited-edition menu will launch on October 2.
Courtesy: Mildreds/Grubby
British oat milk startup Moma has launched four new products targeting flavour and functional trends. These include a pistachio oat milk, a salted maple and hazelnut oat milk, a ready-to-drink chai latte, and an immunity-support oat milk with five essential micronutrients. The former two are available at Morrisons and Waitrose, and the latter two will launch at Waitrose on October 12.
Also in the UK, dairy-free dessert brand The Coconut Collab has released Pistachio Pots at Morrisons and on Ocado, with more retailers to follow next month. They’re available for £2.95 per four-pack of 45g pots.
Dutch producer Schouten Europe has unveiled a new vegan sausage with an “innovative” animal fat replacer and plant-based casing, which it will exhibit at the Anuga fair in Cologne (October 4-8).
Courtesy: Bene Meat Technologies
And Czech pet food firm Bene Meat Technologies has launched a Try & Share programme for pet parents to trial its cultivated meat dog treats in the EU.
Company and finance developments
Germany’s Planethic Group (formerly Veganz Group) has decided to acquire IP Innovation Partners Technology to optimise costs and boost its 2D-printing expertise – it markets oat milk sheets under the Milik brand.
Courtesy: Veganz
Canadian mycelium protein startup Maia Farms has received C$1.75M ($1.27M) in funding from Genome British Columbia’s Industry Innovation Fund.
Brazilian mycoprotein player Typcal has been accepted into the Biotope incubator, through which it will receive €350,000 ($412,000) in financial support.
Meanwhile, US startup CoryPro Ingredients, which creates proteins from guar gum industry sidestreams, has signed a deal with Mexican guar gum producer Polymerals to establish a guar protein processing facility in Torreón, Mexico.
Courtesy: Planta
After being rescued from bankruptcy this month, US vegan sushi chain Planta has announced that eight of its 18 locations will continue operating.
Future-Proof Group Media has acquired the Cultured Meat Symposium to its global portfolio of alternative protein events, with the first joint conference set for February.
Israeli food tech player Steakholder Foods has agreed to take over digital dyeing tech company Twine Solutions to add to its existing 3D-printing solutions.
Courtesy: Steakholder Foods
In the UK, Dave Sparrow has left his role as CEO of Vegan Food Group, the parent company of VFC, Meatless Farm, Clive’s Purely Plants, and Tofutown.
Research and awards
French cultivated meat player Gourmey has been selected by the European Innovation Council (EIC) to join its EIC Scaling Club accelerator programme.
Courtesy: Sherry Hack
Caroline Cotto, director of sensory research agency Nectar, has been named on the 2025 Grist 50 list of climate leaders shaping a sustainable future.
Australian precision fermentation firm All G‘s animal-free lactoferrin, LFX, has exhibited several skin benefits in pre-clinical testing, including reduced inflammatory cytokines, stronger collagen-1 protein production, and lower beta-galactosidase activity.
Courtesy: Veganuary
Finally, Veganuary‘s six-month follow-up survey found that a third are still vegan, and another third are eating 75% less meat and dairy. Moreover, three in five reported improvements to general health.
British plant-based startup This is extending its whole-food focus with the launch of a Burmese-style chickpea tofu in partnership with Germany’s Omami.
Plant-based startups This and Omami have joined forces to roll out the first chickpea tofu available in mainstream UK supermarkets.
The move marks This’s first foray into the tofu category (albeit with a different base ingredient), and Omami’s entry into the British market.
The This is Omami Chickpea Tofu product is an extension of This’s recent focus on whole-food plant-based proteins that go beyond its meat-mimicking formats. It is available at Sainsbury’s and Ocado in lightly seasoned and chilli-spiced flavours for £2.95 per 200g, with a wider rollout set for next month.
Omami brings its chickpea tofu expertise to the UK
Courtesy: This
While tofu is now bought by nearly 9% of British households, the market is almost entirely comprised of Chinese-style soybean tofu.
Burmese tofu, which is made from chickpeas and has a different texture to its soy-derived counterpart, is confined to a minuscule number of artisan brands and restaurant dishes.
The yellow-hued protein has a bouncy, jelly-like consistency, and is firm enough to hold its shape when sliced. It can be crisped on the outside while retaining a creamy texture on the inside. And traditionally, it’s used in dishes like Burmese tofu salad, twice-fried fritters, curries, and deep-fried crackers.
This and Omami’s version is inspired by Burmese tofu, but the recipe has some twists. Their lightly seasoned tofu contains 75% chickpeas, which are mixed with firming agents, salt, sugar, rapeseed oil, pumpkin seeds, cornstarch, wheat, oats, and black pepper.
The chilli-spiced tofu, meanwhile, is gluten-free, with no wheat, oats or pumpkin seeds, and some added spices and chilli. The range has 14-15g of protein and around 2g of fibre per 100g, and just 0.7g of saturated fat.
They will both be available in Tesco from October 6, while the lightly seasoned version will appear on Waitrose shelves from October 15.
Omami is owned by The New Originals Company, which is Europe’s largest tofu manufacturer. In Germany, the brand already retails a wide range of chickpea tofu products, with its black pepper variety bearing resemblance to the lightly seasoned tofu it has launched in the UK with This.
This doubles down on plant-based whole foods
Courtesy: This
“This is going to be the best tofu on the market, game-changing taste and next-level texture,” claimed This CEO Mark Cuddigan.
“We’re obsessed at This with making plant-based food that tastes delicious and delivers on nutrition too. Our new chickpea-based tofu does exactly that and will hopefully change the way people think about tofu. Plus, there’s also zero fuss – no marinating, no prep, no blandness. Just chop, cook, and enjoy.”
The lightly seasoned tofu block, with a black pepper and salt marinade, can be used for any cuisine, while the spicy chickpea tofu is best-suited to Asian and Mexican meals, including curries and tofu tacos.
“We’re thrilled about this partnership with This. It’s a perfect match of two innovative companies that share the same vision – revolutionising the plant-based market by creating products that truly excite consumers with exceptional taste and nutrition,” said Omami CEO Christina Hammerschmid.
“We’re delighted that people in Britain will soon be cooking and enjoying Omami’s deliciously marinated chickpea tofu,” she added.
The launch comes a week after This rolled out a plant-based beef pastrami and two new SKUs under the This is Super Superfood range it unveiled in the spring. The latter line is part of an effort to offer new standalone formats of whole-food plant proteins that don’t set out to replicate meat.
It came after sales of meat analogues fell by 10% in UK supermarkets last year, as ultra-processing fears pushed Brits towards traditional plant proteins like tofu and beans. And half of them want to further change their diets by eating less meat and dairy and/or more plant-based foods.
A new survey has found that over half of Brits who have stopped drinking plant-based milk are willing to return to the category – here’s how brands can win them back.
Many people may have stopped drinking non-dairy milk recently, but it doesn’t mean they’re done with the category.
That’s the gist of a new survey by Oddlygood, the Finnish plant-based milk company that bought UK-based Rude Health last year. It polled 2,000 Brits, categorising them as non-users, lapsed consumers or infrequent drinkers (less than twice a month), and asked if they’d come back.
Among the second group – those who have given up these products in the last 12 months – more than half (53%) said they would. In fact, three in five (62%) remain positive about plant-based milk, a welcome sign for a category that saw sales contract by 3% between January 2024 and 2025.
“After years of rapid growth, plant-based drinks have entered a natural phase of consolidation,” Oddlygood CEO Niko Vuorenmaa tells Green Queen.
“Our research shows this slowdown isn’t about rejection – it’s about unmet expectations. Consumers want great taste, clear benefits, and products that feel worth the price,” he explains. “When those expectations aren’t met, they step back – but they haven’t given up on the category.”
Lapsed consumers need credible on-pack health assurances
Courtesy: Oddlygood
The survey uncovered “particularly strong” opportunities to win back lapsed users, a predominantly young group (half are under 35 years of age).
There was one clear takeaway from the results: health is top of consumers’ minds. While 58% of lapsed consumers say they understand the health benefits of oat milk and the like, clear and accredited on-pack health information would draw 28% back towards these products, making it the most influential driver. Taste and price, at 26% each, aren’t far behind.
Lapsed consumers are still open-minded,” says Vuorenmaa. “The key is rebuilding trust. That means delivering on quality, communicating nutrition clearly and confidently, and giving them reasons to enjoy plant-based again through flavour innovation and consistency. It’s about showing them that plant-based can be delicious, exciting, and worth their investment.”
Infrequent users exhibited similar motivations, with clear on-pack health details attracting 33% of them, followed by confidence that plant-based milks contain natural ingredients (27%). In contrast, taste is the top factor that would entice people who’ve never tried these products (cited by 22%), followed by price (19%).
Recent research by the Good Food Institute Europe revealed that a third of consumers want to cut back on animal proteins, and 38% want to increase their plant-based consumption. High costs (25%) and health concerns (24%) are the primary factors driving Brits away from meat and dairy, followed by changing taste preferences (19%).
The Oddlygood poll found that taste and health are also key barriers to the consumption of vegan yoghurts and desserts, and quality concerns are more pronounced for these formats than milk alternatives.
Over a fifth (22%) of lapsed users feel they’re paying more for an inferior product, and a similar share believe non-dairy versions taste artificial or too bland. Addressing their quality perceptions is key to bringing these consumers back, according to Oddlygood.
Coconut milk could be the surprising draw for non-users
Courtesy: Oddlygood
“Real growth won’t come from preaching to the converted, but from engaging the consumers outside the category,” says Vuorenmaa. While lapsed users need reassurance, non-users need persuasion.
“For lapsed users, the job is to rebuild confidence by focusing on quality, consistency and transparency – giving them a reason to rejoin the category,” he explains. “For non-users, it’s about bold, creative communication that challenges outdated perceptions of taste and functionality. Brands can’t do that alone – this is where collaboration across the industry becomes vital.”
Though oat milk is by far the most popular milk alternative in the UK, the option that appeals most to non-users is actually coconut milk (13%). Oddlygood, which spun off from dairy giant Valio in 2018, argues that this remains an “untapped entry point” into the category – indeed, coconut milk only made up 5% of the category’s sales last year.
“Coconut is familiar, delivers indulgent taste, and works well in both hot drinks and cooking. For non-users, this approachability is massively important,” Vuorenmaa highlights, adding that Rude Health’s organic coconut milk is its top-selling SKU and the number-one coconut product in the category.
Nearly a third (32%) of British households bought a plant-based milk product in 2024, up from the previous two years. It is the largest segment of the country’s plant-based sector, and also accounts for nearly 7% of the overall dairy market. Barista-style milks have been particularly successful, witnessing a 10% uptick in sales. So the numbers show the category remains strong and retains potential.
Rude Health itself has seen strong momentum after its acquisition in October 2024, outperforming the category with 22% growth. “That tells us that there’s real consumer appetite for brands that deliver flavour, transparency and a strong identity,” says Vuorenmaa.
“Oddlygood continues to grow globally at over 40% year-on-year,” he adds. “2025 has been a pivotal year as we bring Rude Health into the Oddlygood Group family – together, we’re better positioned than ever to drive category growth, engage new consumers and raise the bar on taste and quality across Europe.”
French plant-based meat maker Nxtfood, known for its Accro brand, has secured €49M ($58M) after tripling its revenue last year.
While capital flows into alternative proteins continue to shrink, Nxtfood, the French vegan startup behind the Accro brand of meat alternatives, has gone against the grain.
It has raised €49M ($58M) in fresh funding from existing backers Creadev and Roquette Ventures, and new investors Clay Capital and IRD Invest (Groupe IRD).
It represents the largest investment in plant-based meat in Europe since 2022, and takes the firm’s total raised to $70M. The capital will be used to triple Nxtfood’s production capacity and expand into new markets, as it aims to become profitable in the next 12 to 18 months.
“This record fundraising is a true vote of confidence,” said Nxtfood CEO Renaud Saïsset. “But beyond the numbers, I want to salute the outstanding work of our team: it is thanks to their energy, their rigour, and their creativity that we have reached this decisive milestone. Together, we carry a clear ambition: to make Accro the driving force of the plant-based transition in France and in Europe.”
Nxtfood bucks plant-based investment trends
Courtesy: Nxtfood
Founded in 2019 by Thierry Maroye, Nxtfood is based in the Hauts-de-France region and creates meat alternatives from locally produced wheat and pea proteins.
It sells over 20 products across multiple categories, spanning chicken fillets, slices and nuggets, pork sausage and bacon, beef mince, meatballs and burgers, cold cuts, as well as appetisers and ready meals.
These products are available in all major supermarkets and over 10,000 foodservice outlets. And having tripled its revenue in 2024, Nxtfood claims it is the fastest-growing plant-based meat startup in France.
That no doubt helped the firm secure the second-largest round for plant-based proteins in 2025 (behind Beyond Meat’s $100M debt financing), and Europe’s biggest since Planted’s $72M Series B round three years ago, in an otherwise dire investment landscape. Plant-based companies raised just $309M last year (a 64% decline), and by the first half of 2025, they had only brought in $180M.
Nxtfood’s success has also attracted new investors to the category, with Clay Capital making its first investment in plant-based meat.
“We have long observed the plant-based meat market with caution, looking for the right alignment between product, strategy, and team,” said Clay Capital founder and managing partner Matthieu Vermersch.
“With Nxtfood, we have found a company that combines operational excellence at scale, European ambition, and a clear path to profitability – a challenge that few players in this sector are able to meet today,” he added.
Nxtfood looks to expand across Europe and double profits
Courtesy: Nxtfood
Building on its growth last year, Nxtfood is now aiming to double its revenues in 2025. It will use the funds to expand its production site in Vitry-en-Artois, tripling its footprint to 12,000 sq m.
The company will also strengthen its R&D into wet extrusion, and advance marketing through the Accro brand in France and B2B and co-manufacturing opportunities in Europe, starting with Germany, Italy and the Benelux region.
“We are proud of this new milestone for Nxtfood, whose industrial future is now fully aligned with its commercial performance,” said Baptiste Gormand, senior investment director at Creadev. “The arrival of Clay Capital and IRD Invest further strengthens an already solid governance, alongside the Roquette family, and [is] capable of supporting the company’s European ambition.”
Nxtfood’s sales success is reflective of the overall vegan market in France, which saw a 9% hike in sales in 2024. Sales of chilled plant-based meat products alone were up by 15.5%, reaching €155.7M (behind only milk alternatives). At the same time, meat intake has fallen by 6% over the last two decades.
The company’s focus on locally grown wheat and peas would likely also have caught investors’ attention. In July, as part of its National Strategy for Plant Proteins, France’s agriculture and food sovereignty ministry invested €11.7M into 10 companies working to reduce reliance on imported plant proteins and develop a range of local products.
This aligns with the 35% of French residents who rate legumes and pulses among the richest sources of protein, and the two-thirds who eat foods like beans, grains, lentils and wheat weekly. For a third of these consumers, nutritional benefits are the major driver behind the increase in consumption.
That said, the sales success and government investment have also been contrasted with France’s efforts to inhibit the growth of the plant-based sector. Its food safety agency has recommended a ban on soy-based products in mass catering environments by invoking long-debunked health concerns, while its ministers are once again behind an EU-wide measure to ban the use of meat-like terms on plant-based product labels.
Dutch firm Vegan Visboer has expanded beyond animal-free offerings with a new blended salmon offering, combining the fish with mycoprotein and plants.
Blended proteins are on an unstoppable streak, and the Netherlands is at the heart of the race.
Lidl, Aldi and Albert Heijn have all released private-label products blending meat with plants, and the latter has also brought out two hybrid milk SKUs.
Now, one Dutch startup is taking the idea further with a first-of-its-kind product, extending the blended protein portfolio to seafood.
Based in Zwolle, Vegan Visboer (Vegan Fisherman) has unveiled a hybrid salmon fillet in collaboration with aquaculture company Tiptopp, which produces probiotics for feed and processes industry sidestreams.
Vegan Visboer already sells a range of plant-based seafood products, including fish fillets, nuggets, burgers and shrimp croquettes. But its move into blended proteins marks a departure from what its brand name promises.
Its new innovation, manufactured at Kramer Fish in Urk, comprises 54% Norwegian salmon from sidestreams that “normally never reach consumers’ plates”.
The rest of the ingredients include textured mycoprotein, textured rice flour, potato starch, bamboo fibre, rapeseed oil, salt, and paprika extract.
“For many consumers, the step to go fully plant-based is still too big. Our Hybrid Salmon Fillet bridges that gap: the familiar taste of salmon, combined with the benefits of plant-based innovation,” the company said.
It suggested that the product was developed with the intention of reducing the business’s carbon footprint, although adding a seafood product to an entirely vegan range isn’t exactly best practice on the environmental front. Rather, the fillet – as is the case with other blended meats – will help lower the climate impact of the seafood industry.
Norwegian salmon is notorious for being overly dependent on global fish feed supplies – the sector’s feed footprint makes up 2.5% of global marine fisheries catch, and the forage fish targeted by the industry contain key micronutrients that are critical to healthy populations in West Africa, leading to experts accusing the sector of ‘food colonialism’.
Globally, too, farmed salmon consumes 44% of the world’s fish oil, despite only accounting for 4.5% of seafood production by the aquaculture industry.
To navigate this, Vegan Visboer works with Tiptopp to remove the salmon left over from filleting, and uses this residual flow to extract its ingredients and flavours. It then adds hypoallergenic rice grains to help bridge the gap between the fish and plant-based ingredients.
Are blended proteins the answer to alt-seafood’s problems?
Courtesy: Vegan Visboer
Europeans are still reluctant to go fully plant-based. Less than one in five (18%) avoid animal products in their diet, and when asked what changes they’d like to make in their eating patterns, 12% wish to increase their intake of meat and dairy.
At the same time, two in five actively avoid processed foods, a category that includes plant-based seafood as well as processed conventional fish products. Plus, 51% of Europeans want to eat healthier, versus just 9% who want to prioritise sustainability.
“By combining the best of both worlds, we retain the authentic taste and nutritional value while still taking a step towards plant-based,” Vegan Visboer stated.
“The ‘convenience generation’ is the future: health, sustainability, and food safety are more important than ever before. This generation is growing up with plant-based alternatives and is very conscious about making informed choices,” it added.
The move is the latest marker of the embattled plant-based seafood industry. These products represent just 1% of both the vegan meat market and overall seafood sales. Over the last year, several alternative seafood startups have closed, including France’s Olala! and Dutch startups Upstream Foods and Vegan Finest Foods. In the US, celeb-favourite vegan sushi chain Planta filed for bankruptcy this summer and was recently acquired by a VC group for $7.8M.
And despite consumers viewing fish as a healthier, more sustainable alternative to other meats, plant-based versions can still be lacking in protein and omega-3s. Vegan Visboer’s blended salmon contains 14g of protein and 2.5g of fibre per 100g, and is rich in minerals like selenium, magnesium and potassium, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
The firm plans to appeal to a broad target group, including flexitarians, eco-conscious consumers, and conventional fish lovers. It will debut the hybrid salmon fillet at Gastvrij Rotterdam and Anuga in Cologne, with a rollout set for January.
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Two River’s lion’s mane broth, Planta’s acquisition, and animal-free egg legal battles.
New products and launches
US startup Two River has launched the country’s first Lion’s Mane Mushroom Broth into Sprouts Farmers Market stores nationwide – with an emphatic approval from mushroom king Derek Sarno.
Courtesy: Two River
Also in the US, fast-food chain Just Poké has added Impact Tuna‘s plant-based raw tuna to the menu of all its 29 locations in Washington state.
British tempeh leader Better Nature has made its way into the Nordics, starting with ICA Gruppen and Coop Sverige in Sweden.
Courtesy: Better Nature
Kallø, the natural foods brand owned by Ecotone, has entered the UK dairy alternatives segment with protein-boosted and gluten-free oat milks – the former contains 2.5g of protein per 100ml, and the latter just three ingredients.
Swedish pea milk brand Sproud has launched a new billboard campaign in the UK with Love Island host Maya Jama, who is an investor and brand ambassador.
Courtesy: Sproud
To take advantage of Paris’s September weather, Danone has kickstartedAlpro Sundayz, which include a brunch using its non-dairy products and an open-air DJ set in the evening. It will run at Frivole restaurant every Sunday this month.
And in Singapore, Nurasa, the sustainable food innovation platform owned by Temasek, has joined forces with Cremer Sustainable Foods and Quality Meat to launchQ Protein, a range of blended meat products, this month. The inaugural products include beef patties, beef stir fry, and minced beef and chicken.
Company and finance updates
In Miami, celeb-favourite vegan chain Planta has been acquired out of bankruptcy by former investor Anchorage Capital Group in an $7.8M deal.
Courtesy: Planta
Events organiser Emerald X has postponed its Plant Based World Expo Europe, due to take place in London in November, indefinitely.
Over in India, meat delivery company Licious has shuttered its plant-based meat platform, Uncrave, ahead of a planned IPO next year.
Courtesy: Biokraft Foods
In some positive alternative protein news from the subcontinent, Mumbai-based cultivated meat firm Biokraft Foods has secured ₹2 crore ($225,000) in pre-seed funding by GVFL to speed up R&D and prepare for regulatory approval.
Finally Foods, an Israeli AI-led firm producing casein protein in potatoes via molecular farming, has raised $1.2M in a funding round led by beverage giant CBC Group, which has also signed a commercial agreement with the startup.
Smaqo, a Swedish startup by former Mycorena founder Ramkumar Nair, has closed its first round of funding. It was led by Good Startup and will help it accelerate the launch of mycoprotein-based blended meat to supermarkets.
Courtesy: Perfat Technologies
Finnish firm Perfat Technologies, which has developed an oleogel technology to transform liquid plant oils into solid fats that work like saturated fats, has raised €2.5M ($2.9M) in Series A funding. It will use the capital to scale up production and launch a fibre-reinforced gelled vegetable oil.
Meanwhile, Romania’s Terra Wave has bagged €1.2M ($1.4M) in an EU innovation grant to advance its fungi-derived fermented proteins for the meat, plant-based and pet food industries.
Courtesy: Odd Burger
Canadian plant-based fast-food chain Odd Burger has secured C$2.5M ($1.8M) in equity financing from Rockcliffe Capital.
Japanese snack maker Calbee Group has acquired a majority stake in US tofu producer Hodo to expand its international footprint. The deal also saw Japanese tofu giant Sagamiya Foods Co take a minority stake in the startup.
Courtesy: Hodo
Checkerspot, a producer of precision-fermented fats and oils, has appointed J Casey Lippmeier as its CTO. He previously held senior roles at DSM and Conagen.
At the Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants MLB game on September 12, Impossible Foods held a 99 in 9 challenge, pitting competitive eaterJoey Chestnut against a fan to eat 99 vegan nuggets in nine innings. Chestnut ended up wolfing down 275 nuggets in seven innings.
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
A host of future food companies have been selected in the second cohort of Mars and Unreasonable Group‘s annual Unreasonable Food accelerator, including precision fermentation firms Standing Ovation, Oobli and Pow.bio, rubisco protein producer Plantible Foods, and molecular farming startup Alpino Bio.
Policy and awards
There’s an ongoing scramble in the world of precision-fermented eggs. Finnish startup Onego Bio has sued Californian producer The Every Company to invalidate a key patent granted to the latter in the US, accusing it of fraud. At the same time, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (which Onego Bio spun off from) has challenged one of Every’s patents in Europe.
Courtesy: The Every Company
Speaking of molecular farming, Luxembourg-based Moolec Science has received regulatory approval for its safflower GLASO technology in Argentina, through which it produces a GLA-enriched specialty safflower oil.
US food tech startup California Cultured has filed an industry-first patent for the production of cell-based cocoa butter.
Finally, fresh from its US approval, Australian precision-fermented fat maker Nourish Ingredients has been named Overall FoodTech Company of the Year at the 2025 AgTech Breakthrough Awards.
Belgium’s largest supermarket chain, Colruyt Group, has introduced a new blended beef mince product, following similar launches from Lidl, Albert Heijn and Aldi this year.
Europe’s retailers are betting the farm on blended meat.
The Netherlands has led the way, with three major supermarket chains rolling out blended meat and milk products over the last year. Now, its neighbour is joining the race.
Since May, three retailers have unveiled blended meat products, and to great success. Colruyt Group, the country’s largest, trialled three sausages with 38% plants for the BBQ season, Lidl brought out blended burgers and beef, Albert Heijn debuted the Swapburger with 27% tomato and sugar beet fibre, and Aldi introduced a mince product with 40% plant protein.
Now, Colruyt and Lidl are both doubling down on the concept, adding more products to their lineups to meet Belgians’ appetite for blended proteins.
Colruyt’s blended meat push part of ‘protein split’ goal
Courtesy: Colruyt Group
Last week, Colruyt announced that it had begun offering blended beef mince at the butcher’s counter of its Colruyt Lowest Prices and Okay stores in Belgium, combining 60% beef with 40% fava bean flour.
The move helps reduce the reliance on animal protein without compromising on taste or texture, and boosts fibre while lowering saturated fat and dietary cholesterol.
“We are starting with a new range of plant-enriched meat for customers who consciously want to reduce their meat consumption. The range was developed and produced internally thanks to collaboration between our different departments,” said Pascal Dekelver, meat division manager at Colruyt Lowest Prices.
“Our goal is to offer 60% proteins from plant sources and 40% from animal sources by 2028. With this, we want to contribute to the protein shift and to Colruyt Group’s Green Deal commitment,” he added.
This is why Colruyt described its decision to place the blended meat in the butcher’s section, calling it a “good intermediate step for consumers who want to eat more plant-based food or simply want to try something new, while also being mindful of health and the environment”.
The supermarket group, which introduced own-label vegan brand Boni Plan’t this year, added that some consumers still view plant-based meat as being “too far removed” from the experience conventional meat provides.
“We want to reduce the ecological footprint of food by encouraging our customers to gradually consume fewer animal proteins and more often opt for plant-based alternatives, the production of which has a lower environmental impact,” said Dekelver.
Colruyt isn’t just stopping here. Next month, it will launch sausages where 25% of the beef and pork will be replaced by mushrooms and seaweed, and hamburgers with 25% pumpkin.
Blended beef makes up a third of Lidl’s mince sales
Courtesy: Lidl
Lidl, already a retail leader in the protein transition, trialled a new hybrid cheeseburger in Belgium last month, on the back of a successful launch of its blended meat category in the summer.
The discounter said one in four burgers sold since June has been a blended patty made from 60% beef and 40% plant protein. The figures are even more encouraging for beef mince, with the blended version making up a third of all sales.
According to Lidl, these sales represent savings of nearly 190kg of carbon emissions per store per week, with a large factor behind the products’ success being their prominent in-store placement.
“When it comes to eating less meat, many people still think in terms of all or nothing. That’s precisely why we’re so proud of this new and growing range. We want to inspire people in an accessible way to choose a more sustainable alternative,” said Lidl spokesperson Isabelle Colbrandt.
Ines Verschaeve, head of sustainable purchasing policy at Lidl Belgium and Luxembourg, added: “Consumers are still free to choose, but thanks to an ever-increasing range of plant-based proteins, whole-grain products, and fruits and vegetables, they can more easily make more sustainable choices. This hybrid meat range is a concrete and excellent example of this.”
Lidl has pledged to replace 20% of its current meat and dairy sales with plant-based proteins by 2030, and has been joined by several other supermarkets in this ‘protein split’ pledge. Albert Heijn’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, is aiming to raise the share of plant proteins sold to 47% in 2024, 50% in 2025, and 60% by the end of the decade, matching Colruyt’s goal in Belgium.
Albert Heijn sells 15 blended protein products in the Netherlands now, including two hybrid milks, and Lidl and Aldi have introduced beef mince and burgers with 40% plants.
And this week, German canteen Speisemanufaktur Adlershof is offering a range of blended meat dishes combining beef with koji protein from Nosh.bio, whose ultimate focus is on B2B partnerships with manufacturers and retailers.
Haldiram’s, one of India’s largest food companies, has teamed up with plant protein player GoodDot to put its soy-based meat alternative on its menu.
One of India’s most popular restaurant chains is embracing plant proteins, opening up access to tens of millions of vegetarian customers.
Haldiram’s, which has been around since 1937, has partnered with Udaipur-based GoodDot to add its soya chaap – a staple soy-based meat alternative in India – to its menu.
The meat-free product will feature in Haldiram’s tandoori platter at all its stores in the national capital region, which encompasses the cities of Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, and more.
Haldiram’s bet on plant-based is a big deal
Courtesy: Haldiram’s
Founded in 2016, GoodDot is one of India’s earliest and most well-established plant-based meat players, with a product range spanning mutton-style bites, chicken-like chunks, BBQ tikkas, biryani, and even an egg-free scramble.
Its shelf-stable soya chaap is made from soybean flour, wheat protein, whole wheat and refined wheat flours, and gram flour. It contains 15.4g of protein and 3.5g of fibre per 100g, with zero cholesterol and only 0.2g of fat.
The ready-to-use product can be used in a variety of recipes, from curries and kebabs to stir-fries and salads, and caters to Indians looking for clean-label, additive-free protein options.
Having raised $7M in funding to date, GoodDot has expanded its offerings to international markets too, including the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and the UAE (among others). It also operates a spin-off foodservice business, GoodDo, with 15 locations across Mumbai and Udaipur.
Haldiram’s, meanwhile, began as a CPG company making confectionery and snacks, before expanding into a fully vegetarian restaurant chain that has become a household name among Indians both at home and abroad. Last year, its revenues surpassed $1.5B.
The food giant exports to 80 countries, including Singapore, whose state-owned investor Temasek took a 10% stake in the business earlier this year. The deal valued Haldiram’s at $10B.
“Soya chaap is one of the most crowded and competitive categories in India’s food space. Everyone sells it, from small stalls to big restaurants,” said GoodDot co-founder and CEO Abhishek Sinha. “And yet, when the country’s food giant […] chose GoodDot Soya Chaap, we are beyond thrilled.”
Courtesy: GoodDot
Local dishes and affordability can win over consumers
Research shows that low awareness and common misconceptions about plant-based meat have led to a lack of demand in restaurants, but chefs, restaurateurs and industry leaders suggest that these products need to be integrated into local cuisines to help position them as tasty and indulgent offerings on foodservice menus.
This year, 37% of Indians said they were looking to add more plant-based proteins to their diets. And despite only 11% having given plant-based meat a go, more Indians want to increase their intake of these products (43%) than conventional meat (36%). In fact, two in five want to reduce the amount of meat they eat.
Protein content and health are the most influential drivers of plant-based food consumption in the country- however, affordability is among the biggest barriers. Haldiram’s is known for its accessible prices and local cuisine, so GoodDot’s partnership with the chain fits right into these trends.
It’s not the only major restaurant chain that is betting on meat-free protein in India. In July, McDonald’s announced the launch of its Protein Plus range, which adds 5g of soy, pea, and whey protein per ₹25 ($0.29) slice to any burger. It’s available in all of its outlets in West and South India.
Meanwhile, plant proteins have also received a boost from the government. In the upcoming reform of its Goods and Services Tax, plant-based milk and texturised vegetable proteins (a common ingredient in meat analogues) will see their tax rate reduced from 12-18% to 5%, on par with milk beverages, butter, ghee, cheese, and sausages.
British vegan startup This has added a deli meat SKU while expanding the whole-food-championing This is Super Superfood line it launched earlier this year.
As sales of plant-based meat continue to weaken, some of the industry’s leading innovators are taking different approaches to arrest the slide.
These companies are looking to appeal either to flexitarians who want clean-label plant proteins without the ultra-processed tag, or meat-eaters who don’t want to give up meat but are open to reducing it.
In the UK, one startup is targeting both these consumer sets. London-based This, which made its name on quirky branding and its vegan chicken, unveiled a This is Super Superfood line in April, comprising a new product format that embraced whole foods and eschewed the meat-mimicking philosophy.
Designed as a competitor to tofu and tempeh, the range began with a plant protein block and lemon-and-herb pieces made from fava bean protein, shiitake mushrooms, a range of seeds, and vegetables.
The Super Superfood lineup wasn’t a replacement of its meat alternative lineup; rather, it’s an extension. “We still make the best plant-based meat alternatives, but now we’re giving consumers more options,” said Cuddigan.
Staying true to that promise, the startup has now launched three new products across the meat alternative and whole-food categories, targeting both weekday lunches and party-ready charcuterie boards.
This introduces vegan pastrami and Super Superfood bites
Courtesy: This
The new meat alternative is the brand’s latest deli counter innovation. Following the May launch of its ready-to-eat deli chicken slices is This Isn’t Beef Pastrami, a pack of smoked wheat and pea protein slices.
This has nearly 32g of protein per 100g, with 3g of fibre and 10g of fat (9g of which is saturated). Each 70g pack contains three portions and is priced at £2.95. The pastrami alternative is described as having a smoky, rich flavour and tender texture, and is available at Morrisons, followed by Sainsbury’s later this month.
This’s other new launches come under the Super Superfood line. The Super Veg Protein Bites are the range’s first frozen SKU, and are aimed towards time-strapped work-from-home professionals and health-conscious families.
They comprise a base of peas and pea protein (each 11%) with spinach, potatoes, carrots, rapeseed oil and a seasoning mix dominated by lemon oil and basil. These are encased in a multigrain crumb, and contain 14g of protein and 3g of fibre per 100g (the saturated fat content is minuscule here). The Veg Protein Bites are in Tesco’s freezers at £3.50 per 240g pack.
Finally, This has rolled out Super Superfood Breaded Pieces, featuring 49% rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, 12% fava bean protein, a mix of seeds, seasonings, and multigrain breaded coating.
These can be added to curries, stir-fries and salads, and pack 14g of protein, 4g of fibre, and less than 1g of saturated fat per 100g, with an added omega-3 boost. They’re available in the chilled section at Sainsbury’s for £3 per 180g pack.
UK’s appetite for plants persists
Courtesy: This
“Our goal has always been to create delicious and nutritious plant-based products, and with our new Pastrami, Super Veg bites and breaded Super Superfood, we’re giving foodies new options,” said Cuddigan.
“We can’t wait for people to try them, whether they’re looking for meaty alternatives or tasty veg-packed products to cook with,” he added.
This’s move beyond meat analogues came as sales of these products fell by 10% in UK supermarkets last year, as ultra-processing fears pushed Brits towards traditional plant proteins like tofu and beans.
Despite three in five consumers being willing to cut back on meat, the share of those who eat it at least five times a week rose from 43% in 2022 to 50% in 2024. At the same time, half of them want to further change their diets by eating less meat and dairy (33%) and/or more plant-based foods (38%).
Still, the UK remains the second-largest market for plant-based food in Europe, and 9% of Brits are either vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian, while another 31% identify as flexitarians. This itself has bucked the trend, enjoying a 5.6% hike in turnover in 2024, totalling £18.2M. It also cut its losses nearly in half, from £11.3M in 2023 to £6.1M last year.
This is not the only UK company to take on meat alternatives, tofu and tempeh with a new format of plant proteins. The same week it launched the Super Superfood range, Oh So Wholesome rolled out Veg’chop, a range of cubes made from red lentils, quinoa, yellow split peas, mushrooms, seeds, and more plants.
Israeli startup Meala has debuted a pea protein powder that can replicate the multifunctionality of eggs in baked goods, offering a solution to the avian-flu-induced crisis.
With egg prices reaching an all-time high in the US and a decade-long high in Europe, food manufacturers have been left scrambling.
The demand for eggs has sharply increased, but anticipated price corrections have led some producers of powdered eggs to delay purchases, causing a supply gap. Combine that with the wider impact of food prices amid Europe’s cost-of-living crisis, and it’s a perfect storm.
Plant-based liquid egg products like Just Egg have seen sales soar in the US, with many bakeries switching to the mung-bean-based alternative. Now, Israel’s Meala Foodtech is aiming to replicate that success for the CPG bakery space with a single-ingredient egg replacer that has already garnered a distribution deal in Europe.
Called Groundbreaker, the pea protein innovation offers the same gelling, binding, emulsifying and foaming attributes of eggs – minus the chicken or the price volatilities.
“Our innovative texturising protein enables the baking industry to significantly derisk production,” said Tali Feldman-Sivan, co-founder and chief business officer of Meala. “Producers can stabilise costs, reduce exposure to price volatility, and avoid supply chain disruptions.”
A little goes a long way with Meala’s pea protein
Courtesy: Details Studio
Founded in 2021 by Feldman-Sivan, CTO Liran Gruda, and CEO Hadar Ekhoiz-Razmovich, Meala specialises in texturising plant proteins to enhance the taste, texture and nutritional value of a host of foods, while keeping costs low.
These solutions are designed as alternatives to ingredients like eggs and methylcellulose, which are common in the manufacturing industry, but have become problematic amid supply issues and the demand for clean-label formulations.
“Our proteins are produced through a proprietary process that elevates pea protein into highly functional ingredients. This process is green, environmentally friendly, efficient, and scalable – it avoids chemical modification or heavy processing,” Ekhoiz-Razmovich told Green Queen.
“This way, we preserve the natural nutritional qualities of the pea while unlocking multifunctional properties such as binding, gelling, foaming, and emulsifying,” he added.
Groundbreaker is described as a clean-label, allergen-free ingredient with “excellent water-holding capacity”. It can be used in sweet applications like pound cakes, sponge cakes, brioches, pancakes, and pre-made cake mixes, as well as in savoury foods.
“Our protein is highly functional, with a low inclusion rate,” Ekhoiz-Razmovich noted. “Only a small amount is needed in formulations to deliver great functionality. This efficiency can deliver significant savings – up to 30% cost reduction compared to eggs in applications like muffins.”
Meala in talks with global companies for Groundbreaker
Courtesy: Details Studio
The pea protein ingredient is offered to manufacturers in a powdered format, which makes logistics, storage, and handling “simpler and more efficient”, the CEO said.
Groundbreaker has already attracted interest from multiple companies, including packaged baked goods manufacturers and commercial cake mix producers supplying both retailers and bakeries.
Meala recently also entered a strategic partnership with a leading global ingredients maker based in Europe. The collaboration is built on an investment as well as a marketing and distribution agreement, and will open up a new, broad distribution network for Groundbaker.
“We’re producing at a scale that supports our current commercial activities, and we’re actively expanding capacity to meet growing demand,” highlighted Ekhoiz-Razmovich. “Our production is based in Europe, close to our customers through trusted manufacturing partners.”
He revealed that Meala has secured $8M in investment to date, and is about to open its next fundraising round soon. Plus, its solutions go beyond replacing eggs in baked goods. “Our first product for savoury applications launched in Europe a few months ago in partnership with DSM-Firmenich,” he said.
The Vertis PB Pea ingredient is designed to replace modified binders like hydrocolloids to make cleaner-label meat alternatives. “We have a strong pipeline of texturising solutions for the food industry, and this is just the beginning,” said Ekhoiz-Razmovich.
Meala is among a number of food tech startups offering innovative solutions to replace eggs in bakery products and plant-based meats. Eat Just, maker of Just Egg, launched a one-ingredient mung protein powder that doubles as an egg alternative.
Others, like Revyve, ProteinDistillery, and Yeastup, are upcycling brewer’s yeast (a byproduct of beer brewing) to make egg replacers for a range of applications, including baked goods and meat and dairy alternatives.
German food tech player Nosh.bio has launched a blended beef mince product, combining meat with its koji protein.
As blended meat engulfs Europe’s protein sector, one German startup is betting on an ancient fungus to expand the category.
Nosh.bio is mixing its fermented koji protein with conventional beef for a new blended mince product, which is positioned as a B2B ingredient for manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators.
Nosh.bio’s koji protein is debuting at Berlin canteen Speisemanufaktur Adlershof on September 15, where it will feature in a range of dishes for one week.
“Consumers are looking for food that is both delicious and better for the planet. A hybrid approach lets us deliver the full beef taste and texture people expect, while significantly lowering the environmental footprint,” Nosh.bio co-founder and CEO Tim Fronzek told Green Queen.
Koji protein delivers on cost, climate and health
Courtesy: Nosh.bio
Founded in 2022 by Fronzek and CTO Felipe Lino, Nosh.bio uses biomass fermentation to turn fungal biomass into single-ingredient meat analogues. The startup suggests that its tech platform is highly efficient and cost-effective, delivering alternative proteins with taste, texture and health benefits.
Its fermentation process uses agricultural side streams to feed the microbes and can be carried out in existing fermentation facilities, enabling fast scale-up and keeping downstream prices low. In fact, last year, it retrofitted a former brewery in Dresden to repurpose it into a commercial-scale facility that can produce 1,000 tonnes of protein annually.
The koji protein is described as highly versatile with applications ranging from meat, seafood and dairy alternatives to confectionery and bakery products. It eschews the need for texturisers and stabilisers in meat analogues, while retaining a juicy texture.
Last year, it partnered with Zur Mühlen Group, a subsidiary of German meat giant Tönnies Group, to roll out Koji Chunks, a single-ingredient meat analogue to appeal to Europe’s clean-label demand.
Now, it has taken the blended meat approach to cater to the continent’s flexitarian population. In Germany alone, two in five people identify as flexitarians, and a third of consumers want to cut back on meat. The latter shift is driven by changing taste preferences (cited by 26% of Germans), the high prices of animal protein (23%), and health concerns (19%).
In addition, the protein will attract eco-conscious eaters. Its production emits 91% fewer greenhouse gases than conventional meat, requires more than 99% less land, and consumes 99% less water.
“Our koji protein brings clean-label functionality, improved nutrition, and a drastic reduction in land, water, and carbon use compared to beef. It’s a pragmatic way for flexitarians and omnivores to cut their meat intake without compromising on enjoyment,” said Fronzek.
“Our ingredient has reached cost parity with beef. That’s a breakthrough at a time when beef prices remain high and volatile across Europe,” he added. “Because we retrofitted existing fermentation capacity and run a lean process, we can keep production costs low. This allows our hybrid mince to be competitively priced while still offering a better nutritional and sustainability profile.”
Nosh.bio eyes retail opportunity for blended meat
Courtesy: Nosh.bio
For the public showcase, Nosh.bio’s blended meat will be available in dishes like burgers, meatballs, and lasagna. “The base hybrid mince is simply beef blended with our koji protein – it’s a drop-in solution for kitchen operations. Inclusion typically ranges [from] 25-35% koji protein, depending on the cuisine,” said Fronzek. “The final ingredient list depends on the dish/application.”
By combining beef with koji, Nosh.bio adds a source of fibre and an extra hit of complete protein. “We can expect between 13-15% fewer calories in the hybrid product compared with conventional beef. Also, the protein content per 100 kcal remains the same,” he explained. “On top of that, we add 1g of prebiotic fibres, which are important for maintaining a healthy gut, per 100g of minced beef, and the product has around 20-30%+ less saturated fat and cholesterol.”
The restaurant partnership is designed to gather real-world feedback on flavour, texture and overall performance, as well as demonstrate the ingredient’s versatility, amid Nosh.bio’s efforts to land B2B deals.
“Our main focus remains on producers and retail through our B2B commercial partnerships; in parallel, we’ll expand into additional restaurants and food service. We’re already working with leading partners, and we’ll expand into additional markets where we have both supply readiness and strong partner pull,” said Fronzek.
“We already have the capacity to produce several tons per day, with an output that is higher than a cow’s worth of weight per hour. We plan to expand this capacity several-fold in the following months, since the infrastructure is already installed.”
Blended meat has been recognised as a way to help meat-eaters cut back on animal protein without quitting cold turkey – in the process, it reduces both emissions and intake of saturated fat. Europe has been a hub of major activity, spearheaded by retailers like Lidl, Aldi, and Albert Heijn.
And with retailers pledging to lower the ratio of animal protein sold, Nosh.bio is eyeing this space with a modern twist on an ancient food source.
Israeli food tech pioneer Aleph Farms has struck a deal to produce its cultivated meat in Europe, setting up at The Cultured Hub facility in Kemptthal.
As it awaits regulatory approval in Switzerland, Aleph Farms has chosen the canton of Zurich as the European production hub for its cultivated beef.
The Israeli startup has teamed up with The Cultured Hub, a biotech facility situated in The Valley in Kemptthal, opened last year by retail giant Migros, flavour specialist Givaudan, and equipment manufacturer Bühler Group.
The move is part of Aleph Farms’s localised production strategy, and marks a key milestone for its international expansion. It’s also an extension of the firm’s six-year-long strategic partnership with Migros, which supported the firm’s regulatory application to the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office in 2023.
“Our collaboration with The Cultured Hub builds on years of joint work to advance the regulatory and operational readiness of cultivated meat in Switzerland,” said Aleph Farms co-founder and CEO Didier Toubia.
How Aleph Farms is charting its global footprint
Aleph Farms operates a 65,000 square foot facility in Rehovot, Israel. Courtesy: Amit Goren/Aleph Farms
Aleph Farms’s signature offering is the Petit Steak, a hybrid meat product combining non-modified, non-immortalised cells of a premium Black Angus cow with a plant protein matrix made of soy and wheat.
The firm has already received regulatory clearance in Israel, though this was contingent on the company clearing a Good Manufacturing Practices inspection for its production facility, on which there has been no public update yet.
Additionally, it has filed for approval in Singapore, the UK, Thailand, and Switzerland, and is engaged in advanced pre-submission consultations in countries including the US. It plans to eventually expand into Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, and Hong Kong too.
This strategy would give way to a complex supply chain, so setting up facilities in local hotspots would help Aleph Farms streamline its manufacturing and distribution. It currently operates a 65,000 sq ft plant in Rehovot, Israel (with a capacity to initially produce 10 tonnes of cultivated steak annually), and has acquired another factory in Modi’in.
Elsewhere, the startup has signed a co-manufacturing deal with Singapore’s ESCO Aster (the first approved cultivated meat facility globally), and is building a factory in Thailand with biotech firms BBGI and Fermbox Bio.
The Swiss facility is an extension of this approach, and will allow Aleph Farms to create a long-term partnership framework for production in the canton of Zurich, with the potential for future expansion into other European markets.
Aleph Farms will prepare for commercial launch with Swiss facility
The Cultured Hub is located in The Valley business park | Courtesy: The Valley
Opened in December, The Cultured Hub aims to speed up the development and commercialisation of cellular agriculture products. It’s equipped with advanced production development labs, as well as cell culture and fermentation capabilities and equipment.
The hub can host three companies at a time, which can work simultaneously in fully separated suites. Producers can scale up from small lab experiments to 1,000-litre pilot operations without investing in expensive assets or diluting equity. This helps accelerate market entry by saving time and resources, and allowing the entities to focus on creating the optimal food products at competitive costs.
“We believe the future of food depends on cross-industry collaboration to create impact at scale,” said Fabio Campanile, chairman of The Cultured Hub and head of science and tech at Givaudan. “We are confident that we can provide the infrastructure, services, and networks needed to bring great new products to market by combining Aleph’s innovation and expertise with our platform.”
The establishment of Aleph Farms’s Swiss operations is supported by the regional administration. “The company strengthens Zurich’s position as a hub for innovation and brings fresh momentum to the growing Zurich food ecosystem, which includes the Food Hub in Wädenswil and nearly 11,000 businesses across the canton,” said Carmen Walker Späh, the canton’s economic affairs councillor.
According to Aleph Farms, the collaboration supports the startup’s goal of decentralising production and boosting Switzerland’s domestic meat supply – currently, 20% of its beef is imported. It will further help the startup prepare for its commercial launch through relevant distribution channels, once it’s cleared to sell.
“This partnership allows us to execute our global strategy in the best possible way – one that is both capital-efficient and deeply embedded in the local market,” said Toubia.
It comes months after the firm secured $29M in the first closing of a larger funding round, taking its total investment to nearly $150M. And last week, an independent analysis showed that Aleph Farms’s steak could be produced at $6.45 per lb and sold in wholesale for $12.25, generating annual net profits of $78.5M. With further process enhancement, the cost of goods sold could fall to just $4.08 per lb.
A day after Texas’s ban on cultivated meat came into force, two food tech startups sued the state for its decision. Their legal team explains why.
When Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a law to ban cultivated meat in the state, companies had just over two months before it went into effect.
In that period, Wildtype, a US startup approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell cultivated salmon nationwide, debuted its product at Otoko, an omakase restaurant in Austin known for its blend of Tokyo-style sushi and Kyoto-style kaiseki.
“Farm-raised salmon creates so much pollution, so it’s not sustainable. You want to enjoy seafood long-term, so Wildtype’s good because you don’t have to kill the fish anymore,” chef-owner Yoshi Okai said. “It’s something new. It’s awesome.”
The eatery was one of Wildtype’s first launch partners, alongside outposts in Oregon, California, Washington, and Colorado. “We had selected Otoko and chef Yoshi Okai for a number of reasons, many months before this ban was floated in Texas,” co-founder and CEO Justin Kolbeck tells Green Queen.
“Following our launch in July, we had planned to build on our momentum in Austin by making Wildtype available to a number of seafood restaurants across Texas, including in Dallas and Houston, but this bill closed those markets to us,” he says.
Before Texas’s ban was even discussed by policymakers, Upside Foods – a cultivated meat startup approved to sell both by the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture – sold limited amounts of its first chicken product at a “well-attended private event” during the 2024 South by Southwest conference in Austin.
“The company is preparing for a larger-scale commercial launch of its new chicken products in the coming months,” says Upside Foods general counsel Myra Pasek. “Texas businesses – both restaurants and grocery stores – have expressed serious interest in selling Upside chicken in Texas. With the ban in effect, these sales would be prohibited.”
These missed opportunities have driven Wildtype and Upside Foods to join forces with the Institute for Justice to file a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that the state’s SB 261 is “unconstitutional”.
Wildtype was selling its cultivated salmon at Yoshi Okai’s Otoko restaurant in Austin before Texas’s ban | Courtesy: Wildtype
What clauses is Texas allegedly violating?
In the legal complaint, the Institute for Justice noted that the law wasn’t passed to protect the health and safety of consumers, since it allows the distribution of cultivated meat as long as it isn’t sold.
“Instead, SB 261 was enacted to stifle the growth of the cultivated meat industry to protect Texas’s conventional agricultural industry from innovative competition that is exclusively based outside of Texas,” it said.
It argues that Texas’s ban violates the Commerce and Supremacy Clauses of the US Constitution. Under the former’s dormant clause, the federal government has exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce, with states having limited power to interfere. It’s designed to prohibit economic protectionism that benefits in-state interests.
The Supremacy Clause, meanwhile, makes the Constitution and federal laws the highest law of the land. The decisions by two federal departments to allow Wildtype and Upside Foods to sell products in the interstate market supersede any contrary state laws.
“Texas’s law is unconstitutional because it was enacted for the purpose, and has the effect, of protecting in-state economic interests from out-of-state competition. That sort of discrimination violates the Commerce Clause,” explains Paul Sherman, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice.
“Second, as to Upside, Texas’s law is preempted by federal law. The Poultry Product Inspection Act prohibits states from imposing rules on the permissible ingredients in poultry products – or the manner in which they’re produced – that differ from or exceed federal standards,” he notes.
“The USDA has given Upside the green light to manufacture chicken products from cultivated cells. Texas has said Upside can’t sell products containing cultivated cells. That’s not allowed.”
Courtesy: Kevin Martin Galante/Upside Foods
Texas’s cultivated meat ban is ‘pure economic protectionism’
Texas is one of seven states to have banned cultivated meat. Florida was the first, and was at the end of a similar lawsuit brought by the Institute for Justice on behalf of Upside Foods last year. Alabama, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, and Nebraska have also outlawed the sale of cultivated meat.
So why choose Texas for the lawsuit instead of the others? “Texas is the second most populous state in the country. It’s an important market,” says Sherman. “And it’s one in which both Wildtype and Upside have distributed their products. A victory there would send a strong signal to other states that this sort of economic protectionism will not stand.”
He confirms that the Institute for Justice is “monitoring legislative activity in all the states and will certainly consider filing other lawsuits if necessary”.
All the states that have banned cultivated meat are led by Republican governors, and surveys have shown that cultivated meat acceptance skews lower among Americans who vote red. But Wildtype’s Kolbeck doesn’t think such legislation is driven by partisan politics.
“This is pure economic protectionism,” he says. “There were countless points made during deliberations on this bill about protecting Texas ranchers. The complaint filed by the Institute for Justice provides examples. This law is all about keeping competition out of Texas. Wildtype was collateral damage.”
Indeed, Texas is the top meat producer in the US – last year, it churned out 4.5 billion lbs of beef. The industry is the third-largest economic generator in the state. And in the run-up to the bill’s signing, SB 261’s sponsor, Senator Charles Perry, said the introduction of cultivated meat “could disrupt traditional livestock markets, affecting rural communities and family farms”.
Likewise, Stan Gerdes, the bill’s lead sponsor in the House, said: “The goal of this bill is to protect our agriculture industry.”
Courtesy: Wildtype
What happens next?
The Institute for Justice isn’t stopping here. “We will be filing a motion for preliminary injunction asking the court to allow Wildtype and UPSIDE to continue selling their products in Texas while the case moves forward,” says Sherman “Our hope is that we can have a ruling on that before the end of the year.”
It attempted a similar move in Florida, though a judge rejected the preliminary injunction, cancelling Upside Foods’s scheduled appearances at Art Basel and the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, and postponing its planned product launch at a restaurant in the state in early 2025.
“Although the Florida court rejected our preemption claim, its reasoning was based on a misunderstanding of how the federal law works. Briefly, the court believed that state and federal requirements had to conflict, but the federal law prohibits even non-conflicting state requirements,” says Sherman.
“Meanwhile, the [Texas] government is likely to file a motion to dismiss the case. We defeated a motion to dismiss in our Florida challenge, and we’re confident we can defeat one here,” he adds. “We have strong arguments. The district court in our Florida lawsuit has already held that the government will have a heavy burden to justify the law on our Commerce Clause claim.”
Wildtype co-founders Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck | Courtesy: Wildtype
Apart from harming cultivated meat producers’ financial dealings, Kolbeck suggests that the ban has a wider effect on public perception. “In addition to shutting down one of the very first places cultivated seafood was available for sale, proponents of the bill made misrepresentations about cultivated foods during deliberations, all of which harmed the reputation of our emerging industry,” he says.
The case has been assigned to Judge Alan Albright, who Sherman says is known for moving cases quickly: “Our hope is we’ll have a ruling from the trial court on the merits no later than summer next year.”
Asked for an update on the Florida case, Sherman adds: “We’ll be having an argument in the 11th Circuit on November 3 about whether the trial court erred when it denied Upside’s motion for a preliminary injunction. Besides that, we’re moving forward with discovery in the trial court.”
Californian startup Mission Barns sold its cultivated pork for the first time at a dinner in San Francisco, with dishes featuring its meatballs and bacon.
On Tuesday evening in San Francisco’s Sunset District, a small group of diners gathered for the first sale of cultivated pork anywhere in the world.
Food tech firm Mission Barns held the exclusive dinner at Fiorella, weeks after securing approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its cultivated pork fat. The event was the first of three pop-up dinners, convening six industry leaders and one sweepstakes winner.
Fiorella served Mission Barns’s meatballs with Italian herbs and chilli, as well as in a Sicilian-inspired dish with raisins and pignoli, a creation of chef-owner Brandon Gillis. Diners also tried its Applewood-smoked bacon, which is layered with the startup’s cultivated fat.
Courtesy: Mission Barns
“We put our full trust in Fiorella and chef Brandon, who has deep experience working with the best local, seasonal ingredients in a farm-to-table Italian style,” Mission Barns CEO Cecilia Chang tells Green Queen.
“After we walked him through our products, he created a menu that showcases them in true Fiorella fashion,” she says. “One highlight is his take on our meatball – he broke it apart, seasoned it with classic Sicilian ingredients like currants and pine nuts, and reformed it into something entirely new, while still letting our cultivated pork shine.”
Chang recently took over from Eitan Fischer as CEO to lead the company into its next phase of growth, with Fischer still actively involved as founder and board member.
The inaugural dinner will be followed by another event on September 24, where eight guests chosen from the public will be invited to try the cultivated pork dishes.
What goes into Mission Barns’s meatballs?
Courtesy: Mission Barns
Founded in 2018, Mission Barns uses belly fat cells from American Yorkshire pigs and grows them in bioreactors to make its Mission Fat. This fat is then mixed with plant-based ingredients to make meatballs, bacon, and more.
This hybrid approach allows the startup to keep costs from soaring too high. And since fat is the primary flavour carrier in food, even a little bit goes a long way in replicating conventional meat.
“The great thing about our cultivated fat ingredient is that we’ve found even at low inclusion rates (i.e., single-digit percentages), there’s a really noticeable improvement on taste and mouthfeel, and our products have been able to match conventional meat on blind taste tests with consumers,” says Chang.
For example, the meatballs contain a base of pea protein and Mission Fat (which will appear on the label as a composition of purified water, cell-cultivated pork fat cells, and kosher salt).
These are complemented by coconut oil, textured pea protein, Italian seasoning, and methylcellulose. In addition, the meatballs contain less than 2% of natural flavours and colours, sodium gluconate, salt, potato starch, red wine vinegar, lactic acid, xanthan gum, and liquid seasoning.
At Fiorella, Gillis was “blown away” by the cultivated pork fat. “It had that same rich, savoury depth you get from traditional pork, but with a much smaller footprint,” he recalls. “Working with them on this launch lets us create dishes that are both familiar and groundbreaking.”
As part of its launch strategy, Mission Barns has been working with front-of-house teams to help engage and educate diners. “At our restaurant, we’re always looking for ways to honour tradition while embracing innovation,” says Isabella Hare, a server at Fiorella.
“Partnering with Mission Barns allows us to introduce our guests to a groundbreaking ingredient that’s not only delicious but also more sustainable for the future of food,” she adds.
Courtesy: Mission Barns
The three pop-up dinners had always been intended as a limited in-market test to gauge consumer response and gather valuable feedback, according to Chang.
“While we’re excited to continue exploring opportunities with Fiorella and other chefs, our long-term strategy has always been B2B: licensing our technology so food partners and manufacturers can produce cultivated products at scale. These early sales and insights serve as proof points for potential partners,” she says.
“We are having conversations with chefs and restaurants across several US cities,” she notes, but adds: “In the near term, our focus remains on scaling our bioreactor platform rather than expanding restaurant distribution.”
The firm has designed a novel bioreactor technology that marks a departure from the single-cell suspension tanks of the biopharma sector, enabling more efficient, scalable, and cheaper production.
Courtesy: Mission Barns
Cultivated meat bans ‘limit choice and economic opportunity’
Aside from its restaurant rollout, Mission Barns has announced a listing with Sprouts Farmers Market, which will make it the first cultivated meat product to be sold in a US supermarket.
In July, Chang told Green Queen that the company expects to roll out its meatballs at the retailer’s Oakland locations in Q3. “We’re working closely with Sprouts on timing, but we aren’t announcing specific rollout dates just yet,” she says now. “What we can share is that consumers in the Bay Area will be among the first in the country to find Mission Barns cultivated pork on grocery shelves.”
Though its current focus is on the US, Mission Barns is keeping an eye on markets that align with the US regulatory process, like Singapore and other Asian countries. It has secured $60 million in funding to date, and will now attempt to raise more capital to support commercial scale-up, strategic licensing, and global expansion.
“We are raising enough to fund our scale-up work for the next few years,” says Chang. “As everyone knows, the fundraising landscape for cultivated meat is a tough one right now.”
Indeed, in 2023, funding for cultivated meat startups fell by 75%, followed by another 40% drop in 2024, reaching just $137M. And in the first half of this year, this total dropped even further to $35M.
Courtesy: Mission Barns
What will convince investors to bet on Mission Barns? “We have a differentiated approach focused on cultivated fat as a low-inclusion-rate flavouring ingredient, and our novel patented bioreactor has broad applications for products outside of just food – so that’s a really attractive point for investors,” highlights Chang.
It has been a big year for cultivated meat in the US. Aside from Mission Barns, Wildtype and Believer Meats have both also received a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration – Wildtype’s salmon is already being served in several restaurants now (as seafood isn’t regulated by the USDA). At the same time, seven states have now banned cultivated meat, with Florida and Texas being sued for their decisions.
“We believe consumers should have the right to choose safe, delicious, healthy products that are approved by US regulators (in our case, the FDA and the USDA),” says Chang. “The bans are unfortunate because they limit choice, innovation, and economic opportunity in those states. That said, they haven’t slowed our plans – we’re focusing on states where cultivated meat is welcomed, starting here in California.”
Parendi Birdie’s Texas startup Carnéa has emerged from stealth with a range of chef-crafted blended meats that beat Tyson’s products in taste tests.
In 2023, Parendi Birdie left her role as head of brand strategy at cultivated meat firm Mission Barns to focus on Asentia, a new venture that is blending animal protein with plants.
“We’re combining the meat we know and crave with the plant-powered benefits we want more of to create inspired, enhanced protein with more flavour, juiciness and nutrients,” she told Green Queen at the time.
Two years, two more co-founders, a whole lot of R&D, and a name change later, Birdie is ready to unleash her innovations on the world.
Now called Carnéa Meat Co, the Houston-based startup is being spearheaded by Birdie (who is the CEO), former Impossible Foods executive Eric Hedstrand (chief commercial officer), and chief innovation officer Tom Lynch (the former head R&D chef at two-Michelin-starred restaurant 42 Grams and one of Beyond Meat’s earliest food technologists).
When Birdie spoke to Green Queen in 2023, blended meat wasn’t a new idea, but it was nowhere near as widespread as it is today. Now, with Carnéa, she says she’s introducing products that she says are unlike anything on the market. Think truffle mushroom meatballs; a Black Angus, roast shallot and shiitake burger; bourbon-bacon and artichoke sausages; and BBQ-braised brisket with jackfruit – with inclusion rates ranging from 50% to two-thirds.
“There’s a huge, untapped market of people who want to eat plant-forward, but are frustrated by current products,” she says, citing how 72% of Americans want to eat more plants but not go fully vegan. “A third of the country has tried plant-based meat. It’s pretty simple: many of us want to eat better without giving up meat.”
Carnéa’s blended sausage beats Tyson’s 100% meat
Courtesy: Carnéa Meat Co
Reflecting on the rebrand, Birdie says Asentia was never intended to be the startup’s consumer-facing name in the first place. It partnered with a global branding agency and worked closely with its advisory board (who’ve worked for Apple, Tesla, Starbucks, Tyson and Cargill) to build a “bold, evocative, and distinctive brand platform that commands attention on the shelf”.
“The identity features rich, warm colours and soulful elements that mirror our products – full of richness, passion, and depth – raising the bar for what meat can be and adding dimension where ordinary meat falls flat,” she says. “The brand connects on an emotional level, tapping into the ‘second brain’ – our gut – to spark those instant, visceral reactions.”
That hits the nail on the head. Meat-eating is tied to emotion. In 2021, an Ipsos poll revealed that 59% of consumers believed eating meat is the American way of life, and 52% felt that those advocating for cutting meat intake are trying to control what the public eats.
Such perceptions have only grown in the years since. Last year, meat sales reached an all-time high, and cultivated meat got caught in political crosshairs with a host of (mostly Republican-leaning) states putting restrictions on the labelling or sale of alternative proteins. Retail sales of plant-based meat, meanwhile, dropped by 7% in 2024.
Courtesy: Nectar
To counter this shift, companies big and small are taking a bite of the blended meat pie, including Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Quorn, Aldi, and even Disneyland. Sensory testing has shown that these “balanced proteins” are more likely to appeal to meat-eaters and flexitarians than plant-based alternatives. In some cases, they even outperform 100% meat products.
“Balanced proteins offer the authentic taste of meat with the plant-powered benefits we want more of. This, coupled with the cultural and psychological familiarity of meat, is a winning combination for widespread, daily adoption,” says Birdie.
Carnéa conducted its own taste tests at food events and farmers’ markets in Texas. “Twice as many people preferred ours over a leading Tyson 100% pork sausage – and these were big meat-eating Texans,” she reveals.
“When they learned the sausage they loved was made with plant-forward ingredients, they were amazed. Many said it felt like the best of both worlds: a way to eat healthier without sacrifice.”
Alternative protein industry ‘must think outside the box’
Courtesy: Carnéa Meat Co
So how did Carnéa manage to outperform a 100% meat product from Tyson (whose own attempt at blended meat failed)?
“It takes sophisticated food science to pull this off successfully,” says Birdie. “A key part of our ‘secret sauce’ is our fermentation process, which enzymatically breaks down proteins into savoury amino acids, fats into aromatic fatty acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugars. This enhances the Maillard reaction, creating rich, caramelised flavours, and exceptional juiciness that keeps people coming back for more.”
Despite offering better environmental metrics – swapping 50% of meat with plants can cut agriculture emissions by 31% and double climate benefits – blended meat is still criticised for the use of animal products, especially those that are factory-farmed.
“Our industry must evolve. We must become smarter, stronger and more connected to our consumers. We need to listen intently and think outside the box in order to win,” argues Birdie.
“When I envision a truly sustainable, sensible food system…it’s hard to see a realistic path forward without balanced proteins playing a crucial role. My excitement is less about the short-term benefits of the category, and more about its unique ability to create an environment where the entire alternative protein sector can thrive.
“What excites me most are the meaningful partnerships we can forge with conventional meat giants, and how these collaborations will enable us to accelerate the creation of a sustainable food system. Our vision is big, and our goal is to be a catalytic force driving change, not merely to be along for the ride.”
Carnéa’s blended proteins are priced in line with premium meat
Courtesy: Carnéa Meat Co
Any successful alternative protein product must have a price point that doesn’t ward off shoppers. In today’s climate, this applies to meat too, which is suffering from record-high prices globally.
“Our team brings a combined 25 years in the alternative protein industry, and one thing is clear: to truly win and create massive impact, products must be priced accessibly,” says Bidie. “We’re committed to building a healthy, sustainable business, so we’re not dependent on raising hundreds of millions.”
She adds: “From day one, we’ve developed products that are gross-margin-positive. We’re launching with pricing in line with premium meat, with clear plans to reach price parity with conventional meat.
“While this is a nuanced and strategic decision for every company, in our case, some SKUs are already able to undercut their 100% meat counterparts, thanks to the lower cost of our strategic vegetablecomponents.“
Carnéa has penned a deal with a “top-tier co-manufacturer” that also produces for Costco and H-E-B. “Their state-of-the-art, USDA-inspected facility has already completed successful production runs of our products, proving we can scale while maintaining the sensory qualities that set us apart,” says Birdie.
It isn’t the only startup blending meat with vegetables instead of plant or microbial proteins. For example, 50/50 Foods sells the Both Burger, pairing Angus Beef with roasted mushrooms, caramelised onions, cauliflower and broccoli. And Phil’s Finest makes blended beef mince and sausages with a host of vegetables.
But the enthusiasm for Carnéa’s products has been “so strong that several leaders from the world’s most successful food companies have personally invested” in it, according to Birdie (who did not disclose the total capital her startup has raised). “With standout taste, scalable manufacturing, accessible pricing, a world-class team, and unrivalled nutrition, we believe we have all the ingredients for long-term success,” she says.
Food tech startup ORF Genetics has raised €5M ($5.8M) in a new funding round to scale up production of specialised proteins key to cultivated meat.
Icelandic firm ORF Genetics has secured €5M ($5.8M) in funding to advance and scale up its cultivated meat capabilities.
The investment round saw participation from both existing and new shareholders, and will help the startup significantly scale up its capacity to produce specialised proteins via molecular farming. These proteins are key components for cultivated meat manufacturing.
“We are at a pivotal moment,” said CEO Berglind Rán Ólafsdóttir. “This funding ensures that ORF can meet the imminent surge in commercial opportunities and supports the company’s next growth phase.”
How ORF Genetics makes growth factors with barley
Courtesy: ORF Genetics
ORF Genetics’s base technology leverages molecular farming, through which companies modify the cells of plants (instead of microbes or animals, as is the case in cultivated proteins or precision fermentation) to enable them to replicate animal proteins, which can be harvested from leaves or other plant tissues.
Its unique expression system is called Orfeus, which uses barley as a vehicle for large-scale production of recombinant animal and human proteins. The startup identifies the genetic code for the target protein, which is cloned into a highly optimised expression vector called GrainVec.
In a process mediated by bacteria, immature barley embryos undergo tissue culture in a carefully optimised medium, which then grow into strong, bioengineered plantlets with a well-developed root system.
These are then transferred into a supporting matrix in small pots, in a controlled growth chamber. After a well-defined period, these plantlets are transferred into an automatic hydroponic conveyor belt cultivation system until they are ready for harvest.
ORF Genetics chooses the highest-expressing barley lines (based on target protein levels in the barley seed extract), which are expanded further into a final selection of the best-yielding lines.
ORF Genetics plans extension of funding round
Courtesy: ORF Genetics
The Orfeus platform has allowed the firm to develop a portfolio of growth factors, including Mesokine, its range for cultivated meat. Each product is a defined barley seed extract that contains endotoxin-free growth factors from cows, pigs, birds and marine species. They also contain selected barley proteins to stabilise them, prolong their lifetime, and enhance their bioactivity.
ORF Genetics notes that Mesokine has become a trusted brand among key players in the cultivated meat space. One of its most notable customers is Australia’s Vow, whose cultured quail is made from the Icelandic firm’s growth factors, and is being sold at restaurants in Singapore and Australia.
Further, it’s working with South Korea-based SeaWith, which is hoping to receive regulatory approval and launch cultivated seafood in its home country by the end of the year. The two companies hosted a public tasting for cultivated shellfish meat at the Iceland Ocean Cluster this February, in an event attended by First Gentleman Björn Skúlason and agrifood minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson.
Now, ORF Genetics is aiming to supercharge the production of Mesokine, with plans to expand capacity by 14-fold by 2027, and by a factor of 10,000 by 2032.
To help with this effort, it’s extending its funding round with a goal of raising €7M. “We plan to expand the round by the end of October and welcome new investors to join us in building a company that holds a key position in a market with tremendous growth potential,” said Berglind Rán.
ORF Genetics is among several companies innovating with molecular farming, including Moolec Science, Alpine Bio, PoLoPo, Mozza, Miruku, Tiamat Sciences, Bright Biotech, and NewMoo.
The US Food and Drug Administration has added a proposed rule to its spring 2026 agenda that would eliminate the current provision of companies self-affirming their ingredients as safe.
Following through on health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s directive in March, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a new rule that could throw the food tech world into chaos.
The regulatory body has suggested an amendment to the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) rule in its Unified Agenda for spring 2026. The agenda outlines the regulatory and deregulatory actions planned by federal agencies within the next year.
The proposal would force companies to submit GRAS notices for food ingredients for FDA review, eliminating the self-affirmation process that many companies currently use to enter the market. The latter pathway allows manufacturers to independently determine their ingredients as safe for use, which RFK Jr has called the provision a “loophole”.
He pledged to revise the GRAS rule to “provide transparency to consumers, help get our nation’s food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe, and ultimately Make America Healthy Again”.
The move will have major repercussions for the food tech world, but may face challenges in Congress and in court.
What is the self-affirmed GRAS rule?
Courtesy: Enifer
The GRAS rule was created by Congress in 1958, with the self-affirmation provision introduced in 1972. This pathway doesn’t legally require FDA review – instead, companies only need to conduct a safety assessment by a scientific panel, which can include both internal and external experts.
Since producers choosing this pathway don’t need to notify the FDA or disclose the information publicly, they can maintain confidentiality around proprietary information and trade secrets. It’s also a cheaper, easier, and faster way to get to market – the FDA only evaluates around 75 GRAS notices a year, and the mean time for each approval is over 160 days.
Critics, including Kennedy, argue that this allows food companies to make their own safety assessments independently of the FDA.
“For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the US food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,” the health secretary said earlier this year.
This is why many producers choose to go through the full GRAS notification process. “Over the years, we’ve already had the chance to work with some of these companies and see the extremely rigorous and lengthy internal evaluation processes they have in place – and you want to make their lives as easy as possible if you want to make it onto their approved suppliers lists,” Simo Ellilä, CEO of Enifer, told Green Queen this week, after securing self-affirmed GRAS status for its mycoprotein ingredient.
GRAS notification is much more rigorous and requires the submission of a host of comments, including both positive and negative reviews and studies of a company’s ingredients. If approved, the FDA sends a ‘no questions’ letter, deeming the ingredient safe for sale – this is seen as a more transparent process with publicly available data and breeds both market and consumer confidence.
What is the FDA’s proposed rule?
Courtesy: Solar Foods
Under the proposed rule, companies would be required to submit GRAS notices and await FDA approval before they can sell novel ingredients in the US.
It would spell out the process under which the agency would determine a substance to not be GRAS, and clarify that the FDA maintains and updates its publicly available GRAS notice inventory.
Crucially, it would not affect ingredients that are already determined as GRAS. “Food substances that are listed or affirmed as GRAS for the intended use by regulation, or for which [the] FDA has already issued a ‘no questions letter’ on its GRAS notice inventory, would be exempted,” the proposal reads.
This would be a major sigh of relief for food tech startups, many of whom have been selling their innovations after following the self-affirmed GRAS pathway. These companies may choose to begin the GRAS notification process anyway, to clear away all doubts with clients and customers.
How will this affect food tech companies?
Courtesy: Nourish Ingredients
The move carries a host of implications. When RFK Jr first floated the idea, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would “explore ways legislation can completely close the GRAS loophole”. This is because the FDA does not have the statutory authority to make GRAS notifications mandatory, so if it goes ahead with the rule, this could invite legal challenges and concerns in Congress.
On a business level, fermentation firms will be the hardest hit, as they rely on the self-determination rule most in the alternative protein sector.
If approved, the rule will likely send food producers into a scramble to self-affirm their ingredients as safe before it comes into effect, since they won’t be subject to a mandatory notification. But any new ingredients not determined as GRAS by this time would face much lengthier approval timelines, so we could see a sizeable gap in future food products entering the market.
“If there is a significant increase in GRAS notifications submitted to the FDA by mandate, without increasing funding and resources, review timelines will likely suffer,” Tony Pavel, a partner at Keller and Heckman LLP and an executive board member of the Precision Fermentation Alliance, told Green Queen in March.
“Currently, manufacturers may assess certain manufacturing changes or improvements without necessitating a filing with the FDA. If this flexibility is lost, there will potentially be significant additional burdens on the industry, as it iterates products through continuous improvement processes.”
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Tindle Foods’s premium vegan chicken, Mena Massoud’s Evolving Vegan series, and Meatable’s leadership change.
New products and launches
Swedish oat milk giant Oatly has introduced a new barista edition product specifically designed for automatic espresso machines. The BaristaMatic product prevents stratification in the milk container, and is available exclusively for foodservice.
Courtesy: Tindle Foods/Oatly/Green Queen/Bell Media Studios
French plant-based meat startup La Vie has launched Apero Veggie, a line of vegan croquettes in bacon and ham flavours.
In Spain, Heura Foods has unveiled Daditos, a diced protein SKU that can be eaten hot or cold. They’re available at retailers like Alcampo, Caprabo, Eroski, BonPreuEsclat, and Hiperber.
Courtesy: Heura Foods
British tempeh brand Tiba Tempeh has rolled out its products in over 1,000 Lidl stores nationwide, where it’s selling for £1.99 per 200g or 220g pack.
The Tofoo Co, the UK’s largest tofu brand, has reintroduced its frozen range in tempura and Straight to Walk variants – the latter comprises sweet chilli and soy-ginger flavours. They’re available at Tesco stores for £3.75 each.
Courtesy: Spoud
Swedish pea milk maker Sproud is the latest to hop on the matcha trend, debuting a low-sugar matcha drink with 2.5% pea protein and 0.7% matcha powder in the UK. It’s available on its website for £18.60 per six-pack.
Lancashire-based oat milk player Oato, meanwhile, has landed on online retailer Ocado, extending its reach nationwide in the UK.
Courtesy: Oato
Also in the UK, Karin Ridgers and Victoria Featherstone Pearce have launchedVegan Women’s Club, a community to connect plant-based women globally. It will host events, networking opportunities, and talks from inspiring vegan female leaders.
Altrofood, an Italian producer of plant-based powder mixes, has rolled out its burger, mince, meatball and egg mixes at Coop, Eurospar, and Interspar stores in Sicily, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Triveneto.
Courtesy: Altrofood
Spanish plant protein company Zyrcular Foods has signed an exclusive distribution partnership with Austria’s Revo Foods, which enables it to sell the latter’s mycoprotein products in Spain.
Across the Atlantic, plant-based meat startup Tindle Foods has debuted its Gourmet Chicken line of whole cuts to the US, which is available at all 13 PLNT Burger locations. Menu items include crispy chicken sandwiches, grilled chicken sandwiches, and boneless wings.
Courtesy: Tindle Foods
Oshi has introduced its vegan salmon at Orchard Grocer, HAAM, Willow, and Lily’s Vegan Pantry in New York City, and Subculture in Albany.
Also in New York, chef-led vegan food brand Cucina Fantasma has soft-launched its ready-to-bake Classic-ish Lasagna – made from seitan bolognese, herbed tofu ricotta, and koji-almond mozzarella – on DoorDash. Each unit costs $64.99 and serves six to eight people.
Courtesy: Cucina Fantasma
Plant-based milk leader Silk has updated its recipes in Mexico, with six essential nutrients, an improved texture, and a neutral flavour profile for various applications.
In Canada, Vivian Villa‘s shea-fat-based UnButter has gained listings at Healthy Planet Ontario, Farm Boy Ontario and Whole Foods Canada. It will be available in garlic and herb, salted, and lightly salted flavours.
Courtesy: Bell Media Studios
And Evolving Vegan, a food and travel series hosted by Aladdin actor Mena Massoud, has begun streaming on Peacock in the US.
Company and finance updates
Speaking of TV, Californian vegan restaurant Donna Jean has featured in an episode of Guy Fieri‘s Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
After leaving his role as CEO at Cult Food Science, Mitchell Scott has joined Canadian vegan fast-food chain Odd Burger as its head of capital markets.
Courtesy: Meatable
Weeks after acquiring Uncommon Bio’s cultivated meat platform, Dutch startup Meatable has had a change at the top. CTO Aris de Rijke has taken over day-to-day operations from CEO Jeff Tripician, who is now the CEO of Charcuterie Artisans and remains on Meatable’s board.
Meanwhile, animal rights charity Mercy for Animals has named Arash Yomtobian as its new president, a vegan of nine years who previously held senior roles at Google, Meta and TikTok.
Courtesy: Prefer
Singaporean food tech firm Prefer has released the results of an independent life-cycle assessment, finding that its bean-free coffee alternative has an eight times smaller carbon footprint than conventional coffee.
Research, policy and awards
A new €2.2M project co-funded by EU-backed accelerator EIT Food, called Innovative Strategies to Accelerate Adoption and Consumption of Plant-Based Food (ISAAP), aims to build strong national action plans for plant-based food in Portugal and Czechia, inspired by Denmark.
Courtesy: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz has received the first vegan certification for its interior fittings in the GLC with EQ Technology by The Vegan Society.
Californian startup Força Foods has won the Best Plant-Based Alternative award for Milkish, its sunflower seed milk, at the 2025 StartupCPG Shelfie Awards.
Courtesy: Forca Foods/Instagram
In the UK, 48 companies and organisations have sent a 10-point plan to new Defra secretary Emma Reynolds and Defra minister Angela Eagle to increase the adoption of plant-rich diets and meet the goals outlined in the Good Food Cycle food strategy.
Finally, the Guardian tested out a range of vegan spreadable butters, and picked Naturli’ as the winner (it scored four out of five stars).
Swedish cultivated meat startup Re:meat has struck a deal to establish a pilot facility in Lund, which will be the first such factory in Scandinavia.
Months after securing $1.1M in funding, Malmö-based firm Re:meat has signed a partnership to establish Scandinavia’s first cultivated meat facility.
The firm has teamed up with Biotech Heights, a biotech innovation hub supporting future food systems at Kemicentrum in Lund. Co-founded by Lund University, packaging giant Tetra Pak, and Sweden’s national innovation agency, Vinnova, it is located alongside the Lund University Pre-Pilot Plant (LUPPP).
Re:meat has become Biotech Heights’s first startup member, which will launch its first pilot at the LUPPP. “Collaboration is necessary to advance the development of fermentation and apply bioprocess technologies to new industries,” said Emma Nordell, managing director of Biotech Heights.
“Re:meat will be our first start-up to pave the way for collaboration between academia, start-ups and industry players within biosolutions,” she added.
The pilot plant, titled Re:meatery, will be installed by the end of 2025 and validated with partners and clients in spring 2026.
Re:meat bets on food-grade bioreactors to lower costs
Courtesy: Re:meat
Founded in 2022 by Jacob Schaldemose Peterson, Marie Gibbons and Gittan Schiöld, Re:meat emerged from stealth a year later with cultivated Swedish meatballs that received “overwhelmingly positive” feedback in taste tests.
It sources non-GMO cells through a biopsy of healthy free-range livestock. These are immortalised cells, meaning they can differentiate and multiply indefinitely. They’re fed a mix of nutrients and vitamins under an ideal temperature in fermentation tanks called bioreactors.
Once they grow to the desired density, the cells are harvested – this process currently takes three weeks. Re:meat’s initial focus is on minced meat, but it is working towards whole-cut products in the long term.
The company says its patented core technology radically lowers the cost of hardware for cultivated meat, an important step towards scaling cultivated food. It has developed an alternative to the controversial and expensive fetal bovine serum, and uses food-grade equipment instead of pharmaceutical bioreactors to meet the lower margins in this industry.
“Inspired by our many years in the brewing industry, combined with our R&D team in cell biology, we have developed a food-grade bioreactor that still meets the high standards and parameters to cultivate sensitive mammalian cells,” said Re:meat CTO Marten Schmidt.
“This means that our Re:meatery also fits for yeast, and bacteria-based processes, such as precision fermentation. So, the potential really extends beyond cultivated meat,” he added.
Re:meat plays into Swedes’ support for domestic production
Courtesy: Re:meat
While Re:meat is Sweden’s only dedicated cultivated meat startup, it doesn’t mean there’s a lack of appetite for these proteins in the country.
Polling by the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe has found that 55% of Swedes are open to trying cultivated meat, with 57% supporting its availability if approved by regulators.
“Swedes are typically keen on new things,” Thomas Kalling, professor of strategic management at Lund University, told GFI Europe last year. “Their balanced perspective underscores the potential for cultivated meat to not only enhance our competitive edge, but also tackle pressing global challenges related to health, ecology, nutrition, and affordability.”
Re:meat’s Schmidt noted: “We identified the need to design equipment that costs a fraction of today to be able to scale and industrialise alternative foods production and all its connected processes. This could enable a food revolution.
“Biotech Heights is a great partner supporting our common goal of bridging academia and commercialisation by providing the perfect combination of available infrastructure and scientific know-how,” he added.
“It is really inspiring that Re:meat wants to establish a pilot in our environment,” said LUPP manager Martin Hendström. “It will open up exciting new opportunities for innovation, research and education.”
The GFI Europe survey showed that three in five Swedish consumers back domestic production to bolster the national economy. Re:meat’s new factory will lean into that. And it isn’t the only major alternative protein facility being built in the country.
In April, agricultural cooperative Lantmännen received €50M from the European Investment Bank in part financing for a pea protein isolate factory. It will manufacture plant proteins for use in applications like protein bars, drinks, breads, as well as non-dairy alternatives and meat analogues.
The European Parliament’s agriculture committee has voted to prohibit the use of terms like ‘burgers’ and ‘sausages’ on vegan alternatives, paving the way for an EU-wide ban.
Five years after the European Parliament voted against a ban on meat-like terms on plant-based product labels, its agriculture committee has taken the first step to overturn that decision.
In a vote last night (September 8), the 49-member committee agreed to ban these designations on both vegan and cultivated meat (which hasn’t been sold for human food in Europe yet), moving the legislation forward to a vote with all MEPs.
The proposal was brought by the Parliament’s rapporteur, French lawmaker Celine Imart, in a review of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation in July. It was swiftly followed by a similar proposition in the European Commission, which sought to restrict the use of 29 “forbidden” meat-related terms on the packaging of vegan alternatives – the Parliament’s version is broader.
“The proposal will make it to plenary vote with all the MEPs, probably in October,” Rafael Pinto, senior policy manager of the European Vegetarian Union, tells Green Queen. “If approved there, it will make it to the trilogue negotiations on the file, between the Commission, Council and Parliament.”
He adds: “Although the initial proposal on this file from the Commission or Council had no mention of denominations (it’s out of scope), the Parliament rapporteur, Celine Imart, might try to put it in the final text. It’s unclear how the Commission will react, since they also have a separate proposal, on another file, with different wording.”
EU takes aim at plant-based and cultivated meat, despite no consumer confusion
Courtesy: La Vie
How veggie burgers are labelled has been debated for nearly a decade in the EU, but there were signs that the discourse would come to an end last year, when the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that no member state can prohibit companies from using these terms on vegan product labels.
The decision noted that such bans can be implemented only if a member state legally defines meat products and descriptive terms first (a lengthy and complex process), and even then, such a ban would only apply to products manufactured within that country. The only other option would be an EU-level ban, which is the goal of Imart’s proposal.
Her suggested amendment to the CMO argues that meat-related terms “shall be reserved exclusively for the edible parts of the animals”, such as ‘steak’, ‘sausage’ or ‘burger’ (notably, these designations aren’t included in the words the EU Commission is seeking to ban).
“The above-mentioned names shall not be used for any product other than the products referred to and shall exclude cell-cultured products,” the proposal reads.
The agriculture committee was in favour of this, seemingly disagreeing with the EU’s highest court, which ruled that existing legislation was sufficient to protect consumers from possible misleading.
“There is no data to support the argument that consumers are confused by plant-based burgers, sausages or any other alternative,” said Pinto. “Policymakers continue to bring up this non-issue, when it’s simply not a problem for citizens.”
In a large study by the European Consumer Organisation in 2020, 80% of people said plant-based meat should be allowed to use such terms. And in the 2023 Smart Protein survey, only 9% of citizens from nine member states said they didn’t recognise plant-based meat alternatives.
In fact, in an opinion published last September, the ECJ’s advocate-general stated that the use of several different names resulting from such a ban could be more confusing for consumers.
Conservative Parliament could vote for EU-wide ban
Courtesy: Heura
The amendment was voted in favour of by 33 members of the committee, with 10 opposing it and five abstaining. It’s meant to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain.
“On the contrary, banning the use of these terms will hurt the farmers producing raw materials such as pea or soy, the companies innovating with new products and hinder consumer transparency with the use of unknown names,” argues Pinto.
“Although this goes against the 2020 plenary vote, it follows the line of the agriculture committee that also voted for the ban before the plenary,” he says, highlighting how a repeat would see the effort to ban meaty terms thwarted.
It’s also an important issue for other EU committees, such as those overseeing internal market and consumer protection, environment and food safety, public health, and industry, research and energy. “We hope they step up to vote it down,” says Pinto.
But he adds: “Unfortunately, this time around with a more conservative Parliament, there’s a significant chance the ban goes through.”
These proposals came amid increasing pressure from a dozen member states to prevent such designations on plant-based meat products. These concerns echo – and are likely driven by – the livestock lobby, which has its arms deep into the EU’s decision-making, especially when it comes to green legislation.
The fact that the proposal made it to an amendment where it’s essentially out of scope raises suspicion of lobbying pressure – very few consumers care about how this debate, as can be evidenced by the fact that Europe is the world’s largest market for plant-based meat.
The Parliament’s move is contradictory to the EU’s promise to diversify protein sources and bolster domestic plant-based production, as well as its new bioeconomy initiatives. The Danish presidency of the EU Council is also focusing on a common EU action plan for plant-based foods. And last week, the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) published a report recommending policymakers to increase support for meat alternatives for climate, health and food security benefits.
It remains to be seen how the proposal to ban meaty designations holds up in the plenary. As for the Commission’s version of the proposal, the EVU says it’s unclear when the discussion will take place and how it will interact with events in the Parliament, but either way, it notes that this is a “political crackdown on meat alternatives”.
Starbucks Coffee is rolling out Protein Lattes and Cold Foam across the US and Canada this month, but its use of whey powder is in direct contradiction to its climate goals.
The world’s largest coffee company is blending two popular food trends – protein-boosting and cold foam – with its newest innovations.
After a five-store trial in the summer, Starbucks is launching protein-boosted lattes and cold foam across the US and Canada on September 29. It’s part of the chain’s drive to modernise its menu with “innovative, relevant, and hype-worthy products”, according to chief brand officer Tressie Lieberman.
The Protein Cold Foam can top any cold beverage and comes in a variety of permanent and seasonal flavours, adding 15g of protein per 16oz Grande drink. In addition, Starbucks is introducing a permanent line of iced drinks with the cold foam (averaging 19-26g of protein per serving). Meanwhile, its protein-boosted milk (a blend of 2% milk and unflavoured protein powder) will deliver 27-36g of protein for the same size.
“Our new protein beverages tap into the growing consumer demand for protein in an innovative, premium and delicious way that only Starbucks can deliver,” Lieberman said.
The problem, however, is the use of whey as its protein powder source. By using dairy instead of an animal-free protein, the coffee company is pouring cold water on its sustainability plans and excluding a large share of consumers who felt alienated for years thanks to the company’s non-dairy milk surcharge.
Despite its sustainability goals, Starbucks’s emissions are on the rise
Courtesy: Starbucks/Sergey Mironov/Green Queen
As is the case with any big business, Starbucks is a controversial company, from its union-busting habit to tax evasion, but when it comes to climate change, the Seattle-based firm has usually been on the right side.
A behemoth in the industry, it buys 3% of all coffee grown globally. With the crop under threat from the worsening climate crisis, there’s a very real possibility that 60 years from now, arabica coffee may not exist – or at least not in its current form anyway. So it has a responsibility to safeguard the industry.
The company already has an ambitious sustainability goal, pledging a 50% reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions, water withdrawal, and waste sent to landfill by 2030. That, however, is not going well so far.
As of the 2024 financial year, its full-scope emissions had increased by nearly 3% since 2019, the baseline year for its sustainability plan.
And the share of emissions from fluid dairy purchases has remained steady at 13% (in contrast, green coffee purchases accounted for 12% of its emissions, down from 15% in 2019). In fact, 6% of its scope 1 and 3 emissions come from methane released by dairy farms.
Starbucks has been working to reduce its dairy footprint. It has invested $8M in the US Dairy Net Zero Initiative to date, launched a Sustainable Dairy Program to advance environmental stewardship and enhance farmer conditions in the US, and introduced a cost-share initiative to help dairy farmers adopt methane reduction technologies, renewable energy, and water efficiency improvements.
By adding whey protein to its permanent menu, instead of a more climate-friendly alternative, the coffee chain is getting in its own way when it comes to environmental improvements.
Whey protein will hurt Starbucks’s climate footprint
Courtesy: Starbucks
Since whey itself is a byproduct of the cheese industry, some may argue that Starbucks is potentially contributing to waste reduction by making use of the protein in its menu.
The truth, however, is more complicated. Whey may be a waste product, but it’s derived from an industry responsible for 4% of global emissions (twice as much as the aviation sector). According to CarbonCloud, producing a kg of whey protein in the US generates 20.84kg of CO2e.
In contrast, the same amount of unsweetened pea protein powder by Bob’s Red Mill emits 1.62kg of CO2e – that’s a 92% lower impact. Similarly, Ritual’s pea protein formulation, which includes coconut MCT oil, xanthan gum, sunflower lecithin, and tocopherols, has a climate footprint nine times lower than whey.
Estimates suggest that in the US, Starbucks sells around five million beverages a day. According to the company itself, cold foam is now used in one of every seven drinks (with year-on-year sales up by 23%). Using back-of-the-envelope calculations, this equates to nearly 715,000 drinks a day.
A recent survey by the International Food Information Council found that 70% of Americans are looking to eat protein this year. Applying that to Starbucks, if 70% of its cold foam buyers opt for the protein-boosted version, that’s 500,000 drinks a day.
Assuming its baristas will add 20g of protein powder to each drink on average (making up 15g of protein), the company will go through 10,000 kg of whey every day from cold foam in the US alone. That’s an extra 76,000 tonnes of CO2e per year, and equivalent to 4.5% of Starbucks’s climate footprint from fluid dairy purchases.
Add to that the vast amounts of milk-based drinks Starbucks sells every day, and the emissions go way further. In contrast, if the company were to use unsweetened pea protein powder, the estimated emissions could be nearly 13 times lower from cold foam drinks.
It’s not just plant proteins that are better for the environment – several companies make eco-friendly versions of whey from precision fermentation. Although costs remain high, life-cycle assessments show that these offer a vast improvement on whey when it comes to climate emissions.
For example, Perfect Day’s beta-lactoglobulin produces up to 97% fewer GHG emissions, uses up to 99% less water, and requires 29-60% less energy than conventional whey. Verley‘s version requires 81% less water and 99% less land, and generates 72% fewer emissions. Vivici‘s animal-free beta-lactoglobulin also has a 68% lower carbon footprint and uses 86% less water. All three companies are cleared to sell their ingredients in the US.
So yes, while Starbucks is modernising its menu and meeting Americans’ unprecedented demand for protein, it’s doing so at potentially great cost to the planet – and in direct contrast to its own climate goals.
The Craft Consortium is building a cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands, a first-of-its-kind project co-funded by the EU.
When it comes to ensuring the safety of cultivated meat, way more Europeans place their trust in farmers (27%) than retailers or private companies (11%), according to a Euroconsumers survey this year.
The fact that farmers themselves will be most acutely affected if cultivated meat takes off on a large scale further emphasises their critical role in this future food sector.
These factors have led several stakeholders to join forces under the Craft (Cellular Revolution in Agriculture and Farming Technology) Consortium, with the aim of building the world’s first cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands.
The project has been awarded the first €2M of a €4M grant request, co-funded by the EU-backed accelerator, EIT Food. It’s designed to decentralise cultivated meat production and enable farmers to diversify their businesses.
The consortium is made up of RespectFarms, Wageningen University & Research, cultivated meat firms Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Multus, sustainable agriculture company Kipster, and facility design specialist Royal Kuijpers.
“Craft boils down a world problem to farm size. So we can solve it,” said RespectFarms co-founder Ralf Becks. “And once it works, we scale this out to the world to increase impact. Let’s export technology instead of meat and animals.”
How the cultivated meat farm would work
The project is looking to integrate cultivated meat into real farms, ensuring that the production is led by farmers and embedded locally. It will demonstrate how cultivated meat can coexist with livestock and crops, creating resilient and sustainable food systems.
“It is important for food innovations to stay as close as possible to primary food production, making use of local resources and waste streams,” said René Wijffels, a bioprocessing engineering professor at Wageningen University.
RespectFarms has previously explained that through this model, farmers can work with experts (like architects) who can retrofit their stable with new designs that are fit for cultivated meat production and a farm of the future.
They’d be able to produce more meat with fewer cows, and they don’t need to be slaughtered. It safeguards them against any disease risk to the livestock (and eventually humans who consume their meat), because you’re essentially taking them out of the equation.
“This represents the first effort globally to merge cellular and traditional farming and promises to deliver consumers the best of both worlds: the unrivalled experience of real meat, through products produced and sold locally,” noted Peter Verstrate, co-founder and COO of Mosa Meat, which this year applied for regulatory approval for cultivated beef fat in the EU.
“The project will deliver a business model that is fundamentally new on one hand, and centuries old on the other, and will add [a] new perspective, also for farmers, to agriculture as we know it,” he added.
As things stand, the food system is simply not sustainable, both from a food security and climate perspective. There’s not enough land to produce food for a global population that will approach 10 billion by mid-century, while the emissions linked to livestock production make up the bulk of agriculture’s environmental footprint.
Cultivated meat, though, can reduce water consumption by 78%, land use by 95%, emissions by 92%, and societal costs by 56%. “We need to find other ways to provide for our food – within the Earth’s capacity, with as little impact as possible on animals, humans, [and] the climate, and with a future for the (livestock) farmer,” said Ruud Zanders, co-founder of Kipster and RespectFarms. “Et voila: the cultured meat farm.”
Many farmers have embraced cultivated meat
Courtesy: RespectFarms
The threat to farmers has been the source of reasoning behind bans (and attempted bans) on cultivated meat in the US and Europe, despite livestock producers being open to the competition and advocating for consumer choice.
Farmers in the UK recognise the opportunities presented by cultivated meat, and are more worried about the social issues brought on by these proteins, like Big Food controlling the market or the knock-on effects on rural communities, than the impact on their bottom lines.
This was the argument of the Euroconsumer report. “Cultivated meat can offer opportunities for farmers – but only if we make smart choices now, keep things fair, and make sure benefits don’t just go to a few big players,” it stated.
In the US, too, livestock farmers themselves have opposed the numerous bans on cultivated meat, noting that they didn’t need the government’s help to compete with these proteins.
“This is not an anti-farmer sector; this is a sector that is using farmed products in new ways. And generally using farmed products that are more profitable and highly sustainable in the way they’re produced,” Andy Jarvis, director of the Bezos Earth Fund’s Future of Food scheme, told Green Queen last year. “The [culture] media are sugars, and all sorts of minerals and things that are coming from crops, and they’re farmed goods.”
This sentiment was echoed by Euroconsumers, which highlighted “small-scale on-farm cultivated meat production” as an opportunity for farmers.
Now, the EU agrees with this assessment, having invested in the Craft Consortium. “This grant enables us, together with RespectFarms and our partners, to pioneer farm-scale cultivated meat production, empowering farmers with viable, resilient, and sustainable models that align with Europe’s mission for healthier lives and fairer food systems,” said Neta Lavon, co-founder & CTO of Aleph Farms.
“Combining knowledge, building trust and creating new narratives is what excites me about this project,” said Ira van Eelen, co-founder of RespectFarms and board member of Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland. “I envision children’s books with fun educational stories about ‘Happy the Cell’ and his adventures in becoming the king’s meatball. This project is literally ‘Food for Thought’.”
The Indian government’s latest tax reform has brought plant-based meat and milk alternatives closer to parity with animal proteins.
In a major win for the future food sector, India’s overhaul of its tax framework will narrow the gap between animal proteins and plant-based meat and milk.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council approved the reforms announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, designed to “enhance the quality of life of every last citizen”.
The move covers a wide range of products across industries like food, cosmetics, homeware, electronics, medicines, and transportation. Among these are vegan meat and milk alternatives, which are now taxed the same way as packaged animal meat and milk beverages.
Tax relief for plant-based foods a ‘progressive’ move
Courtesy: Kingdom & Sparrow/Alt Co
GST is a destination-based tax system that replaced indirect taxes like VAT and service tax across India in 2017, under Modi’s first term as prime minister.
Until now, soy milk, texturised vegetable proteins (a common ingredient in meat analogues), nuts, and prepared fruits and vegetables have carried a GST rate of 12% and other plant-based milk alternatives have incurred an even steeper 18% tax rate.
At the same time, fresh cow’s milk is not taxed, and most fresh meat either has a 5% levy or none at all. With the new reforms, the GST rate on all plant-based milk, meat alternatives and other vegan foods will be 5%.
This puts them on par with several other animal proteins, which have also received a tax cut to 5%. This includes beverages containing milk, butter, ghee and dairy spreads, cheese, as well as sausages and preserved meat and seafood.
Even nutritional yeast and microbial proteins stand to win from the GST changes, with inactive yeast and single-cell microorganisms both seeing GST rates lowered from 12% to 5%.
“The considerable reduction in GST rates for plant-based foods is poised to increase accessibility to alternatives such as plant-based dairy and soy-based plant-based meat,” Astha Gaur, senior regulatory policy specialist at the Good Food Institute India, told Green Queen.
“As the effect of these reductions trickles down to the consumers by making them more affordable, we remain enthusiastic about how this progressive move by the government will positively expand the consumer base for plant-based foods, which has previously been a significant challenge,” she added.
The tax shift is a welcome move for the plant-based industry in India, which still faces labelling restrictions and has previously been attacked by an ad by dairy producer Amul and Mother Dairy, which claimed plant-based milks were not “milk”. The Advertising Standards Council of India struck down three petitions against the dairy giants.
India is hungry for plant proteins
Courtesy: Plantaway
The new tax regulations are set to come into effect on September 22 of this year, and they align with the growing demand for plant-based food in the world’s most populous country.
Despite only 11% having given plant-based meat a go (and 23% having tried milk alternatives), more Indians want to increase their intake of vegan meat analogues (43%) than conventional meat (36%), and two in five want to cut back on the latter.
The market for vegan food grew by 18% between 2021 and 2024, and according to Ipsos, it’s expected to expand 18-fold in the next decade, with plant proteins “set to be woven into everyday meals and snacks, attracting a wider audience beyond vegans”. This will be helped by the fact that 60% of Indians suffer from lactose intolerance, and 37% want to add more plant proteins to their diets.
Protein content and health are the most influential drivers of plant-based food consumption in the country, but affordability is among the biggest barriers, with a quarter of Indians saying oat milk and the like don’t offer value for money.
This is why the GST reforms are so important. “This should not be taken for granted or be seen as a given,” said Abhay Rangan, chief business officer at Senara and former CEO of plant-based dairy brand One Good. “This has been the result of stakeholders in the movement working tremendously hard – continuously making representations to the finance ministry, having dialogue often, and engaging throughout about the needs of startups in what will be one of India’s most important industries.”
Praveer Srivastava, executive director of the Plant Based Foods Industry Association, called it a “progressive move” that supports healthier food choices, environmental sustainability, and the “growth of the plant-based industry in India”.
The fight to lower plant-based meat and milk taxes isn’t just confined to India. Government subsidies have supported livestock agriculture disproportionately across the world, and while some European countries have introduced tax parity for these products, industry stakeholders continue to campaign for the same in many others.
As China’s future food leadership grows, its students will compete to solve real-world problems by developing new products in ProVeg International’s next Food Innovation Challenge.
Already a pioneer in electric vehicles and green energy, is food tech the next sustainability frontier for China?
Some would argue that the country is already a leader in this ecosystem – and they wouldn’t be wrong. Eight of the top 20 patent applicants for cultivated meat are from China.
It’s what spurred ProVeg International to host its sixth Food Innovation Challenge exclusively in the East Asian nation. The competition will entail students from Chinese universities developing alternative protein products that respond to real-world problems.
“In line with China’s ‘big food’ concept, this year’s edition focuses on real market needs, inspiring students to develop solutions guided by top professors and backed by leading food companies,” said Nicole Wu, executive director of ProVeg China.
Food Innovation Challenge will play to health trends in China
Courtesy: ProVeg International
The students will receive challenge briefs from global alternative protein giants Beyond Meat and Oatly, established local food firms Yihai Kerry Arawana, Dali Foods Group, Yinlu Foods Group, and Starfield, as well as emerging sustainable protein players Moremeat and Fushine.
The challenges will give participants the chance to design products tailored to China’s evolving taste and nutritional preferences. A survey by ProVeg in 2024 found that health is the main driver of plant-based food consumption in China, with 46% of consumers saying so, followed by nutrition (39%). It further revealed that 98% would eat more vegan food if they were told of its advantages.
This chimes with more recent polling from V-March, the country’s answer to Veganuary, whose market research found that 36% of Chinese consumers chose plant-based diets for health reasons, 22% were influenced by trendiness, and 21% followed religious beliefs.
“We believe the creativity of China’s next generation will help shape a healthier, more resilient, and future-ready food system,” said Wu. “In line with China’s ‘big food’ concept, this year’s edition focuses on real market needs, inspiring students to develop solutions guided by top professors and backed by leading food companies.”
This year’s participants will be mentored by university professors for the first time and the NeoProtein Committee of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology will provide expert guidance.
“Neoprotein is an emerging protein resource driven by the rapid development of biomanufacturing technologies. Unlike traditional livestock or fisheries, it offers advantages such as resource efficiency, low carbon footprint, and high production efficiency,” said Jian Chen, chairman of the NeoProtein Committee.
“With the potential to partially replace conventional animal protein, it is becoming a key lever to ensure a sustainable food supply,” he added.
From functional milks to Asia-suited meat alternatives
Courtesy: China Vegan Society
This year’s challenge will feature 32 winning teams, with a total cash pool of over $18,000. The deadline to submit ideas is March 20, 2026, with the finals set to take place in mid-May.
These students will work to meet several diverse briefs. Oatly is asking participants to create a plant-based milk with health attributes and a clear functional claim (and it doesn’t have to be oat), while Beyond Meat (which suspended its China business this year) is looking for its next hero product.
Dali Foods’ call involves a soy milk product for young consumers that combines health benefits with traditional Chinese culture, Starfield wants participants to develop plant-based meat ingredients tailored specifically for Asian cuisine, and Fushine is looking for a ready-to-eat product that uses its FuNext mycoprotein as the primary ingredient.
Shortlisted teams will feature in an Innovation Solution Showcase at the 2025 Food Innovation Expo, as well as visit company campuses.
“ProVeg Food Innovation Challenge promotes industry-academia-research collaboration and advances the development of the neoprotein sector through scientific and pragmatic solutions,” said Chen.
Last year, two of the competition winners were from China. The students of the Ocean University of China worked with colleagues at New York University to create a microalgae-based rice dressing, and participants from Jiangnan University leveraged microalgae protein, plant polysaccharides and 3D-printing technology to create plant-based, high-protein octopus legs.
The focus on China in this year’s contest comes amid growing government support for alternative proteins. At the annual Two Sessions summit, top government officials called for a deeper integration of strategic emerging industries like biomanufacturing. And in an official notice about China’s agricultural priorities before the summit, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) identified the safety and nutritional efficacy of alternative proteins as a key priority.
A week later, the No. 1 Central Document (which signals China’s top goals for the upcoming year), underscored the importance of “building a diversified food supply system”, including efforts “to cultivate and develop biological agriculture and explore novel food resources.” The following day, a briefing by MARA featured a call to action to “develop new food resources such as plant-based meat”.
The previous 12 months have seen a sharp increase in the number of alternative protein businesses that have ceased trading, come close to the brink, or been acquired. Here are all the major deals, starting September 2024.
The alternative protein sector has experienced a dramatic rise in business failures and consolidation over the past 12 months, reflecting significant market turbulence and shifting investor sentiment.
The bulk of activity occurred in Europe (23 deals) and North America (16 deals), with Asia-Pacific registering five notable events. This clustering highlights how alternative protein entrepreneurship, historically clustered in these regions, has faced pronounced headwinds from both consumer and funding challenges.
Particularly in Europe, legacy brands in the UK and the Netherlands have wound down or switched ownership, while several US-based startups, including those with substantial venture capital backing, have ceased trading or sold assets at losses.
Technology and product trends
Most casualties and transactions have been in plant-based companies (32 out of the total), whereas fermentation (7), cell cultivation (3), molecular farming (1), and blended protein (1) technologies make up far fewer. This skew suggests plant-based meat, dairy, and ready-meal startups have struggled most with scaling and profitability.
Of these, meat analogues (18 deals) and dairy alternatives (10 deals) were especially susceptible, perhaps due to intensifying competition and slower-than-expected consumer adoption. B2B protein suppliers and niche categories like honey and eggs also saw closures and restructuring, indicating market saturation or lack of stand-out differentiation.
Types of business events
Acquisitions constituted the largest share of deals (24), flanked by multiple closures (11), liquidations (4), bankruptcies (2), one merger, and several notable asset sales*.
In some cases, acquisitions afforded surviving entities access to IP or branded assets without assuming full operational risk. Other times, distressed sales reflected deep operational challenges and an inability to raise further funds.
*Note: The estimates for liquidations and bankruptcies do not include businesses that were later acquired or shut.
Macro implications
The spike in closures, insolvencies, and “fire sale” acquisitions suggests intense market correction, likely driven by rising production costs, tighter capital flows, faltering retail demand, and ongoing price sensitivity among mainstream consumers.
The sector is recalibrating around stronger, well-capitalised incumbents, with distressed startups finding new homes or dissolving. It’s clear that after years of expansion, alternative protein is experiencing its first widespread shakeout – a sign both of maturation and a need for strategic pivots in product, channel, and consumer engagement.
Cattle populations are declining in the Netherlands, leaving companies with an opportunity to foray into hybrid milk products. And consumers are here for it.
Now, decreasing livestock numbers are putting hybrid milk into the spotlight once again. A new report by Dutch bank ABN-AMRO estimates that meat supplies will shrink by 15-18% by the end of the decade, while the number of dairy cows will drop by 8%.
In fact, the bank expects three to four dairy processors to shut down by this time, and with upcoming government regulations, livestock numbers could decline even further. But this also offers up opportunities for companies to enhance their sustainability through “fewer animals, higher added value, and the possibility of combining animal and plant proteins in products”, it said.
And as part of the report, polling shows that Dutch citizens are willing to embrace hybrid dairy.
Why hybrid dairy is a solution for shrinking livestock numbers
Courtesy: Albert Heijn
The report ascribed the decline in population numbers to termination and depletion regulations. Last year, the EU approved a €700M sustainability scheme by the Dutch government, which compensates livestock farmers who voluntarily close their sites to help mitigate climate change. Since then, an extra €100M in aid has been made available for the initiative.
As expected, this has disrupted the meat and dairy sectors. While the farmers who continue to work in this sector could see incomes rise, companies that work directly with them face higher costs, only some of which can be passed on to consumers.
Another consequence is the decline in volumes, which threatens overcapacities at companies that slaughter animals or process milk. These processors are now under pressure to adapt their business models to keep being profitable, ABN-AMRO said.
“The extent to which companies are affected depends on their flexibility, which varies significantly depending on their position in the supply chain,” it explained. It leaves them with two mitigation strategies: focus on added value instead of volume (by targeting luxury markets or creating higher-value dairy products), and look for substitutes.
This is where hybrid dairy comes in. A recent global survey, meanwhile, suggested that among the 38% of people who don’t buy non-dairy products, 58% showcase the potential to switch if certain needs are met. The biggest problem was unsatisfactory taste or texture, which left 57% of consumers resistant to these products, followed by limited availability (55%) and high prices (37%).
Hybrid milk is positioned as a middle-ground product. It’s targeting consumers who want an all-round nutritional profile with less saturated fat, and are concerned about the climate impact of dairy production, but at the same time, don’t universally love the taste of plant-based milk.
A third of Dutch consumers open to blended proteins
Courtesy: ABN-AMRO
To offer a snapshot of consumers’ perceptions about hybrid dairy, ABN AMRO commissioned PanelWizard to conduct a poll on the topic recently.
The survey revealed that over a third (35%) of consumers are willing to try a hybrid milk product that contains 30% plant-based ingredients, so long as its price is equivalent to conventional dairy. Their main motivators are related to the environment and health, with Dutch citizens still sceptical about the taste.
But an even larger share (46%) of respondents don’t want to try hybrid milk, indicating that they’re either satisfied with cow’s milk, don’t believe the taste will be comparable, or find the concept strange.
Still, a fifth of consumers are undecided, and the younger and more educated a respondent was, the more likely they were to be open to trying hybrid milk. At the same time, many respondents also already drink plant-based milk, or never drink cow’s milk at all.
There’s a similar openness to blended meat, which has become increasingly popular across the globe. Roughly three in 10 Dutch consumers are willing to consume the protein as an alternative to conventional meat for dinner.
This attitude isn’t surprising, considering that the Netherlands is among the leaders of the blended protein movement. In 2024, Lidl introduced a blended beef mince under its own-label brand, a move replicated by Aldi earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Albert Heijn launched a 15-strong range of blended protein products. This includes hamburgers, minced meat, sausages, and soup balls (with 66-76% beef), as well as deli sausages. Plus, it rolled out semi-skimmed and whole milk mixed with sunflower oil, faba bean protein, sugar and salt.
. “The idea of combination products is new and may take some getting used to. But taste tests show that these products are just as tasty as the regular versions,” said Nienke Tjerkstra, VP of health and sustainability at Albert Heijn. “We’re making it easier to eat plant-based more often, without customers having to compromise on taste or habits. Small changes can make a big difference – for yourself and for the planet.”
With the livestock industry facing a supply and cost crisis, and consumers willing to give blended proteins a go, can the Netherlands’s animal protein industry innovate with hybrids?
Livekindly Collective is set to become profitable this fall, reversing the plant-based meat industry trend with strong brand building, private-label offerings, and Ed Sheeran.
Fresh from relaunching its Like brand of plant-based meat in the UK, the Livekindly Collective is approaching a key financial milestone: profitability.
The Blue Horizon-owned company’s CEO, David Suarez, has been at the helm for a year now, and has overseen a “bold strategy” that leverages its global footprint to accelerate its profitable growth plan.
“Our trajectory and financial plans indicate that we should be profitable in fall,” he tells Green Queen. “This is a result of applying learnings from many of the lessons. Since I took over last year, we finalised the consolidation of our back-office operations, which allowed us to unlock resources and invest them back in our front-office capabilities and products.”
While sales of plant-based meat have largely been stagnant, the holding company delivered high single-digit year-on-year growth in the first half of 2025. “Our growth over the past years has been consistent even while we were focused on consolidating the different organisations we acquired,” Suarez explains.
“In the first half of 2025, we are starting to collect the fruits of the strategic investments into growth we decided on, and we plan to continue on this path. Our results reflect solid progress not only on revenue growth, but at the same time improved gross margin, disciplined cost control and a clear path towards profitability.
“On top of that, we are seeing early signs of renewed momentum in our core markets, both from our established product range and from innovation-driven launches. We didn’t disregard the headwinds, but learned from them and quickly transformed to keep going strong.”
How Livekindly Collective is driving growth across markets
Courtesy: Oumph!
In the Germany, Switzerland and Austria region, the Like brand achieved double-digit growth, following its launch in the latter in Q2. This was built on strong brand activations like a Protein Bites campaign with Olympic champion Leo Neugebauer (set to relaunch this month to coincide with the Athletics World Championships in Tokyo).
“We’re also investing in brand-building initiatives like our ‘Color Up Your Taste’ collaboration with Berlin artist Josephine, and a major foodservice activation (including pink plant-based burgers) at the Ed Sheeran concerts,” said Suarez.
“In the Nordics, our Oumph brand is really strengthening its position, improving brand awareness and consumer first-choice preference, driven by our improved product quality and recognition through taste awards. In Australia and New Zealand, Fry’s is the clear number-one brand. We recently launched a range of new chilled SKUs and, combined with our campaign celebrating Fry’s 25 years in the region, this has translated into 30% sales growth despite overall category consolidation,” he added.
And in South Africa, both Fry’s and Like are seeing strong momentum. The company’s campaign with retailer Checkers has delivered double-digit uplifts on key SKUs, while its TikTok channels are growing rapidly. “Fry’s now has 15,000 followers with 48 million views, and Like gained thousands of followers since the launch, both growing by over 1,000%,” said Suarez.
“Apart from brand growth, we also took a lead role in shaping new labelling legislation for meat analogues, which gained national media coverage and reinforced our leadership in the category.”
A key lever of the company’s success is its B2B solutions division, which has expanded rapidly since its launch two years ago. Livekindly Collective has boosted its production, ships to 19 countries across five continents, and serves more than 40 customers with both private label and branded products.
“In 2024 alone, the B2B business achieved growth of 48%, with a projected increase of 120% in 2025. This was the first of many different segments we are pursuing to accelerate our growth,” says Suarez. “With our strong manufacturing footprint, three strategically located production sites: Stora Levene in Sweden, Oss in the Netherlands, and Pinetown in South Africa, we can deliver high-quality products at competitive prices.”
‘We’re always looking to make acquisitions’
Courtesy: Like
The headwinds of the plant-based industry, especially a sharp downturn in investment, have led many players to call it quits or sign M&A deals. In the last 12 months, at least 32 companies have either fallen into insolvency, closed, or been acquired, and around half of them are based in Europe.
Suarez’s explanation for this turbulence echoes many industry voices: it’s a young category that is now finally maturing. “It’s become clear that only strong and scalable business models can generate profit to keep investing in growth. From that view, consolidation isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” he says.
“On one hand, sometimes heartbreaking bankruptcies highlight the challenges: slower category growth, high competition, and the difficulty of scaling. But on the other hand, M&A deals can strengthen the industry by bringing together complementary capabilities, for example, combining innovation from startups with the scale, efficiency, and distribution networks of larger players, just like us,” he adds.
“Ultimately, I see it as a positive step towards the growth of the sustainable protein category, [one that] enables taking plant-based mainstream.”
Livekindly Co already owns Like, Fry’s, Oumph!, No Meat, Dutch Weedburger, and Alpha Foods – but is it on the hunt for more brands? “Look, this category will keep consolidating, which – given our strong position in the market – always gives us the opportunity to consider acquiring an organisation that could help us disproportionately accelerate growth and profitability,” says Suarez. “We are always looking, and if we decide to move, we will do it in a very strategic way.”
He continues: “We are constantly having conversations with different types of organisations, big and small, on opportunities to collaborate. The initiatives range from complementing our portfolio with a specific technology being tested, hybrids, or even opening a new market. At the end, we need to conquer more eating occasions, and we can accelerate this by collaborating with other successful companies.”
Asked about the company’s runway, the CEO reiterates the profitability forecast to suggest that Livekindly Collective “should keep looking for opportunities” to become more efficient. This would involve investing strategically in accelerating growth, and operating its supply chain network globally in a more streamlined manner.
Plant-based companies must ‘reframe the UPF narrative’
Courtesy: Like
This month, Livekindly Collective is bringing its Like Meat back to the UK around three years after it quietly exited the market. Rumours swirled that the decision was likely due to increased import and shipping costs post-Brexit.
“What we can afford to do […] is to test brands and products in different markets. We stopped a couple of years ago to focus and accelerate growth where we could obtain the best long-term result for the company,” Suarez offers. “Now, with the learnings of the market and a repositioned brand, we decided to invest back into markets where consumers will benefit from our products. Like launched in South Africa just before the UK, and we are seeing [a] positive response already.”
In the UK, the second-largest market for vegan food in Europe, it is targeting young, health-minded flexitarians with high-protein, high-fibre and low-fat formulations. “We’ve been talking to our customers, and we are attending the need to provide high-quality products to a younger generation of consumers that are health-conscious and on a journey to complement their diets with new protein options,” says Suarez.
A key battle for the brand will be to shake off the ultra-processed food (UPF) tag, which has informed a negative public opinion of meat alternatives. Sales of these products fell by 7% last year, as Brits opted for traditional plant proteins like tofu and beans, leading even plant-based meat players to develop whole-food options.
Like’s products will also face scrutiny from consumers looking for cleaner label, with one of its offerings containing over 30 ingredients. But the company will hope Brits look past the ingredients and processing and focus on the nutritional gains these products offer.
“For me, the opportunity is in reframing the narrative: instead of focusing only on the word ‘processed’ we should highlight the positive impact these foods can deliver to people and the planet,” Suarez says of UPFs. “Many everyday foods, from bread to yoghurt, are processed, and processing often makes products safer, more consistent, and tastier. In fact, around 70% of all foods available in supermarkets are processed. That includes animal meat products.”
“What really matters is the nutritional value. Plant-based products generally contain less saturated fat, no cholesterol, and more fibre than their animal counterparts, and that’s a strong health benefit. At the same time, our R&D team keeps working on delivering even tastier and healthier formulations every day.”
Suarez doesn’t believe the industry got it wrong. “Different players might have come into the category with different objectives,” he explains. “What the market […] teaches us once again is that for an industry to thrive, it requires two main components: meeting consumer expectations and working the scalable model that delivers profit. And Livekindly Collective has these two components to succeed in the long term.”
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Impossible Foods’s Joey Chestnut partnership, Billie Eilish’s emissions-cutting concerts, and Aleph Farms’s Peta promise.
New products and launches
US plant-based meat giant Impossible Foods has again partnered with competitive eaterJoey Chestnut for a 99 in 9 challenge. It entails Chestnut and one fan (selected from an online process) eating 99 Impossible nuggets in nine minutes at the Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants MLB game on September 12.
Plant-based frozen meal company Blackbird Foods has rolled out its newest product, the five-inch Blackbirdie Pizza Minis, exclusively at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide for $9.99. They’re available in cheese and pepperoni variants, and can be made in a microwave in 90 seconds, air fryer in six minutes, and oven in eight.
Mission Barns has revealed the menu for its first two dinners at Fiorella Sunset. Its cultivated pork meatballs will be paired with classic Italian-style herbs in one dish, and stuffed with raisins and pignoli in a Sicilian twist in another. The cultivated bacon, meanwhile, will be smoked with Applewood.
Courtesy: Mission Barns
Alpro has introduced a new entrant to a season dominated by the PSL: a cinnamon-roll-flavoured barista milk made from a soy and oat base. The limited-edition product is available in UK supermarket Sainsbury’s for £1.75 per 750ml bottle.
And French vegan cheesemakerJay&Joy has launched Albert, its dairy-free Camembert alternative made from cashews and soy milk, in the UK. It’s available online and at independent stores for £5.80.
Company and finance updates
After going fully vegan for four nights of pop superstar Billie Eilish‘s Hit Me Hard and Soft tour, Co-op Live in Manchester slashed its food-related emissions by 47% and saved 3.5 million litres of water, while signature menu items saw a 13% sales boost.
Courtesy: Petros Studio
Speaking of emissions, catering giant Sodexo‘s The Good Eating Company has partnered with carbon accounting firm My Emissions to report its full-scope emissions.
Bespoke Kitchen Foods, a supplier of vegan and vegetarian food for the UK foodservice industry, has bagged an investment from LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank. It comes on the back of 18% annual growth for the firm, which will use the funds to support its organic growth and make acquisitions.
Courtesy: Vanetta Food
Spanish plant protein startup Vanetta Food has secured fresh funding from BeFuture Invest, which shot up its valuation by 70% compared to last year.
Dutch startup Myriameat is working with two industrial partners to create a hybrid sausage combining conventional and cultivated meat, with no plant-based additives. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the state of Lower Saxony.
Courtesy: Nestlé
Nestlé, meanwhile, has withdrawn the vegan KitKat from the UK and Ireland, the only markets it was still available in. It means the product has now officially been discontinued.
Following its acquisition of The Vegetarian Butcher from Unilever, Brazilian meat giant JBS has combined the business with Vivera to form a new entity, called The Vegetarian Butcher Collective.
Courtesy: The Vegetarian Butcher
Californian vegan restaurant chain Burger Patch has closed its last remaining location in Midtown Sacramento after eight years of operations.
Protein Industries Canada has announced that Robert Hunter is no longer CEO, six months after he started in the role. The reasons for the decision are undisclosed, but the government’s innovation cluster has launched an expedited search for a new chief.
Courtesy: Better Nature
There’s change at the top at UK tempeh maker Better Nature, whose four co-founders are shifting roles. Elin Roberts is now the sole CEO, with former co-CEO Christopher Kong transitioning to board member and advisor next month. Ando Ahnan-Winarno is the COO, taking over from Fabio Rinaldo, who is now the head of supply chain and product development.
Research, policy and awards
Israeli cultivated meat firm Aleph Farms has signed onto Peta‘s Eat Without Experiments programme, which helps consumers identify food and drink companies that don’t test on animals.
Courtesy: Aleph Farms
Researchers from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have developed two technologies to process chickpea protein into edible microcarriers and fibrous scaffolds for minced and thick-cut cultivated meat, respectively.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a first-of-its-kind global standard for plant-based food and ingredient labelling.
Courtesy: Vezlay Foods
Finally, Indian plant-based meat startup Vezlay Foods has won the Plant-Based Food of the Year 2025 award at the Star International MSME Forum.
