radiofree.asia

Category: Alt Protein

  • Lidl Becomes First UK Retailer to Set ‘Protein Split’ Targets, Committing to Sell More Plant-Based Meat & Dairy

    lidl vegan
    5 Mins Read

    With a new plant-based private label, Lidl GB has announced that it will make a quarter of its meat and fish sales vegan by 2030, whilst also doubling the current share of non-dairy alternatives.

    German discount supermarket Lidl is truly leading the future food shift amid Europe’s retailers. Just weeks after it set targets to reduce scope 3 emissions (which make up almost all of its climate footprint), it has now committed to selling more plant-based food in the UK.

    The company has pledged to have 25% of its meat and seafood sales in the UK sourced from plants by the end of the decade, versus a 14% share in 2021. It will simultaneously double the sales share of non-dairy milk, cheese, butter and yoghurt by that time, from a baseline of 6.4% in 2021.

    It makes Lidl the first retailer in the UK to set a protein split target, committing to increase the share of vegan products over animal proteins to mitigate its impact on the environment and reach net zero by 2050.

    “We know that as a society, we need to incorporate more plant-based foods into our diets to ensure balance,” said Richard Bourns, chief commercial officer of Lidl GB. “That’s why we are proudly standing behind the Planetary Health Diet, which is key to achieving a more healthy and sustainable future and supports our net-zero ambitions.”

    To kickstart the shift, Lidl GB has launched a new Plant! range under its vegan private-label brand Vemondo, which will help triple the number of plant-based products on offer.

    “Make no mistake, this is a game-changer,” said Emily Armistead, interim director of think tank Madre Brava. “We applaud Lidl for being the first supermarket in the UK to take this bold but essential step towards a more sustainable, healthy food offering.”

    Price parity a key focus for Lidl GB

    lidl vemondo
    Courtesy: Lidl GB

    Lidl says it has witnessed a 12% increase in demand for vegan products over the past year, which pushed it to expand its plant-based offering with the new own-label range.

    The Vemondo Plant! lineup features 28 new products that will be rolled out to select stores this month, ahead of a national launch in January 2025. These include multiple tofu varieties (from £1.75), burgers and sausages (from £1.89), nuggets (£1.99), and mince (£2.49), alongside vegan cheese, yoghurts, deli meats, and ready meals like lasagna and cordon bleu.

    Besides the product expansion, Lidl has pledged to offer “market-leading” prices for plant-based products to amp up its protein shift. It is endeavouring to increase in-store visibility by displaying meat and dairy analogues alongside conventional products, a dedicated plant-based fixture, and increased marketing of its animal-free products.

    The discounter is also focusing on the nutritional value of these products to ensure they contain micronutrients like B12 and iron, and are high in protein and low in fat and calorie content, according to Madre Brava.

    “We’re the first UK retailer to set specific plant-based protein targets and are committed to breaking down key barriers that currently exist within the category, like price, quality, and availability,” said Bourns.

    This speaks to consumer trends in the UK, where two in five people eat plant-based meat for its nutritional benefits, but one in five are deterred due to high prices.

    “With the launch of our new own-label Vemondo Plant! range, and the expansion of our branded offering, all at market-leading prices, we’re making high-quality plant-based foods accessible to everyone, ensuring that more customers can afford to make healthy and sustainable choices,” Bourns added.

    The retailer will today be honoured with the Bronze Planet Friendly Award from animal welfare organisation Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) at the Good Farm Animal Welfare Awards. “Lidl is setting an example in the UK retail sector, and we hope their initiative inspires other supermarkets to consider the impact their business has on planetary health,” said CIWF director of food business Tracey Jones.

    Lidl labelled ‘pioneer’ as experts hail plant-based shift

    lidl plant based
    Courtesy: Lidl GB

    The move is the latest in a series of initiatives over the last 12 months, through which Lidl is aiming to greenify its own portfolio and lead the protein transition race among retailers globally. Just this month, the supermarket expanded its scope 3 reduction targets, aiming to cut these emissions by 35% in the next decade, and curb emissions from agriculture, forestry and land use by 42.4%.

    The most effective way to do this is to replace climate-harming animal proteins with planet-friendly plant-based foods, and Lidl has recognised this by lowering the prices of plant-based analogues to match their conventional counterparts (or even beat them on price) in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It has positioned these products next to conventional meat and dairy items on shelves as well, which has brought sales success.

    “Our commitment to sustainable proteins will contribute to significantly reducing our scope 3 CO2 emissions and support a more balanced and sustainable food system for the future,” said Bourns.

    The UK is the seventh market where it has set a protein ratio target, although Madre Brava has repeatedly called for a 60-40 split in flavour on plant proteins by 2030. Still, the current target is a start, and a further sign of Lidl’s intentions.

    “We can legitimately call Lidl GB a pioneer in this country, and it is notable that a discounter is publicly leading the way. All eyes will be on which supermarket will be the next to take the opportunity to offer more healthy, sustainable food,” said Armistead.

    “All the solar panels and electric delivery vans in the world are of no use if supermarkets don’t also tackle the emissions from the products they sell, and shifting sales to more plants and less meat is the truly effective way of doing this.”

    Rebecca Tobi, senior business and investor engagement manager at the Food Foundation – which recently published research finding meat analogues better for human and planetary health – echoed this sentiment. “Setting targets is a hugely important step, serving as a North star for driving meaningful change in shifting the food on offer so that supermarkets are better supporting both people’s health and the plan,” she said.

    Lidl GB is also working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on a five-year, 31-country project to make the retailer’s supply chain more eco-friendly, advocate for sustainable diets, and reduce food waste. The WWF itself published a methodology for retailers to measure protein sales last week, urging them to make 74% of all food sold plant-based.

    The post Lidl Becomes First UK Retailer to Set ‘Protein Split’ Targets, Committing to Sell More Plant-Based Meat & Dairy appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Indian Plant-Based Meat Products Are Nutritionally On Par With Animal Proteins – And Sometimes Even Better

    plant based meat protein
    4 Mins Read

    Plant-based meat and egg alternatives in India meet the government’s standards for ‘high-protein’ products, a new analysis has shown.

    In a country where food attitudes are driven as much by health as they are by religion, and four in five citizens are protein-deficient, a new analysis is aiming to reinforce the potential of plant-based meat and eggs to meet India’s consumption needs.

    Comparing over 100 meat and egg alternatives with their animal-sourced equivalents, researchers found that most vegan products have an equivalent or higher amount of protein. And those that combine two or more sources of plant proteins have a balanced amino acid composition.

    The study, titled Decoding Smart Protein Nutrition, was conducted by the Good Food Institute (GFI) India, and aims to provide nutritional information to Indians while listing out recommendations for plant-based companies and the government based on its findings.

    “This analysis underscores the nutritional strengths of plant-based alternatives, particularly in terms of protein and fibre content,” said Padma Ishwarya, science and technology specialist at GFI India, and the report’s author. “By offering consumers healthier, sustainable options, we can chart a path toward nutrition security and a more resilient food system.”

    Plant-based meat and eggs show impressive nutritional results

    vegan egg india
    Courtesy: Good Dot Foods/Green Queen

    The study was conducted in two phases. The first reviewed the nutritional labels and ingredient lists of meat and egg products, both conventional and plant-based, and this was followed by a quantitative analysis of amino and fatty acid composition to determine their nutritional quality.

    In total, 112 meat analogues in 11 categories and eight egg substitutes in four categories were analysed. The researchers found that in the Indian market, 30% of meat alternatives feature soy as their sole protein source, while 20% use a blend of soy and wheat gluten, and 16% feature pea protein. A quarter of the vegan egg offerings are also made from a soy and pea mix, with the rest being a combination of various other proteins.

    GFI India found that the average protein content in plant-based meat ranged between 9% and 21%, with products using a combination of sources exhibiting higher levels of the nutrient. All products fall under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) minimum requirements for a ‘source of protein’, the average protein content in formats except nuggets, sausage, momos, and biryani are classed as ‘high-protein’ foods under the regulator’s definition.

    All of the plant-based egg formats similarly fell under the high-protein classification, with levels ranging from 8-50%. These products also have lower fat and saturated fat content than chicken eggs across the four formats (scramble, egg powders, omelette pre-mix, and scramble pre-mix). The egg powder and scramble products also fulfil the requirements for sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

    In meat analogues too, all formats barring samosas have a lower or comparable amount of average fat than animal-derived meat, with chunks, curry and strips showing lower mean saturated fat too.

    The one metric where plant-based products outperformed conventional meat and eggs was fibre. The FSSAI considers foods with at least 3g of fibre as a source of the nutrient, with products containing over 6g classed as high-fibre foods.

    None of the animal-derived products met either criteria, but 10 of the 11 plant-based meat formats (except biryani) and all the egg analogues are considered high-fibre foods. This is important considering nearly 70% of Indians consume less fibre than recommended.

    What government funding efforts should focus on

    plant based meat india
    Courtesy: Greenest Foods

    There are still several strides plant-based meat producers can make to enhance their products’ nutritional value to India’s consumers. For example, meat analogues need improvements to fulfil the nutrient content claims on unsaturated fats (specifically, the energy derived from them), as well as omega-3 fatty acids.

    Ishwarya also pointed to the need to reduce sodium and saturated fat levels, and increase micronutrient profiles. “This could be achieved by upstream strategies such as crop optimisation for enhanced nutritional content and quality, ingredient diversification, and functionalisation, besides science-based product reformulation efforts,” she said.

    GFI India suggested India’s smart protein sector can develop more effective communication and marketing strategies to educate consumers, and explore more unconventional plant protein sources with better amino acid composition. Manufacturers can also tweak plant protein blends to get the best out of their products, and formulate novel fat alternatives with superior fatty acid content.

    Instead of using a trial-and-error approach to reduce fat and sodium levels, product reformulation efforts should be evidence-based, the report noted.

    It also left some recommendations for government investment bodies, urging them to direct funds towards new plant-based product development focused on achieving nutritional parity, and ingredient optimisation and salt reduction for healthier meat and egg alternatives.

    Public sector capital should also go into R&D projects that leverage Indigenous crops to diversify the “ingredient basket” of the vegan sector, as well as those exploring novel structuring approaches like microgelation and oleogelation to reduce the dependency on texturisers and enhance the application range of current lipid offerings.

    Finally, the government should also support investigations into the protein digestibility and nutrient bioavailability of plant-based analogues. The report argued that understanding the long-term benefits of vegan diets on gut health and mitigating diseases would bolster the category’s strength.

    “With support from the public and private sectors, the continued development and improvement of these products has the potential to enhance nutritional benefits for individuals while also protecting public health and the environment,” said Ishwarya.

    The post Indian Plant-Based Meat Products Are Nutritionally On Par With Animal Proteins – And Sometimes Even Better appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Aussie Plant Based Co Acquired By Smart Foods A Week After Liquidation

    aussie plant based co
    4 Mins Read

    The Aussie Plant Based Co has been acquired by Queensland-based Smart Foods, eight days after entering liquidation due to cashflow problems.

    It was only three weeks ago that Queensland-based vEEF introduced a new lineup of carbon-neutral meat analogues that were cheaper than conventional meat.

    This was the brand’s first new product launch since its parent company Fënn Foods merged with All G Foods’s Love Buds brand in October 2023, forming the Aussie Plant Based Co. “This union combines our strengths, enabling significant growth in both retail (vEEF) and foodservice (Love BUDS) sectors,” Alejandro Cancino, co-founder and CEO of vEEF, told Green Queen last month.

    But last week, the Aussie Plant Based Co went into liquidation, after a general meeting of the board resulted in the decision to wind up the business. The company appointed insolvency firm Fort Restructuring’s Kenneth Whittingham and Mark Robinson as liquidators, who confirmed that the closure was an outcome of cashflow problems.

    At the same time, they were in discussions with three interested buyers, and today, Gold Coast manufacturer Smart Foods confirmed that it has acquired the Aussie Plant Based Co’s equipment, stock, brand names, and IP, turning over a new leaf for the startup. It means Fënn Foods will now cease operations as an entity.

    Aussie Plant Based Co finds buyer

    love buds
    Courtesy: Love Buds

    The merger between vEEF and Love Buds came as All G Foods was looking to spin off the latter to focus on its precision fermentation operations.

    As part of the deal, Love Buds owned 49% of the new company, and combined production at vEEF’s facility on the Sunshine Coast. Combining their footprints, the Aussie Plant Based Co’s products were now available at over 6,000 locations across retail and foodservice, and it had set its sights on an expansion into Asia and the Middle East.

    “Our consolidated resources and shared expertise have positioned us for continued expansion,” Cancino said last month. “We remain committed to delivering top-quality plant-based products across both channels, leveraging our enhanced capabilities to meet growing consumer demand.”

    He added: “This strategic alliance strengthens our market presence, allowing us to better serve our customers and drive innovation in the plant-based food industry.”

    Now, the sale of its assets would allow half of the Aussie Plant Based Co’s 32 employees to be retained. “While the company has faced recent challenges, I believe in its strong foundation and the dedication of its team,” Raghu Reddy, CEO of Smart Foods, told Food & Drink Business.

    He added: “By streamlining operations, fostering key partnerships, and focusing on innovation, we will solidify its position as a leader in the Australian plant-based market.”

    Australia’s troubled plant-based meat sector

    plant based meat survey
    Courtesy: Food Frontier

    While wholesale demand for plant-based meat in Australian foodservice rose by 59% in 2023, retail sales dropped by 1% from the year before. This has been compounded by a high price premium on most meat analogues, a combination of low volume sales and high margins for retailers.

    This has left many companies in a bind. Do you keep prices high – which is already the second-largest consumption barrier for meat analogues – or do you risk lower margins? vEEF, for its part, cut its manufacturing costs through raw materials and a streamlined supply chain, while also increasing output through its production process, to offer a cost-competitive line of plant-based meats.

    But meat analogues are yet to reach 65% of Australia’s population. And of those who have tried them, only 22% say they’d buy them again, signalling a gap in consumer liking, and an uphill battle for brands in the space.

    “The retail sector grew very quickly before the pandemic and has suffered inevitable contractions, readjustments and corrections,” Simon Eassom, CEO of Sydney-based think tank Food Frontier, told Green Queen in May. “Whilst the leading brands have consolidated or grown their market share, other brands have contracted or disappeared, so the overall growth trajectory through the financial difficulties of the past few years has been relatively flat, but there are strong signs of recovery.”

    This year alone, ProForm Foods, the company behind the Meet range of plant-based analogues, wound down after entering voluntary administration, while pea protein manufacturer Australian Plant Proteins is facing a similar fate. And in April, New Zealand’s Sunfed Meats also shuttered after nearly a decade in operation.

    The post Aussie Plant Based Co Acquired By Smart Foods A Week After Liquidation appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Cultivated Chicken Tasting, Oat Milk Liqueur & Alt-Protein Awards

    oatly tea
    6 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Vital Meat’s cultivated chicken tasting in Singapore, Oatly’s new marketing campaign, and layoffs at The Every Company.

    New products and launches

    As it awaits regulatory approval in Singapore, French cultivated meat producer Vital Meat collaborated with Hue Restaurant as part of a tasting in the city-state. The event featured three dishes using the startup’s cultivated chicken powder.

    vital meat
    Courtesy: Carisa Lim/LinkedIn

    There’s a new mushroom brand in town. California’s Thallus Foods is using the chicken of the woods mushroom to replace, well, the other chicken. It calls itself the first indoor cultivator of this fungi variety.

    Speaking of new companies, in Denmark, Plantbox is curating plant-based meats and cheeses for wholesale consumers, and has gained listings at SPAR, Pico Pizza, Nemlig, Wolt, and more.

    oatly advertising
    Courtesy: Oatly

    Swedish oat milk giant Oatly has kicked off its new It Works in Tea campaign to target Britain’s tea-drinking tendencies. Featuring billboards in London, Manchester, and Brighton, the brand asked consumers to text a WhatsApp number if they were unconvinced. It received over 12,000 responses in the first 24 hours, who were in with a chance of winning a free tea set (with a mug and PG Tips tea).

    London-based The Good Pea Co, which makes alt-milk powders, has rebranded to Kwerky, with a new five-ingredient oat and pea milk powder slated for launch next month.

    Also in the UK, Tiba Tempeh has gained a listing for its tempeh block and mince at 327 Morrisons store, following a rollout in Sainsbury’s in the summer.

    In more tempeh news, Mamame Foods has introduced tempeh chips made from black-eyed peas in original, hot chilli, sea salt and rosemary flavours. They’re available at Whole Foods in the UK and will come to Planet Organic this month for £4.99, alongside Erewhon and Sprouts in the US in the coming weeks.

    mamame tempeh chips
    Courtesy: Mamame Foods

    Discount retailer Asda has added Dark Choc & Honeycomb Cake Pop Bites to its private-label Free From range in the UK.

    Belgian bakery and chocolate giant Puratos has extended its ready-to-whip Ambiante line with a dairy-free chocolate flavour, which uses cocoa from the company’s Cacao-Trace programme and can be used as a topping or filling for cakes, pastries, and more.

    future food quick bites
    Courtesy: Puratos

    Swedish startup Hooked Foods has teamed up with Sodexo to distribute its seafood and chicken analogues to the caterer’s network, following a successful Green Lunch for one of its clients.

    Vegan frozen food company Strong Roots has launched Air Bites, a range of products designed specifically for air fryers. It is available in Crispy Spinach & Carrot, Crispy Pea & Lemon and Crispy Veg flavour for £2.95.

    oat milk liqueur
    Courtesy: Oatrageous/Misunderstood Whiskey

    And back in the US, Misunderstood Whiskey has unveiled its Outrageous brand of cream liqueurs made from oat milk. The 14% ABV bottles come in espresso, coconut and bourbon cream flavours for $28.

    Company and finance updates

    US biotech startup Tiamat Sciences, which created animal-free growth factors for cultivated meat via molecular farming, has ceased operations following financial constraints.

    Californian firm The Every Company, the precision fermentation startup making recombinant egg proteins, has conducted layoffs at its Daly City headquarters.

    not milk
    Courtesy: NotCo

    Chilean food tech startup NotCo, whose products are built on its AI platform Guiseppe, has developed a generative AI model to create new flavour and fragrance formulations.

    Czech company Bene Meat Technologies, which makes cultivated meat for pets, has created a cell bank that already has over 5,000 samples stored.

    bene meat
    Courtesy: Bene Meat Technologies

    Two years after the initiative’s launch, Ferments du Futur has opened an innovation centre in the Paris-Saclay science and innovation cluster. The public-private scheme is an accelerator for fermentation startups.

    Spanish vegan egg maker Uobo has secured a six-figure sum in its latest funding round, and partnered with fellow Catalan startup Cubiq Foods – which makes animal-free functional fats – to develop a new egg alternative for B2B clients.

    uobo vegan egg
    Courtesy: Uobo

    In Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has issued several grants under the Small/Startup Business Innovation Research Program. Alternative protein startups include Agro Ludens ($7.1M), Deats Food Planning ($4.5M), and Fermenstation ($3.4M).

    ProVeg South Africa has been working with the Western Cape government to raise awareness about food insecurity during the National Nutrition Week (October 9 to 15), distributing 2,000 educational booklet to youngsters, hosting events for locals, and handing out 2,500 vegan nuggets from Fry Family Food in Uniondale.

    redefine meat
    Courtesy: Redefine Meat

    Israeli 3D-printed meat maker Redefine Meat has won plaudits from Dutch chefs after hosting them at its new visitor centre in the production facility in Best, with the startup’s R&D team taking in the feedback to improve upon its New-Meat range.

    US biotech manufacturing firm Liberation Labs, which specialises in precision fermentation, has received a further $12M from cellular agriculture investor Agronomics. It brings its total equity-linked funding to $35.5M, which will be joined by its upcoming Series A round.

    Policy, events and awards

    The APAC Society of Cellular Agriculture has signed an MoU with Temasek Polytechnic to create its first student chapter, which will foster a community of students across Asia-Pacific looking to shape the future of food through cultivated meat and seafood.

    float oat milk
    Courtesy: Float

    FoodBev Media has announced the winners of its 2024 World Plant-Based Innovation Awards, which include Float‘s adaptogenic oat milk, Elmhurst 1925‘s sour cream, Arla‘s JÖRÐ barista oat milk, The Mushroom Meat Co, and LOVO chocolate.

    Speaking of awards, Australian cultivated meat startup Vow, which has been selling its cultivated quail since receiving clearance in Singapore this April, has won the Future Ready Award in the Australian Financial Review‘s 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies category.

    vow lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Vow

    Finally, also in Australia, Sydney will host the next edition of the AltProteins Conference in October 2025, following a three-year stint in Melbourne.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Cultivated Chicken Tasting, Oat Milk Liqueur & Alt-Protein Awards appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The UK Could Lead the Protein Transition – Stakeholders Outline How

    uk alternative protein
    5 Mins Read

    With a host of positive developments recently, the UK’s alternative protein sector is at a tipping point – but the country needs further action to solidify its leadership.

    It has been a big year for the UK’s alternative protein industry. The country became just the fourth in the world (and first in Europe) to allow cultivated meat to be sold (to pets), set up a national hub for future foods, and finally broke away from EU novel food regulations to speed up its own regulatory process.

    These are all critically important steps when you consider that 16% of British households are food insecure or have low levels of security, and that alternative proteins could add £6.8B every year to the country’s economy and create 25,000 jobs by 2035.

    The UK Committee on Climate Change has said that meat and dairy consumption needs to be reduced by a fifth by 2050 to achieve the nation’s net-zero target for 2050, which would in turn contribute to food security, healthy diets, biodiversity, and resilience.

    While the UK’s recent moves to advance alternative proteins position the country as a potential world leader in the industry, several actions need to be taken for it to truly transform its food system and address the global crises of climate change, public health and pandemics.

    That’s according to a new briefing written by stakeholders in the food sector, including the Bezos Earth Fund’s Centre for Sustainable Protein in London, the Good Food Institute Europe, and the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC). The paper was created at a workshop held at the Pioneer Group’s Wilton Centre in June, which convened over 40 representatives from different parts of the industry.

    “Alternative proteins face the inherent challenges of nascent regulations, consumer acceptance, smaller production scales, R&D investment needs, differing feedstocks, [and] techniques to create textures and flavours,” it reads. “To truly compete with traditional meat, alternative proteins must overcome three barriers: cost, sensory optimisation, and a complex regulatory system.”

    Tactics to build on alternative protein progress

    bezos earth fund imperial college
    Courtesy: Imperial College

    The report builds on a 2022 whitepaper by UK Research and Innovation, the national science funding agency, titled Alternative Proteins: Identifying UK Priorities, and underlines the need to develop and commercialise future-friendly foods spanning plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated proteins.

    “The challenges in accelerating the development and commercialisation of the alternative proteins sector require a coordinated effort involving industry, government, research institutions, and other stakeholders,” it notes.

    The paper lays out 10 tactical actions to take the UK’s alternative protein industry forward, each assigned to different stakeholders.

    First, it calls for the mapping of the full alternative protein landscape across the UK, including an understanding of the UK’s alternative proteins asset base, capacities, readiness, and investments. This would be prepared by GFI and NAPIC by the end of the year.

    These two entities would work with Growing Kent & Medway to create a database of food-grade development and testing facilities across the UK, and carry out a gap analysis.

    The Pioneer Group and Growing Kent & Medway, meanwhile, could develop a programme of accelerators and incubator spaces for spinouts and small businesses, co-locating them with clusters of expert human capital, bioprocessing and R&D.

    Meanwhile, the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at Imperial College London would scope a case for investment into a protein database to enable access to protein structures and predict properties like allergenicity, solubility and binding.

    This research hub can also team up with NAPIC to facilitate collaboration between industry and academia, generating data and standardising the methodology for life-cycle assessments of alternative proteins.

    Government action crucial to support the industry

    fsa lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Food Standards Agency

    Public-private collaboration is a must, according to the report, which has outlined the need for the Food Standards Agency, Advanced Food Regulation, MAST Consulting, and Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein to develop and deliver a programme of regulatory training for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

    NAPIC was assigned to host sandpit events to create ‘oven-ready’ projects involving full supply chains – and both SMEs and large corporations – for the development and commercialisation of these proteins. According to the paper, it would also work with Growing Kent & Medway, the Bezos hub, and IChemE to develop training programmes to cross-skill and upskill the future workforce in the industry.

    GFI, meanwhile, took ownership of creating an in-depth policy and regulation stakeholder map for the UK alternative protein sector, and the Pioneer Group could develop a series of talking-head videos and blogs to highlight these foods’ importance on a national level, which would be launched on what is termed as the Alternative Proteins Day.

    The briefing further highlighted the need for detailed terminology for the food sector, and for alternative proteins to be included in the food pyramid, the national industrial strategy, and the National Health Service’s Eatwell Guide.

    Companies in the sector would also thrive from access to venture studio, accelerator, incubator and scale-up facilities. And the Food Standards Agency needs to set a framework for the regulation of different proteins that specifies parameters for standards, performance, safety, functionality, sustainability, etc. – progress has been made on this front recently.

    “This briefing note calls on policymakers, industry leaders, and consumers to embrace alternative proteins as a key component of future food strategies,” the paper reads. “Alternative proteins represent a promising solution for sustainable food production. By supporting their development and adoption, stakeholders can contribute to a more sustainable and secure food system.”

    The post The UK Could Lead the Protein Transition – Stakeholders Outline How appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • French Whole-Cut Vegan Chicken Startup Umiami Rebrands to Swap & Makes Play for the US

    swap chicken
    4 Mins Read

    Umiami, the Parisian startup making whole-cut plant-based chicken, is now called Swap, and has entered the US foodservice sector.

    French plant-based meat company Umiami has rebranded to Swap, which it says is “a universal word, easy to understand, and works well for international audiences”.

    “Swap perfectly represents our mission: to provide consumers with the opportunity to exchange their usual meat for a delicious and sustainable alternative, without compromising on taste or texture,” said co-founder and CEO Tristan Maurel. “Our new name is a call to action, encouraging consumers to make a positive choice for themselves and for the planet.”

    The refresh coincides with the brand’s US launch, where it is targeting flexitarians via restaurants to encourage them to “swap” to a “new kind of chicken”. It has introduced the Swap Chicken, a whole chicken fillet alternative, at restaurants in Chicago.

    Umisation tech enables clean-label meat analogues

    umiami chicken
    Courtesy: Swap

    The four-year-old startup, which has raised $107M in funding to date, relies on its Umisation texturising platform to produce whole-muscle replicas of conventional fillets like chicken and fish.

    This involves a technique that transforms plant proteins into structured fibres without high heat or pressure. “This technology is the result of several years’ research and development, and uses plant matrices to produce a fibrous texture and control the size, direction and thickness of the resulting fibres,” the company told Green Queen last year.

    “Umisation is an innovative protein texturing technology that is unique and specific to Umiami. It is the world’s first-ever process to be able to create – on a large scale – plant-based fillets that resemble pieces of animal meat: both in taste and texture,” they added.

    The technology also allows the startup to produce plant-based meat with minimal ingredients, with the chicken using eight ingredients and no artificial flavours, colourants or texturisers.

    swap plant based meat
    Courtesy: Swap

    This will likely resonate with Americans, who are looking for clean-label formulations amid the classification of meat analogues as ultra-processed (despite that label being separate from nutrition). Around 40% of the country’s consumers say they avoid ultra-processed foods and/or plant-based meats.

    Meanwhile, half of people in the US now seek out clean-label packaged foods, while health is the major driver of overall food consumption, influencing how eight in 10 Americans eat. On the contrary, a sixth of respondents are dissuaded from trying meat analogues in a restaurant setting because they have too many ingredients.

    And April, a decade-long proprietary study revealed that 99% of European manufacturers (like Swap) believe clean-label products are not just an advantage, but a cornerstone of their business strategy. In fact, over the next two years, these products are set to make up 70% of portfolios (up from 52% in 2021).

    Swap Chicken on the menus at multiple Chicago restaurants

    umiami plant based
    Courtesy: Swap

    Swap’s chicken fillet has 21g of protein per 100g, and can be marinated, breaded, sliced, or cubed to be served either warm or cold. The company says it is also “priced comparably to boneless, skinless chicken breasts”, which enables it to help kitchens reduce both costs and food safety risks.

    “We created a product that we believe will unlock the plant-based category for the mainstream consumer. Swap Chicken’s superior taste, clean ingredients and unrivalled product versatility finally enable chefs to recreate traditional recipes using only plant-based ingredients,” said Maurel.

    Among the Chicago restaurants Swap has partnered with The Chicago Diner, Spirit Elephant, Soul Veg City, Majani, Duke’s Alehouse, and Clucker’s Charcoal Chicken, while it is also on the menu of SteMartaen Vegan Catering. “We believe Swap Chicken will elevate menu possibilities, making it easier than ever to Swap animal meat for plant protein,” Maurel said.

    The company opened a 14,000 sq m facility in the Alsace region earlier this year, backed by local and federal government funding, which can produce 7,500 tonnes of plant-based meat annually, eventually rising to 20,000 tonnes. Swap says the rebranding also allows it to expand beyond chicken fillets to all kinds of meat and fish analogues, broadening its future product development plans.

    “Our rapid growth opens up new opportunities for expansion, while staying true to our commitment to simple ingredients and authentic recipes,” said Maurel.

    It comes amid a flurry of positive developments for France’s plant-based sector – this month alone, fellow Parisian plant-based meat maker La Vie closed a €25M investment round, McDonald’s debuted its first vegan product in the country with Beyond Meat‘s chicken, and the EU’s top court rejected France’s attempted ban on meat-related terms on vegan packaging labels.

    The post French Whole-Cut Vegan Chicken Startup Umiami Rebrands to Swap & Makes Play for the US appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Judge Rejects Upside Foods’s Request to Block Florida’s Cultivated Meat Ban

    florida lab grown meat ban
    5 Mins Read

    A federal judge has refused Upside Foods’s request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against Florida’s ban on cultivated meat, throwing its Art Basel plans into doubt.

    Upside Foods has had its request to halt the enforcement of Florida’s cultivated meat ban denied by a federal judge.

    In a 21-page ruling last Friday, Chief US District Judge Mark Walker rejected the Californian food tech startup’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which would have allowed it to showcase its cultivated chicken at the Art Basel festival in Miami (December 6-8).

    Florida was the first US state to ban cultivated meat, making it a second-degree misdemeanour to manufacture, sell or distribute these proteins. After being signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May, the law came into effect on July 1.

    A month later, however, Upside Foods – one of only two companies approved to sell cultivated meat by the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration – filed a legal complaint against the state, calling the move “unconstitutional”.

    The Institute for Justice, which is leading the case on behalf of Upside Foods, sought a preliminary injunction to halt the ban until a decision on the lawsuit is made, allowing the company to sell its products and honour its event commitments. It had teamed up with local chefs for the Art Basel fair, and is set to host a tasting at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in the state capital next February.

    But after a hearing last Monday, Walker has denied the preliminary injunction. However, this does not spell the end of the lawsuit.

    Upside Foods ‘could identify no regulation’ to support specific arguments

    florida bans lab-grown meat
    Courtesy: Upside Foods

    Upside Foods argued that the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) – which requires the USDA and FDA to inspect all poultry products, which apply to sales in states too – preempts Florida from prohibiting the sale of cultivated meat.

    “Essentially, the federal government has said that cultivated chicken cells produced at Upside’s facilities can be used in poultry products, and the state of Florida is saying that they can’t. The state simply doesn’t have that power,” Paul Sherman, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, said at the time.

    The state argued that cultivated chicken does not fall into the definition of a poultry product, but Walker noted that Upside Foods “has the better of the arguments” here, acknowledging that Upside Foods’s product comes directly from chicken cells.

    However, while the company argued that Florida’s ban imposes ingredient and manufacturing requirements inconsistent with the PPIA, the judge said the plaintiff could not identify a law or regulation “creates a federal ‘ingredient requirement’ with respect to ‘cultivated meat’”.

    Moreover, since Upside Foods does not manufacture its cultivated chicken in Florida, the ban on manufacturing doesn’t impact its operations or facilities. “Florida has not sought to reach into Plaintiff’s facilities to tell them how they should handle their cultivated chicken cells throughout the production process and then reframed such regulations as a sales ban,” he wrote.

    “Just because Plaintiff’s product arguably falls within the scope of the PPIA, and thus, is under the USDA’s regulatory authority, this does not mean that a state is expressly preempted from banning the sale of that particular kind of poultry product,” Walker stated.

    Lawyers to appeal decision as judge recognises ban’s effect on Upside Foods

    florida banning lab-grown meat
    Courtesy: Kevin Martin Galante/Upside Foods

    While the preliminary injunction has been denied, the lawsuit continues. “Preliminary injunctions are just that: preliminary,” said Sherman. “The real fight is still ahead, and today’s ruling has no bearing on the final resolution of this case. We always expected the bulk of the lawsuit to be decided on its merits, and that’s exactly where we’re headed.”

    The judge’s ruling revealed a number of partnerships Upside Foods had struck to sell cultivated meat in Florida before the ban was imposed. The company had already sold its cultivated chicken to at least one restaurant in Miami, and the chef it had teamed up with for Art Basel was also planning to offer the cultivated chicken at her restaurant on a limited basis by the first quarter of 2025.

    Upside Foods had further identified chefs in Miami and Tallahassee for similar partnerships, but halted talks after the ban came into place.

    “Defendants’ suggestion that Plaintiff’s evidence must establish something more than past sales or distribution, halted plans to work with Florida chefs, and future intentions to resume efforts to partner with Florida chefs and other businesses would effectively require Plaintiff to submit an admission concerning the commission of a crime under Florida law,” wrote Walker, noting that Upside Foods did not need to incriminate itself “just to get through the courthouse door”.

    In recognising Upside Foods’s standing to seek a preliminary injunction, he stated that the “evidence demonstrates that it faces a real and immediate threat of criminal enforcement against it if it continues to attempt to sell or distribute its cultivated chicken in Florida”.

    Suranjan Sen, an attorney at the Institute of Justice, called the denial of the preliminary junction merely a “procedural step”. “We are looking forward to appealing this preliminary decision while the case goes forward,” he said. “We are confident that the courts will ultimately recognise that Florida cannot ban products simply to protect local industries from honest competition.”

    Florida isn’t the only state to have banned cultivated meat – a similar law took effect in Alabama at the start of this month. And lawmakers in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have introduced similar measures.

    The post Judge Rejects Upside Foods’s Request to Block Florida’s Cultivated Meat Ban appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Americans Remain Divided Over Plant-Based Meat & Dairy Labels, But Should Brands Worry?

    plant based labeling survey
    4 Mins Read

    A new YouGov survey reveals that around half of Americans don’t like the use of meat- and dairy-related terms on plant-based products, but should this shake up brands’ marketing strategies?

    It was only last week that the European Court of Justice delivered a major win for the plant-based food sector, rejecting a proposed legislation by the French government that would ban companies from using terms like ‘veggie burger’ and ‘plant-based bacon’ on packaging.

    Such regulations are commonplace globally – in the EU itself, non-dairy products are still not allowed to use words such as ‘oat milk’ or ‘cashew cheese’ – as meat and dairy companies vie to protect their business and argue that these labels mislead consumers.

    It’s an argument that has been debunked time and again, with several studies finding that most people understand that plant-based means animal-free, so a vegan beef product will not, in fact, have come from a cow.

    But a new survey finds that in the US, more than half (54%) of Americans believe companies should avoid meaty terms on plant-based labels, while just under half (47%) say the same for vegan dairy products. However, YouGov – which conducted the 2,500-person poll – says this shouldn’t really affect the marketing strategies of vegan food producers.

    Different folks, different strokes

    It's not like the rest of the respondents want companies to market products as 'vegan sausages' or 'almond milk' either. Only 22% are in favour of brands doing so for meat analogues, which rises to 31% for alternative dairy products.

    The rest of the consumers – a quarter for meat and 22% for dairy – are unsure of how these products should be labelled.

    The results may suggest that brands should get rid of this language, but there are some important caveats: the attitude towards plant-based labels isn't uniform across different demographics.

    For example, older Americans are more resistant to such terms – 62% of people aged 55 and above are against the use of meat-related terms on animal-free products, compared to 45% of 18- to 34-year-olds.

    Likewise, what diet a person follows goes a long way in determining how they feel about plant-based labelling. Only a third of vegetarians oppose these terms when it comes to meat analogues, while 30% are in favour – more (37%) are just unsure. In contrast, 57% of meat-eaters think brands shouldn't employ this terminology, and only 21% say the opposite.

    Things are similar when it comes to dairy-free products. Among people who don't consume dairy, a greater share (37%) support the use of terms like 'soy milk' and 'vegan cheese' than those who oppose it (35%), though a large number are still on the fence (29%). But on the other hand, half of Americans who consume dairy products are against these terms, and only 29% are in favour.

    Brands should magnify other attributes

    Here's the thing, though: plant-based brands may not need to come up with new terms for their packaging after all, because most Americans who object to these labels "will be hard to win over anyway", wrote YouGov's Clifton Mark.

    A majority of respondents who oppose meaty (65%) and milky (61%) terms are somewhat or very unlikely to purchase plant-based analogues, the survey found. "It’s doubtful that a new label would change these consumers’ minds," Mark noted.

    On the other end of the spectrum, only 20% and 28% of Americans against meat- and dairy-related terminology, respectively, are likely to buy these products. "Among those who are likely to buy plant-based substitutes, those who think that brands should use such language outnumber those who think they shouldn’t," Mark pointed out.

    "Therefore, if brands want to target those who are most likely to buy their products, it makes sense for them to continue using 'meaty' and 'milky' language, as long as regulators allow them to."

    It's worth noting that, unlike the EU or the UK, the US does allow both vegan meat and dairy products to use industry-related terms on packaging, though some efforts are trying to change this.

    So companies may not need to overhaul their terminology completely, but given that their target consumers are meat-eaters and dairy consumers – i.e., those who are more likely to oppose the use of such terms on packaging – they need to highlight the attributes that these shoppers care about the most.

    Leading brands have already begun revamping their messaging. Beyond Meat is now posing as a "health company", with new product recipes and packaging highlighting the nutritional credentials of its products.

    One of its chief rivals, Impossible Foods, has also updated its packaging to hone in on the taste and health factors – both companies have had insights from nutritionists in their recent announcements, and toned down their sustainability messaging to appeal to a broader base.

    The post Americans Remain Divided Over Plant-Based Meat & Dairy Labels, But Should Brands Worry? appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat & Others Join Forces for First Plant-Based Industry Campaign

    plant based ad
    5 Mins Read

    Some of America’s leading vegan food companies have come together to launch the first joint marketing campaign for the plant-based industry.

    Do not ingest plant-based food… if you enjoy the taste of average to mediocre food.

    That is the call to action of a new, first-of-its-kind ad campaign backed by some of the leading companies in the US vegan sector.

    The marketing drive is coordinated by the Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA), and aims to highlight the benefits of plant-based eating in a quirky, deliberately contradictory way.

    Devised with marketing agency AKQA Bloom, the first activation is called ‘Plant-Based May Cause’, featuring a 60-second spot with a 10,000-word leaflet that was present all over Climate Week NYC last month. The fast-paced, playful narration challenges the misconceptions and underlines the benefits – some obvious, some ‘unexpected’ – linked to a vegan diet.

    It’s the first time leading brands in the industry have joined forces for a commercial campaign at this scale, with partners including The Kraft Heinz NotCo, Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, TiNDLE Foods, Bel Brands, Daiya, Prime Roots, Mellody, Stockeld Dreamery, Armores Fresh, Milkadamia, and more.

    “For years, the Big Meat and Dairy industries have been planting misinformation, so we’ve chosen to plant joy and deliciousness instead,” said AKQA Bloom co-founder and executive creative director Jean Zamprogno. “A better future for us and our planet begins with a shift in consumer behaviour, and no industry is better than ours to lead the way.”

    Leaflet straddles the comical and the critical

    plant based marketing campaigns
    Courtesy: PBFA/AKQA Bloom

    The campaign ad comprises footage from a branded food truck the PBFA organised with chef Nina Curtis and the 15 companies at Climate Week NYC, where New Yorkers were offered free samples of plant-based dishes.

    The video notes that eating plant-based may cause several effects, narrated in a way that feigns negativity. But these implications include vegan hot dogs causing you to love sausages more than your dog, non-dairy cheese making you want to only eat cheese for the rest of your life, and plant-based nuggets having no effect whatsoever – because “you’ll never realise they’re plant-based”.

    The leaflet, attached to products from participating companies at Climate Week NYC as well as in grocery stores, is a seven-point guide underscoring the impact of eating vegan food. Some of these points are earnest, the others just fun.

    For example, the leaflet lists “trouble sharing shareables” and “a crowded home at all times” as positive outcomes, as well as “severe urges to grill every day” and increased visits from your mother-in-law as side effects. But it also explains the true environmental and social benefits of plant-based food, from lower water consumption, land use, greenhouse gas emissions, and exposure to contaminants, to greater food access, better soil health, and a more robust local economy.

    plant based may cause
    Courtesy: PBFA/AKQA Bloom

    The guide also features several recipes to specifically highlight the fact that preparing vegan food is “actually very similar” to dishes with conventional meat and dairy. These include breakfast tacos, mozzarella sticks, mac and cheese, and chia pudding.

    Doubling down on the tongue-in-cheek yet impactful messaging, one of the lines in a section outlining the best places to eat vegan food reads: “Try having plant-based yogurt in your apartment, which, if it’s in NYC, is already so tiny that it literally has a tiny carbon footprint. So, if you’re enjoying plant-based food in that ridiculously small kitchen/bedroom/living room/dining room, you’ll be doing double duty when it comes to reducing land usage.”

    A collaboration long in the making

    The Plant-Based May Cause campaign also has radio spots, while the leaflet will be handed out digitally and physically. The food truck is serving as a mobile platform to educate people about the health and climate benefits of plant-based food.

    “This campaign marks a key moment for our industry. By coming together, for the very first time, as a diverse coalition of brands across 20+ plant-based food categories, we are engaging and inspiring a growing community of consumers around a singular marketing platform,” said PBFA CEO Rachel Dreskin.

    “By collaborating with AKQA Bloom and our members, we’re demonstrating how strategic, unified messaging can broaden the industry’s influence and realise its potential and myriad of benefits.”

    vegan ad campaign
    Courtesy: PBFA

    Alternative protein companies have been trying to collaborate on a joint marketing drive for a while now. Last year, it was reported that vegan businesses were hoping to form a coalition in the style of Got Milk? and The Incredible Edible Egg – two of the most successful consumer campaigns in modern US history – although some marketing experts expressed doubt over whether this could actually materialise.

    Impossible Foods was part of the effort, with CEO Peter McGuinness saying there’s “a collective opportunity to extol the benefits of the category”, but underlining the difficulties of coordinating the coalition at a time of upheaval in the plant-based sector.

    While the PBFA’s campaign isn’t a result of this effort, it’s still a strong signal of togetherness in the industry. This is important considering that meat analogue sales dipped by 12% last year, and investments were down by 24% – in 2024, funding has become an even bigger challenge for plant-based startups.

    Elsewhere, some are working on a vegan checkoff programme, a take on the meat and dairy industry approach that collects government-backed funds from livestock producers to fund promotional campaigns.

    UK-based Vegan Food Group’s Matthew Glover (who is also the co-founder of Veganuary) and Indy Kaur, founder of vegan consultancy firm Plant Futures, are spearheading this initiative. “We are looking to level up with this, consolidate funding and create a campaign which can fairly compete and give consumers a reason to choose to eat plants and not animals,” Glover told Green Queen in February.

    The post Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat & Others Join Forces for First Plant-Based Industry Campaign appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • US Hamburger Chain Takes On Asia’s Plant Protein Appetite with All-Vegan Restaurant Brand in Japan

    next restaurant japan
    4 Mins Read

    Connecticut-based Wayback Burgers’s franchisee in Asia has opened a 100% plant-based chain called Next Restaurant in Japan, with major expansion plans in sight.

    Fast-casual chain Wayback Burgers is going all-in on Asia’s hunger for plant proteins, establishing an all-vegan restaurant concept championing plant-based meat in Japan.

    Wayback Burgers Asia, the Japanese master franchisee of the US hamburger chain, has opened Next Restaurant in Tokyo, which it describes as a first-of-its-kind concept in the city designed to overcome the ever-changing barriers of the foodservice sector.

    The chain operates mainly as a takeaway and delivery site, with only limited seating for dine-in options. The restaurant operates a shared kitchen to prepare dishes from different restaurants, with visitors able to choose items from multiple menus at the same time.

    Next Restaurant’s model to expand globally

    wayback burgers
    Courtesy: Wayback Burgers Asia

    Wayback Burgers is a 33-year-old chain with over 170 locations in more than 20 countries using the franchise model. The chain has an extensive menu of beef burgers, chicken patties, shakes, and more, it does have a couple of meat-free options, using Impossible Foods and Gardenburger’s analogues.

    The company opened its first site in Japan in 2022, but has now expanded its operations with the 100% plant-based concept of the Next Restaurant. “The traditional restaurants are now facing high procurement costs, labour shortages [and] general inflation, and consumers [continue to demand] high-quality, healthy foods while seeking better value for money,” said Wayback Burgers Asia CEO Koichi Ishizuka.

    “Next Restaurant’s multi-brand restaurant model shares the same kitchen for better food preparation efficiency, and the pick-up and delivery concept allows us to operate within a small location.”

    At Next Restaurant, customers can order from a range of vegan bento boxes, with options like foie gras kalbi, short ribs, pork and ginger, and a beef bowl. The eatery also keeps to its parent company’s hamburger legacy, with menu items like short rib or pork-ginger rice hamburgers, as well as a minced meat cutlet.

    Moreover, Next Restaurant offers gluten-free pasta and doria (a type of rice gratin) tossed in tomato, bolognese or carbonara sauce, alongside entire menus for cheesesteaks and pizza (with flavours like tuna mayo, bulgogi, curry, and Margherita).

    Wayback Burgers Asia has further created a vegan and gluten-free smoothie brand called Niseko & Smoothie, which uses fresh produce from farms in the town of Niseko, Hokkaido.

    “It is franchisable and expandable to accommodate various existing restaurants’ menus,” Ishizuka said of the business model. “We are setting a new post-Covid restaurant business mode from Tokyo and expanding internationally.”

    Japan’s growing appetite for alternative protein

    plant based meat japan
    Courtesy: Yano Research

    As Ishizuka alluded to, Wayback Burgers Asia is now exploring domestic and international franchise partnerships to take Next Restaurant global. Its second franchised eatery is set to open this fall too, in Kumamoto on Japan’s Kyushu island.

    It comes amid a time of growing need for plant-based and other alternative proteins in the country. Japan has a net-zero target of 2050, with a shorter-term goal of cutting emissions by 46% by the end of the decade. But its current policies have been deemed “insufficient” by the Climate Action Tracker. And last year, research suggested that 45% of the country’s protein supply needs to come from alternative sources by 2060 if it’s to decarbonise.

    A 2021 poll found that 53% of its population primarily viewed plant-based meat as having “low calorie and fat values compared to regular meat”, and just over a third (37%) viewed these products as “sustainable”. Around the same time, another survey found that less than 20% of consumers in Japan were aware of plant-based foods.

    But things are changing now. This May, one study showed that three in four Japanese citizens had heard about or seen plant-based meat, with 21% displaying a broad understanding of these products. It also found that one in five respondents had tried meat analogues.

    Showcasing long-term trends, a survey last year suggested that the number of vegans and vegetarians had gone from 4.8% in 2017 to 6.5% in 2023. Likewise, while only 16% of Japanese consumers were consciously lowering their meat consumption in 2017, this swelled to 26% last year.

    These habits are part of the reason why alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute opened its latest office in Japan earlier this month, noting the country’s ability to cater to Asia’s “skyrocketing meat demand in a more secure and sustainable way”.

    Kimiko Hong-Mitsui, interim director of the office, told Green Queen: “Just as Japan developed and exported the cutting-edge technologies that brought solar power and other renewables to the world, we now have an opportunity to pioneer the next generation of alternative proteins – the food equivalents of clean energy.”

    The post US Hamburger Chain Takes On Asia’s Plant Protein Appetite with All-Vegan Restaurant Brand in Japan appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Plant-Based Meat Matches Beef on Protein Quality and Fills You Up More Quickly, Finds Research

    plant based meat protein
    4 Mins Read

    Two new studies have found that plant-based meat can match or outperform beef on many nutritional fronts, while also making you full faster.

    A vegan mince product can have the the same protein quality and digestibility as conventional ground beef, but is more filling and better for gut health, two new studies have found.

    Sydney-based vegan startup v2food collaborated with the Australian national science agency, CSIRO, to compare the health benefits of its soy protein beef with its animal-derived counterpart.

    The studies entailed detailed analysis of the composition and nutritional attributes of v2food’s mince, and examined the effects of reformulating the product to enhance these health gains even further.

    “With health being the top reason Australians choose plant-based meat, this research highlights how v2food mince can support a healthy lifestyle,” said Lisa-Claire Ronquest-Ross, chief science officer of the company.

    A recent survey showed that 54% of ‘meat reducers’ in Australia were cutting back on animal proteins for health reasons, a sentiment echoed by 58% of flexitarians – making it by far the most popular dietary driver.

    v2food’s plant-based meat aids gut health improvements

    v2food mince
    Courtesy: v2food

    One of the studies analysed the protein quality, amino acid profile, fibre composition, iron absorption, and effects on the gut microbiota.

    The total amino acid content was found to be comparable between conventional beef and the four formulations of the v2food mince tested (three of which were supplemented with different nutrients). While animal-derived beef had 26g of amino acids per 100g, the plant-based version had 18.65g, with the reformulated editions going as high as 20g.

    The conventional beef had higher amounts of nearly all the individual amino acids, but v2food’s mince has a greater concentration of sulphur-containing acids.

    Similarly, there was not much disparity in the protein digestibility scores either. Ground beef had a total rating of 71.7, while v2food’s alternative scored 73.6.

    The vegan mince outperformed conventional beef on several factors. Animal products don’t contain any fibre, so the plant-based beef came out on top by default, featuring 6.7% of fibre by wet weight (mostly insoluble). These dietary fibres helped modulate the production of short-chain fatty acids, which brings about a favourable shift in the composition and activity of the gut microbiota, and therefore improved gut health.

    Finally, intestinal absorption of iron from the v2food beef was three times lower than that of conventional mince, but the authors note that the former (alongside many other plant-based competitors) is formulated to achieve a total iron content in line with the requirements of Food Standards Australia and New Zealand to have a ‘source of iron’ claim.

    Fortified meat analogues also provide a superior source of iron compared to vegan products that don’t have supplemental iron. Moreover, the v2food formulations that contained ferrous sulphate increased iron absorption by the intestine by 50%.

    Vegan beef makes you full and satisfied faster

    vegan protein digestion
    Courtesy: v2food

    The second study focused squarely on satiety, measuring the amount of pasta eaten by 24 men on separate visits, containing a Bolognese sauce made either from v2food’s mince or conventional beef.

    Both meals had a near-identical calorific value, while the protein made up 45% of the cooked meal’s weight. After the meal, they were given access to a well-stocked buffet to eat as much as they wanted for the next 30 minutes.

    “The research also reveals that v2food mince induces feelings of fullness more quickly than traditional beef mince, with participants consuming significantly less pasta Bolognese made with v2food mince compared to beef mince after having a standard breakfast,” revealed Ronquest-Ross.

    The participants were found to eat 72g less of the plant-based mince dish, as well as 586 fewer calories. Those who ate the v2food bolognese also consumed lower amounts of fat and starch, and higher amounts of fibre, while the amount of protein was similar between the two options.

    But the energy intake at the buffet meal, and the measure of fullness, satiety and satisfaction after the pasta were not found to be different between the two beef dishes. In fact, the plant-based mince was more satiating and did not result in greater energy intakes at the subsequent buffet meal.

    “Individuals need to consume lower volumes and amounts of energy to achieve satiety when consuming a meal prepared with plant-based mince, compared to an equivalent meal prepared with beef mince,” the researchers wrote.

    This is an important finding at a time when one in five Australians identify themselves as meat reducers. In 2024 alone, a quarter of citizens have cut back on meat, with 12% planning to do so now, while 2% have eliminated it altogether – for these people, health is the main motivator (cited by 61%). It’s a welcome finding for a country with one of the highest per capita meat consumption rates globally.

    “These plant-based protein products are complementary to our existing protein sources such as red meat and fish,” said Crispin Howitt, lead of CSIRO’s Future Protein vertical. “It’s important that these products are developed so that they are as healthy as possible and with nutritional claims backed by evidence. We need new protein options to sustain the world’s growing population into the future.”

    The post Plant-Based Meat Matches Beef on Protein Quality and Fills You Up More Quickly, Finds Research appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Plant-Based Meat Matches Beef on Protein Quality and Fills You Up More Quickly, Finds Research

    plant based meat protein
    4 Mins Read

    Two new studies have found that plant-based meat can match or outperform beef on many nutritional fronts, while also making you full faster.

    A vegan mince product can have the the same protein quality and digestibility as conventional ground beef, but is more filling and better for gut health, two new studies have found.

    Sydney-based vegan startup v2food collaborated with the Australian national science agency, CSIRO, to compare the health benefits of its soy protein beef with its animal-derived counterpart.

    The studies entailed detailed analysis of the composition and nutritional attributes of v2food’s mince, and examined the effects of reformulating the product to enhance these health gains even further.

    “With health being the top reason Australians choose plant-based meat, this research highlights how v2food mince can support a healthy lifestyle,” said Lisa-Claire Ronquest-Ross, chief science officer of the company.

    A recent survey showed that 54% of ‘meat reducers’ in Australia were cutting back on animal proteins for health reasons, a sentiment echoed by 58% of flexitarians – making it by far the most popular dietary driver.

    v2food’s plant-based meat aids gut health improvements

    v2food mince
    Courtesy: v2food

    One of the studies analysed the protein quality, amino acid profile, fibre composition, iron absorption, and effects on the gut microbiota.

    The total amino acid content was found to be comparable between conventional beef and the four formulations of the v2food mince tested (three of which were supplemented with different nutrients). While animal-derived beef had 26g of amino acids per 100g, the plant-based version had 18.65g, with the reformulated editions going as high as 20g.

    The conventional beef had higher amounts of nearly all the individual amino acids, but v2food’s mince has a greater concentration of sulphur-containing acids.

    Similarly, there was not much disparity in the protein digestibility scores either. Ground beef had a total rating of 71.7, while v2food’s alternative scored 73.6.

    The vegan mince outperformed conventional beef on several factors. Animal products don’t contain any fibre, so the plant-based beef came out on top by default, featuring 6.7% of fibre by wet weight (mostly insoluble). These dietary fibres helped modulate the production of short-chain fatty acids, which brings about a favourable shift in the composition and activity of the gut microbiota, and therefore improved gut health.

    Finally, intestinal absorption of iron from the v2food beef was three times lower than that of conventional mince, but the authors note that the former (alongside many other plant-based competitors) is formulated to achieve a total iron content in line with the requirements of Food Standards Australia and New Zealand to have a ‘source of iron’ claim.

    Fortified meat analogues also provide a superior source of iron compared to vegan products that don’t have supplemental iron. Moreover, the v2food formulations that contained ferrous sulphate increased iron absorption by the intestine by 50%.

    Vegan beef makes you full and satisfied faster

    vegan protein digestion
    Courtesy: v2food

    The second study focused squarely on satiety, measuring the amount of pasta eaten by 24 men on separate visits, containing a Bolognese sauce made either from v2food’s mince or conventional beef.

    Both meals had a near-identical calorific value, while the protein made up 45% of the cooked meal’s weight. After the meal, they were given access to a well-stocked buffet to eat as much as they wanted for the next 30 minutes.

    “The research also reveals that v2food mince induces feelings of fullness more quickly than traditional beef mince, with participants consuming significantly less pasta Bolognese made with v2food mince compared to beef mince after having a standard breakfast,” revealed Ronquest-Ross.

    The participants were found to eat 72g less of the plant-based mince dish, as well as 586 fewer calories. Those who ate the v2food bolognese also consumed lower amounts of fat and starch, and higher amounts of fibre, while the amount of protein was similar between the two options.

    But the energy intake at the buffet meal, and the measure of fullness, satiety and satisfaction after the pasta were not found to be different between the two beef dishes. In fact, the plant-based mince was more satiating and did not result in greater energy intakes at the subsequent buffet meal.

    “Individuals need to consume lower volumes and amounts of energy to achieve satiety when consuming a meal prepared with plant-based mince, compared to an equivalent meal prepared with beef mince,” the researchers wrote.

    This is an important finding at a time when one in five Australians identify themselves as meat reducers. In 2024 alone, a quarter of citizens have cut back on meat, with 12% planning to do so now, while 2% have eliminated it altogether – for these people, health is the main motivator (cited by 61%). It’s a welcome finding for a country with one of the highest per capita meat consumption rates globally.

    “These plant-based protein products are complementary to our existing protein sources such as red meat and fish,” said Crispin Howitt, lead of CSIRO’s Future Protein vertical. “It’s important that these products are developed so that they are as healthy as possible and with nutritional claims backed by evidence. We need new protein options to sustain the world’s growing population into the future.”

    The post Plant-Based Meat Matches Beef on Protein Quality and Fills You Up More Quickly, Finds Research appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Cultivated Meat Could Bring 90,000 Jobs and €85B to the EU Economy – But Only If Lawmakers Bite

    lab grown beef
    6 Mins Read

    New analysis lays out the widespread benefits of cultivated meat to the EU and the environment, but not without significant support from parliamentarians.

    In late July, French startup Gourmey announced it had officially filed an application to sell cultivated meat in the EU.

    It was a seminal moment – not merely because a company made a regulatory filing, but because it was the first to do so under the EU’s novel food regulations.

    Among the strictest in the world, the complexity of a 27-member block combined with a long-drawn process drove companies away from the region – instead, they focused their efforts on countries where such frameworks have progressed, like Singapore, the US, Israel and the UK, a former EU member.

    But there have been movements. The EU recently updated its novel food framework to account for the advancements in the food tech sector, providing more detailed guidance to companies hoping to file applications, especially on scientific requirements.

    Now, a new report shows why it is wise for the EU to do so. By helping develop a robust ecosystem, cultivated meat could deliver €20-85B in annual economic contributions, making up around 0.4% of its GDP. Nearly a third of this would come directly from the cultivated meat sector, while the rest would be sourced from suppliers and induced spending and economy.

    By 2050, the cultivated meat market could be worth a combined €15-80B in new domestic and export markets across the value chain by 2050, while generating up to €40B in trade opportunities, largely driven by the EU’s leadership in specialised cell culture inputs.

    Moreover, the sector would lead to 25,000 to 90,000 new highly skilled jobs directly from production, with estimates suggesting that for every job created in cultivated meat, another job would be created elsewhere.

    The analysis, carried out by systems change advisory Systemiq in partnership with cultivated meat think tank the Good Food Institute Europe, also revealed the outsized climate benefits cultivated meat would bring to the planet. But public support – in the form of money and policy – is critical.

    Price parity crucial to the future of cultivated meat

    cultivated meat benefits
    Courtesy: Mosa Meat

    Europeans currently consume up to eight times more meat than is recommended in the Eat-Lancet Planetary Health Diet, and this appetite for meat is set to grow by 10% by 2050. That is unsustainable because our food system is virtually already running at full capacity.

    Livestock production takes up 71% of the EU’s agricultural land and contributes to 84% of its food system emissions, but food products derived from animals provide only 35% of calories and 65% of proteins in the region.

    Alternative proteins are a “critical lever” to stay within the safe operating limits of our planetary boundaries, offering us a chance to use less land, water and energy to make more food, while generating far fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

    Business as usual won’t cut it. The Systemiq report looks at three ways things could pan out for cultivated meat, and the future of the EU’s food supply. The first is a scenario of low-ambition scenario, where cultivated meat would become a niche ingredient with products mostly comprised of plant-based ingredients and a small percentage of cultivated animal cells.

    Here, wider regulatory approvals still remain five years away, which further slow down R&D and scale-up efforts, as well as cost reductions, meaning price parity will likely not be a reality until 2045. The high markup of cultivated meat would mean it would only make up 0.5% of the meat market by mid-century.

    In the medium-ambition scenario, these products gain momentum alongside the broader bioeconomy, with price parity met in 2040 through the commodification of key input supply chains. Regulatory approvals on a wide scale could occur by the end of this decade, and cultivated meat could capture 3% of the meat market.

    Finally, the high-ambition scenario would see cultivated meat become a part of mass-market diets across the world, with regulatory approvals taking place efficiently across regions. It could compete with meat on costs by 2035, allowing producers to include it in higher proportions in products. These advancements would see cultivated meat take up nearly a tenth of the meat industry’s share.

    The projections mirror another report that looks at alternative protein’s potential in the EU based on different levels of intervention. Systemiq suggests that the global cultivated meat market could reach €500B by 2050, with Asia dominating consumption (65%). The EU would likely account for 6% of this share.

    But to get there, cultivated meat producers need to build on the work they have done in the last decade and drastically reduce prices, by over €10 per kg to reach parity with meat. There are multiple developments that can facilitate this, including increased media use efficiency, new plant-based and fermentation-derived cell culture sources, reduced labour intensity (but with improved pay and quality), meeting energy requirements with renewables, and advancements in scaffold materials.

    EU urged to spend €500M every year on cultivated meat

    cultivated meat eu
    Courtesy: Romain Buisson/Gourmey

    The opportunities for the EU, as outlined above, are multifaceted and widespread. The region could meet 70% of its own demand for cultivated meat, with the domestic market potentially reaching €38B by 2050.

    Then there are the planetary advantages. By unlocking wider adoption of cultivated meat – and thus plant-based products too – the EU could avoid 3.5 gigatonnes of emissions by 2050, equivalent to a sixth of its agricultural footprint by that time. It would also reduce land use by up to a third, and water consumption by as much as 7%.

    Additionally, there’s potential for valorising waste products as bioeconomy inputs – for example, poly-lactic acid from culture media can be used to produce bioplastics. There are advantages for the pharma and life sciences sectors too, in that cheaper culture media would reduce overall production costs and growth factors could be utilised in therapeutic applications.

    The EU’s farmers won’t be left behind – cultivated meat relies on key farmed crops for growth media, but farmers can also supply animal cells and byproducts to companies, and may be able to produce cultivated meat on-site on a small scale.

    Speaking of farmers, more than 80% of the EU’s public subsidies under its Common Agriculture Policy have gone to livestock producers, with 44% directly contributing to animal feed, according to one study. Separate research suggests that the EU has spent 1,200 times more money on supporting animal agriculture than alternative proteins like cultivated meat and plant-based foods.

    That needs to change. The cultivated meat sector needs €5B in annual spending in the EU, and €500M of this should come from public sources, aimed at R&D and derisking large-scale infrastructure builds. Globally, the industry needs up to €55B from both the private and public sectors.

    There are multiple models governments to pitch in: research grants, tax credits, R&D subsidies, offtake agreements, blended finance, and public-private partnerships.

    The EU, meanwhile, needs to make the regulatory process more collaborative and transparent, with significantly more policy support needed for cultivated meat. Finally, there’s a need for commonly accepted product names and greater awareness of cultivated meat’s benefits, alongside better-tasting and more inexpensive products, to breed consumer acceptance of these foods.

    The post Cultivated Meat Could Bring 90,000 Jobs and €85B to the EU Economy – But Only If Lawmakers Bite appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The State of Play: Unlocking China’s Appetite for Plant-Based Milk

    plant based milk china
    7 Mins Read

    China is on course to becoming the world’s third-largest dairy producer – what does that mean for its plant-based industry?

    People in China are eating more protein than Americans now, but a majority of this comes from plant-based foods. Despite that, the country – already the leading producer of pork, fish and eggs – is now the third-largest producer of milk.

    The country is home to two of the top 10 dairy companies in the world, Yili and Manegniu, and has an industry worth CN¥680B ($95B). However, despite milk production rising by 36% since 2018 and surpassing the 2025 target three years ahead of time, per capita consumption of milk fell from 14.4kg in 2021 to 12.4kg in 2022.

    The alternative dairy industry, meanwhile, is a burgeoning sector, with a host of brands vying for market share by putting taste and nutrition at the forefront. According to Chinese company database Qichacha, there are over 5,000 enterprises related to plant-based milk registered in China today (though some of these contain casein or milk powder, but are still classed as dairy alternatives).

    These include traditional brands like Coconut Palm and Yangyuan, young startups like Oat Plant and Oakidoki, and global giants like Danone, Vitasoy and Oatly. It’s a market set to reach CN¥300B ($42B) next year.

    “This undoubtedly attracts numerous new players, yet it remains to be seen how many of these 5,000 enterprises will successfully launch products,” says Wan Lin, marketing and research lead at Toronto-based Dao Foods International, a China-focused impact investor whose alt-dairy brands include Wow Foods, PlantNow!, and True Plant.

    The rise of China’s plant-based milk sector

    oat milk china
    Courtesy: Oakidoki

    China’s annual per capita consumption of dairy (excluding butter) reached 34kg in 2021, compared to 231kg for the US. “This amount translates to approximately 90ml per day, which is less than one-third of the 300ml daily intake recommended by the Chinese Dietary Guidelines 2022,” explains Lin. “In contrast, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020-2025) recommend a daily intake of 710ml.”

    He adds: “Notably, most people in China’s rural areas, which make up 36% of the entire population, do not have a habit of drinking milk. Therefore, there is considerable potential for growth in China’s milk consumption.”

    Further, in China, nutritional guidelines play an important role in helping influence consumer dietary habits – demand for dairy is set to increase by 2.4% every year until 2032, reaching 62.2 million tonnes of liquid milk equivalent. Concurrently, the country’s milk supply is also set to grow, having reached 41.5 million tonnes last year and already showing a 5% increase in the first quarter of this year.

    The country also has a long-running National School Milk Programme to encourage children to consume more milk in schools. The programme has reached 27 million schoolgoers aged six to 15, and aims to expand to 35 million in the future.

    But there’s also room for alt-dairy. “Capitalising on the global plant-based trend in 2020, plant-based milk sales on [online retailer] Tmall surged by 965%, accompanied by a 900% increase in the consumer base,” Lin reveals. “Since 2007, plant-based milk has been the fastest-growing segment in China. In 2021, the industry generated revenue of CN¥211.72B ($29.6B), with a compound annual growth rate of 34.5% from 2007 to 2021.”

    However, sales appear to have suffered in the last couple of years, particularly for major international players like Oatly, whose struggles in China saw it withdraw low-margin SKUs and initiate a strategic reset, separating Greater China from Asia in its business operations.

    One major reason was the popularity of local brands. “Typically, when choosing a dairy alternative, Chinese consumers tend to prefer more familiar domestic options such as soy milk or walnut milk,” says Lin/ In 2022, Yangyuan (walnut milk), Coconut Palm (coconut milk), Lolo (almond and apricot seed milks), Dali (soy milk), and Vitasoy (soy milk) represented the top five alt-milk brands in the country.

    “The plant-based milk market in China, which has been established for two to three decades, is highly regionalised,” he explains. Western China is dominated by Viee (which makes nut, soy and oat milks), the eastern region by Yinlu (peanut milk mixed with milk), the south by Coconut Palm, and the north by Lolo.

    “These brands have become synonymous with their categories and hold dominant positions in their respective markets. With the emergence of numerous new brands as mentioned earlier, international brands like Oatly entering the Chinese market face significant competition,” adds Lin.

    Government support and the focus on nutrition

    china vegan survey
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    Despite falling population numbers, animal consumption is expected to increase by 2030 in China, according to a study from last year. If the country is to meet the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal, 50% of all protein consumption would need to be from alternative sources by 2060.

    Even so, the primary driver of vegan product consumption is wellness, rather than the environment. In June, a poll found that 46% of Chinese consumers are motivated by health reasons to eat more plant-based, followed by nutrition (39%).

    But while plant-based meat is still much more of an emerging player in China, the established milk analogue market is taking note of these trends, highlighting attributes like ‘no sugar/cholesterol/trans fat’, ‘good for brains/eyes’, and ‘high protein/calcium’ on product packaging, alongside cleaner labels. Nestlé’s recently introduced oat milk latte, for example, boasts 7g of dietary fibre. Lin says the food as medicine movement is gaining traction in this segment too.

    China’s government has been prioritising more nutritious food products as part of its Healthy China policy. In May, the theme of its 10th Nutrition Week was ‘Reduce Oil, Increase Beans, Add Milk’. Its dietary guidelines recommend consuming 15-25g of soybeans or equivalent soy products per day, but more than two-thirds of people don’t meet this intake.

    A state-backed conference held by the Chinese Nutrition Society aimed to promote a broader understanding of soy milk nutrition through a report on soy milk and health. And in the National Nutrition Plan (2017-2030), the government emphasises “plant-based proteins as the primary nutritional base, enhances efforts to innovate in research and processing technologies, and promotes the adoption of plant-based products”.

    “A significant portion of the population in China is lactose-intolerant, which also boosts the demand for dairy alternatives,” adds Lin, who points to social media as a key influence as well. “Ultimately, consumers prioritise taste and nutritional content when making their food choices.” Surpassing dairy on both these fronts is also key for repeat purchases.

    At last year’s Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit in Singapore, HaoFoods founder Astrid Prajogo told Green Queen’s Sonalie Figueiras that Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in plant-based dairy drinks and yoghurts.

    Soy milk dominates, but coconut explodes in popularity

    coconut milk china
    Courtesy: FreeNow

    “The range of ingredients in plant-based milk has become more diverse,” Lin says. “Recent additions to the market include rice milk, walnut yoghurt and water chestnut milk. Wow Foods… specialises in producing pea protein milk.”

    But over the last year, coconut milk has emerged as a standout, largely because it’s versatile and pairs well with milk, tea, fruits, and more. “Brands like Coconut Palm (founded in 1998) have high national recognition, while newer brands like FreeNow and Coco100 have experienced rapid growth and increasing popularity. Additionally, specialised coconut beverage chain stores such as Cococean and Yee3 have become increasingly common,” explains Lin.

    That said, soy milk – which has been consumed for over 2,000 years – is still the most recognised and dominant product in China’s plant-based milk market. It’s even more popular than cow’s milk when it comes to breakfast beverages, with 39% of people drinking soy milk with their morning meals, compared to 14% choosing conventional dairy.

    “However, a significant portion of soy milk consumption in China is sourced from breakfast vendors or homemade using soy milk makers,” states Lin. “Currently, no single company holds an absolute leading position in this market. The ubiquity of soy milk has made it too commonplace to excite mainstream young consumers.”

    In the wider market, too, product similarity is a major barrier, he says. “To overcome this, we need fresh and unique products that surpass cow’s milk in both nutrition and taste, providing consumers who typically drink cow’s milk with a compelling reason to try something new.”

    The post The State of Play: Unlocking China’s Appetite for Plant-Based Milk appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Jack & Annie’s Maker Adds $5M to Series B to Tackle America’s Fibre Deficiency with Jackfruit Meat

    jack and annie's
    5 Mins Read

    The Jackfruit Company and its consumer brand Jack & Annie’s have raised $5M in a Series B extension round to support their product development and expansion efforts.

    In a nod to consumers’ growing appetite for fibre-packed food options, The Jackfruit Company, which sells jackfruit-based meat analogues, has secured an additional $5M in an extension to its Series B round.

    The startup had previously raised $23M in its Series B in 2021, when it debuted its consumer brand Jack & Annie’s. Already the most well-funded jackfruit protein company – which makes ‘meal starter’ ingredients and finished products like burgers and sausages – the latest investment takes its total raised to $33M.

    The round was led by existing investors InvestEco, Creadev, and Grosvenor Food & AgTech, who returned for another bite. “We are expanding our sales force to accelerate our growth across segments,” founder and CEO Annie Ryu told Green Queen. “We are continuing to invest in product development and optimiation, for retail, foodservice, and industrial ingredients.”

    She added: “As we continue to see consolidation across the plant-based and broader meat alternative industry, our company is now positioned for strong growth to continue to deliver the delicious foods consumers have come to love.”

    The Jackfruit Company aims to solidify foothold

    the jackfruit company
    Courtesy: The Jackfruit Company

    The Jackfruit Company, founded by CEO Annie Ryu in 2011, was set up as a way to help farmers in India find a market for the fruit. But it soon began developing its own meat alternatives, the idea being that the company could offer a product that’s naturally meaty and thus has shorter and cleaner ingredient lists.

    “Consumers are seeking foods that help them eat healthier in order to live better and longer,” said Ryu. “There’s plenty of confusion in the food industry about what’s truly good for you, but we all know we should eat more fruits and vegetables. Whole-food options are foods consumers know they can trust as truly good for you.”

    Under The Jackfruit Company banner, it offers seasoned ingredients like BBQ and Tex Mex, which is available in grocery stores like Whole Foods, but is geared towards foodservice and B2B clients more.

    Ryu set up Jack & Annie’s in 2020 as a consumer-focused label, selling a wide range of pork, chicken and beef analogues, like tenders, patties, nuggets, sausages, meatballs, and shredded steak. The brand made its fast-casual debut earlier this year, with restaurant chain Smashburger (a fellow Colorado-based business) putting its jackfruit patty on its permanent menu at all 235 locations nationwide.

    The products under both brands are available in more than 6,000 retail stores across the US and Canada. But vegan meat analogues have had a tough couple of years with constant sales declines.

    jackfruit burger
    Courtesy: Kris Cheng

    “The initial expectations for how quickly meat eaters would adopt and embrace the category were overly optimistic,” suggested Ryu. “High trials did not lead to high repeat [purchases] because of consumer disappointment with the taste, nutrition, and ingredients/processing of some of the products in the category.

    “These concerns collided with high inflation and flexitarian consumers trading down to lower-priced meat. The category needs to continue to improve in taste, nutrition, simplicity of ingredients/processing, and price (vs meat).”

    Armed with the fresh funding, The Jackfruit Company will now look to strengthen its foothold as one of the long-standing plant-based meat brands on the market. But the raise also comes amid an investment slump in plant-based food (which fell by 24% last year, a slide that has continued in 2024).

    “Our investors see us as a leader in the future of the category – a category that will return to major growth,” Ryu said when asked what kept investors interested in her company. “Jackfruit is nature’s meatiest plant – a natural and unique solution to the demand drivers for plant-based meat, without the dissatisfiers that drove some consumers away. In a category that’s been struggling, we’re a bright spot of growth and opportunity.

    Reaping jackfruit’s fibre-packed benefits

    jack and annie
    Courtesy: Jack & Annie’s

    While jackfruit doesn’t boast the same high protein content that most meat analogues do, the true nutritional benefit of the ingredient comes with the fibre content. Americans, like people in most wealthy countries, eat too much protein, but are not eating enough fibre.

    In fact, only 5% of adults in the US meet the daily requirement of fibre intake, with the average American consuming half the recommended amount. This is despite the link between fibre-rich diets and lower risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, strokes, high cholesterol and heart disease (the leading cause of death in America).

    Animal products, meanwhile, don’t contain any fibre, accentuating this deficiency. The nutrient is becoming increasingly important in the US, where GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic have climbed into mainstream consciousness – 30 million Americans have already tried these medications.

    These drugs work by replicating incretin, a natural hormone found in our bodies that boosts GLP-1 to help regulate blood sugar, fulfil the appetite, and manage weight and metabolism. In our bodies, incretin is naturally regulated by dietary fibre.

    It’s why the two nutrients Americans are most interested in consuming this year are protein (71%) and fibre (64%), according to a 3,000-person survey a few months ago. And since more than nine in 10 consumers are getting these nutrients from food products (instead of beverages or supplements), The Jackfruit Company’s products fit right into current dietary habits.

    jackfruit meat substitute
    Courtesy: Kris Cheng

    The business is now looking to team up with brands and manufacturers to develop new products in categories such as dumplings, sandwiches, frozen entrees, and tacos, Ryu told Axios.

    “We are currently starting to see major headwinds for the category subside. We’re expanding our distribution and getting more items on shelves in the retail channel, while rapidly gaining acceptance in the foodservice channel as the real food solution in plant-based meat,” she told Green Queen.

    “There is growing interest in jackfruit as nature’s meatiest plant and a natural way to help people eat more plants by delivering the taste, texture, and nutrition they seek. We’re excited to leverage our globally leading jackfruit supply chain to provide partners with high-quality jackfruit ingredients.”

    The jackfruit market is set to reach $450B by the end of the decade, where The Jackfruit Company is joined by fellow innovators Karana (Singapore), Jack & Bry (UK), Upton’s Naturals (US), and Fiber Foods (Uganda), among others.

    The post Jack & Annie’s Maker Adds $5M to Series B to Tackle America’s Fibre Deficiency with Jackfruit Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Umami Bioworks Heads to the Home of Fish & Chips, Seeking UK Regulatory Filing for Cultivated Seafood

    umami bioworks
    5 Mins Read

    Singaporean cultivated seafood producer Umami Bioworks has expanded operations to the UK, and is in talks with the country’s regulator as it maps a path to market.

    Umami Bioworks’s international expansion rages on, with the cultivated seafood startup now setting up operations in the UK, the land of fish and chips (and overfishing).

    The UK is the latest in a growing list of countries on Umami Bioworks’s radar, which include South Korea, India, Malaysia, the US, and Singapore. “Over the past year, we’ve been evaluating a variety of strategies to bring our platform to the European market to address the growing challenges with seafood supply shortages and rising costs,” Umami Bioworks founder and CEO Mihir Pershad tells Green Queen.

    It comes just a day after the UK government invested £1.6M for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to fast-track testing and regulatory approval of cultivated meat, and three months after it became the first European country to greenlight such a product for sale (albeit for pet food).

    “We’ve been in contact with the regulators at the FSA, exploring the path to commercialisation in the UK market,” reveals Pershad. “We’re excited to be moving forward in the UK market after assessing the market needs and multiple conversations with regulators and potential partners.”

    Those partners include institutes like University College London and Imperial College, which is also the site of one of Bezos Earth Fund‘s Centres for Sustainable Protein. “In general, we work with university collaborators on frontier projects to help unlock new innovations cultivated solutions more scalable and more affordable,” says Pershad.

    “Our collaborations span a wide range of activities, from establishing new species for cell cultivation to the development of novel machine learning solutions that enhance the speed of development and scalability.”

    Battling the UK’s big overfishing problem

    lab grown fish uk
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    The company’s model in the UK mirrors its scale-up approach globally. “We intend to partner with an established food company to establish domestic production built upon Umami’s technology platform, producing seafood that meats UK consumer tastes and desires,” explains Pershad.

    While the production capacity hasn’t been determined yet, he adds: “We see Umami’s role in the ecosystem to primarily be commercialising and scaling near-term cultivated solutions, but we also see tremendous value in seeding the future of the industry in partnership with academic collaborators.”

    Umami Bioworks, which merged with fellow Singaporean cultivated seafood firm Shiok Meats in March, is among a number of startups using cellular agriculture to tackle the global overfishing crisis. Nearly 90% of the world’s fish stocks are now 80% of the planet’s fisheries have been fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted, according to the UN FAO.

    One study suggests that we could be heading towards a complete collapse of ocean life by 2048, driven primarily by overfishing for human consumption, as well as marine pollution and climate change.

    Looking locally, over a third of UK fish populations are being overfished, and a quarter have been depleted to critically low population sizes, marine protection organisation Oceana UK found. The government’s own scientists have said that 54% of the country’s catch limits set by lawmakers are at unsustainably high levels.

    The UK relies heavily on 10 key fishing stocks, five of which are either being overfished or reaching critically endangered population levels. Of these 10 stocks, six are whitefish, the same type Umami Bioworks is first focusing on for its UK plans.

    “We will be bringing production technology and capability for both premium seafood and companion animal products to the UK, and will determine the order of launch for various products in collaboration with our local partners,” says Pershad.

    Umami Bioworks praises UK government’s effort to advance cultivated meat

    lab grown fish
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    Britain’s appetite for cultivated meat may not be huge – a government-backed survey suggested that only a third would be open to trying these proteins – but it is certainly growing. YouGov polling shows that the number of Brits who would give cultivated meat a go has grown from 19% in 2012 to 26% now.

    This is likely aided by the growing awareness about cultivated meat – nearly three-quarters (74%) of UK residents have heard about these foods. But while they generally consider them to be better for animal welfare and planetary health, concerns around taste and price remain.

    Additionally, more people feel cultivated meat (27%) is less safe to eat than those who think it’s better (16%), although a third (33%) are unsure about the food safety aspect. It highlights a critical gap in consumer education and communication for the industry.

    This will be remedied in part by the government’s aforementioned efforts to create a regulatory ‘sandbox’, which would provide application support to cultivated meat startups, speed up regulatory approval timelines, and expand the safety and nutritional knowledge of novel foods, all while maintaining the FSA’s safety standards.

    “Ensuring consumers can trust the safety of new foods is one of our most crucial responsibilities,” said Prof Robin May, chief scientific advisor to the FSA. He added that the initiative “will enable safe innovation and allow us to keep pace with new technologies being used by the food industry to ultimately provide consumers with a wider choice of safe foods”.

    Pershad says Umami Bioworks is “delighted” to see the FSA’s ambitions of creating a sandbox be realised: “We are strong proponents of sandbox approaches because we believe they enable companies and regulators to learn together and to share openly in a way that builds more robust and tailored regulatory frameworks when new technical approaches are involved.”

    So where next for the company? It’s setting up production lines in Malaysia and South Korea, collaborating with research initiatives in India, and working with a pet food company to bring cultivated fish treats for cats to the US market next year. “We are in active review with documents submitted to regulators in major markets across America, Europe, and Asia,” Pershad told Green Queen last week.

    “Of course, the EU is a significant seafood market and one that we are assessing closely,” he says now. The EU’s novel food regulation (which the UK is now moving away from, nearly five years after Brexit) has long been a major barrier for startups in the space. So far, only France’s Gourmey has filed for approval. “We don’t yet have a timeline or firm plans to announce for regulatory submission or market entry into the EU, but we expect to solidify those plans this quarter.”

    The post Umami Bioworks Heads to the Home of Fish & Chips, Seeking UK Regulatory Filing for Cultivated Seafood appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Exclusive: Think Tank Shows How Governments Can Create National Protein Transition Strategies

    alternative protein national strategy

    9 Mins Read

    Devising a national action strategy for alternative proteins is crucial for countries’ climate targets and global food security – a new report shows how.

    In the next 25 years, the world will need 56% more food to feed its expanding population. But it has never faced a worse threat to food security than it does now, with current dietary patterns wreaking havoc on the planet, and climate change returning the favour in the worst possible ways.

    Extreme weather events are decimating crop health, at a time when one in 10 people are undernourished. At the rate we’re going, the food system is simply not sustainable enough, either for a population that will be approaching 10 billion by mid-century, or for the planet it inhabits.

    This is because the food system alone produces a third of all greenhouse gases, takes up 70% of the world’s freshwater, and is responsible for 80% of global deforestation. Agriculture also occupies nearly half of all habitable land – but 80% of this is attributable to livestock, which only accounts for 17% of our calorie supply, and 38% of protein consumption.

    It’s why many companies are hoping to reshape the food system with future-facing, planet-friendly options, whether it’s plant-based food, cultivated meat, or fermentation-derived proteins. This industry – collectively called alternative protein – has made tremendous strides in the last decade or so, but it needs help.

    Help from the public sector, that is. The meat and dairy industries are heavily subsidised by governments across the world, but alternative protein companies see a fraction of the same capital. To truly effect change, and actually make a bid to reach their 1.5°C targets (however unlikely this goal now may be), policymakers need to develop national strategies to propel this industry forward.

    “Considering the vulnerabilities in today’s highly centralised global food system – where pandemics, geopolitical crises, and environmental disasters can have far-reaching impacts – a national plan that advances protein diversification helps envision a more resilient, future-ready food supply,” says Alla Voldman, VP of strategy and policy at the Good Food Institute (GFI) Israel.

    The alternative protein think tank has worked with Monitor Deloitte to produce a three-step guide for governments across the world to adopt a national action plan for alternative proteins – whether that’s as a standalone approach, or a pillar within existing agrifood or bioeconomy strategies.

    Voldman says such national plans help countries ensure their alternative protein progress aligns with broader national priorities and creates synergy across sectors and stakeholders. “This alignment fosters stability, especially in cases where short-term political shifts might otherwise divert resources or support away from long-term food security strategies,” she tells Green Queen.

    She adds that these strategies enable greater inclusivity of countries with valuable infrastructure and resources and thus promote global cooperation: “Moreover, such action plans signal to the private sector that the government supports alternative protein development. This confidence encourages innovation, research, and investment, helping to build a robust ecosystem around alternative proteins.”

    A three-step process, starting with motivation

    mybacon
    Courtesy: Ecovative

    The framework targets policy officials, food alliances and NGOs, and sustainability-focused groups that can collectively play a pivotal role in shaping national strategies.

    “Given that many policymakers may lack familiarity with the alternative protein ecosystem, these organisations, which have a broader view and understanding of the sector across the value chain, can offer vital insights,” says Voldman. The local expertise of NGOs and food organisations can help tailor strategies to a country’s specific needs, which is a key goal of the report.

    Explaining the three-step framework, she says: “First, it encourages viewing the issue from the government’s perspective, understanding what drives government action, and aligning the strategy with national priorities. Second, it emphasises determining the role the country could play in the global food system, leveraging regional strengths to ensure resilience.

    “The final step focuses on activation – the how that is sometimes missing from the advocacy discourse—taking a bottom-up approach driven by the local ecosystem, identifying market failures, and pinpointing opportunities where government intervention can have the greatest impact.”

    The first stage – the motivation behind adopting such strategies – involves a range of different factors. Countries could be compelled to do so for greater economic growth, more resilient food security, better public health, meeting growing market demand, or as a means of more progressive climate and biodiversity action.

    denmark plant based
    Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen | Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/CC

    For example, Denmark – the first country to adopt a national action plan for plant-based food – did so to speed up its green transition, becoming a trailblazer in climate-friendly food production. But for countries like the Netherlands or Singapore, the aim is to reduce reliance on food imports and boost self-sufficiency.

    National motivations can range from long-term strategic plans to adapting current policies. The former would include strategies like Singapore’s digital-first Smart Nation Vision and 30 by 30 food security initiative, China’s ongoing Five-Year Plan for agriculture, or Canada’s 2030 Agenda, all of which namecheck alternative proteins.

    Meanwhile, short-term policies can shape long-term ambitions. Countries could have a specific budget for food and agriculture, allocate significant funds for economic growth, and take executive action. The US is the perfect example here – it has budgets like the Farm Bill, funds such as the Inflation Reduction Act, and commitments towards biotech and biomanufacturing.

    Setting up a vision and activation roadmap

    alternative protein
    The alternative protein roadmap | Courtesy: GFI Israel

    When it comes to establishing a vision and assessing individual nations’ strengths and weaknesses, several factors are in play. The presence of an enabling environment determines whether there’s a foundation for economic development.

    South Korea, which followed Denmark in establishing a plant-based transition plan, has focused on increasing the share of locally farmed products in its strategy. India, meanwhile is banking on its biomanufacturing capabilities to advance its smart protein sector. And nations like the UK, the US, and Singapore are host to multimillion-dollar research institutions set up by the Bezos Earth Fund.

    Then there’s the market size, which provides context for the potential value alternative proteins could create domestically, and whether this fulfils the initial motivation. For instance, the US is a large market with a relatively high level of government spending available, enabling a more expansive vision for alternative proteins.

    In contrast, Israel’s smaller market size means it’s better suited as an entrepreneurship and venture capital hub that can play an incubator role for research and new projects with global-scale potential. This brings us to the third dimension for establishing a vision: the innovation ecosystem. This outlines whether countries have the right blend of societal factors to help innovators who develop ideas and products, and take risks to launch new ventures.

    lab grown meat israel
    Courtesy: GFI Israel

    Israel is capitalising on its role as an innovation hub by targeting the creation of hundreds of new companies, manufacturing facilities, and significant job opportunities in the alternative protein space. “This highlights how strategic support from the government can foster innovation and stimulate economic growth,” suggests Voldman.

    Finally, in the activation stage, there are two primary elements for stakeholders to consider. Countries must define a call to action by identifying critical shortcomings that could hamper its alternative protein goals, as well as the government policies that can bridge these gaps.

    So if there’s limited research activity and domestic spending, state-funded grants can help remedy that. And if there’s a low rate of businesses going from pilot to commercial scale, regulatory advancements – like Brazil’s nod to using meat- and dairy-related terms on plant-based packaging and the approval of cultivated meat for sale – will go a long way in shifting that trend.

    Meanwhile, developing an effective communication plan to convey the benefits of a protein transition is crucial too. Many countries are doing this by highlighting the employment potential, with studies showing alternative proteins could create 25,000 jobs in the UK, 10,000 in Israel, and 17,000 in Canada.

    How to overcome the challenges of adopting alternative protein policies

    precision fermentation casein
    Courtesy: Those Vegan Cowboys

    GFI and its partners are helping several countries across the world develop strategies to support the alternative protein industry, and is offering a free workshop to help organisations kickstart their own efforts. “There’s a growing recognition of the sector’s potential to drive economic growth, enhance food security, and address environmental sustainability, and many governments are increasingly exploring how to incorporate alternative proteins into their national policies,” says Voldman.

    Collaboration between stakeholders, meanwhile, is key, says Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, secretary-general at the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, which helped shape the country’s action plan. “Throughout the process in Denmark, we drew inspiration from actions taken in other countries, and likewise, we hope others can be inspired by what has recently happened in Denmark and beyond,” he notes.

    The report is intended aa a complementary tool to ensure public investments are made in areas with the highest economic and social returns. Research suggests that if governments pump in an additional $4.4B into the R&D and $5.7B into the commercialisation of alternative proteins each year, the industry could support nearly 10 million jobs by 2050.

    But several hurdles currently impeded hinder policy progress. “One key challenge is that many countries are still figuring out how to maximise their existing resources to drive investment in alternative proteins,” says Voldman. “Each country has unique strengths – whether in research and development, agricultural resources, or manufacturing capabilities – but there’s often uncertainty about how to align these assets with the growth of an alternative protein sector.”

    plant based national plan
    Courtesy: GFI Israel

    The lack of detailed, granular gap analyses is another significant barrier. “Policymakers need a clearer understanding of the specific gaps in their country’s alternative protein ecosystem and the potential return on investment from addressing them. Without this evaluation, it may be difficult to justify allocating public funds or prioritize investments,” she says.

    “Additionally, it is sometimes assumed that every country needs to build a venture capital ecosystem or become a commercial manufacturing powerhouse to succeed in alternative proteins,” Voldman adds. In reality, each country can play a different role in the global alternative protein landscape. Some may excel in research, while others focus on sustainable agriculture or supply chain innovations.

    “Accepting that there are multiple ways to benefit from the growth of alternative proteins can help countries develop more realistic and effective strategies,” she says, highlighting that these challenges can be addressed by leveraging existing national assets and adopting a more tailored approach to strategy development.

    Doing so is absolutely critical to the future of the planet, its biodiversity, food security, and human health. As the report puts it: “If we’re to stay within planetary boundaries, business-as-usual food production won’t cut it.”

    The post Exclusive: Think Tank Shows How Governments Can Create National Protein Transition Strategies appeared first on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Coconut Infant Formula, Vegan Sushi Rolls & Regulatory Help

    vegan sushi rolls
    5 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a coconut-based infant formula, Marriott Hotels’s food waste driven, and a US government tool for regulatory help.

    New products and launches

    Los Angeles startup Before the Butcher has introduced a Cooked Plant-Based Breakfast Sausage Patty. The frozen product just needs to be reheated to an internal temperature of 165°F/74°C, and can keep in the freezer for 12 months.

    daring chicken bowls
    Courtesy: Daring

    Also in California, plant-based chicken player Daring has launched two new frozen entrée bowls in Buffalo Mac & Cheese and Queso Burrito variants. Both contain dairy cheese, so aren’t suitable for vegans, and will be available at Albertsons, Target, and Publix stores nationwide.

    US grocer Trader Joe’s has brought out an unsweetened version of its Organic Non-Dairy Coconut Beverage, which is available for $2.99 per 32oz pack.

    trader joe's milk alternatives
    Courtesy: Trader Joe’s

    Across the Atlantic, GoodMills Innovation will exhibit three new texturants, two made from peas and one from fava beans and wheat, at the Fi Europe 2024 event in Frankfurt (November 19-21).

    Dutch alt-seafood producer Vegan Finest Foods has released three plant-based sushi rolls under its Vegan Zeastar brand. They come in three options: Oshi No Salmon, Spicy No Tuna, and No Salmon Asparagus.

    heura white ham
    Courtesy: Heura

    Spanish plant-based meat maker Heura is opening a pop-up called The Phamacy in France to celebrate its new additive-free white ham. The setting mimics a real pharmacy with staff dressed in medical gear and a menu in the form of prescriptions.

    In the UK, plant-based brand Meatless Farm has added two vegan sourdough pizzas to its lineup in Ham & Mushroom Style and Spicy Pepperoni Style flavours (available at Sainsbury’s), while updating its existing Beef Style Meatballs, Pork Style Sausages, and Quarter Pounders (which can be found at Morrisons).

    meatless farm pizza
    Courtesy: Meatless Farm

    Fellow British plant-based meat brand THIS, meanwhile, has partnered with fresh pasta maker Dell’Ugo to release two vegan ravioli products. Available in Bacon & Cheese and Chicken & Pesto flavours, they’re available on the Dell’Ugo website and at Morrisons.

    In more UK news, egg alternatives brand Oggs has launched Gingerbread Cakes and Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow Cupcakes as part of its Christmas lineup. The cakes can be found at Sainsbury’s and on Ocado for £3.95, and the cupcakes are stocked at Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado for £2.35.

    coco2 infant formula
    Courtesy: Coco2

    And Australia’s Coco2 has debuted what it claims is the world’s first coconut-based infant formula, which took 10 years to develop alongside the University of Queensland, parents, and healthcare professionals. It offers three products for different age groups: up to six months, six to 12 months, and 12+ months.

    Company and finance updates

    Marriott Hotels, the world’s largest hotel group, has enlisted AI-powered food waste startup Winnow‘s expertise in 53 of its kitchens in the UK, Ireland and Nordics, after reducing its waste by a quarter in the first six months of 2024 through the technology. The company now aims to cut food waste by 50% in 2025.

    North Carolina-based cultivated seafood maker Atlantic Fish Co has won an SBIR PHASE I grant from the US Department of Agriculture, which it will use to advance R&D operations.

    oat milk cheese
    Courtesy: Armored Fresh

    FoodBev Media has announced the shortlist for the World Plant-Based Innovation Awards 2024, with companies like MyForest Foods, Armored Fresh, Beyond Meat, Prime Roots, and Elmhurst 1925 among the finalists across 15 categories.

    Research and policy developments

    In the US, the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration have jointly released an online tool to help biotech companies – including those involved in cultivated meat, precision fermentation and molecular farming – navigate the regulatory pathway.

    hello kitty algae
    Courtesy: Sanrio Co.

    At the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, the makers of Hello Kitty will feature the cartoon in an exhibit focused on the sustainability potential of algae. The character will be turned into 32 different types of algae, from triangular microalgae to wakame, looking to promote their role in planet-friendly food, biofuels, bioplastics, etc.

    The judge presiding over Upside Foods‘s lawsuit against Florida’s cultivated meat ban held a hearing lasting over two hours, and has suggested he will rule by early November, well before the Art Basel event in Miami Beach (December 6-8), where the startup is hoping to showcase its chicken.

    florida bans lab-grown meat
    Courtesy: Upside Foods

    At the National University of Singapore, scientists have developed a scalable method for cultivating pork fat tissue using protein scaffolds made from secalin, a protein extracted from rye.

    Alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Europe has published an updated edition of its scientific review on cell lines used in cultivated meat.

    Finally, while promoting her new climate change movie The Wild Robot, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o has endorsed eating plant-based food as one of the ways to “do something good for the planet”.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Coconut Infant Formula, Vegan Sushi Rolls & Regulatory Help appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Impossible Foods Targets Convenience with New Pre-Seasoned & Family-Friendly Products

    impossible burger disney
    4 Mins Read

    Plant-based meat leader Impossible Foods has rolled out three new products to appeal to families looking for convenient vegan options, including Disney-themed nuggets and pre-seasoned beef mince.

    Impossible Foods is channelling its inner Mufasa with a new format of its vegan chicken nuggets, which are shaped as beloved characters from Disney’s The Lion King franchise.

    The nuggets, which come two months before the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King, are part of a new line of products released by the Californian plant-based meat pioneer, as it looks to meet families’ need for convenient options.

    These include the kid-friendly Corn Dogs, which encase its signature hot dogs wrapped in a cornmeal batter), and Meal Makers, a two-strong range of flavoured Impossible Beef.

    They represent the company’s first new product announcements in a year, following the aforementioned hot dogs in December 2023. The development comes as Impossible Foods has taken up the second-highest share in US retail in the segment, according to IRI data, with its beef and nuggets among products that are the bestsellers in their respective categories.

    Disney partnership running strong for Impossible Foods

    impossible lion king nuggets
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    The Lion King nuggets are an extension of Impossible Foods’s long-standing alliance with Disney, part of an impressive overall foodservice record for the alt-meat giant.

    “We’ve been very proud to work with Disney to serve Impossible products across their properties for the past four years, so it was a natural next step to collaborate on a new offering in the grocery aisle,” said Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness.

    “Our new Lion King Nuggets are a fun way for kids and adults to enjoy our delicious plant-based chicken nuggets – given we all know and love the epic movie, and, of course, the timeless soundtrack.”

    They join the Wild Nuggies SKU in Impossible Foods’s shaped nugget suite, and contain 13g of protein and nearly 4g of fibre per 100g, as well as 60% less saturated fat than conventional chicken nuggets. Additionally, they require, 44% less water and 49% less land to produce, while emitting 36% fewer greenhouse gases.

    Meanwhile, the Impossible Corn Dogs aim to evoke carnival nostalgia, pairing the beef hot dogs with a soft golden batter lodged upon a stick. Each corn dog has 9g of protein and 40% less saturated fat than conventional beef versions.

    impossible corn dogs
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    Impossible Foods receives rave reviews for Meal Makers

    Doubling down on the need for convenience, Impossible Foods has spiced up its flagship beef SKU (literally) with the Meal Makers range. These come in Taco and Italian-Style flavours, although the exact seasonings used are under wraps for now.

    Consumer testing has shown that the Italian-Style beef, which could be used to make lasagne, ravioli, homemade meatballs, and pasta sauces like bolognese, satisfied the beef cravings of almost 60% of tasters, and met or exceeded the expectations of nearly 90%.

    Likewise, 90% of people also found the Taco Beef met or surpassed their expectations, while satisfying the beefy cravings of 63%. This flavour of the Meal Makers can be used in applications from nachos and enchiladas to burritos and, of course, tacos.

    impossible meal makers
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    In June, a US survey focused on plant-based foods suggested that “convenience, visibility, and brand awareness are crucial factors” influencing purchasing decisions in grocery stores.

    And a poll of 3,000 Americans in March revealed that while taste, price and health are still the most important purchase drivers for food, convenience is important to 57% of people (much higher than the 31% who cite sustainability).

    Impossible Foods’s new products will come to grocery shelves in the coming weeks. The product launches follow the establishment of its Quality Meats pop-up restaurant in Chicago’s XMarket Food Hall, which is running throughout the fall.

    This year, the company has also partnered with competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut, settled a lawsuit over its heme ingredient – taking over Motif Foodworks‘s business – and moved a step closer to entering the EU.

    The post Impossible Foods Targets Convenience with New Pre-Seasoned & Family-Friendly Products appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Formula One Champion Lewis Hamilton Invests in ‘Vet-Formulated’ Vegan Pet Food Startup

    lewis hamilton vegan
    4 Mins Read

    Lewis Hamilton has made a second investment in plant-based pet food startup Bramble to raise awareness about vegan diets’ impact on dog health.

    Formula One legend Lewis Hamilton and his dog Roscoe have partnered with New York-based Bramble, which makes vegan pet food products formulated by vets.

    Hamilton has invested in the brand to promote the “positive and transformative impact” of a whole-food plant-based approach to dog health. Roscoe, meanwhile, has taken up the mantle of ‘chief taste officer’ for the brand.

    “As someone who’s continuously looking to improve my health and find the right food to keep my energy levels up, I think we should look to do the same for our pets, and I want to give Roscoe the best ingredients to keep him healthy and active,” said Hamilton, who is famously vegan. “Bramble ticked all the boxes for me.”

    Bramble declined to comment on the investment sum, its expansion strategy, or future plans.

    Lewis Hamilton’s dog saw health improvements on vegan diet

    Hamilton is known for investing in future-facing food brands, having backed vegan fast-food chain Neat, plant-based food player NotCo, and vertical farming startup Bowery. Before his latest investment in Bramble, he had been part of the pet food brand’s $1.5M Series A round last year, according to Pitchbook.

    “This extends beyond a traditional investment for me, as this is a space I care deeply about and am excited to support,” said the seven-time Formula One world champion. “It’s great to see how far plant-based food has come in the last five years, and I look forward to working with the passionate and dedicated team at Bramble to spread the message about how beneficial a plant-based diet can be for our dogs.”

    Roscoe, a 12-year-old bulldog, was first introduced to a vegan diet in 2020. Since then, he was found to have experienced significant health improvements, including higher energy, a shinier quote, and healthier skin. This led Hamilton to Bramble, whose brand is centred around dog health and longevity, and named after a vegan border collie who lived for 25 years, one of the longest canine lifespans ever recorded.

    bramble pets
    Courtesy: Bramble

    An increasing number of studies are showing the benefits of a plant-based diet for dogs. One paper found that plant-based diets had the “best health outcomes” in dogs, linked to lower medication use, fewer health disorders, and less frequent visits to the vet compared to meat-heavy diets.

    The research came weeks after the British Veterinary Association reversed its long-held position on the health effects of a vegan diet for dogs, recognising that it’s possible to feed them on a fully vegan diet, as long as they’re nutritionally complete.

    “As omnivores, dogs are able to get their nutrients from a plant-based diet if formulated correctly,” noted Amanda Rolat, founder and CEO of Bramble. “I’m looking forward to working with Lewis and Roscoe to raise awareness for Bramble in a genuine, creative, and fun way.”

    Bramble outperformed meat-based kibble in trial

    “I created Bramble because I truly believe that dogs and their caregivers deserve access to complete and balanced food that is nutritionally packed, while also being free from pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, carcinogens, and other harmful contaminants,” said Rolat.

    She founded the startup in 2021 after being unable to find a pet food brand that delivered what she was looking for. Bramble offers two meals – The Cowbell and The Roost – and two treats, all targeted at the premium market.

    The Cowbell uses a base of pea protein, sweet potatoes, lentils, carrots, peas, and apples, while the Roost pairs the pea protein with brown rice, potatoes, carrots, peas, and pumpkins. Each product has “more high-quality protein than most commercial dog food”, according to the brand, and exceeds the complete and balanced diet standards set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

    In 2023, researchers at the University of Illinois conducted an independent feeding trial with Bramble’s two products and a leading chicken kibble brand, and found that the vegan formulations significantly lowered cholesterol and triglycerides, and promoted a healthier microbiome.

    lewis hamilton dog
    Courtesy: Bramble

    Bramble is among a number of companies innovating in the increasingly popular vegan pet food sector, a $13.6B market. These include Wild Earth, The Pack, Hownd, Noochies!, and Omni, among others. Mars Petcare, meanwhile, is co-leading an initiative in Asia to help human food startups develop sustainable options for pets.

    This is facilitated by growing awareness about the environmental impact of meat consumption. Livestock farming is responsible for twice as many emissions as plant-based foods, and up to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions – pets alone are thought to consume 20% of all meat produced.

    This has also spurred several cultivated meat brands focused on pet food, including Meatly (which received regulatory approval in the UK in July), Friends & Family Pet Co., Noochies!, and BioCraft Pet Nutrition.

    The post Formula One Champion Lewis Hamilton Invests in ‘Vet-Formulated’ Vegan Pet Food Startup appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • UK Government Pumps £1.6M, Opens New Regulatory Office in Milestone Move for Cultivated Meat

    fsa regulatory sandbox
    6 Mins Read

    The UK government has awarded £1.6M to the Food Standards Agency to create a ‘sandbox’ to fast-track cultivated meat approval, alongside a new regulatory office.

    Nearly five years after breaking away from the EU, the UK is rapidly stepping up its efforts to bring cultivated meat on British plates.

    Today, it has awarded £1.6M to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to create a first-of-its-kind regulatory ‘sandbox’ for cultivated meat producers. The idea is to “support innovation through safety” by speeding up the timeline and lowering the costs related to regulatory clearance.

    Sandboxes comprise controlled environments for situations where scientific and technological innovation has outpaced existing regulation – a lot of companies are currently making cultivated meat, but the UK’s authorisation process is slow and congested. These sandboxes run for a limited period to help startups, researchers and regulators work together to develop new rules, standards and guidance.

    The investment for the Cell-Cultivated Products Regulatory Sandbox is part of the first round of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund.

    In addition to the financing, the FSA said it is pressing ahead with plans to set up a system of international cooperation, which would see the UK greenlight cultivated meat products that have been approved by other countries.

    In a parallel effort, the government has also created a Regulatory Innovation Office to reduce the burden of red tape and accelerate public access to new technologies. It will work together with the Department for Transport, the Department for Health and Social Care, and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.

    Robert E Jones, president of trade association Cellular Agriculture Europe, said the move signposted the UK’s aim to be an innovation leader by “boosting its global competitiveness in the race to address food security and sustainability issues in our food systems”.

    “The UK has the potential to be at the front of the pack in Europe’s projected £70B cultivated meat market, but only if investors know we are open for business,” added Jeremy Coller, president of the Alternative Proteins Association. “The creation of this sandbox is a fantastic step forward for growing British businesses.”

    Cultivated meat sandbox will lower costs and approval timeline

    uk lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Ivy Farm Technologies

    Plans to create a sandbox were first announced by the FSA in February, after a 2023 report it commissioned found that speeding up novel foods regulation could help the UK meet its carbon reduction plans. The regulator said it was in talks with food companies and had issued a call for scientists to work alongside the testing project.

    Alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe last month called on ministers to approve the FSA’s bid for funding to ensure the agency “can accelerate its understanding of the food safety aspects of cultivated meat”.

    Regulatory sandboxes allow companies to test new concepts with real customers under the supervision of a regulator, as designed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The cultivated meat sandbox, a first for Europe, would provide pre-application support to startups, expand the safety and nutritional knowledge of novel foods, and reduce approval timelines, all while maintaining safety standards.

    Due to launch in February, the sandbox will be jointly run by the FSA and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) over a two-year period, which will collect “rigorous scientific evidence” about the technology behind cultivated meat. The aim is to better guide companies on making products in a safe way, and demonstrating that they are, indeed, safe.

    The regulatory bodies will address some of the key questions that need tackling – such as labelling – before cultivated meat hits the market. All this would enable the FSA and FSS to “keep pace with emerging technologies” and apply new, up-to-date insights when clearing novel foods for sale.

    The sandbox programme aims to shrink the costs associated with regulatory applications – currently standing at £350,000-£500,000 per product – and help cultivated meat startups attract the investment required to scale up their manufacturing capacity.

    So far, five companies have applied for regulatory approval in the UK. London-based Meatly, which targets pet food, is the only one to have received the go-ahead. Israel’s Aleph Farms (whose cultivated beef is already approved in its home country), French startups Vital Meat (cultivated chicken) and Gourmey (cultivated foie gras), and British player Ivy Farm Technologies (cultivated beef) are all waiting in the wings.

    Now, the FSA expects at least 15 more applications in the next two years, and predicts that many more startups could crop up thanks to the development.

    UK expands efforts to advance cultivated meat

    fsa lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Food Standards Agency

    The announcement accompanied the FSA’s confirmation that it will establish a framework for international cooperation for novel food approvals, which was first suggested in May. This would enable the UK to authorise products based on their approvals in other countries like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

    These plans are yet to be backed by Keir Starmer’s Labour administration. But the FSA is planning to use some of the funds to set up an international regulatory network that would help set up such a system.

    Cultivated meat is also on the radar of the new Regulatory Innovation Office, whose engineering biology focus involves helping regulators bring these products to market faster. “By speeding up approvals, providing regulatory certainty and reducing unnecessary delays, we’re curbing the burden of red tape so businesses and our public services can innovate and grow, which means more jobs, a stronger economy, and a better quality of life for people across the UK,” said science and tech secretary Peter Kyle.

    “Ensuring consumers can trust the safety of new foods is one of our most crucial responsibilities,” said Prof Robin May, chief scientific advisor to the FSA. “The CCP sandbox programme will enable safe innovation and allow us to keep pace with new technologies being used by the food industry to ultimately provide consumers with a wider choice of safe foods.”

    These developments are part of a larger effort by the UK to “modernise” its regulatory framework. In 2025, the FSA is rolling out reforms to the process, which include the creation of a new public register to replace the existing system of requiring a statutory instrument, and removing the need for renewals of approvals every 10 years.

    The statutory instrument adds up to six months to a process that already takes over two-and-a-half years, and the renewal requirements add to the FSA’s already crowded backlog – around 22% of its 450-strong caseload are renewal applications, and it expects a further 300 in the next two years as approvals expire.

    “New UK government ministers have confirmed they are content to proceed with our two initial market authorisation reform proposals to remove renewal requirements for authorised regulated products and allow authorisations to come into effect following ministerial decisions,” the FSA said last month. “We are now prioritising delivery of this work.”

    Further demonstrating its commitment to the cause, the UK government also poured in £15M towards a National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), taking its total investment in the category above £91M. NAPIC involves multiple universities, farmers, regulators, and plant-based, cultivated meat and fermentation startups, alongside international partners like the UN.

    The post UK Government Pumps £1.6M, Opens New Regulatory Office in Milestone Move for Cultivated Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Nuggs Maker Simulate Bought By Ahimsa Companies After Period of Uncertainty for the ‘Tesla of Chicken’

    simulate nuggs
    5 Mins Read

    Vegan chicken startup Simulate, famous for its Nuggs, has been acquired by Ahimsa Companies to get the business back on track after months of (dis)quiet.

    Simulate, the plant-based meat brand known for its meme-famous Nuggs, has been taken over by Ahimsa Companies, a recently formed holding company.

    First reported by Axios, the deal is a combination of cash and equity (the amount was undisclosed), and will be used to help the startup return to shelves and consumer’s plates. In recent months, its products have reportedly disappeared from grocery stores, leaving many wondering whether the business was going under.

    Having raised $57M already, Simulate chose to find a buyer rather than try and secure more money in an increasingly difficult funding environment for plant-based meat companies.

    It comes months after Ahimsa Companies, which is affiliated with the Ahimsa Foundation, bought vegan food brand Wicked Kitchen and its subsidiaries Good Catch and Current Foods for an undisclosed sum.

    simulate ahimsa companies
    Courtesy: Simulate/Green Queen

    Simulate’s journey from lockdown-favourite to recent struggles

    Simulate first came on the scene in 2018, with founders Ben Pasternak and Sam Terris banking on the company’s tech-forward software-like approach – which involves constantly improving its formula and publishing its updates – to win customers over.

    The social-media-savvy brand became (in)famous for controversial taglines such as ‘the Tesla of chicken’ and ‘Kill you slower’, leaning it to a silly-yet-serious approach that left a lot of impressions (and memes). The startup’s investors include Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian, hip-hop legend Jay-Z, and frozen food behemoth McCain Foods.

    The brand blew up during Covid-19, with its frozen chicken nuggets reaching online consumers at a time when most other vegan alternatives were only available in retail stores. By the end of 2021, its annual revenue hit $8M.

    Simulate had also introduced vegan chicken breast, tenders, strips, cutlets, and the now-discontinued discs, and was once valued at $250M. But then, at the end of 2023, Pasternak stepped down as CEO (remaining as chairman), with Terris (who was COO) taking over.

    “This was a decision Ben and I made together over many months, and we ultimately aligned that this would be best for Simulate as we scale up our new technology,” Terris told Forbes at the time.

    In the last few months, things have been muted. The brand’s social media – its best marketing too – had largely gone quiet, with no posts since the end of June. The previous two were related to a new product, Insta-Chicken, that the brand said it would release online (but can’t be seen on its website now).

    This led many fans online to wonder if this was it for Simulate. “Are you still going to make nuggets? The stores near me(in Philly)have stopped carrying them & I read you might be getting rid of them,” wrote one Instagram user. On a Reddit thread titled ‘Has Simulate Nuggs Gone Out of Business?’, customers said the brand’s website was down at one point, and its products could no longer be found on shelves.

    Now, the mystery is out, and it seems Simulate is getting back on its feet. “We’ve spent the last year searching extensively for the right mission-aligned partner to help push Simulate’s technology forward. We found our match in Ahimsa,” Terris wrote on LinkedIn. “Feeling especially grateful today for our team (past and present), the Board, our investors, and NUGGS fans everywhere.”

    Ahimsa Companies looks to amp up M&As

    Ahimsa Companies’s takeover of Simulate is the latest in an increasingly lengthy list of M&A deals in the plant-based sector, and the food tech industry overall. Research has shown that M&A activity in the food business reached an eight-year-high in the first four months of this year. And in Q2, the number of deals was up by a third compared to the same period last year.

    Vegan chicken startup VFC’s evolution into the Vegan Food Group, a holding company that now owns Meatless Farm, Clive’s Purely Plants and Tofutown, is one of the most prominent examples of the importance of consolidation in the plant-based meat sector, which has faced sales and investment declines since the tail-end of the pandemic.

    “There’s been a lot of cash deployed to develop great products, brands and technology, but not under the right economic conditions to thrive,” Ahimsa Companies CEO Matthew Tullman told Axios. “To carry forth the plant-based movement, consolidation is really required.”

    He outlined why driving the industry forward is important. “It is impossible to conceive of a future (in which) we can feed seven-to-10 billion humans on an animal-based diet,” he said, noting that he still has hopes for “a plant-forward future”, but the industry doesn’t work well with the typical venture capital timeline anymore.

    Tullmann confirmed that Ahimsa Companies had no operational overlap with the Ahimsa Foundation, whose head Satish Karandikar is an investor in the holding company, and which led a funding round for alternative protein startup Eat Just last year.

    As part of a roll-up strategy, Ahimsa Companies is now looking at companies in the precision fermentation, cultivated meat, extruded pea protein, non-dairy alternative, and plant-based food segments – it already has two larger deals in the pipeline, according to Axios. Additionally, it has bought a 50,000 sq ft factory in Ohio to produce meat analogues.

    vegan chicken nuggets
    Courtesy: Nectar

    The vegan nugget category is lucrative, but also overcrowded and highly competitive. In the US alone, there are 20 brands of plant-based chicken nuggets, such as Gardein, Quorn, Beyond Meat Impossible, Jack & Annie’s, Alpha Foods, Daring, MorningStar Farms, Yves, Rebellyous, LikeMeat and Boca – and that’s before you get to private-label brands. That has made it hard for companies to stand out, and some, like Nowadays, have exited the space.

    Simulate seemed to have been facing a similar squeeze. But it will be buoyed by the takeover, and the fact that people love vegan nuggets – more so than even the conventional thing. In a recent taste test, more meat-eaters liked plant-based nuggets made by a leading brand (70%) than chicken-based versions (53%), and Simulate was among four other companies identified as the leaders.

    “Generally, breaded and fried plant-based meat categories receive higher ratings than non-breaded and fried categories,” explained Caroline Cotto, director of Nectar, which carried out the research. “These products stood out for their superior flavour, which was most central to overall liking.”

    The post Nuggs Maker Simulate Bought By Ahimsa Companies After Period of Uncertainty for the ‘Tesla of Chicken’ appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The Veggie Burger Debate: EU Court Blocks France’s Attempt to Ban Meaty Names On Plant-Based Food Labels

    france ban plant based meat
    5 Mins Read

    The European Court of Justice has rejected France’s proposed ‘veggie burger’ labelling ban, allowing plant-based food producers to continue using meat-like terms on their packaging. What happens next?

    In a major win for the plant-based sector, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that no member state can prohibit companies from using terms like ‘veggie burger’, ‘plant-based sausage’ or ‘vegan bacon’ on product labels.

    The ruling is in direct response to a 2023 decree by the French government, which sought to ban the use of such words on plant-based meat packaging following a request from the livestock farming sector. The legislation was suspended by the top court in France, after receiving a complaint from the European Vegetarian Association (EVU), the Association Végétarienne de France, and industry giant Beyond Meat.

    The Conseil d’Etat referred parts of the case to the ECJ, which has now also rejected the ban and returned the dispute to the French court for a final decision.

    The ECJ’s direction, which makes an exception only if very specific conditions are met, has implications for governments and companies across the bloc, and will save the plant-based industry millions in packaging and marketing redesigns.

    Welcoming the ruling, a spokesperson for Beyond Meat told Green Queen: “We are pleased that common sense has prevailed and that the court has recognised the ability of consumers to make their own informed decisions.”

    Rafael Pinto, EU policy manager at the EVU, called it a “no-nonsense conclusion” that would guarantee accurate information to consumers and discourage member states “from attempting to enforce name bans that are ultimately counterproductive, self-damaging and creating greater consumer confusion”.

    ECJ strikes down attempt to restrict inclusion levels of plant protein

    plant based meat labelling ban
    Courtesy: Ale Rodriguez/Valentyna Smordova/Green Queen

    France has tried to impose a labelling ban on plant-based meat twice. The first time, in June 2022, it issued a decree aiming to ban all meat-like terms except ‘burger’, but after complaints from meat-free companies and associations, the French court suspended the decree, arguing that the timeline was too short and wording too vague.

    The second decree, proposed in September 2023, was nearly identical, co-signed by then Prime Minister Élisabeth, then finance minister Bruno Le Maire, and agriculture minister Marc Fesneau. This order looked to ban 21 terms like ‘steak’, ‘beef’, ‘ham’ and even ‘grilled’. Non-compliance, it stated, would result in a fine of up to €1,500 for individuals and €7,500 for companies.

    But it didn’t stop there. The decree named 120 more phrases – like ‘bacon’, ‘sausage’, ‘cooked fillet’ and ‘nuggets’ – that companies could use, only if the amount of plant protein didn’t exceed a maximum limit ranging from 0.5% to 6%. This, of course, meant that no fully meat-free products could use these terms, since they are usually 100% plant proteins.

    The ECJ addressed this caveat too, ruling that countries can’t adopt national measures that determine inclusion levels of plant proteins below which the use of meat-like terms isn’t allowed.

    The decision notes that such bans can be implemented only if a member state legally defines meat products and descriptive terms first, and even then, such a ban would only apply to products manufactured within that country.

    “On the French case specifically, now it will go back to the French courts, where it will be decided whether the decree that started this also creates definitions of meat and descriptive terms, or just bans their use for plant-based products,” Pinto told Green Queen.

    “Since that was not the scope of the decree, it doesn’t seem like it is detailed enough to create the definitions, but the court might think otherwise.”

    Setting a legal definition would harm the EU single market

    eu plant based meat label ban
    Courtesy: Heura

    The global battle over plant-based labelling has been ongoing for years now, with the major argument being that terms like ‘veggie burger’ confuse consumers. But several studies have shown this isn’t the case, with most consumers knowing the difference between plant- and animal-derived proteins. Plant-based companies like Tofurky, Miyoko’s Creamery, Planted, Oatly and NotCo have all won legal battles over product labelling.

    “As France’s Conseil D’etat reviews the ruling, we will continue to argue for and support consumers’ rights to the genuine choice they demand and deserve,” Beyond Meat’s representative said.

    In a statement sent to Green Queen, Nicolas Schweitzer, co-founder and CEO of Paris-based vegan pork startup La Vie (which just raised €25M), said: “We are so thrilled that, on La Vie’s third anniversary and World Animal Day [October 4], the ECJ has ruled in our favour. We can therefore continue using common names such as plant-based bacon and plant-based ham, which are the clearest for consumers.”

    The ECJ’s verdict acknowledged that existing EU law offers sufficient consumer protection, so additional national regulations contradicting this aren’t allowed. As for the legal definition exception, this is a lengthy and complex process that would risk further spiralling into “EU-level harmonisation issues”, the EVU said.

    To do so, member states would need to legally define what constitutes a burger or a sausage. So far, no country has an established legal definition, according to the EVU. “There are customary definitions and industry recommendations, but not nothing legal,” said Pinto.

    “If this goes forward in several member states, the definitions might not match each other due to cultural and linguistic differences, creating problems for consumers and producers with products on the same market under different names, for both meat and plant-based products,” he added. “It may lead to further fragmentation of the EU single market and hinder competitiveness and consumer information.”

    The ECJ’s decision comes four years after the European Parliament rejected an EU-wide ban on meaty terms for plant-based analogues, although MEPs upheld the court’s 2017 ruling that similarly restricted the use of dairy-related words on vegan products.

    “The case of dairy is different since there are legacy EU regulations establishing definitions of what can be considered dairy, contrary to meat alternatives,” Pinto said when asked about efforts to reverse the alt-dairy labelling ban. “EU law would have to change in order for plant-based dairy alternatives to be able to use the same denominations the rest of the world already uses, such as soy or oat milk.”

    The post The Veggie Burger Debate: EU Court Blocks France’s Attempt to Ban Meaty Names On Plant-Based Food Labels appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • McDonald’s France Finally Goes Vegan, Offering Veggie McPlant Nuggets With Beyond Chicken

    mcdonalds vegan nuggets
    4 Mins Read

    McDonald’s France is introducing vegan nuggets made from Beyond Meat, its first plant-based option, offered at the same price as conventional chicken.

    Fast-food giant McDonald’s is finally offering a plant-based option in France, its biggest market outside the US.

    The chain will launch Veggie McPlant Nuggets tomorrow at all its 1,500+ outlets in the country, extending its Europe-wide partnership with US vegan leader Beyond Meat. They will be available in four-, six-, nine- and 20-piece servings and as part of various meal deals, all at the same price as conventional McNuggets.

    Unlike previous veggie launches, the vegan chicken nuggets are a permanent menu addition at McDonald’s France, and are designed to attract vegans as well as flexitarians looking to diversify their protein intake.

    McDonald’s looks to build on France’s changing dietary habits

    mcdonalds france vegan
    Courtesy: McDonald’s France

    The vegan McNuggets are a result of a “close collaboration between Beyond Meat and McDonald’s”. They’re made from a base of pea protein and coated in a blend of wheat and corn flours lightly salted with pepper and celery.

    “We chose to innovate with a first offering based on plant proteins, directly inspired by one of our iconic products,” said McDonald’s France CMO Jean-Guillaume Bertola. “With the Veggie McPlant Nuggets, we are responding to the increasing desire of French consumers to diversify their protein intake while never compromising on taste.”

    The national rollout was based on consumer tests conducted by McDonald’s, which “yielded very satisfactory results, particularly regarding quality and flavour”, according to Bertola.

    “The response was unanimous, there was a real craze from our consumers who found a strong resemblance to the iconic nugget,” he told Le Figaro. “We are rather confident about the success of the product,” he added, noting that the meat-free nuggets have “performed very well” in Germany since their early 2023 launch there.

    McDonald’s holds the largest share of France’s increasingly popular fast-food market. In fact, the country has been labelled as the chain’s biggest market after the US. So the launch of a vegan version of one of its most popular products is a marker of the country’s changing dietary habits, and McDonald’s wish to capitalise on the transition.

    In 2023, an EU-wide survey revealed that nearly six in 10 consumers in France had reduced their meat intake in the preceding year. And federal data shows that French people are eating 6% less meat per capita than they did 20 years ago, though overall consumption has still risen.

    Currently, its citizens eat over 700g of meat per week, more than double what’s recommended in Eat-Lancet’s Planetary Health Diet, and 100g higher than the national dietary guidelines. Health and climate experts have been calling for the national recommendations to cut weekly meat consumption by 25% to 450g in the upcoming update.

    And despite the high amounts of meat the French eat, 57% of them say they’d back government policies that cut back on animal protein for human and planetary health.

    Beyond Meat’s European success with McDonald’s

    mcdonald's mcplant
    Courtesy: McDonald’s

    The launch of the Veggie McPlant Nuggets marks an extension of the successful partnership between McDonald’s and Beyond Meat in Europe. While the McPlant burger – made using Beyond Beef – hasn’t quite worked out in the US, it has thrived across the Atlantic.

    Beyond Meat has suffered a rocky couple of years in terms of sales – for example, it posted an 18% decrease in annual revenue in 2023. Despite that, international sales actually grew by the same percentage, largely thanks to the McDonald’s partnership.

    The vegan meat maker’s CEO, Ethan Brown, told investors that the business had witnessed “continued traction at McDonald’s across countries such as Austria, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, UK, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Switzerland”.

    With the vegan McNuggets, Beyond Meat’s link-up with McDonald’s is entering France, joining a Veggie lineup comprising burgers such as the McVeggie, Veggie Curry, and Honey Mustard Veggie, as well as the Caesar Salad Veggie. But none of these existing options are suitable for vegans, so the plant-based nuggets are a first for the fast-food chain’s French operation.

    This comes amid a resurgent plant-based industry in the country. Just last week, the EU’s top court ruled against a ban on the use of meat-related words on plant-based packaging, a piece of legislation originally proposed by the French government (which was suspended by the nation’s highest administrative court).

    This came at the same time France’s most popular plant-based meat export, La Vie, closed a €25M funding round, introduced vegan meatballs, and debuted its first national TV ad. And months earlier, despite all the kerfuffle, plant-based food was all the rage at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

    The post McDonald’s France Finally Goes Vegan, Offering Veggie McPlant Nuggets With Beyond Chicken appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • ‘La Vie est Belle’: French Vegan Meat Maker Doubles Funding Pot with €25M Investment, Rolls Out Meatballs

    la vie funding
    4 Mins Read

    Parisian plant-based meat startup La Vie has raised €25M in investment amid a fourfold hike in sales, and announced the launch of vegan meatballs.

    With growing popularity among retail shoppers and an extended foodservice footprint, French food tech player La Vie has attracted more investors to the tune of €25M.

    The funding round involved Zintinus, Sparkfood, Michel Larroche, Arnaud Bachelier, and a crowdfunding campaign with over 3,000 investors, and takes the vegan pork startup’s total financing to €50M, following an investment of the same amount two years ago.

    The funding has coincided with the announcement of La Vie’s meatball range. The company hinted at this latest product line last week, and it has now confirmed the forthcoming launch of its Italian-style and Spicy Asian meatballs. Packaged in 200g bags for €3.90, the meatballs will be available at Carrefour, Leclerc, Auchan, Intermarché, and Franprix stores from October 28.

    Additionally, the startup has launched its first national TV campaign with ad agency Buzzman. The 40-second spot, titled Duel and released on World Animal Day (October 4), is “designed to ignite a nationwide conversation” about meat consumption.

    Sales of La Vie products up by nearly 200%

    la vie meatballs
    A preview of La Vie’s meatball packaging | Courtesy: La Vie

    The five-year-old startup first became famous for its vegan bacon (and viral, wacky marketing drives), and has since expanded its lineup to include ham and sandwiches too. These products have impressed consumers, foodservice operators, and critics alike, with the brand now present in over 8,200 points of sale across Europe (including Pizza Hut) and winning 24 awards for its flagship bacon.

    The company’s sales have grown by 192% in the last 12 months, and it’s targeting a turnover of €19M for 2024 (up from €7.6M last year).

    “We’re not making any money yet. But in a plant-based substitute market that is growing by 14%, we believe it is more relevant to keep focusing on communication and R&D,” La Vie co-founder and CEO Schweitzer said. “With our sales growing by almost 200%, we’re contributing to the development of the market.”

    La Vie’s pitch – that it presents a healthier, animal-free version of France’s favourite meat – resonates with local consumers. Its sales have increased at a time when French people are eating 6% less meat per capita than two decades ago, with pork consumption reaching its lowest levels in this period.

    The French Nutrition Society and the Climate Action Network penned a report in February calling for the national guidelines to suggest cutting weekly meat consumption by at least 25% – a total of 450g, versus the existing 600g recommendation – in the upcoming update. And a global climate change poll last month found that 57% of French people would back government policies to reduce meat-eating.

    And in 2023, an EU-wide survey revealed that nearly six in 10 consumers in France had reduced their meat intake in the preceding year, with health being the primary reason (chosen by 38% of respondents).

    La Vie targets expansion on the back of new ad and EU ruling

    It has been an uncertain time for plant-based proteins, at least for investors. In Europe, plant-based startups secured €553M in 2023, but only managed to bring in €79M in the first half of this year. In the months since, that number hasn’t increased greatly.

    But La Vie’s €25M raise goes against the tide. “This new round of funding is much more than financial support; it is a recognition of our ability to break through the barriers of plant-based products and shake up the codes of tomorrow’s food industry,” said Schweitzer.

    “With the support of our investors, we will continue our mission and keep innovating, without compromising on taste,” he added. “At La Vie, we have always focused on pleasure, and today we are ready to take the next step by strengthening our presence in our current markets and accelerating the expansion of our product range.”

    The investment will allow La Vie to enhance its existing products and create new ones, while expanding its footprint in France and the UK. This year alone, it has landed on the menus of Pizza Hut France, Parisian bakery Maison Landemaine, and retailer Monoprix’s in-store Picadeli. And it has just introduced its smoked ham SKU at Sainsbury’s stores in the UK.

    The company is now investing in sampling and awareness campaigns to reach a wider audience, an effort that will be aided by the new TV ad. It features a man making a ham sandwich as a pig watches from across the table. The man eats the ham while making eye contact with the pig – with theatrical music amping up the drama – before viewers see the words “Relax, it’s plant-based”.

    The development also came the same week the EU’s top court ruled against a ban on the use of meat-related words on plant-based packaging. It had been proposed by the French government, but suspended by the nation’s highest administrative court, which referred it to the European Court of Justice.

    It means La Vie can continue to call its vegan products ‘bacon’, ‘ham’, and now ‘meatballs’ on its packaging, a major win in a major week for the brand.

    The post ‘La Vie est Belle’: French Vegan Meat Maker Doubles Funding Pot with €25M Investment, Rolls Out Meatballs appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Heura Goes Beyond Meat with Healthier Plant-Based Cheese & Pasta to Take On UPF Label

    heura plant based
    5 Mins Read

    Spanish plant-based pioneer Heura is expanding its technology to offer nutrient-dense cold cuts, cheese, and pasta, in a bid to move past the ultra-processed food label.

    It may account for a quarter of Spain’s plant-based meat market, but Heura isn’t satisfied with that – part of an industry inundated with ultra-processed concerns, the startup is doubling down on its technology to expand into new categories.

    At Future Food-Tech London, the Barcelona-based firm showcased a glimpse of its future. By combining plant proteins and healthy lipids, Heura is unlocking textures in food categories where it has been “technologically impossible” to do so until now.

    The company – famous for its clean-label vegan chicken, sausages, burgers and seafood – is now moving into cold cuts, cheese, and pasta. The goal is to tackle a wider range of categories with nutrient-dense alternatives that do away with the need for additives, modified starches, and saturated fats, and entice a larger share of consumers drawn away from ultra-processed food (UPFs).

    “Rather than focusing solely on new ingredients, we need better technologies for product design,” said Heura co-founder and CEO Marc Coloma. “We no longer need to wait years for new functional ingredients that biomimic animal proteins. We can now develop the next generation of products at scale, directly from plant proteins.”

    Heura goes all in on nutrition with category expansion

    heura cold cuts
    Courtesy: Heura

    Heura’s innovation is based on a patent-pending technology that uses simple thermo-mechanical techniques to create product matrices, in what is described as a scalable process.

    The company argues that while the alternative protein industry has been focused on upping the sustainability and nutrition value of meat analogues, Heura’s product structuring tech can replace nutrient-light ingredients with plant proteins in new categories.

    For example, pasta. At the London event, Heura served up spaghetti made from wheat semolina and soy protein isolate, amping up its protein content from around under 20% all the way to 50%. It also brings the carbohydrate content down by 74%.

    protein pasta
    Courtesy: Heura

    Then there were the vegan cheeses, a major pain point for dairy eaters, who remain unsatisfied with the taste and texture of these analogues. Heura is working on several prototypes, and says it can do as many cheeses as possible, which contain 20% protein and low saturated fat. At Future Food-Tech, it exhibited plant-based versions of feta, parmesan, mozzarella, and melty cheese.

    Finally, it also showcased the cold cuts – after all, plant-based meat is Heura’s bread and butter. These are described as the only vegan deli meats “with high protein, low saturated fat, and no additives while having an unparalleled sensory experience”.

    “Today’s prototypes shatter expectations, proving that exceptional taste and unmatched nutritional value aren’t goals for the future – they’re realities we can deliver right now,” said Coloma.

    The company said it wants to provide healthier options to consumers, and diving into newer categories that can help fight the food industry’s challenges will help maximise its impact and “democratise” plant proteins.

    “Who wouldn’t want to replace excess saturated fats, simple carbohydrates, and unnecessary additives with nutrient-dense products made from plant proteins and healthy lipids? And we can do this by leveraging readily available, consumer-friendly ingredients that require no regulatory approval,” says Coloma.

    Debunking UPFs with technology

    heura cheese
    Courtesy: Heura

    The new product prototypes are, of course, a work in progress, and serve as an example of the solutions Heura plans to offer by licencing its technology to industry-leading companies. The dairy-free cheese, high-protein pasta, and clean-label cold cuts are set to grace grocery shelves in early 2026.

    In preparation for that, the Spanish startup is filing six patents in the next nine months to cover the new categories with its Good Rebel technology and “redefine nutritional value standards across the food industry”.

    The proprietary process, unveiled in April 2023, relies upon mathematical models similar to AI to develop breakthrough solitons based on new scientific knowledge, instead of optimising technologies based on existing data, Coloma told Green Queen last year. The tech can create additive-free plant-based foods with superior sensory and nutritional values and fewer ingredients, using only protein, water and oil to structure the product.

    “These new technologies are set to transform current food production methods, but their real power lies in scaling efficiently and adapting to regional consumer preferences. That’s why we’re forging partnerships with industry leaders to accelerate a change that no one can drive alone,” said Coloma.

    The move comes at a time when UPFs dominate our diets and conversations around food. Industry giants like Beyond Meat have reformulated their products and marketing to appease these concerns, while whole-food products have gained popularity.

    The plant-based sector has been unfairly linked to ill health effects of certain UPFs, and experts say that decoupling processing with nutrition is critical. In Europe, 54% of people avoid meat analogues because they’re ultra-processed – but within Spain, only 8% feel a vegan burger is unhealthier than conventional beef if it’s ultra-processed, according to a survey conducted by Heura.

    All UPFs are not the same, and if plant-based analogues to meat and dairy are well-formulated, they usually rank high on the nutrition front – paying attention to the ingredient quality and how it’s integrated into diets is key, the company says.

    There are hardly any brands better placed to spread this message than Heura, which has raised €88M to date and is responsible for four out of the five bestselling vegan products in Spain. Last year, it grew sales by 22%, reaching €38.3M, and it’s coursing towards profitability by 2025. Can its new products capture grocery baskets the same way it has with meat analogues?

    The post Heura Goes Beyond Meat with Healthier Plant-Based Cheese & Pasta to Take On UPF Label appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Umami Bioworks Inks Deal to Introduce Cultivated Seafood in South Korea

    lab grown seafood
    5 Mins Read

    Singaporean cultivated seafood pioneer Umami Bioworks has teamed up with two biotech firms to set up a production line and path to market entry in South Korea.

    With cultivated meat progressing rapidly in South Korea – thanks to the government’s establishment of a regulatory framework for these products – SIngapore’s Umami Bioworks is the latest to join the country’s burgeoning sector.

    The cultivated seafood producer has signed an MoU with biotech firm KCell Biosciences and bioprocess solutions provider WSG to set up a scalable domestic production pipeline for cultivated seafood in South Korea, with a view to accelerate these products’ market entry in the country.

    In what is one of the world’s largest seafood consumers, Umami Bioworks will combine its seafood cultivation technology, with KCell Biosciences’s cell culture media expertise and WSG’s bioprocessing hardware. The consortium will not only focus on the commercialisation of cultivated seafood in South Korea, but also serve as a model for future partnerships across Asia.

    “Umami is providing the production process, cell lines, and product forming technology, while K-Cell is supplying cell culture media ingredients, and WSG is providing the production hardware,” Umami Bioworks founder and CEO Mihir Pershad tells Green Queen. “Collectively, we can deliver a true plug-and-play solution at a scale and cost suitable for leading food producers.”

    Manufacturing plans and path to price parity

    lab grown seafood korea
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    Umami Bioworks, which merged with fellow cultivated seafood player Shiok Meats earlier this year, is aiming to strengthen its production capacity to meet local market demands, regulatory frameworks, as well as consumer expectations about quality and sustainability.

    It suggests that coupling WSG’s cost-effective bioprocess systems with KCell’s competitively priced media will ensure an efficient and scalable solution for cultivated seafood, allowing the three companies to ensure the safety and regulatory approval of these products in South Korea, and establish a path for commercialisation across the region.

    “The packaged solutions of Umami’s bioprocess system, KCell’s cell-culture media production and WSG’s stainless infrastructure surpass the level of price parity for food companies licensing in the manufacturing of cell-cultivated seafood products,” says Victor Kang, CEO of KCell Biosciences and WSG Group.

    Pershad says Umami Bioworks has made “substantial progress” on its costs this year, and will be manufacturing its first product at price parity with conventional seafood by the end of the year. “This would enable [us] to produce with a positive margin from the pilot commercial facility that would come online in 2025,” he explains.

    This is key if cultivated meat is to take off in South Korea – only 12% of Koreans are willing to pay ₩1,000-3,000 (74 cents to $2.2) more per 100g of cultivated meat. On the other hand, 57% would eat cultivated pork if it’s cheaper than its conventional counterpart, and 25% would do so for beef too.

    “Our intent is to bring each product we launch to market at price parity within the category to ensure we are creating a real opportunity for sustainable system transformation, and that price does not become a barrier to adoption,” he adds. “Our R&D pipeline has created a path for substantial cost production over the next 12 to 18 months as well, which will enable us to launch future products at parity with mid-market, and eventually mass-market, price points.”

    Umami Bioworks’s is licencing its technology to customers for large-scale production, while maintaining enough internal production to validate its own processes at scale. “As such, we’ve currently established production capability for tens of kilograms and will extend that to a ton-scale demonstrator in early 2025,” reveals Pershad.

    Umami Bioworks targeting regulatory approval in multiple countries

    umami bioworks
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    This is one of a number of partnerships Umami Bioworks has established in the last 12 months. In December, it teamed up with Malaysia’s Cell Agritech to set up large-scale production sites. And this year, it collaborated with two Indian research initiatives, and joined forces with Friends & Family Pet Food Co. in the US for cultivated pet food.

    “Our partnerships in India are helping to progress our R&D and enhance our capabilities for cell line development from new species as well as scale-up. In the US, we are progressing both commercial and regulatory efforts to bring pet food to market in the near future,” says Pershad.

    “In South Korea, our efforts will focus on progressing regulatory work to get a first approval while concurrently preparing those products for market launch with established food company customers, whose names we will be announcing in the coming months,” he adds.

    South Korea began inviting applications for regulatory approval of cultivated meat in February after successfully establishing a framework for companies. “We are currently adapting our regulatory materials to the format preferred by South Korean regulators, as well as translating critical materials in preparation for submission,” Pershad says.

    “We are in active review with documents submitted to regulators in major markets across America, Europe, and Asia. We’re having productive conversations with regulators, but could not comment specifically on the rate of progress or estimated approval dates,” he adds when asked about the startup’s pursuit of approval in other countries.

    He confirms that Umami Bioworks is looking for clearance for both pet and human applications, and expects the first products (in collaboration with commercial partners) to come to market next year. “It’s difficult to say which may get approved first, though in general, the pet product review processes tend to operate on shorter timelines than the human novel food reviews,” he says.

    The cultivated meat sector is evolving rapidly in South Korea, with the government creating a regulatory-free special zone designed for these cultivated foods, which harbours 10 startups. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is also investing ₩28.6B ($21M) in research funding for its plant-based and cultivated seafood tech.

    The post Umami Bioworks Inks Deal to Introduce Cultivated Seafood in South Korea appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Dairy-Free Mozzarella Sticks, Vegan Wetherspoons & Indian Cultivated Meat

    vegan mozzarella sticks
    6 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Sunday Supper’s plant-based mozzarella sticks, M&S’s new vegan cookies, and a cultivated meat tasting in India.

    New products and launches

    US vegan frozen foods maker Sunday Supper has released Mozza Fritto, a dairy-free mozzarella stick SKU. It’s available at Besties Vegan Paradise in Los Angeles and Orchard Grocer in New York City, and will be at Giant, Bristol Farms, and Good Eggs this month, selling for $9.99 for three servings.

    sunday supper mozza fritto
    Courtesy: Sunday Supper

    As it conducts a regulatory feeding trial for cultivated meat, Further Foods, the portfolio brand of Cult Food Science, is launching a line of vegan Sprinkles toppers for pet food under its Noochies! brand. The 4oz packs will be available in six flavours (three apiece for dogs and cats), and retail for $16.99 in the US and Canada.

    Cultivated meat is now officially banned in Alabama. But before it came into effect, Upside Foods took its Freedom of Food tasting event to the state for locals to try its chicken before it became illegal.

    Italian food giant Barilla is bringing its vegan pesto to the US as part of a flavour expansion, which will be available exclusively at Krogers stores starting this month.

    barilla vegan pesto
    Courtesy: Barilla

    There’s a new almond milk on the block. Sól Date‘s milks are sweetened with dates and come in Original, Chocolate and Vanilla flavours, and can already be found in 400 locations, with another 250 slated for January.

    In more dairy-free news, Canadian vegan cheese brand Daiya has shaken up its frozen pizza range, which has a “lighter, fluffier, and crispier gluten-free crust” and the new Oat Cream cheese.

    In the Netherlands, The Vegetarian Butcher‘s Pulled Beef Strips are now featured on the menu of meal startup Mama’s Maaltijden, part of a poké bowl with sushi rice and pickled cucumbers.

    la vie italian style
    Courtesy: La Vie

    French plant-based meat leader La Vie has teased two new products in Apple’s trademark marketing style, showing the “advantageous curves” of the packaging. They will come out at the end of October in Italian-style and Spicy Asian flavours, and apparently won’t trigger the meat labelling lobby. We think it’s sausages – what’s your guess?

    Meanwhile, La Vie has also rolled out its smoked ham at Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.

    French vegan ingredient company Ingood by Olga has introduced Lengood, a fermented green lentil powder that is designed as a clean-label egg alternative for bakery and pastry products.

    In the UK, pub chain Wetherspoons has added a limited-edition Korean-inspired vegan sticky fried chicken bowl using Quorn‘s mycoprotein meat. It’s served alongside chips and coconut rice.

    UK supermarket M&S has released vegan speculoos and chocolate chip cookies in a light-up tin, as part of its Christmas range. It retails for £7.

    Speaking of British retailers, Slovenian whole-cut plant-based meat producer Juicy Marbles is now selling its vegan steaks at Sainsbury’s, available in two-packs for £7 at 553 stores nationwide.

    vegan seafood uk
    Courtesy: HAPPIEE!

    Singaporean vegan seafood brand HAPPIEE! has expanded its UK presence, with its plant-based shrimp, squid and calamari now available at Sainsbury’s and Morissons (from next week).

    A new vegan sweets brand has been set up by a former Mondelez International executive. Wild Thingz makes bug-shaped fruit gummies in Zesty Pests, Fruity Flyers and Gummy Grubs, which will be available as 25g packs for 90p and 130g bags for £2.99.

    Staying with confectionery for a second, UK vegan oat milk chocolate maker H!P is getting festive with a new £12 advent calendar that features its plain, orange, salted caramel and gingerbread offerings. In addition, it’s launching a Gingerbread Cookie Bar, H!P ‘n’ Mix Festive Pouch, and a Christmas gift box.

    hip chocolate advent calendar
    Courtesy: H!P

    In Thailand, vegan cheese brand Swees has released with what it claims are the world’s first rice-based cheese sticks, with backing from the national government.

    Company and finance updates

    Spain’s Pascual Innoventures has upped its investment in the first three editions of the Mylcubator programme to over $2M, with its latest infusion going to precision fermentation egg startup Onego Bio.

    oshi vegan salmon
    Courtesy: Oshi

    Israeli vegan seafood player Oshi has received two million shekels ($550,000) as part of grant funding by the Israeli Innovation Authority.

    In Sweden, Örebro University’s PAN Sweden research centre has been awarded 40 million kronor ($3.9M) from the state research council Formas for its work on plant proteins. Agrifood company Lantmännen is a key actor in the project.

    Swedish pea milk pioneer Sproud has raised 14.4 Swedish kronor ($1.4M) in a fresh funding round, adding to the $1M it secured back in March.

    sproud pea milk
    Courtesy: Sproud

    UK startup Fermtech has brought in £360,000 in crowdfunding (moving past its £325,000 target) for its ‘zero-carbon’ koji protein, using spent grain from breweries as feedstock.

    Californian firm Triplebar is restructuring to amp up its focus on developing a generative AI genomic language model by 2026 to disrupt the food and medicine industries.

    In Singapore, Temasek-owned sustainable food innovation platform Nurasa has signed an MoU with Food Harbour Hamburg to bring together companies from both regions to develop planet-friendly food solutions.

    3d printed seafood
    Courtesy: Steakholder Foods

    Meanwhile, Israeli food tech startup Steakholder Foods has signed a deal with frozen foods manufacturer Bondor Foods to supply plant-based premises for vegan white fish and salmon patties.

    Indian cultivated meat startup Biokraft Foods is hosting its first public tastings for cultivated chicken after completing an internal validation for the product. The tastings will be held in Mumbai and Pune.

    Elsewhere, cell-based chocolate maker California Cultured has received an investment from Sparkalis, the corporate venture arm of Belgian B2B bakery, patisserie and chocolate leader Puratos Group.

    cell based chocolate
    Courtesy: California Cultured

    Job platform Alt Protein Careers has expanded into Europe, and several startups – from Redefine Meat to Mewery – are already advertising roles there.

    Policy developments

    Over 100 organisations and academics are calling on the UN FAO to retract its Pathways Towards Lower Emissions report from COP28, which downplayed the impact of livestock and climate change. It follows a similar open letter from July, which itself came months after authors whose work the report was based on asked the FAO to retract its report. The latest letter comes after the FAO doubled down on its stance.

    In California, the share of meatless meal options in school lunches increased from 7% in 2019 to 11% in 2023. The number of high schools offering veggie meals also rose from 36% to 56%.

    california school lunches vegan
    Courtesy: Friends of the Earth

    UK charity The Vegan Society and the International Rights Network have helped remove veganism from the National Health Service‘s Prevent training, a counter-terrorism programme designed to identify those at risk of radicalisation. Before the intervention, veganism was being referenced in the training.

    Finally, The Vegan Society is also celebrating a major milestone: it recently crossed 70,000 product certifications with its Vegan Trademark.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Dairy-Free Mozzarella Sticks, Vegan Wetherspoons & Indian Cultivated Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • US Republicans Fear China’s Biotech Revolution – Are They Finally Embracing Cultivated Meat?

    5 Mins Read

    China’s potential biotech dominance – especially its progress with cultivated meat – has spurred Republicans to call for US action to ensure “continued leadership”.

    What would it take for a Republican to support cultivated meat?

    Could it be China’s progress in the sector? That’s one way to interpret a letter sent by 11 Republican Congress members to the director of national intelligence and the USDA’s director of homeland security last week.

    First obtained by Politico’s Morning Agriculture newsletter, the letter was led by House Representatives Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), in direct response to the national intelligence director’s annual threat assessment. That report labelled China’s strategic advancements in “synthetic biology and agricultural biotechnology” as an attempt to “lead the broader biotechnological landscape”.

    China’s latest five-year plan for agricultural and rural tech development in 2021 calls for research in cultivated meat, alternative egg and dairy, and recombinant proteins, which the lawmakers described in their letter as China looking to “dominate global supply chains”.

    China’s biotech strides and focus on cultivated meat

    china alternative protein
    Courtesy: UN Geneva/CC

    China has been making moves towards alternative protein as part of its national climate, economic, and public health targets. Its citizens are already eating more protein per capita than the US now, and most of this comes from animal-free sources.

    Aside from the aforementioned agricultural strategy, the ongoing five-year bioeconomy development plan has outlined an advancement of man-made protein and novel foods. And it came just two months after President Xi Jinping called for a Grand Food Vision that included plant-based and microorganism-derived protein sources.

    In 2020, the science and tech ministry launched the Green Biological Manufacturing initiative, which set aside ¥600M ($93M at the time) in funding for research projects – around ¥20M was said to be earmarked for cultivated meat and plant-based protein companies. Similarly, in 2021, the government announced a proect focused on high-efficiency biomanufacturing tech for meat analogues, led by agricultural science institute the Jiangnan University.

    According to alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC, the National Natural Science Foundation of China has backed many cultivated meat and plant-based research teams too, with similar funding mechanisms available at provincial and city levels.

    Last year, Shanghai was the site of a meeting convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, where cellular agriculture companies engaged with regulators over production processes and safety concerns.

    GFI has further suggested that China’s cultivated meat sector has expanded in an environment that features much lower costs than Europe or the US, with local governments taking steps to ensure that the cost of equipment like bioreactors stays low.

    Meanwhile, the national government has been encouraging citizens to eat fewer animal products and more plant proteins, as part of a broader drive to connect public health with socioeconomic development, which began with the Healthy China 2030 policy.

    And then there’s the climate benefits: cultivated meat has a much lighter impact on the planet than industrial livestock production. China’s 30-60 climate policy is aimed at hitting peak emissions by 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2060 – and research has shown that this will only be possible if half of all proteins consumed in the country come from alternative sources.

    Republicans highlight the importance of alternative protein

    lab grown meat china
    Courtesy: Jimi Biotech

    The Congress members’ letter implored the US intelligence community to “conduct a focused analysis” on the potential impact of China’s advancements in innovative protein technologies, and its implications for the global food supply.

    “Countries around the world are recognising the need to pursue innovative farming techniques to complement their existing agricultural structures,” the letter reads. “The innovative protein sector’s rapid evolution and its potential to reshape global food markets underscore the urgency of responding to these developments.”

    Pointing to precedents that show how rapidly global trade patterns shift, the lawmakers write: “Should China secure a dominant position in the global innovative protein market, it could fundamentally alter food supply dynamics worldwide and give China control of key aspects of global food security dynamics.

    “Put simply, we cannot allow China to control more of the world’s food supply than it already does. To cede American leadership in the global innovative protein market to foreign adversaries like China is to forfeit the food security of the United States and its allies.”

    The Congress members conclude by asking the intelligence agencies to recommend strategic measures the US should consider to “ensure continued leadership and resilience in this critical sector”.

    An indication of the US’s response to China’s biotech dominance came in May when the House of Representatives passed the Biosecure Act to prevent local biopharma companies from working with Chinese contractors due to national security concerns.

    But if the US wants to continue being a leader in the alternative protein and biotech sectors – the country is home to the highest number of companies in this sector – it would perhaps be better if its policymakers stopped bringing bills to try and ban cultivated meat.

    lab grown meat republicans
    Courtesy: Morning Consult

    Yesterday, Alabama’s ban came into effect, three months after Florida’s did (the latter is now being sued over the legislation). Policymakers in a number of other states – including Illinois, Nebraska and Arizona – have proposed similar moves, and they have almost exclusively been Republican. This isn’t a surprise, considering how a study by Morning Consult found Republicans to be much less receptive to cultivated meat than Democrats.

    These politicians would do well to encourage their GOP colleagues and heed their words, which acknowledge that alternative protein can reshape global markets, and there’s a need for governments to back this industry. Whether that falls on deaf ears, only time will tell.

    The post US Republicans Fear China’s Biotech Revolution – Are They Finally Embracing Cultivated Meat? appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • LanzaTech Expands Gas Fermentation Tech to Recycle Waste Carbon Into Protein, Partners with US Military

    lanzatech nutritional protein

    6 Mins Read

    Synbio firm LanzaTech has extended its carbon recycling operations to human food applications with a new protein, and teamed up with the US military on a joint project.

    A company that turns waste carbon emissions into high-value products is making a move for the human food market with a nutritionally complete protein.

    Chicago-based LanzaTech, a pioneer in the carbon recycling space, is expanding its biorefining platform to produce microbial protein from gas fermentation, in a bid to address the climate, supply chain and food security challenges presented by animal-derived proteins.

    Dubbed LanzaTech Nutritional Protein (LNP), the ingredient can be used in foods such as non-dairy cheese, meat analogues, breads and smoothies, and extend to non-human applications like pet food, as well as animal and fish feed.

    To further its efforts, the company has partnered with the US Navy Research Lab on a project co-funded by the Department of Defense to explore protein production on its ships and meet the nutritional needs of soldiers and sailors across the armed forces.

    LanzaTech, which went public via a SPAC merger in 2022, has built upon its existing technology that ferments carbon-rich waste streams to produce ethanol as a primary product. The leftover bacteria can be freeze-dried to form a protein-rich biomass, and has already been sold for animal feed applications.

    But the company has now adapted its microbes and process to directly produce LNP as the primary product, allowing it to diversify its product range and revenue streams, optimise its value creation, and reach a larger number of consumers.

    “This is a natural extension of our platform, and we have been working on protein for a number of years, including before we went public,” says CSO Zara Summers, who reveals that LanzaTech has already sold 25,000 tonnes of single-cell protein from its operations as animal feed.

    “We decided to enter the protein market because we have always had a firm belief that recycled carbon could impact every aspect of our lives and provide new pathways to the products we use every day, including food,” she tells Green Queen.

    Several facilities lined up in the coming years

    us military sustainable protein
    Courtesy: LanzaTech

    LanzaTech is leveraging Cupriavidus necator – a soil bacterium – to produce LNP, and using feedstocks similar to its current operations, which have spawned commercial-scale volumes of ethanol for apparel, packaging, surfactants, and sustainable aviation fuels.

    “We have a process that consists of continuous fermentation in a gas fermentation reactor, where biomass can be continuously drawn into a deactivation, dewatering, and spray dry workflow,” explains Summers.

    “LanzaTech was founded to find alternative pathways that could avoid impacting land, water and biodiversity, and, importantly, keep fossil resources in the ground,” she adds. “As we came to understand the biological make-up of our commercial production strain and adjacent applications for our commercial bioreactors, we saw a natural evolution in our technology platform go beyond producing a protein co-product to make a dedicated nutritional protein product with a new microbe.”

    The company’s CEO, Jennifer Holmgren, says that it has developed a path to mass-producing protein from CO2 by “coupling a new microbial production strain with our existing bioreactor technology”.

    LanzaTech has been operating a pilot facility in Skokie, Illinois for the last two years, producing two to three grams of protein daily as it prepared for commercialisation. “In the process, we’ve partnered with leading brands and food testing organisations for rigorous analysis and prototyping of nutrition applications,” says Holmgren.

    Now, the company is in the engineering design phase for its first pre-commercial facilities, slated to open in 2026 in collaboration with several partners, with a capacity of between 0.5 to one tonne of protein per day. LanzaTech has additionally developed a roadmap to commercial-scale production in 2028, which would see it manufacture over 30,000 tonnes of LNP per year in larger facilities.

    The multi-pronged benefits of LanzaTech Nutritional Protein

    lanzatech protein
    Courtesy: LanzaTech

    Scaling up will help LanzaTech make its gas protein cost-competitive with animal proteins, which is crucial for a resilient food supply amid a fast-growing global population.

    Aside from the fact that it recycles carbon emissions from the atmosphere to make food, LNP also uses a fraction of the land and water that conventional protein sources need, while having no negative impact on biodiversity.

    Plus, there’s the nutritional prowess. “LNP is <80% protein by dry weight and is complete with all amino acids,” says Summers. “Its functional properties are similar to those of whey and pea protein. It is odourless and neutral in colour, which makes it ideal for formulating.”

    According to the company’s calculations, its facilities’ 0.5-tonne capacity combined with the ingredient’s high protein content is the equivalent of the typical complete daily intake of protein of around 9,000 people.

    LanzaTech has no plans to make its own products from the protein, instead supplying it to other companies for various applications, including human nutrition, pet food, and animal feed.

    “For human nutrition, this protein’s characteristics make it ideal for formulation, and we have already tested its properties and formulatability with food innovator Mattson,” Summers says. “As part of Mattson’s characterisation work, they prototyped the protein in baked goods, protein bars, smoothies, dairy-free cheese, and more.”

    She adds: “With the Center for Aquaculture Technologies, we successfully completed salmon and shrimp feed trials. We are currently conducting feed trials for pigs and poultry, as well as pet food testing with a leading pet food brand.”

    LNP is supplied in the form of a powder that requires minimal downstream processing. “It can be used as a protein-rich powder that could be used as a flour, or used as any protein powder is used today (like whey, pea, or soy powders),” says Summers.

    LanzaTech locks arms with the US military

    lanzatech co2 protein
    Courtesy: LanzaTech

    LanzaTech is in the middle of completing trials for animal feed (including pet food), and is also finalising its human food dossier for the FDA to achieve self-determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the US.

    To advance LNP’s progress, it is evaluating “several financing structures” for the development of its first pre-commercial facility. “We recently raised $40M through an investment by Carbon Direct Capital, who is a globally recognised investor in the carbon management ecosystem,” says Simmons. “This investment is to fund ongoing operations for LanzaTech as a whole, of which LNP is a part.”

    In addition to its partnerships with food producers, it is working on a joint research and contract development project with the US Navy Research Lab, which is funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Office of Naval Research, and the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).

    The aim is to work out if LNP can be produced on military platforms. “Together, we are exploring the biomanufacturing potential of a nutritional protein product made from CO2 extracted from seawater,” says Matthew Yates, a research biologist at the NRL.

    “Integrating LanzaTech’s state-of-the-art gas fermentation technology with the US Naval Research Laboratory’s Seawater Carbon Capture Process presents a valuable opportunity to develop a unique capability to meet the nutritional needs of soldiers and sailors across the joint forces, while simultaneously enhancing the resilience of military operations in an evolving geopolitical landscape,” he added.

    The Department of Defense, which the research and engineering office falls under, recently drew fire from sections of conservative media, Republican Congress members, and livestock lobby groups for opening funding proposals to develop cultivated meat for the military. Following the criticism, the DoD revoked its call.

    But Summers says LanzaTech isn’t concerned about any backlash from its military partnership: “We have many projects that have applications with the military at this time, from on-demand protein production in theatre, to humanitarian relief, to creating domestic supply chains that can meet any need that our country requires by leveraging abundant waste resources.”

    The post LanzaTech Expands Gas Fermentation Tech to Recycle Waste Carbon Into Protein, Partners with US Military appeared first on Green Queen.