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Category: Alt Protein

  • Industry Leaders Team Up to Fuel South Korea’s Protein Transition Ahead of Cultivated Meat Arrival

    lab grown meat south korea
    4 Mins Read

    Food tech organisations have signed a deal to advance the alternative protein industry in South Korea, where cultivated meat is set to make its entry soon.

    As South Koreans prepare to welcome cultivated meat to their plates, stakeholders from the novel food and biotech sectors have joined forces to propel the country’s future food industry forward.

    Industry group Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization (KoreaBio) and its Bio-based Future Food Industry Committee (BFFIC) – a coalition of 33 future food companies – have signed an MoU with alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Asia-Pacific (GFI APAC).

    The three organisations aim to advance market research and knowledge exchanges, increase policy coordination for novel food regulation, facilitate training, and host joint workshops and presentations about alternative protein innovation.

    “The association hopes that this agreement will create a domestic industrial ecosystem in line with global trends and enable many Korean companies involved in novel food to successfully expand their business globally,” said KoreaBio vice-president Seung-kyou Lee.

    The goals of the alternative protein partnership

    cultivated meat south korea
    Courtesy: GFI APAC

    The MoU contains a five-point plan outlining the purposes of the yearlong partnership, which will see the industry members meet once every quarter.

    The collaboration will seek to leverage GFI APAC’s research, resources and expertise in the sector to enhance BFFIC’s ability to develop and commercialise alternative proteins. The think tank itself will look to tap into the expertise of KoreaBIO and BFFIC members when providing support in the country.

    Sharing relevant research, data, reports, and market insights on future foods is a key goal of the partnership, helping speed up the development of South Korea’s novel food ecosystem via regular sessions and workshops, as needed.

    Equally important is an effort to work together on policy initiatives to create a favourable regulatory environment for alternative proteins in the nation, setting an example for other countries pursuing such regulatory frameworks too.

    The organisations also agreed to bolster international cooperation by connecting the South Korean ecosystem with global organisations and entities working in the future food space – this effort will be aided by GFI’s vast network (the think tank has seven offices across the world).

    Finally, the MoU mentions a need to foster industry growth by organising joint webinars, workshops and presentations, which will help raise awareness and drive interest in alternative proteins.

    Further highlighting how GFI APAC can provide support, the document notes that KoreaBio and BFFIC can benefit from its research on cultivated meat, fermentation, and plant-based proteins, its comprehensive market analysis, policy guidance, its international network, and educational material, reports and case studies to develop and scale novel food technologies.

    Policy progress for cultivated meat in South Korea

    lab grown meat korea
    Courtesy: Simple Planet

    “Global mutual cooperation is essential for the industrialisation of novel foods, including alternative proteins, which will be crucial for the future food supply system,” added Dominic Jeong, president of the BFFIC. “A partnership among GFI, KoreaBIO, and BFFIC will be the starting point for building a global network and facilitating a novel food industry in Korea.”

    Jeong is also the co-founder and CEO of Seoul-based startup Simple Planet, which is hoping to obtain the regulatory nod for its cultivated meat in South Korea by the first half of 2025. “Consumers will be able to taste or receive prototypes in the second half of next year. The target markets include not only Korea, but also North America and Southeast Asia,” Jeong told Green Queen in May.

    His comments came months after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety established a framework for regulatory approval of these proteins, outlining a process that costs ₩45M ($34,000) and is expected to take up to 270 working days.

    The government has also created a regulation-free special zone for the development of cultivated foods in the eastern province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. The ₩20B ($14M) project harbours 10 companies to commercialise these proteins, including TissenBioFarm, Seawith and DaNAgreen, which are also members of BBFIC.

    Plus, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced an investment of ₩29B ($21M) in research funding for plant-based and cultivated seafood technologies. Plant protein giant Pulmuone and Singapore’s Umami Bioworks have both made moves to manufacture cultivated fish products in South Korea recently.

    Meanwhile, last year saw the opening of the $7M North Gyeongsang Cellular Agriculture Industry Support Center, a 2,309 sq m facility to fuel the development of biomaterials and support cultivated meat companies.

    Research indicates that interest in cultivated meat remains high among Koreans, 90% of whom are willing to give it a go. Two in five are also in favour of these products being sold at supermarkets and restaurants, but price is a significant barrier. While 57% would eat cultivated pork if it’s cheaper than its conventional counterpart – and 25% would do so for beef – just a sixth of Koreans would pay more for cultivated meat.

    “Reimagining how meat is made is one of humanity’s greatest untapped opportunities,” said GFI founder Bruce Friedrich. “As a world-class innovation hub, South Korea’s expansive R&D and manufacturing ecosystem will play a crucial role in supercharging cultivated meat development and pioneering the technological breakthroughs our planet urgently needs.”

    The post Industry Leaders Team Up to Fuel South Korea’s Protein Transition Ahead of Cultivated Meat Arrival appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Shifting Away From Meat is Crucial for the EU’s Food Security & Climate Goals

    eu plant based report
    5 Mins Read

    Experts at Wageningen University argue that livestock numbers need to be reduced while a transition to plant-based diets should be welcomed by the EU.

    Every year, academics from Wageningen University & Research (WUR), the EU’s top agriculture institution, present the Mansholt Lecture. Highlighting the dilemmas faced by the region’s farm sector, it’s inspired by Sicco Mansholt, a Dutchman who was the bloc’s first agriculture commissioner and architect of its Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).

    The CAP aims to tackle biodiversity loss, species decline, and planetary harm – but many of its current policies fail to do so. And of those that have promise, most are derailed by Big Ag’s big lobbies. Nearly 30% of the CAP’s budget is spent on agriculture, which is important considering the sector accounts for 12% of EU emissions.

    However, 80% of this expenditure is directed to livestock farming, with 44% alone going to crops for animals that humans end up eating. This makes little sense when you consider that animal proteins provide only 35% of the EU’s calorie supply, and generate 84% of its agricultural emissions. Plant-based farming, on the other hand, receives less than a quarter of the CAP’s money.

    And even though farmers themselves are calling on people to eat less meat and asking policymakers to draw up plans to transition to a plant-based food system, EU leaders seem hesitant in intervening.

    These are among the five major dilemmas that the WUR experts outlined in a new paper accompanying the Mansholt Lecture. The 80-page report contends with the EU’s pursuit for self-sufficiency, the future of animal agriculture, whether climate targets should be a shared responsibility among member states, the coexistence of food and non-food biomass, and policy interventions to reshape consumer behaviour.

    Reforming livestock farming means eating more plant-based

    eu plant based action plan
    Graphic by Green Queen

    WUR notes that the EU can be considered food-secure for now, but that it’s highly dependent on imports of fertilisers, energy and animal feed. And while the region can produce enough food for its population at current rates, this will only be possible if the production of protein crops and oilseeds is increased, and people begin reducing their meat consumption.

    Conversely, if Europeans continue to eat as much meat as they do now, reducing livestock’s impact on the climate and biodiversity will be a challenge, the author wrote. Addressing livestock numbers, therefore, is a priority.

    “Without reducing the livestock population, this would require major adaptations to technology and feed systems, including feed additives and new housing systems and forms of manure processing,” the report reads, adding: “In practice, the impact of many of these innovations is often disappointing.”

    Growing animal feed would also compete with the production of crops suitable for human consumption. An alternative approach would be to deindustrialise livestock farming, utilising grasslands, raw materials and waste streams that don’t compete with human food, as well as food waste – think retail products past their sell-by dates.

    “In this more circular approach, the primary role of animals would be to convert these non-human food streams, with the number of animals in a region determined by the availability of these resources, rather than global demand for animal products,” the report states.

    This will also only be possible if meat and dairy consumption is curbed – the EU already eats 80% more protein than is recommended, and 60% of this comes from animals. “A partial shift towards plant-based proteins in high-income countries could help to achieve this,” according to the WUR researchers.

    And in terms of nature and climate targets, a gradual transition to plant-based eating has been shown to reduce demand for animal products and reduce emissions, while also supporting the ambitions to improve public health – this combination of human and planetary health gains could be a catalyst for greater adoption of vegan diets.

    Meanwhile, land use has historically been the main driver of biodiversity loss in the EU. Now, though, 78% of this is attributed to intensive livestock systems. So neither land sparing nor land sharing strategies would be enough to meet biodiversity targets – reducing livestock populations, and thus shifting to plant-based diets, is critical.

    Policy intervention critical to changing consumption patterns

    meat tax
    Graphic by Green Queen Media

    The report comes on the heels of the confirmation hearing of Christophe Hansen, the incoming EU agriculture commissioner, who suggested that meat consumption was something policymakers shouldn’t get involved in.

    The experts at WUR, however, rejected that idea. “Interventions are needed to support consumer behaviour towards more healthy and sustainable diets,” they wrote. “The hesitation to intervene in our food choices stands in stark contrast to the commonly accepted use of pricing strategies to reduce demand for fuels, as well as tobacco and alcohol.”

    They added that there’s societal support for more active government interventions to stimulate healthier and more climate-friendly consumption behaviours. Adopting an interventionist approach to shift dietary patterns, the academics argued, is crucial for progress.

    But they acknowledged that the public steering of consumer behaviour is a “socially and politically delicate matter”. Price interventions like meat taxes (à la Denmark) can be effective, for example, but stir controversy too.

    Instead, a combination of different interventions – like information about the consequences of meat consumption, preparation tips, and price differences between different compositions of plant-based foods – can be much more impactful than one-off measures.

    The paper cites the Nuffield intervention ladder, where oft interventions like information move up to harder measures like restrictive legislation. The interventions on supporting more plant-based diets, it says, are currently mostly related to monitoring and informing. But the EU strategy for sustainable textiles is already moving up this ladder to curb fast fashion, an effort that could be replicated for animal agriculture too.

    Other interventions include “communication strategies, pricing incentives, informative labelling, regulations, and bans, or indirect strategies such as binding agreements with the agrifood sector and supermarkets”, says the report.

    “Although countries and regions are confronted with distinct challenges, in general, more sustainable and healthy diets are required,” it adds. “Sustainable diets, for example, lean towards more plant-based and vegetarian diets, and to more local and seasonal diets.”

    The post Shifting Away From Meat is Crucial for the EU’s Food Security & Climate Goals appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • California Judge Likely to Dimiss Investors’ Class-Action Lawsuit Against Beyond Meat

    beyond meat lawsuit
    5 Mins Read

    A judge in Los Angeles is poised to dismiss investors’ class-action lawsuit against plant-based meat maker Beyond Meat for good.

    The class-action lawsuit by investors of plant-based leader Beyond Meat is heading towards dismissal for the second time in three months.

    In a hearing discussing the vegan firm’s motion to dismiss, a judge in Los Angeles has indicated that a reworked complaint – filed by the plaintiffs a month after the original suit was tossed in August – is likely to be thrown out, for good this time.

    The case, first brought to court in May 2023, alleged that Beyond Meat misled investors about its manufacturing capacities, which led to artificially inflated stock prices that dropped by 92% when production hit a snag in 2022.

    Complaint accused Beyond Meat of misleading investors

    kfc beyond meat
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    The original lawsuit was led by the Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan, which claimed that Beyond Meat misrepresented the success of its collaborations with major quick-service restaurant chains, including McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

    According to the complaint, the company told investors and customers that it would “ensure manufacturability” via extensive testing, and assured that it had commercial-scale production capacities to meet the demand of these fast-food giants.

    But the firm instead suffered from “widespread scaling issues, particularly misalignment and delayed decision-making, which led to corresponding production delays”, the plaintiffs claimed, suggesting that these issues were made worse by Beyond Meat’s “disjointed production lines”.

    The plaintiffs said the “truth began to emerge” about the company’s alleged instability in October 2021, when it announced it was reducing its Q3 net revenue outlook by 25%, with expenses and inventories continuing to rise. They argued that Beyond Meat’s 2019 IPO had left things unstable, with stock prices falling from $234.90 in July 2019 to $14.11 in October 2022.

    Naming CEO Ethan Brown and former CFOs Mark Nelson and Phillip Hardin as defendants, the complaint claimed the firm “made materially false and misleading statements and omissions, and engaged in a scheme to deceive the market”, adding that “these misleading statements and omissions artificially inflated the price of Beyond Meat stock and operated as a fraud or deceit” on shareholders.

    In December 2023, the plant-based meat producer urged Judge Michael W Fitzgerald of the US District Court for the Central District of California to throw out the case, arguing that the plaintiffs’ complaint “does not support a claim for securities fraud”.

    And in August, the judge sided with Beyond Meat and dismissed the case, noting that many of the alleged misstatements were non-actionable as opinions or optimistic forward-looking statements, which don’t amount to securities fraud.

    He said that investors would need to be more specific about what Brown knew at the time he allegedly hyped up the foodservice partnerships, leaving the door open for them to amend their complaint and refile.

    Judge signals dismissal in welcome decision for Beyond Meat

    beyond meat lawsuit settlement
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    A month after the August decision, Saskatchewan Healthcare Employees’ Pension Plan returned with a reworked complaint, claiming that Beyond Meat hid from investors the risks of its “reckless gamble” to scale up production.

    Counsel for the investor class highlighted the claim that the business failed to disclose the issues it faced when trying to mass-produce plant-based chicken and pepperoni for KFC and Pizza Hut, respectively at a Pennsylvania factory in 2021. “I think [investors] would want to know about the disaster that was happening, especially at the Pennsylvania plant,” the lawyer for the plaintiffs told the judge, as quoted by legal news outlet Law360.

    Beyond Meat, for its part, countered by outlining its repeated statements to shareholders that it could be difficult to disrupt the fast-food market, arguing that it was “forthright” in its risk disclosures. “What plaintiffs have done with their ability to amend is add next to nothing,” the company’s counsel said.

    Fitzgerald hinted at a decision in Beyond Meat’s favour when he said the amended complaint – while containing facts that make “perfect sense” – still doesn’t meet the pleading standard for securities fraud. He ended the hearing by stating that he wouldn’t want to see another complaint unless the investors could bring new facts after a likely dismissal ruling, according to Law360.

    The development ends an 18-month saga for Beyond Meat, and comes shortly after it settled a separate class-action lawsuit with consumers for $7.5M. The complaint alleged that the firm had overstated its products’ nutritional benefits, since the protein digestibility of its meat analogues was lower than that of conventional meat.

    The El Segundo-based company had also settled a suit in April 2022, brought by investors in light of two disputes with former co-manufacturer Don Lee Farms. Those cases were settled months later.

    If Judge Fitzgerald does end up throwing this latest suit, it would be an especially welcome decision for Beyond Meat, which is looking to turn the tide on several years of turmoil, with faltering sales and multiple staff cuts. In its latest quarter, it recorded a growth in revenue for the first time since 2022, posting a 7.6% hike in annual sales to reach $81M in what Brown termed a “pivotal quarter” in the company’s history.

    “Turbulence, much of it generated by a concerted campaign supported by incumbent animal protein and pharmaceutical industries, destabilised the slipstream within which we travelled, and we fell from considerable heights,” he told investors.

    “We responded by letting iron sharpen iron. We chose to get stronger, including moving our products along the continuum from relative to absolute health benefits, most notably in our Beyond IV platform and its broad endorsements from leading health institutions, and we got leaner and more focused.”

    The post California Judge Likely to Dimiss Investors’ Class-Action Lawsuit Against Beyond Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Coconut Latte Pods, Vegan Lakers & Iowa SNAP Decision

    vegan cloud latte
    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 Coconut Cloud’s coffee pods, Better Balance’s Crypto.com Arena link-up, and the USDA’s rejection of Iowa’s plant-based purchase restrictions.

    New products and launches

    US coffee chain Peet’s Coffee has introduced the Everything Plant-Based Sandwich, which features Impossible Foods‘s vegan sausage, Eat Just‘s Just Egg, and dairy-free cheese.

    peet's everything plant based sandwich
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods/LinkedIn

    Oyamel, the Washington, DC restaurant owned by José Andrés, held a cultivated meat tasting featuring Eat Just‘s Good Meat chicken and Wildtype‘s salmon in several dishes, organised by non-profit Food Solutions Action.

    Foodservice distributor Performance Food Group has ventured into the blended meat space, launching a Beef & Jackfruit Burger under its FarmSmart brand in partnership with meat analogue maker The Jackfruit Company.

    Californian startup Renegade Foods has added three French-Hungarian vegan salami SKUs to its lineup. Available in Salami Lorraine, Salami Provence, and Salami Budapesti flavours, they can be found on its website for $42.75 per three-pack.

    coconut cloud latte pods
    Courtesy: Coconut Cloud

    Also in the US, dairy-free brand Coconut Cloud has launched single-serve coffee pods made with instant coffee, coconut cream powder, coconut sugar and MCT oil powder. The Coconut Cream Latte capsules are available on its website and Amazon for $24.99 for an 18-pack.

    Expanding its presence in the US market, plant-based food brand Better Balance has become an official partner with Los Angeles’s Crypto.com Arena, home to the Lakers; collaborated with PLNT Burger, owned by former Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn, to put its vegan hot dog on the menu; and expanded its retail footprint to select Giant and Martin’s on the East Coast.

    South Korea’s Unlimeat has launched two new vegan kimbap products in sausage and buldak variants in the US, which are available on its website for $8.99 per pack.

    unlimeat kimbap
    Courtesy: Unlimeat

    British plant-based meat maker Shicken has launched its Tikka Masala, Butter Curry, and Korma Curry SKUs at Albert Heijn stores in the Netherlands.

    In Canada, plant protein company Burcon NutraScience has partnered with Belgian bakery and chocolate giant Puratos to develop products using the former’s Puratein canola protein as an egg replacer.

    Chilean food tech unicorn NotCo has rolled out a line of functional chocolate snacks called NotSquares, as part of its $30M investment in the snack category over the next three years. The products contain a slow-releasing carbohydrate called Palatinose.

    Company and finance updates

    NotCo is also facing some controversy, though. Its NotMayo, marketed as vegan, has been found to contain the amino acid L-cysteine, which a company representative reportedly confirmed was sourced from bird feathers.

    lab grown meat tasting
    Courtesy: Meatable

    Ahead of its Series C round, Dutch cultivated meat startup Meatable has secured a strategic investment from Betagro Ventures, the VC arm of one of Thailand’s largest food companies. It comes weeks after the company told Green Queen about its plans to gain regulatory approval across Asia next year.

    Germany’s €34M Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is now operational, demonstrating DSM-Fonterra-owned Vivici’s precision fermentation technology for beta-lactoglobulin (a whey protein) at an industrial scale.

    In the UK, the demand for vegan options at public events has grown by 280% over the last five years, according to research by Togather.

    alternative protein center
    Courtesy: Pureture

    New York startup Pureture, which has developed a vegan casein protein, has teamed up with South Korea’s Kangwon National University to set up an Alternative Protein Research Center.

    In California, seaweed bacon producer Umaro Foods has received a $1.5M grant from the US Department of Energy to enhance the performance, production costs, and sustainability of bioplastics in collaboration with seaweed packaging startup Sway.

    After appointing insolvency advisors in an attempt to rescue the business, UK vegan ready meal startup Allplants has entered administration, making 65 employees redundant.

    Policy, research and awards

    The US Department of Agriculture has turned down a request by the state of Iowa that sought to block residents from accessing meat and egg alternatives via federal food assistance initiatives like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),

    The UK’s Food Standards Agency has put out a call for companies to join its cultivated meat sandbox programme. The deadline is Thursday, November 28, with five to eight companies set to be chosen.

    fsa lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Food Standards Agency

    Similarly, the Singapore Food Agency has issued a call for applicants to its Second Future FoodsMain Grant on Nutrition and Functionality, which is open until February 2025.

    Meanwhile, the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture has submitted a request to the country’s Consumer Affairs Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, calling on the government to develop a clearer regulatory framework for cultivated meat.

    Plant-based meat has a climate impact 91% lower than beef, 88% lower than pork, and 71% lower than chicken, regardless of how these proteins are produced, according to a comprehensive life-cycle assessment published by the Good Food Institute.

    lab grown burger
    Courtesy: Bene Meat Technologies

    Czech cultivated meat startup Bene Meat Technologies, which is developing both pet and human food, has received the Industrie Award at the Czech Head Awards, which is accorded annually for significant contributions in the field of innovative research technology.

    In Australia, the University of Queensland‘s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) has released a white paper exploring the potential of precision fermentation, with recommendations for boosting the industry’s future.

    Finally, Peta India has named Ahmedabad, the capital of the state of Gujarat, as the country’s most vegan-friendly city.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Coconut Latte Pods, Vegan Lakers & Iowa SNAP Decision appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Unilever to Offload Plant-Based Meat Brand The Vegetarian Butcher: Report

    the vegetarian butcher
    4 Mins Read

    Unilever is in talks with investment bank Piper Sandler to host an auction of The Vegetarian Butcher, the vegan business it bought six years ago.

    As it continues to shake up its global food portfolio, Unilever has reportedly put its plant-based meat brand The Vegetarian Butcher up for sale.

    The consumer goods giant has hired Piper Sandler to run an auction for the sale of the Dutch vegan business, Sky News reported last night. Industry sources speaking to the outlet suggested that “a number of potential buyers” had already been approached for the deal.

    It comes just six years after Unilever first bought the vegan brand, and is the latest move in Unilever’s bid to streamline its focus on its international megabrands.

    The Vegetarian Butcher records sales growth amid industry struggles

    de vegetarische slager
    Courtesy: The Vegetarian Butcher

    The Vegetarian Butcher is one of the leading plant-based businesses globally. It was established in 2007 by Jaap Korteweg – a ninth-generation livestock farmer – and politician Niko Koffeman, selling meat alternatives out of a butcher shop in The Hague.

    Unilever had worked with The Vegetarian Butcher in 2016 to produce a line of vegetarian meatballs under the Unox soup brand, before purchasing the business two years later in December 2019, looking to capitalise on the boom in plant-based eating and consumers’ growing intent to cut back on meat. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed.

    Today, its products are available in 55 countries and over 40,000 retail locations, alongside a host of foodservice doors, most notably at Burger King in Europe and Asia. The brand has been recording strong growth in sales volume, according to insiders cited by Sky News, but its likely valuation in a sale is so far unclear.

    The development comes during a challenging period for meat alternatives in the Netherlands, whose sales shrunk by 2.5% last year, with volumes down by 7.3%. That said, the market has been showing signs of recovery this year, with data from the early part of 2024 suggesting that weekly average sales volume was 2.4% higher than in 2023.

    Even across Europe’s six largest markets, retail sales of vegan meat grew by 4% from 2022-23. But the global headwinds of the last couple of years, combined with a dip in investment, have led to several businesses in the space shutting down, or coming close to it. Just last week, the UK’s largest vegan ready meal brand, Allplants, entered administration after failing to find a buyer following mounting losses.

    Unilever’s move surprising, but not shocking

    hellmann's vegan mayo
    Courtesy: Hellmann’s/Green Queen

    The decision to put The Vegetarian Butcher up for sale follows comments from Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher to the Financial Times last week, when he said he wanted to “prune” the company’s vast food portfolio, identifying businesses that generate around £1B in annual sales.

    This is part of the Growth Action Plan 2030 he introduced when taking over as CEO in July 2023, described as a focus on “doing fewer things, better and with greater impact”. Schumacher wants to focus on the company’s “power brands”, which collectively represent over three-quarters of its turnover, and registered a 5.4% sales growth in the previous quarter (versus 4.5% overall).

    Unilever’s food business, meanwhile, is second only to its personal care segment, and has racked up €9.9B in turnover in the first nine months of the year. The two largest brands, Knorr and Hellmann’s, account for 60% of this total.

    The Vegetarian Butcher isn’t the only brand on the chopping block. Reuters reported earlier this month that Unilever was looking to sell a number of its Dutch food brands, including Unox and Conimex. The CPG behemoth has also begun demerging its ice cream units in India and Indonesia, and has been mulling a spinoff of its global ice cream division (which includes Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum) – though the latter could now be publicly listed instead of being old privately.

    But it is surprising that Unilever is choosing to do away with The Vegetarian Butcher when you consider its goal to reach €1.5B in annual sales from “plant-based products in categories that would have traditionally used animal-derived ingredients” by 2025.

    Then again, Unilever has scaled back a number of its key climate goals, so perhaps it isn’t altogether shocking that it’s looking to sell a plant-based company after all.

    The post Unilever to Offload Plant-Based Meat Brand The Vegetarian Butcher: Report appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Plant-Based Meat & Dairy On Par or Better for Health Than Animal Protein, Finds Analysis

    plant based meat nutrition
    7 Mins Read

    When it comes to health, plant-based analogues to meat and dairy have similar or better nutritional profiles, an 11-country study reveals.

    Vegan burgers, sausages and bacon are better for health than conventional meat, while dairy alternatives offer similar nutritional profiles to cow’s milk, according to an analysis of over 670 plant-based products.

    Conducted by food awareness organisation ProVeg International, the research evaluated products available in local supermarkets in 11 countries – Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain, the UK, and the US – and used a scoring system based on internationally recognised nutrition guidelines from the WHO, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, and the European Food Safety Authority.

    “The report really highlights how much potential plant-based alternatives have to bring more diversity to people’s plates and replace vast quantities of animal-based products currently dominating the supermarket shelves,” said co-author Anna-Lena Klapp, who is ProVeg’s head of research.

    “Plant-based alternatives can build bridges between people’s current eating habits and a healthy, climate-friendly eating habit. Each stakeholder can play an important role in enabling the establishment of healthy and sustainable diets,” she added.

    Plant-based meat nutritionally superior

    plant based meat nutrition
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    The report found that the average nutritional quality of all plant-based meat products analysed was slightly better, with a mean score of 5.32 versus 4.50 for animal-derived meat (the maximum score being 8.0).

    While the nutritional value varied by country, the average score for vegan products in each nation was still similar to or higher than conventional meat. The Netherlands has the highest score (6.67), with 22 of the 82 products achieving the maximum score. But on the flip side, in Malaysia, a lack of fortification (especially vitamin B12), high salt content, and inadequate protein and fibre levels took the average score down to 4.12.

    Vegan burgers and chicken breasts scored similarly to the comparative animal proteins, while plant-based bacon, chicken nuggets, and sausages performed particularly better. Only schnitzels performed worse in almost all countries.

    The analysis suggested that plant-based meats have between 11.2 and 19.6 of protein per 100g, compared to 15-19.5g for conventional products. To be classified as a protein source, at least 20% of a product’s calories should come from protein – in each country, more than 60% of vegan offerings fall under this category.

    vegan meat nutrition
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    Similarly, in all countries bar the US, over 60% of plant-based meat products had 3g or more of fibre per 100g, the threshold to be considered as a source of fibre. Only 29% of American meat analogues contain as much fibre, but even so, the average content (about 2.5g per 100g) is much higher than conventional meat (less than 0.5g).

    Meanwhile, Malaysia’s use of coconut oil as a primary ingredient makes it the only country in the research where meat alternatives have an average saturated fat amount higher than the recommended level of 2.5g.

    ProVeg found that depending on the market, plant-based meats are generally fortified with iron and vitamin B12, but fortification still does not appear to be a common practice. “The three main barriers for plant-based manufacturers who wish to fortify their products were identified: regulatory restrictions, consumer acceptance, and technical challenges,” the authors wrote.

    But while the sugar content of 98% of the analysed vegan meat products was below the set maximum of 5%, the salt content exceeds the 1.1g per 100g limit in most countries. “Salt can be replaced with spices, herbs, and high-quality ingredients that are tasty in their own right,” the report stated. “Potassium salt (KCl) can also replace some of the added salt without altering the sensory characteristics of the product.”

    Milk alternatives on par with dairy

    plant based milk nutrition
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    When it comes to non-dairy milk, their average score was 6.5 (out of a maximum of 9.0), higher than the 6.0 achieved by cow’s milk in the UK, but lower than the 7.0 score for dairy in the US (where these products tend to be fortified). In countries like the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, the UK, and Czechia, though, plant-based milk scored between 7.0 and 7.7.

    Cow’s milk also typically has a significantly higher amount of protein on average (3.5%), compared to 1-2% for vegan alternatives (although soy milk’s protein content is much closer to dairy). But, the research points out, milk is not categorised as part of the protein group, but as a source of calcium in most dietary guidelines worldwide. “Therefore, it is not necessarily a disadvantage if some plant milks contain only small amounts of protein as long as they are fortified with calcium.”

    plant based milk fortified
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    To that end, the most common level of calcium fortification in dairy-free milks is 120mg per 100ml, which is comparable to conventional milk. Plant-based products in all countries also outscore cow’s milk on the average amount of vitamin D. The same goes for vitamin B2, except for the US, where the fortification levels are on par with dairy.

    Cow’s milk also contains a much higher level of saturated fat (1.5g per 100ml) than plant-based alternatives (which range from 0.2-0.8g per 100ml). In each country, at least 89% of vegan milk products have less than 1.1g of saturated fat.

    Crucially, plant-based milk is often criticised for its sugar content, but the analysis revealed that all the products examined had lower amounts of sugar (2%) than cow’s milk (4.8%). The majority of non-dairy alternatives fall within the maximum level of 2.5g of sugar per 100ml in every country except the UK. But the salt concentration was below the recommended limit in over 90% of products across all 11 nations.

    Recommendations for different stakeholders

    is plant based meat healthy
    Courtesy: Kroger/PBFI/84.51°

    “The report really highlights how much potential plant-based alternatives have to bring more diversity to people’s plates and replace vast quantities of animal-based products currently dominating the supermarket shelves,” report co-author Anna-Lena Klapp, who is the head of research at ProVeg.

    “Plant-based alternatives can build bridges between people’s current eating habits and a healthy, climate-friendly eating habit,” she added.

    Health has increasingly become the most prominent driver of plant-based food consumption. In the US, 60% of consumers are influenced by this, while 45% are cutting back on meat and dairy because of personal health concerns. Across the Atlantic, too, nearly four in 10 Brits eat plant-based meat for its health benefits. In the EU, too, half of consumers are reducing their annual meat intake, with health being the primary reason (47%).

    “It is essential for nations to shift to more plant-based diets as quickly as possible. Our report highlights the current strengths and limitations of plant-based products, allowing stakeholders like industry and Governments to further improve plant-based offerings on offer in their nations’ supermarkets,” said Valentina Gallani, health and nutrition manager at ProVeg and lead author of the study.

    The report calls on food producers to formulate healthier plant-based products by fortifying them where feasible and limiting saturated fat, salt and sugar. Providing transparency to consumers is crucial, as are collaborations between startups and conventional meat and dairy companies to develop higher-quality products.

    italy plant based
    Courtesy: Anay Mridul/Green Queen

    Retailers should increase the visibility of vegan products by placing them in the meat and dairy aisles, ensure price parity, make their promotions more plant-focused, and commit to a protein split ratio of 60% plant-based sales by 2030 (as Lidl has done).

    In terms of policy interventions, governments should include vegan alternatives in national dietary guidelines, develop regulations and plans for fortification and salt reformulation, reduce the VAT on plant-based products, and remove restrictions on the use of meat- and dairy-related terms on product labels.

    ProVeg suggested that scientists and researchers should investigate the long-term health effects of plant-based meat and dairy, facilitate population-wide dietary shifts, assess the bioavailability of micronutrients and the role of fortification, as well as explore salt reduction techniques.

    And for their part, consumers should prioritise a whole-food plant-based diet, reduce animal proteins to lower their climate footprint, recognise both the strengths and limitations of vegan alternatives, choose products with lower added sugars, saturated fat and salt, but not demonise ultra-processed foods.

    The post Plant-Based Meat & Dairy On Par or Better for Health Than Animal Protein, Finds Analysis appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • APAC Agrifood Tech Funding Up by 38%, With India Reclaiming the Top Spot

    asia food tech investments
    4 Mins Read

    Funding for alternative proteins has grown by 85% this year in Asia-Pacific, mirroring a larger sector-wide recovery, a new AgFunder report shows.

    Asia-Pacific’s agrifood tech sector is showing “remarkable” signs of recovery after two years of tumult, with VC investments increasing by 38% so far this year.

    By the end of October, companies in the sector had raised $4.2B, reversing a 52% decline from 2023. It has also beefed up APAC’s share in the global agrifood tech funding landscape, which now makes up 31% of the total, up from an average of 26% over the last decade.

    The figures come from a new report by AgFunder, in collaboration with Indian VC fund Omnivore and AgriFutures Australia, and signal some respite for businesses working to safeguard the future of food and agriculture.

    While investment was still lower than 2020 levels in terms of dollar amounts, the number of deals in the first three quarters of 2024 (616) has already surpassed the full-year totals of each of the last three years, indicating that VCs remain interested in the category, but are more cautious in doling out larger amounts to single companies.

    India and China’s dominance complemented by Japan’s jump

    asia food tech funding
    Courtesy: AgFunder

    The Asia-Pacific AgriFoodTech Investment report found that India has leapfrogged China to the top spot, attracting $2B (or 48%) of the region’s funding this year – although $1B went to a single company, the three-year-old e-grocer Zepto, in two financing rounds.

    The world’s most populous country’s agrifood tech industry recuperated significantly from the 73% drop in investments it suffered in 2023. Despite Zepto’s dominant rounds, the number of deals (158) is already 46% higher than the whole of 2023. Green energy specialist Sael’s $299M debt funding ensured that the top three deals belonged to India.

    China isn’t too far behind, though, with companies securing $1.5B as of October 2024, 18% higher than this time last year. The country still leads the way in terms of deal count (230), dominating early-stage and Series A rounds. Pig breeding company Shiji Biotechnology Co ($232M) and alcohol producer Serata Moyun ($169M) raised the largest amounts.

    The two countries were followed by Japan, which climbed three places to become the surprise success story of the year. Agrifood tech startups in the country brought in $280M (a 58% year-on-year rise) via a total of 93 deals, led by Brewed Protein maker Spiber‘s $65M round. There were signs of this last year, when Japan was the only top 10 APAC nation to see a hike in investments (by 95%).

    Australia, however, wasn’t immune to the global downturn, registering a 78% decline in funding year-on-year, with deal count also down by 51%. This has halved its share in the overall APAC market to 1.2% – but in a positive trend, the majority of deals have been closed at the sees stage, indicating renewed activity.

    asia food tech
    Courtesy: AgFunder

    Alternative proteins and novel farm tech rebound

    Last year, upstream tech startups (which support farmers and primary production) overtook downstream players (which cover technologies closer to the consumers, like delivery and meal kits) in funding for the first time, but the latter bounced back this year, attracting $1.9B in VC investment.

    That said, the gulf between the two has been erased, with upstream companies raising a similar amount ($1.8B) – they also still account for half of the total deal count. Those working with midstream technologies, which connect farmers and food producers to retailers, agro-processors and other clients, secured $525M.

    Zepto’s funding success made eGrocery the most well-funded category (raising $1.5B), though deal count also nearly tripled. If you discount Zepto, the upstream categories of Bioenergy & Biomaterials ($475M) and Ag Biotechnology ($459M) were highly attractive to investors this year. The latter’s 30% year-on-year increase was driven by Chinese activity.

    apac food tech
    Courtesy: AgFunder

    Categories labelled Innovative Food (which includes alternative proteins like plant-based foods and cultivated meat) and Novel Farming Systems (covering indoor farms, aquaculture, and insect and algae production) have been the hardest hit on the global stage, but in APAC, they’re rebounding.

    Nover Farming Systems posted a small increase from last year with $75M raised over 25 deals. Innovative Food, meanwhile, attracted $204M by the end of October, an 85% increase from the same period in 2023, with deal count also growing from 49 to 59. Singaporean oat milk giant Oatside’s $35M round was the largest in this category.

    “APAC is seen as a leader in both of these categories, particularly in Singapore where the government has supported them in search of improved national food security,” the report notes.

    In bleaker news, leadership in the agrifood tech sector is still dominated by men, with male-only founding teams making up 92% of the total (from the companies where gender data is available). All-female founders only exist in 3% of businesses, and attract just 0.5% of VC investments (the same as last year). Meanwhile, firms with mixed founding teams saw a dip from 9.3% in 2023 to 8.2% this year.

    The post APAC Agrifood Tech Funding Up by 38%, With India Reclaiming the Top Spot appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Good & Humble: New Zealand Oat Milk Startups Otis & All Good Merge

    all good oat milk
    4 Mins Read

    New Zealand-based oat milk makers Otis and All Good have joined forces to form a new entity to champion local growers and expand globally.

    Otis and All Good, two of New Zealand’s best-known oat milk producers, have merged under a new business called Good & Humble.

    The entity, which will see the two brands continue to operate separately, aims to leverage each company’s strengths to scale up production, ramp up innovation, and support local oat growers.

    “By uniting our brands, we’re building a stronger foundation to deliver on these promises, advancing our shared mission of sustainability and local impact. This union strengthens our ability to deliver on those promises,” said All Good general manager Faye MacGregor.

    “We are very excited to grow Good & Humble for many years to come and see what plant-powered adventures we can have along the way.”

    Otis and All Good to target the globe

    good and humble
    Courtesy: Otis/All Good

    Otis was founded in 2018 by Tim Ryan and Chris Wilkie, and sells three flavours of its oat milk: Everyday, Chocolate and Barista. While it faced several manufacturing challenges at the beginning, pushing it to produce its oat milk in Sweden (with New Zealand-grown oats).

    But in June this year, the company partnered with Free Flow Manufacturing to establish the nation’s first state-of-the-art oat milk factory in East Auckland, with a capacity of producing 50 million litres of its products every year.

    All Good, meanwhile, has been around since 2008, established by brothers Chris and Matt Morrison and Simon Coley (who are also the founders of Karma Drinks). The company began as a Fairtrade banana business, before pivoting into plant-based milk in 2020. Its current lineup, sold under the Good Oat brand, includes Barista and Original oat milks, as well as a Barista coconut milk.

    Like Otis, All Good initially produced its milks in Sweden, but brought its operations to New Zealand earlier this year. Its sales have grown by 71% annually since 2021, and totalled NZ$8M ($4.7M) in the 12 months to November 2023.

    The merger will also pair Otis’s on-farm provenance and enzyme technology with All Good’s established export sales and distribution. One of Good & Humble’s key goals is to capitalise on both brands’ networks to expand internationally, particularly in Southeast Asia.

    Otis’s oat milks are available in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, and Malaysia, while All Good’s products can be found in cafés in South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

    Addressing NZ dairy’s giant footprint

    otis oat milk
    Courtesy: Otis/All Good

    The merger will help All Good develop a wider range of plant-based products and grow its customer value, with Otis’s premium offering continuing to focus on oat milk that promotes South Island-grown oats.

    “As we come together under Good & Humble, we create a future where our shared values and capabilities work together, enabling us to set a new benchmark in oat milk quality, sustainability, and innovation and export that to the world,” said Wilkie.

    “We are playing against billion-dollar multinational brands; uniting with All Good means we can play smarter and harder. Our NPD engine will be market-leading,” he added.

    Aside from provenance, the two companies are tackling a significant environmental issue in New Zealand. At 102kg per year, the country has one of the highest per capita dairy consumption rates in the world. The country is also the world’s largest exporter of dairy, with the industry responsible for one in every four export dollars the nation earns, contributing $11.3B to the economy in 2022-23.

    But half of New Zealand’s emissions come from agriculture, three-quarters of which are a direct result of methane from livestock. In a 2022 survey, 51% of locals agreed that plant-based alternatives are better for the environment than dairy. However, 66% of consumers find dairy to be higher in nutritional value, with 78% calling it better value for money and 70% labelling it to be better for the national economy.

    That said, according to Otis, oat milk is by far the most popular plant-based milk in New Zealand, making up 41% of the local market. It’s followed by almond milk (27%), soy milk (23%) and coconut milk (5%). Other brands in the oat milk space include Boring, Vitasoy, No Ordinary Oat, and Oatly, among others.

    “We are very excited to grow Good & Humble for many years to come and see what plant-powered adventures we can have along the way,” said Wilkie.

    The post Good & Humble: New Zealand Oat Milk Startups Otis & All Good Merge appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Alternative Protein Innovation Has Lost Some Momentum, A New Patent Analysis Shows

    meat alternative patents
    5 Mins Read

    Patents for plant-based meat declined for the first time in a decade in 2022, while innovation in cultivated meat slowed too.

    In the US, sales of plant-based meat alternatives dipped by 26% between 2021 and 2023, reflecting a wider downturn for the alternative protein industry, which saw investment fall by 44% last year.

    Against this backdrop, there has been a decline in innovation too, according to a new analysis of patent filings by IP firm Appleyard Lees. The fourth edition of its annual Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report examined global patent filings in the energy, transport and food sectors in 2022.

    The research revealed that priority filings (the first patent application for a unique invention) for plant-based meat dropped for the first time in a decade (down by 7% in 2022) – but the year still represented the second-highest number of patents (264) in this segment.

    “There was still significant funding in the plant-based meats industry in 2022, with over $1B of investment and a similar amount in governmental research funding announced through 2022 and 2023,” said Alice Smart, an associate at Appleyard Lees. “This shows that improving plant-based meats is still a topic that both investors and governments see as a potential solution to the problems of environmentally sustainable food production.”

    At the same time, the fourfold increase in patent filings for cultivated meat from 2019-20 and a further rise the year after shrunk to just a 3% hike in 2022, indicating a loss in momentum amid a fall in investment levels.

    “Global investment in cultivated meat and seafood companies fell from $922.3M in 2022 to $225.9M in 2023,” noted Appleyard Lees partner Chris Mason. “The top five cell-based meat manufacturers accounted for 46.9% of all funds raised and this has created a challenging environment for any new start-up firms entering the industry.”

    Plant-based meat patents remain strong despite setback

    vegan patents
    Courtesy: Appleyard Lees

    The report attributed the fall in plant-based meat patent filings to the sustained drop in sales, in part due to consumer concerns around ultra-processed foods and dissatisfaction with the taste and texture of these products. The 77% price premium for meat alternatives, and late filing activity due to the impact of Covid-19 could also have played a role.

    The numbers were still strong, though, indicating that confidence in the sector isn’t entirely lost. Patent applications for pea and soy protein lead the way, with wheat in third place. Tofu and tempeh patents, while representing a sixth of soy and pea, were the only ones that didn’t decline in 2022.

    While flavour took the edge over texture in terms of patent focus in 2020, applications focused on the latter slightly outnumbered taste-centric filings in 2022. And although Europe and the US saw the most patents filed for plant-based meat, South Korea emerged as the hotbed for innovation, with the number of applications increasing.

    plant based patents
    Courtesy: Appleyard Lees

    Nestlé was overtaken as the innovation leader in 2022, when its plant-based patent filings halved from 17 to nine, focusing on protein binders, connective tissue analogues, and texture improvements. Instead, French ingredient company Roquette Freres doubled its filings (10) to emerge as the leading patent applier, centred on texture and flavour enhancements for pea protein.

    “Plant-based meats offer a potentially more environmentally sustainable alternative to ‘real’ meat but reducing the cost of producing and retailing plant-based meats combined with improving the nutritional profile may be required to reinvigorate the industry,” said Mason.

    Scale-up and regulatory approvals key for cultivated meat innovation

    cultured meat patents
    Courtesy: Appleyard Lees

    With cultivated meat, stalled innovation may be a result of a shift in focus towards scaling up production, which remains the industry’s major bottleneck. A lack of investment may have also played a part: startups in this category received 75% less money from venture capitalists in 2023, and so far this year, they have only attracted half of last year’s total. In fact, in Q3, only $3M was poured into this sector.

    The US led the field by some distance, being responsible for over two in five cultivated meat patents filed in 2020. In terms of companies, California’s Upside Foods applied for the most patents (10), followed by British firm Ivy Farm Technologies (seven).

    The latest filings in this sector sought to protect equipment and methods to reduce production costs and increase capacity, like bioreactors and suspension cell cultures. They were accompanied by other applications surrounding culture media (comprising nutritional components and ingredients) and ways to better mimic the taste, texture and aroma of conventional meat.

    lab grown meat patents
    Courtesy: Appleyard Lees

    Appleyard Lees suggests that the hike in regulatory approvals this year (with four products being cleared for sale across four countries) is a marker of the industry’s progress. The UK greenlight for London’s Meatly, which makes cultivated pet food, is particularly noteworthy, as it could “pave the way for more countries to approve cultivated meat for pet food, leading to further innovation in this field”.

    “In the cultivated meat sector, scaling up is clearly the current focus and the biggest technological obstacle to further development faced by the more established companies in this sector,” said Smart. “The desire to create an affordable and sustainable product is driving innovations in high volume methods, accelerated production and ways to make the culturing process more efficient.”

    She added: “This push to scale up will need to move in parallel with progressive regulatory and funding environments to see this industry of high potential move to the next level.”

    The post Alternative Protein Innovation Has Lost Some Momentum, A New Patent Analysis Shows appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Vegan Ready Meal Leader Allplants Seeks Buyer to Rescue Business After Mounting Losses

    allplants
    4 Mins Read

    British plant-based ready meal maker Allplants has moved to appoint administrators after recording continued losses, though one potential buyer is lined up.

    Allplant, the UK’s largest vegan ready meal brand, has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, following heavy losses over the last couple of years.

    The move is typically used to give companies a chance to assess options for saving the business from liquidation, including creating a rescue plan or creating a sale.

    The company is working with insolvency firm Interpath to explore “all possible options for restructuring, refinancing and ensuring the sustainability of Allplants”, founder and CEO Jonathan Petrides told the Grocer.

    The trade publication reported that there’s one potential buyer lined up to rescue the firm, but a failure to reach a deal would see Allplants’s remaining stock be traded to secure funds for creditors.

    Cocktail of factors led to a period of ‘choppy waters’

    allplants meals
    Courtesy: Allplants

    Allplants started off as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2016, and capitalised on the meal delivery boom a few years later during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

    Its lineup ranges from breakfast and mains to sides and smoothies, and it currently has a collaboration with cookbook author Melissa Hemsley. The meals include Protein Power Buddha Bowls, Queen Butter Bean Puttanesca, Okonomiyaki Rainbow Bowl, and Tiramisu Cheesecake, among others.

    The brand made its retail debut in November 2022, listing its meals at Planet Organic and several independent stores, as well as online grocer Ocado. It witnessed instant success, selling six million meals within the first three months and becoming the second-most purchased frozen meal brand on the latter platform.

    But behind the scenes, there were financial troubles brewing. It registered losses of £9.7M in the seven months to March 2023, with revenues declining to £4.1M, a period Petrides described as “the most intensely choppy waters we’ve ever sailed the Allplants ship through”, according to the company’s latest accounts.

    He ascribed the sales performance to the rampant inflation across energy, transport, ingredients and salaries, the cost-of-living crisis that “led to the lowest consumer confidence since the 1970s”, post-Brexit supply chain disruptions, rising global interest rates, and the sudden and fundamental shift from growth stage to the pursuit of profitability.

    Reflective of wider category decline, but hope persists

    vegan ready meals
    Courtesy: Allplants

    Allplants has raised £67M ($81M) across several financing rounds from investors including Molten Ventures, Felix Capital, Octopus Ventures, The Craftery, and professional footballers Chris Smalling and Kieran Gibbs.

    But during a £10M raise for a factory extension in June last year, Allplants slashed its valuation significantly, going from £54.5M to £17.5M, representing a 58% drop.

    “As board directors, we recognise the gravity of the situation. Along with our senior leadership team, we are working tirelessly to explore all possible options for restructuring, refinancing and ensuring the sustainability of Allplants,” Petrides told Sifted.

    “While we are navigating the best path through, our focus is on continuing to deliver the best possible service to our customers while protecting the interests of our creditors, employees, and shareholders,” he added.

    Allplants’s move to appoint administrators is indicative of the distressed vegan ready meal category in the UK. It was among the categories that have witnessed a drop-off in sales recently, falling by 20% between 2022 and 2023, according to Circana data commissioned by the Good Food Institute, which attributed it to cost-of-living pressures that led shoppers to cut back on non-essential and convenience items.

    It reflected a wider problem for the UK’s vegan market, where sales value was down by nearly 3%, and units decreased by 10%. The country’s largest meat-free company, Quorn, posted pre-tax losses of £63M in 2023, a fourfold increase from the £15M it lost the year before. But there have been positive signs too, with plant-based meat startup This closing a £20M Series C round in June, following a 47% hike in sales last year.

    Allplants isn’t the only British plant-based business to reach this point. Meatless Farm and VBites also came close to the brink, before being rescued by VFC (now the Vegan Food Group) and owner Heather Mills, respectively. Allplants will hope for a similar fate.

    The post Vegan Ready Meal Leader Allplants Seeks Buyer to Rescue Business After Mounting Losses appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Culture & Collaboration: How Italy Can Become A Plant-Based Food Leader

    italy plant based market
    5 Mins Read

    Italy’s plant-based market is bucking the global decline, but there are several missed opportunities for companies and the industry as a whole.

    It has been two months since Gruppo Tonazzo, an Italian company that had been producing meat for 136 years, announced it was pivoting to a fully plant-based business model.

    The move – described as “a gesture of great responsibility towards the environment and the nutritional wellbeing of future generations” – was a marker of vegan food’s strong foothold in Italy.

    While the plant-based sector has seen setbacks in several markets across the globe – sales were down in countries like the US and the UK, all the way to Australia. But Italy was among the nations that went the opposite direction, with retail sales of vegan food reaching €641M in 2023, an 8% jump from the previous year.

    In the first four months of 2024, too, Italians spent 6.5% more on plant-based food than the corresponding period a year ago, according to Circana data commissioned by the Good Food Institute.

    These trends were driven by Italians’ shrinking appetite for meat, with nearly six in 10 aiming to cut back on these products last year – driven mainly by health reasons. At the same time, meat alternatives make up a third of the country’s plant-based market share, behind only non-dairy milk.

    “Italy represents a unique gateway for companies looking to enter the plant-based sector, thanks to its culinary tradition and growing demand for sustainable solutions,” says Felippe Fontanelli, founder of the Virtuous Food Revolution Alliance and co-founder of Rethink Pasta.

    He is the author of a new report, titled ‘The Hidden Gem of Europe’s Plant-Based Market: The Rise of a New Made in Italy’, which explores the country’s potential to be a leader for vegan food, and the challenges the sector faces.

    “This report provides a detailed market overview and guides companies in navigating this complex landscape, aligning with Virtuous’s mission to strengthen the Italian plant-based ecosystem,” adds Fontanelli.

    Here are five measures Italy could propel its plant-based industry to greater heights.

    1) Look to the young

    italy vegan market
    Courtesy: Emma Rahmani/Corelens

    Young Italians are driving the adoption of sustainable diets, with 82% of 17- to 35-year-olds doing so on account of health and climate concerns, according to the 2024 Coop Report. This demographic, titled the Explorers, is leading the shift towards flexitarianism in the country, and three-quarters of them believe reducing meat is crucial to combat the climate crisis.

    The demand isn’t just for plant-based burgers, but innovative and familiar plant-based products that fit into their lives seamlessly. This is an opportunity ripe for Italy’s €81B out-of-home market, with fast-food chains like Burger King and KFC – frequented by youngsters – introducing plant-based versions of menu classics.

    2) Tap into specialised distributors

    Young and disruptive distributors, like Mr. Root in Milan, provide a crucial entry point for vegan food manufacturers. They cater to premium outlets and restaurants looking for unique, healthy, and delicious products to integrate into their menus.

    “Specialised distributors give innovative plant-based brands market access, focusing on premium outlets, while larger distributors stick to established brands,” writes Fontanelli. The lack of receptiveness from the bigger distributors isn’t due to low interest, but because it requires “significant focus” to convey the unique value of each brand.

    “Startups often face challenges, including high team turnover, unstable product availability, constant packaging revisions to meet local regulatory standards, and limited budgets, all of which make long-term continuity difficult in such a competitive market,” the report states.

    3) Retailers must amp up collaboration

    italy plant based
    Courtesy: Anay Mridul/Green Queen

    Fontanelli argues that Italy’s supermarkets are missing opportunities in the expanding vegan market. While centralised chains like Aldi, Lidl, Esselunga and Carrefour have expanded their plant-based lines, decentralised retailers that operate under regional purchasing models – such as Coop and Conad – have been slow to adapt. This has made it extremely difficult for startups and SMEs to get a foothold on their shelves, the report argues.

    This is why the industry requires “a cultural shift towards more collaborative initiatives” between retailers and brands. This can be done by establishing strategic initiatives to reduce the operational barriers smaller companies face when trying to expand their reach, creating dedicated sections for plant-based products, supporting local supply chains, and developing marketing initiatives to highlight their benefits.

    4) Reinvent the classics

    dreamfarm ricotta
    Courtesy: Dreamfarm

    Despite the dominance of industry giants like Nestlé, Valsoia and Tonazzo, significant prospects remain for innovative plant-based brands, heralded by young entrepreneurs. These startups can capitalise by reimagining Italian culinary classics with a sustainable and health-forward twist.

    “This movement spans across the plant-based dairy, meat, and dessert sectors, blending modern innovation with culinary excellence,” writes Fontanelli. Among the challenger brands leading the charge are alt-dairy players Heaven, Dreamfarm and SQUP, as well as cocoa-free chocolate producer Foreverland.

    That said, despite Italy’s cuisine being one of the homes of the whole-food, plant-forward Mediterranean diet, the opportunity for larger food producers to fully integrate plant-based innovation into the Mediterranean diet’s global appeal is largely untapped – addressing it could help position Italy as a leader in the industry.

    5) Target the ready-meal vertical

    vegano italy
    Courtesy: De Angelis

    Building on the local context, Fontanelli highlights the popular trend of vegan food producers collaborating with ready-meal brands to expand their customer base. These companies regularly veganise Italian classics like lasagne, filled pastas, sauces, snacks, and pizza toppings, and this allows plant-based brands to leverage consumers’ familiarity with local cuisine.

    Successful examples include Beyond Meat’s partnership with De Angelis and Future Farm’s deal with Rethink Pasta. Even international cuisines are gaining in popularity, particularly among the Explorers. This is an area being tapped by brands like Planted, which has teamed up with I Love Poke, and Current Foods, whose vegan seafood is on the menu at Poke House.

    “The Italian market is not for the faint-hearted. It is a market for those who are in it for the long haul, willing to put skin in the game to transform the food system,” warns Fontanelli. “The players succeeding in Italy today recognise the long-term potential and are prepared to navigate its unique challenges to drive systemic change.”

    He adds: “For companies with vision and commitment, Italy represents one of the most dynamic opportunities in Europe’s plant-based landscape – a market with incredible growth potential for those ready to invest in its future.

    The post Culture & Collaboration: How Italy Can Become A Plant-Based Food Leader appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Wendy’s Partners with Beyond Meat to Launch Plant Burger in Georgia

    wendy's beyond meat
    4 Mins Read

    Beyond Meat and Wendy’s Georgia have announced a new menu item, the Plant Burger, a marker of the vegan giant’s European focus this year.

    Californian plant-based pioneer Beyond Meat has struck its latest QSR partnership with fast-food giant Wendy’s, which is launching a vegan burger in Georgia.

    The Wendy’s Plant Burger will be rolled out at all 19 of the chain’s stores in the Eurasian country on Saturday (November 23). It is unclear whether the bun or mayo used are vegan-friendly, but the menu item will be available for a limited time, while supplies last.

    The collaboration was facilitated by the Wissol Group, which is a Wendy’s franchisee in several markets in the region, and Gastronome, a Tbilisi-based food business that represents Beyond Meat in Georgia.

    “We’re proud to be partnering with Wendy’s Georgia to introduce our plant-based meat to a new market,” said Hameed Jagani, VP of global strategic partnerships at Beyond Meat.

    Wendy’s Beyond Meat burger aimed at meeting ‘local demand’

    wendy's plant based burger
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat/Wendy’s

    The Plant Burger, which was unveiled in a launch ceremony yesterday, features Beyond Meat’s signature beef patty at the centre, and is topped with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, ketchup and mayo.

    “The Wendy’s plant-based meat burger offers the same great taste and texture customers have come to expect, no sacrifice required,” remarked Jagani. “This partnership aligns with our mission to make plant-based eating more accessible for consumers around the world.”

    Wissol Group president Samson Pkhakadze added: “Wendy’s Georgia and Beyond Meat share a commitment and mutual passion for food quality and corporate social responsibility. We’re excited to deliver on Wendy’s Quality is our Recipe promise by offering customers a wider range of choices.”

    He noted the partnership “will allow Wendy’s Georgia to cater to the local demand for vegetarian and flexitarian options, providing even more choices for today’s conscious consumers”. According to one survey, six in 10 university students are interested in trying new plant-based foods.

    “By partnering with Beyond Meat, we can provide a plant-based meat offering that tastes great and can help make a positive impact,” Pkhakadze said.

    “Georgia is the first country in the world to offer this incredible product at Wendy’s, and we are so proud to be part of this milestone,” said Lika Shalikashvili, head of imports and logistics at Gastronome. “We look forward to seeing this project succeed not only in Georgia but as a model of success that can inspire the rest of the world.”

    Georgia launch a sign of Beyond Meat’s European focus

    beyond meat georgia
    Courtesy: Samson Pkhakadze/LinkedIn

    Entering the Georgian market is an extension of one of Beyond Meat’s top business priorities this year: investment into its European expansion. “We just don’t have that large of a presence out in Europe at the moment,” the company’s COO, Lubi Kutua, had told investors in its Q2 earnings call.

    One of its biggest successes has come through its deal with McDonald’s. The world’s largest restaurant chain has made waves with the McPlant burger, which has been a catalyst for Beyond Meat’s European growth. The McPlant (alongside several variants) is also available as a permanent menu item in Austria, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, the Baltics, the UK and Ireland.

    In Germany, Europe’s largest plant-based market, the McPlant was part of the Famous Order meal promotion, featuring on menus curated by Tokio Hotel members Bill and Tom Kaulitz. Meanwhile, has boosted its retail performance here by tweaking its product formulations to satisfy local shelf-life requirements. “With a clear caution that it is very early days, we are seeing encouraging initial sell-through in this important market,” CEO Ethan Brown said in the latest earnings call.

    In addition, it launched the Beyond Steak at retail in Belgium and for foodservice in the Netherlands (where it also rolled out the Beyond Smash and Beyond Burger Jalapeño), and expanded the availability of its signature burger at Coop stores in the UK.

    While Beyond Meat’s chicken hasn’t performed as strongly in Europe, the company is aiming to change that with the rollout of Veggie McPlant Nuggets at McDonald’s France last month. The vegan nuggets are also a permanent menu item in Germany.

    That said, Beyond Meat’s foodservice record is somewhat patchy. Its deal with Yum! Brands, for example, saw short-lived partnerships with Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell, while the McPlant famously failed to gain ground in the US. Meanwhile, international foodservice was the only channel where its revenues continued to slip last quarter, largely due to “decreased sales of burger and chicken products to a large QSR customer in the EU”.

    So by entering a new market and a new fast-food partnership, Beyond Meat is looking to turn its global foodservice sales in the same direction as the rest of its business, where year-on-year revenue grew for the first time in two years in the July to September period.

    The post Wendy’s Partners with Beyond Meat to Launch Plant Burger in Georgia appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • UK Startup Develops AI Software to Help Alt-Protein Industry Scale Up Faster & Lower Costs

    new wave biotech
    4 Mins Read

    London-based New Wave Biotech has launched an AI bioprocess simulation software to help alternative protein companies expand production faster and cheaper.

    To address two of the biggest challenges facing alternative protein startups – higher scale and lower costs – New Wave Biotech is enlisting the help of artificial intelligence.

    The British firm has created Bioprocess Foresight, an AI-led simulation software to help alternative protein and biomanufacturing companies design smarter and scale up more efficiently to accelerate their path to market.

    The platform gives biotech innovators access to techno-economic analyses, as well as data about output and environmental impact – and this is all tailored to their individual processes.

    “For too long, biomanufacturing innovators have been paying hundreds of thousands for R&D and thousands more just to understand where past experiments have failed,” said New Wav Biotech co-founder and CEO Zoe Law.

    “Now imagine if you’re developing a new bioproduct and can virtually test any process to predict its techno economics and sustainability when it scales. This gives you the foresight with quantified impact that you need for strategic decision-making.”

    How New Wave Biotech uses AI to help alt-protein scale-up

    bioprocess foresight
    Courtesy: New Wave Biotech

    Analysis by the Boston Consulting Group suggests that a third of global manufacturing can be produced with synthetic biology by 2030, replacing planet-harming animal-based foods, among other unsustainable products.

    However, the consulting giant warns: “Although they could be promising at the lab stage, more than 90% of synbio technologies fail because they can’t be scaled.”

    According to New Wave Biotech, this is because the optimisation of these bioprocesses is hard. There are more than a trillion possible combinations of processes, with the average cost of conducting an experiment ranging from $10,000 all the way up to $100,000. Cost insights are slow and expensive too, with techno-economic analyses costing between $20,000 and $40,000 and taking months to complete.

    Scaling from lab to commercial levels, meanwhile, takes anywhere from three years to a decade. With Bioprocess Foresight, the startup can simulate these processes to predict the quantified output, costs, and sustainability impact.

    The software, which improves as it learns from empirical data, is capable of conducting automated techno-economic calculations in hours instead of months, and understanding companies’ projected output, economics and sustainability impact from a monthly fee of £83 ($105), versus the tens of thousands mentioned above.

    Working through what New Wave Biotech describes as an “intuitive design” interface, food tech and biomanufacturing players can get a full picture of their process across commercial, technical and environmental areas, navigate trillions of interrelated options with analysis and visualisation tools, and virtually test unlimited scenarios by changing technical, market and production variables.

    New Wave Biotech argues that the AI-led software can help biomanufacturers make better decisions to speed up R&D and commercialisation efforts, and allow corporates to leverage historical experimental data to power future R&D efforts. It also enables processing tech companies to accelerate sales by letting customers test their technology virtually and see the impact on their bottom line.

    AI’s climate footprint is a concern

    new wave biotech ai
    Courtesy: New Wave Biotech

    “Biomanufacturing businesses today have to navigate a landscape of thousands of potential options so need to be able to make explainable predictions of technical, commercial and environmental impact and optimise accordingly,” said Oli Hall, co-founder and CTO of New Wave Biotech.

    “That’s why our bioprocess simulation platform is designed to enable biotech innovators to design better, commercialise quicker and scale greener,” he said.

    New Wave Biotech has previously partnered with growth media specialist Multus to create more affordable inputs for cultivated meat producers via the latter’s AI capabilities. And last month, it received a €20,000 grant as part of the EIT Food Accelerator Network Tech Validation Award. It will use the funds to test and validate its technology with research body CPI to help clients gain confidence in its system’s predictions.

    AI’s influence on the alternative protein industry is growing. Shiru has an AI-powered platform to discover proteins and ingredients, Climax Foods employs machine learning to reverse-engineer what makes cheese taste good, NotCo uses an AI platform to match thousands of plant-based ingredients and find the combinations best suited to replace animal proteins, and Singapore’s Howw Foods makes its vegan eggs with help from the tech.

    But AI comes with its own problems. The data systems these large language models run on mostly use fossil fuel energy, and emit 2.5-3.7% of global emissions. One estimate predicts that data centres and communication tech are set to account for 14% of global emissions by 2040.

    ChatGPT, the world’s most popular AI chatbot, has an estimated carbon footprint of 8.4 tons per year – although some say this is massively understated. And each query you make on ChatGPT generates 4.32g of carbon (nearly 22 times higher than a standard Google search).

    But while AI can help curb livestock emissions by propping up alternative proteins, the tech’s own climate footprint needs to be dealt with too.

    The post UK Startup Develops AI Software to Help Alt-Protein Industry Scale Up Faster & Lower Costs appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Finneato Fysh Foods Hooks Shark Tank Deal for Squeezable Vegan Tuna

    shark tank finneato fysh foods
    5 Mins Read

    Los Angeles-based food influencers Zoya Biglary and Alix Traeger landed a Shark Tank deal with Daniel Lubetzky for their vegan seafood startup Finneato Fysh Foods.

    Amid the rough waters for plant-based seafood, an up-and-coming brand has just earned the ultimate TV stamp.

    Zoya Biglary and Alix Traeger, an influencer couple from Los Angeles, won a deal on ABC’s Shark Tank with Daniel Lubetzky, who invested $150,000 for a 30% stake in their business, Finneato Fysh Foods.

    The company is aiming to disrupt the traditional seafood category with a clear message about its health detriments, thanks to the presence of mercury, microplastics and other harmful substances that end up in the human body.

    Why Finneato Fysh Foods is tackling raw fish

    finneato fysh foods
    Courtesy: Finneato Fysh Foods

    Finneato Fysh Foods was founded in 2021 by Biglary, a private chef who said she was the “very first gay Persian woman” to ever appear on Shark Tank. Traeger, meanwhile, is a Buzzfeed alum and wrote for its food-focused Tasty brand during its formative years.

    Seeking $150,000 from the Sharks for a 10% stake, Biglary and Traeger painted a tongue-in-cheek picture of a very real problem: imagine if your sushi restaurant serves you a plate of parasites, mercury and microplastics. It might sound crazy, but it is the sad truth about a “lot of raw fish that we consume”, Biglary noted.

    It’s true – seafood eaters consume up to 11,000 microplastic particles per year, which can lead to long-term health risks. At the same time, these foods often come in styrofoam plastic packaging, which has harmful effects on marine and human health. Biglary isn’t vegan, but it’s these issues that prompted her to move away from raw fish and establish a plant-based brand.

    The lure for the Sharks, the two entrepreneurs hoped, was that this was a vegan food company “made in the kitchen by chefs, and not in a lab by mad scientists”.

    Finneato Fysh Foods’s vegan seafood is made from a blend of root vegetables like tapioca, beetroot and konjac root, alongside pea protein, kappa carrageenan (which is derived from algae), and flaxseed oil. The startup employs age-old fermentation techniques to elevate the flavour of its range, which includes tuna, salmon and yellowtail.

    It also boasts 4g of protein and 3g of fibre per serving, zero saturated fat, and micronutrients like iron, potassium, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins A and B12.

    “Because it cuts and handles just like real fish, it’s easily adaptable for chefs to use in our favourite dishes, like sushi, ceviche, poke, salmon and lox,” said Biglary, “except that our fish is way cheaper and lasts way longer than the real thing.”

    Negotiation skills impress Daniel Lubetzky

    shark tank fysh foods
    Courtesy: Finneato Fysh Foods

    After hearing the pitch, the Sharks were presented with samples in the form of spicy tuna crispy rice, smoked lox, and ceviche. They were immediately impressed with the flavour and texture of the products, with particular praise for the ceviche.

    However, the pitch hit a snag when it came to the financials. Biglary revealed that the business had sold $50,000 worth of its seafood in wholesale deals with restaurants in Los Angeles since last year, at a price of $10-13 (the cost to produce is $4 per pound) – much lower than conventional sashimi fish.

    But the Sharks seemed concerned with their B2B model, since Biglary and Traeger have three million followers on social media between them. Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec dropped out quickly, followed by Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban, who said it was too early and too hard to scale, respectively.

    That left Lubetzky, the man behind the Kind snacks empire. Before his negotiation, the entrepreneurs were asked why they didn’t go the traditional venture capital (VC) route, as other brands in the space have. Biglary pointed out that women-funded startups receive only 2% of all VC money: “That number reduces to 1% if you’re a woman of colour, and that number reduces again if you’re a gay woman of colour.”

    Lubetzky again praised the product and acknowledged it addressed a major problem with the seafood industry, but stressed that the frozen foods space is difficult and it would take a lot of time and work for Finneato Fysh Foods to succeed. He first offered the $150,000 they asked for, but for 40% of the company.

    Biglary countered with 20%, explaining that a 40% stake would impede the company’s growth plans. After some conflicting advice from O’Leary and Cuban, Lubetzky brought his ask down to 35%. Biglary again said she couldn’t “shoot [herself] in the foot”, and countered with 25%. Her words were effective, with Lubetzky going down to 30%, valuing the company at $500,000. After some deliberation with Traeger, Biglary took the deal.

    “It was clear to me that this duo has the tenacity and passion to keep pushing forward towards their dreams. Did you see that negotiation?!” Lubetzky wrote on Instagram after the episode aired, hailing Biglary and Traeger’s “creativity, confidence, and grit”.

    His investment has helped the couple scale their business, and they heeded the Sharks’ advice of targeting the D2C channel with a squeezable vegan spicy tuna now, available on the brand’s website.

    Vegan seafood still makes up just 1% of the overall seafood and plant-based industries, and financial difficulties have prompted several startups to shut down over the last year. But Finneato Fysh Foods will hope to capitalise on the Shark Tank effect and Biglary and Traeger’s large social media presence to ride the wave.

    The post Finneato Fysh Foods Hooks Shark Tank Deal for Squeezable Vegan Tuna appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Greggs x Nigella, Tyson vs Paul & A Whole Lotta AI

    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 new vegan parmesan products, an oat milk cocktail listing, and a bunch of AI developments.

    New products and launches

    French dairy giant Bel Group has rolled out a new iteration of its plant-based Boursin Garlic & Herbs cream cheese in the UK, swapping the plastic tub for the classic aluminium-wrapped packaging encased in a paper box. It’s priced at £2.99 for each 150g pack.

    UK fast-food chain Greggs has brought back its Vegan Festive Bake in response to popular demand, which features Quorn pieces in an improved recipe. It has launched an ad with chef and cookbook author Nigella Lawson to announce its Christmas menu.

    Oat milk liqueur company and Dragons Den alum Panther Milk will land on the shelves of 50 Co-op and Asda stores in the UK this Christmas.

    South Korean vegan brand Unlimeat has transcended beyond meat analogues to launch a chocolate spread made from soybeans, Stevia and xylitol.

    Fellow South Korean startup Armored Fresh has introduced vegan grated parmesan and kimchi parmesan SKUs. They’re available on its website and will be stocked at Walmart and on Amazon by the end of the year.

    armored fresh parmesan
    Courtesy: Armored Fresh

    Advocacy group World Animal Protection has released an AI chatbot to answer questions about cultivated meat. Called The Cultivator, it was created in partnership with PubTrawlr and is constantly updated with new studies and insights.

    Another virtual chatbot comes from tofu maker Nasoya, whose AI-powered assistant Tofie sits on its website to answer questions about the plant protein.

    pkn milk
    Courtesy: PKN

    Pecan milk maker PKN has launched a barista edition called PKN Joy, which is certified by the Upcycled Food Association. It’s available on the company’s website and select retailers across the US.

    And Californian giant Beyond Meat‘s veggie-forward Sun Sausages have expanded into Whole Foods Market stores nationwide.

    Finance and business developments

    Sustainability non-profit Food Systems Innovation‘s Nectar, a sensory testing initiative centred on the protein transition, has acquired the data assets of alternative protein discovery platform Taste Like.

    KP Snacks, the UK’s leading peanut supplier owned by Intersnack, is foraying into nut butter with the takeover of bestselling peanut butter brand Whole Earth Foods from Ecotone.

    whole earth kp foods
    Courtesy: Whole Earth Foods

    State organisations Innovate UK and Protein Industries Canada have announced two projects as part of a bilateral R&D partnership, which involve plant-based meat ingredient solutions and nutritionally superior vegan products.

    Another alliance on plant proteins comes from ingredient giant Ingredion‘s partnership with Sweden’s Lantmännen, which will focus on accelerating the development of pea protein isolates for the European market.

    oatly china
    Courtesy: Oatly

    Swedish oat milk giant Oatly recorded a 11% revenue growth in Q3 2024 compared to the corresponding period last year, with a positive sales performance in each of its markets (including Greater China, where it has struggled recently).

    University of Potsdam‘s centre for knowledge and tech transfer, the Potsdam Trust, has won a €1.8M grant from the German economic affairs and climate protection ministry and the European Social Fund Plus to establish an impact incubator for sustainable startups.

    vegan eel
    Courtesy: Steakholder Foods

    Israel’s Steakholder Foods has secured $270,000 in the second payment of its $1M Singapore-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation grant. It has so far received $490,000 as part of the funding.

    Dutch bottling giant Refresco has completed its acquisition of Spanish plant-based milk company Frías Nutrición, a deal that was first announced in July.

    plant based news
    Courtesy: Brevel

    Israeli microalgae protein firm Brevel has successfully implemented a first-of-a-kind model for building a facility for industrial-scale fermenters, completing construction of its first plant and securing offtake agreements with two leading food and drink companies.

    Policy, research and events

    The APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum has released two white papers covering cellline development and culture media developments to help companies tackle safety assessment as part of regulatory procedures for cultivated meat.

    lab grown chicken meat
    Courtesy: Upside Foods

    Cultivated chicken maker Upside Foods has appealed a Florida judge’s decision to deny a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against the state’s ban on cultivated meat. Green Queen revealed the firm’s intention to do so last month, but it does mean a planned exhibit at next month’s Art Basel fair in Miami is likely scrapped.

    Australian counterpart Vow, meanwhile, has now progressed to a second round of public consultation in its home country, after Food Standards Australia New Zealand updated its standards to allow the sale of any cultivated meat product that passes premarket approval (rather than authorising as a novel food).

    vow lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Vow

    Scientists at the Technical University of Denmark have collaborated with Alchemist, a two-Michelin-starred eatery in Copenhagen to show how nutrient-rich mycelium can grow on discarded coffee grounds and wood, serving it to customers in the restaurant.

    In response to the cow abductions in Mexico, Chilean vegan startup NotCo created a decoy NotCow filled with its burgers as part of a marketing campaign, resulting in the fake cow being abducted.

    During the Netflix fight between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, vegan burger chain Mr Charlie’s was serving up plant-based chicken nuggets and sandwiches in partnership with TiNDLE Foods. Tyson recently invested in the restaurant company.

    Nearly 2,000 students took to the streets in Taipei on Sunday to urge the Taiwanese government to introduce vegan meals at schools.

    In France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, Pessac has become the third town to ban foie gras from municipal events this year, joining Poitiers and Montpellier. Before 2024, 12 other cities had introduced this ban.

    berkeley factory farming
    Courtesy: Michelle Del Cueto

    Finally, speaking of bans, Berkeley has become the first US city to outlaw factory farming, with 60% of votes in favour of the move.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Greggs x Nigella, Tyson vs Paul & A Whole Lotta AI appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Stanford Researchers Are Using AI to Elevate the Texture of Plant-Based Meat

    plant based meat ai
    5 Mins Read

    Scientists at Stanford University suggest that machine learning and mechanical testing can deliver data that can speed up the development of better vegan meat alternatives.

    Sandpaper, a brain sectioning knife, and super glue. This assortment of tools might sound random and a little terrifying, but they can actually enable us to better test food products.

    In a new study published in the NPJ Science of Food journal, researchers from Stanford University combined these items with 3D-printing techniques and artificial intelligence (AI) to prepare food samples for sensory testing, all in a bid to close the textural gap between animal- and plant-based meat.

    The scientists noted that mechanical testing and machine learning can describe food textures with a striking similarity to human taste testers, a finding that could accelerate the development of vegan meat products that more closely resemble their conventional counterparts.

    “Instead of using a trial-and-error approach to improve the texture of plant-based meat, we could envision using generative artificial intelligence to scientifically generate recipes for plant-based meat products with precisely desired properties,” the authors wrote.

    A three-dimensional test for plant-based meat

    plant based meat texture
    Courtesy: NPJ Science of Food

    “People love meat,” said lead author Skyler St Pierre. “If we want to convince the hardcore meat eaters that alternatives are worth trying, the closer we can mimic animal meat with plant-based products, the more likely people might be open to trying something new.”

    His research grew out of a class project where she was looking for affordable materials to use in mechanical tests, turning to hot dogs and tofu. Undergraduate researchers joined in to test the foods and learn how engineers depict material responses to stress, loading and stretching. “These three loading modes represent what you do when you chew,” explained Ellen Kuhl, a senior author of the study.

    While food scientists usually characterise meat using a double compression test, which involves only one-dimensional behaviours, the team at Stanford debuted a three-dimensional test comprising tension, compression and shear tests. The aim was to automatically discover the behaviour of eight protein products: vegan and animal-based versions of hot dogs, sausages and turkey, and firm and extra-firm tofu.

    The researchers then designed a new type of neural network, which takes raw data from tests and produces equations to explain the properties of meat. To find out whether these equations can depict the perception of texture, they carried out taste tests where participants rated the products on a five-point scale in 12 categories, including softness, chewiness, moisture, fattiness, and likeness to meat.

    They found that the vegan hot dog and sausage (from Field Roast) behaved very similarly in the three tests to their conventional counterparts, and showed similar stiffness levels. On the other hand, Tofurky was found to be twice as stiff as turkey, and tofu much softer than the meat products.

    “We were surprised to find that today’s plant-based products can reproduce the whole texture spectrum of animal meats,” said Kuhl. “What’s really cool is that the ranking of the people was almost identical to the ranking of the machine. That’s great because now we can use the machine to have a quantitative, very reproducible test.”

    AI can help make our food better

    vegan meat texture
    Courtesy: Kurt Hickman

    St Pierre suggested that while food scientists analyse the texture of plant-based meat to improve upon them, traditional testing methods are not standardised and the results are rarely made available publically, making it harder for scientists to collaborate and create new recipes.

    “Historically, some researchers, and especially companies, don’t share their data and that’s a really big barrier to innovation,” he said. Without doing so, “how are we going to come up with a steak mimic together?” he added. That’s why the Stanford team is sharing its data online for researchers to view and contribute to.

    The scientists are continuing to build a public database and test foods, including the fungi engineered by Vayu Hill-Maini, who recently joined Stanford as an assistant professor of bioengineering. He was previously at UC Berkeley, where his work proposed the use of koji mould and Neurospora intermedia to produce better meat analogues and turn food waste into gourmet food, respectively.

    The Stanford research isn’t the only instance of AI being used to improve plant-based products, although the technology’s carbon footprint needs to be reckoned with. Last year, sustainability non-profit Food System Innovations and machine learning expert Noa Weiss set up the GreenProtein AI project to optimise the extrusion and texture of plant-based meat.

    Artisanal vegan cheesemaker Climax Foods also employs machine learning to reverse-engineer what makes cheese taste good, while Chile’s NotCo uses an AI platform to match thousands of plant-based ingredients and find the combinations best suited to replace animal proteins. The technology has helped it create its plant-based dairy and meat products, as well as the hot dogs, cheeses, and mac and cheese products it has co-developed with The Kraft Heinz Company.

    These efforts can go a long way in persuading consumers to buy more vegan food. In the US, 42% of people are deterred from trying meat analogues because they feel they’ll dislike their texture, while 22% have cut back their purchases of plant-based food due to their texture. In the UK, too, half of consumers say taste and texture are the biggest factors driving them away from meat alternatives.

    Globally, the texture of vegan meat products is as important as their animal-derived versions for 75% of consumers – but only about 60% are actually satisfied with it.

    “Our approach to automatically discover the mechanics of plant-based and animal meat with constitutive neural networks could be a starting point towards using generative artificial intelligence to reverse-engineer formulas for plant-based meat products with customer-friendly tunable properties,” read the Stanford study.

    The post Stanford Researchers Are Using AI to Elevate the Texture of Plant-Based Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Forged Gras: Vow Becomes First Company to Launch Cultivated Meat in Hong Kong

    vow cultured meat
    8 Mins Read

    Australian cultivated meat startup Vow has received regulatory approval in Hong Kong, where it will debut cultured foie gras at the Mandarin Oriental.

    Six months after rolling out its cultured quail parfait in Singapore, Vow is expanding to Hong Kong with its latest product, Forged Gras.

    It is the first cultivated meat company to earn regulatory clearance in Hong Kong, having satisfied the safety requirements set by its Centre for Food Safety (CFS), a feat confirmed by its approval from the Singapore Food Agency earlier this year.

    The Sydney-based startup is also the first to sell multiple cultivated meat products in multiple markets, with its versions of quail parfait and foie gras both available at restaurants in Hong Kong.

    Vow will debut the foie gras – sold under its Forged brand – at The Aubrey, an izakaya at the Mandarin Oriental, reveals co-founder and CEO George Peppou. “The Aubrey’s Japanese izakaya-style setting provides the perfect backdrop for showcasing our cultured Japanese quail products,” he tells Green Queen.

    “Forged Parfait will feature in a dish exclusive to Hong Kong, served within smoke and topped with citric, yuzu and chives alongside brioche and pickles,” he says. The dish is priced at HK$388 ($49.85), with the option to add caviar for another HK$198 ($25.45).

    For the launch month, a limited-edition cocktail will also be available to diners, costing HK$170 ($21.85). “Crafted by Devender Sehgal, the cocktail – titled ‘Senses’ – is a new take on an old fashioned, fat-washed with the Forged Gras to deliver a deep, rich flavour, complemented with herbal notes and a touch of nuttiness,” explains Peppou.

    cultivated meat hong kong
    Courtesy: Vow

    Vow’s cultured foie gras targets a new taste experience

    Forged Gras comprises 51% of Vow’s cultured Japanese quail, which lends the product a “rich umami and subtle gamey flavour”, Peppou says: “To achieve its luxurious texture and melt-in-your-mouth experience, we blend this with a thoughtful selection of ingredients – vegetable and herb-infused coconut oil, sunflower oil, and fava bean protein.”

    He adds: “These are then balanced with konjac, carrageenan, and yeast extract to perfect the structure and enhance flavour. Natural vegetable and fruit concentrates (beetroot, carrot, radish, and turmeric) are added for a subtle colour and depth.”

    Like caviar and bluefin tuna, foie gras is one of the world’s most exclusive and lucrative foods, but it’s also highly problematic. Traditionally, the French delicacy entails force-feeding a duck or goose to fatten their liver, which is then sold whole or as part of a mousse, pâté, or other similar preparations.

    The act of feeding these birds against their will and more than what they’d normally eat – frequently to 10 times their usual volume and in intensive farming settings – has spurred many cities and countries to ban foie gras production, including India, Argentina, Germany, Italy, and Turkey. In France, too, 15 cities have outlawed the food.

    lab grown meat hong kong
    Courtesy: Vow

    But Vow isn’t just targeting the cruelty aspect with its cultured foie gras. In a 1,000-person survey, it found that of the 92% of American meat-eaters who hadn’t tried the delicacy, only 5% cite ethical reasons for not doing so.

    So the company is hoping to offer a new flavour experience with Forged Gras, one that provides the gamey notes of Japanese quail with the texture of fatty liver. Its scalable production process, meanwhile, will make the product “accessible beyond the limits of scarcity”.

    “At Vow, we’re paving a new path for food by using innovative technology to address real challenges around foods that people want, but can’t access,” says Peppou. “The launch of Forged Gras continues our mission to bring scarce or never-before-seen foods to millions, but does so in a way that seeks to innovate, not imitate. By fostering culinary imagination, we aim to create something entirely new, unconstrained by the tradition of even the oldest delicacies.” 

    Singapore approval a benchmark for Hong Kong greenlight

    lab grown foie gras
    Courtesy: Vow

    In Hong Kong, food safety regulation is overseen by the CFS, which falls under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). “The CFS has issued guidance outlining the safety assessments required for cultured meat to meet regulatory standards. Vow has met these requirements, with our approval from the Singapore Food Agency in March 2024 confirming that our products meet CFS safety standards,” Peppou tells Green Queen.

    Singapore was the first country to greenlight the sale of cultivated meat, granting it to Eat Just’s Good Meat brand in 2020, and its regulatory framework is welcomed as a benchmark by several other countries. The UK has been working on such a model of international cooperation too, and Dutch cultivated pork startup Meatable plans to use this approach to gain clearance in several countries next year.

    “We too are always looking at locations where our approval in one region would allow us to enter quickly,” confirms Peppou.

    “We are confident that Hong Kong’s regulatory framework will continue to support the safe introduction of cultured meat, and will continue to actively engage with CFS and FEHD to ensure these standards are maintained and supported across the industry,” he adds.

    Vow’s newest market has shown considerable interest in cultivated meat. In a 2021 poll, 96% of Hong Kong residents expressed interest in trying these proteins. A more recent survey suggests a much lower – but still sizeable – acceptance rate at 28%.

    vow cultivated meat
    Courtesy: Vow

    That said, Vow has its sights set globally. To celebrate the launch of Forged Gras, it approached Masa Takayama, the chef-owner of three-Michelin-starred sushi restaurant Masa in New York City, to design a new menu featuring Vow’s cultured quail.

    “We work with visionary chefs around the world, creating entirely new meats that inspire them to reimagine what’s possible in the kitchen,” says Peppou. “Chef Masa Takayama is a true innovator who immediately saw the potential of Forged Gras, and used both to craft exceptional dishes, showcasing its versatility and flavour in ways only he could.”

    He adds: “While we’re not approved for sale in the US, this exclusive preview was an opportunity to share Forged with top tastemakers and gather their feedback from those further away from Singapore and Hong Kong.”

    Vow has made progress in its application with Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which has opened a second round of public consultations, running until Christmas Eve. “As we expected, FSANZ confirmed that no new evidence had arisen from the first public consultation, or in the public domain since the first round closed, that altered their assessment that our cell-cultured quail was safe for human consumption,” notes Peppou.

    “Given the projected timelines shared with us by FSANZ, we anticipate an approval decision will be made in Q1 2025.”

    Vow’s ‘unique’ approach key to its success

    lab grown meat approved
    Courtesy: Vow

    Peppou established Vow in 2019 with chief commercial officer Tim Noakesmith. The company calls its production system “the most efficient and extensive operation” in the industry, allowing it to achieve regulatory clearance faster than counterparts like Upside Foods (which took eight years) and Aleph Farms (six years). It has done so with $56M in investment, much lower than the $270M raised by Good Meat, or the $608M secured by Upside Foods.

    “We attribute our success to a few key factors, all of which are unique to Vow. We deliberately started with an entirely new meat product, specifically the high-end market – a product that excited chefs and consumers because it offered something deliberately different to anything else, instead of just being an expensive replication of something they already know,” says Peppou. “That has allowed us to sell at higher margins from the outset, to a market that wants to experience new and different foods.”

    Vow owns one of the world’s largest cultivated meat facilities, Factory 1, which can produce 30 tonnes of protein per year. A sister site, Factory 2, is in development, boasting a capacity 100 times higher. “We took a different path to the cultured meat industry, which has used existing pharmaceutical manufacturing platforms that are ridiculously expensive and over-engineered for food production,” the CEO explains.

    “We have continuously vertically integrated wherever possible to reduce costs and iteration cycles, achieving now an end-to-end in-house scaled production system. We also borrowed talent from other cutting-edge industries (like engineers from SpaceX’s starship programme) to build our own equipment, including designing and commissioning the world’s largest operational food-grade cell-culture bioreactor built at less than 80% of the market estimate for its size.

    “The combination of both is Vow selling products that our customers selfishly choose, and being able to scale production and meet demand far quicker and cheaper than the competition.”

    vow forged gras
    Courtesy: Vow

    Vow will soon announce other Hong Kong venues where the Forged products will be available. But it’s not the only company making cultivated foie gras, with France’s Gourmey pursuing approval in five markets (including the EU).

    There may yet be more approvals for cultivated meat before the end of 2024, but either way, it has been a seminal year for the industry. Vow’s two greenlights join the successes of Aleph Farms (Israel) and pet-focused Meatly (UK) in the last 12 months, with several other startups poised to join the list next year.

    Peppou’s plan for Vow is to bring cultured meat to more plates. “We’ll be bringing more products to market, and hopefully see other markets open up, but our real priority is working with chefs in Singapore and Hong Kong to deliver incredible dining experiences with Forged Parfait and Forged Gras,” he says.

    Amid an uncertain future for food tech in the US, with the impending presidency of Donald Trump, more companies could be looking elsewhere to succeed. Vow’s foray into Hong Kong, in the wider context, could be a sign of the times.

    The post Forged Gras: Vow Becomes First Company to Launch Cultivated Meat in Hong Kong appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Oatly Whips Up Cake & Custard Giveaway with UK Rapper Giggs

    oatly giggs
    4 Mins Read

    Swedish oat milk giant Oatly has teamed up with British rapper Giggs for a limited-edition drop of dairy-free cake and custard kits.

    A ceramic plate, a steel spoon, a textile napkin, and some custard – all are on the table in a giveaway contest by the world’s largest oat milk company and the UK’s “rap landlord”.

    Oatly’s latest quirky marketing campaign features Giggs, the British rapper behind Walk in da Park and Landlord, and his love for the brand’s hard-to-find vanilla custard.

    Born out of “a shared inability to digest dairy”, Custard by Giggs involves 500 limited-edition dairy-free cake and custard gifts, featuring custom tableware, which will be dished out at Ayres Bakery in his hometown of Peckham in south London tomorrow. For those who miss the drop, 30 kits are available online too.

    The campaign intends to raise awareness about the prevalence of lactose intolerance in the UK, and calls on retailers to embrace Oatly’s custard much more widely.

    Catering to Brits’ lactose intolerance

    oatly vanilla custard
    Courtesy: Oatly

    The idea for the collaboration came from Giggs, who approached Oatly after struggling to find its vanilla custard in supermarkets. “I grew up on cake and custard, but when my lactose intolerance kicked in when I was around eight years old and started making me sick, the dessert I loved had to leave my life,” he said.

    Giggs is among the five million Brits who suffer from intolerance to this sugar, making up 8% of the population. And as is the case globally, its prevalence is much higher in Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities – twice more, in fact, than white groups in the UK, according to a 2,000-person survey commissioned by Oatly.

    The research further revealed that two-thirds of people who have lactose intolerance miss out on their favourite desserts, and over half (52%) have to overlook key food experiences due to a lack of alternatives. “When I found out my son was lactose intolerant too, we used to go all over the place looking for dairy-free alternatives so he wouldn’t miss out,” recalled Giggs.

    “There’s not a lot of options out there, but one day we found Oatly’s Vanilla Custard, and it tasted banging. Not enough people know about it, so I reached out to Oatly, and here we are a few months later,” he added.

    “When Giggs messaged us at the start of the year expressing his love for our Vanilla Custard, we knew this could lead to great things,” said Bryan Carroll, general manager of Oatly UK. “With more than five million people suffering some form of lactose intolerance, it’s actually mad that the default is still so often dairy and nothing else.”

    A series of films and a custard-finding tool

    To mark the partnership and giveaway, a series of Custard by Giggs films will be rolled out across Oatly and Giggs’s social channel over the next month, which depict several scenes where the rapper plays a bakery owner in south London.

    In one spot titled ‘The Queue’, Giggs skips the line outside his bake shop to open the giveaway, while he seems visibly perplexed that he’s served cake without custard in ‘The Doorbell’. And in ‘Cake and Custard Tasting’, viewers see the rapper struggling to decide how best to judge different cakes, before a pour of Oatly custard gets him (almost) going.

    “It’s rare to see Giggs lend his face to a brand, so we wanted these films to make this drop feel exclusive and also bring out a side of Giggs the world doesn’t see,” said Kelvin Jone, who directed and co-created the shorts.

    The campaign also plays on the lack of availability of certain non-dairy alternatives in the UK, despite the country’s vegan dessert market set to double by 2027 (from a 2022 baseline). Oatly’s research found that 68% of Brits encounter difficulties finding non-dairy alternatives in supermarkets, shops or restaurants.

    oatly custard
    Courtesy: Oatly

    Since Oatly’s vanilla custard is found only in select retailers in the UK – “I even sent my Mum on quests trying to hunt it down,” Giggs said – the company has launched a Custard Finder tool to help locate the product. “This collaboration aims to encourage retailers to think outside the dairy box,” noted Carroll.

    “Giggs has a big personality, so by combining this with the community feeling of bakeshops and the taste of Oatly Custard, we crafted films that build mouthwatering anticipation whilst calling for dairy-free foods like Oatly Custard to be much more widely available, given the prevalence of lactose intolerance in our community,” said Jones.

    The Custard by Giggs marketing drive comes shortly after Oatly’s Q3 earnings report, which saw the business’s revenue grow by 11% from the corresponding period in 2023. The UK has been at the forefront of its barista milk evolution, with Oatly rolled out 1.5-litre cartons as well as a Lighter Taste edition made specifically for light-roasted coffee.

    The post Oatly Whips Up Cake & Custard Giveaway with UK Rapper Giggs appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Israeli Cultivated Meat Pioneer Reveals How It Can Produce Chicken At $12 Per Pound

    supermeat
    5 Mins Read

    Israeli startup SuperMeat has revealed how it can cut production costs of its cultivated chicken to under $12 per pound, on par with conventional poultry.

    Just shy of its nine-year anniversary, Israeli food tech startup SuperMeat has made several breakthroughs to make its cultivated chicken at the same price as conventional versions.

    In a 23-page report released last week, the company detailed how a combination of a highly stable cell line, a fully controlled animal-free media formulation, and rapid differentiation protocols have helped it achieve production costs of $11.8 per lb without depreciation (and $13.4 per lb with depreciation) at a 25,000-litre scale.

    These costs are competitive with premium poultry products in the US, a key inflexion point for the startup as it gears itself towards a launch stateside.

    “Current sentiment around cultivated meat includes scepticism regarding its scalability and market readiness, with concerns that cultivated meat may be more hype than a viable alternative,” said SuperMeat co-founder and CEO Ido Savir. “Our new report provides proof that with the right technology, there is a commercially viable path to market.”

    The breakthroughs enabling SuperMeat to lower production costs

    lab grown meat cost
    Courtesy: SuperMeat

    One of the earliest players in the cultivated meat sector, SuperMeat’s chicken comprises muscle and fat derived from animal cells. It begins its process by growing cell culture in a seeding bioreactor until it reaches high density, before being transferred to an expansion bioreactor.

    The startup’s robust cell line – which has “strong self-renewal capabilities” – allows it to reach densities of 80 million cells per ml in just nine days. In a continuous production process, 30-50% of the culture is then transferred to differentiation bioreactors daily for 45 days, where the mass matures into muscle and fat tissue.

    “Our lines originated from single-cell clones of embryonic stem cells. SuperMeat refined its ability to closely monitor and select the ideal clones, enabling the production process to rely on resilient clones that can achieve very high densities, and maintain these densities while they keep cycling,” explained CTO Yuval Levy-Peretz.

    The muscle is produced in four days and fat in just 24 hours, and the use of embryonic stem cells nearly doubles the weight of these cells, slashing costs by over 40%. These tissues are crucial for delivering the nutritional profile, taste and texture people associate with conventional chicken, but with more efficient pricing when manufactured at scale.

    The other breakthrough concerns cell feed, which makes up more than half of the cost of cultivated meat. SuperMeat has developed a high-throughput system that allows it to replace expensive animal-derived ingredients like serum and albumin with more affordable alternatives, resulting in media costs of under 50 cents per litre.

    After six days in culture, the cells begin independently producing essential growth factors, enabling the startup to reduce the reduced feeding regimen of only 1.5 vessel volumes per day, which makes the entire process more efficient and cost-effective.

    Price parity for cultivated meat front and centre

    Once the muscle and fat tissues mature, the meat mass is harvested daily in the form of ground chicken that’s ready to be cooked. SuperMeat’s process requires minimal space and resources and produces three pounds of meat (the same as the yield from one chicken) in just two days, compared to the 42 days it takes to raise and process a chicken.

    But when scaled to an industrial facility, it is expected to manufacture 6.7 million pounds (or three million kgs) of cultivated chicken annually – equivalent to around 2.7 million chickens – with 80% less land required. “These breakthroughs deliver the efficiency and yield required to achieve the cost parity of 100% cultivated meat at scale, bringing commercial cultivated meat production within reach,” said co-founder and communications chief Shir Friedman.

    Cost is one of the most significant barriers preventing companies from reaching scales large enough to sell cultivated meat, and consumers from buying it once it’s on the market. McKinsey suggests that it’ll take until at least 2030 for these proteins to reach price parity with conventional meat, and that’s despite companies having brought down costs by 99% in less than a decade.

    “We see a tremendous opportunity for affordable cultivated chicken meat that supplies the same delicious taste and nutrition as premium chicken, which is a path for consumer and market acceptance and long-term adoption,” said Savir.

    The race to make cultivated meat more affordable has been heating up this year. Rehovot-based startup Believer Meats has described how its continuous process can potentially produce cultivated chicken for $6 per lb at scale, while fellow Israeli firm Forsea Foods has reached what it claims is an industry-leading cell density of 300 million cells per ml, making its cultivated unagi cheaper than conventional eel.

    Another Israeli company, Ever After Foods, has developed a bioreactor platform that offers a 90% reduction in cultivated meat prices for its B2B clients. And pet food producers Meatly and BioCraft Pet Nutrition have drastically reduced the prices of their culture media.

    lab grown meat cost
    Courtesy: SuperMeat

    It’s also important to note that SuperMeat’s techno-economical analysis centred around cultivated chicken made just from muscle and fat, but most cultivated meat products currently on the market feature a blend of animal cells and plant-based ingredients.

    For example, Good Meat’s chicken – the only cultivated meat currently found in supermarkets – has a retail price equivalent to over $20 per pound, but cultivated cells only make up 3% of the product. This demonstrates the potential for SuperMeat to further reduce prices when it eventually enters the market.

    The post Israeli Cultivated Meat Pioneer Reveals How It Can Produce Chicken At $12 Per Pound appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Duckweed Protein Pioneer Plantible Foods Grows Budget with $30M Investment

    rubi protein
    4 Mins Read

    California’s Plantible Foods has closed a $30M Series B round to expand production of its duckweed-derived Rubi Protein.

    Among the constantly evolving search for nutritionally sound, climate-friendly, palate-appealing foods, a wave of startups is banking on weed.

    Specifically, pondweed. Lemna – the free-floating, naturally occurring freshwater aquatic plants also known as duckweed, which combine to form a green carpet on the surface of water – is host to Rubisco, described for decades as the most abundant protein on Earth.

    Having been consumed in Southeast Asia for centuries, duckweed has witnessed a rise in popularity in the last decade thanks to the fact that its immense environmental and nutritional benefits. Being aquatic, it doesn’t occupy any farmland or contribute to deforestation, uses 98% less water than soy, contains more micronutrients than many vegetables, has high protein digestibility, and is the fastest-growing plant in the world.

    One of the most well-known companies that have commercialised duckweed protein is Plantible Foods, which has just raised $30M in a Series B funding round led by Piva Capital and Siddhi Capital. Additionally, new backers included Betagro Ventures, Cultivate Next (the VC arm of Chipotle Mexican Grill), Nourish Ventures, while Astanor Ventures made a repeat investment.

    It takes the Californian startup’s total financing to $57M, and will help it scale up production of its Rubi Protein, which can be used across a breadth of applications, including plant-based meat and baked goods.

    Rubi Protein can enhance meat alternatives and baked goods

    plantible foods
    Courtesy: Plantible Foods

    Plantible Foods grows its lemna on controlled aquafarms that allow freshwater to be constantly recycled and refreshed, contributing to a water footprint 10 times lower than soybeans. Once the plants are harvested, they are milled, filtered and dried so that the pure protein in the duckweed’s leaves can be extracted.

    The final product is an off-white and odourless protein that can grow anywhere in the world and contains all nine essential amino acids. The ingredient is free from 20 allergens and comprises 85% protein, with a protein digestibility score of 1 (similar to that of beef or eggs).

    According to the company, Rubi Protein has a nutritional yield of 70%, much higher than the 27% for beef, with a fraction of the climate footprint. Its aquafarms can be built on non-arable land and prevent fertiliser runoff in freshwater streams, moving water quality and access in surrounding communities.

    “At Plantible, we are not simply competing with other proteins; we are setting a new standard for the industry by providing a product that offers superior functional and nutritional properties,” said CEO Tony Martens Fekini, who founded the startup with Maurits van de Ven in 2016.

    Rubi Protein has fat-binding properties that reduce the need for saturated fats, can be whipped to stiff peaks in three minutes while outperforming egg whites, acts as an emulsifier for plant-based foods, and boasts thermo-irreversible gelling properties to replace ingredients like methylcellulose.

    The company has developed two ingredient blends leveraging the duckweed protein to enhance the texture and functionality of eggless and gluten-free baked goods and meat and dairy alternatives. These products use a combination of Rubi Protein and other commonly used allergen-free ingredients.

    Rubi Whisk provides structural integrity, moisture and oil retention properties for foods like lemon tarts, macarons, cookies, pound cakes and breads. Rubi Prime, meanwhile, provide the emulsification and binding benefits of methylcellulose in a way that plant-based meat products like burgers, chicken, sausages, and even whole cuts can be served hot or cold, and with cleaner labels.

    Plantible Foods targets tenfold revenue

    duckweed protein
    Courtesy: Plantible Foods

    “This funding will enable us to significantly expand our manufacturing capabilities and meet the rapidly growing demand for our Rubi Protein,” said Martens Fekini. The company aims to increase its revenue tenfold over the next year.

    Plantible Foods has a 100-acre commercial plant called The Ranchito in West Texas, and has new manufacturing facilities in place to deliver on several multimillion-dollar offtake agreements with large companies. Last year, it partnered with functional ingredients provider ICL Food Specialties to produce the Rovitiras Binding Solution for vegan meat and seafood.

    “Plantible’s highly functional protein is solving urgent food industry problems today. Their focus on superior functionality, modular scaled manufacturing, nutritional value and consumer-friendly clean labels convinced us that they have the right team, product, and approach to revolutionize the global food system,” said Steven Finn, co-founder of Siddhi Capital.

    He added: “Their technology and vertically integrated manufacturing are already serving customers at scale and will improve supply chain resilience in a sustainable way with impacts reaching far beyond the plant-based alternatives market.”

    Duckweed was namechecked as a ‘plant-based aquatic ingredient’ to watch in Whole Foods Market’s food trends predictions for 2025, with the retailer underlining how lemna is in the “early stages of emerging on the scene and boasts a higher protein content than other leafy greens”.

    Several other startups are working with duckweed protein too, including Sustainable Planet (UK), GreenOnyx (Israel), MicroTerra (Mexico), DryGro (Kenya), Ful Foods (Pakistan), Rubisco Foods, Rinus & Hans (both Dutch), and Fyto (US).

    The post Duckweed Protein Pioneer Plantible Foods Grows Budget with $30M Investment appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Japanese Cell Ag Specialist Develops Cultivated Meat Starter Kit for Startups & Researchers

    integriculture
    4 Mins Read

    Tokyo-based startup Integriculture has launched a starter kit to drive innovation and accelerate R&D in the cultivated meat sector.

    In a bid to make cultivated meat prototyping easier, Japan’s IntegriCulture has created a starter kit for researchers and startups in the field.

    The cellular agriculture specialist argues that producing cell-cultured foods – even at benchtop scale – requires extensive specialised equipment, expertise, and funds. The Cell-Cultured Meat Starter Kit removes these hurdles and simplifies the process.

    “The starter kit is designed for researchers, entrepreneurs, and experimenters who are exploring cell farming as a new business or research area,” IntegriCulture CEO Yuki Hanyu told Green Queen. “It provides a complete set of essential tools to help you get started.”

    It involves an oxygen-permeable bioreactor – created with manufacturing company Sumitomo Riko as part of IntegriCulture’s CulNet Consortium – as well as several other tools to help make prototypes of cultivated meat.

    “The kit significantly reduces the time and cost required to source and test various materials for cell culture. By offering a proven combination of materials and culture methods, the kit helps accelerate research and development,” said Hanyu.

    A novel bioreactor for cultivated meat

    cultivated meat starter kit
    Courtesy: IntegriCulture

    The cultivated meat starter kit includes IMEM1.0 (a base culture medium), iDisper (an agent for cell dissociation), iCoater, (a coating solution for the extracellular matrix), and iFreezer (a solution for cryopreservation).

    But the flagship product of the starter kit is the Oxy-thru Cultivator. This novel bioreactor uses Sumitomo Riko’s unique materials and precision moulding technology, and is available in 200ml and 1,000ml sizes (with larger capacities under development). IntegriCulture plans to further design suitable containers and culture methods for each cell type.

    “In order to create an environment in which cells can grow, an adequate supply of oxygen is required,” explained Hanyu. “Plastic and glass containers are commonly used for cell culture. Because many of these materials have low gas permeability, oxygen needs to be supplied from a dedicated external device and the medium must be changed frequently to allow cells to grow. This process involves complicated tube connections, which increases the risk of bacterial contamination.

    “Because the entire container is made of a material with high gas permeability, oxygen can be supplied from the bottom and sides of the container, and the amount of oxygen in the container can be kept higher than that of conventional products without connection to external devices.

    “As a result, the volume of the medium can be increased, leading to an increase in the amount of cells harvested per batch, thus improving productivity. Furthermore, because the material is heat-resistant, autoclave sterilisation is possible.

    These features would enable cells to be cultured at higher cell densities while ensuring simple maintenance. “High cell density directly impacts the productivity and cost-efficiency of cultivated meat production,” said Hanyu.

    “Oxy-thru Cultivator enables higher cell densities by maintaining optimal oxygen levels throughout the culture process. This increased efficiency allows for larger harvests per batch, ultimately reducing production costs.”

    IntegriCulture aims to democratise cellular agriculture

    lab grown meat japan
    Courtesy: IntegriCulture

    According to IntegriCulture, the cellular agriculture starter kit paves the way for a broader range of entities to “engage in rapid prototyping of the nutritional, organoleptic, and other profiles of cell-cultured food products”.

    The starter kit is available at different price points, ranging from S$600-1,400 based on the quantities of products, and companies can negotiate the cost for a more expansive kit too.

    “By providing a pre-validated set of materials, the kit minimises the trial-and-error phase, saving time and research costs. The simplified setup also reduces the need for additional equipment and expertise, enabling startups to focus on scaling their operations rather than troubleshooting foundational processes,” said Hanyu.

    He added: “Previously, limited access to materials and the secrecy surrounding proprietary combinations made it difficult for new entrants to join the field. Our mission is to democratie cell farming, enabling anyone to participate and contribute to the creation of a new food culture and the realisation of an exciting future.”

    Hanyu revealed that IntegriCulture will soon release more products from the CulNet Consortium, which will be added to its B2B marketplace, Ocatté Base. It had already announced five new projects under the initiative earlier this year.

    IntegriCulture has so far raised $16.4M in equity funding, and received a ¥1.87B ($13.1M) grant from the Japan government to advance the CulNet platform and make its developments open-source. It has also been working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Tokyo Women’s Medical University on a project involving cellular agriculture and cultivated meat production in space.

    The starter kit will be displayed at Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia 2024 in Singapore this week (November 19 to 21), and sold on Ocatté Base. “It will become much easier for anyone to start cultivating cells, which what IntegriCulture Inc is about,” Hanyu said.

    The post Japanese Cell Ag Specialist Develops Cultivated Meat Starter Kit for Startups & Researchers appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Impossible Foods Inches Closer to EU Launch As Regulator Deems GMO Protein Safe

    impossible burger eu
    4 Mins Read

    After a years-long deadlock, Impossible Foods has received a positive safety assessment by the EU for its genetically modified heme ingredient.

    Europeans could be eating the Impossible Burger soon, with the California-based company obtaining its second positive safety assessment by the EU’s food regulator this year.

    The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms has ruled that Impossible Foods’s use of soy leghemoglobin, an ingredient derived from genetically modified yeast, is “safe for human consumption with regard to the effects of the genetic modification”.

    It’s a major milestone for the company’s long road towards entering the EU market, and marks the culmination of a Clock Stop – a period when evaluation is officially stopped pending further information from the company – that had hampered the process since December 2021.

    The publication of the EFSA’s opinion will follow a public consultation period before seeking final approval from the EU Commission and its member states.

    How Impossible Foods makes its heme protein

    imposssible foods gmo
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    Impossible Foods uses a yeast strain called Komagataella phaffii (formerly named Pichia pastoris) to produce soy leghemoglobin, an additive that contains the heme protein that gives plant-based beef products the distinct flavour and colour of their conventional counterparts.

    The company inserts the DNA from soy plants into genetically engineered yeast, which is then fermented in a manner similar to how Belgian beer is brewed. It then isolates the soy leghemoglobin from the yeast and adds it to its beef lineup, which includes minced meat, burgers, and hot dogs.

    The precision-fermented ingredient has been described as the element that makes the Impossible Burger “bleed”. Soy leghemoglobin contains the haem B group, which is responsible for the red colour of uncooked beef. When beef is cooked, it causes the oxidation of iron, resulting in a loss of the red colour.

    And when the soy leghemoglobin is heated above 62°C or exposed to low pH environments (like the human stomach), it denatures. This, combined with the release of the haem B group, plays a major role in generating the flavours and aromas associated with cooked animal-derived meat.

    Food safety bodies in several countries have deemed the ingredient to be safe for human consumption, allowing the Californian firm to launch its beef alternatives in their markets. The EU has been an outlier, thanks to its stringent novel foods regulation.

    But in June, the EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings issued a positive safety assessment of LegH Prep, a liquid preparation containing the soy leghemoglobin and other ingredients. This, however, was provisional, as it was subject to the assessment from the GMO panel.

    EFSA decision to be followed by public consultation period

    impossible foods heme
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    Now, the GMO panel has that Impossible Foods’s ingredient is “safe with respect to potential effects on human health and the environment at the proposed use and use level as far as the impact of the genetic modification is concerned”. The company has suggested a maximum level heme level of 0.8% in its meat analogues, similar to the amount of myoglobin in beef.

    The panel added that it did not identify any safety concerns regarding the toxicity and allergenicity of Impossible Foods’s soy leghemoglobin protein, and found no evidence that genetic modification would change the overall allergenicity.

    “The agency’s comprehensive, scientific assessment of the safety of soy Leghemoglobin (heme) across two applications reinforces the overall quality and safety of our food, echoing similar approvals from regulators in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand,” an Impossible Foods spokesperson said.

    Now, there will be a 30-day consultation period, during which purely scientific comments and questions can be submitted and will need to be addressed by EFSA and the EU Commission. Following that, the Commission will then draft approval decisions to be brought to the 20 Standing Committees, which will discuss and then vote on the draft decisions.

    “This week’s positive opinion from the European Food Safety Authority is an important step toward bringing Impossible products to Europe,” the Impossible Foods representative said. “We’re excited to continue our work with EU decision-makers to bring Impossible Foods products to European consumers.”

    Impossible Foods recently ended a long-running legal battle with Motif Foodworks, taking over the heme business from the latter, which shut down soon after.

    The post Impossible Foods Inches Closer to EU Launch As Regulator Deems GMO Protein Safe appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Cultivated Meat for Pet Food ‘Significantly Better’ for the Planet Than Beef

    cultivated meat lca
    4 Mins Read

    Pet food with cultivated meat instead of beef fares far better for the planet and its resources, according to a new life-cycle assessment.

    As it works to commercialise cultivated pet food, Czech biotech startup Bene Meat Technologies has revealed the environmental benefits its product offers over conventional meat.

    It has published the results of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) determining the climate impact of producing cultivated meat for pets. The study found that Bene Meat’s pet food generates at least 84% fewer emissions than beef – depending on how the latter is produced, the difference could be as much as 95%.

    It also uses between 80% and 97% less land than beef, with the potential to reduce this even further. And while these numbers were specifically calculated for pet food, the company believes its beef burgers for humans – which it unveiled last month – will perform similarly on the sustainability scale.

    Smaller carbon footprint than beef and chicken

    lab grown pet food
    Courtesy: Bene Meat Technologies

    To conduct the LCA, Bene Meat collaborated with scientists from the Czech Technical University in Prague, focusing on the industrial production of cultivated meat. The analysis was peer-reviewed by University of Nottingham professor Jon McKechnie, who specialises in cost-effective resource utilisation strategies to achieve sustainability goals.

    The company claims the LCA is the “most accurate insight” into the climate impacts of manufacturing cultivated meat at an industrial scale so far. McKechnie confirmed that the study followed established standards and key results were presented transparently and adequately.

    Bene Meat’s cultivated pet food needs only 3.1 sq metres of land per kg of meat, which includes the growing of all necessary raw materials. For context, beef takes up as much as 120 sq metres, while producing a kg each of pork and poultry requires 7.2 and 6.6 sq metres of land. The company forecasts a further reduction to two sq metres per kg.

    Meanwhile, producing it emits 5.28kg of CO2e per kg of meat, and this could be gradually decreased to 3.29kg. This figure includes all necessary raw materials and energy, as well as the impacts of producing all the equipment and other inputs needed for the process. In comparison, beef generates 33-100 kg of CO2e per kg, and chicken is responsible for 10kg of CO2e.

    Since the study includes all input materials – which account for over half of all emissions of meat – it implies that the cultivated technology is so optimised and efficient that most of its related emissions occur outside Bene Meat’s facility, at the raw material suppliers, according to production head Petr Bebeníček.

    “The uniqueness of our study lies in it being the first conducted and calculated on real production. Bene Meat is pleased with the study results and believes there is potential to further reduce these figures in the future,” Kateřina Dvořák Vašová, media coordinator for Bene Meat, told Green Queen.

    The findings chime with the results of other LCAs – a peer-reviewed analysis in 2021 revealed that cultivated beef can lower climate impact by 92%, air pollution by 94%, land use by 95%, and water consumption by 78% compared to conventional beef.

    Bene Meat working on several cell lines

    bene meat
    Courtesy: Bene Meat Technologies

    “This LCA study provides the first comprehensive insight into the actual impacts of industrial meat cultivation,” said Miroslav Žilka from the Czech Technical University, who led the LCA.

    “Our findings demonstrate that this technology has enormous potential, in terms of environmental impacts, and achieves significantly better results than, for example, traditional beef production,” he explained.

    Žila will present more detailed information about the analysis at the International Scientific Conference on Cultured Meat in Maastricht, Netherlands next week. The results will also be published in a scientific journal soon.

    Bene Meat has access to a variety of cell lines and currently plans to use different cell lines for pet food and human food, according to Dvořák Vašová. “We aim to begin as a supplier of feedstock in the pet food business,” she said.

    The company was the first to register cultivated pet food as an EU feed material last year, though that is separate from the regulatory approval companies require to sell their products. Bene Meat recently submitted an application for its pet food to the US Food and Drug Administration. Currently, only UK startup Meatly is approved to sell cultivated meat for pets (in its home country), which it plans to roll out early next year.

    Bene Meat has also managed to successfully store over 5,000 samples in a “cutting-edge” cell bank, and has previously hinted at a “significant update” on its pet food offering “in late 2024 or early 2025”.

    “We believe that this study marks a key milestone in understanding the environmental impacts of cultivated meat, and confirms its potential as a sustainable source of protein,” said Tomáš Kubeš, head of strategic projects at Bene Meat.

    The post Cultivated Meat for Pet Food ‘Significantly Better’ for the Planet Than Beef appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Dogs Can’t Get Enough of Cultivated Meat, Feeding Trials Show

    lab grown meat pet food
    4 Mins Read

    In feeding trials, half of dogs fed Meatly’s cultivated chicken kept licking the bowl after finishing, and a majority enjoyed it more than their regular diet.

    Months after receiving regulatory clearance in the UK, Meatly – the London-based startup making cultivated meat for pets – is inching closer to its market launch.

    The company has completed feeding trials for its cultivated chicken, which indicate that the product is safe to eat and palatable for dogs. Meatly has also secured an undisclosed sum in fresh funding, adding to the £3.6M it had raised from investors to date. It includes a follow-on investment from retailer Pets at Home, and participation from new backers DSM-Firmenich Venturing, JamJar, and Joyful Ventures, among others.

    The capital will support the startup’s plan to launch with its first brand partner in Q1 2025 – this will be in the form of a dog treat product, though the cost and other commercial decisions are “being figured out at the moment”, co-founder and CEO Owen Ensor told Green Queen.

    Dogs like cultivated meat as much (or more) than their regular diets

    lab grown meat approved
    Courtesy: Meatly

    Meatly commissioned two voluntary trials, which were conducted by Treat Therapeutics and featured 31 pet dogs made up of 14 different breeds. The trials involved at-home feeding observations, including surveys with the dog owners to analyse their response to the product and veterinary checks. And a complete diet containing only cultivated chicken and plant-based ingredients was tested.

    The first trial was a single-day test where the dogs were provided Meatly’s chicken for both meals of the day. And the second was a two-week controlled trial where a placebo group was fed just a plant-based diet, and selected dogs were given Meatly chicken for seven consecutive days after an adaptation phase.

    Dogs were found to enjoy Meatly pet food as much or even more than their normal diet, according to the company. For example, 75% started their meal immediately or within the first few seconds of being presented with it, and 50% continued licking the bowl after completing it. Meanwhile, 75% of owners reported higher enjoyment than their pet’s baseline diet.

    The cultivated chicken also improved the palatability of the plant-based placebo diet, and Meatly found no significant adverse effects of feeding cultivated meat over the 134 recorded meals.

    “By collaborating with us on these exclusively home-based trials, Meatly have taken a significant step in validating cell-based meat’s relevance for real-world dogs,” said Treat Therapeutics founder Emmanuel Bijaoui. “The positive trial outcomes from a diverse pool of participants consolidate the potential of cultivated meat as a novel ingredient.”

    A big year for Meatly – and cultivated pet food

    meatly pet food
    Courtesy: Meatly

    The trials “confirm the product’s quality”, Meatly said, following the collection of extensive safety and nutritional analysis data over the last two years. Its cultivated chicken is comparable to conventional versions when it comes to the protein profile, containing all essential amino acids in similar quantities, alongside important fatty acids, minerals and vitamins for pet nutrition.

    The funding and feeding trials cap off a milestone year for the startup, which became the first company to receive regulatory approval for cultivated meat in Europe in July, after the UK’s Food Standards Agency, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency deemed it safe to eat for pets.

    Meatly has also created a protein-free culture medium – a mix of nutrients to facilitate the growth of animal cells – that lowers the cost from hundreds of pounds per litre to just £1.

    “Protein-free media in biopharma is not kind of new, but in cultivated meat is. And it depends also on the type of cells on the species – some are a bit more challenging than others,” Helder Cruz, Meatly’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, told Green Queen in June. “Depending on the cell types and the species, you can grow them very well, without any protein.”

    “We’re incredibly happy with how the trials went. Cultivated meat is still nascent, but we’re very much still working on developing a perfect product for UK pets. But given where we’ve come in the last year, we’re ecstatic with these results today,” Ensor said.

    “Dogs will tell you if they don’t like the food you’ve served them – so we’re ecstatic that the pets in this trial enjoy Meatly Chicken even more than we thought they would,” he added. “These results demonstrate that we can feed our pets truly sustainable and kinder meat without compromising on taste or nutritional values.”

    Cultivated pet food has had a big year, with Cult Food Science’s conducting feeding trials in the US in pursuit of regulatory approval for its Noochies! brand, Friends & Family Pet Food Co inking two partnerships to launch stateside and in Singapore, BioCraft Pet Nutrition slashing the cost of its growth media, and Bene Meat Technologies releasing a life-cycle assessment showcasing cultivated meat’s superiority to beef.

    The post Dogs Can’t Get Enough of Cultivated Meat, Feeding Trials Show appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Shiru Raises $16M to Expand AI Protein Discovery Platform Across Industries

    shiru
    4 Mins Read

    Artificial intelligence startup Shiru has closed a $16M Series B round to broaden its ingredient portfolio and expand its protein discovery marketplace.

    Months after launching an AI-powered protein discovery platform for companies, Californian startup Shiru is already gunning for expansion with a $16M capital injection.

    The Series B round was led by longtime investor S2G Ventures, with CPT Capital, Lux Capital, Nourish Ventures, and Meach Cove Capital also participating. It takes the company’s total raised to $36M, and will fuel Shiru’s plans to expand its ingredient portfolio and enhance the ProteinDiscovery.ai marketplace through commercial partnerships and new offerings.

    “While we’re starting with proteins, our vision extends far beyond,” said Shiru founder and CEO Jasmine Hume. “ProteinDiscovery.ai is just the beginning. We’re building a comprehensive platform that will revolutionize ingredient discovery across multiple molecular classes, driving innovation that benefits both industry and consumers.”

    Shiru eyes wider horizons for protein discovery platform

    shiru protein discovery
    Courtesy: Shiru

    ProteinDiscovery.ai, which came online in May, hosts the world’s largest database of plant-derived and microbial proteins. It enables corporate partners to swiftly identify and test highly functional, natural ingredients.

    The platform combines the power of AI with an extensive database of natural protein sequences and automated biochemistry workflows, allowing companies to search discover, pilot and buy from a database of over 33 million molecules ranging from food and agriculture to personal care and advanced materials.

    The marketplace “dramatically” reduces R&D and product development costs while accelerating the time to market and increasing the functional capabilities of nature-identical products.

    “Our technology dramatically reduces development timelines and costs, empowering R&D teams to revolutionise products, categories and industries through our platform, enabling valuable innovation and competitive advantage,” said Hume.

    Shiru’s innovations are fuelled by its Flourish technology, which discovers ingredients and seeds up the development of high-performance sustainable products like vegan casein, sweet proteins, methylcellulose alternatives, or structuring proteins.

    The latest funding round will also help expand its product portfolio. It has previously launched OleoPro, a structured fat alternative made from unsaturated oils and a blend of plant proteins called uPro, which mimics animal fats for plant-based meat, dairy and cosmetics applications. The innovation can cut saturated fat content by 80%, and recently received a patent in the US.

    oleopro
    Courtesy: Shiru

    Artificial intelligence powering the future of food

    The company has initiated partnerships with several global leaders. With Griffith Foods, it is looking to to discover, pilot and scale planet-friendly food ingredients, while its collaboration with Ajinomoto Health and Nutrition is centred around developing and scaling up sweet proteins.

    The protein discovery platform was last month named by Time Magazine as one of 2024’s Best Inventions. “ProteinDiscovery.ai represents a fundamental shift in how we identify and develop sustainable ingredients,” Hume said in response to the honour. “This recognition affirms our mission to harness AI for creating better, more sustainable products that benefit both industry and our planet.”

    protein discovery ai
    Natural proteins represented in a 3D model based on their functional attributes – the bright red cluster is a group of sweet proteins discoverable only by Shiru’s Flourish technology | Courtesy: Shiru

    Shiru is among a number of startups harnessing AI to safeguard the future of food in the face of the climate emergency. Irish biotech firm Nuritas, for example, is using precision AI tech to identify and commercialise rare plant-based peptides faster than the industry standard, while vegan cheesemaker Climax Foods employs machine learning to reverse-engineer what makes cheese taste good.

    Chilean food tech unicorn NotCo similarly makes use of an AI platform called Giuseppe to match thousands of different plant-based ingredients and find the combinations best suited to replace animal-based foods. The technology powers its plant-based dairy and meat products, as well as the hot dogs, cheeses, and mac and cheese products it has co-produced with The Kraft Heinz Company.

    And last month, NotCo partnered with fragrance and flavour giant Cramer to launch an AI-powered fragrance formulator – proving that fields beyond the food industry are also fertile for AI technology startups.

    “AI-powered discovery isn’t only the future of ingredient innovation – it’s here today, and we’re eager to expand our capabilities across flavour, skincare and agriculture,” said Hume.

    The post Shiru Raises $16M to Expand AI Protein Discovery Platform Across Industries appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Future Food Quick Bites: Vegan Tiramisu, Dave Chang & A Political Breakfast

    oatside
    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 vegan tiramisu collection in Hong Kong, Dave Chang’s cultivated meat podcast episode, and a ‘super yoghurt’.

    New products and launches

    Good Food Technologies, the Hong Kong company behind Plant Sifu, has partnered with famed Japanese ramen restaurant Menya Musashi. The latter’s Hong Kong menu features a Veggie Chicken Tomato Tsukemen Set and Deep-Fried Veggie Pork Cutlet Teishoku Set, as well as three sides.

    menya musashi vegan
    Courtesy: Menya Musashi/Plant Sifu

    Singaporean oat milk brand Oatbedient is hosting a pop-up at K11 Art Mall in Hong Kong (November 19 to December 2) to celebrate the launch of its Café series in the city. Visitors will get access to discounts and offers on its entire oat milk range.

    In similar news, The Cakery, a plant-forward cake shop in Hong Kong, and its vegan sister bakery Maya have teamed up with Singaporean oat milk leader Oatside to introduce a tiramisu collection, which includes a cake, cupcake, overnight oats, and drinks like tiramisu chocolate and a tiramisu Biscoff latte.

    the cakery hong kong
    Courtesy: The Cakery/Oatside

    In the UK, discount retailer Aldi has rolled out an Ultimate No Beef Flank Steak, a private-label whole-cut meat alternative. The vegan beef product isn’t part of its Plant Menu range, but instead will be marketed under its Specially Selected label with a price tag of £6.99 for a two-pack.

    British startup The Coconut Collab has launched two new desserts: Choc and Caramel (£1.50 per 110g) and White Choc Pots (£2.95 for four 45g packs). They’re available at Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and/or Ocado.

    coconut collab chocolate pots
    Courtesy: The Coconut Collab

    Carbon calculator and labelling startup My Emissions has unveiled its second product, Company Carbon Footprints, a platform to help food companies measure their emissions more quickly and accurately. It has already been trialled by restaurant chain Wahaca and caterer Simply Lunch.

    Armed with a new ambassador in Maya Jama, Swedish pea milk brand Sproud has introduced its Barista Zero SKU, debiting the product at the European Coffee Symposium in Berlin this week.

    sproud barista zero
    Courtesy: Sproud/Green Queen

    Israeli entrepreneur Ola Baker has launched Eggless, a new company focused on innovating in the plant-based egg space.

    Company and finance updates

    South African cultivated meat startup Newform Foods hosted its biggest tasting event in Cape Town last week, showcasing its lamb meatballs to visitors.

    newform foods
    Courtesy: NewForm Foods

    Israeli startup Phyloton, which makes natural food colours from precision fermentation, has received funding from Rich Products Ventures, as well as additional financing from existing investors EIT Food, Arkin Holdings, and Yossi Ackerman (among others).

    US-cultivated protein startup Jellatech, whose flagship product is a bioidentical collagen, has opened a 9,000 sq ft facility in Morrisville, North Carolina. It plans to obtain the FDA’s Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) certification by 2026.

    Happy Plant Protein, a spinout from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has secured €1.8M in a pre-seed funding round led by Nordic Foodtech VC, alongside participation from Butterfly Ventures and Business Finland, to develop and license its patented vegan protein production tech.

    Research, policy and events

    In India, tempeh producer Tempeh Today, the Freedom Project India and the Netherlands Enterprise have launched the Tempeh for Education project. It involves the use of micro fermentation units to produce up to 100kg of tempeh per week, and the goal is to economically empower women through training and a guaranteed buyback programme.

    tempeh today
    Courtesy: Tempeh Today

    Accor Group, Europe’s largest hospitality company and parent company of hotels like Novotel, Sofitel and Ibis, has announced its goal to introduce plant-based menu options at all of its locations in the coming years. It aligns with its Good Food Feels Great push to make 50% of its menus vegan by 2030.

    In Germany, retail giant Rewe Group and fermentation companies Infinite Roots and Formo hosted a “political breakfast” at the parliament. The discussion, which featured MP Albert Stegemann, explored how fermentation can help boost food security and lower climate impacts, while also touching upon regulatory sandboxes and farmer collaboration.

    formo cheese
    Courtesy: Formo

    Also in Germany, plant-based shopping baskets are now only 9% pricier than their animal-based counterparts, with own-label milk alternatives now cheaper than dairy, according to a ProVeg International study. At Lidl, which has made major sustainability strides this year, buying vegan private-label products is now more wallet-friendly.

    At the Technical University of Munich‘s 2024 TFoodS Conference in Singapore, global experts explored alternative proteins and their potential to help the island nation achieve its 30 by 30 food security vision.

    tumcreate
    Courtesy: TUMCREATE

    As Israeli-cultivated meat startup Aleph Farms continues to host tasting events ahead of the launch of its cultivated beef, five out of six chefs say they’d serve the Aleph Cuts product in their restaurants.

    Researchers at Australia’s Monash University have created a “super yoghurt” made from sweet lupin beans and oats, which they say rivals both dairy and other plant-based yoghurts on taste, texture and nutrition.

    Momofuku founder Dave Chang featured cultivated meat on his podcast, The Dave Chang Show, interviewing the Good Food Institute‘s Eric Schulze about this future food.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Vegan Tiramisu, Dave Chang & A Political Breakfast appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Israeli Startup Announces ‘Record-Breaking’ Development to Make Cultivated Seafood Affordable

    lab grown eel
    4 Mins Read

    Rehovot-based Forsea Foods has recorded the highest level of cell density in the cultivated meat and seafood industry, helping it achieve costs lower than conventional eel meat.

    As it prepares to launch cultivated unagi in Japan in 2026, Forsea Foods has achieved a critical breakthrough in its production process.

    The Israeli company’s technology has reached a cell density of over 300 million cells per ml with minimal and precise use of cultured media, which make up the bulk of the costs of cultivated meat. This, the firm says, will allow it to further reduce costs of its planet-friendly version of freshwater eel meat.

    Cell density can greatly affect the viability of cells, and how they proliferate and differentiate. Cultivated meat involves growing cells at high densities, which can often dictate when companies harvest the cells after cultivation. For some, developing technologies to produce these proteins at high densities in smaller spaces is key to their market path.

    For the majority of startups, cell densities range between 100,000 to 500,000 cells per ml, but larger producers aim for much higher densities, according to alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI). Forsea Foods says its breakthrough means it now has the highest cell density in the industry.

    How Forsea Foods created cultivated eel meat

    cultivated meat cell density
    Courtesy: Forsea Foods

    Forsea Foods is tackling a $4.3B luxury market for eel meat, which commands wholesale prices between $40 and $60 per kg in Japan, the consumer of over 70% of all eel caught globally. The fact that freshwater eel is a critically endangered species that’s hard to breed in captivity makes it a delicacy in the country.

    Poaching, illegal trading, breeding troubles and pollution have decimated supplies of the fish, with consumption declining by 63% between 2000 and 2021 in Japan. Overfishing, meanwhile, doesn’t just disrupt eel populations, but also the marine and freshwater ecosystems they inhabit.

    The three-year-old startup first showcased its cultivated eel at Saido, a vegan restaurant in Tokyo. The product is grown via Forsea Foods’s proprietary organoid technology, which involves creating the ideal environment for cells to assemble into 3D microtissue structures comprising fat, muscle and connective tissues.

    These mimic organ functions and structures, and spontaneously differentiate into edible cells, replacing the natural growth process of tissues in a living animal. The process also bypasses the scaffolding stage (where cells are grown on 3D scaffolds to create structured proteins) and significantly lowers reliance on growth factors, helping it produce cultivated meat in a cost-effective manner.

    “The breakthrough to this level of cell density highlights the strength of our organoid technology,” said Forsea Foods co-founder and CTO Moria Shimoni. “It’s a validation of our approach to high-efficiency cultivation of seafood to meet both economic and sustainability goals at scale.”

    Roee Nir, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, added: “This is a major milestone for Forsea and validates our vision of making sustainable, high-quality seafood affordable and widely accessible. It also sets a powerful precedent for scaling other cultured seafood products and establishing sustainable alternative supply chains for ecologically sensitive species.”

    Preparing for launch in attractive Japanese market

    lab grown seafood
    Courtesy: Anatoly Michaello

    While cultivated seafood is years away from price parity with conventional eel, the high cell density positions Forsea Foods at the forefront of efforts to lower the production costs of these novel proteins. “Forsea’s organoid technology requires less capital expenditure than other technologies,” explained Nir.

    “Achieving this level of cell density with minimal resources will translate to substantial reductions in the unit of economics and will bring cultured seafood production to a cost that is actually below the traditional market price,” he added.

    It has completed a proof-of-concept for its continuous harvesting process, and is now aiming to take production to the next phase of commercial scale-up. The company, which is working on six different cell lines, has raised $5.2M in seed financing so far, and intends to launch a Series A funding round soon, which will fund the construction of a commercial pilot plant.

    Forsea Foods held a tasting event in Tel Aviv-based restaurant A in June, which convened investors, journalists, food manufacturers, opinion leaders, as well as government representatives. It is now preparing to file regulatory dossiers in Japan, targeting a commercial launch for 2026.

    Japan is becoming an increasingly hot destination for alternative protein companies, and has a population where over two in five are willing to try these cultivated meat and seafood products, especially if they’re priced the same or cheaper.

    “Officials are making steady progress in developing a novel food regulatory framework. Unlike countries that conduct individual consultations, Japanese officials primarily communicate with industry associations that speak on behalf of alternative protein companies, which fosters better market readiness for the sector as a whole,” Kimiko Hong-Mitsui, interim director of GFI Japan told Green Queen last month.

    “Our recent industry survey shows that cultivated meat production is definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach,” Elliot Swartz, principal cultivated meat scientist at the think tank, remarked on Forsea Foods’s development. “It’s encouraging to see positive data from companies showing how different methods can address challenges in cost and scale.”

    The post Israeli Startup Announces ‘Record-Breaking’ Development to Make Cultivated Seafood Affordable appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • The Future of Protein Production: ‘We Need To Find Common Ground’

    future of protein production
    5 Mins Read

    A few weeks ago, at the Future of Protein Production conference in Amsterdam, thought leaders in sustainability and new protein production methods gathered to explore new pathways for the world’s protein needs.

    Industry pioneers Ira Van Eelen from KindEarth.Tech and Ralf Becks from RESPECTfarms, along with Marcelo Beltrão Molento from the Federal University of Parana, held a compelling workshop: envisioning health and sustainability in farming through complementary protein sources.

    The conversation covered the significant impact of industrial animal farming on ecosystems, particularly in the Amazon, and introduced RESPECTfarms’ vision: a future where farmers can continue to thrive as food providers and stewards of nature. This innovative approach promotes a future where traditional farmers and alternative protein advocates can collaborate rather than compete, emphasising that bridging these worlds is critical for sustainable food production.

    Shifting the narrative around alternative proteins

    Courtesy: RESPECTfarms

    Historically, alternative protein companies have marketed their products by highlighting the environmental and ethical issues associated with conventional agriculture, often using terms like “slaughter-free” or “animal cruelty-free.” While these messages address genuine concerns, they’ve also unintentionally deepened divides. As workshop participants noted, framing alternative proteins in opposition to traditional agriculture has reinforced an “us vs. them” mentality, risking alienation within the farming community.

    In an engaging exercise, Becks encouraged participants to write their opinions on whether the future of protein should be “with animals” or “without animals” on paper aeroplanes and throw them to the front of the room. This activity highlighted the binary thinking that often permeates these discussions. The workshop then pushed for a shift in approach: rather than positioning alternative proteins as replacements, there’s potential to present them as “complementary proteins” – new options that coexist alongside traditional sources. “We face a huge challenge in creating a diverse protein mix that can feed tomorrow’s world,” Becks emphasised, “and all protein sources are needed.” This vision of complementary proteins can allow for a full spectrum of choices – animal meat, plant-based meat, and cultivated meat – empowering consumers to decide, while the industry focuses on making all options accessible, enjoyable, and affordable.

    Participants then crafted a second paper aeroplane, this time writing down ideas for collaboration that could create a true “common ground” approach. Suggestions ranged from subsidies for farmers transitioning to complementary protein production, to hybrid protein solutions that combine traditional and alternative methods. A shared theme emerged: dialogue and collaboration with farmers, not around them, is key to moving the industry forward. Each idea underscored the belief that constructive, open exchanges can pave the way for a sustainable and inclusive protein future.

    Courtesy: RESPECTfarms

    Building new business models for a resilient protein ecosystem

    For RESPECTfarms, this vision translates into practical steps, such as creating new business models that integrate cultivated meat production within traditional agriculture. Their goal is ambitious: the world’s first cultivated meat farm where meat is grown directly from animal cells, with a vision to help decentralise cultivated meat production. This approach could enable farmers to produce cultivated meat alongside crops or livestock, fostering a system where small farms retain relevance and autonomy.

    The current small scale of the cultivated meat industry could be well suited for early adoption by farmers. For many, starting with smaller production volumes – perhaps 500 litres – offers an achievable path to integrating cultivated meat into their existing operations. While larger centralised production methods, like those used by companies such as Mosa Meat (the technology partner for RESPECTfarms), may view this scale as a bottleneck, it may be an ideal entry point for smaller farms. In this sense, the RESPECTfarms project may hold greater short-term potential by providing a model that allows farmers to adopt cultivated meat incrementally while integrating it with traditional business models.

    But does cultivated meat resonate with livestock farmers? It depends, noted Van Eelen, on each farmer’s motivation. Many farmers embrace animal farming because it’s a deeply rooted way of life, contributing to food security and supporting their local communities. Cultivated meat production doesn’t necessarily mean they have to abandon these values; rather, it offers an opportunity to produce meat differently, potentially in a way that brings additional economic and environmental benefits.

    A balancing act: funding and infrastructure

    Creating this shift won’t be easy. Becks noted that Dutch farmers currently receive around €795 million in government subsidies each year – a stark contrast to the €60 million invested in cellular agriculture through the Netherlands’ National Growth Fund. While this funding shows institutional support, it’s just a small fraction of what sustains conventional farming today.

    To bridge this gap, Becks emphasised cooperation with existing meat distributors and leveraging their established networks in logistics, cold storage, and retail. Building a new protein ecosystem from scratch isn’t feasible. Instead, working alongside traditional industry players could enable cultivated meat to enter mainstream markets faster and more efficiently.

    Courtesy: RESPECTfarms

    Involving farmers in the cultivated meat value chain

    Research from the Royal Agricultural University reveals that farmers themselves are warming up to the idea of participating in cultivated meat production. By repurposing existing crops and byproducts, like feed wheat for glucose or rapeseed oil meal for amino acids, farmers can supply the cellular agriculture industry with essential ingredients. This dual role allows them to maintain some aspects of livestock farming, while diversifying income streams and reducing reliance on powerful intermediaries that often dominate traditional supply chains.

    RESPECTfarms is aiming to optimise its first farm by 2029, and hopes to scale out from there. With a vision to transform 1,000 farms by 2038, RESPECTfarms hopes to spark a global movement.

    The challenge lies in making cultivated meat appealing, affordable, and integrated into the existing protein ecosystem. For this to happen, the cultivated meat sector must acknowledge the complexities of farming and seek collaborative solutions rather than adversarial relationships.

    Finding common ground

    While the discussion highlighted the potential for collaboration, some audience members voiced doubts, questioning whether true synergy is possible given certain non-negotiable values. Nonetheless, there was a shared belief that dialogue is essential. Cultivated and conventional farming communities may not always see eye-to-eye, but building bridges can foster mutual understanding, paving the way for a protein-rich future that respects both tradition and innovation.

    In Becks’ words, “We need to find common ground.” The foundation for this new protein future could be built on shared goals: healthier ecosystems, resilient food systems, and, ultimately, a more sustainable world where all sources of protein can coexist and thrive.

    The post The Future of Protein Production: ‘We Need To Find Common Ground’ appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Price Hikes Work as Beyond Meat Returns to Revenue Growth for the First Time Since 2022

    beyond sun sausage
    7 Mins Read

    Beyond Meat posted revenue growth for the first time in two years in Q3, buoyed by higher prices and a strong performance in Germany. It also teased its new mycelium steak.

    After losing year-on-year revenue for nine quarters in a row, Beyond Meat returned to growth in the July-September period this year, boosting its profit margins and cutting losses from Q3 2023.

    The Californian business, which has sought to pose itself as a “health company” this year with reformulated meat analogues and new whole-food sausages, recorded $81M in sales in Q3 2024, a 7.6% hike from last year.

    This was largely thanks to the company jacking up the prices of its core products by 22% in the US and lowering trade discounts. These changes also helped the plant-based meat giant expand its quarterly margins to 17.7% – this is markedly higher than the 9.6% decline in margins in Q3 last year, and the 14.7% growth in the previous quarter.

    And while the company’s volume sales were down by 7% in the third quarter, it saw improvements in year-on-year volume trends in three of its four sales channels, according to CEO Ethan Brown.

    In a call with investors, he highlighted the need for Beyond Meat to celebrate and market its production process, announced an expansion of its partnership with Panda Express, and spilt some more details on its upcoming mycelium-based whole-muscle steak.

    “The third quarter of 2024 serves as a pivotal quarter in our company’s history,” he said, noting how it seemed the protein markets would continue to be disrupted and pave the way for Beyond Meat to become mainstream after it went public in 2019.

    “Turbulence, much of it generated by a concerted campaign supported by incumbent animal protein and pharmaceutical industries, destabilised the slipstream within which we travelled, and we fell from considerable heights,” he added.

    “We responded by letting iron sharpen iron. We chose to get stronger, including moving our products along the continuum from relative to absolute health benefits, most notably in our Beyond IV platform and its broad endorsements from leading health institutions, and we got leaner and more focused.”

    McDonald’s and Panda Express partnerships drive growth

    panda express beyond orange chicken
    Courtesy: Panda Express

    Beyond Meat’s retail sales in the US rose by 14.6% in Q3 this year, primarily due to a 23% increase in net revenue per pound, as buyer rates for the new Beyond IV products saw an uptick. In foodservice too, net revenues grew by 15.5%, thanks in large part to the company’s reignited collaboration with Panda Express. The Beyond Orange Chicken dish is now available in 600 locations, doubling from its previous footprint.

    Internationally, retail revenues were up by 17%, which the company attributed to greater distribution and demand in certain geographies. This was driven by Beyond Meat’s entry into Germany’s refrigerated channel, which it was unable to access due to shelf-life conditions until Q2.

    “Having worked several years to meet shelf-life requirements, we are thrilled to now be in German retailers, Germany being one of the strongest plant-based markets in the world,” said Brown. “With a clear caution that it is very early days, we are seeing encouraging initial sell-through in this important market.”

    The performance in these three channels reversed the decline in all sales channels in Q2 2024 (compared to the corresponding period a year ago). But the firm’s foodservice sales overseas took a hit, going from a 2.5% decline in Q2 to a 17% decrease in Q3. This was driven by a 22% drop in volume, reflecting “decreased sales of burger and chicken products to a large QSR customer in the EU”, explained COO Lubi Kutua.

    However, the July-September period also saw Beyond Meat extend its partnership with the world’s largest restaurant chain, McDonald’s, which introduced Veggie McPlant Nuggets using the El Segundo firm’s vegan chicken at 1,500 stores. The Nuggets are currently planned to be a permanent menu addition, with France joining Austria, Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, the UK, and Ireland going Beyond at McDonald’s,” said Brown.

    Beyond Meat aiming to raise funds this year

    beyond meat q3 2024
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    Reflecting its efforts to consolidate its production network, Beyond Meat managed to bring its cost of goods down to its lowest level in over three years ($66.7M). It shrunk net losses by 62% from the same period a year ago ($26.6M), and looking at the year so far, these were down by 37% from the first three quarters of 2023.

    The improved performance here came as the company exited from five warehouses in the first half of the year, as part of its strategy to bring manufacturing in-house. This is one of its priorities for the year, alongside the launch of the Beyond IV line of products, the price hikes, lean management practices, and its investment in Europe.

    The company, which remains $1.1B in debt, had reportedly been in talks with bondholders to restructure its debt. And it’s now looking to increase its cash reserves before the end of 2024 through an at-the-market offering, which involves selling shares over a period of time instead of all at once).

    “We’re not going to, at this point, get into how much we may be looking to raise before the end of the year,” said Kutua. “But… we do intend to put additional liquidity on the balance sheet before the end of the year, and then we’re still looking at a more holistic sort of balance sheet restructuring at some point in the next year.”

    Brown added: “You can see a very steep curve moving in the right direction. That’s why we feel so confident about our plan to bring the business into profitability. I can’t say when. I don’t want to imply it’s going to be anytime soon. But that is where we’re headed.”

    He predicted full-year revenues of $320-330M, which was at the lower end of the firm’s previous forecasts. If realised, this would represent a 4-7% decrease in annual earnings compared to 2023.

    Brown criticises ‘weaponisation’ of processed foods

    plant based meat health
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat/Green Queen

    The Q3 earnings are a welcome change for Beyond Meat, which has had a turbulent two years in terms of sales, leading to multiple rounds of job cuts, discontinued product lines, and new health-focused packaging. All this has come amid a wider decline in the market for meat analogues, whose revenues shrunk by 9% in the 52 weeks to July 14, 2024.

    Part of this is due to prices and inflation too, whose impact was in full focus after the results of the US presidential election this week. In May, one survey showed that the price premium on plant-based meat deters 53% of Americans from buying it. In another poll published last month, 28% of Americans said high costs were driving them to purchase fewer meat analogues (a sentiment 12% more popular than last year).

    Beyond Meat’s pricing strategy is reflective of the overall market for vegan meat, which is 77% more expensive on average than animal protein. Prices for the former were up by 9% in 2023, compared to 3% for the latter. “We have not seen anyone sort of tap out based on pricing,” Brown said. “People do complain about the prices of our products in general, but that’s always been the case.”

    He added: “The biggest thing that is dissuading the consumer from our products and plant-based meat is a misperception around the health benefits and around the ingredients, full stop.” It’s why he previously labelled Beyond Meat as a “health and wellness company that makes plant-based meat”, and why it has changed recipes to include fava beans and avocado oil, championed vegetables in the Sun Sausages, and sought certifications from heart and diabetes health associations.

    This direction has also prompted the company to delve into the world of mycelium with a clean-label, whole-cut steak fillet, which is set to be launched soon. The product has been in the works for many years under the company’s Rapid and Relentless Innovation programme.

    “Beyond Steak Fillet is made with mycelium, a root-like structure found in mushrooms, legume protein, and a limited number of natural ingredients,” said Brown. “I personally love this product not only for its texture and savoury taste but its concise and clean ingredient list, coupled with very high levels of protein contrasted with very low levels of saturated fat.”

    Remarking on the ultra-processed food debate, he said: “The weaponisation of the word ‘process’ – a tactic emphasised in the incumbent industry playbook on how to undermine plant-based meat and preserve the status quo – has grown long in the tooth. It is past time we put it to bed.

    “We plan to do that by applying generous amounts of sunlight to our own process, educating consumers on how we build meat directly from plants. It’s a clean process. It’s a process that is elegant in its simplicity, and it’s a process that produces better outcomes for the human body and earth.”

    The post Price Hikes Work as Beyond Meat Returns to Revenue Growth for the First Time Since 2022 appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Incoming EU Ag Chief Admits Plant Proteins Need Ramping Up – But for Livestock Feed

    eu plant protein strategy

    5 Mins Read

    Soon to be the EU’s farming commissioner, Cristophe Hansen has called meat “part of a balanced diet”, but admitted that we’re “massively underproducing” plant proteins – not in the way you think, though.

    In three weeks, Cristophe Hansen will be confirmed as the European Commission’s new agricultural commissioner. He will have the unenviable task of helping president Ursula von der Leyen’s promise to deliver an agrifood roadmap within the first 100 days of her new mandate.

    But in his confirmation hearing on Monday, Hansen appeared to toe the line between cosying up with the livestock lobby and moving the EU towards a more sustainable food system, at times asserting contradictory statements that left more questions than answers.

    For instance, he appealed to conservatives when he said lawmakers shouldn’t impose a cutback in meat consumption, but also courted green MEPs by noting the importance of ramping up the production of plant proteins.

    His comments come weeks after lobby groups representing farmers asked the Commission to create an EU-wide action plan for plant-based foods by 2026, as part of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture. How will Hansen, a farmer’s son, fare in a political operation that has repeatedly failed to deliver on its green policies?

    Hansen says it’s ‘tricky’ to impose what people eat

    eu agriculture commissioner
    Courtesy: European Parliament

    Anna Strolenberg, a Dutch MEP for the Greens, noted how the FAO, the WHO and the IPCC have stressed the importance of dietary shifts, and the Strategic Dialogue agreed with the societal consensus on the topic. “So science and society are clear, now the EU must take action,” she said. “Protein diversification is of strategic importance for the EU.”

    She then posed her questions: “Will we bring forward an action plan for plant-based foods as proposed in the Strategic Dialogue? Will this action plan include elements to tackle both consumption and production? And lastly, will you commit to policy actions to reduce our dependency on imported feed?”

    Hansen responded that his view of the Strategic Dialogue was a little different, but didn’t delve further into that. “It is very tricky to say and impose top-down who has to eat what,” he offered, suggesting that doing so would be “very dangerous” and create a bigger gulf between the EU and its citizens. “That is not how the European Union should work.”

    The Luxembourger added that meat products are part of a balanced diet, but suggested that everything “needs to be consumed in moderation”. “My doctor told me to eat less red meat. That was medical advice to me,” he admitted.

    But there was one thing he said he agreed with Strolenberg on. “We are heavily underproducing plant-based proteins in the European Union, and they have at least two benefits,” he said. “They are beneficial for the climate, because they store emissions and are in that sense already very important.”

    However, this was a deliberate misdirection, given that the second “benefit” of plant protein he mentioned was to reduce the EU’s reliance on feed imports. So while Strolenberg was talking about plant-based foods for humans, Hansen banged on about producing more soybeans to feed animals, who would then be fed to humans.

    “Strengthening the EU’s food security is becoming central for the European Commission and will be a top priority for this new term. A key element of this issue revolves around protein, as the EU is highly dependent on imports for protein feed for its animal agriculture,” Soizic Larcher, EU policy officer at food awareness group ProVeg International, told Green Queen.

    “The Commission recently acknowledged that policy and public debate on the EU protein sector needs a comprehensive approach, covering EU plant protein production, supply, and the broader challenges and opportunities in food and feed demand,” she added.

    “ProVeg sees the need for a food systems approach that balances sector-wide needs and synergies, focusing on farmers and considering both human food and animal feed demand to find new efficiencies.” Larcher continued, outlining that ProVeg supports the need to reduce dependence on feed imports, but as “part of a broader transformation of the food system” that aligns with the goal of further developing the plant protein sector.

    Shifting political environment impeding the protein transition

    eu farming subsidies
    Graphic by Green Queen

    Much of the hearing was about agriculture rather than food, but even then, Hansen didn’t commit to a sweeping change towards the EU’s approach to sustainable farming. He dodged a question about whether the EU should maintain or even increase its farming subsidies for red meat, merely stating that he was optimistic about the Commission’s budget for food promotion in the next financial framework.

    The problem is, the EU spends nearly 30% of its Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) budget on agriculture – but 80% of this is directed to livestock farming (and 44% alone goes to feed crops).

    This is at least four times higher than what the EU invests in plant-based farming, despite animal proteins providing only 35% of calories and 65% of proteins in the EU, and contributing to 84% of its agricultural emissions. And a recent investigation showed how these subsidies ultimately benefit some of the world’s richest people, at the expense of the farms that are supposed to profit from them.

    In his written answers before the hearing, Hansen looked to promote organic farming as a way to greenify the EU’s farming sector. But he said the Commission wouldn’t publish a new framework for sustainable food systems: “Rather than new legislative proposals, we can achieve our objectives by better implementing and enforcing existing legislation while using incentives and new market-based tools to promote change.”

    That would be fine if the EU had a good track record of putting its money where its mouth is on green policies. MEPs, working with lobby groups, have managed to stall Farm to Fork reforms, resist Green Deal legislations, and delay the promised ban on caged farming, which has now been put on hold indefinitely and led to a legal complaint against the EU. The CAP’s environmental controls were further weakened this year after intense lobbying efforts.

    Hansen also indicated that it was important for the EU to update its protein strategy from 2018 to include plant protein needs more prominently. But he said the Strategic Dialogue report was “rather a vague formulation” and needed to be discussed in greater detail.

    ProVeg’s Larcher said the organisation “advocates for a well-balanced plant-based diet” comprising plenty of whole foods. “With the current political environment leaning to the right, we increasingly hear these more conservative narratives and see resistance to recognise the need to transition towards more plant-based diets,” she outlined.

    “Many people, including Mr Hansen himself, are aware of the value of reducing meat in their diet, but it will be essential to showcase the multiple benefits of this transition for the EU, for health, food security and the environment, so that it is translated into actual policies.”

    The post Incoming EU Ag Chief Admits Plant Proteins Need Ramping Up – But for Livestock Feed appeared first on Green Queen.