Category: Cell-Based News

April 30, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Gordon Ramsay x Flora, Hyper Oat Milk & Vegan School Meals

4 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Gordon Ramsay’s partnership with Becel, a new vegan egg in Italy, and Spain’s plant-based school meal decree.

New products and launches

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has taken his partnership with plant-based dairy giant Flora Food Group global, appearing in a replica Skip the Cow ad (minus the expletives) for its Canadian dairy-free butter brand Becel.

In the UK, Quorn has added two new flavours to its mycoprotein-based deli slices range. The tomato-basil flavour can be found at Sainsbury’s and Asda, and the garlic-herb variant at Tesco, both for £2.60.

As whole-food plant-based food surges in the UK, The Tofoo Co introduced a Thai Burger and Southern Fried Pieces, which will retail at Waitrose and Tesco, respectively, for £3.

Speaking of whole foods, vegan seafood player Happiee! has launched what it claims is the UK’s first ready-to-cook lion’s mane mushroom chunks. They’re available in original and teriyaki flavours, retailing for £4 per 180g pack at 240 Sainsbury’s stores.

Courtesy: Happiee!

Confectionery giant Mars has rolled out a new Honeycomb for its dairy-free Galaxy range in the UK. Combining cocoa and hazelnut paste with honeycomb pieces, the bar is available at Sainsbury’s for £1.50.

Ice cream maker Oppo Brothers has launched a better-for-you vegan sorbet range called Oppo Refresh, available in Sicilian Lemon & Strawberry, Alphonso Mango & Passionfruit, and Raspberry Coulis Swirl flavours for £3.75 per three-pack.

Also in the UK, oat milk brand Minor Figures has launched the Hyper Oat line it had unveiled at Expo West. Available in berry, turmeric, matcha, and mango variants, the milks contain adaptogens and nootropics. The berry and mango flavours are available at Waitrose for £3 per 750ml bottle, followed by a wider launch in the coming months.

Courtesy: Minor Figures

In Spain, plant-based meat leader Heura has rolled out a Fine Herbs chicken burger to cater to the country’s affinity for white meat, one of several products planned for this year.

Italian plant-based producer The Bridge has launched a vegan liquid egg called Veg Egg, which is made from soy milk and soy protein.

Across the Atlantic, South Korea’s Unlimeat has brought its flagship Korean BBQ Bulgogi and Pulled Pork Original products to 300 Kroger-affiliated stores in the US, including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, and Smith’s.

Courtesy: Unlimeat

Californian biotech firm Checkerspot has developed what it says is the world’s first high-oleic palm oil alternative made entirely via microalgae fermentation.

Company and finance updates

US animal-free dairy startup DeNovo Foodlabs has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Earth First Food Ventures called PFerrinX26 to scale up the production of precision-fermented lactoferrin protein. They will announce a manufacturing partner soon, and plan to build facilities to produce 300 tonnes of the protein within the next decade.

LoveRaw, the cult-favourite British vegan chocolate brand known for its Ferrero Rocher and Kinder Bueno copycats, has been rescued from administration by Bulgarian plant-based producer Smart Organic, after investment and supplier challenges disrupted the former’s operations and revenue.

Courtesy: LoveRaw

Mycelium Technologies, the French parent company of mycelium protein brand Mycfoods, has kickstarted its first fundraising round, with a €750,000 target. It plans a subsequent €4.5M round next year.

French plant-based companies Hari&Co, Accro, HappyVore, La Vie and Swap Food have formed InterVeg, a coalition aimed at accelerating the transition to a plant-based diet via constructive dialogue with policymakers and promotional campaigns.

Policy and research developments

In a big win for the protein transition, Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved the Royal Decree on Healthy and Sustainable School Cafeterias, which contains a provision to protect children’s right to a 100% plant-based menu in schools, as well as increase legume consumption.

Courtesy: New Wave Biotech

What makes a lean startup? Singaporean sustainable food production platform Nurasa and AI-based precision fermentation facilitator New Wave Biotech have released a whitepaper to help ingredient manufacturers “reimagine the five core lean startup principles” for the food tech world.

Researchers from the US have devised a new 3D printing process to make vegan calamari, using mung bean protein isolate, powdered light-yellow microalgae, gellan gum, and canola oil.

At the University of Florida, researchers are testing a new kind of cattle feed that could help dairy cows release less methane and use nutrients more efficiently.

Finally, in Norway, scientists are proposing kelp and other seaweed species, as well as plant residues, as an alternative to blood and other animal-derived inputs to use as culture media for cultivated meat.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

The post Future Food Quick Bites: Gordon Ramsay x Flora, Hyper Oat Milk & Vegan School Meals appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 29, 2025

Global Plant-Based Sales Up By 5% in 2024 Despite US Setback: New Report

6 Mins Read
The Good Food Institute, an alternative protein think tank, has released its latest State of the Industry series of reports for 2024. Here’s how plant-based, fermentation-derived and cultivated proteins fared in 2024.

While investment in alternative protein continued to fall in 2024, global sales of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are up, as is interest in whole foods, according to the 2024 State of the Industry reports by industry think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI).

The annual series of reports explores the challenges and opportunities for plant-based food, fermentation-derived proteins, and cultivated meat. This year’s editions reveal a complex landscape for alternative proteins, with sales in markets like the US still declining and public investment in the industry on the rise.

Alternative proteins are part of a polarising debate in many parts of the world, punctuated by high prices and taste concerns, and enveloped by the backlash against ultra-processed foods (UPFs). However, the global performance shows promise in the market at a time when it has been portrayed as anything but.

Global plant-based sales on the rise

Courtesy: GFI

You’d be forgiven for thinking that sales of plant-based foods took a giant plunge, given all the coverage and discourse around them. In actuality, global sales reached $28.6B, a 5% increase from 2023.

Non-dairy alternatives dominated the market, with sales up by 5% to reach $22.4B, while meat analogues hit $6.1B (a 4% increase). After milk, meat and seafood, vegan yoghurt is the most popular category.

Europe was the leader in 2024, recording $9.7B in sales of plant-based meat, seafood and dairy, followed by Asia-Pacific ($8.9B), and North America ($7.3B), where conventional beef sales reached a record high last year.

Meat and dairy alternatives decline in the US, while whole foods shine

Courtesy: GFI

In the US, overall plant-based sales reached $8.1B in 2024, a 4% decline from 2023. More than a third of the market (34%) was occupied by non-dairy milk alone, whose sales dropped by 5% to $2.8B. Likewise, meat and seafood alternatives saw dollar sales fall by 7% to $1.2B, though the rate of decline was slower than in 2023.

At the same time, the demand for protein led to an increase in sales of protein powders (11%), and growing interest in whole foods resulted in a 7% hike in sales for tofu, tempeh and seitan. The biggest windfall, however, came for vegan desserts and baked goods (13%).

Plant-based eggs, meanwhile, saw a 2% increase in retail sales as avian flu wrecked chicken egg supplies in the US. This was true for foodservice too, where vegan egg sales were up by 28%. The report authors note that the data on unit sales and price changes is somewhat skewed due to the leading product in the category shifting to a larger pack size and thus a comparably higher price point.

Still in foodservice, plant-based proteins suffered a 5% decline in sales, though non-dairy milk continued its climb with a 9% growth.

Price parity and consumer reach still hindrance for the plant-based sector

Courtesy: GFI

Plant-based meat and seafood were 4% more expensive in 2024, versus just a 1% price hike for their conventional counterparts, widening the former’s premium to 82%.

The price gap for chicken and milk remained the same, while widening for pork and turkey. On the flip side, rising beef rates mean plant-based versions are just 14% more expensive now. And chicken-free eggs, which had a 317% price premium in 2023, narrowed this to 110%.

Bringing down prices of plant-based food is critical for them to compete with animal-derived products, as is improving consumer reach and acceptance. In the US, 59% of households bought a vegan product in 2024, similar to the year before, though down from 63% in 2022.

Penetration of plant-based meat and seafood remains low at 13%, though encouragingly, 63% go back to the store for more. Further, almost all Americans who buy these alternatives are not vegan or vegetarian – 96% of buyers also put conventional meat in their shopping baskets in 2024.

Milk alternatives reached 40% of households, with a repeat rate of 76%. Almond milk continues to remain the most popular dairy alternative (capturing 54% of sales), but oat milk is on the rise (25%).

VC investment slides, public funding a bright spot

Graphic by Green Queen

Alternative proteins did not escape the bleak landscape for climate tech venture capital in 2024, with total funding for the sector only amounting to $1.1B, a 27% decline from the year before.

Plant-based companies took the biggest hit, as venture capitalists backed away from foods linked to ultra-processing. These startups only raised $309M in 2024, a sharp 64% fall from the year before.

Cultivated meat, meanwhile, witnessed a 40% decline, securing only $139M, its lowest annual total since 2019. In fact, in the last three years, this sector has cumulatively raised less money than it did in 2021 alone.

The only bright spot for the category here is fermentation, where VC investment experienced a 43% increase last year, overturning a decline in 2023. This was led by Meati‘s $100M Series C round. Further, this category surpassed plant proteins in terms of the amount of public capital invested.

Speaking of which, while private investors remained cautious, governments continued to pour money into alternative protein, amid a push to meet their net-zero goals and mounting pressure from climate experts to diversify protein sources. Public investment in alternative proteins reached $510M in 2024, in line with the year before.

This was driven by the US, Denmark and the EU overall, while Asia-Pacific played a major role in the doubling of public funding for cultivated meat in 2024.

Courtesy: GFI

Legislative headwinds make for uneven regulatory progress

2024 was a milestone year for companies making novel food from precision, biomass and gas fermentation, with several regulators greenlighting products like cow-free casein, CO2-derived protein, and animal-free egg protein.

However, in the US, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s potential removal of the self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) pathway could stall this momentum.

Meanwhile, cultivated meat continues to face threats of bans in the US and elsewhere. According to GFI’s calculations, 12 states attempted to restrict cultivated meat last year, with Florida and Alabama being successful – the former is now facing a lawsuit from California’s Upside Foods. Already this year, a host of other states have proposed similar bills, with Mississippi becoming the third to enact a ban.

Courtesy: Vow

Even so, cultivated meat regulation progressed in several other markets in 2024. Australia’s Vow was cleared to sell its cultivated quail and foie gras in Singapore (and later in Australia and New Zealand), and UK’s Meatly earned UK approval to commercialise cultivated chicken for pets, following Aleph Farms‘s greenlight in Israel in December 2023. Plus, regulators in the EU, South Korea, and Thailand received their first applications.

“Although some uncertainty exists due to shifting political winds around the globe, more approvals are likely in 2025,” said GFI. “These approvals will increase the number of cultivated meat products on the market while also generating new and more robust data on their safety and nutritional profile”

The post Global Plant-Based Sales Up By 5% in 2024 Despite US Setback: New Report appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 28, 2025

Florida’s Attempt to Dismiss Cultivated Meat Lawsuit Denied by Judge

4 Mins Read
Upside Foods has been handed an initial legal victory after a judge denied Florida’s request to dismiss the lawsuit against its cultivated meat ban.

The lawsuit against Florida’s ban on cultivated meat is going ahead, after a judge rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

In a 29-page ruling, Mark Walker, chief judge of the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida, granted cultivated meat producer Upside Foods a “first-round victory” in its challenge against Florida’s decision last Friday.

The judge’s decision to deny Florida’s attempt to dismiss the case means it will continue to move forward in the trial court. It comes months after Walker rejected Upside Foods’s request to grant a preliminary injunction to exhibit its cultivated chicken at December’s Art Basel festival in Miami.

Why Florida banned cultivated meat – and why it’s being sued

Courtesy: Ron DeSantis/Twitter

Upside Foods was among the first two startups to be allowed to sell cultivated meat in the US back in 2021, receiving approval from both the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration. It rolled out the chicken at Michelin-starred eatery Bar Crenn in San Francisco, and has since been hosting pop-up events at various restaurants across the US.

But in 2024, amid a growing wave of politically charged discontent against cultivated meat, Florida passed a bill that made it a crime to produce or sell cultivated meat, in what was the first such ban on these products in the US.

“Some people think Florida is theme parks, South Beach and maybe some oranges, but they don’t understand that we have one of the top cattle industries in the country,” Governor Ron DeSantis said when signing the legislation in May.

“What we’re protecting here is the industry against acts of man, against an ideological agenda that wants to finger agriculture as the problem, that views things like raising cattle as destroying our climate,” he added. “Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere. We’re not doing that in the state of Florida.”

Weeks after the law took effect in July, Upside Foods filed its legal complaint, labelling the ban “unconstitutional”. The lawsuit alleges that the move violates the federal Commerce Clause, which gives the national government exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce. The plaintiff argues that Florida’s law was enacted to protect in-state producers of conventional meat from out-of-state cultivated meat manufacturers.

Upside Foods, reprinted by the Institute for Justice, additionally suggests that the decision by two federal departments to allow the sale of its cultivated chicken in the interstate market supersedes any contrary state laws, as outlined in the Supremacy Clause.

The lawsuit and the subsequent rejection of the preliminary injunction cancelled the company’s scheduled appearances at Art Basel and the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, and postponed its planned debut at a restaurant in the state in early 2025.

Upside Foods ‘not looking to replace meat’

Courtesy: Kevin Martin Galante/Upside Foods

“One of the primary reasons for the enactment of the Constitution was to secure a national common market,” said Paul Sherman, a senior attorney at ICJ. “Today’s ruling is an important vindication of the principle that states cannot close their borders to innovative out-of-state competition, and a warning to other states that are considering banning cultivated meat.”

The ruling comes at a time when attempts to ban cultivated meat have become fashionable in the US, just as conventional meat sales reached a record high in 2024. Alabama and Mississippi have joined Florida in making this a law.

Nebraska is close to finalising a ban too, while South Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia, Montana, Wyoming and Georgia are some of the others that are mulling the move this year.

These efforts are fuelled by a cultural shift in the US, as beef becomes a favourite amid a renewed wave of Americana and right-wing influence, the rise of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again movement, and his crusade against ultra-processed foods.

But historically, over 20 states have attempted to ban cultivated meat – from Kentucky, New York, and Tennessee to Pennsylvania, Texas and Arizona – but most of these efforts have fallen by the wayside.

Even members of the meat industry have criticised these attempts. In a letter sent to DeSantis in March 2024, the North American Meat Institute called the ban “bad public policy”. “These bills establish a precedent for adopting policies and regulatory requirements that could one day adversely affect the bills’ supporters,” it said, emphasising the importance of consumer choice.

“Upside is not looking to replace conventional meat, which will always have a place at the table,” said Uma Valeti, co-founder and CEO of Upside Foods, which is pursuing approval to sell a new shredded chicken product by the end of this year.

“All we are asking for is the right to compete, so that Floridians can try our product and see that it is possible to have delicious meat without the need for slaughtering animals,” he added. “Today’s ruling is an important step towards securing that right.”

The post Florida’s Attempt to Dismiss Cultivated Meat Lawsuit Denied by Judge appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 23, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Earth Day, 30 Under 30 & Spirulina Salmon

6 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Purple Carrot’s partnership with Fable Foods, Gosh!’s new points-based packaging, and SimpliiGood’s spirulina-based salmon.

New products and launches

Plant-based meal company Purple Carrot has added Fable Foods‘s Pulled Shiitake mushrooms to its lineup, including the Bluff Bourguignon Stew and BBQ Burnt Ends kits.

Courtesy: Purple Carrot

US non-dairy creamer brand Laird Superfood has released a larger 750ml pack of its functional-mushroom-infused coffee creamers, which come in Unsweetened, Sweet & Creamy, Cinnamon and Vanilla flavours.

In the UK, ready-to-eat vegan food brand Gosh! has revamped its packaging with a new ‘Plant Points’ system aimed at supporting the goal of eating 30 plants a week. Each point denotes the inclusion of a fruit, vegetable, whole grain, legume, or seed, and each of the brand’s products has a minimum of six points.

Courtesy: Gosh!

To mark Earth Day (April 22), Dutch cultivated pork startup Meatable has joined forces with Food Tank, the United Nations Global Compact, and The Hunger Project to tackle climate change and global hunger through the food system.

Also in honour of Earth Day, Indian plant-based brand Blue Tribe – backed by actress Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli – has launched an Eat Green Initiative to promote sustainable eating. The weeklong campaign (April 22-28) sees employees and influencers share recipes made with the company’s products.

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At the ongoing Expo 2025 Osaka, members of Japan’s Cultivated Meat Future Creation Consortium are showcasing 3D-printed cultured meat and an at-home marbled meat maker, aiming to commercialise the products by 2031.

Company and finance updates

Indian plant protein manufacturer Proeon Foods has secured a €1M grant from the Province of South Holland, as part of the European Regional Development Fund, for its EGGcellent project. The startup is working with precision fermentation firm Vivici, Applikon Biotechnology, and Planet B.io to develop an egg alternative for industrial baking applications.

Relsus, a Singaporean producer of functional plant-based ingredients, has opened a commercial-scale manufacturing facility in Ujjain, India.

Courtesy: Quevana

In Europe, cashew cheese maker Quevana has opened a 2,400 sq m facility in Segovia, Spain, which will double its capacity to over 400,000 units of fermented dairy-free cheese each month.

Swiss vegan seafood startup Catchfree has raised $1.45M in seed funding to scale up production and commercialise its plant-based shrimp, fish burgers, and fish bites this summer.

Elin Roberts and Christopher Kong, the co-founders and co-CEOs of British tempeh startup Better Nature, have been named in the Art & Culture of Forbes‘s 30 Under 30 list.

Courtesy: SimpliiGood

Armed with a $4M grant from the Israel Innovation Authority, AlgaeCore Technologies‘s SimpliiGood has secured European approval to commercialise its spirulina-based smoked salmon alternative. It is now pursuing clearance in the US too, has pilots with several companies, and will launch its first products as part of private-label brands within the next six months.

Alternative protein think tank The Good Food Institute is experiencing a change at the top, with CEO Ilya Sheyman departing in June. Jessica Almy, senior VP of policy and government relations, will take over as interim chief as the organisation hunts its next CEO.

Likewise, at US molecular farming pioneer Moolec, co-founder Gastón Paladini has stepped down as CEO.

Courtesy: Moolec Science

Californian vegan frozen foods maker Sunday Supper has expanded its executive team, adding Spencer Oberg as CEO, Matt Williams as head of sales, and Chris Hays as CMO, as it kickstarts a $2.5M seed funding round.

Meanwhile, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia has invested $5M in the newly opened Neptune Bioinnovation Centre in Dartmouth. The 4,738 sq m facility will offer precision fermentation and spray drying capacity, and is set to create over 2,400 jobs and contribute $334M to the region’s annual GDP.

Courtesy: Government of Nova Scotia

Event organiser Emerald Expositions has acquired the Plant Based World Expo and its media platform, Plant Based World Pulse, from JD Events for an undisclosed sum. The deal includes both the North American and European editions of the show.

Research and policy developments

Amid the hike in dairy sales in the UK, plant-based milk is also on the rise for the first time since 2022, with sales volumes up by 2.1% between February 2024 and 2025. Oat milk is the leader, with a 7.2% growth in that period – it’s set to take 40% of the non-dairy market this year, according to Kantar.

In related news, British bakery chain Gail’s has dropped the surcharge on soy milk after a Peta campaign, offering the alternative for free from May 21. However, it will still ask customers to pay 40-60p extra if they want oat milk.

Courtesy: Gail’s

The US Department of Agriculture has cancelled the $3B Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities programme that aimed to promote environmentally friendly farming practices. The revocation of the Biden-era initiative is part of the Trump administration’s sweeping climate rollbacks.

In Canada, meanwhile, candidates from all four major political parties will participate in an election debate about animal protection today (April 23), organised by a group of animal welfare organisations, including Animal Justice and World Animal Protection.

Courtesy: Kai Kitschenberg/Funke Foto Services

In its TrendTracker 2024 report, food giant Cargill found that 73% of consumers want their governments to set stricter environmental standards for the chocolate supply, just as European plant-based chocolates and desserts grew by 25% annually between 2019 and 2023.

Swapping out red meat for plant-based alternatives and choosing non-dairy milks can help cut the average Australian household’s emissions by six tonnes a year, research by the George Institute for Global Health has found.

Courtesy: Technical University of Denmark

Finally, researchers from Novonesis and the Technical University of Denmark suggest that the bacteria in lactic acid could help reduce off-flavours and degrade anti-nutrients in plant-based dairy products, enhancing their taste profile and nutrient bioavailability.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

The post Future Food Quick Bites: Earth Day, 30 Under 30 & Spirulina Salmon appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 21, 2025

Govt-Backed Report Shows How Finland Can Build A €1B Future Food Economy

6 Mins Read
Finland is well-placed to become a cellular agriculture leader, with its export potential set to reach €1B in the next decade – but funding and regulation challenges must be addressed.

In a decade’s time, cultivated meat, cell-based cocoa, and carbon-derived proteins could amount to €1B in export value in Finland, according to a government-commissioned report.

The country’s natural resources and biotech expertise leave it on the cusp of becoming a global leader in the cellular agriculture field, which involves the use of microbial, plant and animal cell cultures to produce proteins, fats, coffee and cocoa (among other products) in bioreactors.

While a majority of young adults in Finland (83%) have a positive or neutral attitude towards new technologies in food production, there are several challenges that the ecosystem needs to address before it can reach its market potential, according to researchers at the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, the Natural Resources Institute Finland, and University of Helsinki.

Commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Business Finland, the experts lay out a policy roadmap to help Finland become a leader in this sector.

Finland’s future food system will blend cellular and traditional agriculture

Courtesy: VTT

The country is already home to food tech leaders like Solar Foods (maker of Solein gas protein), Onego Bio (which makes egg proteins via precision fermentation), and Enifer (producer of Pekilo mycoprotein).

“One of Finland’s biggest challenges currently is the lack of capital, which limits the growth opportunities of cellular agriculture,” said VTT’s Emilia Nordlund, who led the study. “Building production facilities requires large investments, and success will not come without government support to accelerate investments and realise venture capital investments.”

The nation is home to a variety of carbohydrate-rich side streams like straw, sawdust, wood chips, and grass biomass, which could be utilised as feedstocks for cellular agriculture. For instance, if more than half of the straw were used as a sugar source for microbes, the amount of food produced would be enough to meet the annual protein needs of the population.

“The future food system will be based on the interplay between modern agriculture and cellular agriculture, utilising circular economy solutions,” said Päivi Nerg, state secretary from the agriculture ministry. “We must identify the necessary change paths and ensure that measures consider the entire chain, from farmers to consumers and other stakeholders.”

Teija Lahti-Nuuttila, executive director of Business Finland, added: “Finnish companies should recognise their strengths as part of emerging new value networks and build their competitiveness in the long term together with research organisations. Business Finland is already currently funding ambitious cellular agriculture RDI projects, so there is no need to wait for a separate programme.”

The researchers have come up with an eight-point plan to tackle the bottlenecks of Finland’s cellular agriculture industry and fulfil the estimated annual export value of €500M to €1B by 2035.

1) Ramp up major infrastructure investments

The report states that the country needs an action plan to increase venture capital funding and attract international investor interest, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises. The public sector can “provide support that signals the realisation of private financing”.

Infrastructure investments are critical to enabling new value chains, and the government is being urged to create risk financing and loan instruments to enable factory financing.

Courtesy: Timo Kauppila/Onego Bio

2) Ease EU novel food regulation

One of the biggets bottlenecks for the cellular agriculture industry concerns regulation – the EU’s novel food stringent framework has “significantly” slowed progress and left it playing catch-up with other markets. The report suggests setting up an office in Finland to support startups with the novel food process through advice and financial backing.

This office would actively influence the EU to expedite and ease the adoption of novel technologies, something that Finnish policymakers must support. Reviewing agricultural subsidies is also key, since these novel food technologies aren’t covered by any EU subsidies yet.

3) Build a €100M R&D programme

Finland should introduce a five-year, €100M R&D programme that would produce future food innovations, making use of the nation’s technological expertise and abundant natural resources.

The multidisciplinary initiative would ensure the development of value chains at the regional level too, while facilitating long-term development and economic growth. In addition, it will help the country achieve its target of increasing R&D spending to 4% of the GDP.

Courtesy: Solar Foods

4) Establish a future food ministry

The researchers propose creating a joint working group or organisation of ministries to develop the future food system, support the R&D programme, and promote cross-sector collaboration. This Ministry of Future Food would enable a broad perspective for a common goal to develop both conventional and cellular agriculture, boost the value chain, and enable competitiveness.

Another solution would be to establish a food innovation centre that would take overall responsibility for the implementation of R&D activities, including political decisions.

5) Expand education to secure future experts

While Finland has a sufficient knowledge base, the critical mass is not enough – there should be closer cooperation between education and training organisations to produce experts for the food sector. The report says it is “critical” that the number of industrial biotech experts increases in Finland.

The government’s Growth Programme goal to increase food experts also requires training people about exports. Education programmes focused on future solutions can enable the internationalisation of an expert corps in the country. The talent environment should embrace even those with limited proficiency in Finnish.

Courtesy: Vesa Kippola

6) Conduct public tastings to educate consumers

The report calls for the spread of “strong and inspiring stories” about the future food system to enhance consumer knowledge and acceptance. One way to do this would be to create a ‘showroom’ to present novel foods and provide examples of how cellular agriculture can work in tandem with conventional farming.

Moreover, Finland should follow the lead of European states like the Netherlands to allow public tastings of these foods before they go through the lengthy approval process – the government needs to create a national model to enable these events, which would increase the industry’s chances of success and dispel any prejudices from consumers.

7) Incorporate primary production in the novel food industry

Finland’s rich feedstock supply can help the cellular agriculture industry, though there are challenges with production, processing, storage, and logistics. This is why cooperating with primary producers is crucial – for them, this industry can open up new business opportunities. According to the report, business models and practical trials need to be developed to create this value for primary producers.

Further, the opportunities for cooperation can strengthen the role of agricultural entrepreneurs and the financial profitability of farms when underutilised feedstocks are converted into a business.

Courtesy: VTT

8) Target export support functions for cell-based food

While local production and related product exports are key to the growth and export potential of cellular agriculture in Finland, the equipment and technology exports, IP licensing, and value chains and factories built by Finnish companies overseas can play a crucial role too.

Given that this is a young, startup-driven market with a wide range of opportunities, export support functions should be built specifically to meet the needs of the sector to ensure that growth is effectively enabled.

The post Govt-Backed Report Shows How Finland Can Build A €1B Future Food Economy appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 21, 2025

Could This Be the Holy Grail of Cultivated Meat?

4 Mins Read
Researchers in Japan say they’ve reached a “breakthrough” in tissue engineering that could open up “transformative opportunities” for cultivated meat production.

To solve one of cultivated meat’s biggest challenges, scientists have resorted to the circulatory system.

The same way blood vessels carry nutrients and oxygen to cells to help animals grow, scientists from the University of Tokyo have devised a “breakthrough” method to deliver these nutrients to artificial tissue, making it possible to grow whole cuts of cultivated meat, the holy grail for the future food industry.

Currently, most production methods can only render tiny pieces of cultivated meat (akin to mince), which are then assembled into a larger product via edible scaffolds, or combined with plant-based binders and ingredients to form a whole piece.

The problem lies in the random distribution of hollow fibres, which prevents uniform nutrient delivery and hinders tissue quality. Shoji Takeuchi and his colleagues have come up with what they say is a “scalable, top-down strategy” for producing whole cuts of cultivated meat using a perfusable hollow fibre bioreactor.

Could this be the future of cultivated meat?

Courtesy: Shoji Takeuchi

The study, published in the Trends in Biotechnology journal, explained that getting enough oxygen and nutrients to the cells in the centre of thick tissues is a major hurdle. Diffusion alone can’t sustain cells across considerable distances.

To overcome that, the researchers developed a bioreactor equipped with an array of semi-permeable hollow fibres that function as artificial circulation systems, which ensured uniform nutrient distribution throughout the tissue.

“We’re using semipermeable hollow fibres, which mimic blood vessels in their ability to deliver nutrients to the tissues,” said Takeuchi.

“These fibres are already commonly used in household water filters and dialysis machines for patients with kidney disease. It’s exciting to discover that these tiny fibres can also effectively help create artificial tissues and, possibly, whole organs in the future,” he added.

“We overcame the challenge of achieving perfusion across thick tissues by arranging hollow fibres with microscale precision,” Takeuchi says.

Tissues without an integrated circular system have generally been limited to a thickness of less than 1mm, but this new method allowed the scientists to produce a 2cm thick piece of chicken muscle that was several centimetres long and wide. Made using chicken fibroblast cells, which make up connective tisuse, the meat weighed 11g, and was about the size of a chicken nugget.

Further, the hollow fibre bioreactor had microfabricated anchors to promote cell alignment. And when using active perfusion, the chicken muscle tissue showcased higher protein expression and improved taste and texture.

Many obstacles to overcome

Courtesy: Shoji Takeuchi

“Cultured meat offers a sustainable, ethical alternative to conventional meat,” said Takeuchi. “However, replicating the texture and taste of whole-cut meat remains difficult. Our technology enables the production of structured meat with improved texture and flavour, potentially accelerating its commercial viability.”

Speaking of which, there’s still a lot to do and a long way to go before this production method can scale up and make cultivated meat fit for our plates.

There are several reasons why. The hollow fibres are not edible and must be pulled from the meat by hand, so the team is working on automating their removal or replacing them with edible cellulose fibres that can be left in and fine-tune the texture of the meat.

In terms of scaling up, as the tissue size increases, ensuring a sufficient oxygen supply becomes more challenging. So future versions of the bioreactor may need artificial blood to help carry more oxygen to cells and grow larger pieces of cultivated meat.

The researchers used cells cultured in a medium containing animal serum too, which is expensive and raises ethical concerns. To commercialise the product, the team would likely need to use plant-derived collagen and serum-free culture media, something many companies are already doing.

“Alongside solving these technological issues, regulatory challenges must also be addressed, including the approval of materials and processes for food production by relevant authorities, such as the FDA or European Food Safety Authority,” the study noted. “In addition, fostering a culture that embraces new foods is essential for the acceptance of cultured meat products by the public.”

Speaking to the Guardian, Takeuchi said with enough funding, products made using this approach could be available in five to 10 years. “At first, it will likely be more expensive than conventional chicken, mainly due to material and production costs,” he said. “However, we are actively developing food-grade, scalable systems, and if successful, we expect the cost to decrease substantially over time.”

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April 16, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: This Isn’t Ravioli, Jaguar Land Rover & Earthshot Prize

5 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers This’s pasta partnership with Ugo Foods Group, Starday’s $11M Series A round, and a nomination for the Earthshot Prize.

New products and launches

London-based meat alternative startup This and Ugo Foods Group‘s vegan ravioli products are hitting supermarkets, with the Bacon & Cheese and Chicken & Pesto flavours now available at 250 Morrisons stores, priced at £6 for two packs.

Courtesy: This

UK plant-based milk maker Rude Health has introduced a clean-label iced coffee range in oat latte and mocha variants. The 750ml ready-to-drink Tetra Paks are available at Waitrose for £3.75, and Ocado at the end of the month.

Also in the UK, plant protein brand Tibah Tempeh has released a Smoky Block. It’s available for £3 per 220g pack at Ocado (from April 18), and Sainsbury’s and Waitrose at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, free-from snacking company Crave has expanded its lineup with a gluten-free, vegan Pink Cheetahs wafer biscuit, available at 480 Sainsbury’s stores for £2 per 100g.

Courtesy: Eurest

In more news from the island, Eurest – the corporate division of Compass Group, the world’s largest catering company – partnered with plant-based chef duo Bosh! for a new vegan smokehouse menu at Jaguar Land Rover‘s head office in Warwickshire.

Vegan meal kit brand Grubby has partnered with artisanal non-dairy cheese maker Julienne Bruno on a limited-edition Creamy Burrata-Topped Za’atar-Spiced Squash option for Easter.

Across the Atlantic, Fungi protein startup Nature’s Fynd, meanwhile, has launched Spicy Indian Fy Bites at Plantega locations in New York City. They contain 14g of protein and 5g of fibre per serving.

Courtesy: Nature’s Fynd

Miyoko’s Creamery has rolled out a new flavour of its spreadable cashew cheese. The Jalapeño Plant Milk Cheese Spread can be found at Nugget Market stores for $6.99 per 8oz tub, with further retailers to follow this summer.

Vegan cheese giant Violife has partnered with James Beard Award finalist Dan Richer to launch the first-ever non-dairy pizza at his Jersey City pizzeria Razza. The Spicy Vegan Vodka Pizza is made with plant-based mozzarella shreds and on the menu until the end of the month.

Chilean food tech unicorn NotCo has expanded its partnership with Aeromexico to offer passengers in its Premier and Premier One classes a NotBurger with manchego-inspired NotCheese until May 31.

Courtesy: Vinker

Canada’s Vinker is bringing its vegan Korean Crispy Chick’n to the US, rolling out at Pop Up Grocer in Manhattan, New York.

Germany’s Loryma, a subsidiary of Crespel & Deiters Group, has launched Lory Stab, a stabilising compound of technically treated raw materials to replace eggs and dairy in baked goods.

Swiss plant-based meat leader Planted has announced former wrestler Christian Stucki as a brand ambassador for its upcoming BBQ campaign, alongside a new Paprika steak and listings at several new retailers in Europe.

Courtesy: Planted

In Hong Kong, plant protein producer Ferm by SpiceBox Organic has teamed up with food preservation specialist Ixon to launch a shelf-stable range of tempeh, vegan meatballs, and plant-based meat sauce for pasta.

And in India, Mumbai’s Bandra district is home to Pause Café, a new all-vegan 32-seater eatery serving continental dishes and desserts.

Company, policy and awards

Speaking of restaurants, US vegan taco chain Tacotarian has launched a franchise programme as part of its expansion strategy.

Courtesy: Starday

AI-powered plant-based snacking brand Starday has raised $11M in Series A funding to accelerate its retail expansion and partner with retailers and CPG brands to create bespoke products. It takes the company’s total funding to $20M.

Meanwhile, US precision fermentation manufacturer Liberation Labs has received a strategic investment from Saudi Arabia’s Neom Investment Fund to establish a local facility for Neom’s food company, Topian.

US manufacturing specialist SPX Flow has partnered with the Danish Agricultural Agency‘s Green Development and Demonstration Program’s LinkingOat project to advance oat-based product development.

Courtesy: Beneo

In Germany, plant-based functional food ingredient maker Beneo has opened a €50M pulse processing in Orbigheim. The 4,000 sq m facility also produces Palatinose, a ‘smart carb’ ingredient that promotes GLP-1 release.

Ramkumar Nair, founder and former CEO of mycoprotein startup Mycorena, has established fungi protein firm Smaqo, with a direct-to-consumer focus.

In Spain, the National Centre for Food Technology and Safety‘s EATEX Food Innovation Hub has launched an Agrifoodtech Sandbox to offer companies a “controlled, forward-looking environment” to test breakthrough technologies and products operating at the edge of regulatory frameworks.

Courtesy: Opalia

Finally, Canadian cell-cultured milk maker Opalia has been nominated for the 2025 Earthshot Prize by Impact Entrepreneur.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

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This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 15, 2025

India Inches Closer to Cultivated Meat as Biokraft Foods Prepares Regulatory Filing

4 Mins Read
Mumbai-based food tech startup Biokraft Foods has debuted cultured seafood prototypes in collaboration with the government, and will apply for regulatory approval for cultivated chicken this summer.

Cultivated meat is inching closer to Indian plates.

Biokraft Foods, a Mumbai-based startup, will soon make the first application to sell cultivated meat in the world’s most populous country.

“We will file for the approval of the chicken meat product, which is expected to happen in the next two months,” founder and CEO Kamalnayan Tibrewal tells Green Queen.

The development comes just as the startup has raised an undisclosed sum in a pre-seed funding round, with the deal currently under process.

Meanwhile, it has also unveiled structured fish products made by cultivating the cells of native trout species, as part of a project with a government-backed research institute.

Working with the ICAR-Central Institute of Coldwater Fisheries Research (ICAR-CICFR), which falls under India’s agricultural ministry, Biokraft Foods has developed fish cell lines and applied its 3D printing technology and bioink to transform these cells into whole-cut cultivated fish.

“We are working on snow and rainbow trout, a Himalayan delicacy with a huge value proposition in terms of pricing,” says Tibrewal. “Given our collaboration with ICAR-CICFR, whose primary work is around trout fishes, it made sense to proceed with that.”

Mixing cultivated fish cells with plants and algae

Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

Trout is a high-value fish with limited availability in India, making it an expensive source of seafood. Several populations of trout are considered either endangered or threatened, and farming this fish is a resource-intensive, planet-harming process.

Biokraft aims to address these challenges through cell cultivation. Its tech platform for cultivated chicken uses 3D bioprinting to replicate the texture, taste, and structure of conventional meat, and it’s using the same tech to produce seafood.

The resulting product is said to be “structurally and nutritionally on par with conventional trout”, with year-round production without any dependence on animal farming, wild catch, or fragile ecosystems. It would further eliminate any antibiotic contamination and microplastic pollution.

According to the startup, cell cultivation also has the potential to bring down prices over time through scale and process optimisation. But for now, it’s still using the controversial and expensive fetal bovine serum in “certain concentrations in the medium”.

“The long-term goal is to keep it serum-free. It is too early to discuss the unit economics, but it will be priced lower than conventional trout meat,” says Tibrewal.

As for the composition of the new seafood products, he reveals: “The current cell biomass stands at 3% due to the slow doubling rate of cells, but we want to boost it up to 10% if unit economics allows. Apart from that, we are using algal and plant-based ingredients.”

Biokraft Foods to host a series of public tastings

Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

“At ICAR-CICFR, our mandate has been to promote sustainable coldwater fisheries through advanced research and innovation,” said Amit Pande, principal scientist at the research institute.

“The collaborative development of India’s first cultivated trout product with Biokraft Foods exemplifies how academic institutions and emerging industry players can jointly contribute to the evolution of alternative protein sources. This initiative not only aligns with our vision of conserving aquatic biodiversity but also opens up new avenues for cell-based aquaculture research in India.”

The development comes months after Biokraft Foods hosted India’s first public tasting of cultivated meat, serving over 30 attendees a hybrid chicken breast with cultivated chicken cells mixed with plant-based and algal ingredients.

“A series of tasting events are lined up starting next month and will primarily focus on chicken,” Tibrewal says now. “The trout product is still under development and will need to undergo validation trials before making it public.”

The company is also opening a dedicated R&D and pilot facility by the end of this year, which will act as a hub for innovation. “The plan is under development but will be implemented in a step-by-step manner,” he says.

Biokraft Foods has already been consulting with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as the regulator established a framework for novel foods, and aims to achieve a commercial rollout of both its meat and seafood products by 2026.

A 2024 survey found that over 60% of Indians are willing to buy cultivated meat, with 59% identifying it as an alternative to conventional meat that promotes nutritional security. And it’s not just citizens – the government has also been keen on these proteins, as evidenced by the ICAR-CICFR’s involvement.

The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and New Delhi-based startup Neat Meatt are co-developing cultivated seafood in a similar project, and Singaporean pioneer Umami Bioworks has established R&D and commercialisation partnerships with two research hubs in India.

The post India Inches Closer to Cultivated Meat as Biokraft Foods Prepares Regulatory Filing appeared first on Green Queen.

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April 9, 2025

BioCraft Pet Nutrition Strikes Deal to Produce ‘Mouse Mousse’ with 99% Cultivated Meat

5 Mins Read
Alternative protein startup BioCraft Pet Nutrition is working with Prefera Petfood to manufacture a cat food product with 99% cultivated mouse meat.

Shortly after registering its cultivated mouse meat with Austrian regulators – paving the way for market entry in the EU – BioCraft Pet Nutrition has signed a co-manufacturing deal to scale up production of its ingredient.

The US startup – which has a lab in Vienna – has linked up with Prefera Petfood, a specialist in premium wet pet food production founded by industry veterans last year, which sells primarily in Europe.

Through the partnership, the two companies will produce a nutritionally complete mousse for cats, made almost entirely of cultivated mouse cells. “The inclusion level of BioCraft’s cell-cultured mouse is 99%. The remaining 1% are plant-based fibres,” Shannon Falconer, co-founder and CEO of BioCraft, told Green Queen.

Now that it is cleared to sell cultivated meat to pet food makers in the EU, the firm is stepping up its production capacity. “We anticipate being able to offer meaningful volumes of our ingredient to pet food manufacturers in Europe in late 2025,” she said.

How BioCraft achieves a high inclusion rate for cultivated meat

Courtesy: BioCraft Pet Nutrition

BioCraft’s cultivated mouse meat slurry is derived from stable, non-GMO cell lines. It is designed to be used as a one-to-one replacement in wet or dry pet food at similar inclusion levels to conventional slurry.

While it’s still a nascent market, it’s common for cultivated meat ingredients to be mixed with a larger proportion of other ingredients – usually plant-based – when they’re sold, since the costs and scale of production are currently prohibitive.

For BioCraft to sell a product with nearly 100% cultivated meat, then, is a “game-changer”, Falconer said. “Most cellular agriculture initiatives struggle to reach high inclusion levels of their ingredient in a final product; however, low inclusion levels don’t accomplish the objective of reducing our reliance on intensive animal agriculture,” she argued.

So how does it manage to do this, while keeping costs manageable? “We have formulated a proprietary, nutrient-rich media made with AAFCO-approved, food-grade ingredients. In this way, the components of the growth media are not only good for our cells – they are also a source of nutrition for cats and dogs,” she explained.

“Rather than harvesting only the biomass — which is what ‘conventional’ cultivated meat producers focus on — BioCraft harvests all components from the bioreactor,” she added. This includes the nutrients that initially went in to support the growth of the cells, and the nutrients and flavour molecules that growing animal cells produce and secrete into the surrounding liquid environment.

“When capturing the biomass alone, these extracellular nutrients and flavour compounds are lost,” said Falconer. Her company’s process allows it to achieve a more nutritious and flavourful ingredient, and offer an affordable price point to pet food manufacturers, even at an almost 100% inclusion rate.

Typically, animal-derived growth media – the mix of proteins, sugar and nutrients that feed animal cells in a bioreactor – cost hundreds of dollars per litre. Last year, BioCraft announced that its product now had a sale price of $2-2.50 per lb, thanks to a plant-based medium formulated to provide a nutritious boost to the end product.

Cultivated pet food in the ascendance

Courtesy: BioCraft Pet Nutrition

BioCraft did not disclose details about the length of the partnership with Prefera Petfood, the production volumes, or the deal’s financials.

The cultivated mouse meat is a hypoallergenic source of protein with functional benefits for pet health. Third-party profiling of over 100 nutrients has shown that BioCraft’s ingredient has comparable levels of taurine, lysine, methionine and tryptophan to that of chicken slurry, and a superior omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

The cell cultivation process is planet-friendly too, while the product is free from bacterial pathogens, viruses, mycotoxins, moulds, and yeasts, as well as biogenic amines and heavy metals.

Importantly, cats seem to like it, with early palatability tests exhibiting “exceptional acceptance rates”. In fact, taste tests have demonstrated a strong preference for BioCraft’s cultivated mouse over conventional meat among felines.

“Cats are notoriously selective eaters, so we’re thrilled with the enthusiastic reception,” said Nicola Magalini, general manager of Prefera Petfood. “It’s clear that our feline friends can’t tell the difference – except perhaps that they prefer it.”

She called the collaboration a milestone in “functional, sustainable and ancestrally appropriate pet nutrition”. “As a company committed to the highest standards of safety and quality, using only real, identifiable ingredients without artificial additives or preservatives, our partnership with BioCraft helps us innovate in ways that benefit both pets and the environment,” she said.

It is the latest development in what’s shaping up to be a big year for alternative pet food. BioCraft, which has raised $6.7M in funding to date, is already in talks with leading manufacturer Partner in Pet Food. Meanwhile, London-based startup Meatly partnered with vegan pet food maker The Pack to launch its cultivated chicken in dog treats at Pets At Home, after becoming the first company to be approved to sell cultivated meat for pet food last year.

Czech startup Bene Meat Technologies – the first to register cultivated pet food as an EU feed material back in 2023 (it did so under the fermentation category) – is awaiting approval from the US Food and Drug Administration too. Speaking of which, Cult Food Science has conducted feeding trials in the US in pursuit of regulatory approval for its Noochies! brand. And Friends & Family Pet Food Co has inked two deals to launch stateside and in Singapore.

The post BioCraft Pet Nutrition Strikes Deal to Produce ‘Mouse Mousse’ with 99% Cultivated Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 9, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Ottolenghi’s Beans, Disneyland & Beyond Meat Doc

5 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Bold Bean Co’s Ottolenghi collaboration, Beyond Meat’s new documentary, and Miyoko Schinner’s upcoming vegan cookbook.

New products and launches

British cult-favourite bean brand Bold Bean Co has teamed up with internationally renowned Israeli-British chef Yotam Ottolenghi to launch a new Queen Black Chickpea SKU. It can be found on both their websites, as well as Waitrose for £4 per 700g jar.

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UK frozen foods retailer Iceland has expanded its collaborative lineup with TGI Fridays to include a melt-in-the-middle vegan burger and a returning sesame-glazed chicken strips SKU.

British fermented food brand The Cultured Collective is bringing its sauerkraut and kimchi to 183 Sainsbury’s stores starting today. The fennel, apple and dill sauerkraut retails for £4.50 per 235g jar, while the original kimchi is priced at £4.75 per 250g jar.

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Hollywood Bowl Group, which operates the Hollywood Bowl and Putt & Play mini-golf centres in the UK, has introduced the Beyond Burger at all its 75 locations in the country. It will cost £6.79 and comes with fries (which are not vegan) or tortillas.

Speaking of which, Beyond Meat has announced a new YouTube documentary, Planting Change, to set the record straight against the meat lobby’s attacks on meat alternatives as ultra-processed foods.

Courtesy: Pulmuone

Plant-based giant Pulmuone has rolled out limited-edition packaging for some of its ranges for Earth Month, which will be used across its Pulmuone, Nasoya, and Wildwood brands.

Meanwhile, Disneyland restaurant Bengal Barbecue has added Impossible Lettuce Wraps to its menu, pairing the pioneer’s plant-based meat with shiitake mushrooms, green onions, and water chestnuts. The dish is priced at $12.49.

Courtesy: Prime Roots

Mycelium-based whole-cut meat maker Prime Roots has expanded to Canada and will introduce its deli range – which includes ham, turkey, pepperoni, salami and bacon – at the Restaurants Canada Show in Toronto (April 9-11) and the Canadian Food Health Association fair in Vancouver (April 24-27).

US startup Oddball has debuted its vegan Jell-O alternative in mango, grape, double berry and pink grapefruit flavours. The jiggly fruit snacks are available on its website for $26.99 per six-pack, and will roll at Sprouts Farmers Market this month.

Courtesy: Better Nature Tempeh

Back in Europe, British tempeh brand Better Nature has rolled out its Organic Tempeh and Smoky Tempeh into 200 more Rewe Mitte stores in Germany, taking its footprint to 350 in the local region and over 1,300 across the country.

French plant-based meat leader La Vie has unveiled a new line of American sandwiches using its pork alternatives. Available at supermarkets nationwide for €3.49, the BBQ Lover (with bacon) and Ranch Lover (with ham) variants come encased in Viennois baguettes.

Courtesy: La Vie

Speaking of French retailers, Carrefour has partnered with Brazilian vegan food maker Vida Veg to add three vegan cheeses – mozzarella and two cream cheese flavours – to its own-label offerings in the increasingly health-conscious Latin American country.

Dairy-free cheese queen Miyoko Schinner has announced September 16 as the release date for her upcoming cookbook, The Vegan Creamery. It’s available for pre-order now ($26.99).

Courtesy: Ten Speed Press

Animal welfare non-profit Connect For Animals has launched a new mobile app to help advocates take action, discover local and virtual events, and meet other like-minded people.

Company and finance updates

Cultivated meat made it to national television in the US, with CBS News interviewing Mission Barns founder and CEO Eitan Fischer and product development director Daniel Ryan about the firm’s cultivated pork fat, which was approved for sale by the FDA last month.

Courtesy: Mission Barns/CBS

Canada’s n!Biomachines, a subsidiary of cell cultivation tech specialist The Cultivated B, has partnered with automation giant Siemens to showcase the Auxo V bioreactor at the 2025 Hannover Messe trade fair (March 31 to April 25), which aims to scale up alternative protein production more efficiently.

Across the Atlantic, British cultivated Wagyu beef maker Ivy Farm Technologies has appointed Gail Francis as its VP of commercial. She was previously the business growth director at Naylor Nutrition.

Courtesy: Ivy Farm Technologies

Also in the UK, vegan restaurant chain Herbivorous is shuttering all three of its sites in Manchester, Sheffield and York due to “increasing costs”

Two vegan startups have won grants under EIT Food’s Fast Track to Market Initiative, with Germany’s BettaF!sh earning €248,000 to launch salmon and tuna salad cans and a seaweed extract, and Austria’s Hooked Foods receiving €221,000 to introduce a Super Protein ingredient with 30-35g of protein per 100g.

Policy and research developments

A new study by CashNetUSA highlights how vegan food prices differ at Walmart stores across the US, with Arkansas being the cheapest (3.8% below the national average) and Hawaii the most expensive (34% above the mean).

Researchers at Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) have created a toolkit to help food manufacturers improve the texture of products. They worked with meat alternative startup v2food to help it assess its work on enhancing its burger’s texture.

Ahmed Khan, a bioscience enterprise MPhil from Cambridge University, became the “first person to speak about cellular agriculture and cultivated meat” during a debate at the Cambridge Union.

Also speaking truth to power was Bernat Anaños, co-founder and comms chief of Spanish plant-based meat leader Heura Foods, who addressed the Congreso de los Diputados (the lower house of Spain’s legislative branch) about the need for a food systems transformation led by plants.

Finally, Toronto-based vegan salmon maker New School Foods has been named one of Canadian Business‘s Innovation Awards winners for 2025.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

The post Future Food Quick Bites: Ottolenghi’s Beans, Disneyland & Beyond Meat Doc appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 8, 2025

Japanese Food Tech Showcases Cultivated Duck Products for Restaurants & Supermarkets

4 Mins Read
Japan’s first cultivated meat company, IntegriCulture, has unveiled several prototype dishes and products made from duck liver cells.

Japanese cellular agriculture specialist IntegriCulture has provided a glimpse of the potential of its cultivated duck liver, as part of several prototypes exhibited at a recent industry session.

With Japan fast becoming a hotspot in Asia’s alternative protein scene, IntegriCulture has been working with supporting companies to conduct R&D on foods derived from cell-cultured duck, with financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’s Small and Medium Enterprise Innovation Promotion Program.

The company has simultaneously been developing prototype foods using the cultivated duck, unveiling four as restaurant menu items, and three as packaged products.

Foie gras, pani puri, and lemon posset highlight versatility

Courtesy: IntegriCulture

IntegriCulture held a sensory evaluation session at its research base, the Shonan Health Innovation Park, with around 30 people in attendance. The firm had established a production line for culturing duck cells and began trial production last year, and this event sought to evaluate the potential of its cultivated duck ingredient, which it has christened ‘Craft Essen’.

The restaurant dishes were based on a “fun and bright” theme, each item developed as an amuse-bouche and using about 30% of the cultivated duck ingredient.

One of these was a sweet and sour posset, combining the duck with soy cream to use as a filling in a hollowed-out lemon, which was topped with rock salt. Another innovation mixed the cultivated ingredient with soy cream, this time paired with pears, pink peppercorns, and Narazuke (traditional pickles).

The third restaurant item was a take on the famous Indian street snack, pani puri, served with spices and flowers. The final dish was made by mixing sweet potatoes with the cultivated duck, which was then wrapped in pie crust and baked.

The three packaged food innovations were developed as products that would be bought frozen, with the inclusion rate of cultivated meat varying vastly. For example, one of the products was a spicy blood sausage with 20% cultivated duck, soy milk, vegetable fats, and spices, while another was a liver paste with 80% duck plus cocoa powder (though the high amount of cultivated meat makes it cost-prohibitive).

The third CPG product was reminiscent of foie gras, combining 30% cultivated duck with vegetable oil, soy milk, egg white, and other ingredients to lend a soft texture and rich mouthfeel.

Cultivated duck impresses taste-testers

Courtesy: IntegriCulture

The scaffolds used to produce the cultivated duck were built by San-Ei Gen FFI, one of the newest members of IntegriCulture’s CulNet Consortium, which harbours innovative startups to advance production technologies for cultivated meat.

“The unique creamy texture was rich and delicious, and I wanted to eat it with wine,” Atsushi Nakagawa, director of San-Ei Gen FFI, said of the products. “The sensory evaluation session made me realise the great potential of cell-cultured foods as new food ingredients.”

The event was facilitated by the newly formed Craft Essen Council, established to promote the launch and consumer acceptance of the namesake cultivated duck. “Japan has finally reached a phase where we can discuss cultured foods with the general public while showing actual products. It is now important to deepen understanding toward social implementation,” said Tatsuya Shimizu, a professor at Tokyo Women’s Medical University and the council’s chair.

“All the dishes on the restaurant menu had a smooth texture, and I was able to enjoy a new sensation of umami in the desserts and sweets. In addition, the processed foods had a stronger animal-based umami flavour, and I felt that it could be used as a food ingredient in a variety of menus,” said Satoshi Tatsumi, life innovation general manager at Sumitomo Riko.

Cultivated meat advances in Japan

Courtesy: Hoxton Farms

“I hope that, as culture technology advances, consideration will be given to the implementation of this technology in society,” Satoshi added.

His comments come just as his firm’s sister company, Sumitomo Corporation, has partnered with British startup Hoxton Farms to commercialise its cultivated fat product in Japan and other Asian countries.

Hoxton Farms and Sumitomo are consulting with the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA) – also a member of the Craft Essen Council – which will be pivotal in shaping the regulatory and social acceptance of cultivated meat in the country.

A 2024 survey found that 42% of Japanese consumers are willing to try cultivated meat products, but the creation of government regulations is key for 44% of those who are unsure about their safety aspects.

IntegriCulture, meanwhile, is Japan’s first cultivated meat company, and released a Cell-Cultured Meat Starter Kit on its B2B marketplace, Ocatté Base, last year. This included an oxygen-permeable bioreactor co-created with Sumitomo Riko.

The firm has received $16.4M in equity funding, and gained a ¥1.87B ($13.1M) grant from the Japanese government to advance the CulNet platform and make its developments open-source. And earlier this year, it received a special overdraft loan of ¥100M ($685,000) from Mizuho Bank.

The post Japanese Food Tech Showcases Cultivated Duck Products for Restaurants & Supermarkets appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
April 7, 2025

Cultured Quail Startup Vow Gets FSANZ Regulatory Approval in Australia & New Zealand

6 Mins Read
Known for its cultured quail, Sydney-based Vow has received regulatory approval from Food Standards Australia New Zealand, a first for cultivated meat in the region.

Australian food tech startup Vow has become the first startup to be allowed to sell cultivated meat in more than two geographies.

The Sydney company has apparently received the regulatory green light from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the joint regulator for the Antipodean nations, for its cultured quail, according to an approval report dated today (April 7, 2025) uploaded to the regulator’s website.

It ends a protracted process that started in early 2023 and involved two rounds of public consultation, during which Vow succeeded in getting regulatory clearance to sell the cultivated meat product in Singapore and by extension, Hong Kong (the latter does not have its own regulatory process for novel foods, but relied on approval Singapore under a framework of international cooperation).

In an interview with Green Queen last year, Vow co-founder and CEO George Peppou had predicted that the company would receive approval in Q1 2025, and that prophecy rang true, with the FSANZ approving the application on March 27 and notifying the Food Ministers’ Meeting of its decision today.

“FSANZ conducted a full and independent evidence-based assessment of all media inputs and was satisfied their use and/or presence did not raise any safety concerns,” the agency noted in its assessment.

“At the estimated consumption levels, there were no toxicological concerns related to the cell media or inputs used in the production process,” it said.

Courtesy: Vow

What the FSANZ said about Vow’s cultured quail application

Vow submitted its dossier in February 2023, seeking permission to use “cultured quail cells, derived from embryonic fibroblasts of Japanese quail, as a novel food ingredient” in Australia and New Zealand.

FSANZ issued a call for public comments in December 2023 and another 12 months later. The second round received 22 responses, with each submission considered as part of the agency’s assessment of the cultured quail cells.

The food safety body noted that “cell line suppliers already operate according to good laboratory practices (GLP) and good cell-culturing practices (GCCP) to manage risks”, and therefore, the overall food safety risk for cell lines is “very low”. It added that cell line suppliers aren’t expressly required to ensure that “inputs do not make cell-cultured food unsafe or unsuitable”.

FSANZ further noted that cultivated meat cannot be included in “special purpose foods” like sports foods, infant formula, or food for special medical purposes without additional pre-market assessments.

One public comment brought forward the question of whether cultivated meat products should be categorized as ultra-processed and the “adverse health outcomes” they’re linked to. In response, the FSANZ said the issue of UPFs is beyond the scope of the application.

Courtesy: Vow Food

“The nutrition risk assessment considered the macronutrient and micronutrient content of harvested cells including components introduced during the production process and found no nutritional concerns,” it concluded, adding that the harvested cells were unlikely to pose a food allergenicity risk.

FSANZ confirmed that Vow did not request that its cultured quail be sold as a single ingredient in retail. Instead, it will be mixed with other ingredients – as is the norm for cultivated meat, including Vow’s – to produce dishes in restaurants and foodservice establishments.

Addressing concerns about the high costs of cultivated meat and its impact on farmers, the FSANZ suggested that “certain industry costs and regulator costs are necessary to ensure safety and are unlikely to outweigh overall benefits to industry, consumers and government”.

The assessment’s outlook on the potential for cultivated meat is encouraging for the industry at large: “The consideration of costs and benefits acknowledges that cell-cultured foods are in their infancy with uncertain market growth. That takes into consideration the currently high production costs and uncertainty of the future speed or extent of technology developments for reducing production costs.”

A huge win for cultivated meat amid global challenges

This is a big win for Vow and the cultivated meat sector as a whole, which has been embattled of late due to funding and geopolitical challenges. Private investment in cultivated meat startups fell by 75% in 2023 and another 40% in 2024.

Cultivated meat has faced numerous cultural and political challenges of late. Italy prohibited the production and sale of cultivated meat in 2023. In the US, over 20 states have attempted to ban these proteins, and three have been successful. With Donald Trump as president and Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary, regulatory progress for cultivated meat looks uncertain – although the US did issue its third initial approval, for cultivated pork fat by San Francisco-based Mission Barns, last month.

Still, the future of the sector remains murky in the US, and that has opened up opportunities for other countries to emerge as leaders. Singapore is already at the forefront, having been the first to approve cultivated meat back in 2020, and following it up with its green light for Vow last year.

Courtesy: Vow

Other leaders could include Israel, which approved its homegrown cultivated beef maker Aleph Farms, and the UK, which has just opened a regulatory sandbox for a select group of cultivated startups. Experts believe South Korea could grant an approval this year as well, while regulators in the EU, Switzerland, and Thailand are evaluating applications. With the Vow approval, Australia and New Zealand are well-positioned to be key players in the field.

The FSANZ approval comes weeks after Vow cut back 30% of its workforce, a decision Peppou described as coming from a “position of strength as the industry leader, not a position of weakness”.

“However, given the complexity and novelty of the regulatory process for cultured meat, it has taken far longer than initially expected to secure regulatory approval in the markets which Vow has targeted,” he said at the time. “This is not a criticism of the regulators, but rather an acknowledgement of the care and thoroughness necessary to ensure cultured meat is completely safe for human consumption and regulated appropriately.

The company, which also makes cultured foie gras, is currently selling its products at various restaurants and bakeries in Singapore through its Forged brand, with rave reviews from tasters. One of them told Green Queen: “What stood out to me was that it was genuinely delicious.”

And just last week, the company claimed to have broken a world record by harvesting 20,000 litres of cell culture through its Andromeda bioreactor.

Vow – which went viral and appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for its woolly mammoth meatball stunt in 2023 – has secured $55M from investors to date, commercialising with a smaller outlay than competitors that have received approval, including Upside Foods ($608M), Eat Just ($270M), Aleph Farms ($147M), and Mission Barns ($60M).

This is a developing story. Green Queen has contacted Vow for a comment on this story.

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April 3, 2025

CellX Debuts World’s First Morel Mycelium Jerky with New US Brand Mourish

5 Mins Read
Chinese food tech player CellX has self-determined its first-of-a-kind morel mycelium ingredient as safe in the US, launching high-protein snacks under new consumer brand Mourish.

Chinese startup CellX is entering the US with what it claims is the world’s first morel mushroom mycelium, rolling out a line of jerky products under new consumer brand Mourish (Mushrooms That Nourish).

The firm has self-affirmed its morel ingredient under the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) provision in the US, a regulatory pathway that lets companies sell products based on independent scientific evaluations. While these must adhere to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) requirements, they don’t legally mandate a review by the agency.

The future of self-affirmation is uncertain, with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr calling it a loophole and asking the FDA to potentially scrap it. It would require food producers to submit their safety conclusions to the FDA and wait for a no-objections letter before they can commercialise ingredients.

“It’s unfortunate, but… the change will likely take years to take effect,” Ziliang Yang, co-founder and CEO of CellX, tells Green Queen. He confirmed that the firm plans to notify the FDA “in the near future”.

Right now though, Yang is looking forward to building Mourish- jerkies are now available on its website and Amazon- with plans to enter US supermarkets later in the year.

Yang aims to make the morel mycelium available to other manufacturers further down the line. “We have started exploring B2B opportunities since last year, and have a few active partners that we are testing the ingredient with,” he says. “We hope to enable brands to create innovative products with our mushroom mycelium protein.”

Courtesy: CellX/Mourish

How CellX grows its mycelium

What began as a cultivated meat company expanded into mycelium fermentation in 2023. “Our team initially used mycelium as a scaffold for cultivated meat, but we quickly realised the exceptional taste and efficiency of this ingredient,” explains Yang.

“Mushrooms are a superfood, offering incredible nutritional and functional benefits,” he adds. Mycelium has become the darling of the alternative protein world, revered for its ability to assume animal-like flavours, offer complete protein, lower cholesterol, and cut production emissions, among other benefits.

CellX leverages biomass fermentation to grow its ingredient. It first separates mycelium – the root-like structure of filamentous fungi – from the fruiting body, then experiments with different strains and growing conditions to balance flavour and protein content.

It cultivates the mycelium in large fermentation tanks, where it grows and multiplies into nutrient-rich protein. At this stage, it’s carefully separated from the fermentation broth and steamed alongside shiitake mushrooms to enhance the natural flavour of the final ingredient.

Courtesy: CellX/Mourish

Why it chose morel mushrooms

“By harnessing mycelium fermentation, we significantly increased its protein content, making it an ideal protein alternative,” says Yang. The morel mycelium boasts 5% protein, 25% fibre, and essential vitamins and minerals, giving a makeover to what are historically known in France as the “mushrooms of kings”.

Morels, CellX explains, are held in high regard by foragers and chefs for their umami, earthy and nutty flavour, and meaty texture. They’re relatively rare, making them some of the most expensive wild mushrooms available.

“Our decision to focus on morel over other fungi species was deliberate,” Yang says. “We selected our strain from thousands of options, following years of research and development with our university partner. Our proprietary morel strain was isolated from Shangri-La. Our asset-light approach, combined with strategic partnerships, enables cost-efficient, high-quality production.”

The firm uses a mix of spices to zhuzh up the mycelium before shaping it into snackable bites and baking it on low heat (which helps preserve the nutrients and umami notes). The jerkies – which also contain lion’s mane mushroom powder and pea protein – are available in teriyaki, lemon-pepper, and Sichuan peppercorn flavours. Each 1oz pack contains 8g of protein, 4g of fibre, and zero saturated fat.

Courtesy: CellX/Mourish

CellX pivots to licensing model for cultivated meat

CellX, which has relocated its headquarters from Shanghai to San Francisco, has scaled up production of its mycelium to 12,000-litre fermenters, with immediate plans to expand to 30,000 and 120,000 litres.

“We are looking at additional products to add to our portfolio later this year, anywhere from snacks and meat alternatives, to protein beverages,” says Yang. The company had initially targeted hybrid meats – mixing its mycelium with cultivated meat – however, that is no longer a focus for its consumer brand.

“If there are B2B customers who want to use our morel mushroom mycelium ingredient to create these products, we are happy to sell the ingredient,” he says.

This is reflective of CellX’s cultivated meat pivot too. While it operates a 2,000-litre pilot facility in China – the country’s largest – it doesn’t plan on selling its own products, and is instead focusing on a tech licensing model. It aims to help cultivated meat startups scale up by offering an end-to-end production solution, proprietary cell lines, culture media and bioprocesses, and support for regulatory filings.

“The underlying thinking behind the shift is that we want to generate revenue and even profits faster, and engage with consumers and customers faster to prove product market fit,” says Yang.

Courtesy: CellX

Breaking even without further outside capital

“I think cultivated meat is still a relatively nascent industry that needs a significant amount of capital, and patience from all stakeholders. It’s unfortunate that the overall sentiment has shifted, and the fundraising environment makes it extremely difficult for companies to go from R&D to commercialisation,” he adds. Indeed, cultivated meat startups attracted 40% less investment in 2024, following a 75% dip the year before.

CellX itself has raised $20M to date. “We are open to raising more capital, but it won’t be the focus. Our focus is to generate revenue through our B2C brand Mourish, B2B sales of mushroom mycelium ingredient, and licensing cultivated meat technologies,” says Yang.

“It’s our goal to break even without additional outside capital. However, additional capital is always welcomed as it can help us expand to additional channels, products, and markets,” he adds.

“We are also fortunate to have started the mushroom mycelium pipeline three years ago, and it’s ready to commercialise now. So the choice to focus on commercialising mushroom mycelium, and pivoting to licensing the cultivated meat tech is natural, as we shift our focus to generating revenue, and finding product market fit.”

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April 2, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: CO2 Ice Cream, Cocoa-Free Chocolate & A Tri

5 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Ajinomoto and Solar Foods’s latest product launch, Unity Diner’s return, and a new meat-free omakase experience in Hong Kong.

New products and launches

Japanese food giant Ajinomoto‘s Atlr.72 brand has released its latest product range featuring Solar Foods‘s Solein gas protein in Singapore. The Flowering Ice Creams come in vanilla and mochi (which contains dairy), chocolate and lemon peel, and salted caramel and nuts (both non-dairy) flavours, and can be found at the brand’s food truck.

Courtesy: Atlr.72

Nurasa, the sustainable food innovation platform owned by Temasek, will unveil NuFood Concept Studio, an innovation platform designed to speed up the commercialisation of healthier products, at the FHA-Food & Beverage 2025 event in Singapore (April 8-11). Here, it will showcase a blended meat product made with Quality Meat‘s Q Protein, featuring lower cholesterol and higher fibre.

In the UK, Earthling Ed-owned Unity Diner is returning to London just two months after shutting down. The vegan restaurant had successful negotiations with its landlords, allowing it to open doors again later this week (April 4). It will also open a carvery on April 20.

Meanwhile, plant-based leaders Beyond Meat and La Vie have collaborated on a joint marketing campaign with a new ad, with the brands offering a BBQ burger recipe and directing consumers to Honest Burger to try the Bacon Plant 2.0.

San Diego-based CV Sciences Inc has expanded its plant-based portfolio with Lunar Fox Food Co, a new brand that sells animal-free alternatives to meat, cheese, and eggs. It’s also the owner of vegan egg and cheese maker Cultured Foods.

Courtesy: Lunar Fox Food Co

Seafood chain Wintzell’s Oyster House has introduced Plant Based Seafood Co‘s Mind Blown range to its menu. It will offer vegan oysters, crispy fried shrimp, and crab cakes as salad toppings, entrées, and sandwich fillings.

Brooklyn-based upcycled snack brand B-Sides has launched vegan Crunch Puffs made from the leftover pulp from oat milk production. They’re available in Cheddar, ranch and jalapeño flavours, and can be found on its website, Amazon, or independent retailers in New York City.

Courtesy: Planet A Foods

German cocoa-free chocolate player Planet A Foods has expanded in three markets ahead of Easter: it’s co-launching eight products featuring ChoViva with chocolate maker Abtey in France, two innovations with retailers Lidl and Penny in Germany, and a new offering in the UK in collaboration with Wawi Schokoladen.

Fellow cocoa-free chocolate maker Foreverland has released a 240g Easter egg featuring its carob-based Choruba alternative, in collaboration with chocolate giant Dulciar.

Courtesy: Foreverland

Israeli 3D-printed meat producer Redefine Meat has gained a listing at Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing, the country’s third-largest retail chain. Its New-Meat lineup of steaks, sausages, kebabs, and shawramas are available at all 57 branches.

Hong Kong restaurant Niwa has introduced a Vegetarian Omakase Menu, featuring 14 items – from a tofu-pickle wafer and balsamic vinegar tomato to black truffle somen and mushroom sushi – for HK$780 ($100).

Courtesy: Niwa

And in more good news for vegans in Hong Kong, famed meat-free dim sum restaurant Veggie Kingdom has opened its second site at Causeway Bay for perfect plant-based yum cha.

Company and finance developments

In a sign of the cultivated meat industry’s scalability potential, Australia’s Vow claims to have broken a world record by harvesting 20,000 litres of cell culture through its Andromeda bioreactor.

Courtesy: Differential Bio

Fellow Munich-based startup Differential Bio has emerged from stealth with €2M ($2.2M) in pre-seed funding to advance its Virtual Scale-up Platform for biomanufacturing firms, which combines advanced microbiology, lab automation, and artificial intelligence.

French vegan seafood brand Olala! has ceased operations after three years, citing a lack of sufficient turnover. The company said it hadn’t found its market, and its industrial model needed a market dynamic.

After completing its purchase of a 26-acre piece of land in Jefferson, Wisconsin for $777,000, Finnish precision fermentation firm Onego Bio is expected to spend $250-300M to build its new facility for animal-free egg proteins, set to be operational in 2028.

Courtesy: Melt&Marble

Swedish precision-fermented fat producer Melt&Marble has hired veteran pharma leader Tue Hodal as its first CTO, and Paulo Teixeira (formerly at Mycorena) as product manager.

Californian biotech startup Triplebar has announced Shawn Manchester as its new CEO, who has been promoted from his role as COO. He takes over from outgoing chief Maria Cho.

British vegan meal startup Planty, meanwhile, has appointed Samuel Rodriguez as head chef and Mimi Phillip as a freelance development chef – both used to work at rival firm Allplants, whose assets are now split between Plants (by Deliciously Ella‘s founders) and Grubby.

UK vegan charity Viva! has hit its £400,000 crowdfunding target and secured screenings in 300 cinemas for its 62-second Dairy is Scary ad.

Policy and awards

Speaking of British non-profits, The Vegan Society has announced Libby Peppiatt as its new CEO. She will take over from interim chief Abbey Mann on May 14.

Also in the UK, the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology has awarded £1.4M to the Food Standards Agency to support a new innovation hub for foods made via precision fermentation, another step towards novel food leadership for the country.

Courtesy: NYC Health + Hospitals

New York City’s Health + Hospitals programme has now served over two million plant-based meals to patients since it began in 2023, with 900,000 dishes served in 2024 alone. The initiative has a 90% satisfaction rate, and has reduced emissions by 36% and costs by 59 cents per meal.

Finally, mycelium protein maker 50Cut (formerly Mush Foods), which is focused on blended meat, has been named the 2025 FABI Favorites Award Winner at the National Restaurant Association Show.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

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April 1, 2025

Cultivated Seafood Can Fish Out Allergies, Unlocking A Hidden Benefit

5 Mins Read
Cultivated seafood isn’t just better for marine animals, the planet, and human health – it can also bring fish back on the menu for those with severe allergies.

While many in the cellular agriculture industry have touted the health and climate advantages of cultivated meat and seafood, a new study highlights a hidden benefit of these proteins.

Globally, up to 7% of the population suffers from a seafood allergy, making fish a leading trigger of food-induced anaphylaxis. Cell cultivation can bring fish products back to these consumers’ plates, researchers at the James Cook University (JCU) have found.

“We have a data bank of over 100 children with confirmed fish allergies, and we demonstrated that there is very little to no reactivity to the known fish allergens in the cell-cultivated fish,” said Andreas Lopata, head of JCU’s Molecular Allergy Research Laboratory in Queensland, Australia, who called the results “hugely promising”.

Allergenicity of cultivated fish 10 times lower

Courtesy: James Cook University

The research dates back nearly a decade, with Lopata and his team working with children who had a clinical history of allergies to bony fish.

They evaluated allergy risks based on a multiomics approach for conventional and cultivated Japanese eel (or unagi), characterising each protein (and allergen) using computational methods.

The results, presented at the World Allergy Congress in San Diego, California (February 28 to March 3), revealed the abundance of 12 recognised fish allergens was 10-fold lower in the cultivated unagi than the conventional eel.

“The levels of allergens present in the cell-cultivated fish being so low was quite surprising to us,” said Lopata. “You’re basically taking stem cells from the fish, growing them in tissue culture to the size they are edible, and everyone told us it would basically be the same as the regular fish including any allergy risks.”

He added: “Instead, we found diminished risks, including a decrease of up to 1000-fold of the predominant fish allergen parvalbumin, and all of this was with no manipulation nor gene modification.”

The study further emphasises the need for serum-free culture media, since fetal bovine serum – a controversial ingredient the industry has been phasing out in recent years – introduced non-fish allergens to the products.

JCU working with cultivated seafood pioneer Umami Bioworks

Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

JCU’s researchers argued that cultivated fish presents promising opportunities to produce safer seafood with diminished allergy risks. Now, it is conducting further research to evaluate a broader range of seafood cells, as well as develop cultivated fish products.

To advance that effort, it has partnered with alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) and Singaporean cultivated seafood startup Umami Bioworks.

“We have been collaborating to better understand the properties of cultivated seafood, how the products may differ from traditional seafood at a molecular level, and the impacts these differences may have on outcomes like allergenicity,” Umami Bioworks CEO Mihir Pershad told Green Queen, noting that the firm has a long-standing partnership with Lopata and JCU.

“To our knowledge, these are the first results on the potential allergenicity of cultivated meat and seafood and represent a significant step in building the public body of knowledge about the safety profile of cultivated foods,” he added.

“We are also excited by the potential demonstrated in this study for cultivated seafood to address challenges that our current seafood system cannot,” Pershad said, referring to the opportunity for people with seafood allergies to enjoy cultivated fish.

Lopata said Umami Bioworks’s first products will “most likely be cultivated fish and seafood dumplings”: “They should have that same fish flavour and omega-3 fatty acid levels, which are very healthy, along with all the other components of regular fish and seafood.”

He added: “There can be uncertainties about allergenicity, but that’s where we come in, as experts in the field, really analysing all proteins (the proteome) and then comparing particular allergen patterns to see if there could be anything unsafe for consumers.”

Umami Bioworks has been in “active review with documents submitted to regulators in major markets across America, Europe, and Asia”, Pershad told Green Queen in October. It’s a list that includes Singapore, the first country to greenlight the sale of cultivated meat, built on the rigorous yet inclusive food safety process designed by the Singapore Food Agency.

Could cultivated seafood go the plant-based dairy route?

Courtesy: Shlomi Arbiv

Cultivated meat has gotten caught up in the culture wars. Some countries and US states have banned its production and sale, and many others are trying to do the same. These have contributed to consumer concern about the safety of these products, despite food safety authorities in several countries greenlighting the sale of cultivated meat after months (and sometimes years) of rigorous testing.

As this study suggests, cultivated seafood could be blessed with a wave of acceptance if it leans in on the anti-allergy positioning, similar to another alternative protein segment that has witnessed significant success using it, namely plant-based dairy.

Cow-free milk and dairy products have been successful despite the anti-vegan backlash because they cater to not just vegans but a large section of the population who are lactose-intolerant or suffer from dairy protein allergies – around two-thirds of people globally have trouble digesting lactose.

In the US, for instance, at least 12% of Americans are lactose-intolerant, while over 5% (15 million) have a milk or dairy allergy. While 44% of households buy plant-based milk, one in five Americans who did so also put cow’s milk in their shopping carts. In addition, the prevalence of intolerances and allergies has seen coffee chains like Starbucks and Dunkin’ face lawsuits over the non-dairy surcharge, which they have since dropped.

Can cultivated seafood recreate dairy-free products’ allergy-friendly strategy and become a more acceptable alternative protein to consumers?

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March 28, 2025

Meatable CEO: Uniting Innovation with Tradition is the Way Forward for Sustainable Meat Production

4 Mins Read
Jeff Tripician is the CEO of Meatable, a Dutch food tech startup working on cultivated pork. A former meat industry exec, he argues that a collaborative approach is the only recipe for success.

As global demand for meat rises, one thing is clear: the only sustainable path forward is collaboration – between the meat industry, farmers, ranchers, and all those who have long secured our protein supply.

By combining existing knowledge and infrastructure with new technology, cultivated and conventional meat can work together to make sustainable protein widely available at scale. Cultivated meat isn’t here to replace the industry – it’s here to complement it. Rather than competing, innovation and tradition must join forces to drive the industry forward, benefiting ranchers, businesses, and the environment alike.

This was the focus of Meatable’s recent global summit, where over 80 industry leaders, meat executives, investors, and policymakers gathered to discuss how cultivated and conventional meat can collaborate to really make a difference.

The problem

The problem is undeniable: our current food production system is unsustainable. It harms the climate and depletes vital resources like water and land, and is subject to supply disruptions due to livestock disease, weather conditions and global conflict. If we continue down this path, we won’t be able to feed our growing population without devastating the planet. It’s time to change course and give the Earth a break.

Farmers, ranchers, and the meat industry face immense pressure to meet the surging global demand for protein with finite land, water, and resources – all while minimising their environmental footprint. By 2050, global protein demand is projected to rise by a staggering 70%, relating to two billion more people needing 2 trillion meals per year, putting even more strain on an industry that is already pushing the limits of efficiency and scale. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly clear that relying solely on conventional methods is neither practical nor sustainable.

As the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, former UK Minister of Energy, stated during the event: “Every human being deserves the right to better nutrition, and to protein-rich meals, just as everyone should have the ability to access energy, electricity, or the internet. These are the global goals that sustainability has to deliver: not to ration, nor to restrict the choices and lifestyles of those who have been denied choice or freedom for too long.”

The solution

Courtesy: Meatable

Instead of competing in a zero-sum game, the meat industry has an opportunity to evolve by embracing cultivated meat as part of the solution. By incorporating this technology we can alleviate the burden on farmers and ranchers to continuously increase production under volatile market conditions. Rather than forcing a binary choice between traditional and cultivated meat, cultivated meat will be able to provide additional supply, so the industry can use both to build a more resilient and adaptable food system.

At the same time, cultivated meat’s reduced environmental footprint offers a path toward a more sustainable future. By requiring significantly less land and water while generating fewer emissions, it minimises deforestation, preserves natural ecosystems, and reduces pollution from livestock waste.

With the right approach, the industry can strike a balance between meeting growing consumer demand and protecting the planet for future generations. The future of meat production isn’t about replacement – it’s about integration.

The way forward

Courtesy: Meatable

There is growing interest to do so. As an example, a representative from the New Mexico Partnership (US) outlined during the event that the state of New Mexico, an agricultural hub, is actively exploring opportunities in food innovation, including cultivated meat, and promoting the state as a business hub in this regard.

And we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The meat industry is built on centuries of expertise, finely tuned supply chains, and an extensive infrastructure that already feeds billions. This foundation provides an enormous advantage – one that cultivated meat is set to integrate with rather than replace. By working together, we can scale up high-quality, sustainable protein production without starting from scratch, ensuring a more efficient and practical path forward.

My charge? Give future generations a chance, and give consumers a choice. Innovation has always shaped the food industry, and the market will naturally adapt, as it always does. If we strike the right balance, ranchers will not only survive but thrive, the industry will expand rather than contract, and consumers will enjoy more choices than ever before. This is what the future of meat should look like – one driven by innovation and collaboration, not restriction and competition.

By supporting local farmers and ranchers, continuing the responsible production of conventional meat, and integrating high-quality, great-tasting cultivated meat as a complementary innovation, we can create a more resilient and sustainable future. The path forward isn’t about division or trade-offs – it’s about working together to feed a growing world while protecting the planet.

This is not a battle between old and new. It’s an opportunity to evolve, using the best of what we already have to build something even better. The only way forward is together.

Want to discuss further? I’m always ready to pull up a chair. Contact me on LinkedIn.

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March 27, 2025

Can Hoxton Farms’s Cultivated Fat Satisfy Asia’s Appetite for Pork?

5 Mins Read
British cultivated meat player Hoxton Farms has partnered with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to bring its pork fat ingredient to Asia.

For cultivated meat, fat is all the rage right now.

In Europe, Mosa Meat has filed for regulatory approval to sell its cultivated beef fat in Switzerland and the EU. Across the Atlantic, Mission Barns has received the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take its cultured pork fat one step closer to commercialisation in the US.

Now, a British cultivated fat startup has set its sights on Asia, the world’s largest consumer of pork. Hoxton Farms has partnered with Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation to bring its pork fat to the country and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

The two companies will work to secure partnerships with food manufacturers to integrate Hoxton Fat into their products, support awareness initiatives to highlight the potential of the ingredient, and work with regulators and stakeholders to obtain approval ahead of its market entry.

“The partnership spans multiple countries, including Japan, Singapore, Korea and beyond,” Hoxton Farms co-founder and CEO Max Jamilly tells Green Queen.

The company’s plans are firmly global, with regulatory filings ongoing for multiple markings. “We will file this year in Singapore and the US, followed by UK and other jurisdictions such as Thailand, Japan, Korea, and Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “We expect to go to market in Singapore first.”

Hoxton Farms takes on conventional animal and plant fats

Courtesy: Hoxton Farms

Founded in 2020 by Jamilly and COO Ed Steele, Hoxton Farms derives its ingredients from a few pig stem cells, which are fed on a blend of plant-based nutrients to multiply and mature into fat. It makes use of cell biology and machine learning to grow pork fat in modular bioreactors and currently operates a 14,000 sq ft facility in London, which has a fermentation capacity of over 1,000 litres.

This is intended as a drop-in replacement for animal fats and plant-based oils, which can be mixed with plant proteins to create products like soups, sauces, and hybrid meats, which are seen as the most viable way for cultivated meat to get to market in the current climate.

There are various motivations driving this innovation. It’s much more sustainable than the alternative – pork is a highly emissive food product, and farming pigs requires excessive amounts of water and land. And common plant-based fats like coconut or palm oil, which are preferred by many manufacturers for their functionality, are the primary contributors to tropical deforestation.

Fat is also key to flavour and mouthfeel, which is the most important aspect of meat for many omnivores. By recreating pork fat in bioreactors, Hoxton Farms can offer meat-eaters the same flavour, minus the environmental and health harms.

Speaking of which, processed meats like bacon and sausages are classed as carcinogenic by the WHO, while red meats such as pork are deemed possible carcinogens. Pork fat, coconut or palm oil, meanwhile, are high in saturated fat, which can raise bad cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.

Since Hoxton Farms can precisely control the composition of its fat, its team is developing versions that are lower in saturated fat and higher in beneficial elements like omega-3 fatty acids. It’s doing this specifically to reduce the risk of diet-related diseases, which can help address public health concerns in Asia.

More than 40% of adults are overweight or obese in Asia-Pacific, and up to 12% of total healthcare spending goes towards treating obesity or related conditions.

“Cell-based foods are an innovative source of protein that can help address future food security challenges without the need for animal sacrifice and with a lower environmental impact,” says Takeo Kojima, agri-innovation head at Sumitomo. “We see Hoxton Farms’s cultured fat as a groundbreaking ingredient that contributes not only to better taste, but also to sustainability.”

Targeting Japan’s curiosity for cultivated meat

Courtesy: Hoxton Farms

Asia’s demand for meat is set to increase by 78% by 2050, putting further strain on the planet’s resources and public health. “Asia is the world’s largest consumer of pork, but supplies are threatened by an array of challenges, including disease (African swine fever massively disrupted the global pork market in 2018),” Jamilly points out. “Further, countries in Asia have a strong regulatory environment for cultivated products.”

The startup, which has raised $35M to date, will co-develop products with food manufacturers via its collaboration with Sumitomo. “With Sumitomo’s unmatched expertise and network, now is the time to bring our cultivated fat to Asia and set a new standard for food innovation,” he says.

The two firms will closely work with food safety bodies in various countries to obtain regulatory approval for the novel ingredient. This includes Japan, whose government is “making steady progress in developing a novel food regulatory framework”, according to Kimiko Hong-Mitsui, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Japan.

Hoxton Farms and Sumitomo are consulting with the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA), an industry non-profit, which they claim will play a crucial role in shaping regulatory and social acceptance of cultivated meat in the country.

The collaboration gives Japanese stakeholders “efficient access to groundbreaking technologies, production facilities, and essential information regarding safety and taste in addressing challenges in food supply”, notes JACA president Megumi Avigail Yoshitomi.

A 2024 survey found that 42% of Japanese consumers are willing to try cultivated meat products; the creation of government regulations is key for 44% of those who are unsure about their safety aspects.

“We hope that this partnership will serve as a key pillar in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Japan and the UK in the field of food technology,” adds Yoshitomi.

Currently, only a handful of cultivated meat firms have been approved to sell their products. This includes Eat Just (in Singapore and the US), Upside Foods, Mission Barns (both US), Aleph Farms (Israel), Vow (Singapore and Hong Kong), and Meatly (UK). Regulators in the EU, Switzerland, Australia and Thailand are evaluating applications too.

The post Can Hoxton Farms’s Cultivated Fat Satisfy Asia’s Appetite for Pork? appeared first on Green Queen.

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March 26, 2025

BioCraft Pet Nutrition Gets EU Registration to Sell Cultivated Mouse Meat for Dogs & Cats

5 Mins Read
Food tech firm BioCraft Pet Nutrition has received registration from Austrian authorities to sell its cultivated meat ingredient in pet food applications across the EU.

After a string of developments last year, 2025 is shaping up to be a big year for cultivated pet food. Just weeks after the first such product went on sale in the UK, another startup is gearing up to sell its version in the EU.

BioCraft Pet Nutrition, a Delaware-based firm with a lab in Vienna, has received registration from Austrian authorities to use Category 3 animal byproducts (ABPs) in the EU, allowing it to sell its cultivated mouse meat to pet food producers in the region.

Companies looking to sell animal-derived ingredients to pet food manufacturers need to meet legal requirements ensuring the ingredients are safe, and register as a user of animal byproducts. BioCraft notes that it has met its obligation as a Feed Business Operator and notified the EU Feed Materials Register.

“It’s important to note that there is no pre-market approval process to sell feed ingredients in the EU, which means that animal cell-cultured ingredients themselves are not subject to ‘approval’ or ‘registration’ directly,” outlines BioCraft co-founder and CEO Shannon Falconer. “Rather, ‘approval’ or ‘registration’ is granted to the facility producing these animal byproducts.”

“Cultured mouse is a biomass suspended in liquid-nutrient broth from a safe, non-GM cell line in a controlled, antibiotic-free, animal-free medium. It is a source of polyunsaturated omega fatty acids, protein, and nutrients, for use in pet food only,” the register reads.

“BioCraft has now met all its legal obligations to sell its ingredient to pet food manufacturers directly,” says Falconer, adding that the company “is not positioning itself to sell to consumers directly”.

Courtesy: BioCraft Pet Nutrition

Cultivated mouse meat passes three-year-long safety testing

According to Falconer, facility registration or approval is “not a long process”. BioCraft filed its application to the EU in August 2024 – but it only did so after three years of rigorous safety assessments.

“What does take time are the many, many tests to validate the safety and nutritional profile of the feed material being sold – especially when it’s something new, such as an animal cell-cultured ingredient,” she explains.

This includes a full genetic analysis of its cell line, a toxicological review of each ingredient that goes into the product, extensive nutritional profiling of the ingredient, as well as the generation of a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan, which is a legal requirement to sell any feed material in the EU).

BioCraft enlisted a team of veterinary, food safety, and food science experts – both in-house and third-party – to generate safety data for its cultivated ingredient based on dossier requirements for an EU feed additive.

Courtesy: BioCraft Pet Nutrition

Studies confirmed that the company’s ingredient is produced using stable, non-immortalised, non-genetically modified animal cells, and is free from bacterial pathogens, viruses, mycotoxins, moulds and yeasts. The cultivated mouse meat doesn’t contain biogenic amines or heavy metals either.

Following the safety testing, BioCraft filed for facility registration with Austrian authorities, who granted it “for the purpose of multiplying cells for the production of pet food”.

“This comprehensive safety analysis goes well beyond regulatory compliance and provides a meticulous breakdown of our feed safety protocols, including stringent supplier verification processes, traceability documentation, risk assessments, and SOPs for every critical control point,” says Falconer.

“We’ve implemented rigorous quality control measures and transparency across our supply chain, and the result is the highest industry standards for safety and integrity in alternative protein production,” she adds.

BioCraft in talks with leading pet food manufacturer

It’s the biggest milestone in the startup’s nine-year history, allowing it to commercialise its debut product in the EU market. The cultivated mouse meat slurry can be used as a one-to-one replacement in wet or dry pet food at similar inclusion levels to conventional slurry, since it has a similar nutritional profile and consistency.

Third-party profiling of over 100 nutrients showed that BioCraft’s cultivated meat has comparable levels of taurine, lysine, methionine and tryptophan to that of chicken slurry, and a superior omega-6 to omega-3 ratio.

Last year, BioCraft announced that its product now had a sale price of $2-2.50 per lb. It achieved this feat by developing a plant-based growth medium formulated to provide a nutritious boost to the end product. Typically, animal-derived growth media – the mix of proteins, sugar and nutrients that feed animal cells in a bioreactor – cost hundreds of dollars per litre.

Courtesy: BioCraft Pet Nutrition

Formerly called Because Animals, the firm has raised $6.7M in funding to date, and previously earmarked early 2026 for its market launch. Leading manufacturer Partner in Pet Food (PPF) is now “investigating options” with BioCraft. “Pet food producers are following this market space eagerly because there is a need for more ingredients that are supply-chain stable, sustainable, scalable, safe, and ethical,” said Patricia Heydtmann, quality and product development director at PPF.

Czech startup Bene Meat Technologies was the first to register cultivated pet food as an EU feed material back in 2023, although it did so under the fermentation category instead of as an ABP. It has since also filed an application to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Meanwhile, Cult Food Science conducted feeding trials in the US in pursuit of regulatory approval for its Noochies! brand, and Friends & Family Pet Food Co has inked two deals to launch stateside and in Singapore.

The UK appears to be leading the race, with London-based startup Meatly passing stringent inspections from its regulatory bodies and partnering with vegan pet food maker The Pack to launch its cultivated chicken in dog treats at Pets At Home.

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This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 26, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Impossible Sliders, Major League Baseball & Cat Jewellery

5 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Impossible Foods’s beef slider rollout, the New York Mets’s new vegan sandwich, and Grubby’s vegan meal kits for B Corp Month.

New products and launches

Impossible Foods has introduced its latest product, Beef Sliders, exclusively at Walmart stores. The mini vegan patties are available as a six-pack for $7.48.

Courtesy: Impossible Foods

Plant-based startup Daily Harvest has launched a USDA-certified Organic Pea Protein Powder with 24g of protein per 120-calorie serving, which would cost roughly $2.

Tex-Mex chain Pancheros Mexican Grill has rolled out a Tofurizo on its menu, which includes sautéed peppers and onions, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and chilli powder. It’s available at all locations nationwide.

With the Major League Baseball season underway, catering giant Aramark‘s Sport + Entertainment division has introduced a vegan pulled BBQ jackfruit sandwich (with a plant-based pretzel bun and coleslaw) at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets.

Courtesy: Aramark

In the UK, meal kit startup Grubby has partnered with leading plant-based players Oatly and This, nut butter maker ManiLife, and ingredient brand Belazu on a special range of recipes for B Corp Month. These include Creamy White Sausage Ragù Linguine, Greek Mushroom Pastitsio with Cucumber Salad, and Pesto Courgette Tarts with Tomato & Basil Salad.

Speaking of Oatly, the oat milk giant has released two new flavours of its iKaffe range (as its barista edition is known in the Nordics) at coffee chain Espresso House. The vanilla and caramel barista milks are available in both hot and cold drinks at stores in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland.

Courtesy: Oatly/Espresso House

Scottish nutrition brand Vybey has expanded into the snacking category with plant-based Complete Nutrition bars in chocolate brownie, raspberry white chocolate, and mint chocolate flavours. Each 80g bar contains 20g of plant protein.

And French supermarket E.Leclerc has launched a Végé line under its own-label brand, Marque Repère, which comprises 45 animal-free alternatives priced similarly to their conventional counterparts.

Company and finance updates

Indian plant-based nutrition startup Nourish You has raised ₹16 crores ($1.8M) in a Series A funding round led by SIDBI Venture Capital. The parent company of alt-dairy brand One Good, the firm will use the funds to scale operations, launch new products, and expand into new markets, including Australia, Europe, and the US.

Courtesy: Nourish You

Israeli cultivated meat pioneer Aleph Farms has raised $29M in new funding, as part of a larger tranche of financing it expects to close in the coming months. The firm reportedly slashed its valuation in the latest round.

Further Foods, a subsidiary of Canadian cellular agriculture firm Cult Food Science, has signed an R&D supply agreement with a cultivated meat company to develop its Noochies! line of pet food treats, which it will showcase at the Global Pet Expo this week (March 26-28).

Courtesy: Veronika Dvorakova

Also in the cultivated meat space, Californian pioneer Upside Foods has conducted a fresh round of layoffs as it restructures to focus on commercialisation and scale. It is currently awaiting regulatory approval for its second cultivated chicken product in the US.

Catering company Sodexo has announced that it is on track to halve its food waste in the UK and Ireland this year (compared to 2017 levels), five years ahead of schedule.

Courtesy: Sodexo

Belgian food group Vandemoortele has agreed to acquire the European spreads and margarine business of US producer Bunge for an undisclosed sum, which includes several plant-based brands.

The Plant Based Foods Institute has appointed Sanah Baig, former senior policy advisor for agriculture and nutrition at the White House, as its new executive director. She will join the organisation in June.

Policy and awards

The Plant-Based Treaty is working with the Red Cross to provide plant-based food options to people during emergencies and disasters in Los Angeles.

British startup Potina, which makes banana oat milk for kids, has won IFE Manufacturing‘s Clean Label honour, awarded in partnership with the Institute of Food Science & Technology.

Discount retailer Lidl and the ProVeg Incubator have kickstarted a Cheese Alternative Innovation Competition, where participants will pitch their plant-based products to Lidl. Winners will get a listing under the retailer’s vegan private-label brand, Vemondo, in Germany.

Indian cultivated meat startup ClearMeat has struck a partnership with the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), to scale biotech and food tech innovations and leverage their combined expertise and resources to drive the sector forward.

Courtesy: Catastrophy

Finally, Singaporean jewellery brand Catastrophy, which makes ethical jewellery for cat lovers and donates 10% of all proceeds to animal welfare organisations, has received The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark, a world-first for a jewellery line.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

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This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 25, 2025

The Biased Science That Fuelled Italian Farmers’ Anti-Cultivated-Meat March

5 Mins Read
One of the loudest opponents of cultivated meat, Coldiretti rallied thousands of farmers to demand the EU assess novel foods like new drugs. It cited concerns from scientists, but half of them are members of the organisation.

It was only a week ago that thousands of farmers from across Italy marched the city of Parma with yellow and blue flags to demand an overhaul of European food safety regulations, specifically against cultivated meat and precision-fermented foods.

The procession was organised by Coldiretti, Italy’s leading farmers’ association, which has been a key voice in lobbying for anti-cultivated-meat legislation in the country. The group’s 2022 petition, signed by nearly half a million people and 3,000 local governments, called on policymakers to ban “synthetically produced food” and eventually led to Italy’s world-first ban on cultivated meat a year later.

During the march, Coldiretti – led by its President Ettore Prandini and its General Secretary Vincenzo Gesmundo – rallied against the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to “shed light” on the safety assessments around novel foods. The group’s big ask? For the EU body to require novel food companies to carry out clinical and preclinical medical studies before their products are greenlit.

In a statement justifying its protest, Coldiretti said it was acting upon requests from “illustrious scientists” to ensure greater transparency and scientific attention in the evaluation of novel foods, noting that they “cannot be treated as simple new foods, but must follow the same procedure as drugs”.

As it turns out, the scientists Coldiretti is referring to may not be as independent as they claim, resulting in a significant conflict of interest in the association’s demands, according to reports first reported in Italian media.

‘Concerned scientists’ belong to Coldiretti think tank

Courtesy: Coldiretti

Coldiretti cited an inter-institutional technical roundtable established by Health Minister Orazio Schillaci and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida in 2024, mere months after the country banned the sale or production of cultivated meat in violation of EU law.

The roundtable assessed the impact of cultivated meat on health, farmers, the economy, and more. Last month, it presented recommendations that cultivated meat and other novel foods should be treated as pharmaceuticals subject to lengthy trials, mimicking the procedure applied by the European Medicine Agency for new drugs.

Meanwhile, a think tank called Aletheia Foundation submitted 11 critical comments to the EFSA early last year, as part of its public consultation on its updated guidelines for cultivated meat regulation, unveiled in July. On its website, Aletheia describes itself as an organisation clarifying “the inextricable link between food and health” via “independent and free research”.

But its recommendations were strikingly similar to those of the roundtable. And according to Italian newspaper Il Foglio, this should come as no surprise, since five of the roundtable’s members are part of Aletheia, which was founded by Coldiretti.

It would appear that the protests sparked by what the union says was a concern from independent scientists are the result of pushback from Coldiretti’s own members.

It also appears the Italian government was aware of the conflict of interest – Schillaci, the Health Minister, was a guest of honour alongside Prandini and Gesmundo in a ‘food and disease’ event held by the ministry and Aletheia last year. During the event, Gesmundo attacked the EFSA for promoting practices that he felt did the most harm to the EU population.

EU clarifies policy after Coldiretti claims victory

Courtesy: Coldiretti/EFSA

After the protest, Coldiretti was quick to claim victory, saying it was “satisfied with EFSA’s commitment to conducting every necessary analysis on every single notified product, including pre-clinical and clinical tests on foods derived from cell cultures and precision fermentation”.

In a statement, EFSA’s senior policy coordinator, Alberto Spagnolli, called the discussion with the group “constructive” and said the request to apply high scientific standards matched the EU’s mission.

“EFSA Panel members will use conditions and requirements for the scientific assessment based on the most recent experience of evaluations, as provided for in the new guidelines in force today,” he said in a statement. “EFSA’s task is precisely to clarify doubts or uncertainties with regards to human health effects, nutritional profiles of these foods, risks linked to the production process or substances used. :

Spagnolli added that the panels would conduct “in-depth, case-by-case, evaluations for each product” and “may use every level of study required (including pre-clinical and clinical tests) to determine safety”.

Speaking to Green Queen, he explained that the “need for clinical trials is already considered” in its guidelines. “Our updated guidance requires that applicants provide comprehensive toxicological studies (similar to pre-clinical studies) to establish the safety of novel food, including cell culture-derived food,” he said.

“If these studies do not enable a conclusive risk assessment, additional tests, including clinical trials in humans, may be requested to resolve data gaps or uncertainties,” Spagnolli added.

However, there’s no precedent for that happening in food, and the EFSA confirmed that Coldiretti’s march hadn’t brought about any additional reforms. “The policy has not changed,” Spagnolli told Green Queen. “We always follow our guidelines for our scientific work, and these were recently updated.”

The protest caused the EFSA to proactively shut down its office for the day and ask employees to not come to work, perhaps mindful of the commotion caused by Coldiretti’s previous protest during the parliament’s final vote on the cultivated meat ban.

Coldiretti’s stunt was criticised by some in the alternative protein industry. “It is not acceptable for an organisation to disrupt the workings of a scientific agency that successfully keeps Europe’s food the safest in the world and, if the results of the investigation are accurate, disturbing that they may have fabricated research to justify their anti-innovation agenda,” Robert E Jones, VP of global public affairs for Mosa Meat, told Green Queen.

The company recently filed for novel food approval for its cultivated beef in the EU. “Fortunately, we know from hundreds of conversations across the EU that [Coldiretti’s] views do not represent mainstream farmers or the agri-food value chain,” Jones added.

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This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 24, 2025

What Does Cultivated Meat Actually Taste Like? We Asked People Who’ve Tried the Real Thing

7 Mins Read
With a number of cultivated meat startups hosting public tastings of their products, three taste-testers take us behind the scenes of what it’s like to bite into the future.

It was a typically humid day in Singapore, with some scattered rain bringing respite from the heat. Danai Georgiadou hopped on Grab – aka Uber for the city-state – in search of a comforting Sunday lunch.

Navigating through the options, she landed on Two Men Bagel House, one of several restaurants that have partnered with Vow, the Australian startup behind cultured quail and foie gras.

She opted for the Foie King, an S$25.20 ($19) bagel featuring the Forged Gras – as it is branded – combined with sous-vide beef skirt steak, jalapeño relish, smokey honey mustard, and double Cheddar.

Courtesy: Danai Georgiadou

Georgiadou is – as you might have guessed – a meat-eater, but as a stem cell scientist and member of Cellular Agriculture Greece, she is at the heart of the future food movement. She’s also part of a small but growing group of people who have tasted cultivated meat.

“What stood out to me was that it was genuinely delicious,” she says of Vow’s foie gras. The bagel delivered to her doorstep wasn’t the first time she had tasted it. Georgiadou has previously enjoyed the company’s cultivated meat at Tipping Club, Ryan Clift’s pioneering gastro-cocktail establishment, before it closed in 2024.

She paid S$250 ($187) for a set dinner menu, and S$150 ($112) for a lunch menu, both featuring Vow. “I’ve tried Forged Gras in many forms/dishes by Ryan Clift. Croquettes, covered in solid duck butter, fluffy texture like whipped cream. In the bagel I got as takeout, it was grilled,” she says.

“The chefs managed to create some amazing dishes with it. I’ll admit, I’m a bit biased since I work in the field and advocate for cultivated meat, but I really enjoyed it. I’d say Forged Gras has a very versatile texture, which gives you the flexibility to cook it in many different ways.”

Can you separate the cultivated from the meat?

Courtesy: Brian Cooley

On the other side of the world, Brian Cooley was in Marin County, California, attending a pop-up event at Loveski Deli. It was hosted by Wildtype, a San Francisco-based startup working to commercialise cultivated seafood.

“I learned about the pop-up by being on a Wildtype waitlist to try their product,” says Cooley, a technology expert who spent nearly three decades as CNET’s tech editor. “A stream of people like me arrived and ordered Wildtype lox on a bagel from a special one-day menu, and we all paid for our orders (about $24 for a bagel with lox as I recall).”

So, the million-dollar question: did it live up to the ‘real thing’? “You would have to tell someone that the Wildtype lox wasn’t conventional for them to suspect it was anything different,” says Cooley. “That’s the crucial bar to clear for any alt-protein.”

He adds: “I think it’s actually better than conventional lox because it doesn’t have the occasional gristle or silverskin you find in conventional products.”

Courtesy: Gustaf Brandberg

Gustaf Brandberg, founding partner at Swedish VC firm Gullspång Invest, is an investor in Mission Barns. The cultivated pork fat maker recently earned a ‘no questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – the first for a cultivated meat company since 2023 – and aims to launch its products into restaurants and supermarkets later this year.

“I have tried Mission Barns’s products for several years, and one of the main reasons we invested in the company is the quality of the products,” says Brandberg. “The bacon tastes just like bacon should, and the meatballs and salami could trick just anyone into thinking that they are made of meat, not a hybrid product with pork fat in an otherwise plant-based product.”

Fat, he says, is the key element: “A lot of the taste is carried through the fat, so what stands out compared to other plant-based alternatives is how closely it mimics meat.”

Where can cultivated meat improve?

Courtesy: Danai Georgiadou

Okay, so cultivated meat has the same – or even – better sensory qualities than the products it’s aiming to replace. Where is it lacking?

Brandberg, understandably, passed on that question. For Georgiadou’s palate, however, the cultured foie gras was a touch salty. “But that’s just personal preference,” she says.

“The fact that Forged Gras contains 51% cultivated quail is already incredible, especially considering how expensive it is to produce any cultivated meat product. If there’s one area for improvement – and I’m confident it will get there – it would be increasing the cultivated meat content.”

As Cooley attested to, the texture of the Wildtype salmon was ideal for him. “But some other tasters mentioned that it was slightly ‘softer’ than conventional lox,” he recalls.

“It also didn’t smell ‘fishy’, which some people might miss,” he adds. “But when you understand why conventional seafood smells fishy, you don’t miss that ever again.”

Cultivated meat is like most tech products

Courtesy: Brian Cooley

So if cultivated meat tastes so good, what’s stopping it from appearing on our plates? Well, policymakers, for starters – one country and two US states have banned cultivated meat from being sold, with others on the horizon.

Investors are stepping away from the sector, with funding falling by 75% in 2023, followed by another 40% drop in 2024, reaching just $137M. “I’m not surprised that investors and consumers, for different reasons, are going through phases of the Gartner Hype Cycle with regards to alt-proteins,” says Cooley.

“But alt protein isn’t one sector: We have a solid sector of plant-based meats, the imminent launch of cultivated meats – Wildtype being one example – and the development of interesting new fermented products, especially in the alt-dairy category.”

These three product groups have room to grow and take repeated “bites at the apple” of consumer acceptance, just like most tech products whose path was rocky before they became ubiquitous. “I’m also reminded of Rosabeth Moss-Kanter’s maxim that many big ideas seem like a failure in the middle, and Roy Amara’s observation that we tend to overestimate a technology’s impact early and underestimate its impact later,” he says.

“Yes, food is very different from VR or AI, but both must work from the playbook of getting people to accept unfamiliar manners and methods of doing things to live better tomorrow than today.”

The ‘right players’ have survived, and things will ‘only go up’

Courtesy: Danai Georgiadou

For Georgiadou, the shift in the cultivated meat landscape was much needed. “When I joined the research front of cultivated meat in Singapore in 2022, funding was flowing, driven by overpromises, unfeasible milestones, and dream-like deliverables pitched to investors. There were many founders who just wanted to join in the hype without actually having a solid scientific foundation or proper planning,” she suggests.

“As a researcher in the public sector, I experienced that firsthand – I was contacted by many of them for scientific advice. So, as we all saw, there was a big drop in the years that followed. Companies went bankrupt or got acquired, simply because they couldn’t meet those unrealistic promises. This not only led to a loss of investor trust, but also hurt the cultivated meat field overall.

“But, because of that drop, I can now see that the right players survived, and anyone stepping in now knows they need to be ready for a fight. Expectations have also been reset. Cultivated meat isn’t just another alternative protein – it’s a novel food, a new technology. So the investors coming in now are better prepared, with more realistic expectations.”

Courtesy: Gustaf Brandberg

Brandberg explains that the FDA approval for Mission Barns took much longer than he believed when his firm invested. “It’s good that the FDA is diligent when approving new food production methods, but we hope they can speed up their processes. After all, the end product is normal pork fat, produced in a bioreactor and not in a living creature,” he says.

“The slow approval processes have hampered the whole industry, and cultivated companies still need to prove that they can produce ingredients at scale cost-efficiently. This is where we think cultivated fat has an advantage over cultivated meat; you only need a few percentages of fat in the end product, dramatically reducing the cost of ingredients.”

Georgiadou is “pretty confident” that things will now “only go up” for cultivated meat. “And when it comes to political challenges – anything new always causes waves in the beginning. IVF (in vitro fertilisation) faced huge political and ethical resistance when it first emerged, but today it’s one of the most common reproductive assistance procedures,” she says.

“Why wouldn’t the same happen with cultivated meat? History always repeats itself.”

The post What Does Cultivated Meat Actually Taste Like? We Asked People Who’ve Tried the Real Thing appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 20, 2025

Korean Muslim Federation Issues Fatwa Ruling Cultivated Meat As Halal

4 Mins Read
South Korea’s largest Muslim organisation has issued a fatwa recognising that cultivated meat can be Halal if it meets certain requirements, with one startup already pursuing the certification.

Cultivated meat can be considered Halal and consumed by Muslims, provided they’re sourced and produced in accordance with Halal standards, according to the Korean Muslim Federation (KMF).

The KMF’s Halal Committee recently issued the world’s second fatwa recognising cultivated meat as Halal, following a similar ruling by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore last year.

A fatwa is a non-binding legal opinion based on Sharia law, and is an important guideline for Muslims on matters not specifically defined in the Quran.

Korean startup Simple Planet has been looking to obtain Halal certification for its cell-cultured ingredients, an effort that will now be accelerated thanks to the ruling.

Simple Planet pursues Halal certification

Courtesy: Simple Planet

Simple Planet produces protein powders and unsaturated fatty acid pastes for cultivated meat products, and has established at least 13 different animal cell lines, including beef, pork, chicken, bluefin tuna, and lobster.

Last month, it signed an MoU with the Halal Science Center at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand to integrate Halal Good Manufacturing Practices into biotech-powered food solutions, such as Simple Planet’s cell culture production system.

The two entities will collaborate on Halal science and tech research via resource-sharing, joint academic programmes, and industry-led seminars. In addition, they will support student internships, faculty exchanges, and joint research initiatives to foster a cross-disciplinary approach to Halal certification.

The startup developed an edible, serum-free culture medium using metabolites derived from probiotics, laying the groundwork for Halal adherence while potentially reducing production costs by 99.8%.

“By developing cell-based ingredients that can be safely supplied without being affected by environmental factors and establishing a sustainable food production system, we aim to enhance accessibility to cell-based foods, contribute to food security, and help alleviate hunger worldwide,” said Simple Planet co-founder and CEO Dominic Jeong.

The company has raised $7.5M from private investors and $8M in a government grant and is pursuing regulatory clearance in South Korea, which laid out a framework for the safety approval of these products last year. Working to make its products Halal-certified will open the company up to a bigger audience when it eventually gets to market.

Halal certification clears a significant market barrier

Courtesy: Simple Planet

Halal diets refer to food consumption in accordance with Islamic law. When it comes to meat, this means animals must be slaughtered in a prescribed way, and certain types of meat and byproducts – including pork and blood products – are prohibited.

According to the KMF’s fatwa, a thorough inspection of production facilities and processes is required for final Halal certification. But it’s still a significant development that paves the way for local cultivated meat producers to enter the Halal market and attract Muslim consumers. There are around 200,000 Muslims in South Korea today, and 40% of them live in Seoul, data from the KMF shows.

Globally, Halal consumers represent a quarter of the population, and the halal meat market is estimated to grow by 7% annually to reach $1.6T by 2032.

Cultivated meat producers understand the opportunity. A 44-company survey in 2023 revealed that complying with halal requirements was a priority for 87% of the firms. A lack of resources outlining how products can adhere to such religious certifications remain a significant entry barrier, the study added.

The fatwas in Singapore and South Korea follow similar advice from scholars elsewhere. In 2023, three leading Shariah scholars in Saudi Arabia told cultivated chicken maker Good Meat that cultured meat can be considered halal. A year earlier, the Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America adjudged cultivated meat as provisionally permissible by default, provided Halal criteria are followed.

“More than a billion people around the world adhere to halal food standards, so for cultivated meat to make the leap from novelty to the norm, it is crucial that there are viable pathways to achieve this certification,” Mirte Gosker, managing director of the Good Food Institute APAC, said last year.

The post Korean Muslim Federation Issues Fatwa Ruling Cultivated Meat As Halal appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 19, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Chia Seed Milk, Healthy Ham & Vegan Calcium

5 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Benexia’s new chia seed milk, Violife’s campaign with Chrishell Stause, and Holy Carrot’s upcoming restaurant in London.

New products and launches

Chilean company Benexia has launched what it says is the first milk alternative made from whole chia seeds. Launched under its Seeds of Wellness brand, the Chia Milk is available at Costco and on Amazon in the US for $27.99 for a six-pack.

Courtesy: Benexia

Speaking of the US, Kate Farms‘s Kids Nutrition shakes are making their national retail debut at Target. The pea-milk-based products come in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla flavours, and contain 27 vitamins and minerals.

Alt-dairy giant Violife has launched a Creamy Confessions campaign to support the launch of its lentil-based Supreme Coffee Creamers, featuring celebrities like Chrishell Stause (Selling Sunset, The Traitors), Bozoma Saint John (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Sasha Farber (Dancing with the Stars), and more.

Courtesy: Violife

The Plant Based Seafood Co. – known for its Mind Blown label – has launched two new brands. Hills Bay Classics focuses on crab cakes and a ‘seafood extender’, while Smash It is centred around health and GLP-1 support.

Speaking of marine products, New Zealand-based Nutrition from Water has released Marine Whey Golden 35, a clean-label algae protein designed for bakery and dairy applications.

Courtesy: Vegan Minerals

Likewise, Los Angeles-based Vegan Minerals has introduced Calcea, a plant-based calcium ingredient sourced from red algae. Apart from the bioavailable calcium, it provides magnesium, over 70 essential trace minerals, and 16 amino acids, while offering superior absorption thanks to a natural honeycomb structure.

France’s HappyVore has released a vegan ham with a Nutri-Score A rating, and a score of 84 out of 100 on nutrition product scanning app Yuka. A Saveur de l’Année (Taste of the Year) 2025 recipient, it contains 20g of protein per 100g from peas and beans and is available at Carrefour.

Courtesy: The Raging Pig Company

In Germany, The Raging Pig Company is leaning into the smash burger trend with a new plant-based patty for restaurants. It’s made from peas and mushrooms and is available via select foodservice distributors.

In a bid to revitalise plant-based meat and seafood, Dutch family business Schouten Europe has rolled out Power Bites and Sea Bites as its latest product innovations.

Courtesy: Better Nature Tempeh

Meanwhile, UK-based Better Nature has enhanced its tempeh recipe to boost the protein content from 19g to 22g per 100g serving, which is the same as three eggs, up to 400g of butter beans, or two-thirds of a chicken breast.

Chinese vegan protein brand Starfield is showcasing its diverse range of products, including the Poki Salad Bar, vegan bacon strips, and dairy-free cheese at the 2025 International Food & Drink Event (IFE) in London.

Courtesy: Holy Carrot

And London-based vegan restaurant Holy Carrot is bringing its Michelin Guide-approved vegetable-forward concept to the East End with a new location in Old Spitalfields Market, which is set to open by the end of the year.

Company and finance updates

Solar Foods, the Finnish company known for its gas-based Solein protein, has signed two MoUs with international customers to supply 6,000 tonnes of the ingredient per year. Additionally, it has announced a factory investment plan that could be Europe’s largest emission reduction project.

Courtesy: Solar Foods

Finnish precision fermentation firm Onego Bio has completed the purchase of a 25.9-acre piece of land in Jefferson, Wisconsin for $777,000. Located at the Food and Beverage Innovation Campus, it will build a facility that will produce animal-free egg proteins equivalent to six million hens, and be operational in 2028.

Germany’s Formo, a fellow precision fermentation player working on dairy and egg proteins, has received a €1M ($1.1M) bioeconomy grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and partnered with Brain Biotech to advance strain development and bioprocess optimisation.

Courtesy: Formo

In Portugal, cultivated seafood maker Cell4Food has partnered with agrifood R&D specialist CoLab4Food to co-develop products and enhance their safety and nutritional values.

Meanwhile, Swedish cultivated meat startup Cellevate has appointed biopharma veteran Christel Fenge at CTO to turbo-charge its effort to commercialise its Cellevat3d nanofibre cell culture solutions.

Courtesy: Meatable

Another cultivated meat company, Meatable, has hired two more meat industry veterans. Former Tyson Foods executive Maiko van der Meer has joined as the director of commerce, and Cargill and McCormick alum will join Eugene Leong as its Asia head in May.

AI protein discovery platform Shiru and plant biotech platform GreenLab have teamed up to commercialise novel food proteins for CPG applications using the latter’s corn expression system.

Policy developments

Peet’s Coffee has become the latest coffee chain to remove the surcharge on non-dairy milk, joining the likes of Starbucks, Dunkin’, Tim Hortons and others after campaigning from Sir Paul McCartney and charities like Peta.

Californian alternative protein pioneer Eat Just and its cultivated meat subsidiary, Good Meat, has agreed to pay $4.4M as part of its legal settlement with bioreactor supplier ABEC.

Courtesy: Eat Just

UK supermarket Morrisons has switched suppliers for its own-label coconut milk after a Peta Asia investigation exposed forced monkey labour in Thailand’s coconut industry. The product will now be sourced from Peta-verified Merit Food Products.

EIT Food and Mars Petcare have selected BioscienZ and Cremer Sustainable Nutrition as the winners of their Fiber Valorisation for Pet Food Challenge. They will now develop proof-of-concept studies to drive sustainable ingredient innovations, with the potential to develop long-term collaborations.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

The post Future Food Quick Bites: Chia Seed Milk, Healthy Ham & Vegan Calcium appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 14, 2025

South Korea to Open First Centre Dedicated to Cultivated Meat, With $10M in Public Investment

5 Mins Read
South Korea’s Uiseong County has won its bid to build a cultivated meat research centre, supported by $10M in government funding as part of the country’s food tech drive.

With regulatory support for cultivated meat ramping up in South Korea, the country’s first centre dedicated to cell-cultured foods is opening in Uiseong-gun, a city in the Gyeongsangbuk-do province.

The 2,660 sq m Food Tech Research Support Center is slated to open in 2027, and backed by public investment to the tune of ₩14.5B ($9.9M). The centre will pour in ₩5.25B ($3.6M), with the rest of the funds deployed by the local North Gyeongsang and Uiseong-gun governments.

Based in Uiseong-gun’s Bio Valley General Industrial Complex, the project was announced after the county was selected in the cell-cultured food field in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’s (MAFRA) competition for the construction of food tech R&D centres.

It will help companies develop their processes, scale up production, and apply for regulatory approval, and is the latest move positioning South Korea as one of Asia’s future food leaders.

“The new facility is one of several set up by the MAFRA designed to ramp up development of food technology,” explains Mirte Gosker, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC.

“Understanding that future food development is big business, Uiseong County submitted a successful bid to MAFRA to host this new facility as a means of boosting its local economy,” she tells Green Queen.

Lee Chul-woo, governor of the North Gyeongsang province, called cellular agriculture “an innovative solution for the sustainable future food industry”. “The establishment of a core infrastructure at the Food Tech Research Support Center will serve as an opportunity for Gyeongbuk to leap to the center of the Korean food tech industry,” he noted.

Almost a dozen companies interested in new centre

Courtesy: SeaWith

The Food Tech Research Support Center plans to build a cellular agriculture system that can produce up to 100kg of cultivated meat per year, and support 60 new jobs. It will be run by the Gyeongbuk Technopark.

The facility will integrate research, development and commercial support, providing mass cultivation equipment and prototype production facilities, safety evaluation and licensing assistance, and infrastructure for the full-cycle industrialisation of cultivated food products.

According to Korean publication Gyeongbuk Ilbo, 11 companies have expressed their intention to move into the centre, including SeaWith, Micro Digital, and LMK. Meanwhile, Yeungnam University and the Animal Cell Proof-of-Sale Support Center are partner institutions.

“Other collaborations are under discussion with research institutions like the K-Bio CMO Center,” says Gosker, while potential partnerships with large corporations and initiatives like the World FoodTech Council are on the cards aswell.

These collaborations are also aimed at promoting the AI-based discovery of materials derived from natural products, food processing and robotics tech, and the quality control of cell-cultured production, according to Gyeongbuk Ilbo.

The new centre is “located next door to the existing Cell Culture Industry Support Center, which opened in 2023″, notes Gosker. “Both are within the special regulatory zone that South Korea established to accelerate domestic alternative protein innovation.” This $7M project harbours 10 cultivated meat firms that are exempt from restrictions on using biopsies and same-day slaughtered tissues in support of mass production of high-quality novel proteins.

South Korea ramps up support for novel proteins

Courtesy: GFI APAC

The new facility is part of the province’s plans to develop the local economy by becoming a food tech leader. It has established a production facility for culture media, which will support downstream industries, including cell-culture materials and equipment manufacturing.

Further, the local government plans to launch consumer awareness initiatives aimed at normalising and popularising cultivated meat. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has established a framework for regulatory approval of these proteins, and polling shows that 90% of Koreans are willing to try cultivated meat, and two in five are in favour of it being sold at supermarkets and restaurants.

Outside Gyeongsangbuk-do, similar food tech support centres have been established in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do (for alternative foods) and Naju, Jeollanam-do (for food upcycling).

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

And in November, leading food tech organisations signed a deal to advance market research and knowledge exchanges, increase policy coordination for novel food regulation, facilitate training, and increase awareness about alternative protein innovation.

“As part of its mission to improve food system stability and efficiency, MAFRA has been stepping up its strategic investments into emerging food technologies like cultivated meat,” says Gosker.

“These investments will further enhance what is already one of the world’s most advanced tech ecosystems, which includes 10 biotechnology innovation and manufacturing clusters, around 40 companies working across the alt protein value chain, and major multinational corporations like Samsung Biologics. Add to that the world’s highest number of scientific researchers per capita and South Korea is well-positioned to be a global powerhouse for cellular agriculture.”

Cultivated meat regulatory approval imminent in South Korea

Courtesy: CellMEAT

GFI identified South Korea as one of the places to watch for regulatory progress in this field in 2025. “Our experts believe it’s a safe assumption that this will happen in 2025, possibly in the first half of the year,” reveals Gosker.

“Korean cultivated meat startup CellMEAT submitted its application for regulatory approval in early 2024 and the review process is expected to take around 270 working days (roughly one year),” she says. “If all goes well, the first product approval could theoretically come any day now.”

This, she adds, would “trigger a cascade of additional applications”, similar to what regulators have experienced in Singapore and the US (which just cleared its third cultivated meat product for sale).

Seoul-based startup Simple Planet previously indicated to Green Queen that it aims to obtain the regulatory greenlight for its cultivated meat this year as well.

“No individual country can reimagine the global protein supply – but a network of Asian R&D hubs working collaboratively to accelerate future-food development and manufacturing very well could,” says Gosker. “Korea is a central player in turning that dream into reality, alongside other established foodtech leaders like Japan, China, and Singapore, and rising economies like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.”

She continues: “If this regional coalition works together to supercharge scientific research, leverage each country’s supply-chain strengths, and rapidly increase regulatory knowledge-sharing, the combined impact will be far greater than the sum of its parts.”

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March 12, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Oat Milk Baileys, Beyond Steak Fillet & An Impossible Burger Challenge

7 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Diageo’s newest non-dairy Baileys, Beyond Meat’s mycelium steak, and Minor Figures’s ‘Hyper’ oat milk.

New products and launches

Beverage giant Diageo has released two non-dairy versions of its popular cream liqueur Baileys. Made with oat milk, they’re available across the US in Coffee Toffee and Cookies & Creamy flavours for $24.99 per 700ml bottle.

Courtesy: Diageo

Also in the US, Malk Organics, known for its clean-label milk alternatives, has introduced organic coconut and soy milks, which will be available for $6.99 and $5.99 per 28oz bottle at Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market.

Elmhurst 1925 is getting in on the clean-label alt-milk action too, rolling out a suite of unsweetened options – from plain and vanilla pistachio to coconut barista and vanilla cashew – as well as a barista cashew milk. They will retail for $7.99-8.99 per pack starting June, and were debuted at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California last week.

To celebrate its 15th anniversary, plant-based dairy leader Califia Farms has introduced a limited-edition Birthday Cake almond creamer, retailing at Kroger, Wegmans and Wakefern for $5.79. This is in addition to its new pistachio-almond creamer, organic cashew milk, and espresso-blend cold brew (available for $5.49-6.99 at various supermarkets).

Courtesy: Califia Farms

US ice-cream giant Häagen-Dazs has released the new non-dairy sorbets: Summer Blueberry & Lemon, Passion Fruit & Sweet Pear, and Sweet Lemon Coconut. They’re available nationwide for $6.99 per pint.

At the trade show, British oat milk brand Minor Figures also unveiled the newest additions to its US lineup: mocha and cinnamon oat lattes, and a functional Hyper Oat SKU, due to be launched in 2026. It has also reintroduced its barista lite edition with 33% fewer calories, which is rolling out this month.

Meanwhile, plant-based leader Beyond Meat showcased its upcoming whole-cut steak at the event. While it didn’t confirm if this was the mycelium-based product it teased last year, the brand promised it “mirrors the texture, flavour, and experience of a premium USDA steak fillet”.

Courtesy: Beyond Meat

South Korean meat-free brand Unlimeat debuted its new bowl SKUs, with the range comprising Galbi & Kimchi Rice, Bulgogi Japchae, and Gochujang Bibimbap.

In yet another Expo West launch, plant protein maker Beleaf introduced a shelf-stable Soybean Beef Slice (which can last up to 18 months), alongside vegan bacon, mini drumsticks, and shrimp.

In the UK, The Coconut Collab has rolled out a strawberry-flavoured protein yoghurt made with a base of coconuts and almonds. Available at Tesco and (shortly) Ocado, each £1.60 single-serve pot contains 9g of plant protein.

Courtesy: Oatly

Oat milk giant Oatly has kickstarted its latest marketing drive, which will see the company dole out 20,000 free coffees with its barista milk. It comes after blind taste tests found that four times as many Brits prefer oat milk in their coffee than currently purchase it.

Speaking of brand promotions, Impossible Foods has launched its Bloody Delicious campaign in Australia, partnering with TV personality and TikTok chef Iain ‘Huey’ Hewitson to challenge locals to distinguish between its burger and beef in a blind taste test.

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A post shared by Iain 'Huey' Hewitson (@iain_huey_hewitson)

Meanwhile, Australian cultured meat maker Vow has debuted its Forged Gras product at Two Men Bagel House in Singapore, with the cultivated foie gras appearing in several limited-edition menu items.

And as part of its blended meat move, fellow Aussie startup Fable Foods has partnered with catering giant Aramark and William White Meats in the UK to create a 65-35 Beef and Shiitake Mushroom burger.

Company and finance developments

Polish vegan restaurant chain Krowarzywa – once the largest plant-based group in the country – is shutting down its last location at the end of the month, citing financial difficulties.

Courtesy: Shlomi Arbiv

Umami Bioworks is continuing the global expansion of its cultivated seafood operations, establishing a hub in Wageningen in the Netherlands. This is its second office in Europe, following its move into the UK last October.

Swedish cultivated meat player Re:meat has closed an oversubscribed €1M investment round to open a new facility it calls Re:meatery.

British tempeh brand Tiba Tempeh has raised £1.1M ($1.4M) in a funding round led by Maven Capital Partners, after its retail sales jumped by 736% in 2024, making it the fastest-growing meat-free brand in the UK.

Courtesy: Tiba Tempeh

Canadian vegan fast-food chain Odd Burger saw revenue grow by 6% from Q3 to Q4 2024 (though it was flat compared to Q4 2023), while losses plunged by 80% in the last three months of 2024. It ascribed the performance to the expansion of its franchise model and CPG business.

Californian biomanufacturing startup Pow.Bio has opened a 25,000 sq ft demo facility with bench- and pilot-scale continuous fermentation capacities in Alameda. The FDA-approved plant will help precision fermentation startups transition from gram-scale experiments to production in the hundreds of kgs.

Through its Prairies Economic Development Canada department, the Canadian government has invested C$1M to support the Cellular Agriculture Prairies Ecosystem project led by New Harvest Canada. It will be matched by contributions from regional partners, bringing total investment to C$2.4M over three years.

Courtesy: Second Cup

Also in Canada, coffee chain Second Cup has scrapped the non-dairy surcharge, meaning all its plant-based milks are available as a free swap. It comes shortly after similar announcements from Tim Hortons and Dunkin’.

Los Angeles coffee chain Go Get Em Tiger has partnered with Elmhurst 1925 to make its barista oat milk the exclusive oat option across all eight locations, in what is positioned as a transition to seed-oil-free milks.

Research, policy and awards

The Good Food Institute, a think tank focused on future foods, has introduced an interactive Alternative Protein Career Pathways web tool to provide career guidance for people interested in the sector.

Courtesy: GFI

The government of India has launched a call for biomanufacturing grant proposals for researchers working on smart proteins. Applications are open until March 25.

In the UK, the University of Oxford is working with several other institutes to help design food policies that promote net-zero targets and address public health challenges. The Thriving Food Futures project will run for five years, and has been set up with a £6M grant from UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Courtesy: Plant FWD

Alternative protein trade conference Plant FWD is returning to Amsterdam next month (April 8-9), convening over 1,000 industry professionals, investors, and policymakers. The event will include new product demos, a preview of the Eat-Lancet Dietary Guidelines 2.0, and pitches from 10 startups.

The annual What’s Trending in Nutrition survey by Pollock Communications and Today’s Dietitian has named gut health and plant-based eating among the top trends that will shape consumer choices this year. However, myths about the protein content of plant-based food persist.

Courtesy: Morning Consult/PCRM

Aligning with the above, 87% of American adults believe they need to eat meat, dairy, eggs and other animal products to get enough protein, according to a new survey by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Morning Consult. Women and Gen Zers are most likely to disagree with this misconception.

In California’s Bay Area, artificial intelligence organisations Electric Sheep and OpenPaws hosted a hackathon with 81 coders as part of its AI for Animals conference series. It tackled 16 real-world challenges drawn from the social impact, food system transformation, and animal protection communities.

Courtesy: Nature’s Fynd

Finally, fungi protein startup Nature’s Fynd‘s Dairy-Free Strawberry Fy Yogurt has been named the winner in the Dairy Alternative category at the 2025 Nexty Awards.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

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This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 12, 2025

Unanimous Vote: Mississippi Becomes Third US State to Pass Bill to Ban Cultivated Meat

5 Mins Read
House and Senate representatives in Mississippi have unanimously passed a bill to ban the sale of cultivated meat in the state, which is on the way to the governor’s desk now.

Sell cultivated meat, go to jail.

Mississippi has followed Florida and Alabama to become the third US state to pass a bill that would ban people from producing or selling cultivated meat within its borders.

The House of Representatives – where the bill was first introduced – voted 116-0 in favour of the legislation (with four absentees) earlier this week, sending the bill to Governor Tate Reeves’s desk for final approval.

Unless Reeves vetoes the bill, selling these proteins in Mississippi could land you a misdemeanour charge with a $500 fine, or even a jail term of up to three months. But the governor, who signed legislation prohibiting cultivated meat from being labelled as meat back in 2019 – when no such product had been federally approved for sale – is likely to sign this latest bill into law too.

Cultivated meat opposition misguided

Courtesy: Mission Barns

The bill was introduced in January by two Republican representatives, Bill Pigott and Lester Carpenter. Pigott, a beef and dairy farmer, has long been an opponent of alternative protein. He introduced a bill to restrict how these products are labelled in 2019, which was unsuccessful and preceded the one eventually signed by Governor Reeves.

Speaking to the New York Times that year, he said: “The fake, lab-produced meat is a little bit more of a science fiction-type deal that concerns me more.”

Unlike similar bills in several other states, Pigott and Carpenter’s HB 1006 passed through the legislature without any opposition. Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate were unanimous in their view that beef derived from animal cells and grown in bioreactors should not be sold in the state. Under the bill, retailers that sell cultivated meat could have their licence revoked.

The move was supported by Andy Gispon, Mississippi’s agricultural commissioner, another long-term critic of cultivated meat. In July last year, he called it a “science experiment”, declaring: “I don’t know about you, but I want my steak to come from farm-raised beef, not a petri dish from a lab.”

He wasn’t shy about the reasons behind his support of a ban: the state’s livestock industry. “We know that American farmers are the true conservationists. Throughout the process of raising an animal, all the way to slaughter, animals must be treated humanely,” he said.

“Farmers and ranchers know more than anyone that their livelihood depends on the way they work their land and treat their livestock,” Gispon added, though his comment ignores the fact that most of the inputs needed to cultivate animal cells into meat come from farms.

Cultivated meat industry weathering the storm

Courtesy: Eat Just

Mississippi’s bill is nothing new. More than 20 states have tried to ban or restrict cultivated meat in recent years, and most have failed to get anywhere. The anti-cultivated-meat rhetoric has grown louder in the last year, as some Americans take to the carnivore diet, others become apprehensive of ultra-processed foods, and public figures like Elon Musk proclaim steak and eggs as the ideal breakfast

Meanwhile, investors are flocking away from the sector, with startups receiving 40% less capital in 2024, followed by a 75% plunge in 2023. Some startups have struggled to stay afloat, and others have made adjustments to their workforce.

Downturn or not, the industry appears prepared to fight the burgeoning sector. “Cell-based meats are not expected to be on grocery stores any time soon, but we must be vigilant and proactive rather than getting caught asleep at the wheel,” Gispon wrote last year.

It may come as a surprise to him that Californian startup Mission Barns has landed a deal to roll out bacon and meatballs made from its cultivated pork fat at Sprouts Farmers Market. It received a ‘no questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this month, the first such regulatory approval in the country since 2023.

Courtesy: Mission Barns

That year, it was Eat Just and Upside Foods that had secured the green light for their cultivated chicken products. The latter has brought a lawsuit alleging Florida’s ban is unconstitutional and is pursuing federal regulatory clearance for a second product this year.

Although legislators in states including South Carolina, West Virginia, Montana, Georgia have brought similar bills into consideration this year, others have faced setbacks. South Dakota’s HB 1109 failed to pass through the Senate, as did Wyoming’s HB 0168. Nebraska’s LB 246, meanwhile, has faced pushback from farmers and ranchers, who bemoaned that the effort would stifle competition in a free market.

It’s not the first instance of the meat industry hitting back against lawmakers claiming to protect them with these bills. Florida’s law received criticism from the country’s oldest and largest trade association, which represents 95% of the US’s meat output.

In a letter sent to Governor Ron DeSantis in March 2024, the North American Meat Institute called the ban “bad public policy”. “These bills establish a precedent for adopting policies and regulatory requirements that could one day adversely affect the bills’ supporters,” it said, emphasising the importance of consumer choice.

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March 10, 2025

UK Govt Opens First-of-A-Kind ‘Sandbox’ to Fast-Track Cultivated Meat Approval

7 Mins Read
The UK’s Food Standards Agency has launched a regulatory ‘sandbox’ to accelerate the regulatory approval pathway for cultivated meat, with eight startups participating in the two-year programme.

Weeks after cultivated meat hit pet food shelves in the UK, the government has launched a first-of-its-kind regulatory programme to help cultivated meat producers get to market faster – and for cheaper.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) – which oversees food safety and novel food regulation in the UK – has picked eight cultivated meat startups to participate in the regulatory ‘sandbox’, where they will work with scientists, regulatory experts, and academic bodies to overhaul the regulatory framework around these products.

It comes months after the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology awarded £1.6M to the FSA to create the Cell-Cultivated Products Regulatory Sandbox, as part of the first round of its Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund.

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

Courtesy: Hoxton Farms

The two-year programme includes startups from across the world: Hoxton Farms, Roslin Technologies, Uncommon Bio (all UK), BlueNalu (US), Vow (Australia), Mosa Meat (The Netherlands), Gourmey (France), and Vital Meat (France) – the latter two, along with British startup Ivy Farm Technologies and Israel’s Aleph Farms – are already waiting on approval for cultivated meat in the UK. London-based Meatly is the only one to have received the green light, though this is for pet food.

“By participating in the sandbox, we aim to accelerate our regulatory timeline for the UK market, reducing potential delays and strengthening our submission,” said Mosa Meat. Its founder and CSO, Dr Mark Post, added: “These are exactly the kind of public-private partnerships we envisioned when we debuted the world’s first cultivated burger right here in London in 2013.”

Prof Robin May, chief scientific advisor at the FSA, noted: “Safe innovation is at the heart of this programme. By prioritising consumer safety and making sure new foods, like cell-cultivated products are safe, we can support growth in innovative sectors. Our aim is to ultimately provide consumers with a wider choice of new food, while maintaining the highest safety standards.”

How the regulatory sandbox will help cultivated meat startups

Courtesy: Food Standards Agency

For years, food safety regulation in the UK was stuck in the pre-Brexit novel food regulations, which are slow and expensive for companies. Currently, regulatory filings cost between £350,000-£500,000 per product, and can take more than two-and-a-half years to be approved.

Over the last year, the government has made concerted efforts to put the UK at the front of the protein transition race. The FSA first announced plans to create a sandbox in February 2024, after a report it commissioned revealed that speeding up novel food regulation could help it meet national climate plans.

Regulatory sandboxes allow companies to test new concepts with real customers under the supervision of a regulator, as designed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The Cell-Cultivated Products Regulatory Sandbox will be jointly run by the FSA and Food Standards Scotland (FSS), and provide application guidance to startups, expand the safety and nutritional knowledge of novel foods, and reduce approval timelines.

The FSA will gather “rigorous scientific evidence” about the technology behind cell-cultured food products to better understand and regulate these products. They will address important questions – including about labelling – and apply up-to-date insights when clearing novel foods for sale.

The regulator has previously said it expects at least 15 more applications in the next two years, and predicts that many more cultivated protein startups could crop up thanks to the development.

“By supporting the safe development of cell-cultivated products, we’re giving businesses the confidence to innovate and accelerating the UK’s position as a global leader in sustainable food production,” said science minister Sir Patrick Vallance.

UK steps up its protein transition efforts

Courtesy: National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre

The regulatory sandbox is among a number of developments that signal the UK’s intention to spearhead sustainable protein innovation. It has invested £75M for the development of these foods, an important outlay considering it is behind its net-zero target, and meeting this would require Brits to cut 35% of their meat consumption by 2050, according to the national Climate Change Committee (CCC).

Since 2023, four major research centres have cropped up – the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub (CARMA), the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (or NAPIC, helped by a £15M injection from the government), the Microbial Food Hub, and Bezos Earth Fund‘s Centre for Sustainable Protein.

The FSA is working with CARMA, NAPIC and the Centre for Sustainable Protein as part of the sandbox, with non-profit the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe and trade body the Alternative Proteins Association also involved.

Additionally, the regulator will set up a system of international cooperation, which would see the UK greenlight cultivated meat products approved in other countries. And it’s creating a new public register to replace the existing system of requiring a statutory instrument (which adds up to six months to the assessment process), and removing the need for renewals of approvals every 10 years.

Courtesy: Ivy Farm Technologies

Further, cultivated meat is on the radar of the newly opened Regulatory Innovation Office, whose engineering biology focus involves reducing red tape and helping regulators bring these products to market faster.

“We are very pleased that the UK is moving forward with this two-year programme and are excited about the prospect of a full safety assessment of two cultivated meat applications within that time,” Valentina Gallani, health and nutrition manager at ProVeg International, told Green Queen.

She added that this will allow the UK to catch up with other countries that have greenlit cultivated meat and ensure it’s ahead of the pack. “Cultivated meat can be a promising way to diversify protein consumption, boost the economy and increase food security towards a more sustainable food system. To do so, it is important to have a rigorous regulatory approval process to protect the consumer and support the industry.”

Challenges remain, but sandbox a big step forward

Courtesy: Meatly

Last month, Meatly and fellow London startup The Pack debuted dog treats featuring cultivated meat and plant-based ingredients at Pets At Home, marking the first time Brits could buy cell-cultured products, albeit for their pets.

Cultivated meat has been cleared for sale in Singapore, the US, Israel and Hong Kong, while Regulators in the EU, Switzerland, Australia and Thailand are evaluating applications too. And just last week, the US issued its third approval, for cultivated pork producer Mission Barns.

Several European countries – some bound by EU regulations – have already held public tastings for cultivated meat, a feat yet to be achieved in the UK. Plus, some citizens on a CCC panel said they’re uneasy about cultivated meat, though they added the government could still support these to ensure a larger range of products. The committee itself associated these proteins with “potential positive nutrition and health impacts”, while even farmers are open to the idea of cell-cultured meat.

“While the sandbox is a welcome measure, other challenges still remain. The FSA has been under-resourced for a number of years – resulting in lengthy delays for product approvals – and the detailed guidelines for alternative protein startups first proposed in 2022 have yet to be published, meaning some companies lack the clarity needed when preparing dossiers,” Linus Pardoe, senior UK policy manager at GFI Europe, told Green Queen last month.

Courtesy: GFI Europe

“The UK has also not yet introduced a modern approach to holding safe, limited taste testing for novel foods, similar to the protocol introduced by the Netherlands – another area that could enable startups to demonstrate progress and engage with consumers as they develop their products.”

“The sandbox will only be considered a success if the FSA also receives the support and funding to complete its assessments within faster timelines. Without this speed, it risks losing out on creating a competitive homegrown industry which can power low-carbon economic growth, boost food security, and ensure the UK becomes a leader in net-zero within the food industry,” said Jim Mellon, executive chairman of cellular agriculture investor Agronomics (a Meatly shareholder).

Still, the launch of the sandbox and the collaboration with leading cultivated meat players – chosen to represent a “diverse, international range of technologies, processes, and ingredients” – is a major step in the right direction for the UK.

“We’ve seen in a recent report that the UK is falling behind in terms of agritech funding, yet houses leading companies in this industry,” added Mellon. “We’re certain that with a modern and efficient regulatory framework, we could easily match if not surpass rival markets and the reward will be increased food security from a sustainable and durable source.”

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March 10, 2025

Mission Barns Gets FDA Approval to Sell Cultivated Pork in US Supermarkets & Restaurants

6 Mins Read
Californian food tech startup Mission Barns has become the third cultivated meat firm to receive regulatory approval in the US, with a planned rollout at Sprouts and Bay Area restaurant group Fiorella.

Mission Barns has earned US regulatory approval to sell its cultivated pork fat in the US, after securing a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday.

It is the third company to have received the green light to sell cultivated meat in the US – after fellow Californian firms Upside Foods and Eat Just in 2022 and 2023, respectively – and the first to be cleared to sell cultivated pork anywhere in the world.

The cell-cultured fat will be mixed with plant-based ingredients in Italian-style meatballs and applewood-smoked bacon, which will be debuted at San Francisco restaurant group Fiorella and Sprouts Farmers Market – marking the first time cultivated meat will be sold in a US supermarket.

Mission Barns’s hybrid meat products will feature a mix of its cultivated pork fat with plant proteins | Courtesy: Mission Barns

According to its letter, the FDA “did not identify a basis” to conclude that Mission Barns’s process would result in substances or microorganisms that would adulterate the food.

“We have no questions at this time regarding Mission Barns’ conclusion that foods comprised of or containing cultured pork cell material resulting from the production process […] are as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods,” the agency wrote, concluding a consultation process that began in May 2022 and underwent 18 amendments.

Before it is officially launched, Mission Barns would require approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its pilot plant and product labelling, in addition to the FDA letter.

The FDA approval comes during a period of turbulence for the cultivated meat industry, which has faced both financial and political challenges in the US – over 20 states have attempted to ban or restrict these proteins, and two of them have been successful. And with Robert F Kennedy as health secretary, there have been suggestions that the regulatory pathway for cultivated meat is now harder to chart.

New bioreactors a precursor to large-scale facility

Courtesy: Mission Barns

Founded in 2018 by CEO Eitan Fischer, previously the cultivated meat head at Eat Just, Mission Barns uses belly fat cells from domestic Yorkshire pigs and grows them in bioreactors to make cultivated pork fat for hybrid meats like bacon, meatballs, pepperoni and chorizo.

It has a pilot plant in the Bay Area that can “produce enough product to supply a handful of restaurants and retailers”, according to Bianca Lê, head of special projects and external affairs at Mission Barns.

She had hinted about the startup’s approval and market entry plans in an interview with Green Queen in October, revealing: “We have a number of exciting partnerships confirmed with major US grocery stores, restaurants and food distributors who we have partnered with to sell our products.”

The company had developed a novel bioreactor that makes a departure from the single-cell suspension tanks of the biopharma sector, making cultivated meat production more efficient, easier to scale, and cheaper. Its appliance recreates the same adherent growth conditions inside an animal’s body, and can cultivate both muscle and fat cells, or tissue, from any species.

It is now looking to build a commercial-scale manufacturing facility. “Our current plan involves having bioreactors with working volumes in the tens of thousands of litres at commercial scale, when we’ll be outputting tens of millions of pounds of final product per year,” explained Lê.

Courtesy: Mission Barns

Mission Barns is among a number of companies taking the cultivated fat route, which is seen as a more viable way to commercialise cell-cultured meat in the medium term. This includes Hoxton Farms, Steakholder Foods, Genuine Taste, and Mosa Meat (which has applied for approval in the EU).

“Consumers won’t eat food that isn’t absolutely delicious, which is why we chose to pursue a fat-first approach,” explained Fischer. “Not only is fat the main driver of flavour and juiciness, but it is also less costly and faster to produce than lean meat.”

He added: “We believe in giving consumers more choice – people looking for delicious, healthy, and responsibly produced meat are excited to try our products. By advancing cultivated meat production, we are helping to create a more resilient and reliable food system and reinforcing American leadership in food innovation.”

A win for cultivated meat amid political upheaval

Courtesy: Mission Barns

According to a scientific memo published by the FDA, Mission Barns’s ingredient has similar unsaturated and saturated fatty acid content to conventional pork fat, and no trans fats. The agency said it will conduct another inspection after the company begins commercial production to “help ensure that potential risks are being managed and that the food is safe and not adulterated”.

Only a handful of firms have been able to climb the regulatory ladder to be cleared to sell cultivated meat globally – Mission Barns is only the sixth. Aside from Upside Foods and Eat Just, the list comprises Aleph Farms (in Israel), Vow (in Singapore and Hong Kong), and Meatly (in the UK). Regulators in the EU, Switzerland, Australia and Thailand are evaluating applications too, and judging from its inventory, the US FDA seems to have received at least five others.

Cultivated meat is undergoing a trough of disillusionment. After VCs pumped $1.3B into the category in 2021, investment has dipped dramatically. In 2023, funding fell by 75%, followed by another 40% drop in 2024, reaching just $137M, according to Net Zero Insights data obtained by the Good Food Institute. It has forced some cultivated meat startups to shut down, and others to make cutbacks.

Graphic by Green Queen

At the same time, a host of legislative efforts to ban or restrict cultivated meat in the US and Europe are ongoing. Italy decided to ban these proteins in 2023 (before other EU attempts were thwarted), while Florida and Alabama followed suit last year. Several states have floated similar bills in the current legislative session, though some have hit a snag, mirroring the fate of bills introduced in a number of other states over the last two years.

“Unlike other meat production, cultivated meat has federal regulatory oversight by both the FDA and USDA,” the Association for Meat, Poultry, and Seafood Innovation, a cellular agriculture trade group, said in a statement.

“As more companies progress through this rigorous regulatory pathway, the United States has an opportunity to be a global leader in the emerging industry. American-made cultivated meat and seafood will create high-skilled jobs throughout the value chain, enhance US food security, and expand consumer choice [by] filling gaps in supply shortages,” it added.

Fiorella co-founder Brandon Gillis also touched upon the “vulnerability of our global food supply chain”, which has impacted the restaurant’s ability to source ingredients and increased menu prices: “I’ve been keeping tabs on the cultivated meat industry as a potential solution, and after meeting with Mission Barns and tasting its products, I wanted to make sure we created a partnership for this historic moment.”

The post Mission Barns Gets FDA Approval to Sell Cultivated Pork in US Supermarkets & Restaurants appeared first on Green Queen.

This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 7, 2025

Amid Mounting Prices, Lindt Backs Swiss Startup to Bring Cell-Based Chocolate to the US

5 Mins Read
Swiss food tech startup Food Brewer is targeting US regulatory approval for its cell-based chocolate this year, having just raised $5.6M from industry giants Lindt and Puratos.

Zurich-based Food Brewer has attracted investment from two of Europe’s largest confectionery companies to bring cell-based chocolate to the US market as cocoa prices reach record highs.

The Swiss firm has secured CHF 5 million ($5.6M) from Lindt & Sprüngli, Sparkalis (the VC arm of bakery and confectionery group Puratos), and existing investors in a seed extension round, which takes its total raised to CHF 10 million ($11.2M).

Lindt and Sparkalis have joined on as both strategic investors and collaborators, according to Food Brewer, although the company declined to comment on any plans to co-create products as part of the deal.

“Having players like Lindt and Sparkalis backing us demonstrates the real need the market has for our products,” Food Brewer co-founder and CEO Christian Schaub told Green Queen. “For us, it is incredibly valuable to benefit from their chocolate-making know-how, their industry expertise and networks.”

He added: “The close relationship with Lindt and Sparkalis is key for the development of our products, which address the requirements and expectations of both the producers and the customers.”

How Food Brewer makes its cocoa-free chocolate

Courtesy: Food Brewer

Founded in 2021 by Schaub, Yannick Senn, Géraldine Senn, Corinne John, Stefan Bingisser, and Klaus Kienle, Food Brewer is part of a growing crop of startups using plant cell culture to grow commodities like cocoa, whose climate threats are becoming increasingly evident.

To make its chocolate, the startup takes cells from a cocoa bean and places them in a nutrient gel, where they regenerate and form a callus. After two weeks, it chooses the right cells to put in a bioreactor with a nutrient-rich solution of sugars, vitamins, minerals and other substances – a process enhanced by microsocopic analyses and artificial intelligence (AI).

It only takes a few weeks to establish a new plant cell culture on average. Once the cells reach the desired biomass quantity, they’re harvested, dried and roasted.

“Once we established the production in tanks (similar to beer-brewing tanks), we run it semi-continuously. We grow the biomass and harvest a part of it every few days to process it to our cocoa powder, letting the remaining biomass in the tank grow again. This allows for an efficient production,” explained CFO Mathilde Dupin.

Using AI and brewing industry equipment to lower costs

Courtesy: Food Brewer

“We currently operate out of our pilot plant close by Zürich, Switzerland, which is equipped with bioreactors ranging to up to 700 litres, and with an output that allows us to run prototyping runs at our client’s facilities,” said Schaub. “Our production will, however, move to external sites within the next year to allow for larger scales.”

Food Brewer has established several partnerships to improve and acclerate its process. It has teamed up with Fruitful AI to utilise advanced algorithms to track plant cell growth under controlled images. Further, the company is integrating the brewing technology from Steinecker (the brewing division of German manufacturing giant Krones) into its bioreactor platform, sidestepping the biopharma industry to lower production costs.

“Bringing our products to a competitive price level is the motivation behind all our activities, be it optimising the price of our media components or ensuring access to affordable production facilities. For that reason, since the beginning, we have focused on partnering with established industrial players who share the vision of reliable yet affordable food production,” said Schaub.

“Such partners include Krones,” he added. “Jointly, we advance the adaptation of existing fermentation infrastructure towards being suitable for plant cell cultivation at reasonable costs. This approach will allow us to reach a competitive pricing.”

Food Brewer eyes US approval as giants invest in alt-chocolate

Courtesy: Food Brewer

Speaking of prices, Food Brewer’s fundraise comes at a time when, thanks to climate-change-induced shortages, cocoa prices are soaring – and have been for many months.

While dark chocolate production itself generates more emissions than all other foods bar beef, a bar of chocolate requires 1,700 litres of water on average. Plus, rising demand for land has meant that the industry is responsible for 94% and 80% of deforestation in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, climate change is wiping out cocoa crops, with global cocoa stocks falling to their lowest levels in a decade. If things remain the way they are, a third of the world’s cocoa trees might die out by 2050.

As a result, cocoa prices shot up by three- to fourfold in 2024, reaching all-time highs – in New York, cocoa futures reached an all-time high of $12,565 per tonne in mid-December. In fact, cocoa was the fastest-gaining commodity in the value chain last year, and prices are likely to stay high this year.

All this has had an impact on the bottom lines of large chocolate companies too. For example, Hershey’s profit forecast for 2025 is below analysts’ expectations. This has prompted industry giants to infuse cash in low-carbon solutions like cell-based and cocoa-free chocolate.

In Israel, Celleste Bio has attracted investment from Mondelēz International, which also included fellow cell-based cocoa player Kokomodo in its second CoLab Tech programme. Puratos’s Sparkalis, meanwhile, has invested in California Cultured too, which is co-developing products with Japanese chocolate giant Meiji.

Alongside the support of Sparkalis and Lindt, Food Brewer also counts Swiss chocolate maker Felchlin as an investor, which is testing its cell-based cocoa powder in chocolates.

Food Brewer is first targeting the US market, with plans to secure self-determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status and concurrently notify the Food and Drug Administration to obtain a ‘no questions’ letter. “[We] anticipate the first products made of our cell-cultivated cocoa to hit the market shortly after obtaining the approval,” said Schaub.

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This post was originally published on Green Queen.
March 5, 2025

Future Food Quick Bites: Expo West, Tom Brady & Lidl Vegan Meat

5 Mins Read
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a range of product showcases at Expo West, Valsoia’s new gelato lines, and Lidl’s upgraded meat alternatives.

New products and launches

The world’s largest tofu maker, Pulmuone, is debuting new Korean-inspired plant-based products at Natural Products Expo West (March 5-7) in California, including cilantro-garlic potstickers, pineapple-teriyaki glazed tofu, black garlic cream noodles, and bulgogi-style rice balls.

Courtesy: Pulmuone

More from Expo West, Before the Butcher will showcase its just-launched The Original Butcher Sticks, a range of meat snacks in pepperoni and beef variants.

Vegan free-from brand Whoa Dough has announced its newest product, Brownie Batter Ready-to-Bake, which it will exhibit at Expo West and launch into retail this week.

Whole-cut meat producer Chunk Foods is debuting the latest additions to its US retail lineup at the show, rolling out four new flavours of its pulled steak: barbacoa, Texas BBQ, Korean BBQ, and teriyaki.

Courtesy: Chunk Foods

South Korean-American vegan cheese company Armored Fresh has announced truffle as the third flavour of its oat-milk-based Zero-Dairy parmesan, set to be launched in May in the US.

Speaking of plant-based cheese, Stockeld Dreamery has launched Spring Scallion and Midsummer Strawberry as its two new cultured cream cheese flavours, after moving its manufacturing to North America. They can be found at Essa Bagel, Zaro’s, Kismet, and Bergen Bagels, with more than 50 other shops to join the list soon.

NFL legend Tom Brady has launched a new vegan sweets brand called Goat Gummies, as part of the former quarterback’s multi-year partnership with Gopuff. The gummies are available at the online grocer’s platform in Sweet Rush, Sour Burst, and Tropic Fusion flavours.

Courtesy: Goat Gummies

Italian plant-based dairy Valsoia has announced two gelato lines to its portfolio: a no-added-sugar version with a rice and coconut base, and an oat milk range in lemon cake, stracciatella, and pistachio flavours. They’ll soon be available in Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Baltics, Czechia and other markets.

And British clean-label alt-milk brand Plenish has introduced Enriched Oat milk, which contains three ingredients and is fortified with calcium, vitamin D, iodine, riboflavin, vitamin B12, and fibre. It’s available at Tesco for £2.25 per litre.

Company and finance developments

US startup Jord BioScience has secured $7M in a Series B round to commercialise microbial technologies to enhance crop inputs and advance sustainable and regenerative farming practices.

Courtesy: Jord BioScience

Israeli alternative protein innovator Steakholder Foods has entered an agreement with Alumni Capital to receive a $1.25M private placement, as well as an $8M equity line of credit.

Mushroom jerky maker Madarch Cymru (Mushroom Garden) has become one of nine recipients of British national agency Innovate UK‘s £400,000 New Innovators fund.

Japanese cellular agriculture company IntegriCulture has secured ¥200M ($1.3M) in a non-dilutive bank loan, which will be used to invest in an upcoming deal and accelerate R&D.

Vegetal Food, a distributor of vegan products for foodservice professionals in France, has raised €1.2M ($1.26M) in investment from the FPCI Food Invest II fund, in partnership with food consultancy FoodXpert.

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Indian plant-based supplements brand Earthful landed a $570,000 investment from Srinivasan Namala and Ritesh Agarwal on Shark Tank India.

Spanish firm Allbiotech has completed the first production run of its Genesys V1 bioreactor, which is a lower-cost solution for early-stage precision fermentation research.

According to a life-cycle assessment, Finland-based Enifer‘s Pekilo mycoprotein for pet food produces 86% fewer emissions than soy protein concentrate, and five times fewer than lamb meat.

Courtesy: Beyond Meat

Plant-based leader Beyond Meat has been handed a legal victory by the US District Court for the Central District of Florida, which has thrown out a class-action lawsuit brought by some of its investors.

Policy and regulation

The University of North Texas has committed to making 60% of its campus menus plant-based by 2027, building on its 50% target by the end of this year. It comes after the institution ranked second on the Protein Sustainability Scorecard by Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States).

Courtesy: UNT Dining Services

Aussie agrifood company Wide Open Agriculture has received General Administration approval to export its lupin protein isolate to the Chinese market, where it will be initially sold as an ingredient in protein powders, dairy alternatives, and a lupin bean tofu.

In the US, the Plant-Based Foods Association and its sister Plant-Based Foods Institute have unveiled a six-pillar strategy for 2025-27, spanning membership, marketplace, policy, research and education, consumer engagement, and agriculture.

To promote vegan-friendly products in sub-Saharan Africa, certification body V-Label has partnered with food awareness organisation ProVeg Nigeria.

Courtesy: Lidl Nederland

Discount retailer Lidl is continuing its plant-based progress by improving the taste, texture and nutritional value of its own-label meat analogues in the Netherlands, with two-thirds of the products now meeting the Dutch dietary guidelines.

In state legislature, the Colorado House has passed a bipartisan bill to reduce food waste in schools, businesses, universities, and local government institutions. Measures of the legislation include a switch to ‘best if used or frozen by’ instead of ‘sell by’ dates.

Finally, Vegan Events UK has announced the first Swansea Vegan Festival, which will take place at LC Swansea on May 31.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

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