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Category: Future Foods

  • Time-Travelling Milkman Gears Up to Launch Dairy Fat Alternative with $2.3M Funding

    time travelling milkman
    4 Mins Read

    Dutch startup Time-Travelling Milkman, which uses sunflower seeds to replace dairy fats, has raised €2M ($2.3M) to support the launch of next-gen cream cheeses and desserts.

    Continuing what has been a bumper week for sustainable fat alternatives, Time-Travelling Milkman has secured €2M ($2.3M) in pre-Series A funding for its sunflower-seed-based ingredient.

    The investment round saw two new backers in Sparkalis (the venture arm of chocolate giant Puratos) and Evercurious, with participation from existing shareholder Oost NL. It takes the startup’s total raised to over $3.9M.

    The fresh capital will enable the Dutch firm to commercialise its Oleocream ingredient in the coming months, starting with cream cheeses and desserts that ditch the dairy.

    “For the protein transition to succeed, tasty and delicious dairy alternatives are a necessity,” said Jos Putker, investment manager for food at Oost NL. “With Oleocream, Time-Travelling Milkman has an innovative solution that contributes to more appealing alternatives.”

    Sparkalis managing director Filip Arnaut added: ”We are proud to support visionary startups like Time-Travelling Milkman, whose disruptive fat ingredient technology is reimagining the future of food. Their sustainable, plant-based innovation aligns perfectly with our mission to accelerate the transition toward a more responsible and resilient food system.”

    Time-Travelling Milkman bets on olesomes to replace dairy fats

    dairy fat alternatives
    Courtesy: Time-Travelling Milkman

    Time-Travelling Milkman was founded by Dimitris Karefyllakis and Saskia Tersteeg in 2020 as a spin-off of Wageningen University, after developing a fat-producing process that uses only sunflower seeds and water.

    The patented method preserves the seeds’ naturally occurring oleosomes. These are microdroplets for oil storage that are surrounded by a layer of phospholipids and proteins to keep the oil stable during emulsions. Instead of disrupting oleosomes to produce liquid oil, the startup keeps these oil bodies intact during extraction, which has been linked to lower processing levels and resistance to digestion.

    Olesomes offer a stronger emulsion than man-made alternatives while delivering a creamy texture similar to dairy fats, making them an ideal clean-label ingredient to enhance the texture of plant-based barista milks, non-dairy ice cream and cheeses, sauces, and even meat alternatives (including blended meat).

    Time-Travelling Milkman’s Oleocream is free from allergens and rich in unsaturated fats, while being highly compatible with high-heat, fermentation, and low-acidity applications.

    According to the startup, the ingredient is poised for commercial success thanks to Europeans’ shift away from processed foods – two in five consumers actively avoid these products. And among people who want to make changes to their diet, 60% are looking to reduce their intake of processed foods.

    Additionally, Oleocream can help companies move away from unsustainable tropical fats like palm and coconut oil, which are widely used in the plant-based food industry – the latter is a common base ingredient in vegan cheese, for example.

    These fats are linked to large-scale tropical deforestation, wildfires, and threats to Indigenous populations and wildlife. Within the EU, the upcoming deforestation regulation will ban the import of products with deforestation-linked palm oil, putting manufacturers in a scramble for cheap and effective alternatives.

    Time-Travelling Milkman claims its zero-waste production process helps Oleocream replicate the texture and functionality of dairy cream with 80% fewer emissions and a fraction of the cost.

    First products with Oleocream set to roll out soon

    milk fat alternative
    Courtesy: Time-Travelling Milkman

    The funding will help the firm accelerate commercial trials (which are already underway), support customer launches, and expand partnerships. These efforts will be helped by the fact that its fat alternative is plant-based and does not require regulatory approval.

    “We’re seizing a rare opportunity in a sector where both investments and sales have stalled,” said Karefyllakis, who is the managing director. “After years of optimisation and scaling, we’re ready to deliver Oleocream at commercial volumes, efficiently, consistently, and affordably.”

    Time-Travelling Milkman’s production is set to be scaled to 1,000 tonnes a year, enabling it to supply commercial volumes of Oleocream to both the plant-based and dairy sectors. The startup says its sunflower seed ingredient is well-suited for hybrid products that combine cow’s milk with plants – the Netherlands is already at the forefront of this shift, with Albert Heijn releasing two blended milk SKUs this year.

    Moreover, the Wageningen firm is aiming to launch its next-generation breakfast spreads and desserts in the coming months. These cream cheeses and sweet treats have undergone several pilot trials and consumer panels, and feature “significantly shorter, cleaner, and healthier ingredient lists”, free from stabilisers or tropical fats.

    Time-Travelling Milkman is also working on two other products: SunfloPro is a minimally processed protein-rich texturiser, and SunPulp is a fibre-rich ingredient that makes foods thicker and creamier. Plus, it’s part of an R&D project funded by the Utrecht province to develop Oleocream-enriched meat alternatives with Rival Foods and We’re Smart World.

    Its raise comes amid a flurry of developments in the alternative fat space. This week, Singapore’s Terra Oleo secured $3.1M to scale up production of its waste-derived precision-fermented palm oil and cocoa butter substitutes

    A day earlier, Dutch producer NoPalm Ingredients signed a deal with dairy giant Milcobel to use its whey permeate as a fermentation feedstock for its palm oil alternatives. It will also explore the feasibility of co-locating its first commercial-scale factory at the latter’s site in Langemark.

    Also this month, British firm Clean Food Group received regulatory approval in the US, EU and UK to sell its yeast-derived oil in cosmetic applications, and Estonia’s Äio completed a one-tonne production run for its palm oil substitute, eyeing market entry by year-end.

    The post Time-Travelling Milkman Gears Up to Launch Dairy Fat Alternative with $2.3M Funding appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Germany’s Barnhouse Debuts Vegan Granola with ‘THIC’ Cocoa-Free Chocolate

    endless food co
    4 Mins Read

    German cereal producer Barnhouse has launched a new low-sugar vegan granola with Endless Food Co’s cocoa-free chocolate alternative.

    In Germany, granola giant Barnhouse’s latest innovation spotlights a future-friendly chocolate alternative devised by some of the world’s best chefs.

    The company’s new Krunchy Low Sugar (No) Choco features Danish startup Endless Food Co’s waste-derived cocoa-free chocolate, dubbed THIC (This Isn’t Chocolate).

    “This is a significant commercial milestone, as we’ve formally entered the German market, with our largest volumes to date,” Endless Food Co said.

    The plant-based granola is currently rolling out on supermarket shelves in Germany, and is available on Barnhouse’s website for €4.99 per 375g box.

    Barnhouse combines THIC with cocoa powder in new granola

    barnhouse granola krunchy
    Courtesy: Barnhouse

    Endless Food Co has Michelin-starred roots. The company was co-founded by Matthew Orlando, touted as one of the world’s best chefs, who was the owner of Copenhagen’s eco-minded Amass Restaurant and previously worked at The Fat Duck, Aureole and Le Bernardin.

    At Amass, Orlando was a colleague of COO Christian Bach (who has previously worked at Noma) and CEO Maximillian Bogenmann. The three built on the restaurant’s sustainability heritage by developing a solution to the chocolate industry’s climate issues while cutting back on food waste, which accounts for a tenth of global emissions.

    Endless Food Co’s chocolate alternative makes use of brewer’s spent grain (BSG), the solid residue from malted barley after beer production, and cocoa shells, which are paired with sustainable fats like wild-harvested shea and illipe butters, and organic beet sugar.

    The startup mimics traditional chocolate-making processes to turn BSG into a powder that can be embedded into a chocolate production line. Refining and conching help replicate the chocolate-like mass that speeds through a tempering and moulding line.

    “We are proud to be the first food company in Germany to work with this innovative product,” Barnhouse said on its website.

    The cocoa-free chocolate granola contains locally grown whole-grain oats, tapioca syrup, sunflower oil, chicory root fibre, puffed rice, desiccated coconut, and 1.7% of cocoa powder, complemented by 4.5% of the THIC ingredient. It contains 9.2g of protein and 15g of fibre per 100g, and just 4.2g of sugar.

    Endless Food Co tackling waste and emissions with cocoa-free chocolate

    cocoa free chocolate
    Courtesy: Endless Food Co

    One of the central themes around Endless Food Co’s existence – and the clue is in the name here – is food waste. By using BSG, it is valorising an ingredient that makes up 85% of the waste produced by the brewing industry. Every year, 36.4 million tonnes of BSG is manufactured globally, but 80% of this is repurposed into animal feed or biofuel, and the rest ends up in landfill.

    Cacao, meanwhile, is among the most wasted fruits in the world – around 70-80% of the fruit is thrown away during chocolate production, despite the discarded parts having high nutritional and functional value. Chocolate production itself is a highly polluting process, thanks in large part to the widespread use of deforestation-linked palm oil.

    THIC is positioned as a one-to-one replacement for chocolate, and according to a life-cycle assessment, it has an 84% lower climate footprint than conventional dark chocolate.

    Endless Food Co’s ingredient has already begun appearing in several formats in Scandinavia. Last year, it teamed up with 7-Eleven Denmark to launch cookies made from THIC for all 180 of its stores nationwide. And last month, its upcycled chocolate alternative was the base of a cocoa-free chocolate cheesecake at Stockholm’s Urban Deli.

    In late 2024, the startup raised €1M in a funding round led by Nordic Foodtech VC, with EIFO and Rockstart participating as well. This followed an investment from Innovation Fund Denmark in 2023, and was earmarked to help Endless Food Co expand production, set up a pilot plant, and grow its team.

    It is part of a growing list of companies working with cocoa-free chocolate, including Germany’s Planet A Foods, British startups Win-Win and Nukoko, US firms Voyage Foods and Compound Foods, Italy’s Foreverland, and Singapore’s Prefer, among others.

    The post Germany’s Barnhouse Debuts Vegan Granola with ‘THIC’ Cocoa-Free Chocolate appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Backed by Bill Gates, Singapore’s Terra Oleo Raises $3.1M to Turn Waste Into Palm Oil Substitutes

    terra oleo
    4 Mins Read

    Singaporean sustainable fats startup Terra Oleo has emerged from stealth with a $3.1M funding round and selection in Breakthrough Energy’s 2025 Fellows cohort.

    Turning agro-industrial waste into sustainable alternatives to palm oil and cocoa butter, Singapore firm Terra Oleo has raised $3.1M in funding from ADB Ventures, The Radical Fund, Elev8.vc, Better Bite Ventures, and a “strategic corporate investor” from the palm oil industry, among others.

    The startup has also been named in the 2025 Fellows programme by Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy. The initiative helps founders bridge the gap from lab to market and supports early-stage innovators with capital and mentorship. Fellows are selected through a rigorous process to ensure their technologies can reduce emissions at scale, by at least five gigatonnes per year.

    Terra Oleo – whose waste-valorising, precision-fermented fats cut emissions by up to 86%, land use by 90%, and water use by 88% – was selected to solve the climate, regulatory, and supply challenges facing palm oil and cocoa supply chains. The organisation’s backing will help it scale up production and advance customer formulation testing and validation.

    “We are at lab-scale moving into pre-pilot scale. Several of our higher-value target ingredients are at price parity with their conventional equivalents,” co-founder and CEO Shen Ming Lee tells Green Queen.

    Sustainable fats from starch, biodiesel and olechemical waste

    palm oil substitute
    Courtesy: Terra Oleo

    Lee, who founded Terra Oleo with Boon Uranukul and Min Hao Wong, grew up in the palm oil industry, with her family’s business among the world’s largest producers of the oil. So she firsthand knows the problems posed by its production.

    The omnipresent fat is revered for its neutral flavour, smell and colour, and ability to withstand high temperatures and act as a natural preservative. But producing it is linked to mass tropical deforestation and wildlife and human rights abuses.

    Indonesia and Malaysia alone are home to 90% of oil palm trees – the former’s forests have been subject to wildfires emanating directly from palm plantations in 2019. Palm oil production has increased tenfold since 1980, and as demand increases, more forests are set to be burnt down, a form of mass deforestation that emits greenhouse gases, while removing trees that would help absorb them.

    Climate change is disrupting the cocoa industry too. Global stocks of the crop have slumped to their lowest in a decade. Plantations in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the two largest producers, are the hardest hit due to extreme weather and crop diseases. That has caused cocoa prices to reach all-time highs.

    Terra Oleo is betting on waste and fermentation to decarbonise these two industries. Its precision fermentation process modifies yeast into lipids with customisable profiles for high-value palm and cocoa applications, and eschews the energy-intensive refining steps and toxic byproducts of oleochemical processes.

    “Our defensible tech edge lies in deep expertise in microbial strain engineering, which enables our yeast to directly produce application-ready specifications of high-value palm oil derivatives (specialty oleochemicals) and cocoa butter equivalents,” said Lee.

    “In parallel, we employ synthetic biology innovations to enhance process economics, from efficiently utilising low-cost agro-industrial waste streams to reducing downstream processing costs,” she added. “We source cost-effective waste streams from starch, biodiesel, and oleochemical production, which are abundant across Southeast Asia.”

    Terra Oleo is already testing palm and cocoa fat substitutes with companies

    cocoa butter substitute
    Courtesy: Terra Oleo

    Terra Oleo’s process overcomes the limits of natural microbes, delivering superior unit economics and faster market adoption than other solutions. “We’ve built strain capabilities across three yeast species,” Lee said, without disclosing the specifics.

    At full scale, its technology is predicted to remove 900 million tonnes of CO2 from the palm and cocoa supply chains annually, affecting products across the personal care, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries.

    “We are manufacturing in Thailand and Singapore across all target products. We are product testing with several global and regional leaders in oleochemicals, food, personal care, and cosmetics. Product validation is underway,” said Lee.

    “We will use the funds to scale from lab to pilot and advance formulation testing and validation with key customers,” she said of the capital raise.

    Ashley Gross, VP of Breakthrough Energy, added: “We’re honoured to have the opportunity to work with talented founders who are tackling the most difficult climate and energy challenges around the world.”

    Terra Oleo’s raise comes amid rapid advancements in the sustainable fats sector. This month, British firm Clean Food Group received regulatory approval in the US, EU and UK to sell its yeast-derived oil in cosmetic applications, and Estonia’s Äio completed a one-tonne production run for its palm oil substitute, eyeing market entry by year-end.

    And yesterday, Dutch producer NoPalm Ingredients signed a deal with dairy giant Milcobel to use its whey permeate as a fermentation feedstock for its palm oil alternatives. It will also explore the feasibility of co-locating its first commercial-scale factory at the latter’s site in Langemark.

    The post Backed by Bill Gates, Singapore’s Terra Oleo Raises $3.1M to Turn Waste Into Palm Oil Substitutes appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Mushroom Broth, Planta & Aquafaba Powder

    lion's mane mushroom broth
    5 Mins Read

    Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Two River’s lion’s mane broth, Planta’s acquisition, and animal-free egg legal battles.

    New products and launches

    US startup Two River has launched the country’s first Lion’s Mane Mushroom Broth into Sprouts Farmers Market stores nationwide – with an emphatic approval from mushroom king Derek Sarno.

    two river lion's mane broth
    Courtesy: Two River

    Also in the US, fast-food chain Just Poké has added Impact Tuna‘s plant-based raw tuna to the menu of all its 29 locations in Washington state.

    British tempeh leader Better Nature has made its way into the Nordics, starting with ICA Gruppen and Coop Sverige in Sweden.

    better nature tempeh
    Courtesy: Better Nature

    Kallø, the natural foods brand owned by Ecotone, has entered the UK dairy alternatives segment with protein-boosted and gluten-free oat milks – the former contains 2.5g of protein per 100ml, and the latter just three ingredients.

    Swedish pea milk brand Sproud has launched a new billboard campaign in the UK with Love Island host Maya Jama, who is an investor and brand ambassador.

    sproud maya jama
    Courtesy: Sproud

    To take advantage of Paris’s September weather, Danone has kickstarted Alpro Sundayz, which include a brunch using its non-dairy products and an open-air DJ set in the evening. It will run at Frivole restaurant every Sunday this month.

    And in Singapore, Nurasa, the sustainable food innovation platform owned by Temasek, has joined forces with Cremer Sustainable Foods and Quality Meat to launch Q Protein, a range of blended meat products, this month. The inaugural products include beef patties, beef stir fry, and minced beef and chicken.

    Company and finance updates

    In Miami, celeb-favourite vegan chain Planta has been acquired out of bankruptcy by former investor Anchorage Capital Group in an $7.8M deal.

    planta acquisition
    Courtesy: Planta

    Events organiser Emerald X has postponed its Plant Based World Expo Europe, due to take place in London in November, indefinitely.

    Over in India, meat delivery company Licious has shuttered its plant-based meat platform, Uncrave, ahead of a planned IPO next year.

    india lab grown meat
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    In some positive alternative protein news from the subcontinent, Mumbai-based cultivated meat firm Biokraft Foods has secured ₹2 crore ($225,000) in pre-seed funding by GVFL to speed up R&D and prepare for regulatory approval.

    Finally Foods, an Israeli AI-led firm producing casein protein in potatoes via molecular farming, has raised $1.2M in a funding round led by beverage giant CBC Group, which has also signed a commercial agreement with the startup.

    pacifico foodlabs
    Courtesy: Pacifico Foodlabs

    German startup Pacifico Biolabs, which makes fermentation-derived seafood alternatives, has secured €680,000 in public funding to further develop its mycelium technology.

    Smaqo, a Swedish startup by former Mycorena founder Ramkumar Nair, has closed its first round of funding. It was led by Good Startup and will help it accelerate the launch of mycoprotein-based blended meat to supermarkets.

    perfat technologies
    Courtesy: Perfat Technologies

    Finnish firm Perfat Technologies, which has developed an oleogel technology to transform liquid plant oils into solid fats that work like saturated fats, has raised €2.5M ($2.9M) in Series A funding. It will use the capital to scale up production and launch a fibre-reinforced gelled vegetable oil.

    Meanwhile, Romania’s Terra Wave has bagged €1.2M ($1.4M) in an EU innovation grant to advance its fungi-derived fermented proteins for the meat, plant-based and pet food industries.

    odd burger us
    Courtesy: Odd Burger

    Canadian plant-based fast-food chain Odd Burger has secured C$2.5M ($1.8M) in equity financing from Rockcliffe Capital.

    Japanese snack maker Calbee Group has acquired a majority stake in US tofu producer Hodo to expand its international footprint. The deal also saw Japanese tofu giant Sagamiya Foods Co take a minority stake in the startup.

    hodo tofu
    Courtesy: Hodo

    Checkerspot, a producer of precision-fermented fats and oils, has appointed J Casey Lippmeier as its CTO. He previously held senior roles at DSM and Conagen.

    At the Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants MLB game on September 12, Impossible Foods held a 99 in 9 challenge, pitting competitive eater Joey Chestnut against a fan to eat 99 vegan nuggets in nine innings. Chestnut ended up wolfing down 275 nuggets in seven innings.

    impossible foods joey chestnut
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    A host of future food companies have been selected in the second cohort of Mars and Unreasonable Group‘s annual Unreasonable Food accelerator, including precision fermentation firms Standing Ovation, Oobli and Pow.bio, rubisco protein producer Plantible Foods, and molecular farming startup Alpino Bio.

    Policy and awards

    There’s an ongoing scramble in the world of precision-fermented eggs. Finnish startup Onego Bio has sued Californian producer The Every Company to invalidate a key patent granted to the latter in the US, accusing it of fraud. At the same time, the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (which Onego Bio spun off from) has challenged one of Every’s patents in Europe.

    the every co
    Courtesy: The Every Company

    Speaking of molecular farming, Luxembourg-based Moolec Science has received regulatory approval for its safflower GLASO technology in Argentina, through which it produces a GLA-enriched specialty safflower oil.

    Meanwhile, Finland’s Solar Foods has submitted a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) notification to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in pursuit of a ‘no questions’ letter for its gas-fermented Solein protein.

    solein protein
    Courtesy: Solar Foods

    US food tech startup California Cultured has filed an industry-first patent for the production of cell-based cocoa butter.

    Finally, fresh from its US approval, Australian precision-fermented fat maker Nourish Ingredients has been named Overall FoodTech Company of the Year at the 2025 AgTech Breakthrough Awards.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Mushroom Broth, Planta & Aquafaba Powder appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • NoPalm Ingredients Pens Deal to Turn Cheese Byproduct Into Eco Palm Oil Substitute

    nopalm ingredient milcobel
    5 Mins Read

    NoPalm Ingredients will upcycle dairy giant Milcobel’s whey permeate into its fermentation-derived palm oil alternatives and explore establishing a commercial factory by 2028.

    Dutch startup NoPalm Ingredients has secured a deal to valorise a cheese industry sidestream and turn it into yeast-based fats that can replace palm oil.

    The fermentation firm has teamed up with Dutch dairy processor Milcobel to use its whey permeate – a low-protein byproduct of whey processing – as feedstock for its sustainable oils.

    The strategic partnership will also see the companies conduct a joint study to explore the feasibility of co-locating NoPalm Ingredients’s first commercial-scale facility at Milcobel’s Langemark site, including integration with existing infrastructure.

    This would be designed to produce 6,000-7,000 tonnes of oil per year. “Combined with additional partnerships we are already exploring, this would position us to capture a significant share of the market by 2028,” Julie Cortal, NoPalm Ingredients’s chief commercial officer, told Green Queen.

    The move comes weeks after the startup teamed up with contract manufacturer Nizo Food Research to build a demonstration facility at the latter’s food innovation campus in Ede. Milcobel’s whey permeate will serve as feedstock for this plant, which is set to begin operations next year.

    “Our demo plant will reach full capacity in the next two years, producing around 1,200 tons of oil annually,” said Cortal, who declined to disclose the specific volumes involved in the Milcobel deal. “This is a meaningful first step toward commercial scale, proving both the technology and the market traction.”

    NoPalm Ingredients co-founder and CEO Lars Langhout noted: “This partnership proves the strength of our co-location model: turning sidestreams into high-value ingredients where they are generated, reducing transport and sharing infrastructure.”

    Milcobel ‘closes the loop’ with yeast oil partnership

    palm oil substitute
    Courtesy: NoPalm Ingredients

    NoPalm Ingredients uses a proprietary fermentation process with non-GMO yeasts to convert local agricultural sidestreams into yeast oils. These can be “drop-in” replacements for palm oil – they cost the same, and manufacturers don’t need to reformulate their recipes.

    Those sidestreams include potato peels and, in this case, whey permeate. The latter is a liquid byproduct obtained from the filtration of whey, and can enhance browning, moisture retention and shelf life. Whey itself is the dairy industry’s largest byproduct. Around 80-90% of milk that enters cheese manufacturing facilities ends up as whey. Globally, between 180 and 190 million tonnes of whey are produced annually.

    Aside from its functional properties, whey permeate can be used as a substrate for producing other value-added ingredients, including meat alternatives, precision-fermented casein, and lactic acid. NoPalm Ingredients leverages this ingredient for its sustainable oils.

    Industrial trials over the last two years have showcased the feasibility of using whey permeate as a feedstock for the startup’s fermentation process. The tech consistently produced oils on specification at an industrial scale, confirming compatibility with Milcobel’s streams.

    “More than 25 years ago, we made a strategic choice to focus on mozzarella. In 2022, our partnership with Arla Foods Ingredients to valorise whey protein retentate was a further reinforcement of our strategy and a significant step up in the valorisation of our whey permeate sidestream,” said Francis Relaes, managing director of Micolbel Premium Ingredients.

    “This new collaboration with NoPalm Ingredients completes the loop: it brings the valorisation of whey permeate higher up the value chain, turning it into sustainable, high-value oil ingredients for food and non-food,” he added. “It not only strengthens our economic model but also reinforces our commitment to circularity principles and better impact for the planet.”

    NoPalm Ingredients targets 2026 launch amid Series A raise

    nopalm ingredients
    Courtesy: NoPalm Ingredients

    NoPalm Ingredients is one of several startups employing fermentation to produce eco-friendly substitutes to palm oil, which is present in nearly 50% of all supermarket items.

    Palm oil production causes rampant tropical deforestation and has been directly linked to wildfires in Indonesia. Further, the industry is a threat to wildlife and human rights. Globally, supplies have increased tenfold since 1980, and increasing demand means more forests will be burnt down, a form of mass deforestation that emits greenhouse gases while removing trees that would help absorb them.

    Governments recognise this: the EU’s Deforestation Regulation is set to take effect in December, and will ban the import of products with deforestation-linked palm oil (currently, 34% of palm oil imports potentially come from deforested land). Violators face fines of up to 4% of their global turnover.

    NoPalm Ingredients’s alternatives, sold under its Revóleo brand, generate 90% fewer emissions and require 99% less land. Revóleo Soft is a beige, semi-solid microbial oil meant to replace palm oil, cocoa butter, or milk fat in confectionery, baked goods, and meat and dairy alternatives; Revóleo Silk is a soft butter for personal care products like hair conditioners, colour cosmetics, and soaps.

    The startup has already struck partnerships with Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, Zealandia and Those Vegan Cowboys. “Our first commercial launch is planned for next year, with a major customer already lined up,” said Cortal, though she declined to share further details. “This first launch will demonstrate not just technical feasibility, but also clear market pull from forward-thinking food companies.”

    It has secured €6M in funding to date, and is currently raising a Series A round to scale up from plot to commercial production. “The funding will enable us to build our first facility, expand customer partnerships, and develop our product roadmap,” she said.

    The alternative fat industry is sizzling with potential, marked by a host of recent developments. This month alone, British firm Clean Food Group received regulatory approval in the US, EU and UK to sell its yeast oil in cosmetic applications, and Estonia’s Äio completed a one-tonne production run for its palm oil substitute, eyeing market entry by year-end.

    The post NoPalm Ingredients Pens Deal to Turn Cheese Byproduct Into Eco Palm Oil Substitute appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Women’s Health: Ironic Biotech Fermented Plant Protein Absorbs Iron Way Better Than Supplements

    ironic biotech
    5 Mins Read

    A new study by Sweden’s Ironic Biotech shows that its precision-fermented heme protein absorbs iron 65 times better than lactoferrin, and at comparable levels to red meat.

    In a welcome development for the supplement industry and fertility clinics, a new sustainable protein ingredient has been found to exhibit far better iron absorption rates than other iron products.

    In a new in vitro study, Swedish startup Ironic Biotech found that its plant-derived heme protein can absorb iron 65 times better than lactoferrin (an iron-binding whey protein found in breast milk and bovine colostrum) when combined with ascorbic acid (vitamin C).

    Further, it outperforms iron sulfate and other common iron ingredients used in supplements, like iron bisglycinate and ferritin with enhancers, by a factor of more than 10.

    “Our studies show that our iron product absorbs as well as iron from red meat, which is a problematic iron source for multiple reasons. We have seen significant progress in the past year, and these study results increase our confidence in our product’s commercial viability,” said founder and CEO Nélida Leiva Eriksson.

    The study comes as fertility rates in the US dropped to an all-time low in 2024, leading to projections of growth for the fertility clinic market. Iron deficiency is detrimental to fertility and can cause severe anaemia during pregnancy if left untreated prior to it, so Ironic Biotech’s precision-fermented ingredient could help clinics working to help customers absorb enough iron.

    Anaemia disproportionately affects women, and iron supplements don’t help

    vegan iron deficiency
    Courtesy: Ironic Biotech

    Eriksson, an associate professor at Sweden’s Lund University, founded the startup in 2020. It was her own anaemia diagnosis that sparked the idea, as she was determined to find a solution that would prevent her daughters from becoming iron-deficient.

    When the amount of iron in the body is too low, it can’t produce enough red blood cells to generate oxygen supply. Moreover, the mineral is crucial for supporting brain development, physical performance, and immune function.

    Nearly two billion people, or a quarter of the global population, suffer from anaemia, with cases increasing rapidly for women, expectant mothers, young girls, and children under five. Iron deficiency is linked to conditions like heart failure, pregnancy complications, ADHD, autism, and impaired motor skills in children.

    While anaemia only affects 17.5% of men, this rises to 31% of women. And the difference becomes starker during reproductive ages, thanks primarily to iron deficiency. Menstruation causes a periodic loss of blood, which means iron stocks need to be replenished regularly. Gynaecological disorders and maternal haemorrhage are also key contributors to anaemia incidence among women of reproductive age.

    This is why many women are advised to take iron supplements and, in severe cases, iron infusion therapy. Leiva Eriksson had to undergo the latter. However, the high cost of these procedures – from several hundred dollars to over $1,000 – makes them very inaccessible.

    As for supplements, most iron ingredients used in these products are poorly absorbed, with 90% of the iron going through our digestive tracts unabsorbed. People are recommended to consume 18mg of iron daily, but they only need 1mg if it’s efficiently absorbed. Plus, supplements have been linked to various side effects, including nausea, dizziness, stomach ache, constipation, and organ damage.

    Iron is used to make haemoglobin, which helps cells carry oxygen throughout the body, and myoglobin, which stores and provides oxygen when needed. These are part of the heme protein family, which are essential for oxygen regulation and human growth and development.

    To make its heme-iron protein, Ironic Biotech employs precision fermentation on food-safe plant proteins that contain high amounts of bioavailable iron without any side effects and a fraction of the climate footprint of red meat. “The genes for these proteins are sourced from edible vegetables, ensuring that the final product is suitable for human consumption,” Eriksson told Green Queen.

    Ironic Biotech completes pilot-scale production amid latest fundraise

    precision fermentation heme
    Courtesy: Ironic Biotech

    The startup’s protein is tasteless, shelf-stable, and can be powdered, frozen or granulated, making it a useful tool to fortify everything from probiotics and gummies to orange juice and plant-based milk.

    Eriksson believes the results of the iron absorption study set Ironic Biotech’s protein apart from other iron ingredients. “Our protein allows supplement and food companies to use smaller amounts of iron, without compromising on effectiveness and without altering the flavour of the product,” she said.

    “Milk fortified with 100mg of Ironic’s iron-protein per 200ml showed approximately 60% higher in-vitro iron uptake compared to the same milk without added iron. This result is just one of the many examples we have of how a modest amount of our protein can dramatically increase bioavailable iron,” she explained.

    “Imagine people taking our proteins as they are or adding them to their favourite meals, getting the energy they need with minimal effort. We are opening up many opportunities for people to get the iron they need without fuss or side effects.”

    The company is now conducting further formulation studies with other common enhancers, like vitamin B12 and folic acid. It raised €1M ($1.1M) in pre-seed funding last year, and is now looking to expand production and advance regulatory preparation.

    “We are currently in the process of raising our seed funding round,” said Eriksson. Ironic Biotech’s initial applications will be in premium supplements and fortified foods, as part of collaborations focused on intravenous iron clinics, women’s wellness, periconception nutrition, and performance and everyday energy formats.

    “We have completed pilot-scale production using a laboratory strain,” she said. “Building on this experience, and with the forthcoming funding, we will progress to pilot-scale production with the food-grade strain, followed by scaling up to industrial-level production of food-grade Ironic proteins.”

    The post Women’s Health: Ironic Biotech Fermented Plant Protein Absorbs Iron Way Better Than Supplements appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Exclusive: Summ Ingredients Nabs $2M to Transform Plant-Based Food with Fermented Proteins

    summ ingredients funding
    5 Mins Read

    Danish startup Summ Ingredients (formerly Nutrumami) has secured €1.7M ($2M) in funding to bring its multifunctional fermented protein FermiPro to market.

    Having spent years in the fine-dining space as a culinary director and restauranteur, Frederik Jensen knows a thing or two about flavour and mouthfeel.

    These also happen to be two of the most common pain points surrounding plant-based food. Despite the trove of meat and dairy alternatives, many omnivores and flexitarians remain unsatisfied with the current status quo.

    Jensen wants to change that. In 2022, he founded Nutrumami to unlock game-changing proteins with an age-old trick: fermentation. His goal was to provide the plant-based industry with an ingredient that would add umami and kokumi (Japanese for “rich taste” and characterised by mouthfeel, thickness, and a sense of lingering) to products while delivering a protein and textural boost.

    Three years on, Jensen is closer than ever to bringing his first ingredient, a multifunctional protein dubbed FermiPro, to market. Newly rebranded as Summ Ingredients, his startup has just closed a €1.7M ($2M) funding round in the worst investment landscape for food tech in a decade.

    “We realised our previous name no longer reflected the real extent of our vision. We are not just launching a single ingredient – we are helping to shape an entirely new ingredient category: multifunctional ingredients that make it easier to create cleaner, healthier, and tastier foods,” he tells Green Queen.

    “Our new name, Summ Ingredients, reflects this ambition: it’s about the ‘Summ’ of functions we bring together – taste, texture, and nutrition – and the ‘Summ’ impact we can create for food producers, consumers, and the planet,” he adds.

    The investment takes the Danish firm’s total raised just past €2M ($2.3M), with EIFO and BoxOne joining existing investors Kost Capital and Planetary Impact Ventures, and will support its plan to launch FermiPro this autumn.

    “The funding will primarily be used to scale production, support commercialisation, and expand our technology platform as we build the business and the market opportunity ahead of us,” says Jensen.

    summ ingredients funding
    Courtesy: Summ Ingredients, composite by Green Queen Media

    FermiPro can usher in a new era for meat and dairy alternatives

    Summ Ingredients explains FermiPro as an “entirely new toolkit” for food producers, helping unlock the craveable depth found in meat, building texture and mouthfeel without gums, starches or other additives, and boosting protein, mineral and vitamin B content. It’s made from just three ingredients: fava beans, oats, and salt.

    “FermiPro delivers a rich umami flavour, but also kokumi – the ‘mouthfulness’ sensation that, combined, creates depth and complexity. This not only enhances taste but also enables salt reduction without sacrificing flavour,” explains Jensen.

    “Our first version provides emulsification and creaminess for sauces, soups, and plant-based dairy alternatives. A second version following offers gelling properties ideal for plant-based and hybrid meats,” he adds. “Beyond high-quality protein, FermiPro supports better macro- and micronutrient profiles because the taste and texture improvements make it easier to include more nutritious ingredients.”

    For example, the Copenhagen-based firm has created non-dairy cheese prototypes that, when enriched with FermiPro, exhibit double-digit protein content, 30% less fat, and a richer taste and texture than the market standard.

    The ingredient similarly provides protein-rich creaminess and natural umami for dairy- and starch-free sauces in ready meals, and allows manufacturers to reduce salt by 30% while scoring high in sensory testing.

    In plant-based and blended meat applications, FermiPro can enhance the juiciness, texture and flavour depth without additional flavourings or binders like methycellulose. By eschewing the need for additives, it will appeal to consumers looking for clean-label products.

    fermipro
    Courtesy: Summ Ingredients

    How Summ Ingredients’ fermentation process works

    To make its proteins, Summ Ingredients employs a cross-fermentation process, inspired by wild fermentation methods where multiple microbes interact naturally. “We bring this into a controlled industrial process, where each stage builds on the previous one,” says Jensen.

    “Technically, it’s a sequential biotransformation: different microorganisms act in synergy, using the modified environment and byproducts created at each stage. This interaction enables flavour and functionality outcomes that a single fermentation step can’t achieve.”

    Summ Ingredients uses a combination of solid-state and submerged fermentation. “The entire biomass is then dried into a final powder ingredient that is, for most parts, quite standard,” he says.

    “What makes our process innovative isn’t the physical equipment — it’s the way we combine different fermentation techniques, microorganisms, and process conditions to unlock multifunctionality in taste, texture, and nutrition.”

    While the startup describes itself as “raw-material-agnostic” and is working on several products with different substrates, it found fava beans and oats to be the best fit for FermiPro, both in terms of nutrition and functionality. “They also align well with consumer preferences for wholesome, familiar ingredients,” says Jensen.

    Speaking of which, its second multifunctional ingredient is focused on sugar reduction. “We see huge opportunities to bring multifunctionality to sweet and semi-sweet categories, where sugar reduction is one part of a broader challenge we see here,” he notes.

    “Our next-generation ingredient in development targets sweetness enhancement, mouthfeel, and flavour complexity to help manufacturers create indulgent yet healthier products.”

    nutrumami
    Courtesy: Summ Ingredients, composite by Green Queen Media

    FermiPro can be effective in low concentrations

    Jensen’s startup has filed two patent applications and built a technology roadmap for multifunctional ingredients with a whole host of applications, from non-dairy cheese and meat alternatives to umami-packed boullions, seasonings and snacks.

    “FermiPro is a dry, shelf-stable ingredient that slots easily into existing processes without equipment changes,” says Jensen. “We provide tailored product solutions for key application areas, with clear recommendations for ingredient replacement and inclusion levels.”

    Though it varies by application, he suggests that the FermiPro’s inclusion rate typically ranges between 2.5% and 4.5% of the final product formulation.

    Summ Ingredients’ current capacity is up to six tonnes per batch. “We have demonstrated cost parity or even cost reductions compared to conventional solutions, thanks to the multifunctionality replacing multiple single-purpose ingredients,” the CEO reveals.

    “We are a pure B2B company with a broad pipeline across EU and UK food brands, both directly and through contract manufacturers,” adds Jensen. “We already have [our] first customer orders, and are doing production now. The first consumer products using FermiPro will launch later this year.”

    The post Exclusive: Summ Ingredients Nabs $2M to Transform Plant-Based Food with Fermented Proteins appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Belgium’s Supermarkets Are the Latest to Champion Blended Meat

    colruyt group hybride vlees
    4 Mins Read

    Belgium’s largest supermarket chain, Colruyt Group, has introduced a new blended beef mince product, following similar launches from Lidl, Albert Heijn and Aldi this year.

    Europe’s retailers are betting the farm on blended meat.

    The Netherlands has led the way, with three major supermarket chains rolling out blended meat and milk products over the last year. Now, its neighbour is joining the race.

    Since May, three retailers have unveiled blended meat products, and to great success. Colruyt Group, the country’s largest, trialled three sausages with 38% plants for the BBQ season, Lidl brought out blended burgers and beef, Albert Heijn debuted the Swapburger with 27% tomato and sugar beet fibre, and Aldi introduced a mince product with 40% plant protein.

    Now, Colruyt and Lidl are both doubling down on the concept, adding more products to their lineups to meet Belgians’ appetite for blended proteins.

    Colruyt’s blended meat push part of ‘protein split’ goal

    colruyt blended meat
    Courtesy: Colruyt Group

    Last week, Colruyt announced that it had begun offering blended beef mince at the butcher’s counter of its Colruyt Lowest Prices and Okay stores in Belgium, combining 60% beef with 40% fava bean flour.

    The move helps reduce the reliance on animal protein without compromising on taste or texture, and boosts fibre while lowering saturated fat and dietary cholesterol.

    “We are starting with a new range of plant-enriched meat for customers who consciously want to reduce their meat consumption. The range was developed and produced internally thanks to collaboration between our different departments,” said Pascal Dekelver, meat division manager at Colruyt Lowest Prices.

    “Our goal is to offer 60% proteins from plant sources and 40% from animal sources by 2028. With this, we want to contribute to the protein shift and to Colruyt Group’s Green Deal commitment,” he added.

    This is why Colruyt described its decision to place the blended meat in the butcher’s section, calling it a “good intermediate step for consumers who want to eat more plant-based food or simply want to try something new, while also being mindful of health and the environment”.

    The supermarket group, which introduced own-label vegan brand Boni Plan’t this year, added that some consumers still view plant-based meat as being “too far removed” from the experience conventional meat provides.

    “We want to reduce the ecological footprint of food by encouraging our customers to gradually consume fewer animal proteins and more often opt for plant-based alternatives, the production of which has a lower environmental impact,” said Dekelver.

    Colruyt isn’t just stopping here. Next month, it will launch sausages where 25% of the beef and pork will be replaced by mushrooms and seaweed, and hamburgers with 25% pumpkin.

    Blended beef makes up a third of Lidl’s mince sales

    lidl hybride vlees
    Courtesy: Lidl

    Lidl, already a retail leader in the protein transition, trialled a new hybrid cheeseburger in Belgium last month, on the back of a successful launch of its blended meat category in the summer.

    The discounter said one in four burgers sold since June has been a blended patty made from 60% beef and 40% plant protein. The figures are even more encouraging for beef mince, with the blended version making up a third of all sales.

    According to Lidl, these sales represent savings of nearly 190kg of carbon emissions per store per week, with a large factor behind the products’ success being their prominent in-store placement.

    “When it comes to eating less meat, many people still think in terms of all or nothing. That’s precisely why we’re so proud of this new and growing range. We want to inspire people in an accessible way to choose a more sustainable alternative,” said Lidl spokesperson Isabelle Colbrandt.

    Ines Verschaeve, head of sustainable purchasing policy at Lidl Belgium and Luxembourg, added: “Consumers are still free to choose, but thanks to an ever-increasing range of plant-based proteins, whole-grain products, and fruits and vegetables, they can more easily make more sustainable choices. This hybrid meat range is a concrete and excellent example of this.”

    Lidl has pledged to replace 20% of its current meat and dairy sales with plant-based proteins by 2030, and has been joined by several other supermarkets in this ‘protein split’ pledge. Albert Heijn’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, is aiming to raise the share of plant proteins sold to 47% in 2024, 50% in 2025, and 60% by the end of the decade, matching Colruyt’s goal in Belgium.

    Albert Heijn sells 15 blended protein products in the Netherlands now, including two hybrid milks, and Lidl and Aldi have introduced beef mince and burgers with 40% plants.

    And this week, German canteen Speisemanufaktur Adlershof is offering a range of blended meat dishes combining beef with koji protein from Nosh.bio, whose ultimate focus is on B2B partnerships with manufacturers and retailers.

    The post Belgium’s Supermarkets Are the Latest to Champion Blended Meat appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Something for Everyone: UK Plant-Based Firm This Expands Meat Alternative & Whole-Food Lines

    this super superfood
    4 Mins Read

    British vegan startup This has added a deli meat SKU while expanding the whole-food-championing This is Super Superfood line it launched earlier this year.

    As sales of plant-based meat continue to weaken, some of the industry’s leading innovators are taking different approaches to arrest the slide.

    In the US, for example, Beyond Meat is dropping ‘Meat’ from its brand to offer products centred on traditional plant proteins, and Impossible Foods is mulling a move into the explosive blended meat category.

    These companies are looking to appeal either to flexitarians who want clean-label plant proteins without the ultra-processed tag, or meat-eaters who don’t want to give up meat but are open to reducing it.

    In the UK, one startup is targeting both these consumer sets. London-based This, which made its name on quirky branding and its vegan chicken, unveiled a This is Super Superfood line in April, comprising a new product format that embraced whole foods and eschewed the meat-mimicking philosophy.

    Designed as a competitor to tofu and tempeh, the range began with a plant protein block and lemon-and-herb pieces made from fava bean protein, shiitake mushrooms, a range of seeds, and vegetables.

    The Super Superfood lineup wasn’t a replacement of its meat alternative lineup; rather, it’s an extension. “We still make the best plant-based meat alternatives, but now we’re giving consumers more options,” said Cuddigan.

    Staying true to that promise, the startup has now launched three new products across the meat alternative and whole-food categories, targeting both weekday lunches and party-ready charcuterie boards.

    This introduces vegan pastrami and Super Superfood bites

    this is super superfood
    Courtesy: This

    The new meat alternative is the brand’s latest deli counter innovation. Following the May launch of its ready-to-eat deli chicken slices is This Isn’t Beef Pastrami, a pack of smoked wheat and pea protein slices.

    This has nearly 32g of protein per 100g, with 3g of fibre and 10g of fat (9g of which is saturated). Each 70g pack contains three portions and is priced at £2.95. The pastrami alternative is described as having a smoky, rich flavour and tender texture, and is available at Morrisons, followed by Sainsbury’s later this month.

    This’s other new launches come under the Super Superfood line. The Super Veg Protein Bites are the range’s first frozen SKU, and are aimed towards time-strapped work-from-home professionals and health-conscious families.

    They comprise a base of peas and pea protein (each 11%) with spinach, potatoes, carrots, rapeseed oil and a seasoning mix dominated by lemon oil and basil. These are encased in a multigrain crumb, and contain 14g of protein and 3g of fibre per 100g (the saturated fat content is minuscule here). The Veg Protein Bites are in Tesco’s freezers at £3.50 per 240g pack.

    Finally, This has rolled out Super Superfood Breaded Pieces, featuring 49% rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, 12% fava bean protein, a mix of seeds, seasonings, and multigrain breaded coating.

    These can be added to curries, stir-fries and salads, and pack 14g of protein, 4g of fibre, and less than 1g of saturated fat per 100g, with an added omega-3 boost. They’re available in the chilled section at Sainsbury’s for £3 per 180g pack.

    UK’s appetite for plants persists

    this isn't chicken
    Courtesy: This

    “Our goal has always been to create delicious and nutritious plant-based products, and with our new Pastrami, Super Veg bites and breaded Super Superfood, we’re giving foodies new options,” said Cuddigan.

    “We can’t wait for people to try them, whether they’re looking for meaty alternatives or tasty veg-packed products to cook with,” he added.

    This’s move beyond meat analogues came as sales of these products fell by 10% in UK supermarkets last year, as ultra-processing fears pushed Brits towards traditional plant proteins like tofu and beans.

    Despite three in five consumers being willing to cut back on meat, the share of those who eat it at least five times a week rose from 43% in 2022 to 50% in 2024. At the same time, half of them want to further change their diets by eating less meat and dairy (33%) and/or more plant-based foods (38%).

    Still, the UK remains the second-largest market for plant-based food in Europe, and 9% of Brits are either vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian, while another 31% identify as flexitarians. This itself has bucked the trend, enjoying a 5.6% hike in turnover in 2024, totalling £18.2M. It also cut its losses nearly in half, from £11.3M in 2023 to £6.1M last year.

    This is not the only UK company to take on meat alternatives, tofu and tempeh with a new format of plant proteins. The same week it launched the Super Superfood range, Oh So Wholesome rolled out Veg’chop, a range of cubes made from red lentils, quinoa, yellow split peas, mushrooms, seeds, and more plants.

    The post Something for Everyone: UK Plant-Based Firm This Expands Meat Alternative & Whole-Food Lines appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Meala Targets Egg Crisis with One-Ingredient Pea Protein Replacer

    meala foodtech
    4 Mins Read

    Israeli startup Meala has debuted a pea protein powder that can replicate the multifunctionality of eggs in baked goods, offering a solution to the avian-flu-induced crisis.

    With egg prices reaching an all-time high in the US and a decade-long high in Europe, food manufacturers have been left scrambling.

    The demand for eggs has sharply increased, but anticipated price corrections have led some producers of powdered eggs to delay purchases, causing a supply gap. Combine that with the wider impact of food prices amid Europe’s cost-of-living crisis, and it’s a perfect storm.

    Plant-based liquid egg products like Just Egg have seen sales soar in the US, with many bakeries switching to the mung-bean-based alternative. Now, Israel’s Meala Foodtech is aiming to replicate that success for the CPG bakery space with a single-ingredient egg replacer that has already garnered a distribution deal in Europe.

    Called Groundbreaker, the pea protein innovation offers the same gelling, binding, emulsifying and foaming attributes of eggs – minus the chicken or the price volatilities.

    “Our innovative texturising protein enables the baking industry to significantly derisk production,” said Tali Feldman-Sivan, co-founder and chief business officer of Meala. “Producers can stabilise costs, reduce exposure to price volatility, and avoid supply chain disruptions.”

    A little goes a long way with Meala’s pea protein

    meala groundbreaker
    Courtesy: Details Studio

    Founded in 2021 by Feldman-Sivan, CTO Liran Gruda, and CEO Hadar Ekhoiz-Razmovich, Meala specialises in texturising plant proteins to enhance the taste, texture and nutritional value of a host of foods, while keeping costs low.

    These solutions are designed as alternatives to ingredients like eggs and methylcellulose, which are common in the manufacturing industry, but have become problematic amid supply issues and the demand for clean-label formulations.

    “Our proteins are produced through a proprietary process that elevates pea protein into highly functional ingredients. This process is green, environmentally friendly, efficient, and scalable – it avoids chemical modification or heavy processing,” Ekhoiz-Razmovich told Green Queen.

    “This way, we preserve the natural nutritional qualities of the pea while unlocking multifunctional properties such as binding, gelling, foaming, and emulsifying,” he added.

    Groundbreaker is described as a clean-label, allergen-free ingredient with “excellent water-holding capacity”. It can be used in sweet applications like pound cakes, sponge cakes, brioches, pancakes, and pre-made cake mixes, as well as in savoury foods.

    “Our protein is highly functional, with a low inclusion rate,” Ekhoiz-Razmovich noted. “Only a small amount is needed in formulations to deliver great functionality. This efficiency can deliver significant savings – up to 30% cost reduction compared to eggs in applications like muffins.”

    Meala in talks with global companies for Groundbreaker

    egg replacer
    Courtesy: Details Studio

    The pea protein ingredient is offered to manufacturers in a powdered format, which makes logistics, storage, and handling “simpler and more efficient”, the CEO said.

    Groundbreaker has already attracted interest from multiple companies, including packaged baked goods manufacturers and commercial cake mix producers supplying both retailers and bakeries.

    Meala recently also entered a strategic partnership with a leading global ingredients maker based in Europe. The collaboration is built on an investment as well as a marketing and distribution agreement, and will open up a new, broad distribution network for Groundbaker.

    “We’re producing at a scale that supports our current commercial activities, and we’re actively expanding capacity to meet growing demand,” highlighted Ekhoiz-Razmovich. “Our production is based in Europe, close to our customers through trusted manufacturing partners.”

    He revealed that Meala has secured $8M in investment to date, and is about to open its next fundraising round soon. Plus, its solutions go beyond replacing eggs in baked goods. “Our first product for savoury applications launched in Europe a few months ago in partnership with DSM-Firmenich,” he said.

    The Vertis PB Pea ingredient is designed to replace modified binders like hydrocolloids to make cleaner-label meat alternatives. “We have a strong pipeline of texturising solutions for the food industry, and this is just the beginning,” said Ekhoiz-Razmovich.

    Meala is among a number of food tech startups offering innovative solutions to replace eggs in bakery products and plant-based meats. Eat Just, maker of Just Egg, launched a one-ingredient mung protein powder that doubles as an egg alternative.

    Others, like Revyve, ProteinDistillery, and Yeastup, are upcycling brewer’s yeast (a byproduct of beer brewing) to make egg replacers for a range of applications, including baked goods and meat and dairy alternatives.

    The post Meala Targets Egg Crisis with One-Ingredient Pea Protein Replacer appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Canada Invests in $24M Project to Create Fava Bean & Mycelium Protein Ingredients

    phytokana ingredients
    4 Mins Read

    Protein Industries Canada has contributed to a C$32.5M ($24M) project where two local startups will create future-friendly proteins from fava beans and mycelium.

    The Canadian government is deepening its bet on alternative proteins, with one of its innovation clusters supporting a new initiative to develop foods from fava beans and mycelium.

    Protein Industries Canada has invested C$6.6M ($4.8M) in the C$32.5M ($24M) project, which will be led by plant-based producer Phytokana Ingredients and mycelium protein player Maia Farms. The rest of the funding will come from industry partners.

    “As countries around the world look to secure their own food supply chains and diversify protein sources, plant-based ingredients, such as those that are being developed by Phytokana and Maia Farms, are becoming increasingly in demand by our trading partners,” said Lisa Campbell, senior programmes director at Protein Industries Canada.

    “Projects such as this one, which help capture the economic value of creating those ingredients domestically, also position Canada as a preferred trading partner in a competitive and quickly changing world,” she added.

    Maia Farms to upcycle Phytokana’s fava beans into mycelium ingredients

    maia farms
    Courtesy: Maia Farms

    According to Protein Industries Canada, the project will bring together farmers, processors, and food tech players to boost the domestic value chain for fava beans. Further, it will bring superior products to global consumers.

    Phytokana, which is headquartered in Alberta, will use its heat- and chemical-free technology to process novel fava bean varieties into a protein concentrate, starch flour, and fava flour with enhanced taste, texture and nutrition. These are said to retain their natural functionality for use in dairy alternatives, plant-based meat, and other foods.

    “Our native functionality and superior sensory fava ingredients are the culmination of research and innovation in collaboration with some of the world’s leading food and beverage companies,” said Phytokana CEO Chris Theal.

    Vancouver-based Maia Farms, meanwhile, specialises in upcycling flours into biomass-fermented proteins with better digestibility and functionality. Phytokana will supply Maia Farms with fava bean ingredients, which the latter will use to create mycelium proteins.

    “Maia has established commercial partnerships from coast to coast, building the infrastructure to establish Canada as a leader in mushroom-based protein ingredients and fermentation technology” said Maia Farms CEO Gavin Schneider.

    “Maia’s ingredients for food manufacturers are nutrient-dense, sustainable, and delicious. With the support of Protein Industries Canada, Maia will further advance its biomass fermentation technology, upcycling Phytokana’s fava ingredients into value-added, sustainable ingredients. We are grateful to expand this valuable partnership.”

    “This contribution from Protein Industries Canada primarily supports the direct investment into our custom-designed process flow, overlain with automation and advanced predictive process controls that serve to deliver value-added, sustainable and consistent quality food ingredients to global markets,” Theal said.

    Phytokana is already working on securing more funding to build a fully automated dry fractionation facility near Strathmore, which would be able to produce 30,000 metric tonnes of product annually.

    Protein Industries Canada a leading supporter of future foods

    protein industries canada
    Courtesy: Nadiasphoto/Getty Images

    Protein Industries Canada, a public-private partnership working to tap into the $25B opportuntiy of increasing value-added production of domestic protein crops, has invested hundreds of millions over the years in sustainable food projects. It aims to create new markets for Canadian crops, generate local employment, and support economic development nationwide.

    Its previous investments in fava bean include a project to develop high-protein ingredients with Griffith Foods, BFY Proteins, Botaniline and Faba Canada, and another to optimise and use pea and fava protein ingredients with Lovingly Made Flour Mills, TMRW Foods and Dutton Farms.

    In addition, the cluster has pumped in C$4.87M ($3.6M) in a pilot project with Louis Dreyfus Company and the Seven Oaks Hospital Chronic Disease Innovation Center to meet the demand for better-tasting and more nutritious pea protein. Another $4.3M ($3.1M) went to a scheme to boost the national specialty soybean market, led by NRGene Canada, Pulse Genetics, Hensall Co-op, and Yumasoy Foods Ltd.

    Protein Industries Canada has also been working on bilateral projects. It announced two initiatives with Innovate UK to create plant-based meat ingredient solutions and nutritionally superior vegan products last November, and has signed a strategic partnership with Nurasa, Singapore’s food innovation platform, to fast-track the entry of Canadian plant-based companies into the city-state and Asia-Pacific.

    Canada is one of the leaders in state-led financing for alternative proteins – in 2023, it topped the list, thanks primarily to a $112M outlay by Protein Industries Canada. In fact, unlike the US or the UK, public funding represents a much larger chunk of food tech funding in Canada (30%), and analysis shows that plant-based food accounts for 12% of all investments in the category, making it “central to the country’s broader food tech ecosystem”.

    “By harnessing innovative technologies and capturing the full potential of Canadian crops, we are strengthening Canada’s position as a leading global supplier, opening up new markets and creating high-quality jobs for Canadians,” said Mélanie Joly, the federal minister of industry, who is also responsible for economic development in Quebec

    “With support from Protein Industries Canada, one of Canada’s global innovation clusters, this project will deliver sustainable food products with increased traceability, helping Canada achieve its environmental goals while strengthening consumer confidence,” she added.

    The post Canada Invests in $24M Project to Create Fava Bean & Mycelium Protein Ingredients appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Can Blending Koji Protein with Beef Help Flexitarians Eat Less Meat?

    blended meat
    4 Mins Read

    German food tech player Nosh.bio has launched a blended beef mince product, combining meat with its koji protein.

    As blended meat engulfs Europe’s protein sector, one German startup is betting on an ancient fungus to expand the category.

    Nosh.bio is mixing its fermented koji protein with conventional beef for a new blended mince product, which is positioned as a B2B ingredient for manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators.

    Koji is the national fungus of Japan and powers foods like miso, shoyu and mirin, but its use as an alternative protein ingredient has been on the rise of late, from Prime Roots’s deli meats to Imagindairy’s cow-free dairy protein.

    Nosh.bio’s koji protein is debuting at Berlin canteen Speisemanufaktur Adlershof on September 15, where it will feature in a range of dishes for one week.

    “Consumers are looking for food that is both delicious and better for the planet. A hybrid approach lets us deliver the full beef taste and texture people expect, while significantly lowering the environmental footprint,” Nosh.bio co-founder and CEO Tim Fronzek told Green Queen.

    Koji protein delivers on cost, climate and health

    nosh bio
    Courtesy: Nosh.bio

    Founded in 2022 by Fronzek and CTO Felipe Lino, Nosh.bio uses biomass fermentation to turn fungal biomass into single-ingredient meat analogues. The startup suggests that its tech platform is highly efficient and cost-effective, delivering alternative proteins with taste, texture and health benefits.

    Its fermentation process uses agricultural side streams to feed the microbes and can be carried out in existing fermentation facilities, enabling fast scale-up and keeping downstream prices low. In fact, last year, it retrofitted a former brewery in Dresden to repurpose it into a commercial-scale facility that can produce 1,000 tonnes of protein annually.

    The koji protein is described as highly versatile with applications ranging from meat, seafood and dairy alternatives to confectionery and bakery products. It eschews the need for texturisers and stabilisers in meat analogues, while retaining a juicy texture.

    Last year, it partnered with Zur Mühlen Group, a subsidiary of German meat giant Tönnies Group, to roll out Koji Chunks, a single-ingredient meat analogue to appeal to Europe’s clean-label demand.

    Now, it has taken the blended meat approach to cater to the continent’s flexitarian population. In Germany alone, two in five people identify as flexitarians, and a third of consumers want to cut back on meat. The latter shift is driven by changing taste preferences (cited by 26% of Germans), the high prices of animal protein (23%), and health concerns (19%).

    In addition, the protein will attract eco-conscious eaters. Its production emits 91% fewer greenhouse gases than conventional meat, requires more than 99% less land, and consumes 99% less water.

    “Our koji protein brings clean-label functionality, improved nutrition, and a drastic reduction in land, water, and carbon use compared to beef. It’s a pragmatic way for flexitarians and omnivores to cut their meat intake without compromising on enjoyment,” said Fronzek.

    “Our ingredient has reached cost parity with beef. That’s a breakthrough at a time when beef prices remain high and volatile across Europe,” he added. “Because we retrofitted existing fermentation capacity and run a lean process, we can keep production costs low. This allows our hybrid mince to be competitively priced while still offering a better nutritional and sustainability profile.”

    Nosh.bio eyes retail opportunity for blended meat

    nosh bio
    Courtesy: Nosh.bio

    For the public showcase, Nosh.bio’s blended meat will be available in dishes like burgers, meatballs, and lasagna. “The base hybrid mince is simply beef blended with our koji protein – it’s a drop-in solution for kitchen operations. Inclusion typically ranges [from] 25-35% koji protein, depending on the cuisine,” said Fronzek. “The final ingredient list depends on the dish/application.”

    By combining beef with koji, Nosh.bio adds a source of fibre and an extra hit of complete protein. “We can expect between 13-15% fewer calories in the hybrid product compared with conventional beef. Also, the protein content per 100 kcal remains the same,” he explained. “On top of that, we add 1g of prebiotic fibres, which are important for maintaining a healthy gut, per 100g of minced beef, and the product has around 20-30%+ less saturated fat and cholesterol.”

    The restaurant partnership is designed to gather real-world feedback on flavour, texture and overall performance, as well as demonstrate the ingredient’s versatility, amid Nosh.bio’s efforts to land B2B deals.

    “Our main focus remains on producers and retail through our B2B commercial partnerships; in parallel, we’ll expand into additional restaurants and food service. We’re already working with leading partners, and we’ll expand into additional markets where we have both supply readiness and strong partner pull,” said Fronzek.

    “We already have the capacity to produce several tons per day, with an output that is higher than a cow’s worth of weight per hour. We plan to expand this capacity several-fold in the following months, since the infrastructure is already installed.”

    Blended meat has been recognised as a way to help meat-eaters cut back on animal protein without quitting cold turkey – in the process, it reduces both emissions and intake of saturated fat. Europe has been a hub of major activity, spearheaded by retailers like Lidl, Aldi, and Albert Heijn.

    And with retailers pledging to lower the ratio of animal protein sold, Nosh.bio is eyeing this space with a modern twist on an ancient food source.

    The post Can Blending Koji Protein with Beef Help Flexitarians Eat Less Meat? appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Strauss Group Unveils Cow-Free Milk & Cheese with Imagindairy’s Whey Protein

    strauss group cow free
    4 Mins Read

    Strauss Group will launch cow-free milk and cheese using Imagindairy’s whey protein in Israel, which is made from microbes via precision fermentation.

    Israeli food giant Strauss Group has unveiled a new range of dairy products that replaces cows with microbes.

    The new CowFree range leverages local food tech startup Imagindairy’s recombinant whey protein, which is produced via a precision fermentation process.

    Strauss Group, whose incubator The Kitchen FoodTech Hub launched Imagindairy back in 2020, will debut a cream cheese SKU under its Symphony brand and a milk under the Yotvata label, both using the animal-free whey.

    In the coming weeks, they will become the first precision-fermented dairy products to make their way into Israel’s supermarkets, and mark the commercial launch of Imagindairy’s protein too, 10 months after it received regulatory approval from the Ministry of Health.

    “CowFree products are set to transform the dairy consumption experience and redefine the category,” said Barak Weinstein, head of Strauss Neo. “This product line, created with unique technology, represents a turning point in the food industry. It is a category that bridges technological innovation and culinary excellence.”

    imagindairy milk
    Courtesy: Tal Agasi

    How Imagindairy makes animal-free whey protein

    Precision fermentation involves inserting specific DNA into microbes to instruct them to produce desired molecules when fermented. Imagindairy uses this tech to make beta-lactoglobulin, the main whey protein found in bovine milk (accounting for 65% of the total whey content).

    Beta-lactoglobulin is said to be nutritionally superior to most proteins, with gelling, foaming and emulsification properties that enhance the texture of a range of food and beverage products.

    In addition, beta-lactoglobulin contains a larger concentration of essential and branched-chain amino acids than other whey proteins (such as leucine, which is key for muscle synthesis). Plus, it’s tasteless, stable across a wide pH range, and tolerant to heat.

    According to the company, Imagindairy’s whey protein is identical in taste, texture and nutritional value to its cow-derived counterpart, and is free from cholesterol, lactose and hormones. To make it, the startup genetically engineers Aspergillus oryzae, a fungi strain more commonly known as koji mould and used in products like miso, shoyu and mirin.

    It employs an AI-led microflora-based production method, which feeds microorganisms that are 20 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into proteins. The process is based on over 15 years of research, and leverages computational and molecular biology technologies to make it cost-effective.

    Imagindairy operates an industrial-scale facility with a 100,000-litre fermentation capacity, which has allowed it to produce prototypes at the same price as conventional dairy, or even cheaper. Rehovot-based Remilk also has regulatory approval for precision-fermented beta-lactoglobulin in Israel.

    On a regulatory front, the industry is most advanced in the US, with a host of startups cleared to sell this animal-free whey protein. This includes both Imagindairy and Remilk, as well as Perfect Day, Vivici, 21st.Bio, and Verley.

    imagindairy cheese
    Courtesy: Peleg Alkalay

    Strauss Group to launch more cow-free dairy products

    The animal-free milk and cream cheese contain all essential amino acids and are rich in calcium. While they’re lactose-free, they are not suitable for people with milk allergies, as the microbial protein is structurally identical to dairy.

    “The new products provide fresh solutions for a wide range of consumers whose needs have only been partially addressed until now. Yotvata and Symphony CowFree bring consumers great taste and high-quality protein, and open new possibilities for those who separate meat and dairy, as well as for vegans,” said Weinstein.

    Strauss Group said the launch reflects its ‘Nourishing a Better Tomorrow’ philosophy by expanding access to food tech innovations to consumers. It teased additional products from its CowFree portfolio after the initial launch.

    “The launch of CowFree marks another stage in the evolution of our dairy operations, as part of our vision to listen to our consumers and provide them with a wide variety of choices for every need and every occasion,” said Ariella Schiffenbauer Weiss, general manager of Strauss Dairies.

    “The announcement we are making today to the Israeli consumer is part of a series of innovative initiatives led by Strauss as part of our strategy execution,” said Strauss Group CEO Shai Babad. “We will continue to advance the food industry in Israel through innovation, excellence, and social responsibility.”

    animal free milk israel
    Courtesy: Strauss Group

    In a statement on social media, Imagindairy said: “This moment is especially meaningful to us as it comes after overcoming many obstacles along the way, proving that determination and belief can turn vision into reality.

    “It’s a historic first step in bringing animal-free dairy to consumers, a proof that precision fermentation can deliver the taste, texture, and joy of dairy, without the cow.”

    Imagindairy has raised $30M to date, with Strauss Group one of its key investors. Last year, it told Green Queen that it was closing in on another funding round. “The capital will be used to support our commercialisation activities,” revealed co-founder and CEO Eyal Afergan.

    The post Strauss Group Unveils Cow-Free Milk & Cheese with Imagindairy’s Whey Protein appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Aleph Farms Sets Sights on Europe with Cultivated Beef Facility in Switzerland

    aleph farms switzerland
    4 Mins Read

    Israeli food tech pioneer Aleph Farms has struck a deal to produce its cultivated meat in Europe, setting up at The Cultured Hub facility in Kemptthal.

    As it awaits regulatory approval in Switzerland, Aleph Farms has chosen the canton of Zurich as the European production hub for its cultivated beef.

    The Israeli startup has teamed up with The Cultured Hub, a biotech facility situated in The Valley in Kemptthal, opened last year by retail giant Migros, flavour specialist Givaudan, and equipment manufacturer Bühler Group.

    The move is part of Aleph Farms’s localised production strategy, and marks a key milestone for its international expansion. It’s also an extension of the firm’s six-year-long strategic partnership with Migros, which supported the firm’s regulatory application to the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office in 2023.

    “Our collaboration with The Cultured Hub builds on years of joint work to advance the regulatory and operational readiness of cultivated meat in Switzerland,” said Aleph Farms co-founder and CEO Didier Toubia.

    How Aleph Farms is charting its global footprint

    aleph farms facility
    Aleph Farms operates a 65,000 square foot facility in Rehovot, Israel. Courtesy: Amit Goren/Aleph Farms

    Aleph Farms’s signature offering is the Petit Steak, a hybrid meat product combining non-modified, non-immortalised cells of a premium Black Angus cow with a plant protein matrix made of soy and wheat.

    The firm has already received regulatory clearance in Israel, though this was contingent on the company clearing a Good Manufacturing Practices inspection for its production facility, on which there has been no public update yet.

    Additionally, it has filed for approval in Singapore, the UK, Thailand, and Switzerland, and is engaged in advanced pre-submission consultations in countries including the US. It plans to eventually expand into Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, and Hong Kong too.

    This strategy would give way to a complex supply chain, so setting up facilities in local hotspots would help Aleph Farms streamline its manufacturing and distribution. It currently operates a 65,000 sq ft plant in Rehovot, Israel (with a capacity to initially produce 10 tonnes of cultivated steak annually), and has acquired another factory in Modi’in.

    Elsewhere, the startup has signed a co-manufacturing deal with Singapore’s ESCO Aster (the first approved cultivated meat facility globally), and is building a factory in Thailand with biotech firms BBGI and Fermbox Bio.

    The Swiss facility is an extension of this approach, and will allow Aleph Farms to create a long-term partnership framework for production in the canton of Zurich, with the potential for future expansion into other European markets.

    Aleph Farms will prepare for commercial launch with Swiss facility

    the cultured hub
    The Cultured Hub is located in The Valley business park | Courtesy: The Valley

    Opened in December, The Cultured Hub aims to speed up the development and commercialisation of cellular agriculture products. It’s equipped with advanced production development labs, as well as cell culture and fermentation capabilities and equipment.

    The hub can host three companies at a time, which can work simultaneously in fully separated suites. Producers can scale up from small lab experiments to 1,000-litre pilot operations without investing in expensive assets or diluting equity. This helps accelerate market entry by saving time and resources, and allowing the entities to focus on creating the optimal food products at competitive costs.

    “We believe the future of food depends on cross-industry collaboration to create impact at scale,” said Fabio Campanile, chairman of The Cultured Hub and head of science and tech at Givaudan. “We are confident that we can provide the infrastructure, services, and networks needed to bring great new products to market by combining Aleph’s innovation and expertise with our platform.”

    The establishment of Aleph Farms’s Swiss operations is supported by the regional administration. “The company strengthens Zurich’s position as a hub for innovation and brings fresh momentum to the growing Zurich food ecosystem, which includes the Food Hub in Wädenswil and nearly 11,000 businesses across the canton,” said Carmen Walker Späh, the canton’s economic affairs councillor.

    According to Aleph Farms, the collaboration supports the startup’s goal of decentralising production and boosting Switzerland’s domestic meat supply – currently, 20% of its beef is imported. It will further help the startup prepare for its commercial launch through relevant distribution channels, once it’s cleared to sell.

    “This partnership allows us to execute our global strategy in the best possible way – one that is both capital-efficient and deeply embedded in the local market,” said Toubia.

    It comes months after the firm secured $29M in the first closing of a larger funding round, taking its total investment to nearly $150M. And last week, an independent analysis showed that Aleph Farms’s steak could be produced at $6.45 per lb and sold in wholesale for $12.25, generating annual net profits of $78.5M. With further process enhancement, the cost of goods sold could fall to just $4.08 per lb.

    The post Aleph Farms Sets Sights on Europe with Cultivated Beef Facility in Switzerland appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Exclusive: Mission Barns Launches Cultivated Pork in World-First Dinner

    mission barns
    6 Mins Read

    Californian startup Mission Barns sold its cultivated pork for the first time at a dinner in San Francisco, with dishes featuring its meatballs and bacon.

    On Tuesday evening in San Francisco’s Sunset District, a small group of diners gathered for the first sale of cultivated pork anywhere in the world.

    Food tech firm Mission Barns held the exclusive dinner at Fiorella, weeks after securing approval from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for its cultivated pork fat. The event was the first of three pop-up dinners, convening six industry leaders and one sweepstakes winner.

    Fiorella served Mission Barns’s meatballs with Italian herbs and chilli, as well as in a Sicilian-inspired dish with raisins and pignoli, a creation of chef-owner Brandon Gillis. Diners also tried its Applewood-smoked bacon, which is layered with the startup’s cultivated fat.

    lab grown pork
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    “We put our full trust in Fiorella and chef Brandon, who has deep experience working with the best local, seasonal ingredients in a farm-to-table Italian style,” Mission Barns CEO Cecilia Chang tells Green Queen.

    “After we walked him through our products, he created a menu that showcases them in true Fiorella fashion,” she says. “One highlight is his take on our meatball – he broke it apart, seasoned it with classic Sicilian ingredients like currants and pine nuts, and reformed it into something entirely new, while still letting our cultivated pork shine.”

    Chang recently took over from Eitan Fischer as CEO to lead the company into its next phase of growth, with Fischer still actively involved as founder and board member.

    The inaugural dinner will be followed by another event on September 24, where eight guests chosen from the public will be invited to try the cultivated pork dishes.

    What goes into Mission Barns’s meatballs?

    mission barns bacon
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    Founded in 2018, Mission Barns uses belly fat cells from American Yorkshire pigs and grows them in bioreactors to make its Mission Fat. This fat is then mixed with plant-based ingredients to make meatballs, bacon, and more.

    This hybrid approach allows the startup to keep costs from soaring too high. And since fat is the primary flavour carrier in food, even a little bit goes a long way in replicating conventional meat.

    “The great thing about our cultivated fat ingredient is that we’ve found even at low inclusion rates (i.e., single-digit percentages), there’s a really noticeable improvement on taste and mouthfeel, and our products have been able to match conventional meat on blind taste tests with consumers,” says Chang.

    For example, the meatballs contain a base of pea protein and Mission Fat (which will appear on the label as a composition of purified water, cell-cultivated pork fat cells, and kosher salt).

    These are complemented by coconut oil, textured pea protein, Italian seasoning, and methylcellulose. In addition, the meatballs contain less than 2% of natural flavours and colours, sodium gluconate, salt, potato starch, red wine vinegar, lactic acid, xanthan gum, and liquid seasoning.

    Mission Barns is one of several startups taking the cultivated fat route. Hoxton Farms, Steakholder Foods, Genuine Taste, and Mosa Meat are doing the same – the latter has filed for regulatory approval in several geographies, including the EU, the UK, and Switzerland.

    lab grown meat restaurant
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    Restaurant rollout is a gateway for B2B strategy

    At Fiorella, Gillis was “blown away” by the cultivated pork fat. “It had that same rich, savoury depth you get from traditional pork, but with a much smaller footprint,” he recalls. “Working with them on this launch lets us create dishes that are both familiar and groundbreaking.”

    As part of its launch strategy, Mission Barns has been working with front-of-house teams to help engage and educate diners. “At our restaurant, we’re always looking for ways to honour tradition while embracing innovation,” says Isabella Hare, a server at Fiorella.

    “Partnering with Mission Barns allows us to introduce our guests to a groundbreaking ingredient that’s not only delicious but also more sustainable for the future of food,” she adds.

    lab grown pork
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    The three pop-up dinners had always been intended as a limited in-market test to gauge consumer response and gather valuable feedback, according to Chang.

    “While we’re excited to continue exploring opportunities with Fiorella and other chefs, our long-term strategy has always been B2B: licensing our technology so food partners and manufacturers can produce cultivated products at scale. These early sales and insights serve as proof points for potential partners,” she says.

    “We are having conversations with chefs and restaurants across several US cities,” she notes, but adds: “In the near term, our focus remains on scaling our bioreactor platform rather than expanding restaurant distribution.”

    The firm has designed a novel bioreactor technology that marks a departure from the single-cell suspension tanks of the biopharma sector, enabling more efficient, scalable, and cheaper production.

    mission barns funding
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    Cultivated meat bans ‘limit choice and economic opportunity’

    Aside from its restaurant rollout, Mission Barns has announced a listing with Sprouts Farmers Market, which will make it the first cultivated meat product to be sold in a US supermarket.

    In July, Chang told Green Queen that the company expects to roll out its meatballs at the retailer’s Oakland locations in Q3. “We’re working closely with Sprouts on timing, but we aren’t announcing specific rollout dates just yet,” she says now. “What we can share is that consumers in the Bay Area will be among the first in the country to find Mission Barns cultivated pork on grocery shelves.”

    Though its current focus is on the US, Mission Barns is keeping an eye on markets that align with the US regulatory process, like Singapore and other Asian countries. It has secured $60 million in funding to date, and will now attempt to raise more capital to support commercial scale-up, strategic licensing, and global expansion.

    “We are raising enough to fund our scale-up work for the next few years,” says Chang. “As everyone knows, the fundraising landscape for cultivated meat is a tough one right now.”

    Indeed, in 2023, funding for cultivated meat startups fell by 75%, followed by another 40% drop in 2024, reaching just $137M. And in the first half of this year, this total dropped even further to $35M.

    mission barns
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    What will convince investors to bet on Mission Barns? “We have a differentiated approach focused on cultivated fat as a low-inclusion-rate flavouring ingredient, and our novel patented bioreactor has broad applications for products outside of just food – so that’s a really attractive point for investors,” highlights Chang.

    It has been a big year for cultivated meat in the US. Aside from Mission Barns, Wildtype and Believer Meats have both also received a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration – Wildtype’s salmon is already being served in several restaurants now (as seafood isn’t regulated by the USDA). At the same time, seven states have now banned cultivated meat, with Florida and Texas being sued for their decisions.

    “We believe consumers should have the right to choose safe, delicious, healthy products that are approved by US regulators (in our case, the FDA and the USDA),” says Chang. “The bans are unfortunate because they limit choice, innovation, and economic opportunity in those states. That said, they haven’t slowed our plans – we’re focusing on states where cultivated meat is welcomed, starting here in California.”

    The post Exclusive: Mission Barns Launches Cultivated Pork in World-First Dinner appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Exclusive: Carnéa Enters the Blended Meat Fray With A Michelin-Starred Twist

    carnea
    6 Mins Read

    Parendi Birdie’s Texas startup Carnéa has emerged from stealth with a range of chef-crafted blended meats that beat Tyson’s products in taste tests.

    In 2023, Parendi Birdie left her role as head of brand strategy at cultivated meat firm Mission Barns to focus on Asentia, a new venture that is blending animal protein with plants.

    “We’re combining the meat we know and crave with the plant-powered benefits we want more of to create inspired, enhanced protein with more flavour, juiciness and nutrients,” she told Green Queen at the time.

    Two years, two more co-founders, a whole lot of R&D, and a name change later, Birdie is ready to unleash her innovations on the world.

    Now called Carnéa Meat Co, the Houston-based startup is being spearheaded by Birdie (who is the CEO), former Impossible Foods executive Eric Hedstrand (chief commercial officer), and chief innovation officer Tom Lynch (the former head R&D chef at two-Michelin-starred restaurant 42 Grams and one of Beyond Meat’s earliest food technologists).

    When Birdie spoke to Green Queen in 2023, blended meat wasn’t a new idea, but it was nowhere near as widespread as it is today. Now, with Carnéa, she says she’s introducing products that she says are unlike anything on the market. Think truffle mushroom meatballs; a Black Angus, roast shallot and shiitake burger; bourbon-bacon and artichoke sausages; and BBQ-braised brisket with jackfruit – with inclusion rates ranging from 50% to two-thirds.

    “There’s a huge, untapped market of people who want to eat plant-forward, but are frustrated by current products,” she says, citing how 72% of Americans want to eat more plants but not go fully vegan. “A third of the country has tried plant-based meat. It’s pretty simple: many of us want to eat better without giving up meat.”

    Carnéa’s blended sausage beats Tyson’s 100% meat

    carnea meat co
    Courtesy: Carnéa Meat Co

    Reflecting on the rebrand, Birdie says Asentia was never intended to be the startup’s consumer-facing name in the first place. It partnered with a global branding agency and worked closely with its advisory board (who’ve worked for Apple, Tesla, Starbucks, Tyson and Cargill) to build a “bold, evocative, and distinctive brand platform that commands attention on the shelf”.

    “The identity features rich, warm colours and soulful elements that mirror our products – full of richness, passion, and depth – raising the bar for what meat can be and adding dimension where ordinary meat falls flat,” she says. “The brand connects on an emotional level, tapping into the ‘second brain’ – our gut – to spark those instant, visceral reactions.”

    That hits the nail on the head. Meat-eating is tied to emotion. In 2021, an Ipsos poll revealed that 59% of consumers believed eating meat is the American way of life, and 52% felt that those advocating for cutting meat intake are trying to control what the public eats.

    Such perceptions have only grown in the years since. Last year, meat sales reached an all-time high, and cultivated meat got caught in political crosshairs with a host of (mostly Republican-leaning) states putting restrictions on the labelling or sale of alternative proteins. Retail sales of plant-based meat, meanwhile, dropped by 7% in 2024.

    blended meat
    Courtesy: Nectar

    To counter this shift, companies big and small are taking a bite of the blended meat pie, including Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Quorn, Aldi, and even Disneyland. Sensory testing has shown that these “balanced proteins” are more likely to appeal to meat-eaters and flexitarians than plant-based alternatives. In some cases, they even outperform 100% meat products.

    “Balanced proteins offer the authentic taste of meat with the plant-powered benefits we want more of. This, coupled with the cultural and psychological familiarity of meat, is a winning combination for widespread, daily adoption,” says Birdie.

    Carnéa conducted its own taste tests at food events and farmers’ markets in Texas. “Twice as many people preferred ours over a leading Tyson 100% pork sausage – and these were big meat-eating Texans,” she reveals.

    “When they learned the sausage they loved was made with plant-forward ingredients, they were amazed. Many said it felt like the best of both worlds: a way to eat healthier without sacrifice.”

    Alternative protein industry ‘must think outside the box’

    asentia
    Courtesy: Carnéa Meat Co

    So how did Carnéa manage to outperform a 100% meat product from Tyson (whose own attempt at blended meat failed)?

    “It takes sophisticated food science to pull this off successfully,” says Birdie. “A key part of our ‘secret sauce’ is our fermentation process, which enzymatically breaks down proteins into savoury amino acids, fats into aromatic fatty acids, and carbohydrates into simple sugars. This enhances the Maillard reaction, creating rich, caramelised flavours, and exceptional juiciness that keeps people coming back for more.”

    Despite offering better environmental metrics – swapping 50% of meat with plants can cut agriculture emissions by 31% and double climate benefits – blended meat is still criticised for the use of animal products, especially those that are factory-farmed.

    “Our industry must evolve. We must become smarter, stronger and more connected to our consumers. We need to listen intently and think outside the box in order to win,” argues Birdie.

    “When I envision a truly sustainable, sensible food system…it’s hard to see a realistic path forward without balanced proteins playing a crucial role. My excitement is less about the short-term benefits of the category, and more about its unique ability to create an environment where the entire alternative protein sector can thrive.

    “What excites me most are the meaningful partnerships we can forge with conventional meat giants, and how these collaborations will enable us to accelerate the creation of a sustainable food system. Our vision is big, and our goal is to be a catalytic force driving change, not merely to be along for the ride.”

    Carnéa’s blended proteins are priced in line with premium meat

    carnea blended meat
    Courtesy: Carnéa Meat Co

    Any successful alternative protein product must have a price point that doesn’t ward off shoppers. In today’s climate, this applies to meat too, which is suffering from record-high prices globally.

    “Our team brings a combined 25 years in the alternative protein industry, and one thing is clear: to truly win and create massive impact, products must be priced accessibly,” says Bidie. “We’re committed to building a healthy, sustainable business, so we’re not dependent on raising hundreds of millions.”

    She adds: “From day one, we’ve developed products that are gross-margin-positive. We’re launching with pricing in line with premium meat, with clear plans to reach price parity with conventional meat.

    “While this is a nuanced and strategic decision for every company, in our case, some SKUs are already able to undercut their 100% meat counterparts, thanks to the lower cost of our strategic vegetable components.“

    Carnéa has penned a deal with a “top-tier co-manufacturer” that also produces for Costco and H-E-B. “Their state-of-the-art, USDA-inspected facility has already completed successful production runs of our products, proving we can scale while maintaining the sensory qualities that set us apart,” says Birdie.

    It isn’t the only startup blending meat with vegetables instead of plant or microbial proteins. For example, 50/50 Foods sells the Both Burger, pairing Angus Beef with roasted mushrooms, caramelised onions, cauliflower and broccoli. And Phil’s Finest makes blended beef mince and sausages with a host of vegetables.

    But the enthusiasm for Carnéa’s products has been “so strong that several leaders from the world’s most successful food companies have personally invested” in it, according to Birdie (who did not disclose the total capital her startup has raised). “With standout taste, scalable manufacturing, accessible pricing, a world-class team, and unrivalled nutrition, we believe we have all the ingredients for long-term success,” she says.

    The post Exclusive: Carnéa Enters the Blended Meat Fray With A Michelin-Starred Twist appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Iceland’s ORF Genetics Gets $5.8M to Advance Cultivated Meat via Molecular Farming

    orf genetics
    3 Mins Read

    Food tech startup ORF Genetics has raised €5M ($5.8M) in a new funding round to scale up production of specialised proteins key to cultivated meat.

    Icelandic firm ORF Genetics has secured €5M ($5.8M) in funding to advance and scale up its cultivated meat capabilities.

    The investment round saw participation from both existing and new shareholders, and will help the startup significantly scale up its capacity to produce specialised proteins via molecular farming. These proteins are key components for cultivated meat manufacturing.

    “We are at a pivotal moment,” said CEO Berglind Rán Ólafsdóttir. “This funding ensures that ORF can meet the imminent surge in commercial opportunities and supports the company’s next growth phase.”

    How ORF Genetics makes growth factors with barley

    orf genetics funding
    Courtesy: ORF Genetics

    ORF Genetics’s base technology leverages molecular farming, through which companies modify the cells of plants (instead of microbes or animals, as is the case in cultivated proteins or precision fermentation) to enable them to replicate animal proteins, which can be harvested from leaves or other plant tissues.

    Its unique expression system is called Orfeus, which uses barley as a vehicle for large-scale production of recombinant animal and human proteins. The startup identifies the genetic code for the target protein, which is cloned into a highly optimised expression vector called GrainVec.

    In a process mediated by bacteria, immature barley embryos undergo tissue culture in a carefully optimised medium, which then grow into strong, bioengineered plantlets with a well-developed root system.

    These are then transferred into a supporting matrix in small pots, in a controlled growth chamber. After a well-defined period, these plantlets are transferred into an automatic hydroponic conveyor belt cultivation system until they are ready for harvest.

    ORF Genetics chooses the highest-expressing barley lines (based on target protein levels in the barley seed extract), which are expanded further into a final selection of the best-yielding lines.

    ORF Genetics plans extension of funding round

    cultivated meat growth factors
    Courtesy: ORF Genetics

    The Orfeus platform has allowed the firm to develop a portfolio of growth factors, including Mesokine, its range for cultivated meat. Each product is a defined barley seed extract that contains endotoxin-free growth factors from cows, pigs, birds and marine species. They also contain selected barley proteins to stabilise them, prolong their lifetime, and enhance their bioactivity.

    ORF Genetics notes that Mesokine has become a trusted brand among key players in the cultivated meat space. One of its most notable customers is Australia’s Vow, whose cultured quail is made from the Icelandic firm’s growth factors, and is being sold at restaurants in Singapore and Australia.

    Further, it’s working with South Korea-based SeaWith, which is hoping to receive regulatory approval and launch cultivated seafood in its home country by the end of the year. The two companies hosted a public tasting for cultivated shellfish meat at the Iceland Ocean Cluster this February, in an event attended by First Gentleman Björn Skúlason and agrifood minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson.

    Now, ORF Genetics is aiming to supercharge the production of Mesokine, with plans to expand capacity by 14-fold by 2027, and by a factor of 10,000 by 2032.

    To help with this effort, it’s extending its funding round with a goal of raising €7M. “We plan to expand the round by the end of October and welcome new investors to join us in building a company that holds a key position in a market with tremendous growth potential,” said Berglind Rán.

    ORF Genetics is among several companies innovating with molecular farming, including Moolec Science, Alpine Bio, PoLoPo, Mozza, Miruku, Tiamat Sciences, Bright Biotech, and NewMoo.

    The post Iceland’s ORF Genetics Gets $5.8M to Advance Cultivated Meat via Molecular Farming appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • FDA Proposes Rule to End ‘Self-Affirmed’ GRAS Rule in 2026

    fda self gras
    5 Mins Read

    The US Food and Drug Administration has added a proposed rule to its spring 2026 agenda that would eliminate the current provision of companies self-affirming their ingredients as safe.

    Following through on health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s directive in March, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed a new rule that could throw the food tech world into chaos.

    The regulatory body has suggested an amendment to the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) rule in its Unified Agenda for spring 2026. The agenda outlines the regulatory and deregulatory actions planned by federal agencies within the next year.

    The proposal would force companies to submit GRAS notices for food ingredients for FDA review, eliminating the self-affirmation process that many companies currently use to enter the market. The latter pathway allows manufacturers to independently determine their ingredients as safe for use, which RFK Jr has called the provision a “loophole”.

    He pledged to revise the GRAS rule to “provide transparency to consumers, help get our nation’s food supply back on track by ensuring that ingredients being introduced into foods are safe, and ultimately Make America Healthy Again”.

    The move will have major repercussions for the food tech world, but may face challenges in Congress and in court.

    What is the self-affirmed GRAS rule?

    enifer gras
    Courtesy: Enifer

    The GRAS rule was created by Congress in 1958, with the self-affirmation provision introduced in 1972. This pathway doesn’t legally require FDA review – instead, companies only need to conduct a safety assessment by a scientific panel, which can include both internal and external experts.

    Since producers choosing this pathway don’t need to notify the FDA or disclose the information publicly, they can maintain confidentiality around proprietary information and trade secrets. It’s also a cheaper, easier, and faster way to get to market – the FDA only evaluates around 75 GRAS notices a year, and the mean time for each approval is over 160 days.

    Critics, including Kennedy, argue that this allows food companies to make their own safety assessments independently of the FDA.

    “For far too long, ingredient manufacturers and sponsors have exploited a loophole that has allowed new ingredients and chemicals, often with unknown safety data, to be introduced into the US food supply without notification to the FDA or the public,” the health secretary said earlier this year.

    This is why many producers choose to go through the full GRAS notification process. “Over the years, we’ve already had the chance to work with some of these companies and see the extremely rigorous and lengthy internal evaluation processes they have in place – and you want to make their lives as easy as possible if you want to make it onto their approved suppliers lists,” Simo Ellilä, CEO of Enifer, told Green Queen this week, after securing self-affirmed GRAS status for its mycoprotein ingredient.

    GRAS notification is much more rigorous and requires the submission of a host of comments, including both positive and negative reviews and studies of a company’s ingredients. If approved, the FDA sends a ‘no questions’ letter, deeming the ingredient safe for sale – this is seen as a more transparent process with publicly available data and breeds both market and consumer confidence.

    What is the FDA’s proposed rule?

    solar foods fda
    Courtesy: Solar Foods

    Under the proposed rule, companies would be required to submit GRAS notices and await FDA approval before they can sell novel ingredients in the US.

    It would spell out the process under which the agency would determine a substance to not be GRAS, and clarify that the FDA maintains and updates its publicly available GRAS notice inventory.

    Crucially, it would not affect ingredients that are already determined as GRAS. “Food substances that are listed or affirmed as GRAS for the intended use by regulation, or for which [the] FDA has already issued a ‘no questions letter’ on its GRAS notice inventory, would be exempted,” the proposal reads.

    This would be a major sigh of relief for food tech startups, many of whom have been selling their innovations after following the self-affirmed GRAS pathway. These companies may choose to begin the GRAS notification process anyway, to clear away all doubts with clients and customers.

    How will this affect food tech companies?

    nourish ingredients gras
    Courtesy: Nourish Ingredients

    The move carries a host of implications. When RFK Jr first floated the idea, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would “explore ways legislation can completely close the GRAS loophole”. This is because the FDA does not have the statutory authority to make GRAS notifications mandatory, so if it goes ahead with the rule, this could invite legal challenges and concerns in Congress.

    On a business level, fermentation firms will be the hardest hit, as they rely on the self-determination rule most in the alternative protein sector.

    If approved, the rule will likely send food producers into a scramble to self-affirm their ingredients as safe before it comes into effect, since they won’t be subject to a mandatory notification. But any new ingredients not determined as GRAS by this time would face much lengthier approval timelines, so we could see a sizeable gap in future food products entering the market.

    “If there is a significant increase in GRAS notifications submitted to the FDA by mandate, without increasing funding and resources, review timelines will likely suffer,” Tony Pavel, a partner at Keller and Heckman LLP and an executive board member of the Precision Fermentation Alliance, told Green Queen in March.

    “Currently, manufacturers may assess certain manufacturing changes or improvements without necessitating a filing with the FDA. If this flexibility is lost, there will potentially be significant additional burdens on the industry, as it iterates products through continuous improvement processes.”

    The post FDA Proposes Rule to End ‘Self-Affirmed’ GRAS Rule in 2026 appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • With New Factory in Sight, Enifer Cleared to Sell Mycoprotein Powder in the US

    enifer
    6 Mins Read

    Finnish food tech startup Enifer has secured self-affirmed GRAS status for its Pekilo mycoprotein ingredient in the US, and will begin operating a large factory in Finland next year.

    To commercialise a modern version of a 20th-century fungi protein, Finland’s Enifer has been cleared to sell its powdered Pekilo ingredient in the US.

    The startup has self-affirmed its ingredient as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), after a review by an independent panel of experts. It paves the way for Enifer to sell Pekilo to US food manufacturers for use in meat and dairy alternatives, baked goods, snacks, and other applications.

    The Finnish firm will also notify the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of its GRAS determination, in pursuit of a ‘no questions’ letter. Though self-determination enables companies to commercialise, the FDA letter is deemed a more robust approval that further breeds consumer and market confidence.

    Notifying the FDA is optional for now. That will change next year when the government scraps the self-affirmation rule, as directed by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, making it mandatory for new ingredients to go through full FDA review.

    Enifer CEO Simo Ellilä confirmed that the company had started the process of obtaining the FDA letter. “While self-GRAS allows sales of our ingredient in the US, we believe that the ‘no questions’ letter from the FDA will be important in the long run, especially when working with some of the larger CPG groups that we hope to have as our customers,” he told Green Queen.

    “Over the years, we’ve already had the chance to work with some of these companies and see the extremely rigorous and lengthy internal evaluation processes they have in place – and you want to make their lives as easy as possible if you want to make it onto their approved suppliers lists.”

    The long history of Pekilo mycoprotein

    pekilo mycoprotein
    Courtesy: Enifer

    A spin-out of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Enifer’s Pekilo mycoprotein derives its name from the fungal strain Paecilomyces.

    “This strain was originally selected from among more than 300 fungi and used for mycoprotein production for feed applications in Finland between 1975 and 1991,” said Ellilä. During this time, the fungi were fed on byproducts from the forest industry. As this sector advanced technologically, these sidestreams disappeared.

    Enifer revived the process by adapting Paecilomyces to food and agricultural sidestreams to develop food-grade mycoprotein. “Besides standard glucose, we can use byproduct sugar streams from the food industry as feedstock for our fungus,” said Ellilä.

    “It has a long history of safe use and heaps of scientific literature from that era to support its safety. We think this makes assessing the product’s safety easier than when dealing with a completely novel strain,” he added.

    The startup employs a continuous submerged fermentation similar to brewing soy sauce. “After fermentation, most of the water is removed from the mycelium mechanically. Unlike most other companies, we then dry and mill the product into a fine, shelf-stable powder,” Ellilä explained. “We have, of course, a lot of our own ‘secret sauce’, including some innovative approaches to minimising water use in the process.”

    The resulting ingredient is rich in digestible protein and dietary fibre, with a neutral taste and colour and strong water-holding capacity. “These properties complement soy and pea proteins, giving food makers new flexibility to develop plant-based products that deliver better texture, nutrition, and overall consumer appeal,” the CEO said.

    The five-year-old startup currently markets Pekilo for three industries: pet food (where its protein content is over 60%), aquaculture feed (up to 65% protein), and human food (up to 50% protein).

    Enifer plans Series C raise after factory opening

    enifer factory
    Courtesy: Enifer

    “We’re currently in the process of narrowing down on the most promising applications for early adopters because Pekilo is truly beyond just a protein ingredient – it does boost the nutritional value in both protein and fibre. So we do see it having positive attributes in several different applications,” noted Ellilä.

    “We do see a lot of potential in, for example, healthy snacking, where Pekilo’s neutral taste and dollops of high-quality protein and fibre make for an appealing combination.”

    He added that the mycoprotein could also be used in blended meat products, since Pekilo is a shelf-stable, cost-efficient drop-in ingredient: “Considering that it is sold as a fine powder, it is probably better suited to applications in sausages, nuggets and the like.”

    Currently, Enifer operates a pilot line that produces five to 10kg of Pekilo per day, and periodically runs campaigns with contract manufacturers at 10 times that capacity. It is now set for a big increase.

    In 2024, Enifer secured €36M through Series B funding, state-backed loans, and EU grants to build a commercial-scale mycoprotein factory in Kirkkonummi, Finland (set to cost €33M). Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, allowing the firm to produce 3,000 tonnes annually.

    “We are set to complete our first commercial-scale production unit in Finland in the first half of 2026, with a capacity of 500 kg per hour,” said Ellilä. Enifer’s factory will produce enough mycoprotein to meet the protein needs of 40,000 people in a sustainable manner – 1kg of Pekilo only emits 1.66kg of CO2e, 98% lower than beef and half as much as milk production.

    Once it’s up and running, the company plans to kick off a Series C fundraise. “We are ready with the detailed investment plans for the next stage in our global roll-out. Time-wise, this will likely occur in Q4 2026,” he confirmed.

    Slow EU regulation led Enifer towards US launch first

    enifer gras
    Courtesy: Enifer

    “While the facility is built to food-grade specifications, in its first years of operation, it will primarily serve the pet food industry, while we seek additional regulatory approvals and build up traction for the food-grade ingredient,” said Ellilä.

    “We’ve been working closely with the food industry since we decided to start developing a food-grade mycoprotein ingredient way back in 2021. It’s been a constant back-and-forth trying to make sure that our production process and product meet the demands of future customers.”

    The cost of the ingredient is not set in stone yet. As Ellilä explained: “The product will be priced in the same range as conventional protein sources used by industry today, but it is not a one-to-one replacement for any existing ingredient. So pricing will take into consideration the value that the ingredient can bring to recipe formulations.”

    Enifer has also applied for novel food approval in the EU, Singapore and the UK. The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) regulatory framework, however, is amongst the world’s most rigorous. The complexity and timelines involved have spurred many companies to look to other markets first, although recent announcements are designed to simplify and fast-track approval for food tech startups.

    “The EU is our home market, and when going for novel food approval for our ingredient, the EU was our first target. We filed our application in October last year and passed EFSA’s first stage of evaluation (the eligibility check) in short order,” said Ellilä.

    “But since the beginning, we had decided that we would use the extensive safety data we had generated to pursue regulatory approvals in other key jurisdictions, and the US is obviously the biggest market,” he added. “The slowness of the EU novel doods framework didn’t determine our application timelines, but it might end up impacting where we start commercialising.”

    Speaking of the US, Ellilä detailed the timeline for the FDA’s ‘no questions’ letter: “In general, the FDA has 270 days to evaluate our dossier, with possible clock stops extending the timeline. Currently, we expect to obtain the letter during the first half of 2027.”

    The post With New Factory in Sight, Enifer Cleared to Sell Mycoprotein Powder in the US appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Oatly Baristamatic, Frozen Tofu & Evolving Vegan

    oatly baristamatic
    5 Mins Read

    Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Tindle Foods’s premium vegan chicken, Mena Massoud’s Evolving Vegan series, and Meatable’s leadership change.

    New products and launches

    Swedish oat milk giant Oatly has introduced a new barista edition product specifically designed for automatic espresso machines. The BaristaMatic product prevents stratification in the milk container, and is available exclusively for foodservice.

    oatly barista automatic
    Courtesy: Tindle Foods/Oatly/Green Queen/Bell Media Studios

    French plant-based meat startup La Vie has launched Apero Veggie, a line of vegan croquettes in bacon and ham flavours.

    In Spain, Heura Foods has unveiled Daditos, a diced protein SKU that can be eaten hot or cold. They’re available at retailers like Alcampo, Caprabo, Eroski, BonPreuEsclat, and Hiperber.

    heura daditos
    Courtesy: Heura Foods

    British tempeh brand Tiba Tempeh has rolled out its products in over 1,000 Lidl stores nationwide, where it’s selling for £1.99 per 200g or 220g pack.

    The Tofoo Co, the UK’s largest tofu brand, has reintroduced its frozen range in tempura and Straight to Walk variants – the latter comprises sweet chilli and soy-ginger flavours. They’re available at Tesco stores for £3.75 each.

    sproud matcha
    Courtesy: Spoud

    Swedish pea milk maker Sproud is the latest to hop on the matcha trend, debuting a low-sugar matcha drink with 2.5% pea protein and 0.7% matcha powder in the UK. It’s available on its website for £18.60 per six-pack.

    Lancashire-based oat milk player Oato, meanwhile, has landed on online retailer Ocado, extending its reach nationwide in the UK.

    oato oat milk
    Courtesy: Oato

    Also in the UK, Karin Ridgers and Victoria Featherstone Pearce have launched Vegan Women’s Club, a community to connect plant-based women globally. It will host events, networking opportunities, and talks from inspiring vegan female leaders.

    Altrofood, an Italian producer of plant-based powder mixes, has rolled out its burger, mince, meatball and egg mixes at Coop, Eurospar, and Interspar stores in Sicily, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, and Triveneto.

    altrofood
    Courtesy: Altrofood

    Spanish plant protein company Zyrcular Foods has signed an exclusive distribution partnership with Austria’s Revo Foods, which enables it to sell the latter’s mycoprotein products in Spain.

    Across the Atlantic, plant-based meat startup Tindle Foods has debuted its Gourmet Chicken line of whole cuts to the US, which is available at all 13 PLNT Burger locations. Menu items include crispy chicken sandwiches, grilled chicken sandwiches, and boneless wings.

    tindle gourmet chicken
    Courtesy: Tindle Foods

    Oshi has introduced its vegan salmon at Orchard Grocer, HAAM, Willow, and Lily’s Vegan Pantry in New York City, and Subculture in Albany.

    Also in New York, chef-led vegan food brand Cucina Fantasma has soft-launched its ready-to-bake Classic-ish Lasagna – made from seitan bolognese, herbed tofu ricotta, and koji-almond mozzarella – on DoorDash. Each unit costs $64.99 and serves six to eight people.

    cucina fantasma
    Courtesy: Cucina Fantasma

    Plant-based milk leader Silk has updated its recipes in Mexico, with six essential nutrients, an improved texture, and a neutral flavour profile for various applications.

    In Canada, Vivian Villa‘s shea-fat-based UnButter has gained listings at Healthy Planet Ontario, Farm Boy Ontario and Whole Foods Canada. It will be available in garlic and herb, salted, and lightly salted flavours.

    mena massoud evolving vegan
    Courtesy: Bell Media Studios

    And Evolving Vegan, a food and travel series hosted by Aladdin actor Mena Massoud, has begun streaming on Peacock in the US.

    Company and finance updates

    Speaking of TV, Californian vegan restaurant Donna Jean has featured in an episode of Guy Fieri‘s Food Network show, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

    After leaving his role as CEO at Cult Food Science, Mitchell Scott has joined Canadian vegan fast-food chain Odd Burger as its head of capital markets.

    meatable
    Courtesy: Meatable

    Weeks after acquiring Uncommon Bio’s cultivated meat platform, Dutch startup Meatable has had a change at the top. CTO Aris de Rijke has taken over day-to-day operations from CEO Jeff Tripician, who is now the CEO of Charcuterie Artisans and remains on Meatable’s board.

    Meanwhile, animal rights charity Mercy for Animals has named Arash Yomtobian as its new president, a vegan of nine years who previously held senior roles at Google, Meta and TikTok.

    beanless coffee
    Courtesy: Prefer

    Singaporean food tech firm Prefer has released the results of an independent life-cycle assessment, finding that its bean-free coffee alternative has an eight times smaller carbon footprint than conventional coffee.

    Research, policy and awards

    A new €2.2M project co-funded by EU-backed accelerator EIT Food, called Innovative Strategies to Accelerate Adoption and Consumption of Plant-Based Food (ISAAP), aims to build strong national action plans for plant-based food in Portugal and Czechia, inspired by Denmark.

    mercedes benz vegan
    Courtesy: Mercedes-Benz

    Mercedes-Benz has received the first vegan certification for its interior fittings in the GLC with EQ Technology by The Vegan Society.

    Californian startup Força Foods has won the Best Plant-Based Alternative award for Milkish, its sunflower seed milk, at the 2025 StartupCPG Shelfie Awards.

    forca foods
    Courtesy: Forca Foods/Instagram

    In the UK, 48 companies and organisations have sent a 10-point plan to new Defra secretary Emma Reynolds and Defra minister Angela Eagle to increase the adoption of plant-rich diets and meet the goals outlined in the Good Food Cycle food strategy.

    Finally, the Guardian tested out a range of vegan spreadable butters, and picked Naturli’ as the winner (it scored four out of five stars).

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Oatly Baristamatic, Frozen Tofu & Evolving Vegan appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The EU Backs The World’s First Cultivated Meat Farm

    lab grown meat farmers
    4 Mins Read

    The Craft Consortium is building a cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands, a first-of-its-kind project co-funded by the EU.

    When it comes to ensuring the safety of cultivated meat, way more Europeans place their trust in farmers (27%) than retailers or private companies (11%), according to a Euroconsumers survey this year.

    The fact that farmers themselves will be most acutely affected if cultivated meat takes off on a large scale further emphasises their critical role in this future food sector.

    These factors have led several stakeholders to join forces under the Craft (Cellular Revolution in Agriculture and Farming Technology) Consortium, with the aim of building the world’s first cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands.

    The project has been awarded the first €2M of a €4M grant request, co-funded by the EU-backed accelerator, EIT Food. It’s designed to decentralise cultivated meat production and enable farmers to diversify their businesses.

    The consortium is made up of RespectFarms, Wageningen University & Research, cultivated meat firms Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Multus, sustainable agriculture company Kipster, and facility design specialist Royal Kuijpers.

    “Craft boils down a world problem to farm size. So we can solve it,” said RespectFarms co-founder Ralf Becks. “And once it works, we scale this out to the world to increase impact. Let’s export technology instead of meat and animals.”

    How the cultivated meat farm would work

    The project is looking to integrate cultivated meat into real farms, ensuring that the production is led by farmers and embedded locally. It will demonstrate how cultivated meat can coexist with livestock and crops, creating resilient and sustainable food systems.

    “It is important for food innovations to stay as close as possible to primary food production, making use of local resources and waste streams,” said René Wijffels, a bioprocessing engineering professor at Wageningen University.

    RespectFarms has previously explained that through this model, farmers can work with experts (like architects) who can retrofit their stable with new designs that are fit for cultivated meat production and a farm of the future.

    They’d be able to produce more meat with fewer cows, and they don’t need to be slaughtered. It safeguards them against any disease risk to the livestock (and eventually humans who consume their meat), because you’re essentially taking them out of the equation.

    “This represents the first effort globally to merge cellular and traditional farming and promises to deliver consumers the best of both worlds: the unrivalled experience of real meat, through products produced and sold locally,” noted Peter Verstrate, co-founder and COO of Mosa Meat, which this year applied for regulatory approval for cultivated beef fat in the EU.

    “The project will deliver a business model that is fundamentally new on one hand, and centuries old on the other, and will add [a] new perspective, also for farmers, to agriculture as we know it,” he added.

    As things stand, the food system is simply not sustainable, both from a food security and climate perspective. There’s not enough land to produce food for a global population that will approach 10 billion by mid-century, while the emissions linked to livestock production make up the bulk of agriculture’s environmental footprint.

    Cultivated meat, though, can reduce water consumption by 78%, land use by 95%, emissions by 92%, and societal costs by 56%. “We need to find other ways to provide for our food – within the Earth’s capacity, with as little impact as possible on animals, humans, [and] the climate, and with a future for the (livestock) farmer,” said Ruud Zanders, co-founder of Kipster and RespectFarms. “Et voila: the cultured meat farm.”

    Many farmers have embraced cultivated meat

    cultivated meat farm
    Courtesy: RespectFarms

    The threat to farmers has been the source of reasoning behind bans (and attempted bans) on cultivated meat in the US and Europe, despite livestock producers being open to the competition and advocating for consumer choice.

    Farmers in the UK recognise the opportunities presented by cultivated meat, and are more worried about the social issues brought on by these proteins, like Big Food controlling the market or the knock-on effects on rural communities, than the impact on their bottom lines.

    This was the argument of the Euroconsumer report. “Cultivated meat can offer opportunities for farmers – but only if we make smart choices now, keep things fair, and make sure benefits don’t just go to a few big players,” it stated.

    In the US, too, livestock farmers themselves have opposed the numerous bans on cultivated meat, noting that they didn’t need the government’s help to compete with these proteins.

    “This is not an anti-farmer sector; this is a sector that is using farmed products in new ways. And generally using farmed products that are more profitable and highly sustainable in the way they’re produced,” Andy Jarvis, director of the Bezos Earth Fund’s Future of Food scheme, told Green Queen last year. “The [culture] media are sugars, and all sorts of minerals and things that are coming from crops, and they’re farmed goods.”

    This sentiment was echoed by Euroconsumers, which highlighted “small-scale on-farm cultivated meat production” as an opportunity for farmers.

    Now, the EU agrees with this assessment, having invested in the Craft Consortium. “This grant enables us, together with RespectFarms and our partners, to pioneer farm-scale cultivated meat production, empowering farmers with viable, resilient, and sustainable models that align with Europe’s mission for healthier lives and fairer food systems,” said Neta Lavon, co-founder & CTO of Aleph Farms.

    “Combining knowledge, building trust and creating new narratives is what excites me about this project,” said Ira van Eelen, co-founder of RespectFarms and board member of Cellulaire Agricultuur Nederland. “I envision children’s books with fun educational stories about ‘Happy the Cell’ and his adventures in becoming the king’s meatball. This project is literally ‘Food for Thought’.”

    The post The EU Backs The World’s First Cultivated Meat Farm appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Beyond Meat, Oatly Challenge Chinese Students to Develop Future Food Products

    proveg food innovation challenge
    4 Mins Read

    As China’s future food leadership grows, its students will compete to solve real-world problems by developing new products in ProVeg International’s next Food Innovation Challenge.

    Already a pioneer in electric vehicles and green energy, is food tech the next sustainability frontier for China?

    Some would argue that the country is already a leader in this ecosystem – and they wouldn’t be wrong. Eight of the top 20 patent applicants for cultivated meat are from China.

    It’s what spurred ProVeg International to host its sixth Food Innovation Challenge exclusively in the East Asian nation. The competition will entail students from Chinese universities developing alternative protein products that respond to real-world problems.

    “In line with China’s ‘big food’ concept, this year’s edition focuses on real market needs, inspiring students to develop solutions guided by top professors and backed by leading food companies,” said Nicole Wu, executive director of ProVeg China.

    Food Innovation Challenge will play to health trends in China

    china vegan survey
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    The students will receive challenge briefs from global alternative protein giants Beyond Meat and Oatly, established local food firms Yihai Kerry Arawana, Dali Foods Group, Yinlu Foods Group, and Starfield, as well as emerging sustainable protein players Moremeat and Fushine.

    The challenges will give participants the chance to design products tailored to China’s evolving taste and nutritional preferences. A survey by ProVeg in 2024 found that health is the main driver of plant-based food consumption in China, with 46% of consumers saying so, followed by nutrition (39%). It further revealed that 98% would eat more vegan food if they were told of its advantages.

    This chimes with more recent polling from V-March, the country’s answer to Veganuary, whose market research found that 36% of Chinese consumers chose plant-based diets for health reasons, 22% were influenced by trendiness, and 21% followed religious beliefs.

    “We believe the creativity of China’s next generation will help shape a healthier, more resilient, and future-ready food system,” said Wu. “In line with China’s ‘big food’ concept, this year’s edition focuses on real market needs, inspiring students to develop solutions guided by top professors and backed by leading food companies.”

    This year’s participants will be mentored by university professors for the first time and the NeoProtein Committee of the Chinese Institute of Food Science and Technology will provide expert guidance.

    “Neoprotein is an emerging protein resource driven by the rapid development of biomanufacturing technologies. Unlike traditional livestock or fisheries, it offers advantages such as resource efficiency, low carbon footprint, and high production efficiency,” said Jian Chen, chairman of the NeoProtein Committee.

    “With the potential to partially replace conventional animal protein, it is becoming a key lever to ensure a sustainable food supply,” he added.

    From functional milks to Asia-suited meat alternatives

    china vegan
    Courtesy: China Vegan Society

    This year’s challenge will feature 32 winning teams, with a total cash pool of over $18,000. The deadline to submit ideas is March 20, 2026, with the finals set to take place in mid-May.

    These students will work to meet several diverse briefs. Oatly is asking participants to create a plant-based milk with health attributes and a clear functional claim (and it doesn’t have to be oat), while Beyond Meat (which suspended its China business this year) is looking for its next hero product.

    Dali Foods’ call involves a soy milk product for young consumers that combines health benefits with traditional Chinese culture, Starfield wants participants to develop plant-based meat ingredients tailored specifically for Asian cuisine, and Fushine is looking for a ready-to-eat product that uses its FuNext mycoprotein as the primary ingredient.

    Shortlisted teams will feature in an Innovation Solution Showcase at the 2025 Food Innovation Expo, as well as visit company campuses.

    “ProVeg Food Innovation Challenge promotes industry-academia-research collaboration and advances the development of the neoprotein sector through scientific and pragmatic solutions,” said Chen.

    Last year, two of the competition winners were from China. The students of the Ocean University of China worked with colleagues at New York University to create a microalgae-based rice dressing, and participants from Jiangnan University leveraged microalgae protein, plant polysaccharides and 3D-printing technology to create plant-based, high-protein octopus legs.

    The focus on China in this year’s contest comes amid growing government support for alternative proteins. At the annual Two Sessions summit, top government officials called for a deeper integration of strategic emerging industries like biomanufacturing. And in an official notice about China’s agricultural priorities before the summit, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) identified the safety and nutritional efficacy of alternative proteins as a key priority.

    A week later, the No. 1 Central Document (which signals China’s top goals for the upcoming year), underscored the importance of “building a diversified food supply system”, including efforts “to cultivate and develop biological agriculture and explore novel food resources.” The following day, a briefing by MARA featured a call to action to “develop new food resources such as plant-based meat”.

    The post Beyond Meat, Oatly Challenge Chinese Students to Develop Future Food Products appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • In the Netherlands, Shrinking Livestock Numbers Could Give Hybrid Dairy A Boost

    hybrid dairy
    4 Mins Read

    Cattle populations are declining in the Netherlands, leaving companies with an opportunity to foray into hybrid milk products. And consumers are here for it.

    Hybrid dairy has already been in Dutch headlines once this year, after retail giant Albert Heijn introduced two products blending cow’s milk with plant-based alternatives in the summer.

    Now, decreasing livestock numbers are putting hybrid milk into the spotlight once again. A new report by Dutch bank ABN-AMRO estimates that meat supplies will shrink by 15-18% by the end of the decade, while the number of dairy cows will drop by 8%.

    In fact, the bank expects three to four dairy processors to shut down by this time, and with upcoming government regulations, livestock numbers could decline even further. But this also offers up opportunities for companies to enhance their sustainability through “fewer animals, higher added value, and the possibility of combining animal and plant proteins in products”, it said.

    And as part of the report, polling shows that Dutch citizens are willing to embrace hybrid dairy.

    Why hybrid dairy is a solution for shrinking livestock numbers

    albert heijn hybride melk
    Courtesy: Albert Heijn

    The report ascribed the decline in population numbers to termination and depletion regulations. Last year, the EU approved a €700M sustainability scheme by the Dutch government, which compensates livestock farmers who voluntarily close their sites to help mitigate climate change. Since then, an extra €100M in aid has been made available for the initiative.

    As expected, this has disrupted the meat and dairy sectors. While the farmers who continue to work in this sector could see incomes rise, companies that work directly with them face higher costs, only some of which can be passed on to consumers.

    Another consequence is the decline in volumes, which threatens overcapacities at companies that slaughter animals or process milk. These processors are now under pressure to adapt their business models to keep being profitable, ABN-AMRO said.

    “The extent to which companies are affected depends on their flexibility, which varies significantly depending on their position in the supply chain,” it explained. It leaves them with two mitigation strategies: focus on added value instead of volume (by targeting luxury markets or creating higher-value dairy products), and look for substitutes.

    This is where hybrid dairy comes in. A recent global survey, meanwhile, suggested that among the 38% of people who don’t buy non-dairy products, 58% showcase the potential to switch if certain needs are met. The biggest problem was unsatisfactory taste or texture, which left 57% of consumers resistant to these products, followed by limited availability (55%) and high prices (37%).

    Hybrid milk is positioned as a middle-ground product. It’s targeting consumers who want an all-round nutritional profile with less saturated fat, and are concerned about the climate impact of dairy production, but at the same time, don’t universally love the taste of plant-based milk.

    A third of Dutch consumers open to blended proteins

    hybrid milk survey
    Courtesy: ABN-AMRO

    To offer a snapshot of consumers’ perceptions about hybrid dairy, ABN AMRO commissioned PanelWizard to conduct a poll on the topic recently.

    The survey revealed that over a third (35%) of consumers are willing to try a hybrid milk product that contains 30% plant-based ingredients, so long as its price is equivalent to conventional dairy. Their main motivators are related to the environment and health, with Dutch citizens still sceptical about the taste.

    But an even larger share (46%) of respondents don’t want to try hybrid milk, indicating that they’re either satisfied with cow’s milk, don’t believe the taste will be comparable, or find the concept strange.

    Still, a fifth of consumers are undecided, and the younger and more educated a respondent was, the more likely they were to be open to trying hybrid milk. At the same time, many respondents also already drink plant-based milk, or never drink cow’s milk at all.

    There’s a similar openness to blended meat, which has become increasingly popular across the globe. Roughly three in 10 Dutch consumers are willing to consume the protein as an alternative to conventional meat for dinner.

    This attitude isn’t surprising, considering that the Netherlands is among the leaders of the blended protein movement. In 2024, Lidl introduced a blended beef mince under its own-label brand, a move replicated by Aldi earlier this year.

    Meanwhile, Albert Heijn launched a 15-strong range of blended protein products. This includes hamburgers, minced meat, sausages, and soup balls (with 66-76% beef), as well as deli sausages. Plus, it rolled out semi-skimmed and whole milk mixed with sunflower oil, faba bean protein, sugar and salt.

    . “The idea of combination products is new and may take some getting used to. But taste tests show that these products are just as tasty as the regular versions,” said Nienke Tjerkstra, VP of health and sustainability at Albert Heijn. “We’re making it easier to eat plant-based more often, without customers having to compromise on taste or habits. Small changes can make a big difference – for yourself and for the planet.”

    With the livestock industry facing a supply and cost crisis, and consumers willing to give blended proteins a go, can the Netherlands’s animal protein industry innovate with hybrids?

    The post In the Netherlands, Shrinking Livestock Numbers Could Give Hybrid Dairy A Boost appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Impossible x Joey Chestnut, Billie Eilish & Cinnamon Roll Lattes

    joey chestnut impossible foods
    5 Mins Read

    Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Impossible Foods’s Joey Chestnut partnership, Billie Eilish’s emissions-cutting concerts, and Aleph Farms’s Peta promise.

    New products and launches

    US plant-based meat giant Impossible Foods has again partnered with competitive eater Joey Chestnut for a 99 in 9 challenge. It entails Chestnut and one fan (selected from an online process) eating 99 Impossible nuggets in nine minutes at the Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants MLB game on September 12.

    Plant-based frozen meal company Blackbird Foods has rolled out its newest product, the five-inch Blackbirdie Pizza Minis, exclusively at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide for $9.99. They’re available in cheese and pepperoni variants, and can be made in a microwave in 90 seconds, air fryer in six minutes, and oven in eight.

    Mission Barns has revealed the menu for its first two dinners at Fiorella Sunset. Its cultivated pork meatballs will be paired with classic Italian-style herbs in one dish, and stuffed with raisins and pignoli in a Sicilian twist in another. The cultivated bacon, meanwhile, will be smoked with Applewood.

    mission barns
    Courtesy: Mission Barns

    Alpro has introduced a new entrant to a season dominated by the PSL: a cinnamon-roll-flavoured barista milk made from a soy and oat base. The limited-edition product is available in UK supermarket Sainsbury’s for £1.75 per 750ml bottle.

    And French vegan cheesemaker Jay&Joy has launched Albert, its dairy-free Camembert alternative made from cashews and soy milk, in the UK. It’s available online and at independent stores for £5.80.

    Company and finance updates

    After going fully vegan for four nights of pop superstar Billie Eilish‘s Hit Me Hard and Soft tour, Co-op Live in Manchester slashed its food-related emissions by 47% and saved 3.5 million litres of water, while signature menu items saw a 13% sales boost.

    billie eilish vegan
    Courtesy: Petros Studio

    Speaking of emissions, catering giant Sodexo‘s The Good Eating Company has partnered with carbon accounting firm My Emissions to report its full-scope emissions.

    Bespoke Kitchen Foods, a supplier of vegan and vegetarian food for the UK foodservice industry, has bagged an investment from LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Bank. It comes on the back of 18% annual growth for the firm, which will use the funds to support its organic growth and make acquisitions.

    vanetta food
    Courtesy: Vanetta Food

    Spanish plant protein startup Vanetta Food has secured fresh funding from BeFuture Invest, which shot up its valuation by 70% compared to last year.

    Dutch startup Myriameat is working with two industrial partners to create a hybrid sausage combining conventional and cultivated meat, with no plant-based additives. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the state of Lower Saxony.

    vegan kitkat discontinued
    Courtesy: Nestlé

    Nestlé, meanwhile, has withdrawn the vegan KitKat from the UK and Ireland, the only markets it was still available in. It means the product has now officially been discontinued.

    Following its acquisition of The Vegetarian Butcher from Unilever, Brazilian meat giant JBS has combined the business with Vivera to form a new entity, called The Vegetarian Butcher Collective.

    the vegetarian butcher unilever
    Courtesy: The Vegetarian Butcher

    Californian vegan restaurant chain Burger Patch has closed its last remaining location in Midtown Sacramento after eight years of operations.

    Protein Industries Canada has announced that Robert Hunter is no longer CEO, six months after he started in the role. The reasons for the decision are undisclosed, but the government’s innovation cluster has launched an expedited search for a new chief.

    better nature tempeh
    Courtesy: Better Nature

    There’s change at the top at UK tempeh maker Better Nature, whose four co-founders are shifting roles. Elin Roberts is now the sole CEO, with former co-CEO Christopher Kong transitioning to board member and advisor next month. Ando Ahnan-Winarno is the COO, taking over from Fabio Rinaldo, who is now the head of supply chain and product development.

    Research, policy and awards

    Israeli cultivated meat firm Aleph Farms has signed onto Peta‘s Eat Without Experiments programme, which helps consumers identify food and drink companies that don’t test on animals.

    lab grown meat environmental impact
    Courtesy: Aleph Farms

    Researchers from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have developed two technologies to process chickpea protein into edible microcarriers and fibrous scaffolds for minced and thick-cut cultivated meat, respectively.

    The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published a first-of-its-kind global standard for plant-based food and ingredient labelling.

    vezlay foods
    Courtesy: Vezlay Foods

    Finally, Indian plant-based meat startup Vezlay Foods has won the Plant-Based Food of the Year 2025 award at the Star International MSME Forum.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Impossible x Joey Chestnut, Billie Eilish & Cinnamon Roll Lattes appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Umami Bioworks Gets EU Registration to Sell Two Cultivated Fish Products for Pet Food

    umami bioworks approval
    4 Mins Read

    Singaporean food tech startup Umami Bioworks has registered two cultivated seafood ingredients for pet food in the EU, and is eyeing a 2026 launch.

    In a year of milestones for the industry, cultivated pet food has landed on another.

    Singapore’s Umami Bioworks, which specialises in cell-cultured seafood, has registered two pet food ingredients with EU authorities, paving the way for commercialisation in the EU.

    While human pet food still remains a fair way off, this is the third startup cleared to sell cultivated pet food in the EU. The two ingredients registered with the EU Feed Materials Register involve cultivated white fish, with one suspended in a liquid nutrient broth.

    They’re classed under the register’s Category 10, which involves fish, aquatic animals and their derivative products. “This marks an important regulatory milestone for us and establishes a clear pathway to market,” Gayathri Mani, product manager at Umami Bioworks, tells Green Queen in an email.

    “We’re already working with partners, and preparing for launches in 2026,” she added, outlining that the development ensures it can now “move forward with the next steps to bring cultivated seafood into real products for pets in Europe”.

    Further, the startup has announced a renewed partnership with California’s Friends & Family Pet Food Company, which earned its own regulatory approval for cultivated pet food in Singapore in June. It comes a year after the two firms first began collaborating, and will entail pilot launches in Singapore, the UK, and the EU.

    Umami Bioworks’ EU registration covers cultivated white fish

    umami bioworks
    Courtesy: Umami Bioworks

    In the EU, 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.

    There’s no pre-market approval process to sell feed ingredients, unlike human food ingredients. This means it isn’t the cultivated pet food ingredients that are subject to registration, but the facility producing these proteins.

    Umami Bioworks’ cultured white fish is derived from a non-GMO cell line and grown in a controlled, antibiotic- and animal-free medium. The second ingredient is the same biomass, but suspended in a liquid nutrient broth. Both are described as sources of omega-3 fatty acids, protein and nutrients for pet food.

    The startup’s pet food exploits go back to 2023, when it partnered with Canada’s Cult Food Science to unveil the Marina Cat brand of cultivated fish treats. “With nearly 90 million European households owning a pet and the region’s pet food market growing at over 5% annually, the appetite for innovation has never been stronger,” the company said.

    Umami Bioworks, which merged with fellow cultivated seafood producer Shiok Meats in 2024, has additionally developed cultured Japanese eel and bluefin tuna for human food use, and is in the early stages of developing a white fish too.

    “Our eel programme is the most advanced, with regulatory filings made in several key markets and production running at pilot scale. We are planning multiple product launch campaigns with our partners and will share more on those campaigns in the near future,” Mani told Green Queen last month.

    Cultivated meat regulation continues to progress in 2025

    lab grown meat approved
    Graphic by Green Queen

    In March, Austrian-American firm BioCraft Pet Nutrition registered its cultivated mouse meat for pet food use in the EU, under the  Category 3 animal byproducts category. 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 filed an application to the US Food and Drug Administration.

    Speaking of which, Cult Food Science has conducted feeding trials in the US in pursuit of regulatory approval for its Noochies! brand.

    Last year, London-based startup Meatly passed stringent inspections from UK regulatory bodies to receive approval for its cultured pet food, which made it onto Pets At Home shelves in a partnership with vegan dog food maker The Pack this spring.

    And as reported by Green Queen, Friends & Family secured approval from Singapore’s Animal & Veterinary Services (AVS) to sell cultivated meat for dogs and cats. It will roll out eight SKUs this autumn.

    It’s not just cultivated pet food that has seen a surge in regulatory progress this year. Four startups making cultivated meat for humans also received some form of approval. Vow got cleared to sell its cultured quail in Australia and New Zealand, following its Singapore green light in 2024.

    Meanwhile, Mission Barns secured the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) green light for its cultured pork fat (its debut tasting event is next week), Believer Meats received a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its cultivated chicken, and Wildtype began selling its cultivated salmon after earning the FDA nod (the USDA doesn’t oversee seafood).

    These developments may continue this year, with industry experts hopeful of approvals in Thailand and South Korea by the end of 2025, too.

    The post Umami Bioworks Gets EU Registration to Sell Two Cultivated Fish Products for Pet Food appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Yali Bio’s Yeast-Derived Fat Matches Breast Milk Purity Ahead of FDA GRAS Filing

    precision fermentation breast milk
    4 Mins Read

    Californian firm Yali Bio has successfully produced a high-purity breast milk fat using precision fermentation, in a potential breakthrough for the baby formula market.

    US food tech startup Yali Bio has hit a critical milestone in its journey to modernise the infant formula industry.

    It has produced a precision-fermented breast milk fat with purity levels matching those in human milk, a feat that surprised its R&D team itself.

    The fat is called OPO (short for Oleic-Palmitic-Oleic), which is chemically known as 1,3-dioleoyl-2-palmitoyl-glycerol and naturally found in breast milk. It’s an essential component for infant health, allowing them to absorb nutrients, and serves as one of the key nutritional differences between breast milk and baby formula.

    Part of the two-year project was funded by a $370,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Yali Bio’s breakthrough comes amid the Trump administration’s funding cuts for the NIH and simultaneous efforts to boost the domestic infant formula supply through Operation Stork Speed.

    How Yali Bio scaled the OPO problem

    opo human milk fat
    Courtesy: Yali Bio

    Fats account for around 50% of the energy in breast milk and are crucial for infant growth and development. There is already wide recognition of the cognitive, visual, and immune benefits of ARA and DHA, the two primary long-chain omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, respectively.

    Precision fermentation, which entails inserting a DNA sequence into microbes to teach them to produce specific compounds when fermented, has already enabled industry giants like DSM to scale up ARA and DHA for global adoption in infant formulas.

    OPO, the main structural fat in human milk, is mostly produced by specialty fat companies like Bunge, AAK and Wilmar through an enzymatic manufacturing process using vegetable oils. This form of the fat has been commercialised in major Chinese baby formula products, but remains absent in the US and Europe.

    According to Yali Bio, the complexity of the production process, the reliance on high-purity palm fractions, and the high cost of enzymes have limited the adoption of the ingredient in Western markets.

    It uses a recombinant yeast platform to efficiently produce high-quality structured fats that resemble breast milk fats in a cost-effective process. At scale, this tech can allow manufacturers to put more OPO in their formula products and potentially present better health outcomes for infants.

    Now, it has produced OPO with a “very high purity level”, as founder and CEO Yulin Lu put it. In breast milk, the levels of palmitic acid can range from 60% to 88% in the middle position of the glycerol backbone (sn-2). Yali Bio’s yeast-derived version reached a 66-78% purity level.

    In comparison, two commercially available OPO products using the traditional enzymatic process, Betapol and Infat, have sn-2 palmitic acid levels ranging from 55-70% and 52-60%, respectively.

    It could pave the way for widespread adoption of OPO in infant formula, with the ingredient shown to be crucial in fat regulation and calcium absorption, both of which are vital for energy and bone growth during an infant’s first 1,000 days.

    Infant formula alternatives under the policy spotlight

    yali bio
    Courtesy: Yali Bio

    “The technology has been advanced to a very reproducible fermentation scale in our laboratory, with an integrated downstream process developed to make the final product, purified OPO,” said Yu.

    Yali Bio said it was “learning a great deal about infant nutrition” and “the significant science-based approach and rigour the broader industry has been committed to for novel bioactive ingredients development”. It now has commercial interest from North America, Europe and Asia, and is in “close engagement” with infant formula manufacturers for potential partnerships.

    Most of the world’s 130 million babies born annually are fed infant formula at some point. Research has shown that about 5-10% of women are physiologically unable to breastfeed, and many more say they’re not producing enough or have nutritional deficiencies in their milk. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only a quarter of American mothers continue to exclusively breastfeed at six months, which is the recommended period by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

    It underscores the importance of the consistent supply of nutritionally sound infant formula. Operation Stork Speed aims to boost the quality, safety and nutritional adequacy of these products to help avoid situations like the national shortage in 2022.

    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been criticised for its “outdated” regulations around alternative formulas, which have slowed the commercialisation of new products that address allergies and nutritional gaps. Yali Bio has “key milestones planned” for its Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) filing with the FDA.

    “Amidst changes and stress in federal agency funding at NIH for biomedical research this year, we see […] global food and infant nutrition industry key stakeholders’ strong engagement to advance innovation, to make a greater scientific and public health impact for early nutrition,” said Yu.

    Boston-based The Live Green Co is also working on precision-fermented OPO and California’s Checkerspot has developed a microalgae-derived fat analogue to mimic OPO. Portugal’s PFx Biotech is working on human milk proteins made from precision fermentation, including lactoferrin.

    US startup Helaina has already launched its recombinant human lactoferrin in seven consumer products, and Australia’s All G is working to commercialise its own version, having produced it on a grams per litre scale. France’s Nūmi and US-based 108Labs, meanwhile, are developing cell-cultivated breast milk.

    Yali Bio has previously unveiled a precision-fermented fat for dairy alternatives, too, as well as a yeast-derived replacement for cocoa butter.

    The post Yali Bio’s Yeast-Derived Fat Matches Breast Milk Purity Ahead of FDA GRAS Filing appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Novameat Leans Into Clean-Label Demand with Plant-Based Pulled Pork & Lamb

    novameat
    5 Mins Read

    Spanish firm Novameat has expanded its line of pulled plant-based meats with clean-label pork and lamb alternatives for foodservice.

    A year after securing $19.2M in Series A funding, Novameat has introduced two new meat alternatives that meet consumer demand for clean-label formulations and improved texture.

    The Barcelona-based startup has added lamb and pork to its signature pulled meat lineup, joining beef and chicken to round out the range. They will be available to foodservice partners, distributors and manufacturers from September 1.

    The launch comes just as Spanish consumers actively look to cut back on animal proteins. But at the same time, vegan alternatives face a threat from the ultra-processed food (UPF) discourse, a fact Novameat looks to address with its recipes.

    plant based pork
    Courtesy: Novameat

    Pulled pork and lamb nail texture with minimal ingredients

    The Pulled Lamb Style product is designed to take aim at a market with few competitors, but with a clean-label twist. It contains just six ingredients: water, pea protein, sunflower oil, seaweed extract, vinegar, and a plant-derived flavouring blend.

    The startup said the lamb represents a “significant R&D breakthrough”, as its distinct flavour and delicate mouthfeel are hard to replicate. It can be used in traditional applications like slow-roasted dishes, tagine, and gyros, and contains 19g of protein and 3.5g of fibre per 100g.

    The plant-based pulled pork, meanwhile, enters a much more crowded market. But Novameat is looking to differentiate itself with the shredded format, which helps mimic the “juicy, fibrous texture” of the meat. It works as a star ingredient in a range of dishes, from barbecues and burritos to bowls and baos.

    This alternative is made from the same base of water, pea protein, sunflower oil, seaweed extract and vinegar, with added natural aromas, carrot and radish concentrates, and malted barley extract. It boasts 19.4g of protein and 3.3g of fibre per 100g.

    Both products are free from soy and gluten and require “no complex additives”, the company said, positioning each innovation as an “inclusive protein source for everyone”.

    They also key into a major consumer pain point. Globally, the texture of plant-based meats is as important as their conventional counterparts for 75% of consumers, but only about 60% are actually satisfied with it.

    This is thanks to Novameat’s MicroForce technology, which uses standard food industry equipment with some patented tweaks to achieve the same fibrous texture as 3D printing, but on a much bigger scale.

    “Our proprietary technology allows us to avoid complex additives like methylcellulose and carrageenan, which manufacturers commonly use for texture,” Novameat founder and CEO Giuseppe Scionti told Green Queen. “This is a major breakthrough, as consumers are now more conscious than ever about what they’re eating and are looking for a short list of natural, recognisable ingredients.”

    vegan lamb
    Courtesy: Novameat

    Novameat bets on Spain’s shifting protein preferences

    “By expanding our pulled category with two new, less common plant-based meats, we are providing a toolkit for chefs to explore a lot further than before,” said Scionti. “These products are a testament to our commitment to relentless innovation and a promise that the plant-based future doesn’t have to compromise on taste, texture, or culinary experience.”

    Novameat’s pulled meat alternatives will appeal to Europeans deterred by the UPF tag, which has led many to think that plant-based meat is unhealthy, despite experts warning that the level of processing doesn’t define a food’s nutritional credentials. In fact, leading health organisations have suggested that vegan meat analogues are part of the good-for-you UPF subset.

    Still, two in five Europeans are actively avoiding processed foods, and 60% would like to do so in the future, according to a survey of nearly 20,000 consumers this year.

    For many consumers, the ingredient list is an indicator of a product’s processing level, although there is no defined definition of ‘clean label’. Research shows that two in three Europeans reconsider their purchases based on ingredient lists, with 60% of Spaniards finding it important to understand the origin of the ingredients.

    Novameat will benefit from the relatively short and clean ingredient labels of its pulled pork and lamb, aided by Spain’s waning appetite for meat. A recent poll suggested that four in five consumers have either cut their meat consumption, thought about doing so, or are willing to consider it.

    This is despite two in five Spaniards (39%) increasing their protein intake last year. Encouragingly for plant-based companies, 35% of them upped their consumption of protein through vegan food.

    The main driver of meat reduction is health, as cited by 42% of people who have already cut back, and 41% who are mulling the change. Meanwhile, nearly half of the respondents believe vegan diets are better for the planet and their wallets, and 43% find them healthier.

    novameat pork
    Courtesy: Novameat

    These findings chime with another poll conducted by the country’s plant-based meat leader, Heura, last year, where 86% of Spaniards said they’d eat more plant-based meat if it offered nutritional and taste parity to animal proteins, alongside a lower environmental impact.

    Novameat, which also sells products in the UK and the Netherlands, has been scaling up production both at its Barcelona facility and through manufacturing partnerships. Its products have appeared at Disfrutar, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant voted the world’s best last year. It will hope to impress more foodservice operators and consumers with the latest innovations.

    “The fantastic feedback we have received on our new product range in the UK, Spain and the Netherlands has given us the confidence to roll out our launch into new regions in Europe, including France, Italy, and Germany,” chief commercial officer John Gray told Green Queen. “Our goal is to build solid foundations in these markets, collaborating to grow sales in both the foodservice and retail trade channels.”

    The post Novameat Leans Into Clean-Label Demand with Plant-Based Pulled Pork & Lamb appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Greggs Steak Bake, Coco Gauff Smoothie & Vegan Dog Treats

    greggs vegan steak bake
    6 Mins Read

    Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Greggs’s vegan steak bake return, Savor’s carbon-based butter launch, and Coco Gauff’s Naked Smoothie collab.

    New products and launches

    British bakery chain Greggs has brought back its Vegan Steak Bake, now called Vegan Lattice (Steak-Free) and available in select stores for £2.10.

    Italian vegan startup Bridge Foods has launched two dairy-free Biogurt products at Esselunga and Alì in peach and coffee flavours, and a liquid vegan egg called VegEgg at Unicoop Firenze, both under its ViaMia brand.

    Israeli 3D-printed meat producer Redefine Meat has rolled out its Flank Steak as a refrigerated product in Coop stores in Switzerland.

    German startup BettaF!sh has expanded into Portugal with its canned vegan Tu-Nah, which is now available at select Continente locations.

    bettafish tunah
    Courtesy: BettaF!sh

    In Australia, burger chain Grill’d has collaborated with Beyond Meat to introduce the latest version of its plant-based burger, called Beyond IV.

    Fellow Aussie fast-food chain Zambrero has added Fable Food Co‘s Pulled Mushrooms to the menu of over 300 of its restaurants across the country.

    zambrero vegan
    Courtesy: Fable Food Co/Zambrero

    After being laid off from US vegan sushi chain Planta, which filed for bankruptcy in May, chef-couple Gabriel Lopez and Erica Marie Denis have started 2TheRootss, a plant-based private chef service in Miami.

    In Brooklyn, New York, Impossible Foods held a pop-up at Rinsed Out Laundromat, where hundreds of attendees got a taste of its burger and nuggets.

    impossible burger new york
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    New York-based dairy-free cheesemaker Rind has launched Vegan Bleu Crumbles, which uses spirulina and roqueforti cultures. The product will be available for $5 per 4oz container.

    US plant-based dairy firm Tofutti has developed a tzatziki sauce using its Better Than Sour Cream offering, in partnership with vegan restaurant group Greens and Grains. It will be available at the latter’s 10 locations, and as a branded product for retail in the future.

    umyum butter
    Courtesy: Umyum

    Speaking of non-dairy innovations, Canadian startup Umyum has brought its soft cashew-based cheeses (in Ca’atar & Spices, Chutney & Saffron, and Coffee & Pepper flavours), camembert, and butters (in Salted, Truffle, Herb, and Slow-Roasted Garlic variants) to the US. They’re currently available at select retailers, including Bristol Farms, Town & Country Foods, and Chuck’s Fresh Markets.

    Chicago eatery Alina, the longest three-Michelin-starred eatery in the US, served Aqua Cultured Foods‘s fermentation-derived tuna at its 20th anniversary pop-up residency at The Maybourne Beverly Hills (July 22 to August 16) as part of a vegetarian alternative to Wagyu.

    sunday supper singles
    Courtesy: Sunday Supper

    Also in the US, Sunday Supper has introduced The Singles, a range of vegan Italian entrées in single-serve portions. These include an Italian Sausage Lasagna, Three Cheeses Lasagna, Fusi alla Vodka, and Eggplant Parm, which use products from Elmhurst 1925 and Abbot’s. They will be available at various retailers across the US.

    Californian food tech startup Savor is launching its carbon-derived butter as part of chocolate bonbons at One65 Patisserie & Boutique in San Francisco.

    savor butter one65
    Courtesy: Savor/One65

    Meanwhile, Daily Harvest, now owned by Chobani, has added Strawberry Banana and Tropical Greens flavours to its GLP-1 supporting smoothie lineup. It partnered with US tennis Sloane Stephens‘s Doc & Glo brand to promote the range earlier this year.

    In more tennis-related smoothie news, Naked Smoothies has teamed up with Coco Gauff to create a Protein Pineapple Orange Smoothie, which is available at select stores in the US.

    coco gauff smoothie
    Courtesy: Naked Smoothies

    California’s Virtuous Vittles has unveiled Bountiful Land, a line of shelf-stable plant-based meals for dogs, featuring morels in gravy. They were first debuted at Superzoo 2025.

    Similarly, vegan pet nutrition brand PawCo Foods has launched Magic Cookie, a line of functional dog biscuits to target five health metrics: gut wellness, heart health, joint mobility, skin and coat vitality, and everyday wellness.

    pawco vegan dog food
    Courtesy: PawCo

    And in India, Bangalorean coffee shop Maverick & Farmer Coffee has joined forces with plant-based milk startup Alt Co to launch the Vegan on Wednesdays initiative, offering the latter’s oat milk with zero surcharge alongside a specially curated plant-based food menu.

    Company and finance developments

    Amid its business restructuring, German plant-based holding company Veganz Group has announced that it would change its name to Planethic Group.

    blue farm oat milk
    Courtesy: Blue Farm

    Berlin-based powdered oat milk startup Blue Farm has raised €1.33M ($1.55M) in a crowdfunding campaign on Invesdor, at a pre-money valuation of €14M ($16.4M).

    Phytolon, a startup that uses precision fermentation to create alternatives to synthetic food colours, has secured an investment from Colorcon Ventures, the corporate VC fund of Colorcon.

    phytolon funding
    Courtesy: Phytolon

    Swedish startup Seaqure Labs has raised over five million kronor ($520,000) for its mycoprotein ingredient to replace soy and fishmeal in aquaculture feed.

    UK molecular farming firm Bright Biotech has been awarded a £1.2M grant from the UK government’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency. The Phase One funding will enable the company to apply its advanced chloroplast technology to develop more productive, resilient and sustainable plants.

    forager project
    Courtesy: The Forager Project

    US dairy-free brand The Forager Project has kicked off The Cashew Project, a multi-year initiative to support cashew farming in the Ivory Coast. It will entail organic farming training, financial literacy programmes, and sustainable agricultural practices that benefit local farmers.

    A week after closing a $31M Series A round, California’s The Better Meat Co has added Pamela Marrone, a 2025 inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, to its board of directors.

    better meat co
    Courtesy: The Better Meat Co

    Fermentation startup MycoTechnology has appointed former Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz and Abbott Nutrition executive Robert Scott as a board member.

    Research, education and awards

    Nutrition and public health organisation Balanced has teamed up with Humane World for Animals‘s Forward Food Collaborative to offer a free online plant-based culinary training for K12 school foodservice professionals.

    Speaking of courses, ProVeg Czechia and the Physician Association for Nutrition Czech Republic have reintroduced their Nutrition in Medical Practice course to educate doctors about plant-based food. The online course will run twice a week from September 23 to October 23, and has already seen dozens of MDs and medical students sign up.

    fsanz cultured quail
    Courtesy: Vow

    At the AgTech Breakthrough Awards, Australia’s Vow won the Cultured Meat Product of the Year for its cultured quail, and Meatable was awarded the Food Replacement of the Year honour for its cultivated pork.

    Likewise, Singaporean food tech startup Prefer has made it to Forbes’s Asia 100 to Watch 2025 list for its bean-free coffee and chocolate innovations.

    prefer coffee funding
    Courtesy: Prefer

    A UK government survey has revealed that 8% of children drink plant-based milk as their main milk drink, including 2% who consume ‘growing up’ or toddler drinks.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Greggs Steak Bake, Coco Gauff Smoothie & Vegan Dog Treats appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Inside India’s First Cultivated Chicken Competition for Chefs

    great indian cultivated chicken cook off
    5 Mins Read

    Biokraft Foods held a Great Indian Cultivated Chicken Cook-Off last week, with young chefs showcasing the future of food in the Navi Mumbai event.

    For the most part, cultivated meat companies have relied on chefs to flaunt the full potential of their products. The majority of launches have been held at innovative restaurants in the US, Singapore and Australia. Only two of these innovations have entered a supermarket, and one was for pets.

    Biokraft Foods is taking the same approach in India. The Mumbai-based maker of cultivated chicken held a cooking competition for its product, dubbed the Great Indian Cultivated Chicken Cook-Off, at the DY Patil School of Hospitality & Tourism Studies last week.

    The final involved 10 culinary students, who were tasked to create an appetiser using the cultivated meat as a hero ingredient for a four-strong panel of leading chefs.

    “We wanted to show that cultivated chicken is real food with real culinary potential. By bringing cultivated chicken meat to young chefs, we encouraged them to reimagine cultivated chicken through creativity, culture, and tast,,” Biokraft Foods founder and CEO Kamalnayan Tibrewal tells Green Queen.

    “These young chefs represent the future of the food ecosystem, and it is important that they engage with ideas that go beyond cooking and that sustainability, ethics, and delicious new ingredients are equally important,” he adds. “The cook-off was our way of making the idea tangible and sparking conversations about how cultivated meat could fit into India’s food future.”

    lab grown meat india
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    The cook-off’s winning cultivated chicken dishes

    The competition saw participants from some of India’s leading culinary schools, and the dishes were judged with several criteria in mind, including hygiene and food waste management, taste and texture, innovation and creativity, and presentation.

    The winning dish, called Masalon ka Safar (Hindi for ‘A Journey of Spices’), came courtesy of Issa Patel, a student at the Patkar-Varde College Department of Hospitality and Catering. He won a prize of ₹40,000 ($455). It brought together flavours from across India: saffron naan from the north, Champaran chicken from the east, tangy tomato chutney from the south, and green chilli thecha from the West.

    “Cultivated chicken felt no different from conventional chicken, tasty, tender, and satisfying. The real plus is that it’s an ethical and sustainable way to enjoy meat,” Patel tells Green Queen.

    cultivated meat india
    Issa Patel’s winning dish, Masalon ka Safar | Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    Another student from the same institute, Shlok Khedekar, secured second place and ₹30,000 ($340) for his creation, Nawabi Yakitori with Miso-Caramel Sauce. “For me, cultivated chicken represents a step towards modern gastronomy, meeting protein needs, delighting taste palettes, and offering a humane, cruelty-free way to enjoy meat,” he says.

    The third prize (worth ₹20,000/$230) went to Vedika Sakpal, a student from the host institute, who made Malai Rose Dumplings. The Kohinoor College of Hotel and Tourism Management Studies’s Shravan Kadam, meanwhile, won ₹10,000 ($115) as part of a special innovation prize for his dish, called Sanjeevani Jugalbandi.

    “As a chef, it is inspiring to see cultivated chicken, just like farmed chicken, being marinated, grilled, spiced, and plated with pride, using different techniques, in a commercial environment,” says Demetrius Cordeiro D’Souza, new product development chef at Biokraft Foods.

    “This competition proves that innovation and tradition can share the same plate, thus opening doors to a revolutionary culinary experience in the future,” he adds.

    biokraft foods
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    Biokraft Foods charts path to market for cultivated meat

    The winners of Biokraft Foods’s cook-off will receive a sponsored visit to the Merck Life Science facility in Bangalore, giving them a glimpse of the food science behind cultivated meat.

    “This is just the beginning. We see the winners as ambassadors of what is possible with cultivated meat,” says Tibrewal. “We would love to involve them in future collaborations, whether through recipe development, showcasing cultivated chicken at pop-ups, or even supporting our eventual market entry. Their creativity helps us connect with consumers in ways science [or] food tech alone cannot.”

    In addition to the cook-off, Biokraft Foods also hosted Forkward, a series of panels highlighting the views of stakeholders across the food industry. They included discussions about modernising menus with cultivated meat, the health and sustainability potential of these proteins, and the bridge between innovation and consumer trust.

    lab grown meat chefs
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    This series of talks gave chefs the chance to “learn directly from diverse voices across the food ecosystem, including non-profits, foodtech pioneers, founders, and leaders from hospitality”, according to Tibrewal. “This is just the beginning of many such conversations that will shape India’s journey towards sustainable proteins,” he said.

    Speaking to Green Queen after hosting India’s first public tasting for cultivated meat in April, he said the two-year-old startup planned to file for regulatory approval with the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) of India this year.

    “The approval pathway calls for thorough safety evaluations, detailed scientific evidence, and transparency in production practices, with the dual aim of safeguarding consumers and fostering innovation,” he says now.

    biokraft india
    Courtesy: Biokraft Foods

    “FSSAI has already set up a scientific working group to create clear evaluation frameworks for cultivated meat, and these frameworks reflect the country’s forward-looking stance on regulation and willingness to engage with next-generation food solutions. This is also complemented by industry efforts to provide strong data on safety, nutrition, and sustainability.”

    An update on its regulatory progress is expected soon, but in the meantime, Biokraft Foods is already plotting its path into the market. “Chefs, hotels and restaurants are the best partners to introduce cultivated meat to consumers because they shape taste experiences and build trust,” says Tibrewal. “Once acceptance grows, we would then look at retail formats.”

    The post Inside India’s First Cultivated Chicken Competition for Chefs appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Cultivated Meat Can Usher In A Just Transition of Protein Systems

    lab grown meat environmental impact
    4 Mins Read

    Cultivated meat, plant-based proteins and regenerative agriculture can facilitate a “just transition” of the protein industry, but factory farming needs to stop, a new study shows.

    In the energy industry, a just transition means replacing coal with renewable power. But when it comes to the agrifood sector, one system can’t simply be replaced with another, according to a new study.

    This is because food systems are “deeply embedded in culturally sensitive social structures and practices”, so a combination of methods is the key to ensuring a just transition of protein production. The answer may lie in a shift to regenerative agriculture and an increase in cultivated meat and plant-based proteins, alongside a rapid descaling of factory farming.

    The study, published in the Plos One journal, is the result of a four-year collaboration between Federation University Australia and Israeli cultivated beef producer Aleph Farms. The researchers evaluated 13 protein systems against 25 social, environmental, economic and governance indicators – these included seven beef production methods, one industrial pork system, two poultry systems, one plant-based alternative, and two types of cultivated meat (made via both conventional and renewable energy).

    The findings – built on a review of 285 studies – show that novel proteins like cultivated meat have a positive impact across several areas, and are a better way to produce proteins than most.

    Cultivated meat a positive lever for the protein transition

    just protein transition
    Courtesy: Plos One

    The researchers ranked each production system based on its impact on the indicators, with each category assigned a maximum positive and negative score.

    For example, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the US had a score of -43 in the natural capital category (two above the lowest possible score), which included impacts like greenhouse gas emissions, land use change, on-farm waste, and water pollution.

    Industrial pork and caged poultry both scored -14 (the lowest possible total being -25) on human capital indicators, which refer to farmers’ and consumers’ health, workplace safety, and more.

    Cultivated meat performed positively across key environmental and social measures. When produced from sustainable energy, it had a combined score of six for GHG emissions, water and air pollution, land use change, and land degradation.

    It had an extremely positive impact on governance structures (a score of five) and workplace safety (four), and is beneficial for greater opportunities for youth (three), policy influence (three), and worker skills and knowledge (two). Aside from the net emissions, the impact was nearly identical across both conventional and green energy production systems for cultivated meat.

    Nine systems had overall positive impacts, led by regenerative farming (a score of 63 on a scale of -125 to 125), followed by organic systems (45). Cultivated meat from sustainable energy came in fifth position (24 points), three points ahead of the same from fossil-derived energy.

    Plant-based systems had an overall score of two, with lower scores on water pollution, soil contamination and other natural capital indicators due to their association with on-farm primary production. “This is because large amounts of lentils, grains, oilseed crops, etc., that form the key ingredients of highly processed plant-based food are grown using conventional farming methods,” the researchers explained.

    Four protein production methods had negative impacts: CAFOs (-46), industrial pork (-45), poultry (-35) and small-scale beef (-25).

    Cultivated meat would earn 33% market share in ideal just transition scenario

    just food system transition
    Courtesy: Plos One

    The authors then developed five “what if” scenarios for a just transition of protein production. The current scenario assumes business as usual, followed by situations outlining slow, moderate, fast and aggressive change.

    The fast-change scenario had the highest impact score, entailing a rapid reduction of industrial animal farming to 1% of the global market by 2040 (it currently occupies a 69% share). Simultaneously, plant-based proteins and cultivated meat each make up a third of the protein market by 2050 in this case.

    Regenerative agriculture emerged as the most effective approach for a just transition, with the authors highlighting its “enormous potential to contribute to climate-resilient, equitable and economically sustainable protein production systems”. “However, negative impacts associated with greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater extraction and livestock diversity need to be addressed,” they added.

    With cultivated meat, meanwhile, concerns about net emissions, energy use, and water consumption “remain unaddressed”. But there’s a caveat. “If the production of cultivated meat grows significantly in the future, it may effectively reduce the overall negative impacts of the protein production systems,” the study stated.

    The researchers point out how a large number of negative impacts could lead to adverse regulatory responses to certain protein systems, attracting heavy penalties, consumer backlash, and investor fallout. “Livestock farmers and protein producers can target short-, medium- and long-term responses to avoid risks arising from negative impacts,” they wrote.

    It is the first of a series of reports being produced by the Federation University and Aleph Farms, and comes at a time when politicians in the US and the EU are attempting to restrain cultivated meat with bans and proposed restrictions. One of the chief drivers of the efforts is the potential impact on farmers, despite livestock producers being open to the technology and speaking out against policy restrictions on it.

    The post Cultivated Meat Can Usher In A Just Transition of Protein Systems appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.