In a detailed opinion, the EU Commission has rejected the evidence provided by Hungary to justify banning cultivated meat, alongside a number of other member states.
At the EU’s Agriculture and Fisheries (Agrifish) Council meeting in July, the Hungarian presidency called for efforts to “protect” Europe’s culinary traditions from novel foods like cultivated meat. It was a move welcomed by Italy and Austria, which (along with France) led a similar effort at the council’s January meeting.
Essentially, what Hungary was proposing was a ban on cultivated meat, which Italy had become the first country to introduce last year. France and Romania have floated similar proposals in their parliament too.
But in a detailed opinion published by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm has opposed these legislative attempts, throwing doubt on Hungary and other countries’ proposed restrictions, as well as Italy’s ban.
Commenting specifically on the Hungarian proposal, the EU Commission noted that all novel foods are subject to the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) pre-market authorisation process. If approved, the product is placed on the EU-wide novel food list. But since no cultivated meat company has received the greenlight in the region so far – the first application was filed in July by France’s Gourmey – a ban is “unnecessary”.
“The prohibition to market it results from Union law and applies to all the Union territory,” the Commission stated.
“The scientific assessment to be performed by EFSA within the procedure for the authorisation of novel foods is aimed to ensure that foods to be placed on the EU market are safe and do not present risk for human health,” it added.
“A ban is therefore unjustified, since it could pre-empt the harmonised authorisation procedure for novel foods at EU level, which includes a scientific assessment by EFSA.”
EU Commission opinion puts cultivated meat bans in jeopardy
Courtesy: Mosa Meat
The EU Commission’s comment was in response to a Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) notification submitted by Hungary – this is a procedure aimed at preventing the creation of barriers to the free movement of goods among member states.
“In addition to the protection of human health and the environment, the sustainable production of agriculture and the preservation of the traditional rural way of life justify the introduction of regulation,” the TRIS notification read, suggesting that it is unclear how the safety of cellular agriculture can be guaranteed (although that is exactly what the EFSA does).
“Traditional livestock-based meat production is of paramount importance for the future of the domestic food economy, in particular the sustainability of food production and the retaining power of the countryside,” it continued. “Increased production of laboratory-grown meat can have an adverse impact on the agricultural sector and rural living conditions as a whole.”
Italy had already sparked some controversy with its TRIS notifications earlier. The process allows fellow member states to give their opinion on bills that can hinder the EU free market, before it is approved by the country. Italy withdrew its first note attempting to ban cultivated meat, knowing it would have been rejected by the bloc.
But it still went ahead and banned cultivated meat anyway – potentially unlawfully – before presenting a second TRIS notification, which the EU closed because the law was already in place.
To avoid this mess, Hungary did not implement the ban before the Commission and member states got a chance to voice their opinions.
“The Hungarian proposal clashes with the principles of European law, just as would have happened with the Italian law if it had complied with the TRIS procedure,” explained Francesca Gallelli, public affairs consultant at the Good Food Institute Europe. “Both bans are unfounded, as they are not based on scientific evidence, especially considering that cultivated meat is not yet available to European consumers.”
She added: “The Italian law is also potentially unenforceable since it was notified to the European Union after being approved, in violation of the TRIS procedure.”
Across the Atlantic, a host of states in the US are attempting to restrict cultivated meat too, including Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Two states – Florida and Alabama – have already banned it.
Member states step up in favour of cultivated meat
Courtesy: Meatable/Green Queen
Hungary’s explanation for the attempted ban wasn’t just rejected by the EU Commission’s assessment of the TRIS notification, but also by several member states.
Sweden noted that the reasons justifying the move to ban cultivated meat because it’s harmful to human health were “unacceptable”, highlighting that Hungary hasn’t provided any risk evaluations or demonstrated that these products might threaten human or planetary health.
The Czech Republic also disagreed with the proposal, citing the obstacles to the EU free market and outlining its support for the “development of innovations in food technologies, including laboratory-grown meat”. It stressed the need to “respect the existing EU legal framework”.
Another country against the ban was Lithuania, which posted a detailed opinion that also underscored the potential of alternative proteins. The country pointed out how the global population will peak by 2080 and demand much higher amounts of protein. “The development of the alternative protein industry will generate new, high value-added jobs and promote the integration of businesses into international value chains and the export of high value-added food products,” it said.
Lithuania’s response added: “Given that countries such as the US, Israel, and Singapore already allow the sale of these products, it is important that the EU remains competitive in the development of these technologies and dictates the conditions for regulation and standards globally.”
Finally, the Netherlands – a cultivated meat leader in Europe – expressed doubt that an “absolute ban” is proportionate to any issues presented by these proteins, and believed that the policy objective can be achieved in “an alternative, less far-reaching way, without introducing a ban on a product that has not yet been placed on the market”.
It presented another case against the ban: cultivated meat can economically benefit farmers. “The possibility of in-vitro meat production on a farm has been investigated and found feasible, and in the Netherlands, livestock farmers have already come forward who want to investigate how this production can be achieved on their farm,” it said.
“Stimulating this development can therefore also ensure the preservation of the agricultural sector and make it futureproof, thus providing an alternative way to achieve the Hungarian goals.”
Hungary now has until mid-January 2025 to respond to the issues raised. The EU Commission has also warned that if the country doesn’t comply with the obligations or goes ahead with the ban without taking these objections into account, it could take the matter to the European Court of Justice.
Californian food tech startup MeliBio has secured a “strategic investment” as part of a pre-Series A round to accelerate the growth of its vegan honey.
As it makes inroads on its precision-fermented honey, San Francisco-based MeliBio has obtained fresh capital to scale up the distribution of its plant-based sweetener, Mellody.
The “strategic investment” from Future Food Fund by Oisix, a food tech investor from Japan, is part of MeliBio’s pre-Series A financing round. It means the company has raised around $10M in total funding since it was established in 2020, co-founder and CEO Darko Mandich tells Green Queen.
MeliBio was initially planning a Series A round this year – as revealed by Green Queen – which was expected to bring in a further $10M. But the challenges of the food tech market, where investment dropped by 61% last year, made it difficult to do so. “We shifted to [the] pre-Series A round, and will reopen Series A next year,” says Mandich.
Mellody honey now available nationwide
Courtesy: MeliBio
The startup initially launched Mellody through foodservice partners, before debuting the product in the D2C channel via a partnership with famed New York eatery Eleven Madison Park’s online store.
Since then, the product has been introduced across the US (alongside a new hot honey variety), available at independent retailers and a growing list of restaurants – recent partnerships include Palmetto Superfoods and Joyride Pizza in California and Moto Pizza in Seattle. Moreover, MeliBio has also expanded its distribution through KeHE, UNFI, Greco and Sons, and ACE Natural.
Unlike other vegan honey products, which make use of apples and lemons, elderflower, carob, or other ingredients, Mellody aims to replicate the honey through a combination of fructose and glucose, complemented by a range of plant extracts (red clover, jasmine, passionflower, chamomile, and seaberry), gluconic acid and natural flavours.
It aims to solve a key biodiversity problem. The demand for money has proliferated honey bee populations, and that has plunged wild bees into chaos. Many of the 20,000 wild bee species are endangered, and some are facing the threat of extinction, but they’re important pollinators (even better than honey bees) and protecting them is crucial for the survival of natural habitats.
This makes them a major cog in preserving the planet’s biodiversity and maintaining its ecosystem. But continued honey production spells grave trouble for these bees. And as for honey bees, their own ability to produce the sweetener itself has declined, thanks to widespread herbicide use, conversion of flower-rich land into monocultures, a drop in soil productivity, and climate change. It’s why plant-based and precision-fermented alternatives like MeliBio’s are needed.
The company, which can produce 10,000 lbs of Mellody per day, has also launched vegan honey in Europe through a partnership with Slovenia’s Narayan Foods. In the UK, this is in the form of Vegan H*ney under the Better Foodie, whereas it sells as Vegan Hanny or Ohney under Aldi’s private label, Just Veg. The $10M, four-year deal aims to put MeliBio’s vegan honey into 75,000 stores eventually. Additionally, it recently secured a patent win in Germany for its plant-based honey technology.
MeliBio makes gains in precision fermentation
Courtesy: MeliBio
MeliBio began as a precision fermentation company, and that remains its core target in the long term. The technology combines the process of traditional fermentation with the latest biotech advancements to efficiently produce compounds like proteins, flavour molecules, vitamins, pigments, or fats.
It involves inserting a molecular sequence – derived from digitised databases rather than the relevant animals or plants – into microorganisms to give them instructions to produce the desired molecule when fermented. This enables companies like MeliBio to produce bioidentical versions of animal-derived products like honey.
While its plant-based products have been expanding, MeliBio has been working on the precision-fermented product in the background, and recently made some advancements. Aaron Schaller, the startup’s co-founder and CTO, recently announced that the team has taken three of its protein and enzyme targets from ideation to proof-of-concept to bioreactors, with a fourth soon to come.
And this week, he noted that MeliBio has increased the titer – the amount of product per unit volume at the end of the fermentation process – of its main enzyme target by 1,300%. “Taking our strains from the bench to bioreactors sent our strain productivity through the roof across only two runs,” he said. “With ample room to further optimise our bioprocess, future titer and yield improvement is imminent.”
This was a result of its collaboration with AI-led biomanufacturing startup Pow.Bio, with whom it has been engaging in scale-up efforts since March. The firm is now evaluating further biomanufacturing partners for the next phase of its precision-fermented honey.
“This investment from Future Food Fund is an exciting step forward for MeliBio. It aligns perfectly with our mission to not only transform the honey industry but also to make a measurable impact on biodiversity and the environment,” says Mandich.
“At Future Food Fund, we are excited to support MeliBio’s vision of giving bees a break while offering a new model for food production through their exceptional products,” adds Hiro Hasegawa, venture partner at the VC firm.
Meatable’s Jeff Tripician on his journey from meat industry veteran to cultivated meat CEO, why these proteins should be more expensive, the company’s upcoming Series C round, and its global regulatory plans.
“It’s just a very practical conversation,” says Jeff Tripician. The current demand for eight billion people is taxing the food system. You have rising emissions, alarming rates of soil degradation, a huge amount of freshwater used to feed and grow animals that we eat.
“What do you do 25 years from now, when [the demand for meat] is 70% bigger, there are two billion more people, and developing countries eating more?” he asks. “Hell, that’s why I joined this.”
The ‘this’ Tripician is referring to is Meatable, the Dutch startup making cultivated meat. He joined as CEO in May, taking over from co-founder Krijn de Nood (who remains on the board). His appointment was a marker of the company’s plans to expand in the US, leveraging his decades-long experience as a meat industry executive.
“I was part of the meat industry. I’ve run these companies, and I don’t have an answer to that question,” Tripician, who has worked at Perdue Farms and Grass Fed Foods, tells me. “I don’t know if cultivated meat is the perfect answer, [but] I know that it has huge positives.”
It can do in 12 days what takes a pig eight months, or a cow two to three years. There’s minimal waste, a fraction of the land and water use, and a dramatic reduction in emissions. “It does a lot of things, and it does it at once, at scale, and at a price that’s reasonable,” suggests Tripician.
“In our case, the taste is so close to conventional pork that if you use it as an ingredient, like a sausage, or in a taco, burrito, or meatball, you cannot tell the difference. Because it’s real meat, it comes from real pig cells.
“So you sit there. You go: ‘If this isn’t the answer, I would like to know what is.’ And you hear nothing. The meat industry goes: ‘Well, we’ve already invested in all of this, so we’ll just continue to push.’ If they’re successful, they further stress the planet. If they’re unsuccessful, they don’t have enough meat to feed the planet. Which is worse?”
Cultivated meat appeals to tech-savvy Gen Z
Courtesy: Meatable/Green Queen
Tripician the company has had a “big change” in approach: “The role of Meatable is to help meat companies gain access to more meat. We’re a supplier to them. We show them the technology. We transfer the technology so they can do what they do. They take raw material – meat – they turn it into food, and they sell it. We now provide them with some of the meat. Very simple.”
Meatable conducted a survey of 500 chefs in the US, 60% of whom said they’d put its cultivated pork on the menu, alongside the message and the brand name. It then polled thousands of consumers – while older ones were more apprehensive, younger Americans were excited.
In Tripician’s mind, there are two ways meat companies (this includes plant-based) can cater to the growing protein demand. The first involves combining a plant-based product – which “just doesn’t taste as good” – with a percentage of cultivated cells. This hybrid route is what’s currently being taken by most cultivated meat startups right now.
The problem here is that “there’s a younger consumer that says food is supposed to do more than provide calories and nutrition”. Indeed, taste is the most important purchase driver for nearly three-quarters of Gen Zers in the US.
That’s where the second approach comes in. “You take your conventional product, add in some Meatable, and now some of that is helping make it a better place. I think that’s a route that would work, and it’s cost-effective at that size.”
He points out how younger Americans are holding sustainability dearer than perhaps older generations do. Their purchasing power is massive, and they’re not afraid to switch to a different brand if it doesn’t meet their ethical needs.
“So if the meat industry wants to help itself, they should say: ‘I’ll put some of those things on the shelf with my name on it, not Meatable’s name, and have those consumers go: ‘Great!’” says Tripician.
“We saw it with plant-based,” he adds. “People tried it, didn’t really buy it again, it fell off dramatically. That’s fixed simply with a taste. Change the taste, change the texture. We tested that at about a 25-30% blend. For an average person, you could not tell the difference between that and a 100% pork product.”
‘I won’t tell billion-dollar meat companies what to do’
Courtesy: Meatable
Meatable has been using similar rations for its tastings. The company held two events in Singapore last year, and one at its Leiden headquarters in the Netherlands in April – this was the first on EU soil.
“We try to keep investors and government agencies and so on, just give them a chance [to try], because they can’t go buy it yet. Really, Singapore is the only place that’s embraced it – we do regular tastings there,” says Tripician.
“It brings the media into the discussion and parties that can influence positive outcomes. It was really well received. We continue to do them in other places, with other people… What we’re talking about at the end of it is: this is food, how do you feel about it?”
Meatable has a large tasting event coming up in February with investors, the board and meat companies that are interested in trying to figure out how to feed 10 billion people by 2050 with fewer resources at hand.
As for how much cultivated meat clients want to add to their product, Meatable leaves it up to them. The startup can show them different recipes, whether that’s a mix with pea or soy protein, or even a vegetable patty with butternut squash, carrots and mushrooms. “You can blend other things in here that have high nutritional value, no sugar added, all kinds of health benefits.”
“It’s really up to the business, meat company, grocery store, restaurant,” says Tripician. “So if you’re a meat company – Impossible, Cargill, JBS, whoever it is – and you go: ‘You run plants, you bring in livestock, you harvest, you fabricate, you turn it into food, put it in cold storage, put on a truck, you sell to restaurants and grocery stores.’
“All we’re going to do is say: ‘We’ll give you the technology, so you can have the equipment in your plant to make cultivated meat.’”
Tripician doesn’t want to change what meat producers do. “I’m not going to tell a $15B company how to make their product. I’m going to say: ‘I can get you raw material at a competitive price in 12 days, guaranteed, regardless of whether, regardless of feed prices, regardless of pandemics or diseases like avian or swine flu, regardless of all of that hailstorm, none of that matters.”
He continues: “When they go to their customers, they would be able to say: ‘Look, you seem like a progressive chef. You’ve got the younger people, they’re all on their iPhones… Do you think a product like this would make sense?’”
Meatable looks to collaborate with fellow cultivated meat producers
Courtesy: Meatable/Green Queen
One of the defining features of Meatable’s business is its production process, which was recently updated to halve the manufacturing time to just four days. This is made by its Opti-ox technology, which allows it to make products by isolating a single animal cell, without the need for fetal bovine serum.
The process uses pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which – unlike immortalised cell lines that need to be altered to multiply indefinitely – have the natural ability to continue multiplying, and do so rapidly. This is coupled with a perfusion process that allows the startup to work in a continuous cycle to generate very high cell densities and produce fully differentiated muscle and fat cells faster than any competitor.
The company moved to its Leiden facility in November 2023, which houses 200-litre bioreactors (with the potential of expanding to 500 litres). It has also partnered with Singapore’s ESCO Aster, the world’s first approved contract manufacturing facility for cultivated meat, and plant protein manufacturer Love Handle.
But scaling up to meat industry levels is an immense challenge that has troubled even the most well-capitalised companies in the space. Tripician, for his part, doesn’t want to own a pilot plant. “We’re going to go to people that are our colleagues, and we’re going to say to them: ‘You figured this out. Why don’t we work together?’” he says.
Meatable is reaching out to cultivated meat pioneers in Australia, Europe, the UK and elsewhere to collaborate. “I want to use their pilot plant. I want to use the things they know, so that when we figure it out, we obviously benefit. And so do they. There’s more than enough demand for a bunch of us to be successful.
“Because – this isn’t going to shock anybody – what happens if, five years from now, the technology changes and the equipment’s different, you have to redo all the equipment. I don’t own any equipment. I don’t want to own any equipment.”
Cultivated meat ‘should not be at price parity’
Courtesy: Meatable
One key advantage of scaling up is that it will bring costs down, which is critical if cultivated meat is to reach the masses one day. The sector has managed to lower costs by 99% in the last decade, but McKinsey suggests it will take at least until 2030 for these proteins to reach price parity with meat.
Tripician, however, doesn’t believe cultivated meat should cost the same as its industrially farmed counterpart. “I think it should be a little bit of a premium,” he says. “As an industry steward, if it gets to parity, then farmers and ranchers are at risk, because it would be the same price, and I want them to be at a little bit lower, so that their businesses are always strong.”
He adds: “And if you’re going to ask a meat company to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in plants and facilities, they better make a little bit more money.”
But where does that leave the consumer? Tripician points out that between 6-23% of the dairy, produce, egg and bakery industries are made of premium-priced items. “These are 100-billion-dollar industries just in the US. If those can be that penetrated, then you would think the same premium on meat would be equally effective.”
He puts it in the same bracket as organic meat, which can be 70-75% higher than commodity meat. “It’s more, but it’s an amount people pay for,” he feels, forecasting such prices for cultivated meat in the next two to three years. “After that, it will come down more, a slow glide down.”
Targeting a Series C raise in the $30M ballpark
Courtesy: GFI
To date, Meatable has raised $95M from investors, and that’s excluding grants like the €7.6M pumped in by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency under its Innovation Credit programme last month. But the company is now working on a “modest” Series C raise, which would close at around the $350 mark (similar to its Series B round last year).
It’s part of the startup’s asset-light approach – it’s not building a plant, and it’s not competing with the rest of the industry in terms of production, distribution, sales, and the like. Lately, investors have cooled on cultivated meat – as they have on the wider food tech sector – though the downward spiral may be ending.
“They hate the asset-heavy thing,” Tripician says of venture capitalists. “They’ve lost a lot of money, or think they’re going to lose a lot of money in that. Because it’ll be very, very difficult for a pilot plant in cultivated meat to ever make money… We’re not pursuing that.
Meatable has enough runway for around 18 months, but the Series C would buy the company more time. “We’re fine, but I want to have more than fine, and I think that’s smart to say to an investor,” its CEO says.
“Look, if you believe we’re on the right path and the science and the IP and all that’s there, and our business model is going to be successful, can you invest an amount that will get us through this time?” he says when asked what his pitch to investors would be. “I know the meat companies will be buying licenses from us, building plants, and entering the marketplace over the next five years.”
He reveals that the business is doing a “soft launch” for existing investors, who might satisfy the capital requirements. But the round would be open from January 2025, with the aim of closing it by the end of spring.
Meatable expects regulatory approval in multiple countries next year
Courtesy: Meatable
Each of Meatable’s seven business hubs services the countries around it. For example, its Asian base is in Singapore, the first country to approve cultivated meat, and one that is currently evaluating Meatable’s application too.
“We’ve got meat companies there that know there’s regulatory approval, or there will be, within 12 to 18 months,” says Tripician. “That’s where it’s going to gain traction, and then we’ll follow.”
He adds: “I flew out and sat with the Singapore Food Agency. Their thinking – this is an American saying this – far exceeds ours as far as coordination between ministries of government, the Economic Development Board… and the private industry [goes]… Now, they also have a different background. We are not food insecure – they are. The US doesn’t have that pressure, and [Singapore] is a small country, but the coordination was truly impressive.
“They’re helping with staff. They’re helping open doors, and that’s the model. If countries go: ‘Our water is a problem, our soil is a problem’ – maybe it’s not food insecurity, you have other issues – then you should be facilitating solutions, not rejecting.”
Tripician reveals that Meatable is currently filing dossiers in six countries. “The Singapore regulatory approval process is largely welcomed. Several other countries out in Asia look to Singapore and say: ‘Well, we pretty much follow that.’ It’s not 100%, it’s not guaranteed, but it’s very alike,” he says.
“So we’re perfecting it with Singapore, and then we’re just taking it and saying to the other countries: ‘Here’s what we have. What do you need to see that’s a little different?’” he adds. “Some of them are saying nothing. Others are going: ‘Well, we could use a little more data here or a little more information there,’ and we go: ‘Absolutely.’”
Once the Singapore approval comes through – which Tripician expects by Q1 2025 (“we’re just a little short on the explanation, not the science” – Meatable will use that to get authorisation in a host of other countries. The UK’s Food Standards Agency has announced its intention to use a framework for international cooperation for novel food approvals too, a partnership likely to include Singapore.
“I see us moving with pretty good speed through 2025,” predicts Tripician. “At the end, I would be very disappointed in our team if we don’t have approval in five, six countries by this time or the end of next year.”
The EU is ‘leading with science, not a fear of change’
Courtesy: Meatable
What about things closer to home? So far, the EU has only received one application – from France’s Gourmey – thanks to the make-up of its existing novel food regulation. The complexity and timelines have led homegrown startups (like Meatable) to look internationally for launch plans.
“Countries and areas have their own hurdles, the things they care about, and it’s up to companies to navigate that. It’s not up to [EU members] to change their mind,” says Tripician. “We’ve been working with them in a way that we’re leading with science, not the fear of change.”
He believes the EU is taking a “very methodical” approach to the regulation of cultivated meat and other novel foods, and is now questioning the barriers it previously put up.
“If the product is safe, and you have bigger problems – climate change, feeding your people, soil, use of land – do you really want to use all of that land to raise feed? Or do you want to convert it to feeding people?,” asks Tripician. “Those are internal conversations, but they’ve been very supportive.”
Cultivated meat bans ‘anger’ Meatable CEO
Courtesy: Ron DeSantis/Twitter
As for Tripician’s own home country, a wave of states have been attempting to restrict this industry – Florida and Alabama have already banned cultivated meat”, with the former currently facing a lawsuit for the decision. “As an American, it angers me,” Tripician says.
“They don’t have a better idea, but they’re going to shut this down,” he adds. State politicians are suggesting that cultivated meat could be bad for farmers and ranchers. “That’s just un-American. We’re supposed to pick what we want, as long as it’s safe, not supposed to have someone tell us what to do.”
He appeals to state governors, calling them “smart people” who are “trying to do the right thing”. “I would ask them the same question we started with: if you don’t like cultivated meat for whatever reason – probably political, because farmers and ranchers vote – what’s your answer for five, 10, 15, 20, 25 years from now?” he wonders.
“We already have 10% of the global population going to bed hungry every single night. What’s that number going to be? Is it going to be your kids, your grandkids, your nephews, your nieces, your neighbours? What’s your answer?”
He adds: “I think if you’re not part of the solution, my god, please don’t be part of the problem. Just get out of the way. Let the FDA and USDA do their job. They’re really good at it. If it’s a problem, they’ll stop it.”
Drawing on his experience as a “meat guy”, he believes that farmers won’t be hurt by the success of cultivated meat as an industry. “Farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of the land. Nobody cares more about the quality of the land than them and the livestock they treat with respect. They don’t want to do anything bad to them, but if they’re running out of meat, then everyone’s going to push them for more,” he says.
Cultivated meat can take some of that pressure off. The livestock farmers and producers wouldn’t be impacted negatively if cultivated meat grew at a reasonable rate – one that they decide, based on how much they want to include in their formulations.
“The meat companies then could say: ‘Now I have enough meat, I can feed the people, and that meat doesn’t destroy soil, water or air. It doesn’t do the harm,’” says Tripician. “How does that puzzle not fit together?”
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a new oat milk dessert brand, Next Level Burger’s holiday feast, and price parity for plant-based milk.
New products and launches
Discount retailer Aldi has introduced its largest vegan Christmas range in the UK, including a plant-based version of its footlong pig in blanket, a sprouted gratin, a nut roast, a brie and butternut wellington, and a dairy-free cheese board.
Courtesy: Aldi UK
Fish-free seafood maker Aqua Cultured Foods has landed on the menu of Chicago eatery Mama Delia, owned by Michelin-starred chef Marcos Campos Sanchez. The dish, called Atún Crudo, features the vegan raw tuna topped with a fried egg and potato strings.
If you’re after oat milk desserts, Kaiser is a new brand by Canadian oat farmer Nathan Kaiser. The company has introduced a bunch of ice cream tubs and bars, all but one of which are vegan. They’re available at select grocers in Quebec and will enter the Greater Toronto Area later this year, before a national rollout in 2025.
Courtesy: Kaiser
Oatly has signed a multi-year deal with UK café chain Black Sheep Coffee, which will serve its barista oat milk as the default dairy alternative across its 100 stores.
Mushroom meat maker Myco has struck a deal with Brakes, the UK’s largest wholesaler, to supply burgers, sausages and mince – made from vertically farmed oyster mushrooms – to the latter’s 20,000+ clients.
Courtesy: Myco
And vegan fast-casual chain Next Level Burger and its subsidiary Veggie Grill have introduced a take-home Holiday Feast menu, which features its Holiday Harvest wellington and five sides. Each $130 set feeds four to six people and requires a 72-hour notice, with the option to add dessert.
Company and financial updates
Swiss cultivated meat startup Sallea, which has created edible scaffolds for manufacturers to produce whole-cut meat and seafood from animal cells, has raised $2.6M in a funding round led by Founderful.
Courtesy: Sallea
London-based New Wave Biotech has won the €20,000 EIT Food Accelerator Network Tech Validation Award to validate its technology with research organisation CPI. It has created an AI-powered software to help precision fermentation companies optimise their downstream processing.
Fellow UK company Vegan Food Group has sold the Weisbaum production facility it acquired in the takeover of Tofutown earlier this year to another German tofu producer, New Originals Company. It will allow the firm to focus on scaling up at its larger plant in Lüneburg.
Courtesy: Vegan Food Group
At British meat-free brand Gosh Foods, sales decreased by 7% in 2023, mostly from declines in Europe, with pre-tax losses widening from £1.3M to £3M.
Meanwhile, Framptons, another UK plant-based company, has reported a profit of £1M for the financial year ending April 2024, overturning a £3.7M loss from the previous year. It comes after its acquisition by German investment firm Profura. The manufacturer launched the Wessex Oat Company in July.
Courtesy: Framptons
Dutch crop solutions provider AgroSpheres has closed a $37M Series B round to scale up its AgriCell technology, which protects active ingredients in pesticides from environmental pressures, and bring its biopesticides to market.
Also in the Netherlands, Qorium, led by Mosa Meat founder and cultivated meat pioneer Mark Post, has produced a 35x35cm sample of cultivated leather using a newly scaled-up tissue bioreactor.
Courtesy: Qorium
Massachusetts continues to invest in the future of food, awarding $2.1M to the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture to establish the Foodtech Engineering for Alternative Sustainable Technologies (FEAST) centre, which will advance cultivated meat R&D.
Agricultural giant Royal Cosun has invested $3.5M in Planetary to scale up the development of cost-effective ingredients derived from fermentation, convert the former’s feedstock into mycoprotein ingredients, and create new applications for plant-based food.
Policy, research and awards
The Vegan Society’s VEG 1 Baby & Toddler supplement, a liquid multivitamin for children aged six months to four years, has won a three-star rating in the supplement category of the 2024 Nourish Awards.
Courtesy: The Vegan Society
In the Netherlands, plant-based milk is almost at price parity at Lidl (where dairy is only six cents cheaper) and Aldi (a 16-cent difference), according to research by animal rights organisation Wakker Dier.
Japanese researchers have conducted a life-cycle assessment of IntegriCulture’s serum-free, food-grade culture media for cultivated meat, revealing that electricity, animal inputs and single-use items like “lab consumables” were the main emissions hotspots.
Courtesy: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Finally, is our brain chemistry to blame for the climate crisis? That’s the perspective of a new white paper, which suggests that humans are hardwired to desire status (which translates to material wealth and consumption), and dopamine continually craves greater rewards.
Força Foods, a California-based startup, is making watermelon seed milk to combat the water footprint of traditional dairy alternatives. It’s among a host of new-age alt-milks keeping consumers invested in the category.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever way you put it, dairy is much worse for the planet than any plant-based milk alternative.
A famous 2018 study from two Oxford University researchers proved as much, revealing that cow’s milk uses 11 times more land than the next on the list, oat milk, while generating nearly three times as many emissions as rice milk, the most carbon-intensive plant-based milk.
But one metric where plant-based milk could perform better was water use. While still much lower than the 628 litres of water needed to make a litre of cow’s milk, almond and rice milks both require a ton of water (371.5 litres and 270 litres, respectively) for the same amount.
These are numbers that have fuelled the rhetoric against plant-based milks, especially almond milk, by far the most popular alternative in the US. Addressing the water issue would help the segment hold its own against these criticisms.
Now, one Californian startup has made water waste its main focus – that too through an anti-almond narrative – with what it labels the “world’s first” milk alternative made from watermelon seeds.
Going in on other plant-based milks with bold messaging
Courtesy: Forca Foods
It began when Guilherme Maia Silva, a Brazilian researcher who studied Plant Sciences at UC Davis, deepened his knowledge about organic farming and sustainable agriculture. It spurred him on to establish Força Foods in 2021.
“I became fascinated by how the food we grow impacts [the] environment,” he says on the website. “Realising that many plant-based foods rely on water-intensive ingredients, such as almonds, I set out to find a better alternative.”
What began as a snack company has now turned into an alt-dairy startup. “I discovered that watermelon seeds are not only nutritious, packing more protein than almonds and rich in antioxidants, but also require 99% less water to grow than almonds,” says Maia Silva.
Força Foods’s flagship range, called Milkish, isn’t just dissing almonds. It also notes that watermelon seeds need 72% less water than oats and 53% less than soy, which are both among the mainstream plant-based milks.
The range – which comes in original and vanilla flavours – combines watermelon seeds with MCT oil, sunflower lecithin, pea protein, cellulose gel and gum, and natural flavours. They are sugar- and carb-free, have 42% fewer calories than low-fat milk, and are fortified with calcium, potassium, and vitamins A, D and E. (That said, the use of MCT oil means the saturated fat content is higher than 1% milk.)
The company is taking on competitors in a bold manner, asking consumers to “ditch the others” and declaring that “almods suck”. In a comparison with Malt Organics and Oatly, it labelled Milkish as the only product that is “delicious by itself”, noting how it can be used in frothed coffee beverages, cereals, smoothies and baking, or consumed straight up.
But despite this messaging, it seems Força Foods will follow the Oatly playbook, expanding first through foodservice locations before venturing into retail.
Força Foods isn’t the first alt-dairy company to innovate with watermelon seeds. Miyoko’s Creamery, an industry pioneer, has been selling a pourable mozzarella made from a combination of watermelon seeds and oats since 2022, and has previously introduced watermelon and sunflower seed cottage cheese. In India, Katharos Food (now owned by Nourish You) makes vegan mozzarella and Cheddar from watermelon seeds.
New-format milk alternatives to save the day
Courtesy: Forca Foods/Instagram
“Water scarcity is one of the biggest limiting factors to our global food supply and agriculture directly contributes to over 70% of the world’s freshwater use. Consuming lower footprint alternatives is an easy and delicious way to live more sustainably,” the company says.
This is true. Just last week, a major report found that the global water cycle is “increasingly out of balance”, and the crisis could threaten more than half the world’s food supply by 2050. One of its key recommendations is to reduce agricultural reliance on water and dependence on water-intensive foods.
But brands like Força Foods may also be appealing to something else. More and more companies are coming up with ‘non-traditional’ plant milks, or those outside the Big Four of soy, oat, almond and coconut.
Pistachio milk has become a social media darling ever since Táche burst onto the scene in 2020, while Dug’s potato milk began making waves a year later. Today, consumers can also buy buckwheat milk from Bam, sunflower seed milk from Lattini, pecan milk from THIS PKN, sesame milk from Hope and Sesame, and even banana milk from Mooala.
These brands are hoping to offer consumers something different. A new base, sure, but also cleaner labels, better nutrition, lower sugar content, and greater sustainability credentials than the status quo.
And they may be on to something. Research has shown that despite the widespread adoption of milk alternatives – 44% of US households bought these products last year, and nearly 80% went back for more – a third of Americans still haven’t found a plant-based dairy product that meets all of their needs.
“This is a call to action to the food and beverage industry. You need a fresh, creative approach to flavour creation, colour, and texture development to make products that captivate consumers,” said Sonali Dalvi, VP of innovation at Ofi, which conducted the survey last year.
Milk alternatives alone make up 36% of all plant-based sales in the US, and almond still reigns supreme. But outside of the Big Four, blends – think NotCo’s use of peas, cabbage and pineapple in NotMilk – rpreent the fifth-largest segment. Retail sales of plant-based milk dropped by 5.2% in the year ending July 14, with almond and soy milk on the decline and oat milk purchases remaining flat.
Can blends and newer options like Milkish turn the tide for the category?
Californian startups Friends & Family Pet Food Company and Novel Farms are co-developing cultivated meat for pets, and are already engaging with regulators.
Friends & Family Pet Food Company, the newly launched startup focused on alternative pet food, has announced a second collaboration to produce cultivated meat for cats and dogs.
The Berkeley startup is collaborating with Oakland-based cultivated meat producer Novel Farms, which has a range of cell lines to make products like quail, chicken, pork and mouse meat. It complements Friends & Family’s partnership with Singapore’s Umami Bioworks to create cultivated seafood for cats, which was announced in July.
Friends & Family and Novel Foods are in the testing and prototyping stages right now to determine which meats they want to focus on, but have earmarked a 2025 launch for the product line, co-founder and CEO Joshua Errett tells Green Queen.
The target market is the San Francisco Bay Area, and to reach these consumers and their pets, Friends & Family has begun engaging with the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), which regulates animal feed ingredients and pet food in the US.
“Just like all food, pet food is a meat-focused industry that could use some innovation,” says Errett. “Our collaboration-heavy, asset-light approach has the potential to change pet food forever.”
He adds: “Novel Farms is a great partner for us as they check all the boxes. We will work together to make customised pet nutrition for cats and dogs.”
A business model built on tech and collaboration
Friends & Family CEO Joshua Errett with Novel Farms CEO Michelle Lu | Courtesy: Friends & Family Pet Food Company
Errett, who has years of experience in cultivated meat and alternative pet food, established the startup last year with pet industry veteran and COO Jonny Cruz, and veterinarian and chief science officer Sarah Dodd.
The company has developed a proprietary pet food platform with freeze-drying technology to help cultivated meat producers get to market. “Our model is to partner with talented scientists, research facilities and bioscience companies that are creating cultivated ingredients,” explains Errett.
“We especially look for ingredients that are sought-after by pet food consumers. The ingredients and technology also have to be scalable – we want to build an iconic pet brand, and to do that, we need commercial-scale ingredients. And we create a path to market for these ingredients.”
The partnership with Novel Farms is the second among several others in the works, and will see its cultivated animal ingredients be incorporated into Friends & Family’s “shelf-ready foods” for dogs and cats.
“My vision is that Friends & Family is the masterbrand, and each product line we create will have its own branded identity,” outlines Errett. “Think of it like a house-of-brands strategy. This will allow us to showcase these amazing ingredients individually, and tailor each ingredient for a specific category of pet food.”
He adds: “For instance, we can make food for puppies, and cultivate the meat in that product line to have higher calcium, more protein, more phosphorus and other nutrients that puppies need.”
Michelle Lu, founder and CEO of Novel Farms, says: “Cultivated pet food makes perfect sense as an entry point for getting cultivated products to market. As Novel Farms prepares for our own market entry in the next year, pet food is a high-impact strategic target for us.”
Cultivated meat firms must make consumers the focal point
A prototype of the cultivated fish treats being developed by Friends & Family and Umami Bioworks | Courtesy: Friends & Family Pet Food Co.
Errett says Friends & Family’s pet food platform can help extend the ingredient, lower the cost and enhance the nutrition of the final product: “Part of our mission is to bring cultivated meat and fish to the consumer; to prove there’s demand. We can only do that if the cost is reasonable to the average pet food consumer.”
The resulting pet food will likely not be 100% cultivated meat – instead, it would be mixed with plant-based ingredients to create hybrid meat, which is the path most cultivated meat producers for humans have also taken. “We’ll aim for the highest inclusion rate we can,” says Errett.
He previously revealed that the cultivated seafood being developed with Umami Bioworks will have up to 10% fish cells upon launch, with an aim to get to 25-30% eventually. Asked how that partnership is going, Errett praised Umami Bioworks’s team as “true visionaries in not only cultivated technology, but in food”. “Things are moving along with that partnership,” he says, hinting at an update soon.
Umami Bioworks has also been in touch with the CVM with Friends & Family Pet Food, with the startups previously indicating a launch for Q1 2025.
Friends & Family is the applicant for the pet food being created with Novel Farms. “Each time we go through the regulatory process, our next application becomes stronger,” says Errett. “That’s stronger in terms of what data we need, but also the relationship we’re building with our contacts at the CVM.”
While politicians in several US states are attempting to restrict cultivated meat – Florida and Alabama have already banned it – the USDA and the FDA have both found these products to be safe, leading to the launch of Upside Foods‘s and Good Meat‘s chicken products. But consumers (and investors) remain on the fence: a global survey found that a third of pet owners are willing to try cultivated meat themselves, but nearly half would feed it to their furry friends.
“Cultivated meat and seafood companies will only be successful if they can create products that consumers love. Not simply one-to-one replacements for what’s currently out there, but products that provide true value to the end customer,” says Errett.
“I believe this is something every cultivated meat and seafood company needs to think about – even if you are B2B, somewhere along the line there will always be a C: the consumer. And you have to understand what that consumer wants. That’s why we are working closely with all our bioscience partners, to customise cultivated meat and seafood nutrition to bring the most value possible to pets.”
US food tech startup Voyage Foods is set to open a large-scale manufacturing facility for its ethical pantry staples, aided by a $25M loan from the government.
Recognising the vulnerability of the global cocoa supply, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested around $25M to help California’s Voyage Foods build a large factory for cocoa-free chocolate products.
The 284,000 sq ft facility in Mason, Ohio will have the capacity to produce 10,000 tonnes of cocoa-free chocolate annually, alongside the startup’s nut-free spreads and beanless coffee.
The USDA is partially funding the plant through its guaranteed loan programme, which has set aside $1B for rural businesses to meet their working capital needs. Businesses can be headquartered anywhere in the US, but the project seeking the loan must be in a rural area with a population of under 50,000.
“We received the loan this summer,” reveals Voyage Foods founder and CEO Adam Maxwell. “The loan allows Voyage to open our own facility hand in hand with the USDA’s backing.”
The factory is also being supported by the $52M Series A+ round Voyage Foods closed in May. “We’re on track for the facility construction and equipment installation to be complete by the end of 2024,” Maxwell tells Green Queen. It is expected to be operational in the new year.
Sustainable takes on carbon-heavy foods
Courtesy: Andria Lo/Voyage Foods
Maxwell established the company with R&D head Kelsey Tenney in 2021, aiming to secure the future of environmentally intensive pantry ingredients through inexpensive crops. It sells cocoa- and nut-free peanut butter and chocolate-hazelnut spreads in over 1,400 locations nationwide, made from ingredients like sunflower seeds, grape seeds, chickpeas, buckwheat, and more.
It also makes beanless coffee made from roasted chickpeas and rice hulls. By relying on cheaper and more stable raw materials, and making use of agricultural byproducts, the company is aiming to lighten the planetary impact of foods like chocolate and nuts, while also catering to allergies.
Dark chocolate is the most polluting food after beef and a major driver of deforestation, while nuts take up large amounts of water for production. While contributing to the climate crisis, both industries themselves face threats from climate change, which is why low-impact alternatives are becoming increasingly important.
For its cocoa-free innovations, Voyage Foods uses a proprietary technology to turn a base of grape seeds, sunflower protein, RSPO-certified palm oil and shea kernel oil into a chocolate-like compound product. An independent life-cycle assessment has found that its non-dairy milk chocolate produces 84% fewer emissions compared to conventional options, while its semi-sweet chocolate reduces GHG emissions by 81%.
They also use 99% less water to produce. If just 5% of the world switched to its cocoa-free chocolates, it would lower emissions equivalent to removing between 1.5 and 1.8 million cars from the road annually and save between 500,000 and 1.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water. This has led analysts to call its products “the most sustainable chocolates ever to come to market”.
Voyage Foods spearheads the cocoa-free chocolate space
Courtesy: Andria Lo/Voyage Foods
To date, Voyage Foods has raised $94M from equity investors, making it the best-funded player in both the cocoa-free chocolate and beanless coffee sectors.
This year, it also signed a deal with Cargill, the largest privately held company in the US. The agricultural giant has become Voyage Foods’ exclusive B2B distributor globally, giving clients access to the cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads, with initial launch plans slated for Europe.
“We are incredibly dedicated to our commercial partnership with Cargill. Voyage’s innovative technology coupled with Cargill’s global reach will allow us to bring our products to the world,” says Maxwell.
The cocoa-free chocolate maker will continue to manufacture in its 25,000 sq ft plant in Oakland, but the much-larger Ohio factory will help supply the products to Cargill and deliver on new CPG and foodservice partnerships.
“With this new facility, Voyage is maturing from a startup food technology company to a large-scale manufacturer with the ability to deliver value across the entire ecosystem to our people, partners, and the planet,” says Maxwell.
He declined to share information about the company’s financial performance, but said in May that its sales had been increasing every month. The factory will take things up a notch, with the hope of strengthening its leadership among cocoa-free competitors like Win-Win (formerly WNWN Food Labs), Planet A Foods, Foreverland and Nukoko.
Looking ahead, Maxwell says getting the facility operational and building a team is a key priority for the business: “This is an important component of delivering on opportunities that are in front of us, and meeting consumer and commercial demand in B2B, foodservice, and retail distribution channels.”
UK deep tech startup MicroLub has closed a £3.5M ($4.5M) funding round to replace fats and oils with its plant-based microgels.
Oil and water may not go together, but who says they have to?
For one British startup, water can functionally replace oils, addressing a host of issues related to the world of fats, ranging from environmental stress to public health.
MicroLub, a spinout company from the University of Leeds’s Sarkar Lab (named after founder and CTO Anwesha Sarkar), has fattened its wallet with a £3.5M ($4.5M) investment round.
The company argues that while fats and oils make food tastier and texturally appealing by adding “lubricity” and a “creamy” mouthfeel, they also increase calorie content. To overcome that challenge, the startup is betting on microgels of plant proteins, developed through the formation of protein and water gels that are broken into microparticles using a homogeniser. These microgels release water when chewed to create the creamy mouthfeel associated with fats.
This can slash the fat content of a product by up to 75%, though a 50% reduction is more common – in one trial, MicroLub cut the fat content in cheese by 35%, but taste testers were unable to tell the difference from conventional cheese.
“When we discovered the technology and tested lubricity, we knew it had many potential applications, which we can now explore further and commercialise with this investment,” said Sarkar.
The company already has three patents for fat replacement, texture enhancement and nutrient delivery technologies, which it will look to commercialise with the funds. The proceeds will enable it to develop new products with partners, scale up its tech with co-manufacturers, and build its team.
How MicroLub swaps out fat with water
Courtesy: MicroLub
“Molecular friction lies at the heart of any sensory experience – whether it’s a creamy yoghurt, a juicy burger, or a soothing skin cream, our perception is determined by the interaction of molecules within the product and with our bodies,” MicroLub CEO David Peters told Green Queen.
“Our innovative approach focuses on leveraging cutting-edge science to pioneer the next generation of protein technologies, to develop proprietary ingredient solutions that dramatically reduce molecular friction. We do this by adding lubrication to food products, using protein microgels coated with polysaccharide hydrogels,” he explained.
“Proteins and polysaccharides are already found in many food products, but the way in which we combine them mimics the ‘fatty sensation’ of full-fat products, adding texture, richness, and succulence in low-fat or plant-based foods.”
Since this is a platform technology, it works well with a wide range of proteins. “Our customers can choose which protein they want to use – whether that’s pea, soy, oat, fava bean, or even dairy proteins – as well as which polysaccharide,” said Peters.
“The optimal combination and ratio in which they are being combined will depend on which type of application the technology is being used in. For example, the ideal protein/polysaccharide combination for a plant-based burger will differ from that for a low-fat yoghurt.”
Those are just two examples of the kind of products that the microgel can be used in. “Baked goods, spreads and confectionery are among the other categories in which we have customers using our technology,” revealed Peters.
And who might those customers be? “We are in advanced talks with a number of potential partners to commercialise our technology,” he said, describing a three-step strategy for the business.
“The first phase in that process involves collaborating with those partners to develop products made with MicroLub-based ingredients. The second phase involves scaling up the technology and incorporating it into our partners’ manufacturing facilities, before entering the final phase, which will see us license the technology to our partners, so they can launch commercial products.”
Cutting down saturated fats and ingredient lists
Courtesy: MicroLub
The $3.3B fat replacement market has many challenges, as a recent report by British chef and writer Anthony Warner pointed out. “There is often a focus on protein when we talk about food system health and sustainability, but fat is equally important,” it stated.
Animal fats are already linked with environmental, ethical and health concerns, while tropical oils like coconut or palm – often the only functional alternatives to the former – present significant sustainability and biodiversity issues, largely due to deforestation.
Peters noted how reduced-fat and plant-based foods have “struggled to achieve anything like their full sales potential, because of issues around texture, mouthfeel and astringency.” Microgels are especially effective in these products, he said.
It’s also among solutions that process existing ingredients via different approaches, freeing them from novel food regulations and paving the way for faster market entry than other alternative fats. “They are not the solution to all the problems surrounding fat, but they do offer a suite of different approaches to food innovators looking to improve their products,” Warner told Green Queen in August.
MicroLub isn’t looking to remove the entire fat content of a product. “Our technology requires there to be some [fat] present for structure and to perform certain functions, such as melting,” explained Peters. “But we can significantly reduce the fat content without any noticeable change to texture or mouthfeel. In addition, we enable our customers to remove thickeners and emulsifiers from their products, thereby shortening their ingredient lists and creating clean-label products.”
While unhealthy saturated fats are contributing to the growing obesity epidemic – half the world is on track to be overweight or obese in the next decade – fat is still a crucial macronutrient. MicroLub’s water-based solution, Peters argued, improves the nutritional profile of products by replacing saturated fat with protein and water.
“Our second-generation technology, which still uses proteins and polysaccharides but combined in a different structure, enables high-loading of nutrients without affecting the texture or taste of the product,” he added. “This enables our customers to create genuinely healthy products which are packed full of nutrients.”
Now, MicroLub is looking to build out its R&D team to dedicate resources for collaborative projects with partners. “We expect to be entering into a number of joint development agreements, as well as continuing to develop the technology and file additional patents,” said Peters.
German supermarket Lidl has extended its target to reduce Scope 3 emissions, which nearly make up its entire climate footprint. But experts say the shift to plant proteins needs to be accelerated.
European retail giant Lidl has revised its climate targets as it moves towards its net-zero target for 2050, with the move heaping pressure on rival grocers’ sustainability roadmaps.
The discount supermarket is aiming to cut its scope 1 and 2 emissions – direct emissions emanating from business-owned sources and energy consumption – by 70-80% by the end of the decade (depending on the country). In the UK, this is at the lower end now, coming down from the previous target of 80% reductions, thanks to a new shipping line).
However, the real progress is in the scope 3 emissions goal. These include indirect emissions from the entire supply chain, occurring from products that the company sells. They’re responsible for virtually all of Lidl’s emissions. “That is where the retailer needs to concentrate the vast majority of its reduction efforts,” says Florian Wall, senior associate for Germany at think tank Madre Brava.
“Independent of a 70 or 80% reduction target, we should not lose sight of the bigger picture here: a whopping 99.65% of Lidl’s emissions are scope 3, of which at least half come from the production of meat and dairy,” he adds.
Lidl is aiming to cut its scope 3 emissions by 35% in the next decade, and reduce its emissions from agriculture, forestry and land use by 42.4%. As part of this shift, the retailer is aiming to become the first retailer to align its plant protein offerings with climate targets.
‘Much more proactive approach’ needed
Courtesy: Lidl
In the last year, Lidl has marginally increased the share of plant-based meat sales from 11.1% to 11.8%, and vegan dairy from 6.1% to 6.6%.
In 2023, the company also committed to doubling the share of its plant-based meat and dairy sales by 2030. But Madre Brava has previously called upon Lidl to set a global target to expand the ratio of plant-based proteins sold to 60% by 2030 (it has already done so in the Netherlands).
The retail chain has also lowered the prices of plant-based analogues to match their conventional counterparts (or even beat them on price) in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It has positioned these products next to conventional meat and dairy items on shelves as well.
“A big part of this shift is making the healthy and sustainable choice the easy choice for the consumer. We know from our own consumer survey in Germany for example, that 63% of consumers are willing to reduce their meat consumption,” says Wall, explaining how these measures have helped Lidl cater to the country’s flexitarian population.
“To make this change mainstream, Lidl must focus on the mainstream: the flexitarians generally open to reducing their meat consumption but needing support. Lidl lowered their prices for their private label plant-based products by 23% – and instantly saw a demand increase of 30%,” he adds.
But while Lidl has made some progress here, Wall says its efforts must be accelerated: “Lidl measures its protein ratio for two categories: protein food (mainly meat) and dairy. If Lidl continues with its current rate of change, it would hit its 2030 protein ratio target in the dairy category, but not in the protein food (meat) category.
“Lidl, like any food retailer, has a clear impact on consumer choice, through the food environment it creates. The good news is, there are many levers it can pull to accelerate the change, and it’s worth mentioning them. They include price, placement, promotion, transparency, consumer education, plant-based default options, portion size, faster go-to-market cycles, wording (labelling), and product reformulation.
“Several retailers across Europe are experimenting with these measures. Lidl could take a much more proactive approach here.”
Lidl piles pressure on Rewe
Courtesy: Lidl
Despite the need for more rapid action, Lidl is still a leader in the retail sustainability race in Europe. “At the moment, [Lidl is] walking, rather than running towards its destination, but others are standing still,” says Wall.
“Lidl is now the frontrunner on both fronts: their commitment to shifting sales to more plant-based protein is essential to meet their scope 3 emissions targets, and their focus on the Planetary Health Diet is positive,” he suggests.
The scope 3 emissions target is in line with that of the Rewe Group, which last year became the first German supermarket company to set a full-scope target. However, there’s a big gap in their approaches, which has left the latter “playing catch-up”.
Livestock farming takes up two-thirds of Germany’s food-related emissions. Lidl acknowledges that meat and dairy play a major role in its scope 3 emissions and, unlike Rewe, it has made the necessary moves by committing to the protein ration.
Courtesy: Madre Brava
“At the moment, Rewe’s approach is as much use as a sat nav that tells you the destination but not the directions,” says Wall. “A target without a plan is not really a target. We would urge them to publish protein diversification plans and targets. Without them, they can’t hope to achieve the reduction in emissions they are aiming for.”
He adds: “The best thing Rewe could do now to kickstart progress to meet its scope 3 target is to set protein diversification targets and follow some of the best practices from other food retailers when it comes to pricing and placement of plant-based alternatives.”
Edeka, Aldi and other retailers are set to publish their scope 3 targets in the coming weeks, and this could make for a “much healthier and more sustainable” supermarket landscape in Germany.
“Scope 3 represents a huge part of supermarkets’ overall emissions, and meat and dairy products represent a big part of scope 3, so frankly, no supermarket will reach their overall, or scope 3 emissions reduction targets without protein diversification targets,” he says.
The World Wildlife Fund has launched a tool for supermarkets to align their sales with their climate goals, urging them to sell more plant-based food than animal protein.
With retailers playing a key role in the food system’s emissions and its transition towards a low-impact industry, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is helping them with a new methodology to enable the protein transition.
Meat and dairy take up 57% of agrifood emissions, and up to a fifth of the world’s total emissions, while also using up 80% of farmland and 30% of the global freshwater supply. But despite this disproportionate use of resources, livestock farming only supplies 17% of the world’s calories and 38% of its protein.
Experts have suggested that emissions from the food system alone will blow us past our 1.5°C budget, and maybe even the 2°C mark – there’s no way for us to meet our climate targets without addressing agriculture.
On the flip side, vegan diets have been found to reduce emissions, land use and water pollution by 75% compared to those rich in meat. And even if we replace just half of our meat consumption with plant-based alternatives, it can lower farm and land use emissions by nearly a third, while halting deforestation and reducing hunger by 3.6%.
Hence, the protein transition – i.e., the shift away from animal- to plant-based food sources. Dietary change is the most effective lever in lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and as gatekeepers of both sides of the supply chain, retailers play a crucial role in enabling this shift.
“Retailers are critical in accelerating the transition to healthy and sustainable diets, particularly in countries with high consumption-related environmental impacts,” said Brent Loken, global food lead scientist at WWF. “This transition requires a rapid transformation of food environments and for healthy and sustainable foods to be made more affordable and accessible to all.”
To help move the needle, its Planet-Based Diets Retailer Methodology aims to support supermarkets in promoting plant-based food consumption over animal-sourced foods, which the conservation organisation says is critical to “restoring nature, limiting the impacts of climate change and supporting consumer health and wellbeing”.
Retailers urged to measure by weight, not protein
Courtesy: WWF
The report breaks down food sources into seven groups: meat, plant proteins, and meat analogues; dairy and dairy alternatives; fats and oils; fruits and vegetables; grains and cereals; tubers and starchy foods; and snacks high in fat, salt and sugar.
The methodology proposes a stepwise approach to help retailers drive the shift towards a more sustainable food system. The first step of the protein transition is to measure the balance of animal and plant-based sales for whole products like sausages, chicken breasts, chickpeas and yoghurt, as well as categorise composite products (like meals, salads, and sandwiches) into meat-based, seafood-based, vegetarian, and vegan. This step covers both branded and private-label offerings.
It recommends that retailers measure foods by weight instead of protein content, and provides several reasons for it. First, ‘protein transition’ doesn’t refer just to the macronutrient, but the overall diet. Plus, focusing on protein in the analysis could then delve into complexities like bioavailability and amino acid profiles, which raises the question of where to draw the line.
Secondly, focusing on the weight also allows the analysis to capture the entire spectrum of a retailer’s offering, not just their protein content. It also aligns with the methodology of other dietary models like the Planetary Health Diet or national guidelines, which aim to find the most optimal foods to achieve specific goals like meeting nutritional requirements and lowering climate impact.
Next, sales-based measures of products offer a standardised way to compare different products and categories, as well as across food groups. And finally, WWF says measuring sales in weight is straightforward and practical for most retailers, as they often manage inventory and sales data based on volume.
“This approach aims to provide a practical, consistent and holistic methodology that helps retailers effectively manage and improve the sustainability and health of their product range, while remaining aligned with established dietary frameworks and taking a broad view of diet quality,” the report reads.
WWF calls for 74:36 sales ratio in favour of plant-based foods
Courtesy: WWF
In step two, the WWF outlines an opportunity for retailers to dive deeper into the data of their own-brand products. This involves breaking down their composite products on an ingredient level to enhance the granularity in product categorisation. Here, retailers would measure the weight of each ingredient with a product, rather than using its total weight. For example, in a vegan lasagna, the 70g plant-based mince would go in the first food group, and the 20g non-dairy cheese in the second food group.
The methodology also offers a way for supermarkets to go beyond the protein transition and promote a healthy and sustainable dietary shift by addressing foods outside meat, dairy and their alternatives. “Retailers should track the proportion of whole grain sales compared to refined grains, as well as the proportion of fats from animal-based or plant-based sources,” it explains.
WWF is now urging retailers to set clear targets to rebalance diets in favour of plant-based – or planet-based, as it likes to say – foods. It has recommended setting targets to achieve a ratio of 60% plant-based protein sales, as well as an overall sales split of 74% in favour of plant-based foods (including vegetables, grains, starches and other food groups).
Some retailers in Europe have already done so. Lidl and Ahold Delhaize have set protein ratio goals in certain markets, and are vying to be the first to establish an international target.
“Retailers must be prepared to adapt their sales strategies to achieve both their own sustainability commitments and contribute to global goals,” said Mariella Meyer, senior manager of sustainable markets at WWF Switzerland.
“We know that intensive agriculture is the number one driver of the catastrophic decline of wildlife and nature, so promoting healthy, sustainable dietary choices is key. In countries where animal-source foods are overconsumed, food retailers can lead the way by rebalancing their products.”
The report also suggested that reformulating meat analogues that are high in salt, fat or sugar and may lack essential micronutrients is key to the protein transition. This is also why dairy alternatives need to be fortified, and why WWF champions plant proteins like tofu, tempeh and seitan to replace meat consumption.
Californian startup The Better Meat Co has received regulatory approval for its Rhiza mycoprotein ingredient in Singapore, paving the way for its international debut.
The Better Meat Co is now cleared to sell its Rhiza mycoprotein in Singapore, allowing companies to use the ingredient in meat analogues, as well as an “enhancer” in dairy products and blended meat applications.
The fungi strain covered by the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) approval, Neurospora crassa, has a long history of consumption in Asian food, from a base for oncom – a fermented Indonesian staple made from byproducts like soy pulp (or okara) – to fermented okara in China’s Gannan district.
It comes three months after the US Food and Drug Administration granted a ‘no questions’ letter to The Better Meat Co, in response to its notification to the agency that its mycoprotein falls under the Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) label.
Now, the SFA’s go-ahead opens up The Better Meat Co’s market outside the US for the first time, heading to a country known for its penchant for future foods.
Shelf-stable Rhiza mycoprotein can be used in blended meat
Courtesy: The Better Meat Co
Rhiza is described as a whole-biomass ingredient, rather than a protein isolate, made from the filamentous root-like structure of the fungi. Aside from Neurospora crassa, The Better Meat Co actually has three other US patents for other Neurospora species for use as a shelf-stable food ingredient.
The mycoprotein contains all essential amino acids and has a protein content of 50% by dry weight, which is higher than eggs. It also has a protein digestibility score of 0.87-0.96 (close to casein, beef and eggs). Plus, it has more fibre than oats and more potassium than bananas, while containing no cholesterol and “virtually no saturated fat”.
Aside from being a climate-friendly form of protein – unlike conventional meat – it has functional benefits that make meat blended with Rhiza have superior yields and an improved texture after being cooked.
The ingredient has featured in products spanning steaks, foie gras, carne asada, tacos, chicken cutlets, bacon, tuna, deli slices, sausage, jerky, and more. “It’s far more meat-like in its texture than TVP, and is a whole food that can act as a single ingredient product on its own (with seasoning added),” founder and CEO Paul Shapiro told Green Queen.
“The Better Meat Co sells our mycoprotein B2B, and in a shelf-stable granule format. There’s no cold chain needed,” he explained. “The buyer (a food company) simply hydrates it and then either uses it as a single-ingredient animal-free meat, or adds it as an ingredient into its formulation.”
He added: “Rhiza can be used both to make animal-free meat and as an enhancer to hybridise animal meat. It is the only mycoprotein in the world recognised by USDA as safe and suitable for inclusion in animal meat.”
Rapid progress for The Better Meat Co
Courtesy: The Better Meat Co
The Singapore approval is a feather in the startup’s cap after a tough couple of years. Until this summer, it had been embroiled in a bitter IP battle with fellow mycelium producer Meati since late 2021. The Better Meat Co had sued Meati – one of the best-financed alternative protein companies – for undermining its IP and attempting to “bully” a less-funded rival.
Meati, which also employs submerged fermentation tech, responded by accusing the former of stealing its IP. But a judge in California ruled largely in The Better Meat Co’s favour in June, with both sides agreeing to end the dispute.
Since then, The Better Meat Co has received its FDA letter in the US, obtained a $1.5M government grant to build a factory, and slashed mycoprotein production costs by 30%, matching the price of commodity beef when manufactured at scale. In the six years since it was established, the startup has raised $27M, but it is currently not fundraising.
“As demand for Rhiza mycoprotein far outweighs supply right now, our major focus is on scaling to be able to produce more of this important ingredient for food producers,” Shapiro said.
The startup has already signed multiple letters of intent and offtake agreements with major consumer brands in both the US and Asia, and has been working with meat industry giants Hormel Foods and Maple Leaf Foods to develop meat analogues.
“Whether as the star ingredient in animal-free meats or as a highly functional meat enhancer, Rhiza mycoprotein is the perfect fit for food companies seeking to make better meat,” Shapiro stated. “We’re looking forward to Singaporeans getting a chance to enjoy a taste of the future of food – now.”
The company will join a nascent mycelium space in Singapore. Quorn, a brand synonymous with mycoprotein (which is derived from mycelium), has been operating in the island nation since 2017, while Dutch startup The Protein Brewery received the SFA greenlight for its mycelium ingredient Fermotein earlier this year.
Locally, 70/30 Food Tech has launched a research lab to develop mycelium protein products, and Mycovation‘s MyX line of mycelium products can be used in meat analogues, baked goods, functional foods and beverages, and extruded snacks.
Infinite Roots and the Hamburg University of Technology have received a €2.6M grant from the German government to develop tech that transforms whey into a feedstock to grow mycelium.
As mycelium protein mushrooms in popularity, the German government is backing a new project to tackle the massive amount of waste created by the dairy industry, and turn it into a valuable ingredient with fungi.
The Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and local food tech startup Infinite Roots have been awarded a €2.6M ($2.8M) grant by the federal food and agriculture ministry (BMEL) to develop technology that can upcycle whey – the liquid left over after milk is curdled and strained – into a feedstock for mycelium fermentation.
The funding was authorised by the parliament via the federal office for agriculture and food (BLE), the central implementing authority and project management arm of the BMEL, under the national innovation support scheme.
Why Infinite Roots is aiming to upcycle whey
Courtesy: Infinite Roots
By volume, whey is the largest byproduct of the dairy sector. Around 80-90% of milk that enters cheese manufacturing facilities ends up as whey. And globally, between 180 and 190 million tonnes of whey are produced annually.
Not all of this goes to waste – about half is processed into added-value products like whey protein, functional foods, edible films and coatings, and lactic acid. But not enough is repurposed either, and whey disposal is a costly process, both in terms of economics and the environment.
Its biochemical and chemical oxygen demands are significantly higher than wastewater, which poses an environmental challenge. Meanwhile, if not disposed of properly, whey can contaminate groundwater and present risks to farmland.
This is what the German government is hoping to address with its grant. The project aims to create a technology that can use whey as a feedstock for mycelium growth, which in turn would be used for novel ingredients and products. Mycelium is the root-like structure of edible mushrooms, comprising a network of tiny thread-like cells that grow underground to form an intricate web of connections. It’s a fast-growing market, set to cross $6.5B by 2032.
Infinite Roots already uses industry sidestreams – spent grain from beer brewing – to grow mycelium for its own meat analogues. “Whey protein is an exciting alternative that opens the door to unique flavour profiles, though it does require fine-tuning our fermentation process to ensure that the mycelium can efficiently absorb the nutrients,” a company representative tells Green Queen.
“Whey also brings the advantage of being a relatively low-cost byproduct, which could help drive down production costs in the future. For now, we’re focused on investing in new research, fermentation technologies, and processes to perfect the concept.”
Mycelium meat on the horizon with impending EU regulatory approval
Courtesy: Infinite Roots
Infinite Roots is working towards commercialising its vegan meat range, and says the whey project is in its research phase and currently only requires limited quantities of the protein from local dairies.
“Our current product lineup is vegan, but any future products that incorporate whey will not be classified as such. That said, with whey as a feedstock, we see the potential to create highly nutritious, protein-rich foods,” the spokesperson adds.
The project will offer a solution to waste disposal and create new revenue streams for what it calls an abundant byproduct, turning sour whey into a valuable resource. “Our upcycling technology will not only optimise the fermentation process, but also turn a problematic waste product into a valuable resource, saving time, reducing costs, and introducing sustainable practices into the food industry,” says Infinite Roots CEO Mazen Rizk.
It is among a number of mycelium companies teaming up with the animal protein industry. US startup Bolder Foods is selling a semi-finished mycelium product to cheese and dairy manufacturers, Finnish player Enifer is also using a dairy byproduct as a mycelium feedstock for human food, feed and aquaculture applications, and industry giant Quorn is supplying its mycoprotein (a mycelium-based protein) as part of burgers and sausages blended with meat for UK hospitals.
TUHH is simultaneously leading an educational drive involving young researchers to promote awareness around upcycling and sustainable food technology, which Rizk says adds an “exciting” dimension to the project. “We’re not just developing new technologies; we’re inspiring future innovators in sustainable food production,” he notes.
Infinite Roots says the fusion of mycelium and whey could offer “intriguing health benefits, thanks to the complementary nature of these ingredients”. Its current ingredient – the one using spent grain from Bitburger Brewery (an investor in the business) – is in its final stages of development and expected to launch in the coming months.
“We’re already in talks with food manufacturers, with plans for an initial rollout in select product categories before scaling up further,” the spokesperson says.
The startup, which has raised $73M to date, has already achieved self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the US and notified the FDA to receive a ‘no questions’ letter, although it isn’t considered a novel food, since it only uses edible mushroom strains. “We’re in the final steps of securing clearance for market entry in Europe,” its representative says, “while in Asia, we’re already set to offer our products to consumers.
The Danish government is pouring 15 billion kroner into green research and innovation, which includes a focus on climate-friendly agriculture and alternative proteins.
To speed up its path to net zero by 2045, Denmark is investing 15 billion kroner ($2.1B) until 2030 in R&D for new technologies spanning four distinct research missions.
The government is aiming to make it easier to transfer new climate-centric tech solutions from the laboratory into society, strengthening capabilities around carbon capture, biofuels, food and agriculture, and the circular economy. Policymakers also want to resolve any barriers that impede these technologies’ part to market – like testing, documentation, or coordination between authorities.
There’s a major focus on the agrifood sector, which is the largest source of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, making up 25% of the share (versus 24% from transportation and 19% from energy). Addressing carbon-intensive farming is key to meeting its goal of reducing emissions by 70% by 2030 (from 1990 levels) – the country became the first in the world to announce a carbon tax on meat and dairy production earlier this year.
“Climate change is one of our generation’s biggest challenges, which we can only solve with innovation and in collaboration with the country’s most talented researchers,” said Christina Egelund, Denmark’s education and research minister.
“Known solutions and technologies have brought us far, but not at the finish line. We must further develop, test and make the solutions even more widespread,” she added.
Denmark deepens focus on plant-based foods
Courtesy: Kravcs/Getty Images/Green Queen
Denmark is pumping 500 million kroner ($73M) towards a future-friendly food sector. The funds will be used to develop technologies that can significantly reduce the climate impact and land use of conventional and organic food production, including emissions from livestock and fertilisers, and lower negative effects on nature.
To do so, it is looking at solutions such as soil carbon sequestration, biorefining (including pyrolysis and biochar), new feed products linked with smaller climate footprints, plant breeding, and more effective regulation (for example, on emissions reporting).
Much of this research mission covers the AgriFoodTure partnership between universities, knowledge institutions, small businesses, and multinational corporations. The initiative already has 18 projects with 70 partners working to generate new solutions for the agrifood sector under five tracks: land use, animal food production, plant-based food, alternative protein and food biomanufacturing, and value chain aspects.
The Danish government is aiming to fast-track documentation and regulation, establish a new foundry for sustainable food, introduce mandatory implementation and follow-up, and discover solutions for a climate-neutral agriculture sector. It also namechecked precision fermentation and gas fermentation among the key solutions.
The focus on alternative protein is an extension of the country’s recent moves to greenify the domestic food industry. Emissions from beef consumption make up 45% of its emission reduction targets, while the country is a major exporter of pork and dairy, two groups of foods with large climate footprints.
In June, the Danish parliament approved the first carbon tax on agriculture, with farmers set to pay 720 kroner ($105) for their cattle herd’s emissions from 2030, rising to 1800 kroner ($260) in 2035.
“Bureaucracy and slowness must not stand in the way of the green transformation of agriculture,” said food and agriculture minister Jacob Jensen. “That is why I am happy that we are now allocating funds to more quickly develop, test and implement the measures that will make the transition easier for farmers. With the plan, we give farmers a real opportunity to implement the technologies that can reduce their tax payment.”
Denmark was also the first country to establish a national action plan to transition towards a plant-based food system. The scheme includes training chefs in public and private kitchens to prepare vegan meals, a greater focus on plant-based diets in the education sector, expanding exports of locally produced vegan food, and investing more in R&D for this industry.
Carbon capture and biofuels not bereft of criticism
docuCourteys: TeamDAF/Getty Images
The move will increase universities’ research and innovation funds and long-term research capacity by 500 million kroner ($73M) in 2025, prioritise strategic climate research environments, and bolster coordination in the implementation of such funds.
Denmark’s lawmakers also hope to strengthen the links between the four missions, authorities and international research initiatives, while addressing the need for test and demonstration facilities, all aimed at increasing the speed of rolling out technologies.
Not all of the research missions are universally embraced by climate activists. For example, Denmark has 30 projects centred around carbon capture and storage solutions, and was the first country to open an underwater burial site for CO2 and import the gas from other nations.
But these technologies come with a wide range of problems, despite being deemed necessary by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency. The process of capturing and storing carbon itself emits 21% of the gas involved, and it’s highly expensive and unproven on a large scale. Experts also suggest that building a wind or solar power plant is a much more efficient approach.
Similarly, Denmark is championing ways to convert renewable electricity into products that can lower emissions from transport and industry, which currently have no cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels. One of these approaches is power-to-X technology, which converts energy into hydrogen for biofuels – but the tech’s efficiency and approach have come under some criticism.
Finally, the country is also targeting a circular economy with the green innovation investment, with 19 projects involved in developing solutions to enhance resource productivity, reduce waste, increase recycling rates and quality, and slash emissions from products – with a particular focus on plastics and textiles.
“Green research and technology is a core element in the transition, because it creates the concrete tools for agriculture to adapt and develop in a greener direction – also for many years to come,” suggested Jeppe Bruus, the minister for the public-private green tripartite. “The government is now coming up with a concrete plan for that core element.”
Moolec Science has received what it claims is the first USDA approval for genetically engineered peas, which can produce iron-rich beef protein via molecular farming.
Luxembourg-based molecular farming startup Moolec Science has obtained US regulatory approval for PEEA1, which are genetically engineered peas that can produce iron-rich bovine myoglobin.
In a letter marking the completion of the regulatory review, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) “did not identify any plausible pathway” by which Moolec’s modified garden pea would “pose an increased plant pest risk”.
It is the third instance of regulatory clearance achieved by Moolec in the last 18 months, joining its nutritionally rich GLASO safflower oil and Piggy Sooy (soybeans that contain pork proteins).
“With USDA approval for our genetically engineered pea, Moolec has now secured regulatory clearance for all of our key crops in the US: safflower, soybean, and pea,” said Moolec co-founder and CEO Gastón Paladini.
“We are proud to be the only molecular farming company with three US regulatory approvals and a major commercial contract. This milestone underscores our leadership in the landscape with tangible, science-backed results.”
Targeting iron deficiency with a plant-based source
Courtesy: Moolec Science IR
Myoglobin is a heme protein found in mammalian muscle cells, which facilitates oxygen storage and diffusion in humans and dogs, and is an essential source of taurine for cats. It’s also the protein responsible for the colour and iron content of meat and seafood.
According to a recent scientific review, nearly a quarter of the world’s population suffered from anaemia in 2021 (a direct result of iron deficiency), with cases increasing rapidly for women, expectant mothers, young girls, and children under five. Globally, 31% of women suffered from the condition, versus 17.5% of men. When the amount of iron in the body is too low, it can’t produce enough red blood cells to generate oxygen supply.
Moolec’s genetically engineered peas produce high yields of bovine myoglobin, which allows it to cater to consumers looking for plant-based sources of iron. The company believes the product can hake up the food ingredient market and the $2B pea protein market by offering a nutritious alternative to conventional meat.
Moolec CSO Amit Dhingra called the APHIS approval “a historic development”. “It validates Moolec’s strategic approach and exemplifies our commitment [to] advancing sustainable food production through science and innovation,” he said. “This approval is a critical step toward enhancing global food supply and meeting the growing demand for innovative, nutritious food solutions for the world.”
Following the APHIS approval, Moolec would require clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration too before it can commercialise the ingredient.
It has been six months since Moolec confirmed the stable presence of a bovine myoglobin gene in pea seeds, so the product – set to be sold with the beef proteins embedded in its matrix – is still in its infancy. The company has earmarked 2028 for the commercial launch of PEEA1.
Moolec’s revenues swell ahead of GLA-rich oil launch
Courtesy: Moolec Science
Moolec’s other ingredients are much further along the way. The company acquired fellow molecular farming player Valorasoy Food Ingredients last year, taking over its industrial demo centre to sell texturised soy protein flours to B2B clients.
Meanwhile, GLASO – an oil with thrice as much GLA (an omega-6 fatty acid) – is coming to market next year, following an offtake agreement with a major CPG and pet food player, which would see the later use an initial 50 tonnes of the oil in 2025. Moolec is expecting to harvest 300-400 tonnes of GLA-rich safflower seeds this month. GLASO is also being used to develop a bovine chymosin protein, which is used in cheesemaking.
Then there’s Piggy Sooy, which earned APHIS approval in April and is currently undergoing field trials in three US states, with a launch targeted for 2027. Finally, it is also working on YEEA1, a dietary supplement and food ingredient derived from yeast.
Moolec is among a number of companies engaged in molecular farming, where scientists modify plant cells to express animal proteins, which can be harvested from leaves or other plant tissues. It allows startups to scale up faster while lowering production costs, since instead of using expensive bioreactors, they’re using plants as the factories.
Research suggests it’s a market that could be worth $3.5B by 2029, and Alpine Bio, Mozza, Miruku, Tiamat Sciences, Bright Biotech, ORF Genetics, PoLoPo, and NewMoo are all innovating in this field.
Moolec – which is listed on Nasdaq – is one of the pioneers, and raised $30M to fund R&D and scale-up efforts last year. The company reported a revenue of $5.8M (primarily from the Valoraoy ingredients) in 2024 in its latest earnings report, compared to $1M last year, against a rise in operating losses to $9.3M. The company now aims to capitalise on the revenue growth in 2025, driven by the introduction of the GLASO ingredient.
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Vital Meat’s cultivated chicken tasting in Singapore, Oatly’s new marketing campaign, and layoffs at The Every Company.
New products and launches
As it awaits regulatory approval in Singapore, French cultivated meat producer Vital Meatcollaborated with Hue Restaurant as part of a tasting in the city-state. The event featured three dishes using the startup’s cultivated chicken powder.
Courtesy: Carisa Lim/LinkedIn
There’s a new mushroom brand in town. California’s Thallus Foods is using the chicken of the woods mushroom to replace, well, the other chicken. It calls itself the first indoor cultivator of this fungi variety.
Speaking of new companies, in Denmark, Plantbox is curating plant-based meats and cheeses for wholesale consumers, and has gained listings at SPAR, Pico Pizza, Nemlig, Wolt, and more.
Courtesy: Oatly
Swedish oat milk giant Oatly has kicked off its new It Works in Tea campaign to target Britain’s tea-drinking tendencies. Featuring billboards in London, Manchester, and Brighton, the brand asked consumers to text a WhatsApp number if they were unconvinced. It received over 12,000 responses in the first 24 hours, who were in with a chance of winning a free tea set (with a mug and PG Tips tea).
London-based The Good Pea Co, which makes alt-milk powders, has rebranded to Kwerky, with a new five-ingredient oat and pea milk powder slated for launch next month.
Also in the UK, Tiba Tempeh has gained a listing for its tempeh block and mince at 327 Morrisons store, following a rollout in Sainsbury’s in the summer.
In more tempeh news, Mamame Foods has introduced tempeh chips made from black-eyed peas in original, hot chilli, sea salt and rosemary flavours. They’re available at Whole Foods in the UK and will come to Planet Organic this month for £4.99, alongside Erewhon and Sprouts in the US in the coming weeks.
Courtesy: Mamame Foods
Discount retailer Asda has added Dark Choc & Honeycomb Cake Pop Bites to its private-label Free From range in the UK.
Belgian bakery and chocolate giant Puratos has extended its ready-to-whip Ambiante line with a dairy-free chocolate flavour, which uses cocoa from the company’s Cacao-Trace programme and can be used as a topping or filling for cakes, pastries, and more.
Courtesy: Puratos
Swedish startup Hooked Foods has teamed up with Sodexo to distribute its seafood and chicken analogues to the caterer’s network, following a successful Green Lunch for one of its clients.
Vegan frozen food company Strong Roots has launched Air Bites, a range of products designed specifically for air fryers. It is available in Crispy Spinach & Carrot, Crispy Pea & Lemon and Crispy Veg flavour for £2.95.
Courtesy: Oatrageous/Misunderstood Whiskey
And back in the US, Misunderstood Whiskey has unveiled its Outrageous brand of cream liqueurs made from oat milk. The 14% ABV bottles come in espresso, coconut and bourbon cream flavours for $28.
Company and finance updates
US biotech startup Tiamat Sciences, which created animal-free growth factors for cultivated meat via molecular farming, has ceased operations following financial constraints.
Californian firm The Every Company, the precision fermentation startup making recombinant egg proteins, has conducted layoffs at its Daly City headquarters.
Courtesy: NotCo
Chilean food tech startup NotCo, whose products are built on its AI platform Guiseppe, has developed a generative AI model to create new flavour and fragrance formulations.
Two years after the initiative’s launch, Ferments du Futur has opened an innovation centre in the Paris-Saclay science and innovation cluster. The public-private scheme is an accelerator for fermentation startups.
Spanish vegan egg maker Uobo has secured a six-figure sum in its latest funding round, and partnered with fellow Catalan startup Cubiq Foods – which makes animal-free functional fats – to develop a new egg alternative for B2B clients.
Courtesy: Uobo
In Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has issued several grants under the Small/Startup Business Innovation Research Program. Alternative protein startups include Agro Ludens ($7.1M), Deats Food Planning ($4.5M), and Fermenstation ($3.4M).
ProVeg South Africa has been working with the Western Cape government to raise awareness about food insecurity during the National Nutrition Week (October 9 to 15), distributing 2,000 educational booklet to youngsters, hosting events for locals, and handing out 2,500 vegan nuggets from Fry Family Food in Uniondale.
Courtesy: Redefine Meat
Israeli 3D-printed meat maker Redefine Meat has won plaudits from Dutch chefs after hosting them at its new visitor centre in the production facility in Best, with the startup’s R&D team taking in the feedback to improve upon its New-Meat range.
US biotech manufacturing firm Liberation Labs, which specialises in precision fermentation, has received a further $12M from cellular agriculture investor Agronomics. It brings its total equity-linked funding to $35.5M, which will be joined by its upcoming Series A round.
Policy, events and awards
The APAC Society of Cellular Agriculture has signed an MoU with Temasek Polytechnic to create its first student chapter, which will foster a community of students across Asia-Pacific looking to shape the future of food through cultivated meat and seafood.
Courtesy: Float
FoodBev Media has announced the winners of its 2024 World Plant-Based Innovation Awards, which include Float‘s adaptogenic oat milk, Elmhurst 1925‘s sour cream, Arla‘s JÖRÐ barista oat milk, The Mushroom Meat Co, and LOVO chocolate.
Speaking of awards, Australian cultivated meat startup Vow, which has been selling its cultivated quail since receiving clearance in Singapore this April, has won the Future Ready Award in the Australian Financial Review‘s 2024 BOSS Most Innovative Companies category.
Courtesy: Vow
Finally, also in Australia, Sydney will host the next edition of the AltProteins Conference in October 2025, following a three-year stint in Melbourne.
With a host of positive developments recently, the UK’s alternative protein sector is at a tipping point – but the country needs further action to solidify its leadership.
These are all critically important steps when you consider that 16% of British households are food insecure or have low levels of security, and that alternative proteins could add £6.8B every year to the country’s economy and create 25,000 jobs by 2035.
The UK Committee on Climate Change has said that meat and dairy consumption needs to be reduced by a fifth by 2050 to achieve the nation’s net-zero target for 2050, which would in turn contribute to food security, healthy diets, biodiversity, and resilience.
While the UK’s recent moves to advance alternative proteins position the country as a potential world leader in the industry, several actions need to be taken for it to truly transform its food system and address the global crises of climate change, public health and pandemics.
That’s according to a new briefing written by stakeholders in the food sector, including the Bezos Earth Fund’s Centre for Sustainable Protein in London, the Good Food Institute Europe, and the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC). The paper was created at a workshop held at the Pioneer Group’s Wilton Centre in June, which convened over 40 representatives from different parts of the industry.
“Alternative proteins face the inherent challenges of nascent regulations, consumer acceptance, smaller production scales, R&D investment needs, differing feedstocks, [and] techniques to create textures and flavours,” it reads. “To truly compete with traditional meat, alternative proteins must overcome three barriers: cost, sensory optimisation, and a complex regulatory system.”
Tactics to build on alternative protein progress
Courtesy: Imperial College
The report builds on a 2022 whitepaper by UK Research and Innovation, the national science funding agency, titled Alternative Proteins: Identifying UK Priorities, and underlines the need to develop and commercialise future-friendly foods spanning plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated proteins.
“The challenges in accelerating the development and commercialisation of the alternative proteins sector require a coordinated effort involving industry, government, research institutions, and other stakeholders,” it notes.
The paper lays out 10 tactical actions to take the UK’s alternative protein industry forward, each assigned to different stakeholders.
First, it calls for the mapping of the full alternative protein landscape across the UK, including an understanding of the UK’s alternative proteins asset base, capacities, readiness, and investments. This would be prepared by GFI and NAPIC by the end of the year.
These two entities would work with Growing Kent & Medway to create a database of food-grade development and testing facilities across the UK, and carry out a gap analysis.
The Pioneer Group and Growing Kent & Medway, meanwhile, could develop a programme of accelerators and incubator spaces for spinouts and small businesses, co-locating them with clusters of expert human capital, bioprocessing and R&D.
Meanwhile, the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at Imperial College London would scope a case for investment into a protein database to enable access to protein structures and predict properties like allergenicity, solubility and binding.
This research hub can also team up with NAPIC to facilitate collaboration between industry and academia, generating data and standardising the methodology for life-cycle assessments of alternative proteins.
Government action crucial to support the industry
Courtesy: Food Standards Agency
Public-private collaboration is a must, according to the report, which has outlined the need for the Food Standards Agency, Advanced Food Regulation, MAST Consulting, and Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein to develop and deliver a programme of regulatory training for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
NAPIC was assigned to host sandpit events to create ‘oven-ready’ projects involving full supply chains – and both SMEs and large corporations – for the development and commercialisation of these proteins. According to the paper, it would also work with Growing Kent & Medway, the Bezos hub, and IChemE to develop training programmes to cross-skill and upskill the future workforce in the industry.
GFI, meanwhile, took ownership of creating an in-depth policy and regulation stakeholder map for the UK alternative protein sector, and the Pioneer Group could develop a series of talking-head videos and blogs to highlight these foods’ importance on a national level, which would be launched on what is termed as the Alternative Proteins Day.
The briefing further highlighted the need for detailed terminology for the food sector, and for alternative proteins to be included in the food pyramid, the national industrial strategy, and the National Health Service’s Eatwell Guide.
Companies in the sector would also thrive from access to venture studio, accelerator, incubator and scale-up facilities. And the Food Standards Agency needs to set a framework for the regulation of different proteins that specifies parameters for standards, performance, safety, functionality, sustainability, etc. – progress has been made on this front recently.
“This briefing note calls on policymakers, industry leaders, and consumers to embrace alternative proteins as a key component of future food strategies,” the paper reads. “Alternative proteins represent a promising solution for sustainable food production. By supporting their development and adoption, stakeholders can contribute to a more sustainable and secure food system.”
Umiami, the Parisian startup making whole-cut plant-based chicken, is now called Swap, and has entered the US foodservice sector.
French plant-based meat company Umiami has rebranded to Swap, which it says is “a universal word, easy to understand, and works well for international audiences”.
“Swap perfectly represents our mission: to provide consumers with the opportunity to exchange their usual meat for a delicious and sustainable alternative, without compromising on taste or texture,” said co-founder and CEO Tristan Maurel. “Our new name is a call to action, encouraging consumers to make a positive choice for themselves and for the planet.”
The refresh coincides with the brand’s US launch, where it is targeting flexitarians via restaurants to encourage them to “swap” to a “new kind of chicken”. It has introduced the Swap Chicken, a whole chicken fillet alternative, at restaurants in Chicago.
Umisation tech enables clean-label meat analogues
Courtesy: Swap
The four-year-old startup, which has raised $107M in funding to date, relies on its Umisation texturising platform to produce whole-muscle replicas of conventional fillets like chicken and fish.
This involves a technique that transforms plant proteins into structured fibres without high heat or pressure. “This technology is the result of several years’ research and development, and uses plant matrices to produce a fibrous texture and control the size, direction and thickness of the resulting fibres,” the company told Green Queen last year.
“Umisation is an innovative protein texturing technology that is unique and specific to Umiami. It is the world’s first-ever process to be able to create – on a large scale – plant-based fillets that resemble pieces of animal meat: both in taste and texture,” they added.
The technology also allows the startup to produce plant-based meat with minimal ingredients, with the chicken using eight ingredients and no artificial flavours, colourants or texturisers.
Courtesy: Swap
This will likely resonate with Americans, who are looking for clean-label formulations amid the classification of meat analogues as ultra-processed (despite that label being separate from nutrition). Around 40% of the country’s consumers say they avoid ultra-processed foods and/or plant-based meats.
Meanwhile, half of people in the US now seek out clean-label packaged foods, while health is the major driver of overall food consumption, influencing how eight in 10 Americans eat. On the contrary, a sixth of respondents are dissuaded from trying meat analogues in a restaurant setting because they have too many ingredients.
And April, a decade-long proprietary study revealed that 99% of European manufacturers (like Swap) believe clean-label products are not just an advantage, but a cornerstone of their business strategy. In fact, over the next two years, these products are set to make up 70% of portfolios (up from 52% in 2021).
Swap Chicken on the menus at multiple Chicago restaurants
Courtesy: Swap
Swap’s chicken fillet has 21g of protein per 100g, and can be marinated, breaded, sliced, or cubed to be served either warm or cold. The company says it is also “priced comparably to boneless, skinless chicken breasts”, which enables it to help kitchens reduce both costs and food safety risks.
“We created a product that we believe will unlock the plant-based category for the mainstream consumer. Swap Chicken’s superior taste, clean ingredients and unrivalled product versatility finally enable chefs to recreate traditional recipes using only plant-based ingredients,” said Maurel.
Among the Chicago restaurants Swap has partnered with The Chicago Diner, Spirit Elephant, Soul Veg City, Majani, Duke’s Alehouse, and Clucker’s Charcoal Chicken, while it is also on the menu of SteMartaen Vegan Catering. “We believe Swap Chicken will elevate menu possibilities, making it easier than ever to Swap animal meat for plant protein,” Maurel said.
The company opened a 14,000 sq m facility in the Alsace region earlier this year, backed by local and federal government funding, which can produce 7,500 tonnes of plant-based meat annually, eventually rising to 20,000 tonnes. Swap says the rebranding also allows it to expand beyond chicken fillets to all kinds of meat and fish analogues, broadening its future product development plans.
“Our rapid growth opens up new opportunities for expansion, while staying true to our commitment to simple ingredients and authentic recipes,” said Maurel.
Researchers in Switzerland are using hydrothermal treatment to amplify the bioavailability of minerals in grains to mimic animal proteins like red meat.
In 2023, a study of 20 meat and plant-based analogue products revealed that almost all of the vegan products had a higher amount of micronutrients than animal proteins, a finding contrary to popular belief. This was thanks to the “excessive fortification” of vegan meats, which were found to have “significantly higher” levels of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, and sodium.
But as consumers move away from long ingredient lists and opt for cleaner labels and whole foods in the era of ultra-processed foods, the research outlined an important conclusion: if plant-based meat is to be widely consumed, manufacturers need to urgently find ingredients and technologies to enhance the bioavailability of micronutrients, using fortification as an added tool instead of the primary nutrient source.
Now, a group of researchers in Switzerland claim to have solved that challenge. In a project titled Mineralskiftet (or The Mineral Shift) and funded by the national innovation agency Vinnova, scientists have achieved a breakthrough that can increase the bioavailability of minerals like iron and zinc in grains, so much so that their concentrations are nearly as high as in meat.
The project was led by MatLust Development Node – run by the Södertälje municipality – in collaboration with Axfoundation, Hidden in Grains, and Warbo Kvarn. It relies upon the ancient technique of hydrothermal treatment to break down the acid that binds minerals in grains and ‘trick’ them into releasing the nutrients.
The Swedish Food Agency has recommended a decrease in meat consumption by 30% by 2035, and a doubling of whole grain intake nationally. “Almost everyone would benefit from eating more whole grains,” notes Veronica Öhrvik, a nutrition expert and project leader at Axfoundation.
“That’s why the market needs readily available products that are both tasty and sustainable, allowing us to more fully absorb all the nutrients from whole grains,” she adds.
How hypothermal treatment frees up minerals in grains
Courtesy: Axfoundation
The Mineralskiften project has been ongoing since 2021, with the primary goal of solving the mineral absorption issue in the protein transition and developing healthier whole-grain products from barley, rye and wheat.
One of the barriers to reducing meat intake, the researchers say, is that the minerals found in meat are easier to absorb than those found in grains. It’s partly why nine out of 10 Swedes consume fewer whole grains than recommended.
Iron deficiency is also a major risk for 25-30% of girls and young women in the country, and those who avoid meat are usually found to have lower iron levels. This is despite the average amount of grain consumed by Swedes containing more iron than the levels of meat, fish, eggs, and dairy consumed.
The problem is that grains like wheat, rye, oats and barley are bound to phytic acid, an antinutrient found in the outer layer of these foods, where many minerals and other nutrients are located. The human body can’t break down this acid, meaning that most of the minerals bound to it pass through the body unabsorbed.
To solve this challenge, the researchers employed an innovative method of hypothermal treatment, developed by Hidden in Grains, to release minerals in grains like barley, rye, and wheat varieties such as einkorn, emmer, Dalawheat, and spelt.
The technique is inspired by centuries-old grain preparation methods and optimised with modern tech at the Axfoundation’s Torsåker Farm. The researchers soaked the grain at specific times, temperatures and pH levels to kickstart the grain’s natural processes and trick it into thinking it’s time to release the minerals.
This makes it easier for the body to absorb those minerals. The project showed how the treatment can break down up to 99% of the phytic acid present in the grains, making nearly four times more iron and zinc available to the body.
“The results show that not only are the grain products flavorful and easy to use, but we can also enhance the nutritional value of grains with minimal climate and energy costs,” says Hidden Grains CEO David Fredlund.
Mineral-rich grains to appear in new products and dishes
Courtesy: Axfoundation
The process doesn’t work as well for all grains – oats, for example, remain relatively unchanged after the treatment. But tests showed the true potential of these future-friendly grains to treat iron deficiencies without harming the planet.
A portion of whole-grain pasta with tomato sauce had 35% of the daily recommended intake of iron for children aged seven to 10, higher than the 25% available in a portion of regular pasta with meatballs. The zinc levels in the latter (45%), though, were higher than in the former (20%).
To prepare for commercialisation, the innovation teams at both Axfoundation and MatLust Development Node have begun experimenting with new ingredients, dishes and products for both retail shelves and restaurant menus.
Axfoundation has worked with mills, retailers, and a range of stakeholders to develop Råggyberry, which it describes as a “snack of the future”. This contains hydrothermally treated whole grain rye, a byproduct from the prediction of white cheese, yoghurt, and an apple and blackcurrant compote.
It tested the product on 50 families with children through a partnership with meal delivery company Middagsfrid, where 80% found it to be tasty, 75% felt just the right amount of satiety, and 85% understood the health benefits. After receiving positive responses in a sampling with over 2,000 children, Råggyberry is being launched at Willys, Hemköp, and Urban Deli, all owned by retail chain Axfood.
The researchers also found that refined wheat flour can be entirely or partially replaced with whole grain in products through micronisation (which involves finely grinding whole grains), and tested various other meals and products, including granola, porridge, pasta, pancakes, crackers, cookies, and even sausages.
Hidden in Grains’s hydrothermally treated Bulgur as Barley product is available through wholesalers and has been used in dishes like tabbouleh, with the target buyer being the public foodservice sector.
“This is a great example of how minerals can be significantly more available from grain products, making it easier for more people to eat sustainably without compromising on nutritional content,” says Öhrvik. “Whole grains are among the most sustainable foods we can eat, and Sweden has significant production capacity.”
A federal judge has refused Upside Foods’s request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit against Florida’s ban on cultivated meat, throwing its Art Basel plans into doubt.
Upside Foods has had its request to halt the enforcement of Florida’s cultivated meat ban denied by a federal judge.
In a 21-page ruling last Friday, Chief US District Judge Mark Walker rejected the Californian food tech startup’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which would have allowed it to showcase its cultivated chicken at the Art Basel festival in Miami (December 6-8).
Florida was the first US state to ban cultivated meat, making it a second-degree misdemeanour to manufacture, sell or distribute these proteins. After being signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in May, the law came into effect on July 1.
A month later, however, Upside Foods – one of only two companies approved to sell cultivated meat by the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration – filed a legal complaint against the state, calling the move “unconstitutional”.
The Institute for Justice, which is leading the case on behalf of Upside Foods, sought a preliminary injunction to halt the ban until a decision on the lawsuit is made, allowing the company to sell its products and honour its event commitments. It had teamed up with local chefs for the Art Basel fair, and is set to host a tasting at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in the state capital next February.
But after a hearing last Monday, Walker has denied the preliminary injunction. However, this does not spell the end of the lawsuit.
Upside Foods ‘could identify no regulation’ to support specific arguments
Courtesy: Upside Foods
Upside Foods argued that the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) – which requires the USDA and FDA to inspect all poultry products, which apply to sales in states too – preempts Florida from prohibiting the sale of cultivated meat.
“Essentially, the federal government has said that cultivated chicken cells produced at Upside’s facilities can be used in poultry products, and the state of Florida is saying that they can’t. The state simply doesn’t have that power,” Paul Sherman, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, said at the time.
The state argued that cultivated chicken does not fall into the definition of a poultry product, but Walker noted that Upside Foods “has the better of the arguments” here, acknowledging that Upside Foods’s product comes directly from chicken cells.
However, while the company argued that Florida’s ban imposes ingredient and manufacturing requirements inconsistent with the PPIA, the judge said the plaintiff could not identify a law or regulation “creates a federal ‘ingredient requirement’ with respect to ‘cultivated meat’”.
Moreover, since Upside Foods does not manufacture its cultivated chicken in Florida, the ban on manufacturing doesn’t impact its operations or facilities. “Florida has not sought to reach into Plaintiff’s facilities to tell them how they should handle their cultivated chicken cells throughout the production process and then reframed such regulations as a sales ban,” he wrote.
“Just because Plaintiff’s product arguably falls within the scope of the PPIA, and thus, is under the USDA’s regulatory authority, this does not mean that a state is expressly preempted from banning the sale of that particular kind of poultry product,” Walker stated.
Lawyers to appeal decision as judge recognises ban’s effect on Upside Foods
Courtesy: Kevin Martin Galante/Upside Foods
While the preliminary injunction has been denied, the lawsuit continues. “Preliminary injunctions are just that: preliminary,” said Sherman. “The real fight is still ahead, and today’s ruling has no bearing on the final resolution of this case. We always expected the bulk of the lawsuit to be decided on its merits, and that’s exactly where we’re headed.”
The judge’s ruling revealed a number of partnerships Upside Foods had struck to sell cultivated meat in Florida before the ban was imposed. The company had already sold its cultivated chicken to at least one restaurant in Miami, and the chef it had teamed up with for Art Basel was also planning to offer the cultivated chicken at her restaurant on a limited basis by the first quarter of 2025.
Upside Foods had further identified chefs in Miami and Tallahassee for similar partnerships, but halted talks after the ban came into place.
“Defendants’ suggestion that Plaintiff’s evidence must establish something more than past sales or distribution, halted plans to work with Florida chefs, and future intentions to resume efforts to partner with Florida chefs and other businesses would effectively require Plaintiff to submit an admission concerning the commission of a crime under Florida law,” wrote Walker, noting that Upside Foods did not need to incriminate itself “just to get through the courthouse door”.
In recognising Upside Foods’s standing to seek a preliminary injunction, he stated that the “evidence demonstrates that it faces a real and immediate threat of criminal enforcement against it if it continues to attempt to sell or distribute its cultivated chicken in Florida”.
Suranjan Sen, an attorney at the Institute of Justice, called the denial of the preliminary junction merely a “procedural step”. “We are looking forward to appealing this preliminary decision while the case goes forward,” he said. “We are confident that the courts will ultimately recognise that Florida cannot ban products simply to protect local industries from honest competition.”
Florida isn’t the only state to have banned cultivated meat – a similar law took effect in Alabama at the start of this month. And lawmakers in Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia have introduced similar measures.
Singaporean cultivated seafood producer Umami Bioworks has expanded operations to the UK, and is in talks with the country’s regulator as it maps a path to market.
Umami Bioworks’s international expansion rages on, with the cultivated seafood startup now setting up operations in the UK, the land of fish and chips (and overfishing).
The UK is the latest in a growing list of countries on Umami Bioworks’s radar, which include South Korea, India, Malaysia, the US, and Singapore. “Over the past year, we’ve been evaluating a variety of strategies to bring our platform to the European market to address the growing challenges with seafood supply shortages and rising costs,” Umami Bioworks founder and CEO Mihir Pershad tells Green Queen.
It comes just a day after the UK government invested £1.6M for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to fast-track testing and regulatory approval of cultivated meat, and three months after it became the first European country to greenlight such a product for sale (albeit for pet food).
“We’ve been in contact with the regulators at the FSA, exploring the path to commercialisation in the UK market,” reveals Pershad. “We’re excited to be moving forward in the UK market after assessing the market needs and multiple conversations with regulators and potential partners.”
Those partners include institutes like University College London and Imperial College, which is also the site of one of Bezos Earth Fund‘s Centres for Sustainable Protein. “In general, we work with university collaborators on frontier projects to help unlock new innovations cultivated solutions more scalable and more affordable,” says Pershad.
“Our collaborations span a wide range of activities, from establishing new species for cell cultivation to the development of novel machine learning solutions that enhance the speed of development and scalability.”
Battling the UK’s big overfishing problem
Courtesy: Umami Bioworks
The company’s model in the UK mirrors its scale-up approach globally. “We intend to partner with an established food company to establish domestic production built upon Umami’s technology platform, producing seafood that meats UK consumer tastes and desires,” explains Pershad.
While the production capacity hasn’t been determined yet, he adds: “We see Umami’s role in the ecosystem to primarily be commercialising and scaling near-term cultivated solutions, but we also see tremendous value in seeding the future of the industry in partnership with academic collaborators.”
Umami Bioworks, which merged with fellow Singaporean cultivated seafood firm Shiok Meats in March, is among a number of startups using cellular agriculture to tackle the global overfishing crisis. Nearly 90% of the world’s fish stocks are now 80% of the planet’s fisheries have been fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted, according to the UN FAO.
One study suggests that we could be heading towards a complete collapse of ocean life by 2048, driven primarily by overfishing for human consumption, as well as marine pollution and climate change.
Looking locally, over a third of UK fish populations are being overfished, and a quarter have been depleted to critically low population sizes, marine protection organisation Oceana UK found. The government’s own scientists have said that 54% of the country’s catch limits set by lawmakers are at unsustainably high levels.
The UK relies heavily on 10 key fishing stocks, five of which are either being overfished or reaching critically endangered population levels. Of these 10 stocks, six are whitefish, the same type Umami Bioworks is first focusing on for its UK plans.
“We will be bringing production technology and capability for both premium seafood and companion animal products to the UK, and will determine the order of launch for various products in collaboration with our local partners,” says Pershad.
Umami Bioworks praises UK government’s effort to advance cultivated meat
Courtesy: Umami Bioworks
Britain’s appetite for cultivated meat may not be huge – a government-backed survey suggested that only a third would be open to trying these proteins – but it is certainly growing. YouGov polling shows that the number of Brits who would give cultivated meat a go has grown from 19% in 2012 to 26% now.
This is likely aided by the growing awareness about cultivated meat – nearly three-quarters (74%) of UK residents have heard about these foods. But while they generally consider them to be better for animal welfare and planetary health, concerns around taste and price remain.
Additionally, more people feel cultivated meat (27%) is less safe to eat than those who think it’s better (16%), although a third (33%) are unsure about the food safety aspect. It highlights a critical gap in consumer education and communication for the industry.
This will be remedied in part by the government’s aforementioned efforts to create a regulatory ‘sandbox’, which would provide application support to cultivated meat startups, speed up regulatory approval timelines, and expand the safety and nutritional knowledge of novel foods, all while maintaining the FSA’s safety standards.
“Ensuring consumers can trust the safety of new foods is one of our most crucial responsibilities,” said Prof Robin May, chief scientific advisor to the FSA. He added that the initiative “will enable safe innovation and allow us to keep pace with new technologies being used by the food industry to ultimately provide consumers with a wider choice of safe foods”.
Pershad says Umami Bioworks is “delighted” to see the FSA’s ambitions of creating a sandbox be realised: “We are strong proponents of sandbox approaches because we believe they enable companies and regulators to learn together and to share openly in a way that builds more robust and tailored regulatory frameworks when new technical approaches are involved.”
So where next for the company? It’s setting up production lines in Malaysia and South Korea, collaborating with research initiatives in India, and working with a pet food company to bring cultivated fish treats for cats to the US market next year. “We are in active review with documents submitted to regulators in major markets across America, Europe, and Asia,” Pershad told Green Queen last week.
“Of course, the EU is a significant seafood market and one that we are assessing closely,” he says now. The EU’s novel food regulation (which the UK is now moving away from, nearly five years after Brexit) has long been a major barrier for startups in the space. So far, only France’s Gourmey has filed for approval. “We don’t yet have a timeline or firm plans to announce for regulatory submission or market entry into the EU, but we expect to solidify those plans this quarter.”
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers a coconut-based infant formula, Marriott Hotels’s food waste driven, and a US government tool for regulatory help.
New products and launches
Los Angeles startup Before the Butcher has introduced a Cooked Plant-Based Breakfast Sausage Patty. The frozen product just needs to be reheated to an internal temperature of 165°F/74°C, and can keep in the freezer for 12 months.
Courtesy: Daring
Also in California, plant-based chicken player Daring has launched two new frozen entrée bowls in Buffalo Mac & Cheese and Queso Burrito variants. Both contain dairy cheese, so aren’t suitable for vegans, and will be available at Albertsons, Target, and Publix stores nationwide.
US grocer Trader Joe’s has brought out an unsweetened version of its Organic Non-Dairy Coconut Beverage, which is available for $2.99 per 32oz pack.
Courtesy: Trader Joe’s
Across the Atlantic, GoodMills Innovation will exhibit three new texturants, two made from peas and one from fava beans and wheat, at the Fi Europe 2024 event in Frankfurt (November 19-21).
Dutch alt-seafood producer Vegan Finest Foods has released three plant-based sushi rolls under its Vegan Zeastar brand. They come in three options: Oshi No Salmon, Spicy No Tuna, and No Salmon Asparagus.
Courtesy: Heura
Spanish plant-based meat maker Heura is opening a pop-up called The Phamacy in France to celebrate its new additive-free white ham. The setting mimics a real pharmacy with staff dressed in medical gear and a menu in the form of prescriptions.
In the UK, plant-based brand Meatless Farm has added two vegan sourdough pizzas to its lineup in Ham & Mushroom Style and Spicy Pepperoni Style flavours (available at Sainsbury’s), while updating its existing Beef Style Meatballs, Pork Style Sausages, and Quarter Pounders (which can be found at Morrisons).
Courtesy: Meatless Farm
Fellow British plant-based meat brand THIS, meanwhile, has partnered with fresh pasta maker Dell’Ugo to release two vegan ravioli products. Available in Bacon & Cheese and Chicken & Pesto flavours, they’re available on the Dell’Ugo website and at Morrisons.
In more UK news, egg alternatives brand Oggs has launched Gingerbread Cakes and Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow Cupcakes as part of its Christmas lineup. The cakes can be found at Sainsbury’s and on Ocado for £3.95, and the cupcakes are stocked at Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado for £2.35.
Courtesy: Coco2
And Australia’s Coco2 has debuted what it claims is the world’s first coconut-based infant formula, which took 10 years to develop alongside the University of Queensland, parents, and healthcare professionals. It offers three products for different age groups: up to six months, six to 12 months, and 12+ months.
Company and finance updates
Marriott Hotels, the world’s largest hotel group, has enlisted AI-powered food waste startup Winnow‘s expertise in 53 of its kitchens in the UK, Ireland and Nordics, after reducing its waste by a quarter in the first six months of 2024 through the technology. The company now aims to cut food waste by 50% in 2025.
North Carolina-based cultivated seafood maker Atlantic Fish Co has won an SBIR PHASE I grant from the US Department of Agriculture, which it will use to advance R&D operations.
In the US, the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration have jointly released an online tool to help biotech companies – including those involved in cultivated meat, precision fermentation and molecular farming – navigate the regulatory pathway.
Courtesy: Sanrio Co.
At the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, the makers of Hello Kitty will feature the cartoon in an exhibit focused on the sustainability potential of algae. The character will be turned into 32 different types of algae, from triangular microalgae to wakame, looking to promote their role in planet-friendly food, biofuels, bioplastics, etc.
The judge presiding over Upside Foods‘s lawsuit against Florida’s cultivated meat ban held a hearing lasting over two hours, and has suggested he will rule by early November, well before the Art Basel event in Miami Beach (December 6-8), where the startup is hoping to showcase its chicken.
Courtesy: Upside Foods
At the National University of Singapore, scientists have developed a scalable method for cultivating pork fat tissue using protein scaffolds made from secalin, a protein extracted from rye.
Alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Europe has published an updated edition of its scientific review on cell lines used in cultivated meat.
Finally, while promoting her new climate change movieThe Wild Robot, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o has endorsed eating plant-based food as one of the ways to “do something good for the planet”.
The UK government has awarded £1.6M to the Food Standards Agency to create a ‘sandbox’ to fast-track cultivated meat approval, alongside a new regulatory office.
Nearly five years after breaking away from the EU, the UK is rapidly stepping up its efforts to bring cultivated meat on British plates.
Today, it has awarded £1.6M to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to create a first-of-its-kind regulatory ‘sandbox’ for cultivated meat producers. The idea is to “support innovation through safety” by speeding up the timeline and lowering the costs related to regulatory clearance.
Sandboxes comprise controlled environments for situations where scientific and technological innovation has outpaced existing regulation – a lot of companies are currently making cultivated meat, but the UK’s authorisation process is slow and congested. These sandboxes run for a limited period to help startups, researchers and regulators work together to develop new rules, standards and guidance.
The investment for the Cell-Cultivated Products Regulatory Sandbox is part of the first round of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s Engineering Biology Sandbox Fund.
In addition to the financing, the FSA said it is pressing ahead with plans to set up a system of international cooperation, which would see the UK greenlight cultivated meat products that have been approved by other countries.
In a parallel effort, the government has also created a Regulatory Innovation Office to reduce the burden of red tape and accelerate public access to new technologies. It will work together with the Department for Transport, the Department for Health and Social Care, and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
Robert E Jones, president of trade association Cellular Agriculture Europe, said the move signposted the UK’s aim to be an innovation leader by “boosting its global competitiveness in the race to address food security and sustainability issues in our food systems”.
“The UK has the potential to be at the front of the pack in Europe’s projected £70B cultivated meat market, but only if investors know we are open for business,” added Jeremy Coller, president of the Alternative Proteins Association. “The creation of this sandbox is a fantastic step forward for growing British businesses.”
Cultivated meat sandbox will lower costs and approval timeline
Courtesy: Ivy Farm Technologies
Plans to create a sandbox were first announced by the FSA in February, after a 2023 report it commissioned found that speeding up novel foods regulation could help the UK meet its carbon reduction plans. The regulator said it was in talks with food companies and had issued a call for scientists to work alongside the testing project.
Alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe last month called on ministers to approve the FSA’s bid for funding to ensure the agency “can accelerate its understanding of the food safety aspects of cultivated meat”.
Regulatory sandboxes allow companies to test new concepts with real customers under the supervision of a regulator, as designed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The cultivated meat sandbox, a first for Europe, would provide pre-application support to startups, expand the safety and nutritional knowledge of novel foods, and reduce approval timelines, all while maintaining safety standards.
Due to launch in February, the sandbox will be jointly run by the FSA and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) over a two-year period, which will collect “rigorous scientific evidence” about the technology behind cultivated meat. The aim is to better guide companies on making products in a safe way, and demonstrating that they are, indeed, safe.
The regulatory bodies will address some of the key questions that need tackling – such as labelling – before cultivated meat hits the market. All this would enable the FSA and FSS to “keep pace with emerging technologies” and apply new, up-to-date insights when clearing novel foods for sale.
The sandbox programme aims to shrink the costs associated with regulatory applications – currently standing at £350,000-£500,000 per product – and help cultivated meat startups attract the investment required to scale up their manufacturing capacity.
So far, five companies have applied for regulatory approval in the UK. London-based Meatly, which targets pet food, is the only one to have received the go-ahead. Israel’s Aleph Farms (whose cultivated beef is already approved in its home country), French startups Vital Meat (cultivated chicken) and Gourmey (cultivated foie gras), and British player Ivy Farm Technologies (cultivated beef) are all waiting in the wings.
Now, the FSA expects at least 15 more applications in the next two years, and predicts that many more startups could crop up thanks to the development.
UK expands efforts to advance cultivated meat
Courtesy: Food Standards Agency
The announcement accompanied the FSA’s confirmation that it will establish a framework for international cooperation for novel food approvals, which was first suggested in May. This would enable the UK to authorise products based on their approvals in other countries like Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
These plans are yet to be backed by Keir Starmer’s Labour administration. But the FSA is planning to use some of the funds to set up an international regulatory network that would help set up such a system.
Cultivated meat is also on the radar of the new Regulatory Innovation Office, whose engineering biology focus involves helping regulators bring these products to market faster. “By speeding up approvals, providing regulatory certainty and reducing unnecessary delays, we’re curbing the burden of red tape so businesses and our public services can innovate and grow, which means more jobs, a stronger economy, and a better quality of life for people across the UK,” said science and tech secretary Peter Kyle.
“Ensuring consumers can trust the safety of new foods is one of our most crucial responsibilities,” said Prof Robin May, chief scientific advisor to the FSA. “The CCP sandbox programme will enable safe innovation and allow us to keep pace with new technologies being used by the food industry to ultimately provide consumers with a wider choice of safe foods.”
These developments are part of a larger effort by the UK to “modernise” its regulatory framework. In 2025, the FSA is rolling out reforms to the process, which include the creation of a new public register to replace the existing system of requiring a statutory instrument, and removing the need for renewals of approvals every 10 years.
The statutory instrument adds up to six months to a process that already takes over two-and-a-half years, and the renewal requirements add to the FSA’s already crowded backlog – around 22% of its 450-strong caseload are renewal applications, and it expects a further 300 in the next two years as approvals expire.
“New UK government ministers have confirmed they are content to proceed with our two initial market authorisation reform proposals to remove renewal requirements for authorised regulated products and allow authorisations to come into effect following ministerial decisions,” the FSA said last month. “We are now prioritising delivery of this work.”
Further demonstrating its commitment to the cause, the UK government also poured in £15M towards a National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), taking its total investment in the category above £91M. NAPIC involves multiple universities, farmers, regulators, and plant-based, cultivated meat and fermentation startups, alongside international partners like the UN.
Vegan chicken startup Simulate, famous for its Nuggs, has been acquired by Ahimsa Companies to get the business back on track after months of (dis)quiet.
Simulate, the plant-based meat brand known for its meme-famous Nuggs, has been taken over by Ahimsa Companies, a recently formed holding company.
First reported by Axios, the deal is a combination of cash and equity (the amount was undisclosed), and will be used to help the startup return to shelves and consumer’s plates. In recent months, its products have reportedly disappeared from grocery stores, leaving many wondering whether the business was going under.
Having raised $57M already, Simulate chose to find a buyer rather than try and secure more money in an increasingly difficult funding environment for plant-based meat companies.
It comes months after Ahimsa Companies, which is affiliated with the Ahimsa Foundation, bought vegan food brand Wicked Kitchen and its subsidiaries Good Catch and Current Foods for an undisclosed sum.
Courtesy: Simulate/Green Queen
Simulate’s journey from lockdown-favourite to recent struggles
Simulate first came on the scene in 2018, with founders Ben Pasternak and Sam Terris banking on the company’s tech-forward software-like approach – which involves constantly improving its formula and publishing its updates – to win customers over.
The social-media-savvy brand became (in)famous for controversial taglines such as ‘the Tesla of chicken’ and ‘Kill you slower’, leaning it to a silly-yet-serious approach that left a lot of impressions (and memes). The startup’s investors include Reddit co-founder Alex Ohanian, hip-hop legend Jay-Z, and frozen food behemoth McCain Foods.
The brand blew up during Covid-19, with its frozen chicken nuggets reaching online consumers at a time when most other vegan alternatives were only available in retail stores. By the end of 2021, its annual revenue hit $8M.
Simulate had also introduced vegan chicken breast, tenders, strips, cutlets, and the now-discontinued discs, and was once valued at $250M. But then, at the end of 2023, Pasternak stepped down as CEO (remaining as chairman), with Terris (who was COO) taking over.
“This was a decision Ben and I made together over many months, and we ultimately aligned that this would be best for Simulate as we scale up our new technology,” Terris told Forbes at the time.
In the last few months, things have been muted. The brand’s social media – its best marketing too – had largely gone quiet, with no posts since the end of June. The previous two were related to a new product, Insta-Chicken, that the brand said it would release online (but can’t be seen on its website now).
This led many fans online to wonder if this was it for Simulate. “Are you still going to make nuggets? The stores near me(in Philly)have stopped carrying them & I read you might be getting rid of them,” wrote one Instagram user. On a Reddit thread titled ‘Has Simulate Nuggs Gone Out of Business?’, customers said the brand’s website was down at one point, and its products could no longer be found on shelves.
Now, the mystery is out, and it seems Simulate is getting back on its feet. “We’ve spent the last year searching extensively for the right mission-aligned partner to help push Simulate’s technology forward. We found our match in Ahimsa,” Terris wrote on LinkedIn. “Feeling especially grateful today for our team (past and present), the Board, our investors, and NUGGS fans everywhere.”
Ahimsa Companies’s takeover of Simulate is the latest in an increasingly lengthy list of M&A deals in the plant-based sector, and the food tech industry overall. Research has shown that M&A activity in the food business reached an eight-year-high in the first four months of this year. And in Q2, the number of deals was up by a third compared to the same period last year.
“There’s been a lot of cash deployed to develop great products, brands and technology, but not under the right economic conditions to thrive,” Ahimsa Companies CEO Matthew Tullman told Axios. “To carry forth the plant-based movement, consolidation is really required.”
He outlined why driving the industry forward is important. “It is impossible to conceive of a future (in which) we can feed seven-to-10 billion humans on an animal-based diet,” he said, noting that he still has hopes for “a plant-forward future”, but the industry doesn’t work well with the typical venture capital timeline anymore.
Tullmann confirmed that Ahimsa Companies had no operational overlap with the Ahimsa Foundation, whose head Satish Karandikar is an investor in the holding company, and which led a funding round for alternative protein startup Eat Just last year.
As part of a roll-up strategy, Ahimsa Companies is now looking at companies in the precision fermentation, cultivated meat, extruded pea protein, non-dairy alternative, and plant-based food segments – it already has two larger deals in the pipeline, according to Axios. Additionally, it has bought a 50,000 sq ft factory in Ohio to produce meat analogues.
Courtesy: Nectar
The vegan nugget category is lucrative, but also overcrowded and highly competitive. In the US alone, there are 20 brands of plant-based chicken nuggets, such as Gardein, Quorn, Beyond Meat Impossible, Jack & Annie’s, Alpha Foods, Daring, MorningStar Farms, Yves, Rebellyous, LikeMeat and Boca – and that’s before you get to private-label brands. That has made it hard for companies to stand out, and some, like Nowadays, have exited the space.
Simulate seemed to have been facing a similar squeeze. But it will be buoyed by the takeover, and the fact that people love vegan nuggets – more so than even the conventional thing. In a recent taste test, more meat-eaters liked plant-based nuggets made by a leading brand (70%) than chicken-based versions (53%), and Simulate was among four other companies identified as the leaders.
“Generally, breaded and fried plant-based meat categories receive higher ratings than non-breaded and fried categories,” explained Caroline Cotto, director of Nectar, which carried out the research. “These products stood out for their superior flavour, which was most central to overall liking.”
McDonald’s France is introducing vegan nuggets made from Beyond Meat, its first plant-based option, offered at the same price as conventional chicken.
Fast-food giant McDonald’s is finally offering a plant-based option in France, its biggest market outside the US.
The chain will launch Veggie McPlant Nuggets tomorrow at all its 1,500+ outlets in the country, extending its Europe-wide partnership with US vegan leader Beyond Meat. They will be available in four-, six-, nine- and 20-piece servings and as part of various meal deals, all at the same price as conventional McNuggets.
Unlike previous veggie launches, the vegan chicken nuggets are a permanent menu addition at McDonald’s France, and are designed to attract vegans as well as flexitarians looking to diversify their protein intake.
McDonald’s looks to build on France’s changing dietary habits
Courtesy: McDonald’s France
The vegan McNuggets are a result of a “close collaboration between Beyond Meat and McDonald’s”. They’re made from a base of pea protein and coated in a blend of wheat and corn flours lightly salted with pepper and celery.
“We chose to innovate with a first offering based on plant proteins, directly inspired by one of our iconic products,” said McDonald’s France CMO Jean-Guillaume Bertola. “With the Veggie McPlant Nuggets, we are responding to the increasing desire of French consumers to diversify their protein intake while never compromising on taste.”
The national rollout was based on consumer tests conducted by McDonald’s, which “yielded very satisfactory results, particularly regarding quality and flavour”, according to Bertola.
“The response was unanimous, there was a real craze from our consumers who found a strong resemblance to the iconic nugget,” he told Le Figaro. “We are rather confident about the success of the product,” he added, noting that the meat-free nuggets have “performed very well” in Germany since their early 2023 launch there.
McDonald’s holds the largest share of France’s increasingly popular fast-food market. In fact, the country has been labelled as the chain’s biggest market after the US. So the launch of a vegan version of one of its most popular products is a marker of the country’s changing dietary habits, and McDonald’s wish to capitalise on the transition.
In 2023, an EU-wide survey revealed that nearly six in 10 consumers in France had reduced their meat intake in the preceding year. And federal data shows that French people are eating 6% less meat per capita than they did 20 years ago, though overall consumption has still risen.
Currently, its citizens eat over 700g of meat per week, more than double what’s recommended in Eat-Lancet’s Planetary Health Diet, and 100g higher than the national dietary guidelines. Health and climate experts have been calling for the national recommendations to cut weekly meat consumption by 25% to 450g in the upcoming update.
And despite the high amounts of meat the French eat, 57% of them say they’d back government policies that cut back on animal protein for human and planetary health.
Beyond Meat’s European success with McDonald’s
Courtesy: McDonald’s
The launch of the Veggie McPlant Nuggets marks an extension of the successful partnership between McDonald’s and Beyond Meat in Europe. While the McPlant burger – made using Beyond Beef – hasn’t quite worked out in the US, it has thrived across the Atlantic.
Beyond Meat has suffered a rocky couple of years in terms of sales – for example, it posted an 18% decrease in annual revenue in 2023. Despite that, international sales actually grew by the same percentage, largely thanks to the McDonald’s partnership.
The vegan meat maker’s CEO, Ethan Brown, told investors that the business had witnessed “continued traction at McDonald’s across countries such as Austria, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, UK, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Switzerland”.
With the vegan McNuggets, Beyond Meat’s link-up with McDonald’s is entering France, joining a Veggie lineup comprising burgers such as the McVeggie, Veggie Curry, and Honey Mustard Veggie, as well as the Caesar Salad Veggie. But none of these existing options are suitable for vegans, so the plant-based nuggets are a first for the fast-food chain’s French operation.
This comes amid a resurgent plant-based industry in the country. Just last week, the EU’s top court ruled against a ban on the use of meat-related words on plant-based packaging, a piece of legislation originally proposed by the French government (which was suspended by the nation’s highest administrative court).
This came at the same time France’s most popular plant-based meat export, La Vie, closed a €25M funding round, introduced vegan meatballs, and debuted its first national TV ad. And months earlier, despite all the kerfuffle, plant-based food was all the rage at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
German food manufacturing specialist Döhler has invested in UK startup Nukoko to scale up its bean-to-bar cocoa-free chocolate, ahead of a market launch in 2025.
This month, cocoa futures in the UK dropped by 16%, marking a rare gulf with US cocoa prices. But while that may seem like a good thing, it happened because of a shortage of high-grade cocoa.
It comes in a year where cocoa prices have hit record highs, thanks to extreme weather decimating crops in the two largest producers of the fruit, Ivory Coast and Ghana.
This is why certain up-and-coming startups in the food tech arena are vying for new solutions, with a view to creating climate-resilient chocolate alternatives (or even cell-based versions) with more robust and carbon-light crops, such as sunflower seeds, carob, or barley.
One of them is betting on fava beans (or broad beans, if you’re in the UK), the high-protein base for falafels and fūl in Egypt to pachamanca in Peru and doubanjiang in China. British innovator Nukoko is treating this humble bean – of which the UK harvests 740 tonnes annually – the same way chocolate producers process cocoa beans, ending up with what it says is the world’s first bean-to-bar cocoa-free chocolate.
To transform fava beans into chocolate, Nukoko makes use of the same fermentation processes, and as it looks to scale up and bring its version to market, it’s now being supported by Döhler, a behemoth in the fermentation and manufacturing industry.
Why Nukoko chose fava beans to overhaul cocoa
Courtesy: AI-Generated Image via Canva
So here’s the problem, chocolate is a problematic ingredient. Dark chocolate produces more greenhouse gas emissions than every other food bar beef, and is highly water-intensive. The widespread use of palm oil has also meant the industry is linked to tropical deforestation (which accounts for 95% of all forest-clearing globally).
Cocoa is making the planet warmer. But climate change itself is wrecking cocoa – as mentioned above, yields are down and prices are up, and a third of all cocoa trees could die out by 2050. Farmers in Ivory Coast, meanwhile, have already lost 85% of the forest cover since 1960.
Nukoko is among a host of companies hoping to solve this problem. Some – like fellow British startup Win-Win, Italy’s Foreverland, Germany’s Planet A Foods, and US player Voyage Foods – are taking the same approach, using other ingredients and blending them with sustainable fats to make cocoa-free chocolate.
Nukoko, founded in 2022 by Ross Newton, Kit Tomlinson and David Salt, chose to use fava beans since they’re a hardy cover crop that’s grown domestically in the UK and the EU, can fix nitrogen, promote soil health, and shrink the need for fertilisers.
Its chocolate alternative is said to generate 90% fewer emissions, while also benefitting the human body through its high protein and fibre qualities, alongside 40% lower sugar content.
But the company claims this reduction in sugar has no effect on the flavour – and this could be thanks to the fact that fava beans, just like cocoa, contain a seed storage protein called vicilin. When this breaks down and the peptides are roasted, you’re left with chocolatey flavours.
Nukoko aims for a 2025 launch
Courtesy: Nukoko
Nukoko puts the fava beans through “unique biotransformation” and controlled fermentation processes, before they’re dried, roasted and ground into a cocoa powder that can be used in all sorts of chocolate formulations.
“Here in Europe, we’re using a fava bean, because they’re abundant, they’re cost-effective, and really beneficial to the soil,” Newton says in a video on the company’s website. “But as we grow into Asia, for example, we’ll use a domestic bean. That makes our technology truly flexible and scalable.”
Nukoko’s approach has impressed many in the food tech industry. The company has won a place at the IndieBio accelerator programme in New York, and was named on Forward Fooding’s 2023 FoodTech 500 list (described as the “Fortune 500 of agrifood tech”). Its potential has also led to development agreements with the likes of Swiss retailer Coop group, which has over 2,500 locations in the country.
Now, Döhler is lending its expertise in fermentation and ingredient manufacturing to help expand Nukoko’s operations. The company – which raised €1.3M in seed funding earlier this year – currently has a pilot facility where it works in 500kg batches, with Döhler helping it transition to 10,000-litre fermentation batches by next year, with a capacity of thousands of tonnes per month.
The process and ingredients mean Nukoko’s chocolate isn’t considered a novel food, and doesn’t require approval from regulatory authorities. “We aim to launch in the first half of next year,” Newton tells Green Queen. “Our focus is EU/UK, and we are purely a B2B ingredients supplier. We will start supplying milk and vegan milk alternatives initially.”
As an example of what these products would look like, he says the milk chocolate would contain 23% fava bean powder, shea butter, sugar, and sunflower lecithin.
Asked if Nukoko would be developing products with Döhler as well, he notes: “Yes, I imagine so.”
Revo Foods has opened what it says is the world’s largest factory dedicated to 3D-printed food, rolling out an updated whole-cut mycelium salmon fillet as the facility’s first product.
Austrian alternative protein startup Revo Foods has unveiled a new production facility and an updated version of its flagship 3D-printed salmon.
The new site, dubbed the Taste Factory, can produce up to 60 tonnes of product a month at full capacity, and is described as the first manufacturing plant to apply 3D food-printing technology on such a scale.
It makes use of Revo Foods’s 3D Structuring tech, which combines two materials (like fat and protein) into complex new forms, in this case resembling meat muscle structures. It helps create desirable textures and juicy, tender structures that are key for vegan fillets. The fat integration creates the delicate layers of its salmon analogue, which are said to separate when baked or fried.
“With 3D Structuring, we can create entirely new textures using simple but nutrient-rich ingredients like mycelium, creating products that are just so much more exciting,” said Revo Foods CEO Robin Simsa.
Marrying mycelium with 3D printing
Courtesy: Revo Foods
Revo Foods, founded in 2021, introduced the first iteration of its mycoprotein-based salmon just over a year ago, initially rolling the whole-muscle seafood analogue at Rewe Group’s vegan flagship store, Billa Pflanzilla.
This was born out of a collaboration with Swedish mycoprotein company Mycorena, which has since filed for bankruptcy and been acquired by another fermentation firm, Naplasol. “Mycorena was doing amazing work, but thankfully, we found a way to not be affected by the bankruptcy,” Simsa told Green Queen. “Nevertheless, I hope their great work will live on.”
Now, it has updated its flagship salmon SKU, called The Filet – Inspired By Salmon, which has a Nutri-Score rating of A, and contains omega-3 (from microalgae oil), as well as vitamins B6, B9, and B12. It’s also high in fibre, and has more protein than its predecessor (14g vs 9g per 100g). The product will first roll out at over 500 Rewe stores in Austria.
“Biomasses like fermented mycelium are trending because their natural consistency requires little processing and they are very nutrient-dense,” said Niccolo Galizzi, head of food tech at Revo Foods. “However, in its pure form, it often tastes bland. We believe that for real change, sustainability and culinary pleasure must go hand in hand.”
He added: “We are already working on the next innovations with mycoprotein, which is a lot of fun using 3D Structuring technology since it offers many possibilities to design the product exactly to the liking of consumers. We like to focus on taste and nutrition, but also on what makes the culinary experiences so unique: getting the texture and authentic mouthfeel right.”
New revenue stream and mushroom fillet on the cards
The new Taste Factory will allow Revo Foods to scale up its operations, and potentially open up a new revenue stream as well. While the startup is currently operating the factory in two shifts just to meet demand, Simsa said it is open to manufacturing partnerships with other companies.
“In the future, we want to focus more on being a technology provider – a provider of process equipment to other food players,” he explained. “We have observed that our technology is of interest to companies outside of the traditional plant-based industry – think dough-like ingredients. We are currently exploring the feasibility of projects.”
He added: “Apart from this, we have collaborative projects with a number of companies interested in meat alternatives with distinct shapes/structures.” He hinted at an announcement about these partnerships in Q1 2025.
These companies may be attracted by the fact that Revo Foods’s technology doesn’t need the high temperatures or pressure traditionally seen in industrial production methods, which lowers the nutritional value of the product. Instead, the startup operates under milder conditions that retain micronutrients.
Courtesy: Revo Foods
“The production is most efficient at scale. We are still optimising parts of the process to make it most efficient, implement more automated steps and increase the amount of output per machine,” Simsa said. “Also, we’re improving the software controls for the kinematic system.
“Overall, we see the Taste Factory as a showcase for what this technology can do, and The Filet as the ideal proof. We also need it to improve the actual production setup.”
Having raised €7.5M ($8.3M) in investment so far, Revo Foods is continuing its efforts to fundraise as it explores new products. One of these could be what Simsa termed a “more natural mushroom protein fillet”, one that would have “an exciting new texture” and umami flavour without attempting to mimic meat – much like what Fable Foods is doing.
“Many people tell us that they want a good protein-rich meal but not necessarily something with a meat-like taste, which is why this is an interesting avenue to explore,” he said, before confirming that the company will soon relaunch its vegan octopus SKU, called The Kraken.
Spanish plant-based pioneer Heura is expanding its technology to offer nutrient-dense cold cuts, cheese, and pasta, in a bid to move past the ultra-processed food label.
It may account for a quarter of Spain’s plant-based meat market, but Heura isn’t satisfied with that – part of an industry inundated with ultra-processed concerns, the startup is doubling down on its technology to expand into new categories.
At Future Food-Tech London, the Barcelona-based firm showcased a glimpse of its future. By combining plant proteins and healthy lipids, Heura is unlocking textures in food categories where it has been “technologically impossible” to do so until now.
The company – famous for its clean-label vegan chicken, sausages, burgers and seafood – is now moving into cold cuts, cheese, and pasta. The goal is to tackle a wider range of categories with nutrient-dense alternatives that do away with the need for additives, modified starches, and saturated fats, and entice a larger share of consumers drawn away from ultra-processed food (UPFs).
“Rather than focusing solely on new ingredients, we need better technologies for product design,” said Heura co-founder and CEO Marc Coloma. “We no longer need to wait years for new functional ingredients that biomimic animal proteins. We can now develop the next generation of products at scale, directly from plant proteins.”
Heura goes all in on nutrition with category expansion
Courtesy: Heura
Heura’s innovation is based on a patent-pending technology that uses simple thermo-mechanical techniques to create product matrices, in what is described as a scalable process.
The company argues that while the alternative protein industry has been focused on upping the sustainability and nutrition value of meat analogues, Heura’s product structuring tech can replace nutrient-light ingredients with plant proteins in new categories.
For example, pasta. At the London event, Heura served up spaghetti made from wheat semolina and soy protein isolate, amping up its protein content from around under 20% all the way to 50%. It also brings the carbohydrate content down by 74%.
Courtesy: Heura
Then there were the vegan cheeses, a major pain point for dairy eaters, who remain unsatisfied with the taste and texture of these analogues. Heura is working on several prototypes, and says it can do as many cheeses as possible, which contain 20% protein and low saturated fat. At Future Food-Tech, it exhibited plant-based versions of feta, parmesan, mozzarella, and melty cheese.
Finally, it also showcased the cold cuts – after all, plant-based meat is Heura’s bread and butter. These are described as the only vegan deli meats “with high protein, low saturated fat, and no additives while having an unparalleled sensory experience”.
“Today’s prototypes shatter expectations, proving that exceptional taste and unmatched nutritional value aren’t goals for the future – they’re realities we can deliver right now,” said Coloma.
The company said it wants to provide healthier options to consumers, and diving into newer categories that can help fight the food industry’s challenges will help maximise its impact and “democratise” plant proteins.
“Who wouldn’t want to replace excess saturated fats, simple carbohydrates, and unnecessary additives with nutrient-dense products made from plant proteins and healthy lipids? And we can do this by leveraging readily available, consumer-friendly ingredients that require no regulatory approval,” says Coloma.
Debunking UPFs with technology
Courtesy: Heura
The new product prototypes are, of course, a work in progress, and serve as an example of the solutions Heura plans to offer by licencing its technology to industry-leading companies. The dairy-free cheese, high-protein pasta, and clean-label cold cuts are set to grace grocery shelves in early 2026.
In preparation for that, the Spanish startup is filing six patents in the next nine months to cover the new categories with its Good Rebel technology and “redefine nutritional value standards across the food industry”.
The proprietary process, unveiled in April 2023, relies upon mathematical models similar to AI to develop breakthrough solitons based on new scientific knowledge, instead of optimising technologies based on existing data, Coloma told Green Queen last year. The tech can create additive-free plant-based foods with superior sensory and nutritional values and fewer ingredients, using only protein, water and oil to structure the product.
“These new technologies are set to transform current food production methods, but their real power lies in scaling efficiently and adapting to regional consumer preferences. That’s why we’re forging partnerships with industry leaders to accelerate a change that no one can drive alone,” said Coloma.
The plant-based sector has been unfairly linked to ill health effects of certain UPFs, and experts say that decoupling processing with nutrition is critical. In Europe, 54% of people avoid meat analogues because they’re ultra-processed – but within Spain, only 8% feel a vegan burger is unhealthier than conventional beef if it’s ultra-processed, according to a survey conducted by Heura.
All UPFs are not the same, and if plant-based analogues to meat and dairy are well-formulated, they usually rank high on the nutrition front – paying attention to the ingredient quality and how it’s integrated into diets is key, the company says.
There are hardly any brands better placed to spread this message than Heura, which has raised €88M to date and is responsible for four out of the five bestselling vegan products in Spain. Last year, it grew sales by 22%, reaching €38.3M, and it’s coursing towards profitability by 2025. Can its new products capture grocery baskets the same way it has with meat analogues?
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Sunday Supper’s plant-based mozzarella sticks, M&S’s new vegan cookies, and a cultivated meat tasting in India.
New products and launches
US vegan frozen foods maker Sunday Supper has released Mozza Fritto, a dairy-free mozzarella stick SKU. It’s available at Besties Vegan Paradise in Los Angeles and Orchard Grocer in New York City, and will be at Giant, Bristol Farms, and Good Eggs this month, selling for $9.99 for three servings.
Courtesy: Sunday Supper
As it conducts a regulatory feeding trial for cultivated meat, Further Foods, the portfolio brand of Cult Food Science, is launching a line of vegan Sprinkles toppers for pet food under its Noochies! brand. The 4oz packs will be available in six flavours (three apiece for dogs and cats), and retail for $16.99 in the US and Canada.
Cultivated meat is now officially banned in Alabama. But before it came into effect, Upside Foodstook its Freedom of Food tasting event to the state for locals to try its chicken before it became illegal.
Italian food giant Barilla is bringing its vegan pesto to the US as part of a flavour expansion, which will be available exclusively at Krogers stores starting this month.
Courtesy: Barilla
There’s a new almond milk on the block. Sól Date‘s milks are sweetened with dates and come in Original, Chocolate and Vanilla flavours, and can already be found in 400 locations, with another 250 slated for January.
In more dairy-free news, Canadian vegan cheese brand Daiya has shaken up its frozen pizza range, which has a “lighter, fluffier, and crispier gluten-free crust” and the new Oat Cream cheese.
In the Netherlands, The Vegetarian Butcher‘s Pulled Beef Strips are now featured on the menu of meal startup Mama’s Maaltijden, part of a poké bowl with sushi rice and pickled cucumbers.
Courtesy: La Vie
French plant-based meat leader La Vie has teased two new products in Apple’s trademark marketing style, showing the “advantageous curves” of the packaging. They will come out at the end of October in Italian-style and Spicy Asian flavours, and apparently won’t trigger the meat labelling lobby. We think it’s sausages – what’s your guess?
Meanwhile, La Vie has also rolled out its smoked ham at Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.
French vegan ingredient company Ingood by Olga has introduced Lengood, a fermented green lentil powder that is designed as a clean-label egg alternative for bakery and pastry products.
In the UK, pub chain Wetherspoons has added a limited-edition Korean-inspired vegan sticky fried chicken bowl using Quorn‘s mycoprotein meat. It’s served alongside chips and coconut rice.
UK supermarket M&S has released vegan speculoos and chocolate chip cookies in a light-up tin, as part of its Christmas range. It retails for £7.
Speaking of British retailers, Slovenian whole-cut plant-based meat producer Juicy Marbles is now selling its vegan steaks at Sainsbury’s, available in two-packs for £7 at 553 stores nationwide.
Courtesy: HAPPIEE!
Singaporean vegan seafood brandHAPPIEE! has expanded its UK presence, with its plant-based shrimp, squid and calamari now available at Sainsbury’s and Morissons (from next week).
A new vegan sweets brand has been set up by a former Mondelez International executive. Wild Thingz makes bug-shaped fruit gummies in Zesty Pests, Fruity Flyers and Gummy Grubs, which will be available as 25g packs for 90p and 130g bags for £2.99.
Staying with confectionery for a second, UK vegan oat milk chocolate maker H!P is getting festive with a new £12 advent calendar that features its plain, orange, salted caramel and gingerbread offerings. In addition, it’s launching a Gingerbread Cookie Bar, H!P ‘n’ Mix Festive Pouch, and a Christmas gift box.
Courtesy: H!P
In Thailand, vegan cheese brand Swees has released with what it claims are the world’s first rice-based cheese sticks, with backing from the national government.
Company and finance updates
Spain’s Pascual Innoventures has upped its investment in the first three editions of the Mylcubator programme to over $2M, with its latest infusion going to precision fermentation egg startup Onego Bio.
Courtesy: Oshi
Israeli vegan seafood player Oshi has received two million shekels ($550,000) as part of grant funding by the Israeli Innovation Authority.
In Sweden, Örebro University’s PAN Sweden research centre has been awarded 40 million kronor ($3.9M) from the state research council Formas for its work on plant proteins. Agrifood company Lantmännen is a key actor in the project.
Swedish pea milk pioneer Sproud has raised 14.4 Swedish kronor ($1.4M) in a fresh funding round, adding to the $1M it secured back in March.
Courtesy: Sproud
UK startup Fermtech has brought in £360,000 in crowdfunding (moving past its £325,000 target) for its ‘zero-carbon’ koji protein, using spent grain from breweries as feedstock.
Californian firm Triplebar is restructuring to amp up its focus on developing a generative AI genomic language model by 2026 to disrupt the food and medicine industries.
In Singapore, Temasek-owned sustainable food innovation platform Nurasa has signed an MoU with Food Harbour Hamburg to bring together companies from both regions to develop planet-friendly food solutions.
Courtesy: Steakholder Foods
Meanwhile, Israeli food tech startup Steakholder Foods has signed a deal with frozen foods manufacturer Bondor Foods to supply plant-based premises for vegan white fish and salmon patties.
Indian cultivated meat startup Biokraft Foods is hosting its first public tastings for cultivated chicken after completing an internal validation for the product. The tastings will be held in Mumbai and Pune.
Elsewhere, cell-based chocolate makerCalifornia Cultured has received an investment from Sparkalis, the corporate venture arm of Belgian B2B bakery, patisserie and chocolate leader Puratos Group.
Courtesy: California Cultured
Job platform Alt Protein Careers has expanded into Europe, and several startups – from Redefine Meat to Mewery – are already advertising roles there.
Policy developments
Over 100 organisations and academics are calling on the UN FAO to retract its Pathways Towards Lower Emissions report from COP28, which downplayed the impact of livestock and climate change. It follows a similar open letter from July, which itself came months after authors whose work the report was based on asked the FAO to retract its report. The latest letter comes after the FAO doubled down on its stance.
In California, the share of meatless meal options in school lunches increased from 7% in 2019 to 11% in 2023. The number of high schools offering veggie meals also rose from 36% to 56%.
Courtesy: Friends of the Earth
UK charity The Vegan Society and the International Rights Network have helped remove veganism from the National Health Service‘s Prevent training, a counter-terrorism programme designed to identify those at risk of radicalisation. Before the intervention, veganism was being referenced in the training.
Finally, The Vegan Society is also celebrating a major milestone: it recently crossed 70,000 product certifications with its Vegan Trademark.
Cocoa-free chocolate maker Foreverland has raised €3.4M ($3.76M) in a seed funding round to open its first production facility for its carob-based Choruba alternative.
Puglia-based startup Foreverland has got investors’ tastebuds tangling with a €3.4M ($3.76M) seed round to scale up production and expand distribution for its carob-based chocolate alternatives.
The financing round included the likes of Grey Silo Ventures, Eatable Adventures, Kost Capital 2100 Ventures, Newland Syndicate, and Moonstone, among others.
The Italian company is among an expanding crop of cocoa-free chocolate producers looking to lower the environmental impact of the world’s favourite sweet treat. Foreverland’s product, which has been rebranded from Freecao to Choruba, is made from a base of carob and grains mixed with sugar and vegetable fats.
“These funds will primarily be used to set up our first production facility in Puglia, expand into new markets, and accelerate the development of new products featuring Choruba,” Giuseppe D’Alessandro, co-founder and CMO of the brand, told Green Queen. “We’ll also continue to invest in R&D, particularly to enhance the scalability and versatility of our ingredient, Choruba.”
In a joint statement, Grey Silo Ventures managing partner Giacomo Fanin and investment manager Matteo Leonardi said: “We spent over a year assessing the (alternative) chocolate sector in all aspects, and when we found out and started digging in Foreverland’s technology we knew that it could tick all the boxes to emerge as a category-defining business.”
Banking on carob’s sustainability credentials
Courtesy: Foreverland
Foreverland came out of stealth last year, built on the back of the vast corporate and food industry experience of D’Alessandro and his co-founders Massimo Sabatini, Riccardo Bottiroli and Massimo Brochetta. Since then, the startup has been releasing products in small batches – such as nutty Easter eggs, pralines and panettone – produced through a network of co-manufacturers.
But the cash infusion will enable it to open its own facility in Puglia, a region rich with carob trees, in January. It will have an initial capacity of 1,000 tonnes annually. “It’s designed with sustainability in mind, ensuring minimal environmental impact. We’re focused on our semi-finished products in drops or liquid,” said D’Alessandro.
The factory will also mark a new era for its cocoa-free chocolate, now called Choruba. “The decision to rebrand from Freecao to Choruba came in 2024 after we recognised the strong identity and connection we wanted to create around our ingredient’s Mediterranean roots,” he explained.
“The name ‘Choruba’ highlights our key ingredient, carob, and represents a futureproof alternative to chocolate with a new ingredient, combining sustainability with the indulgence people expect from traditional chocolate.”
Courtesy: Foreverland
Speaking of sustainability, that is at the core of this industry’s efforts. Dark chocolate is the second most polluting food (behind only beef), and has a higher land use change impact than all other foods. It’s also a major driver of tropical deforestation, with Ivory Coast (the largest producer of cocoa) losing 85% of forest cover in the last 65 years.
Meanwhile, climate change itself is ravaging the cocoa industry, with extreme weather events destroying yields and pushing up prices to all-time highs. And in the long term, a third of cocoa trees could die out by 2050.
To demonstrate the planetary positives of Choruba, Foreverland conducted an initial life-cycle assessment and found that its carob-based alternative cuts water consumption by 90% and emissions by 80% compared to conventional chocolate. “We’re continuing to refine these metrics as we scale our operations and will share more detailed results soon,” D’Alessandro said.
The startup also addresses a major food waste issue. Currently, 90% of the carob fruit is wasted, with only the seeds used for locust ben gum. Foreverland upcycles the byproduct into a chocolate alternative it says is far superior to the carob chocolate of the 1970s.
From creamy spreads to cocoa-free white chocolate, product innovation ramps up
Courtesy: Foreverland
“We have discovered how, from a product considered waste, we can create something unique and disruptive through technology and innovation,” said Foreverland CTO Riccardo Bottiroli. “We have filed two patents, but we are not stopping there: research is continuously increasing, and we are developing new allergen-free products, such as spreadable creams.”
That is among a number of Choruba-featuring products that will come to market in the coming months. “We’ve already secured partnerships with several manufacturers,” revealed D’Alessandro. “We are actively working with companies in the bakery and confectionery space, who are developing their next-generation chocolate alternatives using Choruba.”
He added that the first product to feature Choruba as its main ingredient is from an Italian company. The Choruba-coated almond snack will be introduced in December, before further rollouts in early 2025. “Our partners in the bakery and snack sectors are currently testing these ingredients (liquid or drops) in various applications, and we anticipate consumer products hitting the market shortly after,” he said.
“We’re also working on new formulations for Choruba, including vegan milk, dark, and white chocolate alternatives,” he added.
Courtesy: Foreverland
Foreverland was one of seven agrifood startups chosen for the FoodSeed Accelerator, part of the state-backed CDP Venture Capital network late last year, and also won the Premio Nazionale Innovazione award in the industrial category. And earlier this year, it won the inaugural FoodTech World Cup at the HackSummit in Lausanne, beating out eight other finalists.
“The next year is all about growth,” said D’Alessandro. “We’re focused on scaling our production facility, securing more partnerships, expanding into European markets, and releasing new products… Additionally, we’ll continue to push for greater sustainability and transparency in our processes, with a particular focus on R&D to optimise our product offerings.”
Alt-chocolate startups are gaining ground rapidly. Foreverland’s seed round follows Voyage Foods’s $52M Series A+ investment in May and Planet A Foods’s $15.4M raise in February, both of which make cocoa-free alternatives. Meanwhile, cell-based chocolate maker Kokomodo received a $750,000 infusion in June.
London-based Win-Win (formerly WNWN Food Labs) is another cocoa-free startup, while Israel’s Celleste Bio, US startup California Cultured, and Finnish food giant Fazer are all working on cell-based versions.
Synbio firm LanzaTech has extended its carbon recycling operations to human food applications with a new protein, and teamed up with the US military on a joint project.
A company that turns waste carbon emissions into high-value products is making a move for the human food market with a nutritionally complete protein.
Chicago-based LanzaTech, a pioneer in the carbon recycling space, is expanding its biorefining platform to produce microbial protein from gas fermentation, in a bid to address the climate, supply chain and food security challenges presented by animal-derived proteins.
Dubbed LanzaTech Nutritional Protein (LNP), the ingredient can be used in foods such as non-dairy cheese, meat analogues, breads and smoothies, and extend to non-human applications like pet food, as well as animal and fish feed.
To further its efforts, the company has partnered with the US Navy Research Lab on a project co-funded by the Department of Defense to explore protein production on its ships and meet the nutritional needs of soldiers and sailors across the armed forces.
LanzaTech, which went public via a SPAC merger in 2022, has built upon its existing technology that ferments carbon-rich waste streams to produce ethanol as a primary product. The leftover bacteria can be freeze-dried to form a protein-rich biomass, and has already been sold for animal feed applications.
But the company has now adapted its microbes and process to directly produce LNP as the primary product, allowing it to diversify its product range and revenue streams, optimise its value creation, and reach a larger number of consumers.
“This is a natural extension of our platform, and we have been working on protein for a number of years, including before we went public,” says CSO Zara Summers, who reveals that LanzaTech has already sold 25,000 tonnes of single-cell protein from its operations as animal feed.
“We decided to enter the protein market because we have always had a firm belief that recycled carbon could impact every aspect of our lives and provide new pathways to the products we use every day, including food,” she tells Green Queen.
Several facilities lined up in the coming years
Courtesy: LanzaTech
LanzaTech is leveraging Cupriavidus necator – a soil bacterium – to produce LNP, and using feedstocks similar to its current operations, which have spawned commercial-scale volumes of ethanol for apparel, packaging, surfactants, and sustainable aviation fuels.
“We have a process that consists of continuous fermentation in a gas fermentation reactor, where biomass can be continuously drawn into a deactivation, dewatering, and spray dry workflow,” explains Summers.
“LanzaTech was founded to find alternative pathways that could avoid impacting land, water and biodiversity, and, importantly, keep fossil resources in the ground,” she adds. “As we came to understand the biological make-up of our commercial production strain and adjacent applications for our commercial bioreactors, we saw a natural evolution in our technology platform go beyond producing a protein co-product to make a dedicated nutritional protein product with a new microbe.”
The company’s CEO, Jennifer Holmgren, says that it has developed a path to mass-producing protein from CO2 by “coupling a new microbial production strain with our existing bioreactor technology”.
LanzaTech has been operating a pilot facility in Skokie, Illinois for the last two years, producing two to three grams of protein daily as it prepared for commercialisation. “In the process, we’ve partnered with leading brands and food testing organisations for rigorous analysis and prototyping of nutrition applications,” says Holmgren.
Now, the company is in the engineering design phase for its first pre-commercial facilities, slated to open in 2026 in collaboration with several partners, with a capacity of between 0.5 to one tonne of protein per day. LanzaTech has additionally developed a roadmap to commercial-scale production in 2028, which would see it manufacture over 30,000 tonnes of LNP per year in larger facilities.
The multi-pronged benefits of LanzaTech Nutritional Protein
Courtesy: LanzaTech
Scaling up will help LanzaTech make its gas protein cost-competitive with animal proteins, which is crucial for a resilient food supply amid a fast-growing global population.
Aside from the fact that it recycles carbon emissions from the atmosphere to make food, LNP also uses a fraction of the land and water that conventional protein sources need, while having no negative impact on biodiversity.
Plus, there’s the nutritional prowess. “LNP is <80% protein by dry weight and is complete with all amino acids,” says Summers. “Its functional properties are similar to those of whey and pea protein. It is odourless and neutral in colour, which makes it ideal for formulating.”
According to the company’s calculations, its facilities’ 0.5-tonne capacity combined with the ingredient’s high protein content is the equivalent of the typical complete daily intake of protein of around 9,000 people.
LanzaTech has no plans to make its own products from the protein, instead supplying it to other companies for various applications, including human nutrition, pet food, and animal feed.
“For human nutrition, this protein’s characteristics make it ideal for formulation, and we have already tested its properties and formulatability with food innovator Mattson,” Summers says. “As part of Mattson’s characterisation work, they prototyped the protein in baked goods, protein bars, smoothies, dairy-free cheese, and more.”
She adds: “With the Center for Aquaculture Technologies, we successfully completed salmon and shrimp feed trials. We are currently conducting feed trials for pigs and poultry, as well as pet food testing with a leading pet food brand.”
LNP is supplied in the form of a powder that requires minimal downstream processing. “It can be used as a protein-rich powder that could be used as a flour, or used as any protein powder is used today (like whey, pea, or soy powders),” says Summers.
LanzaTech locks arms with the US military
Courtesy: LanzaTech
LanzaTech is in the middle of completing trials for animal feed (including pet food), and is also finalising its human food dossier for the FDA to achieve self-determined Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the US.
To advance LNP’s progress, it is evaluating “several financing structures” for the development of its first pre-commercial facility. “We recently raised $40M through an investment by Carbon Direct Capital, who is a globally recognised investor in the carbon management ecosystem,” says Simmons. “This investment is to fund ongoing operations for LanzaTech as a whole, of which LNP is a part.”
In addition to its partnerships with food producers, it is working on a joint research and contract development project with the US Navy Research Lab, which is funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the Office of Naval Research, and the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).
The aim is to work out if LNP can be produced on military platforms. “Together, we are exploring the biomanufacturing potential of a nutritional protein product made from CO2 extracted from seawater,” says Matthew Yates, a research biologist at the NRL.
“Integrating LanzaTech’s state-of-the-art gas fermentation technology with the US Naval Research Laboratory’s Seawater Carbon Capture Process presents a valuable opportunity to develop a unique capability to meet the nutritional needs of soldiers and sailors across the joint forces, while simultaneously enhancing the resilience of military operations in an evolving geopolitical landscape,” he added.
The Department of Defense, which the research and engineering office falls under, recently drew fire from sections of conservative media, Republican Congress members, and livestock lobby groups for opening funding proposals to develop cultivated meat for the military. Following the criticism, the DoD revoked its call.
But Summers says LanzaTech isn’t concerned about any backlash from its military partnership: “We have many projects that have applications with the military at this time, from on-demand protein production in theatre, to humanitarian relief, to creating domestic supply chains that can meet any need that our country requires by leveraging abundant waste resources.”
(@newveganfooduk)
