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Category: Future Foods

  • Voyage Foods Closes $55M Series A+ Round After Notching Cargill Partnership

    voyage foods funding
    4 Mins Read

    Ethical pantry company Voyage Foods, famous for its cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads, has secured $55M in a Series A+ funding round, weeks after signing a commercial deal with Cargill.

    Voyage Foods, which says it makes the “most sustainable” chocolate on the market, has closed a sizeable Series A+ investment round totalling $55M. This includes the $22M the company had announced in January, taking its total raised to $94M.

    The latest financing round was led by Level One Fund and Horizons Ventures, with SOSV, Nimble Partners and Collaborative Fund also participating. James Stewart, founding partner at Level One, said Voyage Foods had “set a new standard for commercialisation in the food tech space” by producing substitutes of essential ingredients that are both “extremely cost-competitive against, and more sustainable than” their conventional counterparts.

    The funding announcement comes a month after the startup penned an exclusive commercial deal with agricultural giant Cargill, the largest privately held company in the US. The partnership will see the latter be a global B2B distributor for Voyage Foods’ allergen-free, climate-friendly ingredients for use in a variety of applications.

    Voyage Fodos will offer Cargill more stable pricing

    voyage foods cargill
    Courtesy: Voyage Foods

    Voyage Foods had previously indicated that it would use the capital to scale up manufacturing and launch new products to the market. It’s already building a 300,000 sq ft facility in the midwest, and its collaboration with Cargill will only help accelerate that.

    Anne Mertens-Hoyng, Cargill’s category director of chocolate confectionery and ice cream, told Bloomberg that Voyage Foods “offers more stable pricing and reliance on raw materials that are less subject to market volatility”. Chocolate prices have reached an all-time high (up by 250% over last year), with cocoa costing $10,000 per tonne in March.

    Cargill is a major player in the confectionery business, with its portfolio including chocolate, coatings and fillings, starches and sweeteners, and oils and fats for bakery, ice cream and chocolate categories. But with access to Voyage Foods’ cocoa-free chocolates and nut-free peanut and hazelnut butters, these can now be complemented with a broader range of ingredient solutions that are vegan-friendly and free from nuts.

    “Alternatives to cocoa-based products are a great accompaniment to the traditional chocolate solutions that Cargill offers its customers,” Inge Demeyere, European managing director of bakery, ice cream and chocolate confectionery at Cargill, said last month. “This partnership is just one of the many ways that we are future-proofing our portfolio and meeting consumer demands and market regulations when it comes to even more sustainable options.”

    Cargill, which racked up $177B in revenue last year, has invested in a number of climate-friendly food companies, including ENOUGH, UPSIDE Foods, Aleph Farms, Wildtype, Cocuus, Bflike and Cubiq Foods. But it is one of America’s four largest meat producers, and has been linked to deforestation, pollution, climate change and exploitation “at a scale that dwarfs their closest competitors”, according to former US Congressman Henry Waxman, who called it “the worst company in the world” in 2019.

    The conglomerate has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in its North American beef supply chain by 30% by 2030, although this reduction would need to be considerably higher considering its climate footprint was once found to be greater than the entire nation of the Netherlands. Partnering with Voyage Foods will help no doubt its case a little.

    “Voyage Foods has always been focused on solving human and environmental health challenges through food. The best way to accomplish this is by supplying the world’s food brands and manufacturers with our impactful ingredients,” Voyage Foods CEO Adam Maxwell said after signing the Cargill agreement, which will see products rolled out in Europe first.

    Future-proofing climate-threatened ingredients

    rudi's sandos
    Courtesy: Voyage Foods

    The cocoa-free chocolate world is heating up, with WNWN Food Labs (UK), ChoViva (Germany) and Foreverland (Italy) all working on such products. As is the beanless coffee space – something Voyage Foods also offers for its foodservice clients – with players like Atomo (US), Northern Wonder (Netherlands) and Prefer (Singapore).

    These ingredients have a heavy impact on the planet, driving intensive deforestation, water use and greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change itself affects their production and yields, with a third of all cocoa trees in danger of going extinct by 2050, and the area suitable for growing coffee set to shrink in half by then.

    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 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%. Plus, these use 99% less water to produce.

    In fact, if just 5% of the world switched to its cocoa-free chocolates, it would bring emissions savings equivalent to removing between 1.5 and 1.8 million cars annually, and save between 500,000 and 1.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water.

    “As the only company in the world with the validated ability to make these replicas at scale, Voyage’s newly announced partnership with Cargill makes these products available to the world’s major food companies as an immediate solution to fluctuating commodity prices and supply chain disruptions,” said Stewart.

    Voyage Foods’ products are available at 1,400 retail locations, including at Walmart stores nationwide, and Maxwell said the company’s sales are increasing every month. And in March, Colorado-based Rudi’s Rocky Mountain Bakery announced it will launch PB&J sandwiches using its gluten-free bread and Voyage Foods’ peanut-free butter – a sustainable, allergen-friendly take on JM Smucker’s Uncrustables.

    The post Voyage Foods Closes $55M Series A+ Round After Notching Cargill Partnership appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • TurtleTree to Debut Animal-Free Lactoferrin with Espresso Shot for Endurance Athletes

    turtletree lactoferrin
    5 Mins Read

    Singaporean food tech startup TurtleTree has partnered with a nutrition brand to debut its precision-fermented lactoferrin as part of an espresso shot for endurance athletes.

    Six months after obtaining self-affirmed GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) certification in the US, TurtleTree has announced its first commercial partnership, teaming up with Cadence Performance Coffee for a line of cold brew espresso shots infused with its animal-free lactoferrin powder, LF+.

    The ready-to-drink coffee product will be available in original and salted caramel flavours, with a potential price of $7 for each 2.5oz shot. It will be rolled out in the summer via the e-commerce channel, before moving to Amazon and brick-and-mortar retail.

    “Cadence as a company is focused on human performance and lactoferrin, as a valued milk protein, has a number of applications around functional health,” TurtleTree co-founder and CEO Fengru Lin told Green Queen. “Our goal is to make lactoferrin synonymous with performance nutrition so this is the perfect partner for us to kick off with. The coffee creation with added health benefits aligns well with the TurtleTree mission.”

    Dan LaValley, founder of Cadence Performance Coffee, said: “We worked with TurtleTree very successfully on a project that was introduced at a sustainable nutrition summit in Egypt.” TurtleTree was the official drink partner at COP27, unveiling a sparkling drink using its lactoferrin.

    “We knew the capabilities of the company and about the wonderful team, and we have our own connections to UC Davis as well [the site of TurtleTree’s R&D headquarters],” he added. “As we started to develop high-performance espresso shots, it was only natural for us to want to work with TurtleTree and to bring the LF+ shot to market.”

    LaValley revealed that the brand is now developing other products using LF+ as well, including canned cold brew coffee and a yoghurt.

    Targeting iron regulation for elite performance

    lactoferrin coffee
    Courtesy: Cadence Performance Coffee

    TurtleTree explained that coffee and lactoferrin have a symbiotic relationship – the former’s effects on metabolic activity will speed the absorption of the animal-free milk protein into targeted physiological processes. The ready-to-drink functional espresso is geared towards enhancing the performance of endurance athletes, with a particular focus on iron deficiency.

    Iron deficiency affects 30-50% of athletes participating in endurance sports like triathlons, marathons and high-altitude sports. Low levels of the nutrient can lead to fatigue, shortness of breath and weakness, among other challenges. But one of lactoferrin’s main functions is iron regulation, and the high iron content gives the protein a reddish hue, earning it its ‘pink gold’ nickname.

    The protein can bind iron, which improves red blood cell production, iron circulation and stored iron levels, which is crucial for peak athletic performance. The iron-binding properties also support advanced immune function. Plus, lactoferrin regulates gut health, maintaining microbiota diversity and supporting intestinal barrier function.

    But while it’s a highly sought-after protein, the global supply of lactoferrin – which is found in human milk and bovine colostrum just after birth – is strained, given it takes at least 10,000 litres of milk to produce just 1kg of purified lactoferrin. That drives up prices, with the protein retailing for $750-$1,500 per kg. It means lactoferrin is used in limited applications, like supplementation and infant nutrition (the latter is responsible for 60% of the protein’s supply).

    Innovations like LF+, which is completely soluble, allow manufacturers to meet the growing demand for the protein for adult nutrition. “We are focused on creating better-for-you food and beverages, boosting iron, immune function, and gut health,” said Lin. “The Cadence Cold Brew Espresso Shots with LF+ does exactly that and is a synergistic combination to give folks the energy they need for their day.”

    Cadence Performance Coffee has experience in bringing advanced nutrition products and tools – like the deltaG ketone technology – to elite athletes, astronauts, “extreme job executives” and military units. “Cadence will offer a ketone espresso shot as well as the lactoferrin product, then in the future will likely combine the two for a third SKU,” said LaValley.

    “We are also looking at using an active ingredient called C60 (Carbon 60), but this product is still in early development.”

    A breakthrough for the precision fermentation sector

    precision fermentation vegan
    Courtesy: TurtleTree

    The announcement marks a milestone for the precision fermentation industry, with TurtleTree being the first company to commercialise an animal-free lactoferrin product. The startup has indicated that its clients are interested in purchasing $500M worth of LF+ over the next five years.

    It has managed to scale up production and subsequently bring down costs for LF+, which Lin confirmed is priced the same as the market value of bovine lactoferrin. Its uses transcend infant formula, supplements/multivitamins and functional beverages – it will be useful for producers of protein powders, meal replacements for the elderly, and animal-free dairy products.

    When TurtleTree obtained self-determined GRAS status in November, it had outlined its intention to notify the FDA for a ‘no further questions’ letter – which is seen as a more transparent process that enhances market and consumer confidence – at some point this year. “We are preparing to file our dossier before Q3 2024,” confirmed Lin.

    TurtleTree’s self-affirmed GRAS announcement has been followed by a spate of similar regulatory breakthroughs for the precision fermentation sector. Californian startup The Every Co received its third ‘no further questions’ letter for its animal-free egg proteins in December, followed by Israel’s Imagindairy earning the same status for its whey protein a month later. In March, San Francisco’s New Culture became the first company to attain self-affirmed GRAS status for animal-free casein, Dutch startup Vivici obtained this certification for its whey protein, and California’s Oobli received FDA approval for its sweet protein.

    The lactoferrin market itself is estimated to grow by 15.8% annually to reach $3.3B in 2033. Australia’s All G Foods, New York’s Helaina, and British-South African startup De Novo Foodlabs are all working on precision-fermented lactoferrin. The latter has conducted a life-cycle assessment to find that its protein would potentially have a 99.9% lower GHG footprint, land use and water use than conventional lactoferrin.

    In February, TurtleTree also earned a vegan certification for LF+, though it must be noted that this doesn’t mean it’s suitable for people with dairy allergies. The move, which the startup itself labelled as a “hot-button” issue, could potentially create confusion among consumers who assume vegan products are automatically dairy-free – which was typically the case until the commercialisation of precision-fermented dairy proteins.

    “Given that to date, consumers tend to understand ‘vegan’ as ‘plant-based’, and therefore not expect to encounter a milk allergen, labelling milk protein made via fermentation as vegan could lead to confusion around allergenicity,” Irina Gerry, chief marketing officer of US-Australian precision fermentation company Change Foods and vice-chair of the board of the Precision Fermentation Alliance, told Green Queen at the time. “I always look at it from the end consumer in mind. If a company is targeting a vegan audience, then obtaining vegan certification would be highly beneficial.”

    The post TurtleTree to Debut Animal-Free Lactoferrin with Espresso Shot for Endurance Athletes appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Meati Raises $100M in Largest Alt-Protein Investment Since 2022, Expands to 6,000 Stores

    meati funding
    6 Mins Read

    Colorado-based food tech startup Meati has closed a $100M Series C1 funding round, the largest investment in an alternative protein company since 2022.

    Mycelium meat innovator Meati has secured $100M in Series C1 funding, taking its total raised to $365M since being founded seven years ago. It is the largest investment in an alternative protein startup since Meati’s own $150M Series C round in 2022.

    The latest round was led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech, and included returning investors like Prelude Ventures, Bond, Revolution Growth and Congruent. The capital injection was accompanied by the appointment of Grosvenor Food & AgTech’s Katrin Burt and Prelude Ventures’ Mark Cupta to Meati’s board.

    “We will use the funding for a variety of purposes, including maintaining our high growth momentum and scaling to additional retail locations across the US,” newly appointed CEO Phil Graves tells Green Queen. “We are also working to continue building awareness of MushroomRoot and helping consumers understand that our highly nutritious and nature-based whole food protein is very different from the plant-based alternatives currently available.”

    In addition to the funding, the mycelium chicken and beef producer expanded into 2,000 Kroger stores in April, cementing the company’s rapid growth from six retail locations to 6,000 doors nationwide within a year. Meati now aims to reach 10,000 stores by the end of 2024.

    A major investment round in a deserted sector

    plant based investment
    Courtesy: GFI

    Meati’s sizeable raise comes on the back of a tough year for alternative proteins, both in terms of sales and investment. In the US, retail dollar sales of plant-based meat fell by 12% in 2023, while funding in alternative proteins was down by 44% from the year before, according to industry think tank the Good Food Institute. This was reflective of the wider landscape around food tech, where venture capital dried up last year.

    Even fermentation protein companies like Meati – which employs biomass fermentation for its flagship MushroomRoot ingredient – saw funding dip by 39%. That said, this sector has already attracted $228M this year (not counting Meati’s raise), thoroughly outpacing plant-based ($58M) and cultivated meat ($12M) in financing so far.

    Meati’s Series C1 round means fermentation companies have now brought in over five times more money than plant-based and 27 times more than cultivated protein startups in 2024.

    “It’s a tough investment market for everyone. Unfortunately, plant-based products have experienced a dip in sales, and that’s largely due to a lack of transparency about ingredients and nutrition,” says Graves. “Shoppers care about versatility, nutritional value, and flavour, something we prioritise in our products. MushroomRoot isn’t plant-based; it’s not an animal, either. We are a unique category of whole-food protein.”

    He argues that this is exactly what made Meati stand out for investors. “Our MushroomRoot products are second to none – they are the healthiest protein on the planet,” he notes. “The Meati team has deep experience working across high-growth CPG businesses. They are experts in their fields and have successfully brought a novel food product to market, scaling to over 6,000 in a little over a year’s time. That kind of growth is unheard of and largely due to the innovation taking place within our mega ranch [facility in Thornton, which can produce 40 million lbs of product per year].”

    Rounding off the reasons why Meati has been successful in raising capital, he adds: “We have a strong and loyal consumer base, as evidenced by our high repurchase rate and continued placement as one of the top-selling SKUs for our retailers in the alternative protein category.”

    Leadership changes and layoffs

    meati mycelium
    Courtesy: Meati

    The investment comes on the back of a host of changes in the C-suite for the Colorado startup. In February, Graves – a former Patagonia executive – joined Meati as its CFO. Two weeks later, however, he was appointed CEO, taking over from co-founder Tyler Huggins, who became the chief innovation officer. The same month, then-COO and president Scott Tassani left the company too.

    Now, Huggins is moving into an advisory role. “When Justin Whiteley and I founded Meati, we set out to harness the power of nature to make awesome products that were a positive force for good in the world,” he says. “It’s inspiring to see how far we’ve come in a short period of time, and I’m ready to pass the day-to-day running of the company to Phil Graves and the leadership team to take it to the next level.”

    “While changes in leadership are always impactful, Meati is in a strong position to meet our goals and continue to scale our products in retailers around the country,” says Graves. “Our leadership team, and our board, have strong and diverse experience in high-growth CPG companies and in building sustainable, profitable companies.”

    The company also reduced its headcount by 13% in February, which was the third round of cuts made by Meati in nine months. Asked if the business is exploring further layoffs, Graves says: “We are not planning any changes to our team at this time.”

    Meati’s bid for profitability

    eat meati
    Courtesy: Meati

    The cutbacks were part of a right-sizing move aimed at reaching profitability, with the target of reaching $1B in sales by the end of 2025. While that goal was thought to be pushed back after the restructuring, the company has certainly made progress since, growing its retail footprint from 3,600 in February to 6,000 now. “We are on track to be in 7,000 retail locations by the end of May,” reveals Graves.

    These retailers include Super Target, Whole Foods, Sprouts Farmers Market, Meijer, Wegmans and now Kroger and its Family of Companies (which comprise the likes of Ralphs, City Market, Dillons and more). They carry the core Eat Meati range of whole-cut chicken cutlets and steaks. The startup has previously also rolled out chicken nuggets and a line of MushroomRoot Jerky, though these no longer appear on its website. Its online D2C marketplace also seems to have been shut.

    But Graves – who remains positive about the “strong potential” of plant-based foods, noting that the “category as a whole has learned the lesson of greater transparency with consumers” – says the company’s products perform well with customers.

    “Meati has grown exponentially over the last year: we are available in all 50 states and within a 20-mile radius for 200 million Americans,” he explains. “40% of our purchases come from consumers who have never tried animal-free protein before and we have consistently maintained 60% repurchase rates, which is something you don’t see in the industry.”

    Looking ahead to the rest of the year, he reiterates that the company is on track for a significant retail expansion in the US. He adds: “We’re focused on scaling our product, managing growth and achieving our goal of being the first gross margin-positive alternative protein company.”

    The post Meati Raises $100M in Largest Alt-Protein Investment Since 2022, Expands to 6,000 Stores appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Cultivated Pepperoni, Odd Burger & A Vegan Pub

    mission barnes
    5 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Mission Barnes’ newest cultivated meat, Waitrose’s whole-food plant-based plunge, and Odd Burger’s new locations.

    New products and launches

    For the pizza lovers, cultivated meat producer Mission Barnes has announced its latest innovation, a hybrid pepperoni mixing combining pork cells with pea, fava bean and flaxseed proteins.

    vegan egg substitute
    Courtesy: Yo Egg

    Israeli food tech company Yo Egg, which debuted its vegan sunny-side-ups and poached eggs in Los Angeles retail in March, is now available nationwide in the US via PlantX.

    The Plant Based Seafood Co has partnered with supermarket chain Wegmans to place its Mind Blown range of vegan crab cakes and dusted scallops on the retailer’s shelves in 80 stores across the US.

    Tacotarian, the California-based vegan Mexican restaurant chain, has introduced a line of shelf-stable taco fillings made with Beyond Meat. The first products will be jackfruit barbacoa and jackfruit Birria, which will be available online and at various retailers.

    Bee-free honey maker MeliBio, which launched its Mellody plant-based honey through a collaboration with Eleven Madison Park last year, has renewed its partnership with the three-Michelin-starred plant-forward eatery, whose Tea and Honey Gift Box contains the brand’s vegan honey.

    US tofu giant Nasoya has launched two plant-based chicken products under its Plantspired range, available in Kung Pao and Bee-Free Honey Garlic (which uses agave) initially at Albertsons and Meijer.

    omami
    Courtesy: Omami

    Speaking of tofu, Berlin-based Omami has debuted a three-ingredient chickpea tofu range in Germany in Tasty Nature, Black Pepper, Sweet Chilli and Smokey Twist flavours.

    Vegan whole cut meat maker Chunk Foods will showcase two new SKUs – Chunk Cubes and Slabs – at the National Restaurant Association Show (May 18-21) in Chicago. The Cubes are meant for fast-casual restaurants, while the Slabs are touted to be the largest whole-cut plant-based meat to hit the market, weighing over 3 lbs.

    In the UK, Costa Coffee has extended its partnership with vegan influencer duo BOSH! with the launch of a vegan Falafel and Houmous Wrap and Gingernut Loaf Cake.

    British retailer Waitrose has expanded its private-label PlantLiving range with 12 new products that focus on flexitarians and whole foods over processed plant proteins, after sales for canned lentils, marinated tofu and vegan salad rose exponentially.

    waitrose plantliving
    Courtesy: Waitrose

    And in Australia, the iconic Chippendale Hotel (The Chippo, if you’re local), has opened the country’s first fully vegan pub in Sydney.

    Financial developments

    Canadian cellular agriculture company Cult Food Science has closed a private placement of C$800,000 ($585,000), which will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

    Fellow Vancouver-based startup Maia Farms has secured $2.3M in pre-seed and grant funding for its mycelium protein (which has 5.5 times the iron content of beef), which recently won NASA and the Canadian Space Agency’s Deep Space Food Challenge for its CanPro ingredient.

    Latin American startup Peruvian Veef has raised $320,000 to expand its foodservice and retail footprint across the continent.

    Swedish startup OMG Plantbased Food, which trades as Oh Mungood!, has secured an undisclosed sum in a funding round.

    plant based news
    Courtesy: Oh Mungood!

    New Zealand microalgae protein startup New Fish, whose first product is called Marine Whey, has rebranded to Nutrition from Water (NXW), and has received an investment from Olympic gold medallist sailor Pete Burling.

    Seitan startup Blackbird Foods, which makes vegan pizzas and wings, has launched a crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine, with investment opportunities starting from $249. It follows a 60% year-on-year growth in sales.

    Brooklyn-based Caladian Bio, which is building next-generation, low-cost benchtop bioreactors for enhanced data capture and experimentation throughput, has raised $5M in seed investment.

    Manufacturing and company updates

    Alternative protein leader Eat Just has had an update on its lawsuit with contract manufacturer ABEC over unpaid bills by its cultivated meat arm, Good Meat. The judge in Pennsylvania has granted several of ABEC’s motions and denied others, while also dismissing some of Eat Just’s counterclaims. But it sided with the latter on one of its claims, which will now proceed to trial.

    Fellow cultivated meat pioneer UPSIDE Foods has launched a petition in response to Florida’s ban on the novel proteins, urging people to show lawmakers from other states that they don’t agree with the policy.

    Mush Foods, the mycelium meat startup making solutions for blended meat, has released the results of a life-cycle assessment, which found that its 50CUT product produces negligible GHG emissions (0.02kg per patty). This means blending it with conventional meat would halve its carbon footprint.

    E-learning platform GenConnectU has announced an on-demand course focused on impact investing in the plant-based sector, facilitated by VegTech Invest CEO Elysabeth Alfano.

    VC firm Big Idea Ventures has launched PlantSustain, its fifth portfolio company through its Generation Food Rural Partners fund, which will focus on commercialising bio-based research for more sustainable products and agricultural solutions.

    Danish bioproduction leader 21st.BIO has unveiled its pilot plant facility in its Copenhagen headquarters, which has a fermentation capacity of over 3,000 litres of fermentation capacity and will help companies scale up production of recombinant proteins and peptides for the nutrition, food, agriculture, biomaterials, and biopharma sectors.

    future food quick bites
    Courtesy: 21st.BIO

    US vegan fast food chain Odd Burger will open three new locations in Alberta and British Columbia this month (taking its total to 16), and has signed a consulting deal with the Ahimsa Foundation, which will receive 1.5 million stock options at a price of 15 cents.

    Finally, global vegan certification body V-Label has launched a new advisory board and is calling for applications from individuals with divser backgrounds and expertise in fields including sustainability, sales and finance, marketing, consulting, and business development.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Cultivated Pepperoni, Odd Burger & A Vegan Pub appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Impossible Foods Debuts First Marketing Campaign Since Rebrand at Met Gala

    impossible burger
    5 Mins Read

    Geared towards meat-eaters, Impossible Foods’ first ad campaign since its rebrand is all about flavour and health – the two things Americans care most about in their food.

    A hot-dog-eating contest, lusting over nuggets, and an overly long sub are all featured in Impossible Foods’ first marketing campaign after refreshing its brand identity in March, with the plant-based meat pioneer declaring: “We’re solving the meat problem with more meat.”

    The new campaign debuted at last night’s Met Gala red carpet show, which over-indexes on Impossible Foods customers, according to the company. At the garden-themed event, the celebrity attendees got to sample Impossible sliders with brie and truffle aioli, and passionfruit BBQ Impossible chicken nuggets.

    The hero 30-second ad is a fast-paced walk-and-talk spot, with the protagonist outlining how “meat has problems”, and to solve them, we should eat more of it – only caveat? It should be made from plants. Describing the meat problem on its website, the brand notes how it’s “too delicious”, but that we eat so much of it, it’s causing problems – for our bodies as well as the planet.

    “We see this campaign as a way to let meat eaters know Impossible meat is the best way to keep eating meat you love, just without a lot of the problems associated with animal meat,” said chief marketing and creative officer Leslie Sims. “Whether you’re a vegan, hardcore meat eater or somewhere in between, we have you covered.”

    Changing how we see meat

    impossible chicken nuggets
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    The months-long campaign – which will run on TV and streaming, and digital, social media and billboards – was conceived via a collaboration between Impossible Foods’ in-house creative team and three-time AdAge Small Agency of the Year winner Erich and Kallman.

    It features a distinct Americana feel designed to feel familiar and relatable to meat-eaters, with cultural traditions like a backyard barbecue, hot-dog-eating contest and a burger joint referenced ahead of grilling season. One scene also depicts a family-style meal with a giant bowl of spaghetti and Impossible meatballs.

    The 30-second spot is accompanied by 15-second ads each spotlighting a different product – beef, chicken or pork – in a tongue-in-cheek tone, which follows the brand’s Making Meat History campaign from 2023. The latter compared an Impossible burger with a conventional one, which resonated with meat-eaters, leading the company to realise it could hone in even more on the similarities between old meat and new meat.

    impossible hot dog
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    This is why there’s a call to action directed to meat-loving Americans – who eat way more meat than is recommended or needed – with Impossible Foods imploring them to solve the meat problem with more burgers, hot dogs and meatballs. The idea is to reframe meat as a delicious food made from plants, instead of forcing meat-eaters to change their lifestyles.

    “For this latest campaign, we wanted to have a clear value proposition for them – you love meat, so why not try us and be better for the planet?” Sims told AdAge. On the humorous tone of the ads, she explained: “We are talking to hard-core meat-eaters, but we don’t want to be preachy.”

    Taste and health over environmental messaging

    With the new marketing campaign, Impossible Foods is doubling down on its food- and health-forward messaging, with the focus very much on flavour and nutrition. For example, one of the hero commercial’s scenes urges consumers to “punch cholesterol in the face”, highlighting how its meats have zero cholesterol.

    The environmental emphasis is no longer a centrepiece in the ads, which was expected after the brand’s refresh put taste and health at the heart of its packaging. Speaking to Reuters last month, Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness outlined why the brand has taken this direction: “We’re not leading with the planet because not enough people care. It’s the reality now.”

    impossible foods ad
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods

    And he’s right – the environmental pull of plant-based eating isn’t as strong as it used to be. One 2023 survey found that the top two attributes discouraging Americans from trying plant-based meat are flavour (48%) and nutrition (35%). Another poll revealed that health is the major reason Americans eat vegan or vegetarian diets, with six in 10 choosing it.

    It’s why the brand launched a Beef Lite version of its mince, which is approved as heart-healthy by the American Heart Association. But a company spokesperson told Green Queen in December that taste is the main reason behind consumers deciding to purchase a product again or not”.

    The shift was most visible in the rebrand two months ago, which saw the company switch from teal green to red packaging with a larger imagery, and a higher focus on taste descriptors, saturated fat and sodium. The colour change was designed to reinforce the meatiness of its products and their likeness to conventional counterparts. Red is a colour more naturally associated with meat, as opposed to green, which is the symbol of eco-friendliness and vegan food. At the time, Impossible Foods laid out its aim to appeal to the “carnivorous cravings of meat-eaters”.

    “Our intent with the new packaging – and the overall design of our new brand identity – is to lean into the craveability of meat,” a representative told Green Queen. “Taste is, of course, a big part of this. Between the bold red aesthetic and new food photography highlighted on the front of each product, we’re deliberately putting the deliciousness of our meat from plants front and centre.”

    plant based meat packaging
    Courtesy: Impossible Foods/Green Queen

    And consumer testing shows they do love its products – the brand says 80% of people who try its burgers like them, and that taste-testers preferred its chicken nuggets three-to-one in a head-to-head comparison with conventional nuggets.

    The marketing campaign comes amid a flurry of activity for Impossible Foods. It has been rolling out its new beef hot dogs at baseball stadiums across the US, serving its meat to the US army, transitioning a cattle ranch into a farm that produces plant-based meat ingredients, and – more long term – weighing up a liquidity event that could include a sale or an IPO, all while entering into Whole Foods nationwide and rejigging how it sells its meat. It’s a busy time for Impossible Foods, and one it will hope translates into success.

    The post Impossible Foods Debuts First Marketing Campaign Since Rebrand at Met Gala appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • New Zealand’s Jooules Raises $600,000 to Turn Carbon Into Food-Grade Proteins

    jooules protein
    4 Mins Read

    New Zealand startup Jooules has raised NZ$1M (about $600,000) in funding to advance its gaseous fermentation technology, which converts carbon emissions streams into protein for food ingredients.

    Wellington-based Jooules secured the capital from Sprout Agritech LP, which will enable it to power up its gaseous fermentation tech to produce carbon-based proteins through microbial fermentation.

    Working with the Crown research entity to fast-track product development via specialist equipment, the startup says it will use the funding round to expand its technical team.

    “Our ingredients-based protein will be nutritionally dense and resilient with major ethical benefits when you consider that we will be able to carbon capture emissions streams from other industries,” said Jouules founder David McLellan.

    How Jooules turns carbon into protein

    gaseous fermentation
    Courtesy: Jooules

    Jooules employs resource-efficient production techniques in a process where CO2 is an input – not an output. This means its protein consumes 600 times less water and requires 99% less land than conventional protein sources.

    It is also the only New Zealand startup leveraging microbes to produce protein ingredients from carbon. “In laboratory settings, we have proved the ability to harness the power of ancient microbes through gaseous fermentation to produce functional food-grade protein from carbon dioxide,” said McLellan, and the company says it could potentially produce these on a large scale, which is paramount for novel proteins like these.

    “Fermentation processes commonly require large quantities of sugars to be fed to the microbes to allow them to grow. This of course means reliance on a crop of some description to produce those sugars,” he explained to NZ Entrepreneur in November.

    “Our bioprocess is quite different. Our microbial strains don’t consume sugars for their source of energy and carbon to grow as is common with most fermentation processes. Instead, they actually consume CO2 gas for their carbon source and get their energy from hydrogen – the most abundant element in the universe. And from those two primary sources, they create proteins and other nutritionally valuable molecules.”

    The company won the Judges Panel Award on the demo day of the International ProVeg Accelerator Programme in Germany in 2022, which McLellan took as validation for his startup’s mission. Jooules is a B2B business, aiming to provide protein ingredients to large manufacturers to help feed a global population that will reach 10 billion in 2050.

    “Our protein is designed specifically for food manufacturers around the world seeking a more sustainable protein source and will be ideal for both human and high-value companion animal diets,” he said.

    Regulatory and launch plans

    jooules new zealand
    Courtesy: Jooules

    What Jooules is producing are proteins that contain all nine essential amino acids. Early testing has shown that gaseous-fermentation-derived proteins meet the UN FAO’s standards for the nutritional density of complete proteins.

    “Through the recent advancements in fermentation technology, we are able to produce a new source of nutritionally complete foods. Change isn’t necessarily about disrupting what we currently have, but being able to produce significant new export revenues from brand new technology,” McLellan explained.

    “Producing a product we can sell business to business empowers the world’s food manufacturers to address the source of the problem – scope 3 emissions associated with their supply chain – at scale,” he added. “We’re excited to be powering the future of food from New Zealand to the world.”

    “They’ve invented a way to address a global challenge that uses the problem – carbon dioxide – as a pathway to food,” added Warren Bebb, investment manager at Sprout Agritech LP, which has invested NZ$1 in six other early-stage deep tech startups. “The team’s approach leapfrogs other solutions in both innovation and ambition and we’re hugely excited to see what the team is able to achieve as it accelerates its investment into product development and testing.”

    Given its status as a novel protein, Jooules would first need to get the all-clear from food safety authorities in the countries it wants to go to market. While it has earmarked Asia-Pacific as its initial target over the next financial year, it aims to quickly expand to “closely aligned markets” soon.

    He indicated to NZ Entrepreneur that one of its pathways could be to tackle aquaculture and overfishing, replacing the “millions of tonnes of krill and anchovies” scooped up from the oceans annually, only to be fed to salmon that humans end up eating.

    The gas protein space is nascent, but budding. Finland’s Solar Foods is one of the leaders in this space, which opened its first commercial-scale facility last month. This was followed by an $8.5M top-up to its Series B funding, which now totals $17M. Some other innovators in this space include Kiverdi’s Air Protein, NovoNutrients, Calysta (all US), Arkeon Biotechnologies (Austria), Farmless (Netherlands) and Deep Branch Biotech (UK).

    The post New Zealand’s Jooules Raises $600,000 to Turn Carbon Into Food-Grade Proteins appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Aleph Farms Taps Into AI for More Efficient Cultivated Beef Production

    aleph farms bioraptor
    6 Mins Read

    Israeli cultivated meat leader Aleph Farms has partnered with biotech startup BioRaptor to integrate AI into its production process, which will enable scalability and reduce costs.

    Ahead of launching into restaurants in its home country, Aleph Farms is tapping into BioRaptor’s artificial-intelligence-led operating system to optimise the production of its cultivated beef.

    By partnering with BioRaptor, an expert in streamlining biotech processes through data and AI, Aleph Farms hopes to derisk its scale-up plans as it transitions to large-scale facilities with significant capital expenditure. The AI will complement human intelligence by collecting and extrapolating both large datasets generated throughout the cultivated meat development process.

    “There are massive amounts of data created during the development of state-of-the-art production bioprocesses, which, when extracted, interpreted, and collected into actionable insights, can boost productivity and reduce costs, time, and human error,” said BioRaptor co-founder and CEO Ori Zakin. “This is exactly our plan with Aleph Farms.”

    Using AI to make cultivated meat cheaper and faster

    aleph farms facility
    Courtesy: Amit Goren/Aleph Farms

    Cultivated meat is grown in bioreactors that provide controlled, clean, and closed environments where animal cells can thrive. These cultivators continuously feed the cells with nutrients and are monitored for various process parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen and temperature. Understanding this relationship between the cell feed and its environment is vital for defining the most optimal growth conditions.

    BioRaptor’s solution allows Aleph Farms to smoothly evaluate cross-experimental findings to and have the results configured on a single platform. The ability to review both historical and real-time data, and make projections that enhance experiments leads to a more efficient and less cost-intensive scale-up process.

    At Aleph Farms’ current facility in Rehovot, Israel, it can initially produce 10 tonnes of cultivated steak annually. It also announced the acquisition of another plant in Modi’in, Israel last year, alongside an agreement with ESCO Aster in Singapore (the world’s only approved industrial manufacturer for cultured meat). And in February, it partnered with biomanufacturer BBGI and synbio research and manufacturing company Fermbox Bio to set up a production plant in Thailand.

    Scalability and costs are two of the most pressing challenges of the cultivated meat industry. Aleph Farms, which aims to reach $1B in revenue by 2030, has previously received 66 million NIS ($18M) in government funding to precisely address these bottlenecks.

    Cultured meat itself needs to reach production costs of $2.92 per pound to be price-competitive with conventional meat. But while companies have managed to cut manufacturing costs by 99% in less than a decade, McKinsey analysis suggests it will still take until 2030 for these proteins to become as cheap as meat. “Of common animal proteins, beef delivers the highest value in global markets, so by focusing on cultivated beef, we are able to shorten the timeline to price parity,” Yoav Reisler, senior marketing and communications manager at Aleph Farms, told Green Queen in January.

    “By simplifying bioprocess data management and suggesting optimal experimental design, we can enable smoother technological developments for the processes that the cellular agriculture industry has been pioneering,” added Zakin.

    Alternative protein’s AI footprint expands

    aleph farms ai
    Courtesy: Daniel Elkayam/Aleph Farms

    With the large amount of data generated by Aleph Farms, the BioRaptor team-up could help accelerate the development of robust and scalable production processes, according to Sagit Shalel-Levanon, senior director of process development at the cultivated meat startup.

    “Our team’s scientific expertise in design of experiment (DoE) methodology and statistical analysis, complemented by BioRaptor’s AI-driven solution, will allow us to better understand the interactions between various process inputs and conditions,” she said.

    “Deploying BioRaptor’s most advanced AI and machine learning solution into our R&D will provide additional support for our team to optimise processes for cost and scalability, laying a solid groundwork for our mid- to large-scale production,” said co-founder and CTO Neta Lavon. “Our approach is to build the right foundations as we grow and avoid massive capital expenditure before our process is fully ready for scale.

    She continued: “We are investing time and resources to implement the most advanced tools into our differentiated technology platform and its various applications in food and beyond, thereby realising the full potential of cellular agriculture in the burgeoning bioeconomy.”

    An increasing number of alternative protein startups are deploying AI to streamline ingredient discovery, research, and production processes. Players like Chile’s NotCo, California’s Climax Foods and Singapore’s Howw Foods are all harnessing the tech for product development, while US mycelium meat maker Meati has used it to conduct a study about its product’s health benefits. And earlier this week, Shiru launched a protein discovery platform and marketplace powered by the tech.

    But AI also comes with its own climate conundrums, as these systems are run on large, 24/7 data centres that mostly use fossil fuel energy, accounting for 2.5-3.7% of global GHG emissions. They use a massive amount of water too, with US centres having consumed 1.7 billion litres per day in 2014 – 0.14% of the nation’s daily water use.

    “On an ongoing basis, we carefully manage our environmental footprint and this includes conducting a life-cycle assessment on our cultivated meat products, alongside measuring our corporate ecological footprint (greenhouse gases, electricity, water, and waste),” Reisler told Green Queen. “In addition, we have launched programs for energy and resource efficiency. Our transition to renewable energies, our waste management program and our detailed roadmap to net zero help us navigate through a variety of challenges as we scale and eventually meet our ambitious environmental goals.”

    Aleph Farms to roll out cultivated steak in foodservice

    lab grown meat approved
    Courtesy: Aleph Farms

    Aleph Farms hopes to use BioRaptor’s AI to build the right foundations and avoid tall capital expenditures before its process is fully ready to scale. In January, it became the third cultivated meat producer in the world to receive regulatory approval, with Israel’s health ministry clearing it to sell Black Angus Petit Steak under its Aleph Cuts brand.

    “We are determined to build up our capabilities in production and sales support before initiating a full product launch. This will help ensure a steady supply of Aleph Cuts to consumers and continuous revenue for Aleph Farms,” said Reisler.”

    “Following the completion of a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) inspection of our pilot production facility in Rehovot, we will introduce Aleph Cuts in limited quantities via tailored tasting experiences for consumers and other relevant stakeholders,” said Reisler. “This targeted market activation allows us to gather direct feedback from consumers and refine our brand positioning in collaboration with them, helping lay the foundation for a successful full launch.”

    He continued: “As Aleph Cuts becomes a new and differentiated category in the animal protein space, applying these marketing learnings is vital before becoming a staple on restaurant menus, in foodservice, and, eventually, in retail.”

    The company, which has raised a total of $118M in funding, is also awaiting approval from food safety regulators in Singapore, Switzerland, the UK and the US. The latter made headlines this week after Florida banned the production and sale of cultivated meat in the state. “Barriers to process in specific countries and states may force producers of cultivated meat to redirect resources elsewhere, including to China. Can they afford to relinquish their global leadership due to shortsighted political interests during an election year?” noted Reisler.

    “Limiting consumer freedom and restricting entrepreneurial freedom contradict the fundamental principle of a free democratic society. Shouldn’t consumers be given the freedom to make informed choices on their food?” he added.

    “Banning a product that’s not yet on the shelves doesn’t improve ranchers’ condition. Fear of change often stems from a lack of trust in the system and concerns about the future. We are ready for an open exchange on how to implement a transition to sustainable and secure food systems, one that is just and inclusive for all stakeholders, including and especially for livestock farmers.”

    The post Aleph Farms Taps Into AI for More Efficient Cultivated Beef Production appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Singapore PM Namechecks ‘Novel Food’ in Promising Job Sectors in May Day Speech

    lee hsien loong may day
    5 Mins Read

    In one of his final major speeches, outgoing Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned “novel food biotechnologies” as a promising job prospect – it’s a nod to the country’s food tech pedigree.

    In two weeks’ time, Lee Hsien Long will leave office after serving as Singapore’s prime minister for two decades. In that time, Singapore has undergone a transformation, emerging as the global frontier for food tech, thanks to a favourable research, funding and manufacturing environment, and progressive regulations.

    In his annual speech on May Day – or Labour Day – at the Marina Bay Sands convention centre this week, Lee highlighted the actions that have brought success to Singapore. In one part of the speech, he touched upon how all parts of the island are equipped with good schools to provide equal opportunities to everyone, regardless of economic status or locale.

    This, he highlighted, is why Singapore’s youth or graduate unemployment rates are very low. “Young people take up jobs that did not even exist in their parents’ generation,” he said.

    “They become data scientists, machine learning engineers, carbon traders, novel food biotechnologies,” he added, nodding to the country’s flourishing food tech scene. He followed this up with a quick explanation too – “that means you take a plant and you make it look like wagyu beef” – which brought some laughs from the audience.

    For Lee to namecheck alternative proteins in a speech about the most promising job sectors, and even go on to highlight what it entails, is reflective of Singapore’s strong standing in the industry. It’s why so many food tech startups flock to the city-state from around the world, and cherry-pick it as the perfect location to go to market.

    The career opportunities in alternative proteins

    Lee’s speech came just a week after Nurasa, the sustainable food innovation platform of state-owned VC firm Temasek, inaugurated the Food Tech Innovation Centre (FTIC), a hub dedicated to the R&D and scale-up of alternative proteins.

    And last month, Singapore saw the opening of a new Future Food Lab at Singapore Polytechnic, an effort to scale up its capacity for novel food manufacturing and attract investments in R&D. It will also support Singapore’s 30 by 30 food security vision – the goal is to have 30% of food produced domestically by 2030 (it’s currently under 10%) – with innovating like low-sodium plant-based meats and a high-fibre mushroom protein bars.

    This followed the launch of a first-of-its-kind career map for plant-based meat manufacturing in the Lion City, initiated by alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC. It entails ingredient extraction and optimisation, formulation and texturisation, product application development, commercial-scale manufacturing, and quality and regulatory management, with the aim of building a bigger, more skilled workforce that can scale up and lower the costs of future food production.

    alt protein career map
    Courtesy: GFI APAC

    GFI APAC highlights the job roles involved in these segments, including food technologists, application scientists, and factory operators – highlighting the different skillsets and expertise levels that the industry requires. In fact, according to the ClimateWorks Foundation and the Global Methane Hub, the alternative protein sector could support up to 83 million jobs internationally by 2050.

    “The city-state’s scientific talent pool is its greatest resource, carefully cultivated by visionary leaders who see not only the career fields that exist now but also those that will drive the economies of the future,” said Mirte Gosker, managing director of GFI APAC.

    “Creating a booming business ecosystem requires not only financial investment but confidence that the national strategies spearheaded by various public agencies are aligned with the private sector on an industry’s long-term ambitions,” she added.

    Singapore’s food tech prowess

    Gosker noted that Lee’s shoutout to novel food biotechnologists is “just the latest signal to alternative protein startups and researchers that Singapore’s leadership is committed to helping them succeed”.

    The country was famously the first to approve the sale of cultivated meat, with Eat Just earning it for its Good Meat chicken back in 2020. In March, it greenlit Australia’s Vow too, which is now selling its cultivated quail via a series of restaurant partnerships (it’s currently at Tippling Club). More such approvals are expected, with Israel’s Aleph Farms (which has already been cleared to sell cultivated beef in its home country), Dutch producer Meatable, and French startup Vitalmeat among the companies expecting the go-ahead this year.

    But it’s not just regulatory breakthroughs. As community and youth minister Alvin Tan outlined at an agrifood conference in October, the country is a hotbed for food tech, inviting companies to “come to the best place in the world for food innovation”.

    singapore food tech
    Courtesy: Alvin Tan/LinkedIn

    GFI APAC similarly labelled the island as a “global testbed” for the industry, helping startups incubate, innovate, partner and export their alternative protein innovations internationally. At least 25 non-local companies have a presence in Singapore for R&D and business development, while it’s home to almost a quarter (24%) of all alternative protein startups in Asia-Pacific.

    “Despite its small population and lack of natural resources, Singapore is responsible for nearly a quarter of all alt protein scientific publications released in APAC since 2020, and is home to three of the five most active regional research centres,” noted Gosker.

    But with Lee leaving his post, will it be a tall order for incoming prime minister Lawrence Wong to maintain the progress built on his predecessor’s 20 years in charge? Gosker doesn’t think so, explaining that policy continuity and progressive change are “key tenets of the Singapore model, which leverages public investments to cumulatively improve citizens’ livelihoods over the short and long term”.

    “Singapore puts a high priority on building durable institutions that lift up whole sectors, such as shared-use facilities for alt protein R&D and production that are greater than any individual company or person,” she said. “Prime minister Lee name-dropping novel food biotechnologists in one of his final major speeches is further evidence that leadership in food innovation is now central to Singapore’s national identity.”

    The post Singapore PM Namechecks ‘Novel Food’ in Promising Job Sectors in May Day Speech appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Mewery Establishes Stable Cell Line to Scale Up Cultivated Pork Production Ahead of Pilot Plant Opening

    mewery
    5 Mins Read

    Czech startup Mewery has achieved a breakthrough in its tech to produce cultivated meat, establishing a stable cell line to enable scalability.

    Mewery has formed a stable cell line in the development process for its cultivated pork, a key step that will help enable large-scale production of its meat.

    The Brno-based startup’s scientists conducted a number of cell isolations to identify which ones exhibit the most favourable response to its co-cultivation technology, which involves pig and microalgae cells in a serum-free medium.

    “This achievement represents another important step forward in our ongoing efforts to bring cultivated meat to consumers,” said chief science officer Vladislav Strmiska. “The establishment of a stable cell line lays the groundwork for consistent, high-quality meat production without relying on animal agriculture.”

    The milestone will help Mewery move from lab volumes of dozens of litres, and potentially hundreds of litres volume in its pilot facility, which is set to be operational in the coming months. “We are also just in the pre-negotiation phase with potential commercial scale-up partners in Europe and the US,” Rostislav Brzobohatý, Mewery’s chief commercial officer, told Green Queen.

    The company is in talks with a partner in Switzerland for the successful completion of its proprietary co-cultivation process in large 200-litre bioreactors and the launch of its demo operations, which are its immediate priorities.

    How stable cell lines benefit cultivated meat production

    cultivated pork
    Courtesy: Mewery

    A stable cell line refers to a cell population that can continually grow and retain the desired properties over many generations. It’s the foundational building block of cultivated meat, but a lack of availability of the right cell lines has been a major bottleneck for commercialisation in the industry.

    Achieving stable cell lines represents a few major advantages for producers. First, it enables them to deliver consistent quality and taste. Stable cells allow precise control and characterisation, ensuring that each batch delivers a piece of cultivated meat identical to the one before.

    Secondly, it reduces the reliance on livestock farming, eliminating the need for animals in the production process. A 2023 industry survey by think tank the Good Food Institute revealed that 74% of companies have achieved identical or better results after establishing a cell line in serum-free conditions.

    And finally, it paves the way for large-scale production of cultivated meat, helping companies accelerate their path to commercialisation.

    Apart from the stable cell lines, Mewery has also expanded its cell bank to include multiple types of non-genetically-modified porcine cells. This will help it optimise the growth conditions of these cells for faster and more efficient production, and create a broader range of cultivated meat products, such as different cuts of meat.

    “We are committed to developing delicious, sustainable, and accessible cultivated meat for everyone,” said Mewery CEO Roman Lauš. “This breakthrough brings us a significant step closer to achieving that goal.”

    lab grown pork
    Courtesy: Mewery

    In January, Mewery was awarded €200,000 in grants from the Czech government to further improve its platform’s efficiency. The funding was set to be used to characterize basic parts of the production process and expand research efforts into cell growth and interactions. “This knowledge will be essential for designing a near-future scalable production process that is efficient, cost-effective, and meets the highest quality standards,” Lauš explained at the time.

    But while the startup did receive backing from the Czech government, the country’s lawmakers were also in support of an EU bill that sought to restrict the cultivated meat sector earlier this year. “We have also learned that our government’s view on the EU Agrifish Bill is just to start a broader discussion,” Brzobohatý revealed, adding that Mewery has had a “very positive experience” while in close contact with the agriculture ministry. “We are actively discussing the creation of a legislative framework to allow controlled tastings inspired by the Dutch model.”

    It was only last month that Dutch cultured pork producer Meatable held the EU’s first public tasting of cultivated meat, after its government established a framework for such events. It followed US producer Fork & Good’s pub dinner in Switzerland and Australian startup Vow’s event in Iceland (it has since obtained Singaporean approval for its cultivated quail).

    “As regards the proposals to restrict cultivated meat, our view is clear,” said Brzobohatý. “We believe that the choice of the food they consume is up to the consumers alone. If such food is approved by the authorities whose jurisdiction and competence this falls under, all parties should accept this. The role of politicians is to set the framework and possibly moderate the debate, but they should certainly not seek to substitute for food safety authorities.”

    Mewery also indicated that part of the government investment will be used for data gathering ahead of filing for regulatory approval. While its first choice would be to apply in the US, if the regulatory framework in the EU is cleared up by this time, it will likely do so there too. “Another country we are considering is Switzerland, which meets our requirements for our pre-commercial pilot operation,” said Brzobohatý.

    Disrupting an industry in disarray

    cultured pork
    Courtesy: Mewery

    Founded in 2020 by Lauš, Mewery has previously teased products like meatballs and tenderloin made from 75% porcine cells and 25% microalgae cells – by developing pork on microalgae scaffolding, the startup has slashed production costs by 70%. Last year, it debuted a burger at a small tasting in its home country, where over 90% of attendees indicated their willingness to taste the cultivated product.

    When asked whether its products would be hybrid (a mix of cultivated animal cells and plants), Brzobohatý said: “We are continuously exploring all the possibilities. Our product is inherently hybrid by virtue of our co-cultivation method of combining pork cells with microalgae cells. At the same time, we are considering a pork burger as our first product, which would be a natural fit if combined with plant-based mass.”

    Concerns about pig meat have continued to boil over African Swine Fever outbreaks in many parts of the world recently, with pig populations being culled in Russia, Hong Kong, the UK, the US and India. This has led to a shortage of pork and subsequently driven up prices, with the viral disease adding to the meat’s already carcinogenic status.

    It’s why novel options like Mewery’s are crucial for a stable and sustainable food system. Clever Carnivore, Uncommon, Ivy Farm Technologies, Joes Future Food Tech, CellX, Magic Valley, MyriaMeat, and Meatable are all working on cultivated pork too.

    The post Mewery Establishes Stable Cell Line to Scale Up Cultivated Pork Production Ahead of Pilot Plant Opening appeared first on Green Queen.

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  • Oatly Cuts Losses and Exceeds Revenue Expectations in Positive Start to 2024

    oatly q1 2024
    6 Mins Read

    After taking measures to turn its losses around, Oatly’s quarterly losses have narrowed by 39% from the previous year, and revenue swelled by 1.8% in a performance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

    A strategic reset in China, expanded focus on retail and tailored pricing for specific markets have led to what Oatly CEO Jean-Christophe Flatin described as a “solid quarter”.

    The company reined in its operating and capital expenditures, and increased its gross margin to 27 cents on the dollar (up by 56% from Q1 2023). It also netted $199.1M in revenue this quarter, a 1.8% improvement from the previous year. This – combined with 10% lower selling prices – took its year-over-year gross profit to $53.8M (a 58% increase).

    It means that after posting a 6.5% increase in annual losses last year – when a pullback from manufacturing facilities resulted in large one-off costs – the Swedish oat milk giant has managed to shrink its Q1 losses down from $75.5M in 2023 to $45.8M in 2024. This was led by a decrease in expenses from multiple activities, including “employee-related expenses”, consultant fees and R&D spend.

    “The year is off to a good start,” Flatin said in an earnings call. “We are clearly seeing the benefits from the bold actions we have taken over the past two years.”

    These actions included its streamlined “asset-light strategy”, which involved the elimination of poor-performing SKUs in China, and its Go Blue plan to expand the applications and range of its products, all geared towards its “North Star” goal of reaching profitability. “Every employee throughout the organisation – no matter their position, region or role – is squarely focused on strengthening the business and bringing us to structural consistent, profitable growth,” said Flatin.

    Oatly outperforms entire plant-based milk category

    oatly sales
    Courtesy: Oatly

    To recalibrate its strategy and decision-making, Oatly has shaken up its operating segments, with Greater China now managed separately from the rest of Asia-Pacific, which has joined the Europe, Middle East and Africa region in a new Europe & International section (this also includes Latin America).

    As is expected, Europe & International is the oat milk maker’s largest market, accounting for 55% of its revenue. Here, its revenue increased by nearly 8% over Q1 2023, which was driven by increased volume, price hikes and a 20% revenue growth in foodservice. The company has also introduced new SKUs, such as the 20ml single-use Jigger packs, the zero-sugar oat milk, and its new line of yoghurts.

    “We are placing advertisements in high-traffic areas, such as European train stations, and we are creating great tasting experiences and various trade events and coffee festivals,” explained Flatin.

    oatly jigger
    Courtesy: Oatly

    Retail remains the dominant channel in Europe, accounting for 82% of its sales (versus 80% in all of last year). Its retail revenue increases of 5% have outpaced the entire plant-based milk category, which has flatlined, as well as the oat milk segment as a whole (3%).

    Likewise, retail has encroached upon the foodservice share in North America. While the latter was the slightly stronger segment in the full year of 2023, it has now given way to retail, which makes up 54% of Oatly’s North American business. Here, too, its retail takeaway sales have thoroughly outperformed its counterparts. While chilled plant-based milk witnessed a 3.5% decline and chilled oat milk saw a modest 1.5% hike, chilled Oatly was up by 2.3%. When accounting for its ambient SKUs too, its revenue in this channel was 9.7% higher year-over-year.

    This is partly thanks to its new Super Basic and Unsweetened oat milk SKUs and four-strong line of coffee creamers, as well as the partnership with Minor League Baseball. It means North America now makes up 34% of Oatly’s revenues.

    oatly super basic oat milk
    Courtesy: Oatly

    Globally, retail accounted for 65% of Oatly’s Q1 2024 revenue, and foodservice took a 32% share, with the remaining coming mainly from e-commerce. “Every city in which we land the Oatly brand proves the magic of the brand and how prepared these markets are to welcome us with open arms,” noted Flatin. “Whether it’s a barista in specialty coffee or it’s a customer buyer, we repeatedly get the: “Finally, you guys are here!’”

    China reset on-track

    If Europe & International and North America gained, something had to give. That was Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan and drove 11% of Oatly’s Q1 sales this year.

    This was expected, given the business’s struggles in China, where it withdrew low-margin SKUs from retail and e-commerce and amped up its foodservice focus, which is responsible for 70% of its sales in the region (rising from 65% this time last year). E-commerce is also much bigger here than elsewhere, taking up 13% of the market share.

    oatly earnings
    Courtesy: Oatly

    Greater China offset the sales growth Oatly experienced elsewhere, with revenue down by 27% compared to Q1 2023. However, when discounting non-recurring costs – also known as adjusted EBITDA – performance in this region improved, with losses plummeting by 80% from the first quarter of last year to $3.4M. Even when contrasting this with the previous quarter, this figure was down by 64%.

    This was attributed to lower selling costs and general expenses, as well as much greater gross profit. As part of its growth strategy in Greater China, Oatly has patrnerd with the country’s largest coffee chain on a limited-time Earth Day promotion, which it says will boost category momentum and brand visibility. It has also launched value-priced products with several customers that are performing well – this includes its pistachio-oat milk, which boasts 4.2g of omega-3 fatty acids per pack.

    oatly china
    Courtesy: Oatly

    “Sensitive to the economic context prevailing in China and the new consumer behaviour, it was clear we needed to complement our portfolio with SKUs that could hit certain price points,” said COO Daniel Ordonez. “This helps us to build a stronger service package for our customers, drive volume growth to sustain necessary levels of capacity absorption, and hence, solidify our margins.

    “The consumer environment in Greater China remains challenging. However, we are identifying opportunities to rebuild our business in a disciplined manner,” he added. “While it is clear we have not yet gained the traction needed for this business to capture the full opportunity that region provides, you can see we’re starting to make progress on the second stage of this segment’s turnaround plan.”

    Oatly reiterates 2024 guidance and teases new barista milks

    oatly barista edition
    Courtesy: Oatly

    To further capture consumer share, Oatly highlighted the impending launch of its new barista milks, which now feature an organic version, a variant for light-roasted coffee, and a 1.5L pack. “We conquer the hearts and the minds of coffee specialty first, then we expand experiences in foodservice but in a selective manner, balancing margin and growth, while we make ourselves available in retail,” explained Flatin.

    The company remains pragmatic about the upcoming year, reiterating its full-year outlook of revenue growth by 5-10%, adjusted EBITDA loss between $35-60M (versus $158M in 2023), and capital expenditures below $75M.

    “While we are encouraged by our first quarter results, we recognize that we are only one quarter through the year and that our three operating segments are in very different stages of their turnaround journeys, their maturity, their execution, and the amount of traction they have achieved on the strategic actions. 

    The post Oatly Cuts Losses and Exceeds Revenue Expectations in Positive Start to 2024 appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Cultivated Quail, MasterChef Pros & A Cheese Debacle

    climax foods
    5 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Vow’s Tippling Club collab, US bans on cultivated meat, and a climate change podcast.

    New products and launches

    Australian cultivated meat startup Vow, which recently became the fourth company to receive regulatory approval, has announced its first restaurant partner, Singapore’s Tippling Club, which will serve its Forged Parfait with cultured quail from May 3-14. The product debuted at Mandala Club earlier this month.

    In the UK, Alpro has rolled out four new protein-centric SKUs: two original- and chocolate-flavoured Plant Protein drinks, and yoghurts in mixed berries and mango-banana variants. It has also introduced 500ml versions of its unsweetened almond and oat milks.

    UK tofu maker The Tofoo Co has partnered with vegan restaurant Temple of Seitan to launch seitan in original and pepperoni flavours at UK retailers, which will be available at Waitrose and Tesco (only the original) from today.

    Automotive giant Mercedes-Benz is working to align its German canteens with the Planetary Health Diet, and has pledged to serve predominantly plant-based food by the end of 2025. Last week, it linked up with Stuttgart restaurant Vhy! to showcase the potential of vegan food.

    In the US, online grocery retailer FreshDirect has unveiled Foraged Mushroom Meat, which are available in nuggets and pulled formats and made from the stalks of mushrooms, alongside soy protein, tapioca flour and coconut oil.

    Spanish seafood producer Angulas Aguinaga is entering the alternative seafood world via a collaboration with Catalan startup Vrave, starting with a konjac-based calamari to be sold under the former’s Aguinamar brand. They plan to roll out the calamari in the UK, France and Portugal next month.

    future food quick bites
    Courtesy: Heura/LinkedIn

    Meanwhile, fellow Catalan vegan brand Heura‘s three-week veggie sandwich pilot at French bakery chain Boulangerie Ange last November has been made permanent, with the sandwich now vegan thanks to the use of Violife cheese.

    Else Nutrition‘s soy-free vegan infant formula and toddler drink has made its way into the Asia-Pacific market, launching in Australia and New Zealand.

    And BBC Springwatch host Gillian Burke has launched a new climate podcast called If I Ruled The World, where she interviews scientists, lawmakers, artists, journalists, activists and entrepreneurs about system change and their solution to the climate crisis.

    Finance and policy developments

    Berlin-based startup Cultimate Foods has raised €2.3M in a seed funding round to scale up production and expand commercial operations for its plant-based fat ingredient for meat analogues.

    Likewise, France’s Edonia has bagged €2M in investment to produce plant-based meat analogues from microalgae like spirulina and chlorella.

    UK venture capital firm CPT Capital has teamed up with Accenture, the Good Food Institute Europe and the Alternative Proteins Association to launch the third edition of its Coller Startup Competition for alternative protein companies, with the winner receiving £100,000.

    milky plant
    Courtesy: Milky Plant

    Also in the UK, Milky Plant has turned over £2M in two years with its homemade alt-milk machine, with sales set to reach £10M by the end of the year.

    In Alabama, the House of Representatives has voted in favour of a bill to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat by an 85-14 vote, which will now return to the Senate before being passed. The House amended the bill to say it would not prevent people from researching these proteins in the state.

    Similarly, the Arizona House has voted for a bill requiring cultivated meat products to be labelled clearly to distinguish themselves from conventional meat, though this is a watered-down version of the original proposal, which sought to ban the use of meat-related terms on packaging labels for these products. The bill still needs Senate approval.

    Partnerships, research and breakthroughs

    Australian cultivated pork producer Magic Valley hosted a tasting event for its bao buns at John Gorilla Café in Brunswick, which received rave reviews from attendees.

    magic valley
    Courtesy: Magic Valley

    Vegan certification body V-Label has collaborated with the Middle East Vegan Society to accelerate and advance the clear and transparent labelling of vegan and vegetarian products in the region.

    In the US, animal nutrition company Wilbur-Ellius Nutrition and precision fermentation protein startup Bond Pet Foods have teamed up to develop ingredients for the pet food industry.

    Californian startup Checkerspot has received a patent for its non-genetically-engineered high-oleic algae oil ingredient, two weeks after partnering with sustainable nutrition company Mara Renewables to develop omega-3 alternatives to fish oil.

    masterchef vegan
    Courtesy: Upfield

    Violife Professional, the foodservice arm of plant-based dairy leader Upfield, has partnered with MasterChef: The Professionals winner Alex Webb to showcase foodservice kitchens how to best swap dairy for vegan analogues, curating six dishes using Flora butter and cream and Violife cream cheese.

    Plant-based consumption is seemingly on the rise in Romania, up from 30% in 2022 to 39% in 2023, with taste the biggest driver, according to research by Danone Romania.

    vegan casein
    Courtesy: Climax Foods

    Finally, vegan cheesemaker Climax Foods, which was set to become the first plant-based brand to win the Good Food Awards for its blue cheese, was disqualified on the eve of the ceremony, with its founder ascribing it to a pushback from the dairy industry and a retrospective change of rules.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Cultivated Quail, MasterChef Pros & A Cheese Debacle appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Op-Ed: Increasing Animal Cruelty is Not the Answer to Climate Change

    compassion in world farming
    4 Mins Read

    Dr Sarah Ison, head of research at animal advocacy group Compassion in World Farming, makes her case for why simply moving to lower-emitting animals isn’t the climate solution we need from our food system.

    In recent years, the agriculture industry has been pushing the ‘sustainable intensification’ of livestock farming to justify the continuous production of high volumes of meat and dairy while meeting self-determined climate targets.

    However, this ‘intensification’ – which involves increasing the number of animals farmed and rearing them in closer confinement – will not only cause more animal suffering, it also fails to address many of the environmental problems caused by intensive animal farming such as deforestation and wildlife loss. 

    A recent Harvard University report, Options for a Paris-Compliant Livestock Sector, shows that an overwhelming proportion of the world’s leading climate, food and agriculture scientists do not see intensification as a solution to tackling the climate crisis.  

    Published last month, the survey asked more than 210 world-renowned scientists for their view on the role of the livestock sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Almost 80% agreed that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector in high-income countries should not be achieved at the cost of animal welfare. The majority indicated little to no contribution of intensification, characterised by “increasing stocking rates of animals, including more animals per shed, or more animals per unit of production”. 

    Instead, experts ranked reducing the consumption of animal products (90%) and reducing the number of animals (87%) as actions with the biggest contribution. The largest proportion of experts agreed that efforts to reduce emissions from the livestock sector should not result in an increased number of farmed animals – yet this is what would happen if cattle were replaced with chicken and fish.

    Crucially, these were not just any scientists. They were the scientists who have contributed to major climate and agriculture reports, including those from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UNEP and the FAO. They’re the experts who provide the guidance and evidence base for policymakers to decide what’s needed to stay within planetary boundaries, and safeguard public health and the welfare of billions of animals.

    Nothing but a purposeful distraction

    factory farming climate change
    Courtesy: Compassion in World Farming

    The consensus of the experts in this Harvard study to reject intensification and consider animal welfare is reassuring. The ‘sustainable intensification’ option is a purposeful distraction and is simply inadequate as it fails to tackle so many other environmental and health problems that confining animals in small spaces creates. These include the increased risk of the emergence of viruses like influenza-A (swine and bird flu), its contribution to antibiotic resistance in people, as well as wildlife loss and deforestation for land used to produce animal feeds. 

    Almost all of the experts (92%) agreed that reducing emissions from the livestock sector is important to limiting temperatures to a maximum of 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

    The FAO’s Global Roadmap, launched during COP28, contains 10 clear actions on healthy diets, starting with improving dietary guidelines to include environmental considerations. These actions will no doubt improve the emissions reduction potential of changing diets than what is currently in the FAO’s Pathways to Lower Emissions report released earlier. This report, as it stands, is unambitious and based on dietary guidelines that lack consideration for environmental sustainability.

    Another action outlined in the roadmap is to move from higher- to lower-emitting animals, meaning from cattle to chickens or fish. While this might seem useful in the short term, more focus must be given to changing diets. Increasing the total number of sentient beings – particularly chickens, pigs and fish who endure the greatest suffering on factory farms – must be avoided.

    The climate fight needs a radical transformation

    low carbon meat
    Courtesy: Compassion in World Farming

    The UNEP’s new Frontiers report, What’s Cooking?, gives a clear indication of the potential benefits of novel alternatives to conventional animal products, including alleviating the suffering of billions of sentient animals in cages and confinement on factory farms. These alternative proteins must be encouraged in favour of intensification and increasing the number of animals if we are to truly transform our food system for the long-term benefit of us all.

    At COP28, a declaration was also launched on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems, and climate action. It now has the support of 159 countries, and over 200 Non-State Actors (including farmers and fishers, businesses, cities, civil society, consumers and all those engaged in food systems) – who signed a call to action for food systems transformation. And, for the first time at the conference, a whole thematic day was dedicated to food, agriculture and water.

    While momentum towards action is building, it is needed now to tackle the climate crisis. The approach that not only helps tackle the climate crisis, but also improves human, animal and planetary health, is phasing out factory farming and moving to high welfare, regenerative, nature-positive farming alongside innovative alternatives to conventional animal products. This would improve animal health, reduce the risk of diseases that harm both animals and people, help preserve antibiotics for human use, and substantially decrease biodiversity loss as well as deforestation.

    Only a holistic and radical transformation will be enough to tackle the climate issue and secure a healthy future for all, before it’s too late.  

    The post Op-Ed: Increasing Animal Cruelty is Not the Answer to Climate Change appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Beanless Coffee Startup Atomo Opens Large Roastery as Upcycled Espresso Brews Up Specialty Café Partnerships

    atomo
    5 Mins Read

    Seattle-based Atomo has opened a large-scale roastery for the production of its beanless coffee, just as it expands its presence in the US speciality coffee industry.

    A pioneer of the molecular coffee space, Atomo has opened the doors to its 33,000 sq ft roastery, allowing it to produce four million lbs of beanless espresso grounds a year as it extends its footprint in specialty coffee shops across the US.

    While it already operates a smaller facility for its canned cold brew, Atomo reached a breakthrough in its espresso tech and pivoted its attention to these grounds instead. At full capacity, the new roastery would be able to supply around 2,000 coffee shops, with the goal of generating enough buzz to support a capital raise for the construction of a new factory that could produce 40 million pounds of product annually.

    “Opening our roastery is a significant step for us. We love coffee and created our beanless espresso so that shops and cafés around the world could expand their specialty drink options; a great tasting coffee that’s better for the planet,” CEO Andy Kleitsch, who co-founded the brand with Jarret Stopforth in 2019, told World Coffee Portal.

    Using upcycled ingredients to solve coffee’s climate problem

    atomo coffee
    Courtesy: Atomo/Klyaksun via Canva | Composite by Green Queen

    Atomo has been a pioneer of the beanless coffee industry, starting with a line of canned cold brews. The new roastery can help it deliver different forms of coffee, from drips to pods, but it is starting with ground ‘beans’. Launched in October last year, these are designed for professional espresso machines with nine to 12 bars of pressure.

    “We chose that because that is probably the best customer experience that you can have surrounding coffee – going to a café and having a barista make you a beautiful drink,” Kleitsch told GeekWire. “We really wanted our product to be featured in that way when we first launched.”

    A number of beanless coffee startups have popped up in recent years as the future of the crop is threatened by the effects of climate change. The amount of arable land for coffee-growing is set to be halved come 2050, while 60% of coffee species are endangered. The most famous one of them, arabica, could actually go extinct by 2080. Yields have already begun declining, which has naturally affected prices too.

    Coffee itself is also a highly polluting crop, trailing only dark chocolate and red meats like lamb, mutton and beef on the list of foods with the highest emissions. This has birthed efforts to create alternatives that are more friendly to the planet and less susceptible to its volatility. Companies like Northern Wonder (Netherlands), Voyage Foods, Minus (all US) and Prefer (Singapore) are all vying for the beanless market, while startups such as Stem (France) and Pluri (Israel) are recreating coffee beans in labs. Meanwhile, French player Amatera is leveraging molecular biology and crop genetics to develop perennial coffee crops.

    Atomo – which worked with watermelon and sunflower seeds in its early days – now uses upcycled date pits, ramon seeds, sunflower seed extract, fructose, pea protein, millets, lemon, guava, defatted fenugreek seeds and baking soda to make its beanless espresso products, which are available both as a caffeinated and decaf option. The former obtains its caffeine from green tea. The final product generates 83% fewer carbon emissions and uses 70% less farmland than conventional espresso.

    The company takes date pits from Coachella Valley farmers that are destined to be thrown or burnt, and cleans, washes, dries and granulates them to be used in its roastery. “Date pits by themselves don’t taste like coffee, but we infuse them in a marinade and add heat to create what we call the cross Maillard reaction to generate the coffee compounds we’re searching for,” Kleitsch told AgFunderNews.

    Targeting flavour to woo coffee drinkers

    beanless coffee
    Courtesy: Atomo

    Atomo recently closed a funding round that brought total investment in the startup to $53M. Early last year, it underwent a strategic realignment and restructuring that saw an unspecified number of employees let go from their positions. “Our strategic realignment and restructuring will mean adding new staff with specialty skills that will enable us to more quickly scale our vision of providing sustainable coffee products to the masses,” Kleitsch said at the time.

    One criticism levelled upon beanless coffee is the impact on farmers – the industry has 125 million people whose livelihoods depend on the crop. On its website, Atomo addresses this issue, noting that a transition to a scale large enough to displace farmers (which it states isn’t its goal) is very unlikely. “Coffee consumption worldwide is growing at a rapid pace forcing coffee farmers to increase production,” the company says. “To increase production along with changing climate conditions is forcing them to expand their growing areas which leads to deforestation and increased water consumption.”

    The company’s products currently sell for $20.99 per lb in wholesale, which is quite the price premium. But Kleitsch told AgFunderNews that “pricing hasn’t been an issue”. The real consumption factor lies in the flavour. If it doesn’t taste good, products like Atomo’s will bomb.

    “We have created something that’s less bitter with more chocolate, dried fruit and graham cracker notes.,” argued Kleitsch. “It’s drinkable. It’s approachable, and you can dial up or down the caffeine, which we get from green tea; you don’t get the jitters you can get from regular coffee.”

    He noted that a majority of consumers don’t like acidity and bitterness in coffee, and mask it with cream or sugar. “We’re creating a product that addresses a lot of the problems consumers have with coffee, but with the mouthfeel, aroma and taste they expect,” he explained. “It’s our experience that consumers that typically don’t like black coffee can drink our coffee black. But we’ve also formulated it to blend perfectly with milk and creamers, so you don’t get flocculation when you add dairy or plant-based milks.”

    Kleitsch can back up these claims by pointing to Atomo’s growing roster of stockists. Its website lists 11 coffee shops that sell its bean-free espresso, but just this week, it inked a deal with Australian-inspired specialty coffee chain Bluestone Lane, which will carry the espresso at all its 58 locations nationwide starting in August. Atomo also has deals brewing up with additional clients in Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Seattle and New York City.

    The post Beanless Coffee Startup Atomo Opens Large Roastery as Upcycled Espresso Brews Up Specialty Café Partnerships appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • VEGDOG Debuts Dog Treats with MicroHarvest’s Hypoallergenic Microbial Protein Ingredient

    vegdog pure bites
    4 Mins Read

    German startups VEGDOG and MicroHarvest have teamed up to release a microbial-protein-based treat for dogs, which boasts environmental superiority and supports pets with allergies.

    Pet food brand VEGDOG will soon roll out Pure Bites, a new line of dog treats made using MicroHarvest’s biomass-fermented microbial protein.

    The snack – which is said to be much more climate-friendly than meat-based dog food – combines the protein ingredient with potatoes and apple pomace, and will be unveiled next month at the 2024 Pet Food Forum at Interzoo Europe in Nuremberg, Germany (May 6).

    “Our goal at VEGDOG is to show dog owners that they do not have to rely on meat-based products to feed their pets,” said VEGDOG founder and CEO, Tessa Zaune-Figlar. “With this modern approach and our high-quality, healthy and tasty products, we have been able to pioneer a new market. By collaborating with our partner MicroHarvest, we are opening a new chapter and bringing to market a promising snack that demonstrates our ability to innovate.”

    Breaking into the hypoallergenic dog food space

    microbial protein dog food
    Courtesy: VEGDOG/MicroHarvest

    The microbial protein possesses hypoallergenic properties that make it particularly suitable for canines that can’t tolerate conventional protein sources. While estimates vary, between 1% and 8% of dogs have food allergies, making hypoallergenic foods essential for these pets. The market for these products is only set to grow, reaching $22B by 2032, according to one forecast.

    The companies argue that the high tolerance and digestibility, plus the taste credentials, of the new dog treats are what make them attractive to dogs with severe allergies or intolerances. They note that there’s also a case for using the Pure Bites in veterinary practice.

    “Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for pet food shoppers,” noted MicroHarvest co-founder and CEO Katelijne Bekers. “Still, there are other purchase drivers to consider, like palatability, digestibility, as well as specific nutritional benefits, like low-fat content; these are all benefits that our protein over-delivers on.”

    To prove the concept, MicroHarvest partnered with Wageningen University in the Netherlands and conducted an acceptance study for its protein among 1,162 UK and German dog owners (these are the two largest markets for premium dog food in Europe). In the survey, 77% of respondents indicated a willingness to buy microbial protein dog treats, and 78% said the same for complete dog food containing the protein.

    “Our partnership with VEGDOG, coupled with the results of our consumer research, demonstrates the potential for microbial ingredients like ours to offer competitive protein alternatives to the pet food industry,” said Bekers.

    Additionally, MicroHarvest carried out a palatability study, where the acceptance rate for microbial protein treats was 85%, compared to 75% for those made with poultry. This validates the viability of the protein as a nutritious treat, according to Ally Motta, an animal nutritionist and application specialist at the startup. “Testing has confirmed that our protein ingredient has a stable nutritional profile containing all the essential amino acids for dogs,” she said.

    Pilot plant enables scalable production of sustainable protein

    microharvest microbial protein
    Courtesy: VEGDOG/MicroHarvest

    As Bekers alluded to, sustainability is becoming important to consumers. Pet food has a large climate footprint – globally, dog and cat food emit around 64 million tons of carbon per year – that’s the equivalent of over 13 million cars. In fact, if cats and dogs were considered their own nation, they would rank as the world’s fifth-largest meat-consuming entity.

    MicroHarvest’s microbial ingredient generates 1.4kg of CO2e per kg – for context, beef production emits as much as 99kg for the same amount of food. The startup argues that the microbial protein has an equivalent climate impact as insect proteins, and surpasses plant proteins on that metric.

    Instead of using yeast or mycelium as its base, the company is using microbes from the same bacteria found in foods like kimchi, kefir and sauerkraut. It uses a process that leverages biomass fermentation to produce ingredients with 60% raw protein within 24 hours, making it a highly scalable and consistent solution.

    To accelerate production, the company opened a 200 sq m pilot plant in Lisbon last year. “This pilot plant serves as tangible evidence of the scalability of our process,” MicroHarvest CTO Luísa Cruz said at the time. “With a lower investment when compared to alternative technologies, and within a mere 200 square meters, we can achieve a daily production of 25 kg.”

    “We are constantly searching for innovative protein sources that benefit our dogs as well as our planet. It is of high importance to us to formulate our products based on scientific evidence,” said Carla Steffen, R&D head at VEGDOG, which has raised €3.5M in total funding. As the microbial protein of MicroHarvest is proven to be highly digestible, palatable and sustainable, it ticks all of these boxes.”

    Apart from pets, MicroHarvest – which recently became the first biomass fermentation player to join the Food Fermentation Europe coalition – is also working on developing livestock and aquaculture feed applications for its microbial protein, much like Calysta’s FeedKind (US) and Scelta Mushrooms’ Funginal (Netherlands). Eventually, it hinted, it could make a play into the human food market as well.

    The post VEGDOG Debuts Dog Treats with MicroHarvest’s Hypoallergenic Microbial Protein Ingredient appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • VEGDOG Debuts Dog Treats with MicroHarvest’s Hypoallergenic Microbial Protein Ingredient

    vegdog pure bites
    4 Mins Read

    German startups VEGDOG and MicroHarvest have teamed up to release a microbial-protein-based treat for dogs, which boasts environmental superiority and supports pets with allergies.

    Pet food brand VEGDOG will soon roll out Pure Bites, a new line of dog treats made using MicroHarvest’s biomass-fermented microbial protein.

    The snack – which is said to be much more climate-friendly than meat-based dog food – combines the protein ingredient with potatoes and apple pomace, and will be unveiled next month at the 2024 Pet Food Forum at Interzoo Europe in Nuremberg, Germany (May 6).

    “Our goal at VEGDOG is to show dog owners that they do not have to rely on meat-based products to feed their pets,” said VEGDOG founder and CEO, Tessa Zaune-Figlar. “With this modern approach and our high-quality, healthy and tasty products, we have been able to pioneer a new market. By collaborating with our partner MicroHarvest, we are opening a new chapter and bringing to market a promising snack that demonstrates our ability to innovate.”

    Breaking into the hypoallergenic dog food space

    microbial protein dog food
    Courtesy: VEGDOG/MicroHarvest

    The microbial protein possesses hypoallergenic properties that make it particularly suitable for canines that can’t tolerate conventional protein sources. While estimates vary, between 1% and 8% of dogs have food allergies, making hypoallergenic foods essential for these pets. The market for these products is only set to grow, reaching $22B by 2032, according to one forecast.

    The companies argue that the high tolerance and digestibility, plus the taste credentials, of the new dog treats are what make them attractive to dogs with severe allergies or intolerances. They note that there’s also a case for using the Pure Bites in veterinary practice.

    “Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for pet food shoppers,” noted MicroHarvest co-founder and CEO Katelijne Bekers. “Still, there are other purchase drivers to consider, like palatability, digestibility, as well as specific nutritional benefits, like low-fat content; these are all benefits that our protein over-delivers on.”

    To prove the concept, MicroHarvest partnered with Wageningen University in the Netherlands and conducted an acceptance study for its protein among 1,162 UK and German dog owners (these are the two largest markets for premium dog food in Europe). In the survey, 77% of respondents indicated a willingness to buy microbial protein dog treats, and 78% said the same for complete dog food containing the protein.

    “Our partnership with VEGDOG, coupled with the results of our consumer research, demonstrates the potential for microbial ingredients like ours to offer competitive protein alternatives to the pet food industry,” said Bekers.

    Additionally, MicroHarvest carried out a palatability study, where the acceptance rate for microbial protein treats was 85%, compared to 75% for those made with poultry. This validates the viability of the protein as a nutritious treat, according to Ally Motta, an animal nutritionist and application specialist at the startup. “Testing has confirmed that our protein ingredient has a stable nutritional profile containing all the essential amino acids for dogs,” she said.

    Pilot plant enables scalable production of sustainable protein

    microharvest microbial protein
    Courtesy: VEGDOG/MicroHarvest

    As Bekers alluded to, sustainability is becoming important to consumers. Pet food has a large climate footprint – globally, dog and cat food emit around 64 million tons of carbon per year – that’s the equivalent of over 13 million cars. In fact, if cats and dogs were considered their own nation, they would rank as the world’s fifth-largest meat-consuming entity.

    MicroHarvest’s microbial ingredient generates 1.4kg of CO2e per kg – for context, beef production emits as much as 99kg for the same amount of food. The startup argues that the microbial protein has an equivalent climate impact as insect proteins, and surpasses plant proteins on that metric.

    Instead of using yeast or mycelium as its base, the company is using microbes from the same bacteria found in foods like kimchi, kefir and sauerkraut. It uses a process that leverages biomass fermentation to produce ingredients with 60% raw protein within 24 hours, making it a highly scalable and consistent solution.

    To accelerate production, the company opened a 200 sq m pilot plant in Lisbon last year. “This pilot plant serves as tangible evidence of the scalability of our process,” MicroHarvest CTO Luísa Cruz said at the time. “With a lower investment when compared to alternative technologies, and within a mere 200 square meters, we can achieve a daily production of 25 kg.”

    “We are constantly searching for innovative protein sources that benefit our dogs as well as our planet. It is of high importance to us to formulate our products based on scientific evidence,” said Carla Steffen, R&D head at VEGDOG, which has raised €3.5M in total funding. As the microbial protein of MicroHarvest is proven to be highly digestible, palatable and sustainable, it ticks all of these boxes.”

    Apart from pets, MicroHarvest – which recently became the first biomass fermentation player to join the Food Fermentation Europe coalition – is also working on developing livestock and aquaculture feed applications for its microbial protein, much like Calysta’s FeedKind (US) and Scelta Mushrooms’ Funginal (Netherlands). Eventually, it hinted, it could make a play into the human food market as well.

    The post VEGDOG Debuts Dog Treats with MicroHarvest’s Hypoallergenic Microbial Protein Ingredient appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Beyond IV, Oat Milk Paste & Beanless Espresso

    future food quick bites
    4 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Beyond Meat’s new product rollout, a new precision-fermented dairy fat, and vegan cheesecake at Starbucks.

    New products and launches

    After announcing the revamp in February, Beyond Meat has finally rolled out the fourth iteration of its beef and burger, which have replaced the existing range nationwide in the US.

    beyond iv
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    Australian precision fermentation player Nourish Ingredients, which makes the Tastilux fat for plant-based meat, has entered the alt-dairy space too with Creamilux, showcasing the lipid’s ability to create products with the same mouthfeel, taste and emulsification as conventional dairy at Future Food Tech in San Francisco.

    Italian vegan cheesemaker Dreamfarm is continuing its expansion, with its almond mozzarella and cream cheese now available at Delhaize locations in Belgium, and the former at Edeka in Berlin. The mozzarella will roll out at Albert Heijn in the Netherlands next month, as well as an undisclosed “big chain” in mid-May (which will see the launch of a new product too).

    More from the plant-based dairy space: UK startup MYOM has introduced a shelf-stable oat milk paste, with each 65g pouch making 500ml of milk.

    myom oat milk
    Courtesy: MYOM

    Also in the UK, Dutch startup The Vegetarian Butcher has launched a Cod Almighty vegan seafood product at Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Ocado.

    Seattle-based Atomo Coffee, meanwhile, has struck a deal with specialty coffee chain Bluestone Lane, which will carry the former’s beanless espresso across its 58 stores in the US.

    Vegan food ingredients supplier Green Boy has unveiled a new division dedicated to pet food, offering manufacturers plant-based starches, sweeteners, proteins and fibres, derived from a range of pulses, grains, cereals and vegetables.

    German meat processor Berger-Schinken and upcycled food producer Kern Tec have collaborated to roll out a co-branded plant-based cheese sausage SKU, made from pea protein and the latter’s Berg-Gaudi cheese made from upcycled fruit pits.

    kern tec berger
    Courtesy: Kern Tec/LinkedIn

    Under its private V-Love label, Swiss supermarket Migros has teamed up with Circular Food Solutions to introduce plant-based mince, burgers and marinated chunks made by upcycling brewers’ spent grain.

    In Malaysia, local mycoprotein producer Ultimeat launched its protein product as part of a six-course dinner featuring the ingredient at Nimbus Restaurant in Petaling Jaya. The collaboration is running weekly until May 15.

    In neighbouring Indonesia, plant-based leader Green Rebel has partnered with Starbucks to launch two vegan products as part of the coffee chain’s Earth Month menu. These entail a vegan fish sandwich and blueberry cheesecake parfait.

    And in more Starbucks news, the company’s Hong Kong branches now feature a vegan pulled pork wrap using South Korean food tech startup Unlimeat‘s plant-based pork.

    Finance and policy developments

    In the US, plant-based functional ice cream brand Sacred Serves is shutting down, its founder Kailey Donewald announced on social media.

    Swedish mycoprotein startup Mycorena has secured funding from the European Space Agency’s Discovery Programme for its potential to tackle the challenges of producing high-quality, nutritious food on long-distance space missions.

    mycorena
    Courtesy: Mycorena

    Fellow mycelium innovator MycoTechnology says it is getting closer to regulatory approval and commercialisation for its honey-truffle-derived sweet protein, which it says can replace sugar and other sweeteners currently on the market.

    Another development in the fungi world comes from German mycoprotein startup Nosh Biofoods, which says it is producing meat analogues that cost the same as beef, and is on track to reach price parity with poultry by 2025.

    Danish Crown, the country’s largest pork producer, has admitted to misleading consumers by making unsubstantiated claims over its meat’s climate benefits, which it claimed was “more climate-friendly than you think”.

    plant powered carbon challenge
    Courtesy: City of New York

    Finally, New York mayor Eric Adams has announced the Plant-Powered Carbon Challenge, a cross-sector partnership to reduce the state’s food-related carbon emissions.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Beyond IV, Oat Milk Paste & Beanless Espresso appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Piggy Sooy: Moolec Gains USDA Approval for Pork Proteins Grown in Soybeans

    moolec piggy sooy
    5 Mins Read

    Luxembourg-based Moolec Science, which uses molecular farming to grow animal proteins in plants, has earned clearance from the US Department of Agriculture for Piggy Sooy, which are soybeans containing pork proteins.

    Moolec has received approval from the USDA for its ‘plant-grown’ meat proteins, with the government body stating that its genetically engineered soybeans are unlikely to pose an increased risk of pests compared to non-modified soybeans.

    In its regulatory review, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) didn’t find “any plausible pathway” by which Moolec’s Piggy Sooy brings a higher pest risk. This means it isn’t subject to the APHIS regulation that governs the movement of genetically modified organisms.

    The regulatory clearance will enable the company to plant and transport Piggy Sooy soybeans without needing any permits, as is the case with non-modified ingredients, according to co-founder and CEO Gastón Paladini.

    “We believe this milestone sets the stage for a revolution in the food-industrial biotech landscape, paving the way for expedited adoption of molecular farming technology by other industry players,” said co-founder and CTO Martin Salinas. “This compelling advancement signifies a stride in enhancing our operational efficiency, transforming our methods of raw material sourcing, and optimising our downstream crushing and processing operations.”

    Patented tech produces pink pork soybeans

    moolec science
    Courtesy: Moolec Science

    Moolec had announced the development of Piggy Sooy in June last year, as part of its Meat Replacement Program. The company is bioengineering soybeans to produce porcine myoglobin, using the plants as the ‘bioreactors’ themselves. Its seeds have achieved a high expression of pig proteins (up to 26.6% of the total soluble proteins), surpassing initial projections by fourfold.

    The tech has been patented – which will aid its regulatory pathways – and produced beans that have a pink hue like pork. “This achievement opens up a precedent for the entire scientific community that is looking to achieve high levels of protein expression in seeds via molecular farming,” Amit Dhingra, Moolec’s chief science officer, said at the time.

    Since then, the Nasdaq-listed company has raised $30M to fund R&D and scale-up efforts, which involved both equity, and cash and kind contributions, including access to the soybean inventories of Grupo Insud. Prior to this, Moolec had inked a deal with Bioceres, the Argentinian agtech firm it spun off from as a seed startup, to secure the supply of 15,000 tonnes of soybeans.

    The USDA APHIS approval allows the startup to accelerate its go-to-market strategy. Moolec plans to provide food manufacturers with the functional, nutritious and eco-friendly ingredients for use in their product formulations – this involves replacing meat in sausages, burgers and the like.

    Paladini remains tight-lipped about the companies Moolec is working with, but it has been in talks with ingredient processors for partnerships that could see the startup license its IP, or work with them in downstream processing to recover and commercialise the proteins using their networks. The Luxembourg-based company also has its own industrial facility in Argentina, which can crush 10,000 tonnes of soybeans annually and help it commercialise.

    Molecular farming has been dubbed the ‘fourth pillar’ of alternative protein by industry think tank the Good Food Institute, and has been recognised as a more affordable and easily scalable option than cell cultivation or precision fermentation. “We are unlocking the power of plants by leveraging science to overcome climate change and global food security concerns,” Paladini outlined. Competitors like Alpine Bio (formerly Nobell Foods), Mozza, PoLoPo and IngredientWerks, Finally Foods and Miruku are all vying to get a slice of a market tipped to reach $3.5B before the end of the decade.

    Moolec to launch GLA-rich oil in 2025

    pork soybeans
    Courtesy: Moolec

    While the APHIS clearance is welcome news for its meat proteins, the Piggy Soybeans won’t be its first product to go to market. That honour lies with GLASO, a nutritional oil rich in GLA (an omega-6 fatty acid), which has already received the USDA’s nod and is set to come to market in 2025.

    This oil is produced through a strain of safflower using a patented tech called SPC, with the same strain also helping Moolec produce a bovine chymosin protein, which is used in cheese and has also received the greenlight by APHIS. After GLASO, it will release YEAA1, an iron supplement and meat ingredient derived from yeast, and Piggy Sooy. Besides these, the company is also growing bovine myoglobin (a beef protein) in yellow peas.

    But while the APHIS approval means its pork soybeans don’t pose an increased risk of pests, authorisation from other agencies – chiefly the Food and Drug Administration – will be key for commercialisation. Moolec is already in the consultation process with the food safety body, and while Paladini declined to comment on a timeline, he confirmed that “everything is on track”.

    Moolec’s announcement sent its stock soaring, which was up by 121% on Monday. But when you look at long-term trends, the company’s shares have gone down from a record high of nearly $20 to under $2.50 – before this week’s announcement, it was at $1.40. Paladini ascribes this to “a mismatch between market understanding and the real opportunity”, adding that the company needed better exposure to fully explain its story.

    The startup plans to sell its soy and pea proteins with the meat proteins embedded in the matrix, instead of extracting and purifying the latter. It’s doing so to “save purification costs and focus on affordability”, Paladini said. “Meat producers need both proteins (soy and pig) in their processed meat products,” he added.

    It would help Moolec disrupt not just the alternative protein market, but the conventional sector too, joining a host of companies taking the blended meat approach. These products can potentially help consumers eat less meat, making their diets more climate-friendly as a result, and increasing the credence of plant proteins. Only recently, US meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda rolled out a 50Cut Burger using Mush Foods’ mycelium-beef blend, while Australia’s Harvest B ventured into the category with blended beef and lamb products, and New York City’s Björk Cafe & Bistro introduced a 50-50 Meatloaf that combined its beef mince with Havredals’ fava bean grounds.

    The post Piggy Sooy: Moolec Gains USDA Approval for Pork Proteins Grown in Soybeans appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Earth Day 2024: 10 Things to Know About Our Food System

    earth day 2024
    7 Mins Read

    As we celebrate Earth Day, the importance of transforming our food system is higher than ever – here are 10 things you should know about the food we eat, and its impact on the planet.

    Food system action is paramount

    The global food system is responsible for a third of all emissions, but while the UN promised a food-centric COP28 in Dubai last year, the main focus for world leaders was on fossil fuels. While a phaseout of pollutants like oil, coal and natural gas is absolutely crucial for the future of the planet, it won’t matter if we don’t take action on food and agriculture.

    This is because, at current rates, the world will emit around 1,356 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases by the end of the century. But even if we stop all emissions from non-food sectors (energy and industry), food emissions alone will surpass the Paris Agreement goal of limiting post-industrial temperature rises to 1.5°C by 2100.

    And to have a 67% chance of staying below a 2°C rise, we can only emit 49 billion tonnes of CO2e from all non-food sectors for the next 80-odd years – but this figure equates to just over a year of current fossil fuel emissions. Put simply, there’s no way we’re meeting our climate targets by ignoring the food system.

    cop28 fao roadmap
    Courtesy: Pixelshot via Canva

    Meat consumption is on the rise

    Despite the abundance of data about the meat industry’s climate impact – it accounts for 60% of all food emissions – meat consumption is projected to continue growing. In 2011, the FAO forecast that by 2050, the world will be eating 73% more meat. And last year, the WHO noted that the intake of red meat – which is even more polluting than the meats – will swell by 50% by mid-century as well.

    By this year, the global population is set to surpass 10 billion, and an increase in animal product consumption is going to impede our ability to feed the world. This is because, despite using up 78% of agricultural land and 39% of all habitable land, livestock-derived foods are only responsible for 18% of calories and 37% of protein consumed around the world.

    Scientists say we need to reach ‘peak meat’ next year

    A survey of 210 climate scientists and academics from around the world has made it quite clear that these experts believe we need a paradigm shift in protein consumption. Over three-quarters of them believe livestock numbers must peak by 2025, following which, 89% and 75% said their emissions should fall rapidly in high- and middle-income countries, respectively.

    The poll also suggested that the livestock sector’s emissions must be halved by 2030, noting that reducing these is key to limiting temperature rises to 2°C. Plus, 85% feel it’s important for human diets to shift from “livestock-derived foods to livestock replacement foods”, with plant-based analogues considered the “best available food” for better health and emissions outcomes.

    livestock climate change
    Courtesy: Fokusiert/Getty Images

    The UN’s stance on food is tricky

    As an authority in global policymaking, the UN’s position on agrifood systems is – to put it mildly – quite important. But the organisation and its various departments have been relatively mum on this for years The FAO, in fact, has been accused of censoring its own reports that tried to show the true impact of livestock farming on the planet. Its much-awaited roadmap for 2050 has also been criticised for not recommending a transition away from animal to alternative proteins.

    That said, one of the most resounding endorsements for novel proteins came from the UNEP in the midst of COP28, when it produced a landmark report that explicitly addressed the health and environmental detriments of meat and dairy consumption, and how alternative proteins can significantly improve both human and planetary health.

    UNEP executive director Inger Andersen stated that these foods can lower the pressure on agricultural lands, reduce emissions and help address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution and waste.

    Plant-based sales have stagnated – but not declined

    Large parts of the media have been charting the plant-based industry’s decline in sales and funding in the last couple of years. But it turns out that, yes, companies in this sector clearly struggled, sales volumes for their products in 2023 represented a tiny increase, instead of the opposite.

    Euromonitor data suggests that global retail sales for plant-based meat, seafood and dairy were up from $28B in 2022 to $29B in 2023. That is despite the US witnessing a minor dip, and several businesses having closed down, signalling that interest in plant-based food is still strong.

    rewe vegan
    Courtesy: Christoph Grosse/Pivopex

    Climate change is driving up food prices

    The relationship between climate change and food is reciprocal. Extreme weather events have been ravaging crops and threatening food supplies around the world, but they’re also affecting inflation and causing a hike in food prices at a time when the soaring cost of living has already changed the way we live.

    A peer-reviewed study earlier this year suggested that the climate crisis could increase the cost of food by as much as 3.2 percentage points annually, while average inflation could rise by up to 1.2 points. Even in a best-case scenario, food inflation would hike by 0.9 percentage points until 2035, and in both instances, the more vulnerable countries in the Global South (especially those in Africa and South America) will be the hardest hit.

    Gap remains between plant-based and animal protein prices

    Price parity has been a long-running debate about vegan food, and while there were estimates a few years ago that plant-based meats would reach price parity with conventional meats by 2025, it hasn’t quite had that effect on a large scale (some supermarkets have matched prices on their private-label products).

    According to an analysis by alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute, the cost of plant-based foods increased more than conventional meat and the food sector as a whole in 2023. It means that beef is the closest to price parity, with vegan analogues 20% more expensive. But the average price premium was 77% for plant-based meat and seafood, 104% for milk, and 317% for eggs.

    plant based price parity
    Courtesy: GFI

    Your bank is probably funding the livestock industry

    Lately, there has been a spate of investigations into how banks have been contributing to climate change with their investment decisions. In the US, 58 banks provided $134B in financing to meat, dairy and animal feed corporations between 2016 and 2023, with just three – Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase – making up more than half of this amount.

    Looking at a global scale, banks and investment firms have issued $615B in credits to the world’s 55 largest livestock companies since 2015. And the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – a World Bank Group member owned by 186 member countries – has similarly injected $1.6B into factory farming projects between 2017 and 2023. These institutions are facing calls from activists to move away from financing planet-harming practices.

    We waste a billion meals every day

    Over 780 million people are facing hunger across the world, but households are throwing away a billion meals daily, leading to more than $1T in economic losses. In fact, a third of all food produced is wasted or lost, and households are responsible for 60% of that.

    Addressing this is essential, considering that food waste contributes to 8-10% of global emissions. The 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has noted its link with biodiversity loss and laid out the goal to cut food waste by 50% by 2030. One report has pointed to reduced portion sizes as a solution to this problem.

    un food waste index
    Courtesy: AI-Generated Image via Canva

    Government support for alt-protein is mixed

    2024 is set to be a milestone year for regulatory approvals of cultivated meat and precision-fermented proteins, with a bunch of companies already getting the go-ahead in various countries. Some governments – like Canada, the US, Germany, the UK and the EU – are also pumping in capital to support the development of these industries, while others are incorporating plant-based foods into their national plans.

    However, substantial legislative hurdles remain. Plant-based meat and labels remain a thorny subject in many parts of the world, although the real battle right now lies with cultivated meat. Legislators from several US states and EU countries are attempting to ban or restrict these novel proteins, with Italy passing this law last year, and Florida now on the verge of doing so too.

    In the larger context of the climate fight, these are steps in the opposite direction. There’ll be lots of talk about sustainability and fossil fuels and plastics and what not this Earth Day. Again, all that is important – but we need to reverse our course with the food system if we have any chance of keeping the planet safe.

    The post Earth Day 2024: 10 Things to Know About Our Food System appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Beer Proteins: Researchers Develop Method to Extract Protein from Brewers’ Spent Grain

    brewers spent grain protein
    5 Mins Read

    Researchers have come up with a way to extract useful proteins through leftovers from beer production, which could help reduce waste and produce a circular, more sustainable source of protein.

    Would you eat the beer industry’s byproducts? That’s what researchers at the Food Science and Technology Programme at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) are proposing, having developed a method to extract over 80% of the proteins available in brewers’ spent grain (BSG), which is left over from the production of beer.

    The solid residue from malted barley after brewing beer, BSG makes up 85% of the waste emanating from the brewing industry – each year, 36.4 million tonnes of the byproduct is manufactured globally. But while some are repurposing BSG for animal feed (accounting for 70% of its use), biofuel production or compost, a substantial portion still ends up in landfill, emitting harmful greenhouse gases like methane and carbon.

    But using up the beer industry sidestream as a protein source could reduce the amount of gases released into the atmosphere, cut food waste, address humans’ protein needs, and tackle food shortage and insecurity globally, according to the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies.

    This was echoed by programme director and lead researcher William Chen, who said: “Our study, which presents more sustainable and efficient ways to add value to brewers’ spent grain disposal, is a crucial step towards mitigating its contribution to greenhouse emissions and reducing environmental strain, while also enriching the global food supply chain.”

    How researchers turned brewers’ spent grain into proteins

    To produce the proteins, NTU collaborated with beer giant Heineken’s Asia-Pacific division, which produces Tiger Beer (the leading beer in Singapore, with a 19% market share) and provided its BSG for the study.

    The researchers sterilised the BSG before fermenting it with Rhizopus oligosporus, one of the fungi strains used to produce tempeh. The three-day fermentation process breaks down the BSG’s complex structure, making its protein content more easily extractable.

    This is then dried, ground into a powder, filtered and spun in a centrifuge to separate the protein, which floats to the top, away from the rest of the mixture. Once extracted, these proteins can be used directly in supplements, added to plant-based foods to boost their protein content, as well as enhance the shelf life and boost the moisturising and antioxidant properties of lotions or creams.

    “Demonstrating that the protein-rich qualities of brewers’ spent grain could be successfully extracted and funnelled into supplements and enriching plant-based proteins to make them more attractive to the consumer addresses two global pressure points – food wastage and food shortage,” said Chen.

    Given that the BSG proteins are rich in antioxidants, they can protect our skin from pollutants, and present an eco-friendly alternative to conventional cosmetic components like parabens, which disrupt hormone function in aquatic animals, and petroleum-based ingredients, whose extraction and production carry a heavy climate impact.

    Highlighting these cosmetic applications of the protein, co-author Chai Kong Fei said: “Due to their natural exfoliating properties and abundance of antioxidants, we feel they could be incorporated into various skincare formulations, from moisturisers to body lotions, offering an alternative to chemicals such as preservatives, which have been shown to cause damage to wildlife and the environment after being washed down our sinks.”

    NTU plans to scale up and commercialise BSG proteins

    nanyang technological university
    Courtesy: Nanyang Technological University

    The authors note how the fermented BSG proteins can be used to grow an increasingly hungry planet. By 2050, the global population is set to reach 10 billion, with meat consumption set to increase by 73%. But this is unsustainable, both in practice and for the planet – meat production generates twice as many GHG emissions as plant-based foods, and scientists say emissions from livestock farming must be halved by the end of the decade.

    Animal-derived foods also only account for 18% of calories and 37% of protein globally – and as 780 million people face hunger around the world, and a third of all food goes to waste, more efficient and sustainable protein sources are paramount.

    The researchers at NTU managed to extract up to 200g of protein per kg of BSG – this means if all the world’s BSG could be fermented to produce proteins, we could have an additional 7.28 million tonnes of protein on our hands every year. In Singapore alone, the average woman and man require 146kg and 204kg of protein each year. These BSG proteins are safe for consumption, and incorporating them into plant-based foods could enhance the nutritional value and help meet daily protein requirements more efficiently.

    The extracted proteins also feed into growing consumer preferences for sustainably sourced and eco-friendly products, with 66% of global consumers happy to pay more for products from brands committed to sustainability, according to Nielsen.

    “Innovative applications of underutilised grains like those being brewed up at NTU have the potential to reduce Singapore’s dependence on raw-material imports, provide an additional revenue source for local producers, and help entrepreneurs craft more nutrient-dense plant-based meats,” said Mirte Gosker, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Asia-Pacific. Singapore currently imports 90% of its food supply, but the government has set out a goal to make 30% of its food locally by 2030. “Amid rising food demand pressures, protein extraction from agricultural sidestreams is field-primed and ready to be tapped.”

    The team at NTU, which was the first APAC university to offer an undergraduate course focused on alternative proteins and cultivated meat, is in further talks with Heineken Asia Pacific to scale up the protein extraction method. Moreover, it plans to collaborate with food, beverage and cosmetic companies to incorporate its technology with an eye towards commercialisation.

    “Our method presents an innovative way to repurpose beer waste into a valuable protein source for global nutrition,” said Chen. “Beyond mere innovation, our work embodies a narrative of turning what was once considered waste into a vital resource, a symbol of sustainability, and a solution to one of humanity’s most pressing challenges: protein scarcity.”

    The post Beer Proteins: Researchers Develop Method to Extract Protein from Brewers’ Spent Grain appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Nobell Foods: Molecular Farming Startup Rebrands as Alpine Bio, Secures 10th Patent & Targets Mozzarella Launch for 2025

    alpine bio
    5 Mins Read

    Molecular farming startup Nobell Foods, which is producing animal-free cheese from soy-derived casein proteins, has rebranded to Alpine Bio and secured a new patent for dairy proteins.

    San Francisco-based Nobell Foods will now operate as a division of the renamed company, Alpine Bio, which now has an extended remit with 15 proteins that can be expressed in a range of different plans through molecular farming.

    The company has secured its 10th patent in the US for recombinant milk proteins, strengthening its IP portfolio and expanding the possibilities of its technology. “While Nobell Foods makes sense as a consumer brand, it is not enough to convey the power of our platform,” founder and CEO Magi Richani told AgFunderNews. The new name is a callback to the startup’s initial moniker, Alpine Roads.

    Backed with over $100M in investment, including by the likes of Bill Gates and Robert Downey Jr, Alpine Bio will continue to work on commercialising its animal-free cheese, which is made using casein protein derived from genetically engineered soybeans.

    “Today we celebrate the breakthroughs our company has made over the last few years to reimagine the future of food in a way that positively impacts the climate, agriculture and our food system at large,” said Alpine Bio founder and CEO Magi Richani. “This milestone not only reflects our strides in science-backed technology, but also brings us closer to delivering a sustainable and delicious product to market.”

    Molecular farming makes casein production more effective

    nobell foods
    Courtesy: Alpine Bio

    Casein is the main protein found in dairy, comprising 80% of its protein content. It’s known for its emulsifying properties, preventing water and fat from separating and providing cheeses with their melty and stretchy attributes. It’s an element whose absence is a key pain point for plant-based cheeses, whose texture needs to be spot-on for consumers to want to eat it.

    Nobell Foods opts to produce casein from soybeans using molecular farming, which has been labelled the fourth pillar of alternative protein by industry think tank the Good Food Institute. The tech has some key differentiators from cultivated or precision-fermented proteins: here, plant cells (not animals or microbes) are modified to replicate animal proteins, which are harvested from leaves or other plant tissues.

    Molecular farming also presents a solution to the cost and scalability challenges of the others, as it doesn’t need expensive bioreactors to produce large amounts of ingredients – instead, the plants themselves are the natural bioreactors. Alpine Bio recreates the genetic code for casein in soybean seeds, which evolve into plants that produce casein identical to the protein found in dairy.

    In milk, there are four kinds of casein proteins, which fold into a spherical structure known as a micelle, where they are suspended in a highly hydrated solution and bound together with minerals like calcium. Microbes can only make one type of these proteins at a time, but plants can be gene-edited to produce more of them concurrently.

    “There’s no technical limitation on making all of them at once – the question is, does that get you the best product?” noted Richani. “We have done a lot of work on isolating individual caseins, understanding their functionalities independently and in different combinations, and we’re currently looking at producing two of them together.”

    She explained that soybeans offer the most cost-competitive option for producing its casein. “Soy is a commodity crop that has been optimised for maximising protein with on average 35% protein by weight, plus there are about 90 million acres grown per year in the US, so that’s a lot of farmers we can work with plus a huge infrastructure for processing soybeans, both for removing the oil and processing the [solid matter] into purified ingredients like protein isolates,” she explained.

    Alpine Bio aims to launch mozzarella in 2025

    molecular farming
    Courtesy: Alpine Bio

    The latest patent protects Alpine Bio’s recombinant milk protein production tech, which enables high and consistent creation of these proteins in plants. The startup says these significantly outperform the first-generation expression of casein and bridge the price gap between the resulting animal-free products (which are also covered by the patent) and their conventional counterparts.

    “We have been developing this technology since 2016 and we have accumulated a lot of IP, so our portfolio is very robust, meaning anyone making these proteins in plants is going to have to deal with our IP portfolio at some point,” Richani said. “And we’re not just talking about soybeans, but any plant system producing casein, so our claims are pretty broad.”

    The development would be closely watched by players like Israel’s Finally Foods and New Zealand’s Miruku, startups that – albeit much younger – are also exploring casein production via molecular farming. Other companies leveraging plants to recreate identical animal proteins include Moolec, Mozza, PoLoPo and IngredientWerks, while Tiamat Sciences, Bright Biotech and ORF Genetics are among those developing growth factors for the same.

    Alpine Bio has been marketing its cheese as an animal-free offering for climate-conscious cheese lovers, rather than another alternative for vegan consumers. This was evident in its Pizza Futures campaign from last year, when it produced a magazine to highlight the impacts of climate change on foods like cheese, wheat and tomato, and how it would affect pizza in the coming years.

    “Cheese is one of the most loved foods in the modern diet, and yet it is one of the worst offenders in terms of its climate impact,” said Chris Rivest, partner at Alpine Bio investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “Magi and her team have developed a transformative way to produce dairy-identical proteins in plants to create stretchy, gooey, delicious cheese that consumers love, but made from plants—it is simply amazing.”

    The first Nobell Foods cheese will be a mozzarella, for which Alpine Bio will host internal tastings this year, with public events planned for 2025. The company is in the process of obtaining a self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) certification in the US, with subsequent plans to file for GRAS determination to the FDA.

    A handful of other producers are working on recreating casein globally. New Culture (US), Change Foods (Australia/US), Fermify (Austria), Zero Cow Factory (India) and Standing Ovation (France) are all using precision fermentation, while New York-based Pureture is making yeast-derived vegan casein via liquid fermentation.

    The post Nobell Foods: Molecular Farming Startup Rebrands as Alpine Bio, Secures 10th Patent & Targets Mozzarella Launch for 2025 appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Nicki Minaj’s Sneakers, Mycelium Chocolate & A Vegan Cheese MVP

    nicki minaj loci
    5 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Macalat’s mycelium-derived vegan chocolate, a blended meatloaf launch, and Daiya’s new job opening.

    New products and launches

    American rapper Nicki Minaj has rolled out a collection of vegan sneakers in collaboration with luxury shoe and apparel brand Løci. The lineup features 11 unisex leather shoes with a logo nodding to her reputation as the Queen of Rap and Løci’s British roots. They’re priced between $185 and $200.

    nicki minaj sneakers
    Courtesy: Løci

    Swiss plant-based meat leader Planted has now entered the Italian market, with all Esselunga stores nationwide carrying its clean-label meat analogues.

    Chilean food tech startup NotCo‘s vegan products will be part of six sandwich options on the Premium Economy in-flight dining offerings of LATAM Airlines‘ domestic flights.

    In New York City, Swedish plant-based meat maker Havredals has partnered with Björk Cafe & Bistro on a new blended meat dish called 50-50 Meatloaf, which combines the former’s vegan fava bean grounds with the latter’s grass-fed ground beef.

    Care for some mycelium chocolate? US company Macalat has introduced a sugar-free, vegan dark chocolate bar using ClearIQ, a mycelium-derived flavour modulator in partnership with mycoprotein tech startup MycoTechnology.

    Also in the mycelium world, koji meat company Prime Roots has launched an Earth Day campaign featuring a Cybertruck, with which it will deliver one million slices of its deli meats across the US.

    julienne bruno
    Courtesy: Julienne Bruno

    London-based artisanal vegan cheesemaker Julienne Bruno has revamped the packaging for its stracciatella, burrata and cream cheese analogues, with bolder, more playful fonts and new imagery.

    And Frenc plant-based meat startup La Vie has launched three triangle-shaped sandwiches using either its bacon or ham: Le Parisien, Le Suédois, and Le British. They’re available at various French retailers, including Carrefour, Intermarché, Auchan and Cora France.

    Finance and company developments

    Miyoko’s Creamery founder Miyoko Schinner has joined the board of Hip Hop is Green, a climate change and hip-hop-focused non-profit that advocates for veganism, serves thousands of free plant-based meals, and promotes wellness.

    Canadian vegan cheesemaker Daiya is hiring a new vice-president for melting, which it is calling MVP, to look for recipes that showcase the attributes of its newly formulated oat-cream-based cheeses. Those ‘hired’ will earn $20,000 and a year’s supply of vegan cheese.

    future food quick bites
    Courtesy: Daiya

    Blue Diamond Growers‘ Japan operations and distribution will now be led by juice giant Kagome, which will look to speed up the market growth and demand for its Almond Breeze line of milk alternatives, and launch new products in September.

    In Europe, McCain Foods has acquired the Irish whole-food plant-based brand Strong Roots for an undisclosed sum, following on from its $55M investment in the startup in 2021.

    Swedish agtech startup OlsAro, which has made salt-tolerant wheat with its AI-enabled climate-smart crop-breeding platform, has raised €2.5M in a seed funding round.

    In the UK, carbon labelling startup My Emissions has brought in £1.3M in seed funding to expand its emissions calculation and scope 3 reporting services. Its co-founders Matthew Isaacs and Nathan Bottomley have also been named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe Class of 2024 list for Social Impact.

    UK mycoprotein giant Quorn has exited the Belgium and Dutch retail markets, following a year of financial struggles. It will continue to operate in the foodservice and QSR channels in the Benelux region.

    quorn sales
    Courtesy: Quorn

    Swiss plant-based infant and child nutrition startup Yamo is shutting down, with its co-founder and CEO Tobias Gunzenhauser noting that the company was unable to secure investment during its push towards profitability.

    Manufacturing, awards and events

    Israeli cultivated seafood company Efishient Protein has successfully developed a tilapia cell line, which will allow it to produce muscle and fat cells of the fish species.

    UK B2B cellular agriculture company Quest Meat has created edible, food-safe microcarrier replacements, which it describes as the most promising way to scale up cultivated meat production.

    Australia’s Wide Open Agriculture, meanwhile, has developed a soluble lupin fibre with a smooth texture and neutral taste that’s ready to be commercialised. It’s a byproduct of its Buntine Protein powder, made in collaboration with Curtin University, and both can be used to enhance the creaminess of plant-based dairy.

    Vancouver startups Maia Farms and Ecoation have won $380,000 from the Canadian Space Agency and Impact Canada‘s Deep Space Food Challenge with their growing system for mycelium and fruits and vegetables, which can produce 700kg of fresh food annually in a wardrobe-sized device.

    US fungi protein startup Nature’s Fynd has won the Sustainable Systems Innovations honour at the inaugural CleanTech Breakthrough Awards, after topping Forward Fooding’s FoodTech 500 list for 2024 and appearing on Food Network Magazine’s 2024 Green List.

    Ingredients giant Givaudan, meanwhile, has launched a Plant Attitude Challenge for alternative protein startups, which will see five companies pitch how to reduce their recipes’ cost by up to 20% while retaining the flavour experience. BVeg Foods, Eat Typcal, Eternal, Juicy Marbles and Meatless Kingdom are the five finalists, who will take the virtual floor today.

    plant based whole cut steak
    Courtesy: Juicy Marbles

    Finally, in Berlin, Lidl Germany hosted a protein transition event convening 110 stakeholders to discuss the future of protein, animal welfare and supply chain. It revealed that its decision to match plant-based prices with conventional products had led to a 30% vegan sales hike.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Nicki Minaj’s Sneakers, Mycelium Chocolate & A Vegan Cheese MVP appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Factory 01: Solar Foods Opens World’s First Commercial-Scale Facility for Air Protein

    solar foods factory
    5 Mins Read

    Finnish food tech company Solar Foods has opened the doors to its much-awaited Factory 01, which is the world’s first large-scale production facility for air protein.

    Months after closing an €8M Series B investment round to support the construction of its first commercial-scale factory, Solar Foods’ Factory 01 is now operational and will help the startup mass-produce its Solein air protein.

    So far, the fermentation-derived protein has been limited to small quantities produced in the company’s pilot lab in Espoo (near Helsinki). But now, Solar Foods will be able to produce up to 160 tons of its protein annually – this means it can grow the same amount of protein per day as a 300-cow dairy farm.

    “We will be able to deliver quantities that allow food producers for the first time to create large batches of Solein-powered products,” said co-founder and CEO Pasi Vainikka. “While we have been able to offer consumers a small taste, finding a Solein-based food in your local supermarket has not been possible. Soon it will be.”

    Solein is to food what quantum computing is to information processing

    solar foods factory 01
    Courtesy: Solar Foods

    Solar Foods was spun out from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University in 2017 to commercialise Solein, which it calls the “world’s most sustainable protein”. It uses microbial fermentation to turn carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen (replacing sugar as an energy source) into its protein ingredient, in a process that does away with the need for fertilisers and pesticides, irrigation and open land.

    The fermented protein isn’t dependent on water, weather, climate conditions or agriculture, and can even be produced in desert-like conditions, the Arctic and outer space (in fact, it has partnered with the European Space Agency to develop a system for producing food on Mars). The microbes are grown in a liquid form, and later dried into an orange-yellow powder.

    A life-cycle analysis conducted by the company suggests that Solein’s GHG emissions are just 1% of those generated by conventional meat, and 20% of plant-based proteins. In terms of nutrient composition, the ingredient has 65-70% of protein, 5-8% of fat, 10-15% of dietary fibre and 3-5% of mineral nutrients. Its macronutrient profile is said to be akin to dried soy or algae, and it contains iron and B vitamins, which are essential nutrients often derived from animal-based foods.

    The company has managed to increase the productivity of its microbes by tenfold since 2020. To outline its importance for the food industry, Vainikka compared it to the impact of quantum computing on information processing. “Just like with quantum computers, it’s no longer a question of will cellular agriculture become a thing: it’s evident that it will. The question is more about who leads the charge”, he said.

    ”We are exploring the possibilities of this scientific platform on a new scale. Factory 01 demonstrates it is possible to grow protein from start to finish under one roof, year-round even in the harsh Northern conditions of Finland – and to do it all sustainably and in a commercially viable manner,” he added.

    This has been recognised by both public and private investors. Among Solar Foods’ backers are Agronomics, Fazer and Springvest Oyj, as well as the Pharmacy Pension Fund of Finland, the state-owned Finnish Climate Fund, and Business Finland. The latter, in fact, provided the company with €34M in grant funding in 2022 to support the construction of Factory 01 – this was an initial grant resulting from the approval of Solar Foods’ €600M investment programme as the EU Commission’s first hydrogen-based Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI). Factory 01 is the first IPCEI to be completed.

    Solar Foods targets ‘billion-euro’ status

    solein protein
    Courtesy: Solar Foods

    Solar Foods’ highly automated Factory 01 will see most of its employees work in the facility’s control room, rather than on the factory floor. The plant will also serve as an R&D and future product development hub, while providing valuable data on the way to its next milestone, Factory 02. If this is built on European soil, Business Finland has earmarked a further €76M investment to support its construction.

    “Factory 01 is already a bona fide factory, the kind you could see in an industrial park. But to realise Solein’s full potential, we think bigger. That’s why Factory 02 will eventually scale up the bioprocess as well as the production process: it would not be located in an industrial park, it would more likely fill an industrial park,” said Vainikka. “Our long-term aim is to be a billion-euro company. The global protein market is a €2T business and we have shown that Solein has a place within that market.”

    And show its place it has. After receiving regulatory approval in Singapore in October 2022, it debuted Solein at Singapore restaurant Fico, as part of a vegan chocolate gelato using the flavourless protein. And earlier this year, it partnered with its majority shareholder Fazer to launch a Taste the Future chocolate snack bar in the city-state.

    These rollouts showcase the versatility of Solein, which can vanish into foods and has been demoed in over 20 different dishes – think burgers, eggs and meatballs. To explore these applications, it has established a strategic partnership with Japanese food manufacturer Ajinomoto, which will see them develop new products and test their market feasibility in Singapore. Now, they’re looking to expand their link-up overseas too.

    It’s part of Solar Foods’ bid to enter other markets globally. It’s set to enter the US market later this year, and has also submitted a dossier to the European Food Safety Authority. The startup expects the EU process to be completed by the end of 2025, with Vainikka hinting the region could see a range of new products using Solein in 2025-26. The company is looking into the UK too.

    Last week, Solar Foods also received a Nasdaq Green Equity Designation – it’s a recognition for companies where over half of the turnover is derived from green activities. It’s not the only company in the air protein space, which is populated by Kiverdi’s Air Protein, NovoNutrients, Calysta (all US), Arkeon Biotechnologies (Austria), and Deep Branch Biotech (UK) as well.

    The post Factory 01: Solar Foods Opens World’s First Commercial-Scale Facility for Air Protein appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The 50CUT Burger: US Butchery Pat LaFrieda Embraces Blended Meat with Mush Foods Partnership

    50cut burger
    5 Mins Read

    US butchery Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors has partnered with mycelium meat startup Mush Foods to debut a burger made from the latter’s 50CUT blend of mushroom root and beef.

    Months after announcing its move into US foodservice, New York-based startup Mush Foods has teamed up with Pat LaFrieda to launch the 50CUT Burger, which blends mushrooms with beef in equal proportions for a more planet-friendly meat product.

    The 6oz patty uses ground beef and a mix of mushrooms like oyster, trumpet, shiitake, and lion’s mane, and marks the first nationally available burger made with Mush Foods’ 50CUT blend. The partnership will allow the brand access to the 1,600-plus restaurant and foodservice customers supplied by Pat LaFrieda – it recently concluded a limited-edition run as part of the Umami Burger at the Citizens Culinary Market in Manhattan.

    Raving about the quality of the burger, the meat purveyor’s namesake owner and CEO Pat LaFrieda said he wanted to link up with Mush Foods and develop the LaFrieda 50CUT Burger after tasting the blended meat – 20 years on from buying the first burger machine for his business. “It delivers on every expectation for a delicious burger while adding nutritional value and being gentler to the planet,” he said.

    Making beef better across all aspects

    pat lafrieda 50cut
    Courtesy: Mush Foods

    The LaFrieda 50CUT Burger delivers on four verticles: sustainability, health, price and flavour. Beef is the highest-emitting food on the planet, so halving the amount used in a burger is always going to help restaurants’ carbon footprint. In fact, a study has shown that replacing half of animal products like meat and dairy with plant-based alternatives can halt deforestation, reduce land use by 31%, and double the climate benefits.

    Mush Foods’ mycelium is grown on organic substrates in a circular process that involves using upcycled food waste from agricultural sidestreams. The controlled, flightless environment means its solid-state fermentation tech can enable mushroom roots to grow above ground in just eight days – for context, it takes at least a year to farm cows for meat, and about four months to grow soybeans. This means higher yields in smaller timeframes, with the added benefit of working with local mushroom farmers from New York.

    The blended meat product also enhances the nutritional value of burgers – apart from providing the complete protein profile (with all essential amino acids) and being rich in potassium, iron and calcium, it’s a source of the dietary fibres (including beta-glucan) that are missing in conventional beef. Plus, it’s clean-label too, with no additives, seasonings, binders and preservatives.

    For most restauranteurs and diners, flavour is key to making food choices. Using mushrooms allows 50CUT to provide an umami boost to the burger, addressing a key culinary need. The blended meat also retains the flavour and mouthfeel of conventional meat. That has impressed LaFrieda, who said: “There is an art to a great burger, and the LaFrieda 50CUT is going to amaze burger lovers.”

    But it’s not just him – at a tasting of the burger at New York City’s Bar Boulud last month, chef Franklin Becker noted: “If I was eating it blind I’d think it was all beef.” This was reported by New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant, who herself said: “The burger was juicy, and smelled and tasted beefy; it was a fine burger.”

    Arguably the most impressive part, though, is the cost, with 50CUT priced cheaper than 100% animal meat. “Not only is there a positive outcome for the environment and for the consumer in terms of flavour, but the price per pound to our customers is less expensive than meat,” Mush Foods co-founder and CEO Shalom Daniel told Green Queen earlier this year.

    “We already know that you can have a phenomenal product from an environmental standpoint but if the economics don’t work, it will not thrive. We believe this is a game-changer for the industry,” he added.

    Partnering with industry leaders could unlock blended meat’s potential

    mush foods
    Courtesy: Mush Foods

    Fresh from a $6.2M seed funding round last year, Mush Foods is looking to expand its US footprint after debuting its ‘meat-plus’ range in Israel, where it was founded. It will do so with its entire range of 50CUT, which doesn’t just include beef, but also chicken, pork and fish – each is matched with a custom-tailored mycelium mix derived from 14 different species of the fungi.

    “The process involves mixing two to three different species of mycelium to produce the exact moisture level, binding ability, taste, colour and texture to complement the unique qualities of each kind of animal protein,” Daniel told me in a wide-ranging interview last year. “Every blend looks and tastes different, as each of the target animal meats has [its] own characteristics.”

    This enables the natural flavours of the meat to truly come out, meeting the needs of people who aren’t quite there yet with plant-based meat products. “If we are realistic, it is unlikely that 100% of the global population will become vegan. In some countries, meat will remain a symbol of growing personal wealth, and that won’t change,” noted Daniel. “But we don’t need the entire world to go vegan to have a positive impact on our food supply and environment.”

    That philosophy is also being adopted by its competitors in the nascent blended meat space. Los Angeles-based 50/50 Foods is one of them, and has already made its way into Disneyland. Phil’s Finest has been doing well for years, after finding success on Shark Tank (under its former name Misfit Foods). And just this week, Australia’s Harvest B entered the blended meat category with diced beef and lamb for foodservice, with plans to breach the US market next year.

    Mush Foods is entirely focused on foodservice too, with no plans for a B2C play. “We cultivate products that the meat and food industries can easily use and blend without having to invest in new capital, change their manufacturing processes, or learn new methods,” Daniel said last year. “We are working efficiently and avoiding expending energy by competing in areas like distribution, retail agreements, branding, etc. Our approach is to collaborate with big players and bring new versions of product favourites to market, or create new blended product lines.”

    There aren’t many more suitable people to partner with than LaFrieda, whose butchery has garnered plenty of fans for its premium meats, and industry recognition through partnerships with Minetta Tavern and Shake Shack. Shalom recognises this, saying: “The LaFrieda brand is synonymous with excellence and boasts a legacy of firsts, continually raising the bar and setting the direction for the entire category.”

    He added: “Pat LaFrieda is an inspirational innovator and a visionary champion of up-and-coming partners that help expand and develop the meat category. We couldn’t have asked for a more experienced and trusted partner to introduce our first 50CUT collaboration to restaurants, contract foodservice operators and chains nationwide.

    The post The 50CUT Burger: US Butchery Pat LaFrieda Embraces Blended Meat with Mush Foods Partnership appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The State of European FoodTech: Funding Declines, More Deals, Alt-Protein Wins & Promising Future

    digitalfoodlab
    6 Mins Read

    Amid a backdrop of a fall in food tech investments globally, Europe also suffered a decline – but the number of financing deals went up, with food science and agtech funding on the rise, according to DigitalFoodLab’s 2024 State of European FoodTech report.

    Food tech startups in Europe attracted €4.3B in funding in 2023. While this was a 35% decline from the year before – and a 56% drop from 2021 (when financing in this sector peaked) – this region is still much less affected by a lack of funding than other regions, given that global food tech investments fell by nearly 56% from 2022-23.

    This is according to research by DigitalFoodLab for the seventh edition of its State of the European FoodTech Ecosystem report. The French consultancy revealed that despite the decline in capital, the number of deals actually increased, going up from 660 in 2022 to 690 last year, which signals that the decrease in funding is due to a drastic reduction in large deals.

    state of european foodtech
    Courtesy: DigitalFoodLab

    Moreover, the numbers show that – given the unprecedented rise in funding in 2021, thanks to a surge in quick-commerce deals in the midst of the pandemic – food tech investments in the continent are stabilising. Last year’s total was 39% higher than 2020 levels, thanks to an uptick in Q3. Plus, Europe’s long-term share of food tech funding is on the rise – in 2020, it accounted for 14% of all capital injected into this industry, but now, that has shot up to 32%. This shows investors are “still very active in Europe” and betting on “startups with an edge to surf long-term trends”, according to DigitalFoodLab.

    Here are the key takeaways from the State of European FoodTech report.

    A shift away from delivery

    Delivery-oriented startups – which commanded 65% of all food tech financing in Europe in 2021 – witnessed a steep 90% drop in investments in 2023. Now, this sector only commands 15% of the share, no longer a leader in the food tech ecosystem.

    This can be seen in country-wide trends as well. Germany, known for its focus on delivery startups, pumped €3.1B into these companies in 2021, but only €650M last year. That’s incidentally also the total sum attracted by delivery businesses across Europe in 2023.

    food tech europe
    Courtesy: DigitalFoodLab

    Agtech startups top the charts

    It was a good year for agtech startups, the leading category for food tech funding in Europe. They accounted for €1.5B (36%) of the share, nearly 5% higher than in 2022. It includes subgroups like ag biotech (which secured the highest sum), farm management, animal feed, indoor farming, ag marketplaces, and farm robotics. Farm management startups gained the second-highest number of deals overall.

    Sustainable fertiliser company Atlas Agro was the recipient of the largest capital amount in the entire food tech sector last year, securing €325M. This was twice as high as next best within the agtech category, French insect protein company Ÿnsect (€160M).

    Indoor farming startups raised less money, mostly due to a transition from raising capital to create farms to raising much less cash to develop tech for others to use in their indoor farms – Italy was the notable exception here. All other categories performed well, benefitting from a sustainability push and the need for large food companies to reach climate neutrality pledges.

    Alternative proteins attract more investment

    alt protein funding
    Courtesy: DigitalFoodLab

    Despite sales declines in many countries and a weakening of consumer confidence due to their association with ultra-processed foods and successful misinformation campaigns from the livestock industry, the European alternative protein sector actually saw a hike in investor interest, as part of DigitalFoodLab’s food science category (which also includes pet food, functional food, beverage and CPG startups).

    Investment in this category reached an all-time high, amounting to €1.45B (a 37% rise from 2022). These companies’ total funding share was closely behind agtech businesses at 34%, with CPG startups seeing the highest number of deals, and alternative protein coming third on that list. The latter additionally secured the second-highest amount of money in Europe’s food tech sector last year, followed by pet food startups – thanks to deals for Enough (€43M), Myriameat (€43M), Umiami (€35M), Meatable (€33M) and Moolec (€30M).

    Capital injections mostly happened in the second half of 2023 in this category. “There was a wave of doubts about the potential of alternative proteins that was resolved by the decrease in inflation,” states the report.

    UK maintains its continental stronghold

    food tech funding
    Courtesy: DigitalFoodLab

    Despite a 33% year-over-year drop in funding, the UK is still far ahead of the rest in Europe, with startups here attracting €1.1B in investment last year – compared to 2020, that’s a 48% hike. This was driven by the food science category, which attracted half of this total sum, and 67% of the deals – thanks in large part to the €320M investment round (and acquisition) in fresh dog food startup Butternut Box.

    The UK is followed by France (€750M) and Germany (€650M). “The French and British ecosystems have done surprisingly well in 2022 and are still above where they stood in 2020,” the report notes. London and Paris remain in a tight race as the top hubs for food tech financing, with the latter just barely edging the British capital.

    Early-stage startups are more attractive

    There was a notable shift in the distribution of investments across company stages. Early-stage startups experienced a much smaller decline (12%) than late-stage, post-Series A companies (49%). In fact, the number of investments in younger companies increased, with seed deals up from 333 to 372. DigitalFoodlab calls this “proof of entrepreneurs’ and investors’ appetite to bet on food tech”.

    Last year was the first time in 10 years Europe didn’t produce a unicorn (a privately held company with a valuation of over $1B). However, there were two IPOs: Moolec and salt alternative company Microsalt. But they have had mixed fortunes, with the former losing more than 80% of its share price since trading on the Nasdaq in January 2023, and the latter gaining by more than 50%.

    food tech funding europe
    Courtesy: DigitalFoodLab

    Regulation remains a thorn in the flesh

    Looking at the positives, DigitalFoodLab noted how external investors are now betting on European startups. “While unfortunate in its success, the emergence of quick-commerce in Europe helped to put the old continent on the map,” the report states.

    Moreover, European-headquartered companies are now investing and partnering with local players, instead of looking to the US first. And public money has helped national ecosystems emerge pre- and post-pandemic, as well as helped many startups avoid bankruptcy. “Now, plans to boost the bioeconomy (with applications in agriculture and food such as bioinputs and proteins) will be critical for the next stage,” it suggests.

    That said, there is certainly room for improvement. Beyond a few companies (mostly D2C brands), it’s “extremely hard” for most startups to grow across borders. There also needs to be coherence between national and EU-level plans. “Most countries support innovation, but they do it with different schemes, each requiring startups to submit lengthy applications,” explains the report. While things are moving in the right direction, it notes that it isn’t yet obvious for European entrepreneurs to know where to establish their startups.

    Finally, regulation remains a “cloud in the sky”, with progress slower than in other continents. While it has boosted some categories – like plastic alternatives – it is “hindering innovation in alternative proteins”. This is most prominently seen in Italy’s cultivated meat ban, and several EU countries’ attempts to restrict these novel proteins before they even enter the market.

    The post The State of European FoodTech: Funding Declines, More Deals, Alt-Protein Wins & Promising Future appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Voyage Foods Pens Deal with Cargill to Expand Cocoa-Free Chocolate & Nut-Free Spreads

    cargill confectionery
    5 Mins Read

    Californian ethical pantry startup Voyage Foods has signed a commercial deal with food conglomerate Cargill to scale up the production and distribution of its cocoa-free chocolate and nut-free spreads.

    Cargill has announced a commercial partnership with Voyage Foods to extend its confectionery portfolio by entering the cocoa-free chocolate market for the first time.

    The deal means Cargill – the largest privately held company in the US – will be Voyage Foods’ exclusive global distributor for B2B services, providing food manufacturers with allergen-free, climate-friendly ingredients for use in a variety of applications, at a time when chocolate prices are soaring.

    “Cargill is proud to partner with Voyage Foods, investing in the next generation of even more sustainable food solutions,” said Inge Demeyere, European managing director of bakery, ice cream and chocolate confectionery at Cargill. “We want to be our customers’ main source of inspiration and growth, setting new standards for innovating and collaborating. To do this, we’re anticipating future trends by focusing on exciting, high-value categories such as ice cream, sweet bakery and chocolate confectionery.”

    But it’s not just chocolate – the partnership will also give Cargill’s customers access to Voyage Foods’ nut-free peanut and hazelnut butters. The range will be available in Europe initially, before expanding into other regions later.

    Cargill enters cocoa-free confectionery world

    voyage foods cargill
    Courtesy: Voyage Foods/Cargill

    Cargill’s extensive confectionery portfolio includes chocolate, coatings and fillings, starches and sweeteners, and oils and fats for bakery, ice cream and chocolate categories – but these can now be complemented with a broader range of ingredient solutions that are vegan-friendly and free from nuts.

    “Voyage Foods has always been focused on solving human and environmental health challenges through food. The best way to accomplish this is by supplying the world’s food brands and manufacturers with our impactful ingredients,” said Voyage Foods CEO Adam Maxwell, who co-founded the startup with R&D head Kelsey Tenney in 2021.

    The company 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. While the cocoa-free chocolate is targeted towards B2B applications, its nut-free hazelnut and peanut spreads are available in over 1,400 retail locations, and it also makes beanless coffee for foodservice.

    In January, the company closed a $22M funding round, taking its total amount raised to $64M. The plan is to use the money to scale up manufacturing and launch new products to the market, something that the partnership with Cargill will help facilitate.

    “Partnering with Cargill, a leader in the food industry for over 100 years, is the perfect way to scale these solutions globally to offer food manufacturers the ability to integrate cocoa-free confectionery and spreads, produced with no nut or dairy allergens used in the recipe formulation, into their portfolios,” said Maxwell. “Together, we’re amplifying our impact on people and the planet.”

    Demeyere added: “Alternatives to cocoa-based products are a great accompaniment to the traditional chocolate solutions that Cargill offers its customers. This partnership is just one of the many ways that we are future-proofing our portfolio and meeting consumer demands and market regulations when it comes to even more sustainable options.”

    Voyage Foods will help lower Cargill’s Dutch-sized footprint

    voyage foods spreads
    Courtesy: Voyage Foods

    Cargill, which raked in $177B in revenue last year, has an extensive record of investing in climate-friendly food companies, including ENOUGH, UPSIDE Foods, Aleph Farms, Wildtype, Cocuus, Bflike, and Cubiq Foods. But it is one of the four largest meat companies in the US, and has driven deforestation, pollution, climate change and exploitation “at a scale that dwarfs their closest competitors”, according to Mighty Earth chair and former US Congressman Henry Waxman, who called it “the worst company in the world” in 2019.

    The company has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in its North American beef supply chain by 30% by 2030, although that could prove tricky considering its climate footprint was once found to be greater than the entire nation of the Netherlands. But partnering with Voyage Foods, whose products have been called “the most sustainable chocolates ever to come to market”, will help its case.

    An independent life-cycle assessment of its products found that Voyage Foods’ non-dairy milk chocolate produces 66% fewer GHG emissions from land use change and 84% fewer emissions overall compared to its conventional counterpart, while the cocoa-free semi-sweet chocolate reduces land use change emissions by 88% and overall GHG emissions by 81%.

    If only 5% of the world switched to its alt-chocolates, it would be the equivalent of saving emissions from between 1.5 and 1.8 million cars annually. And when it comes to water consumption, with Voyage Foods’ chocolates use 99% less water – that’s like saving between 500,000 and 1.2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water, if 5% of the population swapped conventional for cocoa-free chocolate.

    Climate change and chocolate have ravaged each other. Producing cocoa generates more emissions than all foods bar beef, while extreme weather events have strained supplies of the crop and put a third of cocoa trees on the brink of extinction. This – alongside increasing demand globally – has pushed the prices of chocolate to an all-time high, with cocoa costing $10,000 per tonne last month.

    It makes the case for alternatives like Voyage Foods and its counterparts, which include WNWN Food Labs (UK), ChoViva (Germany) and Foreverland (Italy). California Cultured, meanwhile, is working on cell-based chocolate.

    Voyage Foods says it provides manufacturers with supply chain and price stability that enables better margins, thanks to the use of cost-effective upcycled ingredients that are scalable. This enables CPG partners to offer eco-friendly, ethical chocolate with fair and stable prices.

    “We’re proposing that food companies can make more sustainable and ethically sourced products at a cost that on the industrial side is significantly less than current alternatives,” said Maxwell.

    The post Voyage Foods Pens Deal with Cargill to Expand Cocoa-Free Chocolate & Nut-Free Spreads appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Vegan Shawarmas, Pamela Anderson & Jobs for Cats

    pamela anderson cookbook
    5 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Pamela Anderson’s new vegan cookbook, OMNI’s call for cat taste-testers for cultivated meat, and a new dining club.

    New products and launches

    UK plant-based meat brand THIS has launched a vegan chicken shawarma SKU made from soy and fava beans. Currently available at Asda, it will retail at £3.30 for a 170g pack, and will appear on Waitrose and Co-op shelves next month.

    this shawarma
    Courtesy: THIS

    Flora is introducing its previously foodservice-only Plant Cream to supermarket aisles in the UK, with the double cream available at Asda (and soon at Waitrose), and the single cream on the horizon too.

    There’s a new alt-milk on the market, with Plantstrong Foods entering the category with clean-label versions of almond, oat, oat-almond, and oat-walnut. They are available exclusively at over 500 Whole Foods stores in the US, and will soon start selling on its e-commerce site.

    Israeli 3D-printed meat producer Steakholder Foods has debuted in the US market with its ready-to-mix SHFish and SHMeat dried extracts for plant-based analogues.

    Also in the US, vegan seafood company Impact Food‘s tuna analogue is now available at five Pokeworks locations in New York: Union Square, Grand Central, Williamsburg, Fresh Meadows and Woodbury.

    impossible hot dog
    Courtesy: Peter McGuinness/LinkedIn

    Over in Chicago, Impossible Foods has brought its burgers and new hot dogs to baseball stadiums across the country, ahead of the latter’s supermarket launch.

    Allergen-free vegan cheese brand Pleese Foods, meanwhile, has partnered with foodservice distributor Performance Food Group, meaning its pizza cheese is now available to buyers nationally.

    In Asia, beanless coffee startup Prefer is ramping up its presence in Singapore and diversifying its portfolio with a line of black cold brew concentrates (caffeinated and decaf), soon to make their way into cocktail bars in the city-state.

    Also in Singapore, Sichuan eatery Chengdu Bowl has added two vegan dishes – sour and spicy soup and mapo tofu – using Finnish food tech startup Solar Foods‘ Solein air protein, which are available for the next three months.

    Nestlé has expanded its Harvest Gourmet product range in Malaysia with Puff Pastries in creamy curry, Koran gochujang and Oriental BBQ flavours.

    abillion vegan dining club
    Courtesy: abillion

    And review platform abillion has unveiled the Vegan Dining Club, which spotlights 500 restaurants “committed to having great vegan options on their menus”. They will receive premium placements across all of abillion’s assets, keyword priorities, and more footfall.

    Finance and company updates

    At Upside Foods, chief scientific officer Kevin Kayser has stepped down to launch a consulting group, leaving a vacancy at executive level for one of the world’s leading cultivated meat companies.

    Likewise, Triton Algae Innovations co-founder and R&D head Miller Tran is leaving the San Diego-based algae protein company.

    Another move comes at Meati, where co-founder Justin Whiteley is stepping aside from his role as CSO to become a technical advisor to the CEO.

    UK colour development platform Sparx has raised $3.2M to speed up the commercialisation of its plant-based pigments, which are made from cellulose that can be extracted from waste streams.

    Berlin-based Torg has closed an oversubscribed €2.7M seed round to further develop its AI-led platform for foodservice and private-label buyers to find suppliers and source products more efficiently.

    Dutch startup Time-Travelling Milkman has secured €850,000 in funding to expand the production and market entry of its sunflower seed fat called Oleocream, which is designed to replace palm and coconut oil in plant-based dairy applications.

    future food quick bites
    Courtesy: Sunlit Foods

    South Korea’s Innohas has opened its second plant-based ingredient facility in Jecheon. Describes as the “world’s largest” exclusively plant-based factory, it will produce Korean foods like bibimbap, japchae and bulgogi for its Sunlit Foods brand.

    In San Francisco, ingredients giant Givaudan, equipment manufacturer Bühler, and food innovation platform MISTA have opened an extrusion hub for snacks, cereals and plant-based meat at the MISTA Innovation Center.

    Dutch plant-based dairy brand Willicroft has released the results of its independent life-cycle assessment, which revealed that its products generate up to 25 times lower emissions than their animal-derived counterparts.

    Policy and pop culture

    The West Hollywood City Council has voted in favour of vice mayor Chelsea Byers’ proposal to make vegan and vegetarian options the default at catering events like special meetings, luncheons and recreational activities, while meat options will be available upon request.

    American model and actress Pamela Anderson is releasing a vegan cookbook titled I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, which will come out on October 15 and features over 80 recipes.

    German alternative seafood producer Koralo made it to mainstream television in South Korea, with TVN Korea running a segment about its microalgae- and mycelium-based New F!sh filet.

    Another vegan brand represented on TV was UK frozen pizza startup One Planet Pizza, whose co-founder, Joe Hill, appeared on The Apprentice as one of the judges for a vegan-cheese-themed episode.

    omni cat food
    Courtesy: Omni

    Finally, alternative pet food producer OMNI, which will soon launch the UK’s first cultivated meat product alongside Meatly, is offering cat owners £60,000 in annualised salary to have their felines taste its Chicken Revolution product and monitor their experience and any changes in physical conditions.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Vegan Shawarmas, Pamela Anderson & Jobs for Cats appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Exclusive: Australia’s Harvest B Unveils Blended Meat Range Ahead of US Expansion & Series A

    harvest b blended meat
    8 Mins Read

    Australian alternative protein startup Harvest B is entering the blended meat space with 50/50 slow-cooked beef and lamb SKUs, as it prepares for a US expansion and Series A funding round.

    Known for its range of plant proteins, boosters and meal solutions, Harvest B has launched a new line of Complementary Proteins that blend animal proteins with plant-based ingredients.

    The slow-cooked beef and lamb mark the New South Wales-based company’s first foray into blended meat, and comes after closing its latest seed funding round, which takes total investment in the company to $4.7M. The diced meat products are geared towards the foodservice industry, and bring several environmental, health and cost advantages over conventional meat, while retaining its flavour and texture.

    “As we began supplying our products to customers, we realised many were blending our high-performing proteins with animal proteins purely for cost savings,” Harvest B CEO Kristi Riordan, who co-founded the company with COO Alfred Lo in 2020, tells Green Queen.

    “Meanwhile, we learned that another group of customers had been trying to scale plant proteins for sustainability, but were facing consumer acceptability challenges,” she adds. “Unlike the customers led by cost, this cohort was motivated by emission reductions and found that blended solutions offered greater consumer acceptance, while also delivering cost savings and nutritional benefits.”

    Cheaper, better for you and less polluting

    blended meat
    Courtesy: Harvest B

    Blended meat is a nascent market, but is gradually gaining steam. Riordan explains that while plant proteins have been “used for decades” in meat products to reduce costs – McNuggets being a prime example – the current first-generation blended meat products rely on binders or casings in the finished product.

    Harvest B’s innovation represents the next generation, with a patent-pending tech that combines different plant protein structures in a unique way to enable the creation of whole pieces like diced beef or lamb with an enhanced texture, and without additional ingredients or processing. “Our red meat products are an effective mimic for the structure of slow-cooked beef, lamb or other animal proteins,” says Daniel Mullette, the company’s R&D director.

    “This technology underpins Harvest B’s ability to combine whole pieces of raw beef, or lamb, with plant proteins. Furthermore, through the slow cooking process the consistency and texture of the plant proteins complement the animal proteins so well that they are indistinguishable in many dishes,” he adds.

    The slow-cooked meats have a 50/50 ration of beef or lamb with a soy and wheat protein blend, and nothing else, which increases their versatility in foodservice applications. The products absorb what’s called the purge, or the high-protein that’s left behind in meat packaging or the pan. This means less waste, less packaging, and lower transportation costs.

    Compared to their conventional counterparts, Harvest B’s blended meats deliver 30% more yield for the same cost, with half the cholesterol, 45% less saturated fat, and 30% less packaging needed. The inclusion of plant proteins also means they have fibre, while retaining the iron and vitamin B12 content. In terms of the climate, the products reduce emissions from animal-derived meats by 46%. And they boast 23-24g of protein per 100g.

    Overcoming blended meat’s acceptance challenges

    hybrid meat
    Courtesy: Harvest B

    The blended meat category can tend to be a very tricky space. Retailers like Aldi and meat giants such as Tyson Foods have previously brought blends to the market, but they were discontinued quickly after failing to capture consumers’ grocery carts.

    Some have blamed Tyson’s marketing for its blended meat debacle. Andrew Arentowicz, founder and CEO of US-based 50/50 Foods, told Green Queen last year: “Tyson’s Raised & Rooted blended burger said they were ‘beef and pea protein isolate’ burgers. Who wants to eat – let alone buy – pea protein isolate?”

    Mullette echoes this sentiment: “All food products need to deliver a strong value proposition with marketing that authentically connects that to the consumer.” While taste is “always table stakes with food”, there needs to be more that the consumer cares about and sets the product apart. and it’s not sustainability – which blended meat producers have painted as their primary USP. “Truth be told, mainstream consumers don’t want to sacrifice or pay for sustainability. Many mainstream consumers don’t even want to know that there are plants in their food,” he states.

    “Meat-eaters already consume a huge amount of plant protein – most brands just don’t focus on this in their marketing,” says Mullette. Harvest B conducted a recent audit of the Australian market, finding that the actual animal meat content in bestselling retail products “would surprise many consumers”. Chicken tenders, for example, comprise just 38-52% meat, beef burgers 67-85%, meatballs 70-84%; and sausage rolls a meagre 18-25%.

    “Harvest B believes that achieving taste, in a familiar format, at a more affordable price with better nutritionals gives a compelling reason to buy. Meanwhile, a more sustainable protein is simply the benefit,” he says. “By working with a wide variety of market segments, we anticipate different approaches to marketing depending on the value proposition important to the brand, or venue.”

    Tyson’s blended meat failure also came on the retail shelves, which is why taking the foodservice route makes sense for Harvest B. Riordan believes this is an untapped opportunity, given institutional foodservice often has a regulated requirement for protein, cost-per-serve constraints, and a desire to reduce emissions.

    “One of Harvest B’s customers told us that we are the only supplier that can improve nutrition while also reducing costs and emissions,” reveals Riordan. “We are also excited to work closely with executive chefs to strategically build Harvest B’s protein portfolio to address the problems they face on a daily basis.”

    Its diced beef and lamb are cooked via sous vide before being frozen, and delivered to chefs who can pan-fry, oven-roast or braise the meats, and use them in dishes like curries, stir-fries, salads and soups, among others. They have a 12-month shelf life too, which will appeal to foodservice settings “where convenience and avoidance of food waste are paramount”.

    Blended meat approved by chefs and legacy protein producers

    harvest b
    Courtesy: Harvest B

    Harvest B’s blended meat products will appeal to the 19% of Australians who identify as flexitarians, according to a YouGov poll last year. A separate study additionally suggested that 32% of the country’s population reduced its meat consumption in 2023. The success of blended meat products will rely upon taste more than anything else, with 59% of meat-eaters and 42% of flexitarians calling this the most influential driver of food choices.

    To address that, the startup has developed its blended meat range in partnership with animal protein producers, which will also help bring the products to market globally. “Sensory tests were conducted with internal stakeholders at these partners to ensure we were able to achieve a profile that met the expectations of traditional animal protein consumers,” says Riordan.

    She adds that the products can be used in institutional foodservice spanning airlines, education, defence, mining, aged care, and hospital sectors: “We have conducted trials with executive chefs and nutritionists across each of these segments who are excited by the taste and texture, as much as they are by the nutritional benefits we can deliver.”

    The concept has been proven elsewhere. 50/50 Foods has landed its half-beef, half-plant Both Burger on a Disneyland menu, while Mush Foods’s 50Cut is featured in leading butchery Pat LaFrieda’s new blended burger for foodservice. And it’s not just blended meat that’s making waves, hybrid meats – which combine cultivated meat with plant-based ingredients – are also appearing on the horizon. San Francisco-based startup SciFi Foods, for instance, is aiming to receive regulatory approval for its hybrid beef burgers and enter foodservice by early 2025.

    Cultivated meat was in Australian headlines last week after Vow became just the fourth company in the world to obtain the regulatory greenlight for cultivated meat, rolling out its cultivated quail as part of a parfait in select restaurants in Singapore.

    “A complementary system works best when taste and value are beneficial to a customer and consumer – creating a driver for systemic behavioural change which, in turn, drives adoption of sustainable practice,” says Mullette. “This is the intent behind Harvest B’s Complementary Proteins; a similar approach could easily be adopted with complementary food products formed from blending plant-based and cultivated proteins.

    “If the flavour, texture and value of protein products can be advanced by blending plant-based with cultivated meats, then an advantageous driver exists for its adoption as part of a complete, nutritious global food system.”

    Harvest B plans Series A for US expansion

    harvest b complementary proteins
    Courtesy: Harvest B

    The progress made by companies like Vow and Harvest B signposts the next phase of growth for Australia’s alternative protein sector, which includes product and tech innovation as much as marketing, says Riordan.

    “The category was primarily built by idealists who raised awareness of the emissions problem in our food system. However, this also created a strong division between those who eat meat and those who do not with challenges to drive further mainstream adoption,” she explains, noting how Australia’s national science organisation CSIRO rebranded its research portfolio from ‘alt-protein’ to ‘complementary proteins last year. It was “a nod to thinking differently about the product, tech and marketing of our future protein system”.

    Harvest B has used the latest capital injection to drive its R&D roadmap further, build its pilot facility, and amp up sales and marketing. “We have received support from the Australian Federal Government via the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to stand up our manufacturing capabilities,” says Riordan.

    The company recently launched its consumer brand, B Strong, into the North American market. The products are focused on meal prep solutions for fitness-oriented consumers, and are available on e-commerce marketplaces like Kroger, Walmart and Amazon.

    “B2B remains the immediate focus for Harvest B, particularly in the foodservice and high growth ready meal segments,” Riordan states, revealing that the company will now look to raise a Series A funding round to support its B2B expansion in the US. Slated for the upcoming financial year, the blended meat producer is targeting a sum of around $7M.

    But this period will also see substantive Australian federal funding programmes become available to local food manufacturers. Harvest B will tap into these programmes to complement its raise, meaning its Series A sum may not need to be as large.

    “We remain bullish about the opportunities the market has to offer,” says Riordan. “Classic innovation theory shows time and again that crossing the chasm from early adopters to the mainstream requires a step change. From a pragmatic view, we need more work on product-market fit and the value propositions of affordability and health – especially for market segments where high protein is required.”

    She continues: “We believe that improved sustainability will follow solving those problems. And we believe that plants can enable high quality, affordable protein for meals designed for the way people like to eat – whether vegan, vegetarian or meat eaters.”

    The post Exclusive: Australia’s Harvest B Unveils Blended Meat Range Ahead of US Expansion & Series A appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Ironic Biotech Bags €1M to Develop Iron-Rich Plant Proteins via Precision Fermentation

    ironic biotech
    5 Mins Read

    Swedish food tech startup Ironic Biotech has raised €1M in pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its plant-derived heme iron ingredient, which is produced via precision fermentation.

    The funding round was led by Helsinki-based Nordic Foodtech VC, which recognised the potential of Ironic Biotech’s ingredient. The startup has discovered plant proteins that contain high amounts of bioavailable iron without any side effects, which can be used as part food of food formulations and iron supplements.

    Produced via precision fermentation, the compounds have iron absorption rates comparable to those of meat, but carry a much lower climate footprint while addressing high global iron deficiency and anaemia rates.

    “Our team wants to empower women and put an end to the tiredness and fatigue caused by iron deficiency. I refuse to believe that being a woman should mean constantly feeling drained. I am determined to provide a solution that truly works,” said Ironic Biotech founder and CEO Nélida Leiva Eriksson.

    “New ingredients like this enable the food industry to tackle a global health problem with new products. Worries about iron uptake are also a significant barrier to reducing the use of red meat in the Western diet,” Nordic Foodtech VC investment director Louise Heiberg. “Putting a fundamental innovation like this to work takes effort, talent, and a bit of time. As an early investor, we work tightly with the team to build a solid foundation for success.”

    Addressing a global health epidemic

    precision fermentation heme
    Courtesy: Ironic Biotech

    Ironic Biotech was founded by Leiva Eriksson, an associate professor at Sweden’s Lund University, in 2020. The company is rooted in her own experience with anaemia, which is a direct result of iron deficiency. When the amount of iron in the body is too low, it can’t produce enough red blood cells to generate oxygen supply.

    Iron is used to make haemoglobin, a protein that helps these cells carry oxygen throughout the body, and myoglobin, which stores and provides oxygen when needed. These are both part of the heme protein family, which are essential for oxygen regulation and human growth and development. They also have functional benefits, providing the colour, flavour and iron content associated with foods like red meat.

    This is why producers have been working to create animal-free versions of heme proteins. Perhaps the most well-known company in this space is Impossible Foods, whose precision-fermented heme ingredient is the USP of its beef analogues. Belgian startup Paleo uses the same tech to produce yeast-derived myoglobin for pet food (it facilitates oxygen storage and diffusion and dogs and is an essential source of taurine for cats).

    Ironic Biotech is working to address the health issue with its compounds. According to a scientific review last year, nearly two billion people worldwide suffered from anaemia in 2021 (about a quarter of the population), 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, a difference that becomes more pronounced during the reproductive ages – and the leading cause behind this was iron deficiency.

    Menstruation causes a periodic loss of blood, which means iron stocks need to be replenished regularly. Gynaecological disorders and maternal haemorrhage are also key contributors to anaemia incidence among women of reproductive age. This is why many women are advised to take iron supplements, while in severe cases, iron infusion therapy is recommended. Leiva Eriksson had to undergo the latter, but the high cost of these procedures – somewhere between €2,000 and €4,000 – makes them very inaccessible.

    Going through the therapy was the turning point for the founder. “The lack of iron is partly responsible for the performance gap between males and females, as women naturally lose iron regularly. The situation is widely unaddressed – a sad story that applies to many female health issues, iron deficiency not being an exception,” said Leiva Eriksson. “I know what lack of iron can do to a person, as I was one of the millions of women suffering from it.”

    Is Ironic Biotech the iPhone of supplements?

    vegan iron deficiency
    Courtesy: Ironic Biotech

    While humans get iron from food and supplements, each comes with its own problems. Red meat is the most typical source of iron, but it’s also the most polluting food on the planet, and is linked with a multitude of health risks. The EAT-Lancet Commission’s Planetary Health diet recommends cutting red meat consumption significantly from current levels, and with women more likely to adopt these eating patterns than men, the issue of iron deficiency will only continue to grow among women. Using precision fermentation means less water, less energy and less space to produce the same amount of iron as cattle.

    As for supplements, they’re linked to various side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, stomach ache, constipation and other digestive problems, as well as organ damage. This is because over 90% of the iron in supplements goes through our digestive tracts without being absorbed.

    Studies show that the absorption rates of iron can vary from 7-9% in leafy vegetables, 4% in grains and 2% in dried legumes, all the way to 25-30% for organ meats. But Ironic Biotech’s precision-fermented plant proteins have similar absorption rates to meat, and the iron-rich nature gives them a red tint. However, Leiva Eriksson said they won’t alter the colour of food as the concentration will be diluted.

    The patented compounds are tasteless, can be powdered, frozen or granulated, and are shelf-stable. They will appeal to food companies looking to make products for consumers following plant-forward diets, and can be used as an ingredient to fortify food products like orange juice or plant-based milk.

    Ironic Biotech will use the funding for R&D, expand its patent portfolio, and optimise its production process. It’s now aiming to partner with food and supplement manufacturers to use its plant compounds in their product formulations, with a targeted market launch for 2025.

    Speaking to Forbes, Leiva Eriksson recalled how a team member likens the company’s discovery to the telephone revolution. All mobile phones were innovating through more buttons or functions, but nobody solved the problem until Apple unveiled the iPhone. “When I look at the iron supplements space, you got the metal, and people thought of innovation as adding biofilms or molecules around it. But in the end, it is the same elemental iron, and the solution was just trying to cover it,” she explained. “Nobody was taking the problem from the root and saying: ‘This doesn’t work.’”

    She believes Ironic Biotech could be the iPhone of the supplements space. Will it help us think different(ly) about our iron needs?

    The post Ironic Biotech Bags €1M to Develop Iron-Rich Plant Proteins via Precision Fermentation appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Liberation Labs Raises Further $12.5M to Support Construction of Precision Fermentation Facility

    liberation labs
    5 Mins Read

    US biotech manufacturing firm Liberation Labs has secured $12.5M in funding to support the ongoing construction of its large-scale production facility in Indiana, ahead of its Series A round.

    Liberation Labs’ latest capital injection of $12.5M will advance the building of its manufacturing plant in Richmond, Indiana, which is intended to serve an increasing demand for proteins made via precision fermentation.

    Food tech VC firm Agronomics – which now holds a 37.5% stake in the company – invested $10M in this round, with additional funding from existing investor Siddhi Capital. It brings the total equity-linked financing in Liberation Labs to $33.5M, and the company additionally has non-dilutive funding commitments totalling $55M – this includes $30M in equipment financing and a $25M USDA-backed loan.

    The investment will convert on the same terms as Liberation Labs’ upcoming Series A round, which is expected to raise a minimum of $37.5M and support the continued constriction of its Indiana plant.

    “The new funding from Agronomics and Siddhi Capital comes as we continue to make significant progress in building out our operations team and advancing facility construction – including the installation of key equipment like fermenters and spray dryers,” said Liberation Labs co-founder and CEO Mark Warner. “Each day, we’re closer to our goal of unlocking the potential of domestic manufacturing of novel proteins for both food and industrial use.”

    liberation labs facility
    Courtesy: Liberation Labs

    Liberation Labs aims to open facility in early 2025

    Founded in 2022, Liberation Labs aims to commercialise precision-fermented ingredients via a global network of purpose-built manufacturing facilities to produce bio-based products at scale, with a fit-for-purpose design that can enable cost-effective solutions.

    Its factory in Richmond, which is expected to cost around $115M, will be capable of producing between 600 to 1,200 tonnes of protein annually, and bring in $40M in yearly revenue. It will have downstream processing capabilities and support a variety of clients, from well-funded precision fermentation startups to established ingredient and CPG companies.

    If things go well, the company will also look to build another factory five times greater in size, with the potential to generate around $160M in annual revenue (this will be financed via more traditional project financing). “Long term, we’re looking at six geographies worldwide,” Warner told AFN last year. “In each one, we expect to build initially a 600,000-litre launch facility, and ultimately a four-million-litre commercial facility.”

    The company is hoping to address the precision fermentation industry’s capacity bottleneck through the design, build and operation of its purpose-built biomanufacturing platform, Bio3. The Indiana facility is about halfway through its construction and – provided that Liberation Labs secures the targeted Series A funds – is expected to be operational by Q1 2025.

    It chose Richmond as a location due to several key factors, including access to sugar inputs, utility rates, cost and availability of labour, the regulatory environment, and the availability of government incentives. “This type of company and industry is a perfect fit for the Hoosier state given Indiana’s strong agriculture and manufacturing sectors,” Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has previously said. “We love to see innovative new technologies creating quality jobs and career pathways for both today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.”

    Speaking about the latest investment, Agronomics executive chairman Jim Mellom said: “Liberation Labs continues to deliver on the project milestones of its launch facility in Indiana. We have huge confidence in the team’s ability to execute and believe that Liberation Labs will become the first company in Agronomics’ portfolio to be cash-generative.”

    precision fermentation facility
    Courtesy: Liberation Labs

    A big year for precision fermentation

    Liberation Labs’ raise comes at a time when precision fermentation is progressing rapidly in the US and internationally, whether it’s product launches, investment rounds or regulatory breakthroughs.

    The eventual mainstreaming of this sector was signposted by releases by two of the world’s biggest food companies. Unilever partnered with California’s Perfect Day to use the latter’s precision-fermented whey protein as the base for a new lactose-free chocolate ice cream by Breyers, while Nestlé unveiled an animal-free Better Whey protein powder under its Orgain brand just weeks earlier.

    Meanwhile, San Francisco’s New Culture became the first company to obtain self-affirmed GRAS status for animal-free casein in March, just as Dutch startup Vivici earned this certification for its whey protein a month earlier. In January, Israel’s Imagindairy received a ‘no further questions’ letter from the FDA for its precision-fermented whey. Californian startup Oobli has also received the FDA letter for its Oubli Sweet Protein.

    There has been a spate of funding announcements in the sector too. Just last week, Finnish precision fermentation egg producer Onego Bio closed a $40M Series A round and announced it expects to achieve self-affirmed GRAS status in the US soon. Perfect Day itself closed a $90M Series A funding round in January, while casein producer Standing Ovation (France) secured €3M and precision fermentation biomanufacturer Cauldron Ferm (Australia) brought in $6M.

    Meanwhile, the state of Illinois has committed $600M to its biomanufacturing hub (which focuses on precision fermentation), and in May, the EU will open applications for investments totalling €50M in precision fermentation and algae-based food startups as part of its Horizon Europe scheme.

    Plus, Imagindairy unveiled an industrial-scale facility with a 10,000-litre fermentation capacity, Daisy Lab ramped up production for its beta-lactoglobulin whey powder and diversified into lactoferrin protein, Melt&Marble successfully scaled up its yeast-derived fats ahead of a market launch next year, Yali Bio created what it claimed was the world’s first yeast-derived breast milk fat from precision fermentation, and Bond Pet Foods reached a scaling milestone alongside Hill’s Pet Nutrition to develop pet food products.

    Clearly, a lot is happening in the precision fermentation sector – and it’s why trade bodies have come together to set a refined definition that provides clarity and distinction from other novel food technologies. Liberation Labs’s funding is the latest in a long list of developments, and one would expect them to continue as the year progresses.

    The post Liberation Labs Raises Further $12.5M to Support Construction of Precision Fermentation Facility appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Oatly Jiggers, Flavoured Barista Milks & A Factory Farming Vote

    oatly jigger
    5 Mins Read

    In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers flavoured barista milks, Oatly’s new Jiggers, and Quorn’s summer revamp.

    New products and launches

    Florida-based Niúke Foods has rolled out an extensive range of alt-milks and vegan spreads. These include quinoa, peanut and peanut-cacao milk, and eight flavours of chickpea mayos (from beets and carrots to sriracha and merquen). They can be found on the company’s e-commerce site, and are available for foodservice too.

    niuke milk
    Courtesy: Niúke Foods

    In another US plant-based dairy launch, Muscle Milk has introduced its first line of plant protein shakes in chocolate and vanilla flavours. While it is packed with 25-30g of protein from peas and brown rice, the company says it may not be vegan as one of its flavouring agents is processed with bone char.

    Swiss retailer Coop has partnered with Austrian upcycled food producer Kern Tec to launch an apricot kernel milk, which is now available at Coop stores nationwide.

    Also in Switzerland, Oatly has partnered with national rail company SBB to launch the 20ml Jigger product it teased during its Q4 earnings call, which will be available at all onboard dining carriages for no extra charge. The product will roll out in the UK with foodservice distributors Brakes and Bidfood.

    Oatly further announced a deal with Virgin Voyages to serve its Barista Edition oat milk at the onboard Grounds Club cafés across its fleet.

    In the UK, Finnish brand Oddlygood has launched its gluten-free barista oat milks in three flavours – original, vanilla and salted caramel – alongside lemon and berry desserts. The products are available at Asda now (the original barista flavour will be rolled out in June).

    oddlygood milk
    Courtesy: Oddlygood

    South Korean vegan cheese brand Armored Fresh introduced its shredded oat milk mozzarella at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, following its market entry in the US.

    Harvard spinoff Mooji Meats‘ plant-based ribeye steaks are being trialled at Boston restaurants, including La Voile, Prima and Veggie Galaxy, with a wider rollout expected later this year.

    UK meat-free market leader Quorn has announced a product revamp for the summer, with reformulated cocktail sausages and picnic eggs, and a revamped deli mini fillets line with two new flavours – all in refreshed packaging.

    Colarado-based vegan supplements brand Pet Releaf has unveiled a line of wellness products: a postbiotic for dogs and cats and a fish-free omega-3. They are the company’s first non-hemp supplements, and are designed to be used alongside CBD-infused products.

    Energy bar company Jambar has released a vegan Tropical Trio flavour, featuring bananas, pineapples, coconuts, gluten-free ancient grains, and walnut butter. It’s packed with 10g of protein per bar.

    And in the US, the Kraft Heinz Not Company has unveiled a squeezable bottle for its NotMayo, alongside a marketing campaign targeting mayo haters.

    Finance and company news

    Israel’s Imagindairy – which recently earned GRAS status from the FDA for its precision-fermented whey protein in the US – has partnered with US cell programming expert Ginkgo Bioworks to develop an optimum microbe for cost-effective production of non-whey dairy proteins. The collaboration is part-funded by the joint Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation.

    Swedish cultivated meat company Re:meat, meanwhile, has collaborated with solutions provider Alfa Laval to build an innovation hub for commercial-scale cultivated meat production.

    Washington-based Proxy Foods, an AI tech provider for food businesses, has raised $2.3M for its recipe formulation AI solution, which enables manufacturers to solve complex flavour and nutritional challenges through recipe optimisation and new formulations.

    Hong Kong-based cultivated seafood company Avant Meats is planning a fundraising round and a 30-fold capacity expansion after receiving positive response from consumers at a recent tasting event.

    US vegan chicken startup Daring is witnessing a change at the top, with founder Ross McKay stepping down as CEO and moving into a chairman emeritus role.

    daring chicken
    Courtesy: Daring

    In New Zealand, fellow plant-based chicken company Sunfed Meats has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird Ventures. Its products no longer seem to be available on Australian retail shelves, but a source confirmed to Green Queen that they’re still sold in New Zealand.

    Policy, education and awards

    In Northern California, the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters announced that a citizen-led petition to ban factory farms will now be up for vote, after volunteers submitted 37,000 signatures (about double what was needed). The vote is likely to be held in November, with potential implications for around two dozen concentrated animal feeding operations.

    Alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Europe has collaborated with the University of Leeds on a new PhD focused on the social and ecological impacts of a large-scale transition to alternative proteins in the UK and Europe. It’s financed by the UK’s largest public funding agency, the Economic and Social Research Council.

    Fellow alt-protein advocacy group ProVeg International has launched the 2024 edition of its Kickstarting for Good incubator programme to support new organisations and impact initiatives with a focus on AI, policy change, food waste, and farming transition, among other themes.

    In response to campaigning by the Open Wing Alliance, hotel operators Hilton, Louvre Hotels Group, and Meliá Hotels International have made significant strides in their cage-free commitments, including agreeing to disclose their percentages of cage-free eggs and laying out a phaseout plan.

    London-based podcast PLANT CEO has partnered with Los Angeles-based streaming channel UnchainedTV, which will host the former’s podcast episodes in full on its website.

    chicken run 2
    Courtesy: Fry’s Family Foods/Aardman/Netflix

    Finally, UK plant-based meat brand Fry’s Family Foods‘ collaboration with animation house Aardman and Netflix to launch vegan nuggets for the Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget movie has received the Best Marketing Campaign honour at the World Food Innovation Awards.

    Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Oatly Jiggers, Flavoured Barista Milks & A Factory Farming Vote appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.