Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Vow’s retail debut of cultivated meat, Beyond Meat’s new European packaging, and India’s plant-based dairy launches.
New products and launches
Australian cultured meat firm Vow has announced the retail debut of its smoked Japanese quail spread under the Forged brand. It will be available to order online from October 30 in Sydney, marking only the second time consumers can buy cultivated meat for at-home use (on Saturday, Mission Barns will join the list in the US).
In a week full of meme stock frenzy and a Walmart expansion, plant-based giant Beyond Meat has now gained even more distribution in the US, with its signature beef mince and burger landing at celeb-favourite retailer Erewhon Market.
Across the Atlantic, Beyond Meat has unveiled new-look packaging for its entire product range in Europe. The light-green packs now use fewer materials for labelling and have more recycled content, while the trays use 35% less plastic and are recyclable. They’ve already begun rolling out, starting with the Netherlands, followed by the UK in November.
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
British player Squeaky Bean has launched Salmon Style Flakes in a Sweet Chilli Marinade at Sainsbury’s stores, with each 125g pack priced at £3.25.
UK plant-based milk brand Plenish, owned by Carlsberg Britvic, has introduced an oil- and additive-free oat milk with zero sugar, using a process that does away with breaking down the oats into natural sugars. It’s available at Waitrose for £2.35 per litre.
Courtesy: Plenish
And Indian plant-based dairy startup 1.5 Degrees has expanded its range with cafe-style beverages, frozen sundaes, a collection of kulfis, and popsicles and sorbets.
Company and finance developments
US fermentation biomanufacturer Cellibre has received funding from German chemicals firm Symrise, which will focus on the scalable production of high-value ingredients across food, cosmetics and neutracuticals, starting with taste solutions and cosmetic actives.
Courtesy: Norwegian Mycelium
NoMy Japan, the Hokkaido-based subsidiary of Norwegian Mycelium, has partnered with local food processor Kagome Co to explore the technical feasibility, sensory characteristics, and commercial viability of developing products with its koji-derived protein.
Portuguese-New Zealand company Nutrition from Water, known for its Marine Whey line of proteins, has received a €446,000 grant via the Algarve Recruitment of Highly Qualified Human Resources by Companies initiative, as part of the government’s Portugal 2030 plan.
Courtesy: Imágenes de Patricio Daniel Nahuelhual Obreque
Big Idea Ventures, Mars Petcare, AAK, Bühler, and Givaudan have selected three companies for the 2025 Next Generation Pet Food Program: Canadian microalgae nutrition startup Alt-Pro Advantage, Swedish fungi-based aquafeed producer Seaqure Labs, and Indian upcycled fermented ingredient maker Terramatter.
Research, policy and awards
Canadian government cluster Protein Industries Canada has appointed Tyler Groeneveld as its new CEO. He was previously the board chairman.
Courtesy: Josh Bruneski/Overtime Marketing
Also in Canada, Jennifer Côté, co-founder and CEO of cell-based dairy startupOpalia, has been named the Clean Tech Young Entrepreneur of the Year in an event hosted by the League of Innovators Accelerator and Manitoba Innovates.
In New Zealand, the share of citizens identifying as vegan or vegetarian collectively dropped by 12% in 2023 to 8% in 2024, with the gap even wider among Gen Z. In fact, only 22% of people said they want to reduce meat consumption, compared to 25% the year before.
Courtesy: Anatoly Michaello
Finally, Israeli cultivated seafood firmForsea Foods has filed a patent with the European Patent Office covering a method to isolate fish embryonic stem cells and grow them into 3D organoids that can form both muscle and fat tissue, giving a glimpse into consistent, scalable production.
While sales of meat alternatives fell by 7% in the US in 2024, MyForest Foods’s clean-label mycelium bacon grew fourfold, both in terms of sales and retail presence.
The conversation around vegan meat products revolves more around ultra-processing and meme stocks than their food tech breakthroughs or health and environmental benefits.
And when you track the sales of these products, it’s clear there’s a cause-and-effect relationship. In the US, consumer purchases of plant-based meat declined by 7% in 2024; their price tags inflated by 4%.
People are instead flocking to products with short ingredient lists and minimal processing. Many brands are losing out as the pace of innovation slows – but some are emerging victorious.
MyForest Foods, the food-focused arm of New York-based mycelium company Ecovative, is one of them. The company has made its name on its flagship MyBacon product, which is the fastest-selling vegan bacon in the natural channel, according to SPINS data. In fact, its unit sales per week are about 300% faster than the category average.
These results made 2024 – in Ecovative founder and CEO Eben Bayer’s words – a “breakout year for MyForest Foods”, when retail expansion and repeat customer purchases propelled MyForest Foods’s year-on-year growth by 300%.
“Our biggest focus in 2024 and into 2025 was becoming direct margin positive, which we achieved this past quarter, while also posting 40% quarterly growth for the past four quarters,” he tells Green Queen.
Now, the company has introduced a pulled pork product using its whole-cut mycelium platform and expanded its partnership with Whole Foods Market. Both MyBacon and MyPulledPork have been rolled out into 520 of its stores nationwide.
“We expect to cross double-digit millions in 2026 and are on track to be EBITDA-positive in the first half of 2027,” says Bayer. “We’re producing more, shipping more, and seeing steady velocity across every region.”
How MyForest Foods uses mycelium to make bacon and pulled pork
Courtesy: MyForest Foods
MyForest Foods produces mycelium using its proprietary AirMycelium tech, which grows mushrooms on an industrial scale in vertical farms. “We have our own farm at our headquarters and work directly with mushroom farmers, converting traditional white and brown button mushroom farms to grow thick, fibrous oyster mushroom mycelium slabs that develop in just 12 days,” explains Bayer.
“The process starts with wood chips and seed hulls – natural byproducts from other industries – which we blend into a nutrient-rich growing base, known in mushroom farming as substrate. We then add oyster mushroom spawn, close the farm door and allow it to grow under our controlled environmental conditions, where we tune the moisture and airflow,” he adds.
Over the 12 days, the mycelium forms a dense yet tender and fibrous structure that “cooks, chews and satisfies just like pork”. “From there, we slice and season it to create the smoky, savoury flavour profiles people love, whether that’s bacon or pulled pork,” Bayer says.
Its products pair mycelium with coconut oil, sugar, natural flavouring, and salt. “What sets MyForest Foods apart is how naturally our products form; we aren’t made in a lab and don’t use binders, extruders, or complex processing. It’s food that’s simply grown and simply seasoned, straight from the farm.”
MyForest Foods has managed to scale production 15-fold year-over-year, aided by an $11M funding round for Ecovative in March. It was then that Bayer teased a shredded mycelium product, which has now resulted in MyPulled Pork. The idea came from the brand’s sales team, which noticed a gap in the market for this product. It was also a dish its R&D team was already developing internally.
“To grow it, we take the same delicious organic oyster mushroom mycelium we use for MyBacon, shred those cuts, give them a double brine, and package them as MyPulledPork,” he says. “One of the reasons folks love this is it’s so easy to cook and prepare; a tender, flavourful, centre-of-the-plate product that is ready in only eight minutes, [and] can take on any flavour.”
MyForest Foods goes on tour amid retail expansion
Courtesy: Ecovative
In the last 12 months, MyForest Foods has more than quadrupled its retail footprint. Its products are now available in over 2,500 stores in all 50 states, spanning both natural and conventional grocery channels.
“Recent additions include Hannaford, Schnucks, Price Chopper, Giant, and Natural Grocers, with new retailers joining every month,” says Bayer. “2,500 locations are just the beginning – we’re only getting started and expect even stronger growth in 2026.”
Though grocery remains its primary focus, the brand has entered foodservice this year, and received a FABI award at the National Restaurant Association Show, which will help build momentum in this channel.
Now, MyForest Foods is taking its products on the road, tailgating in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas next month. “The tasting tour is about creating that first-bite moment,” said Bayer. “It’s a chance for people to experience, not just hear about, what makes MyForest Foods’s products different, through flavour, texture, and a simple, satisfying eating experience.”
He adds: “Many of these are new markets for us, or we had only one or two independents carrying MyBacon or MyPulledPork, including Arizona. The tour is an opportunity to introduce these products, where they haven’t been as available as they were in New England or California.”
New product formats in the works, including beef and chicken
Courtesy: MyForest Foods
Bayer ascribes MyBacon’s success to the fact that it “cooks, sizzles, and smells” like pork, is made with nearly 100% organic ingredients, mainly farm-fresh gourmet oyster mushroom mycelium. It’s the “kind of food they want to eat and share” at a time when ultra-processed meat alternatives are losing favour fast.
Interestingly, the mycelium bacon only contains 1.5g of protein per cooked slice, about half as much as its conventional counterpart. Given today’s protein-hungry landscape, that would seem like a problem. However, the company’s revenue figures tell a different story.
Bayer has a simple solution for those looking to pack more protein: simply eat more of his product. “If you’re chasing a protein goal, just double your serving. You’ll hit your protein and fibre targets while getting a treat that feels indulgent and tastes incredible,” he says.
“MyBacon isn’t meant to be a centre-of-plate meal, but we definitely have customers who eat a whole pack in one sitting and email us to tell us how much they love it,” he adds. “For something heartier, MyPulledPork offers 9g of protein and 6g of fibre per serving with more ounces in a pack, making it a great fit for family dinners or post-gym recovery.”
Future products could fulfil this need. “Our R&D team is developing new whole-cut formats. We’re experimenting with beef and chicken alternatives, as well as new flavour profiles for MyBacon,” he says. “The goal for a new product is always the same: keep it simple, keep it delicious, and let mushroom mycelium do the heavy lifting.”
Japanese food conglomerate Ajinomoto has introduced beverages using Prefer’s beanless coffee and Solar Foods’s Solein gas protein in Singapore.
An iced latte with coffee made without beans, milk without cows, and protein produced from thin air.
That may seem like a dystopian drink, but it’s already available in Singapore, courtesy of the Ajinomoto Group, the Japanese food giant that first popularised MSG.
The company has unveiled GRe:en Drop Coffee, a new line of coffee beverages under its Atlr.72 brand, in collaboration with Finnish gas protein producer Solar Foods and Singaporean bean-free coffee maker Prefer.
In a weeklong preview at Singapore’s Ocean Financial Centre, Ajinomoto will serve two iced beverages featuring Prefer’s soluble coffee extender, PreferRoast, which replaces 30% of their conventional coffee content. This includes a batch-brewed filter coffee and a latte – well, a cafe au lait, if we’re being specific – with oat milk and a dairy-free cream made from Solar Foods’s Solein protein.
The innovation tackles multiple frontiers. By substituting dairy and, partly, coffee, it offers a more climate-friendly drink with far fewer emissions, land use, and water consumption. It’s inclusive for people with dairy allergies or intolerances. And Prefer’s fermentation-derived alternative is up to 50% cheaper than conventional coffee.
“The partnership with Ajinomoto is a positive signal for the future of coffee. With their innovative mindset, the industry and coffee lovers are in good hands,” Prefer co-founder and CEO Jake Berber tells Green Queen.
The beans used by Ajinomoto in 70% of the GRe:en Drop Coffee are dark-roasted. “Our nutty, chocolatey profile complements it perfectly for Singapore coffee drinkers,” he says. “Partnering with Solar Foods is really exciting. Solein adds sustainable protein, and the latte is damn tasty.”
Microbial fermentation at the heart of the innovation
Courtesy: Prefer
Prefer leverages fermentation and food waste to develop solutions to climate-threatened crops. It upcycles food industry byproducts and ferments them with food-grade microbes. These ingredients are then roasted and ground just like conventional coffee, with the process unlocking the same aroma volatiles found in them.
Currently, the startup uses broken rice and chickpeas as the feedstock. “We’re sourcing our ingredients locally, and PreferRoast has an 8.8x smaller carbon footprint than coffee, which is related to significant water savings,” says Berber. “We offer [producers] a more affordable coffee, allowing those savings to be passed on to customers.”
Solar Foods also uses microbial fermentation to produce Solein, but instead of sugar or food products, it feeds them on carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen, eliminating the need for farmland or water for irrigation. The microbes are grown in liquid form, and later dried into a flavourless powder that has 78% protein, 6% fat, 10% dietary fibre, as well as iron and B vitamins.
The company calls Solein the “most sustainable protein” on Earth. The main raw materials for production are carbon dioxide and renewable energy, resulting in emissions equal to just 1% of those generated by conventional meat, and 20% of plant proteins.
Solein has already powered mooncakes, ice cream sandwiches and “flowering” ice creams under the Atlr.72 brand, which focuses on using plant-based, cell-based and microbial ingredients to advance Ajinomoto’s green business – one of its four growth areas.
For this latest product, Solar Foods blends its CO2-derived powder with vegetable oil and water to make a Solein cream, which brings a rich and creamy mouthfeel while adding a hit of protein.
Berber reveals that the beans used by Ajinomoto in 70% of the GRe:en Drop Coffee are dark-roasted. “Our nutty, chocolatey profile complements it perfectly for Singapore coffee drinkers,” he says.
Dairy and coffee are a blight on the planet
Here’s why Ajinomoto is looking to reinvent your lattes. Dairy accounts for about 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and 8% of global methane output, which is 28 times more potent than CO2 over a 100-year period. The industry also uses vast swathes of farmland and a significantly higher amount of water than plant-based alternatives.
Meanwhile, it takes 140 litres of water to produce a single cup of coffee. And a kg of coffee beans is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the same amount of poultry and pork combined. Both these industries are exacerbating the climate crisis, and that is, in turn, coming back to hurt them.
The area suitable for growing coffee is shrinking rapidly, and 60% of coffee species are now endangered. Crop failures pushed up the cost of arabica by 80% in 2024, with wholesale prices reaching a nearly 50-year high. And this February, coffee futures in New York hit an all-time high of $4.34 per pound.
At the same time, global milk shortages could reach 30 million tonnes by 2030. And one recent study suggests that extreme heat waves could lead to a 4% drop in milk production by 2050.
Ajinomoto bets big on future foods
Courtesy: Prefer
Ajinomoto is betting on future-friendly startups to lower its environmental impact and accelerate the transition to more sustainable foods. It is developing plant-based meat products with v2food and its subsidiary, Daring Foods; and working with Standing Ovation to produce animal-free casein proteins; and exploring products using Fattastic Technologies’s oleosome-based alternative to saturated fats.
GRe:en Drop Coffee represents Ajinomoto’s fourth product launch with Solein. “The demand for non-dairy coffee creamers has increased significantly. Solein cream brings rich, indulgent consistency and deep, round flavour for coffee, adding a protein boost at the same time,” said Juan Benitez Garcia, chief sales officer of Solar Foods.
In the last few months, the Finnish startup has unveiled a ready-to-mix protein shake powder for athletes and gymgoers looking to enhance their performance and recovery, as well as an egg-free mayonnaise. It has signed supply partnerships with US-based GLP-1 wellness company Superb Food and Italian food firm KelpEat, alongside three commercialisation deals, and advanced plans for an industrial-scale facility.
“The ‘Re:’ in ‘GRe:en’ Drop signifies regenerative and repeatable, as we plan to showcase our ingredients in more formats with Ajinomoto,” says Berber. The Japanese conglomerate’s partnership with Prefer includes “plans to expand to other countries, including Thailand”.
His startup raised $4.2M in funding earlier this year, and has also struck a partnership with Antipodean CPG brand The Coffee Ferm. “We’re on track with our IP licensing and are excited about the upcoming expansion to Australia and New Zealand,” he says.
France’s Parima, formed this month after Gourmey’s acquisition of Vital Meat, has received regulatory approval to sell cultivated chicken in Singapore, a first for a European startup.
Parima has become the first European startup to be cleared to sell cultivated meat for human food anywhere in the world, following approval from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
The French startup was formed as a result of cultivated meat maker Gourmey’s acquisition of Vital Meat, which developed the cultivated chicken product now greenlit in Singapore.
It marks the Southeast Asian country’s second authorisation for cultivated meat this year, with Friends & Family Pet Food Co getting the nod for its Kampung bird products, and the first for human applications since Vow‘s cultured quail in 2024.
The development also brings an end to a long regulatory saga for Parima in the city-state. “We submitted our chicken regulatory dossier to the SFA at the end of 2023,” Étienne Duthoit, founder of Vital Meat and now part of Parima’s leadership team, tells Green Queen.
Parima did not respond to questions about its launch plans or potential retail distribution in Singapore. That said, the company did host a public tasting for its innovation at Hue restaurant, featuring dishes like cultivated chicken skin chips, handmade chicken ravioli in a chicken broth, and chicken rice.
Parima promises ‘meaningful’ inclusion rate of cultivated meat
Courtesy: Parima
Vital Meat uses cell-line technology developed from nearly 25 years of avian cell research at Groupe Grimaud, a global animal genetics leader, turning cells from fertilised chicken eggs into cultivated meat.
It already operated a pilot plant near Nantes, equipped with 2,000-litre bioreactors, but as part of Parima, it’s joined forces with Gourmey’s innovation centre and a pilot facility in central Paris, where it runs multiple 400-litre bioreactors. The combined bioreactor capacity reaches several thousand litres.
Like most companies in the space, Parima is taking the hybrid meat route, combining its cell-cultured protein with plant-based ingredients to form meat products. The firm hasn’t disclosed the exact share of different ingredients, but Duthoit notes it is a strong proponent of “meaningful inclusion rates” of cultivated meat.
“It’s the only way to truly meet consumers’ expectations for authentic taste, texture, and nutrition, and to clearly stand apart from first-generation plant-based options,” he explains. “Our technology also gives us flexibility: we can adjust the proportion of cultivated cells depending on the recipe, always aiming for the highest-quality products.”
Parima isn’t revealing how much the product will cost, though Duthoit promises it has “a clear path toward viable unit economics, not only for premium products, but also for high-volume applications like chicken”.
“Our strategy remains the same: start with premium segments where quality and differentiation matter most, then progressively expand towards broader market access as we scale,” he says.
A breakthrough for Singapore’s delayed approvals
Courtesy: Vital Meat/Parima
Singapore is widely recognised as a hub for future food tech, thanks to a robust R&D ecosystem, highly skilled workforce, strong government support and investment, and heightened consumer acceptance.
As Parima notes, the SFA’s rigorous science-based regulatory framework for novel foods is recognised as amongst the most advanced globally. And the agency granted the world’s first approval of cultivated meat to Eat Just’s Good Meat division back in 2020.
All this led a host of cultivated meat players to focus their attention on the island nation and file for regulatory clearance, but their success has been sparse. Vow only became the second company to earn the regulator’s green light, three-and-a-half years after Good Meat.
“After being the first country to approve cultivated meat at the time, they really want to make sure that they are not perceived as a country where it is easy to get approvals,” Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Israeli cultivated beef maker Aleph Farms (which is also awaiting the SFA’s go-ahead), told Green Queen last month.
This is why Parima’s approval is a breakthrough. Its team worked closely with the SFA to demonstrate compliance with the regulator’s food safety, quality, and transparency requirements. The extensive and collaborative review eventually confirmed the cultivated chicken as safe for human consumption.
“It validates the safety and robustness of the core foundation of our multi-species platform and strengthens our position to lead the market introduction of high-quality, economically viable cultivated proteins across multiple markets,” says Parima CEO and Gourmey co-founder Nicolas Morin-Forest.
Parima eyes global dominance in cultivated meat’s milestone year
Courtesy: Parima
Parima has another application with the SFA, which is reviewing the safety of Gourmey’s cultivated duck. In addition, the startup has seven other active filings across the globe, including the EU, the UK (it is the most advanced in both jurisdictions), Switzerland, the US, Australia and New Zealand, and another undisclosed country.
It has repeatedly signalled its goal to become the first cultivated meat company to be cleared to get the regulatory nod for two animal species. And Morin-Forest has indicated that the first approval for the Gourmey brand could come in Singapore too.
“We’re fuelling close collaborations with regulators worldwide on multiple dossiers, including our cultivated duck,” Duthoit says. “The dialogue continues to advance constructively, and we’re confident the next approvals will follow soon. Each milestone brings cultivated foods closer to consumers, safely, reliably, and at scale.”
Some businesses are hoping to use Singaporean approval as a benchmark for regulatory clearance in other countries, including the UK. Will Parima take that approach too?
“While there’s currently no formal equivalence between Singapore’s framework and other regulatory agencies, this approval sets a strong precedent. It reinforces confidence in the safety and robustness of our technology, which supports all our ongoing submissions,” says Duthoit.
Graphic by Green Queen
Parima is the latest in a growing list of cultivated meat startups cleared to sell their proteins this year. In addition to Vow and Friends & Family’s approvals, Wildtype and Mission Barns are selling their salmon and pork products in the US, respectively, and Believer Meats has earned FDA approval for cultivated chicken. In the EU, Biocraft Pet Nutrition and Umami Bioworks registered their cultivated meat innovations as feed materials, which can now be sold as pet food ingredients.
Parima suggests that the Singapore clearance provides a launchpad for its broader Asian go-to-market strategy, with culinary partners and major agrifood groups already showing interest in its protein portfolio.
“Our strategy has always been global from day one, with eight active dossiers progressing in parallel across major markets,” notes Duthoit. “Singapore’s green light is an important signal for those upcoming approvals.”
Protein transition platform Food System Innovations has received a $2M grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to create an open-source AI model for sustainable food products with Stanford University.
The Bezos Earth Fund is doubling down on its alternative protein bet, investing in an effort to accelerate the development of future foods with artificial intelligence (AI).
It has awarded a $2M grant to Food System Innovations (FSI), a philanthropic impact platform investing in the transition to a sustainable agrifood system, as part of its $30M AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge.
The financing will support a collaboration between FSI’s sensory analysis programme, Nectar, and computer scientists at Stanford University to develop an open-source AI model to drive alternative protein product development.
It comes amid growing calls from experts to shift away from a food system reliant on industrial livestock farming, and towards low-emission proteins that use significantly less land and water.
Algorithms will predict sensory attributes and optimise product formulations
Courtesy: Nectar
FSI aims to fast-track food systems transformation by marrying science, markets and society to enable more sustainable food choices. It has a diversity of programmes to do so, and among these is Nectar, which has built the world’s largest publicly available database on the sensory performance of plant-based and blended meat products.
This online repository has been built on taste tests with thousands of meat-eating consumers in the US, and revealed that several alternative protein products outperform 100% animal-derived alternatives on a range of attributes.
Armed with the Bezos Earth Fund grant, FSI and Stanford researchers are now developing algorithms that predict sensory attributes and optimise ingredient formulations for sustainable proteins.
They will use a combination of Nectar’s sensory data and molecular flavour databases to build an AI model that connects molecular structure, flavour, texture, and consumer preferences. This, FSI says, will help accelerate alternative protein product development and deepen their market penetration.
“Taste is the gateway to consumer adoption. Nectar’s data helps the sustainable protein industry refine formulations and enhance flavour, making climate-friendly foods truly irresistible,” said Nectar director Caroline Cotto, who is also the co-principal investigator of the grant.
“Partnering with the Bezos Earth Fund allows us to translate AI innovation into real-world climate and conservation impact, one bite at a time,” she added.
Bezos Earth Fund looks to ‘make AI work for the environment’
Courtesy: Rocío Lower/Bezos Earth Fund
Stanford PhD candidate Anna Thomas, the project’s technical lead and fellow principal investigator, outlined that developing AI tools for sustainable protein design was “a critical step for human and planetary health”.
“Our early research shows that large language models can help revise formulations based on sensory feedback. With this grant, we can deliver actionable insights that improve taste and speed the protein transition,” she said.
Thomas’s research has found that collaborating with a large language model to devise sustainable proteins reduces time spent by 45%, compared to 22% when teaming up with another human food scientist. The paper also designed an AI approach that can decrease emissions by 79% in restaurants while keeping consumer satisfaction intact.
AI has been criticised for its impact on the climate. Experts warn that skyrocketing demand is leading to a rise in energy and water use to run data centres and keep them cool. Most of that power use comes from fossil fuels, which are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.
But some investors argue that advancements in alternative proteins could be the key to winning the AI race. And Bezos Earth Fund’s AI director, Amen Ra Mashariki, suggests the organisation is “focused on making AI work for the environment – not the other way around”.
FSI was one of 15 entities that won a grant under the second phase of its AI for Climate and Nature Grand Challenge, a $100M initiative launched last year to develop AI-enabled solutions that address climate change and biodiversity loss. In the first phase, nine organisations won $50,000 grants for sustainable proteins, including FSI.
“These projects show how AI, when developed responsibly and guided by science, can strengthen environmental action, support communities, and ensure its overall impact on the planet is net positive,” said Mashariki.
Aside from its AI initiatives, Bezos Earth Fund has also invested $100M to set up three Centers for Sustainable Protein at universities in North Carolina, London and Singapore, as part of its $1B commitment towards food systems transformation.
The UAE’s capital has begun work on establishing a framework for novel food approvals aligned with best practices from international regulators.
Abu Dhabi is doubling down on its promise to boost food security through future-friendly food, launching a new strategic initiative to develop a regulatory framework for novel proteins like cultivated meat and animal-free dairy.
The endeavour was born out of a collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), the Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO).
The move aims to position the Emirati capital as a global leader in food innovation, reducing approval timelines by six to nine months and accelerating market entry for novel foods.
It comes just a day after ADIO teamed up with Vivici and The Every Company to explore the establishment of a four-million-litre precision fermentation facility. The partnership was also said to support the creation of a regulatory pathway for these animal-free proteins.
Abu Dhabi’s regulatory framework to align with ‘international best practices’
Courtesy: Believer Meats
The development of this regulatory framework “embodies Abu Dhabi’s commitment to adopting the highest global standards for food safety and innovation”, according to Dr Tariq Ahmed Al Ameri, acting director-general of the ADAFSA. “It enhances the readiness of our regulatory ecosystem to embrace emerging technologies such as cultivated proteins and precision fermentation-based foods.”
The framework will put in place a comprehensive and streamlined system for novel foods, in alignment with international best practices, including those adopted by the UAE, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the EU, Singapore, and the US.
As part of the initiative, the Abu Dhabi government will look to simplify procedures and speed up commercialisation by unifying registration requirements for new food products, halal certification, and production and import permits through a single-point contact system.
It will further introduce a science-based risk assessment approach based on the type and maturity of technologies, and update the halal certification system to align with modern advancements and global benchmarks, particularly those of Malaysia and Indonesia. This, in turn, will strengthen international recognition of UAE halal certificates and boost the competitiveness of national food exports.
In addition to these elements, Abu Dhabi will develop a national database of approved food products, alongside detailed technical and regulatory guidelines, in an effort to ensure transparency and reliability.
“This agreement underscores the Council’s commitment to supporting the industrial and regulatory sectors through robust quality infrastructure services that ensure product conformity, particularly halal products, to the highest safety and quality standards,” said Fahad Gharib Al Shamsi, acting secretary-general of the QCC.
Food security driving Abu Dhabi’s novel food regulation
Courtesy: Aleph Farms
The Abu Dhabi government noted that the initiative aims to drive economic growth and food system resilience by leveraging cutting-edge food technologies and attracting high-value agrifood and biotech investments.
But at the heart of the UAE’s regulatory advancements for novel food is its bid to become the world’s most food-secure nation by 2051. Currently, it relies heavily on food imports to meet 90% of its population’s needs.
Last year, the capital established an AgriFood Growth and Water Abundance (AGWA) cluster to bolster food and water security with advanced technologies. It’s set to contribute Dhs 90 billion ($24.5B) in additional GDP to Abu Dhabi’s economy and create 60,000 new jobs by 2045, with an expected investment of Dhs 128 billion ($34.8B).
“With a focus on accelerating the adoption of advanced solutions such as alternative proteins and precision fermentation, this collaboration reflects our commitment to the UAE National Food Security Strategy 2051 and reinforces Abu Dhabi’s role as a global centre for food innovation,” said ADIO director-general Badr Al-Olama.
“This partnership is designed to build a connected business ecosystem that combines forward-thinking regulations with Abu Dhabi’s strong investment ecosystem and solid support for technological innovation,” he added.
Food security is also the target of alternative protein companies eyeing the UAE market. As revealed by Green Queen, Israel’s Aleph Farms is planning to file for regulatory approval of its cultivated beef in the country.
“We have a strong agenda in terms of food security at Aleph Farms, which is raising a lot of interest, essentially because of the geopolitical tensions, tariffs and disruptions of supply chains globally, especially for animal proteins,” its co-founder and CEO Didier Toubia said last month.
In 2024, AGWA also partnered with fellow Israeli cultivated meat firm Believer Meats to establish a regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi, with the two entities working together to establish a regulatory pathway and halal certification standards.
Californian startup Mission Barns will hold the US’s first retail sale of cultivated meat on November 1, selling pork meatballs at Berkeley Bowl West.
Next week, Americans can walk into a grocery store and buy cultivated meat off the shelf for the first time.
The product in question is made by Mission Barns, a San Francisco-based startup that has received FDA and USDA approval to sell its cultivated pork fat in the US.
Its pork meatballs will be sold at Berkeley Bowl West, an independent grocery store on Heinz Avenue, on November 1, with each 304g tray priced at $13.99. The one-time sale will be held at 3pm in aisle 16 of the store, and the limited stock means shoppers can only buy one pack each.
The retail debut comes nearly two months after Mission Barns introduced its cultivated meatballs and bacon to diners at Fiorella restaurant in San Francisco’s Sunset District. Now, it is hosting a four-part tasting series at Berkeley Bowl West, titled Bites from the Barn, starting the same day as the sale.
Public tasting series to spotlight cultivated meatballs and salami
Courtesy: Mission Barns
Bites from the Barn is being billed as the “largest free-to-the-public cultivated meat tasting series ever held”, and will offer consumers a chance to taste the future-facing products and engage directly with Mission Barns’s team.
Each event will feature live cooking demonstrations and opportunities to meet the company’s scientists to learn about the tech used to produce its cultivated pork products.
The tastings will be held once per month. The first, on November 1, will spotlight the meatballs, while the second will feature Mission Barns’s Italian-style dry-cured salami on December 12. The final two events, on January 16 and February 21, will give consumers a taste of the meatballs too.
On launch day, one of the meatball packs will contain a golden ticket, the recipient of which will be invited to a private tasting and tour at the startup’s facility in San Francisco.
“We’ve been excited to work with Mission Barns for many years, and these meatballs – made with their cultivated pork fat – deliver the same flavour and texture as conventional pork while offering an option for our meat-loving and flexitarian customers,” said Anthony LeBlanc, head meat buyer at Berkeley Bowl.
“Berkeley Bowl has long been a launchpad for innovative food brands,” he added. “We’re proud to be the first US grocery store to offer cultivated pork to our customers.”
The company’s CEO, Cecilia Chang, said the tasting series is an open invitation to join the mission to make meat tastier and healthier than the market standard. “We talk about scaling technology, but real change scales through people voting with their plates. That’s why this series matters: it’s where health meets flavour, innovation meets community, and the movement truly begins to grow,” she noted.
Mission Barns partners with Tufts to gauge consumer acceptance
Courtesy: Mission Barns
Mission Barns uses belly fat cells from American Yorkshire pigs and grows them in bioreactors to make its Mission Fat. This fat is then mixed with plant-based ingredients to make products like meatballs, bacon, sausages, and salami.
This hybrid approach allows the startup to keep costs from soaring too high and scale production in an efficient manner. And since fat is the primary flavour carrier in food, even a little bit goes a long way in replicating conventional meat.
Mission Fat will appear on the label as a composition of purified water, cell-cultivated pork fat cells, and kosher salt. It’s mixed with pea protein, coconut oil, Italian seasonings, methylcellulose and other ingredients to make the meatballs.
Now, the company is collaborating with researchers at the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture, who will capture real-world feedback and consumer attitudes at the tasting series, in a bid to inform future study design and public acceptance frameworks.
“This partnership gives us a unique opportunity to study how consumers encounter cultivated meat outside the R&D lab or focus group setting,” said Sean Cash, an economist and professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “Understanding how people experience and talk about these novel products in everyday environments will be key to shaping responsible and transparent innovation across the food system.”
Mission Barns has also earned a listing at Sprouts Farmers Market, and was aiming to hit shelves in Oakland in Q3. Green Queen has contacted the startup for updates on this partnership.
The sale at Berkeley Bowl West will only be the second instance of a cultivated meat product being available in retail. Last year, fellow Californian firm Eat Just launched its Good Meat cultivated chicken at Huber’s Butchery in Singapore.
French precision fermentation startup Nutropy has raised €7M ($8.1M) to scale up its casein proteins, targeting a launch of its “cheeseable milk” powder in 2027.
The demand for dairy is rising sharply just as the number of farmers is plummeting. Estimates suggest that global milk shortages could reach 30 million tonnes by 2030. At the same time, many plant-based alternatives, like vegan cheese, continue to be a hard sell for consumers.
France’s Nutropy is aiming to fill this gap by producing milk proteins via precision fermentation. It makes a plug-and-play powdered solution for companies to develop future-friendly dairy products that meet taste, nutrition and sustainability expectations all at once.
The startup has just raised €7M ($8.1M) in an oversubscribed funding round led by Big Pi Ventures and Zero Carbon Capital, with participation from existing backer Big Idea Ventures and new investors Beta Lab, Wyngate, cheese producer Paul Dischamp, Desai Ventures and PVS Investments, and Axel Johnson’s Novax.
Nutropy also attracted public financial support from European and French programmes, notably Bpifrance, the state-owned investment bank. It takes the firm’s total raised past $10M, following its pre-series investment round in 2022.
“The funds will be used for our scale-up and providing larger samples to food producers,” says CEO Nathalie Rolland, who founded the startup in 2021 with CSO Maya Bendifallah.
Nutropy turns animal-free casein into ‘cheeseable milk’
Courtesy: Nutropy
To safeguard the future of cheese, Nutropy is focusing on casein, the main protein group found in dairy. These are responsible for the meltability and stretchability of cheese.
The startup programmes microorganisms to produce casein proteins identical to those found in cow’s milk. “We start by feeding our microorganisms with sugars and other nutrients in bioreactors. Then the microorganisms secrete the caseins in the broth, and we harvest them,” explains Bendifallah.
The company hasn’t disclosed the microbial strain Nutropy is using, though she notes that the firm uses first-generation feedstocks today and is working towards using more brute and sustainable feedstocks in the future.
There are four kinds of casein proteins in cow’s milk, which self-organise into micelles. These are highly hydrated spherical structures that serve as a building block for the functional and nutritional attributes of dairy products.
Some precision fermentation startups are working on developing all forms of casein. While Nutropy has conducted research on the four types, it is currently only focusing on the larger-scale production of some of them.
“We have developed expertise in micelle production and have demonstrated that we do not need all four caseins to produce micelles,” says Bendifallah. “We define our micelles as functional casein aggregates that serve the purpose of micelles, but are not necessarily identical to the bovine micelles with all four caseins in their original ratios. Micelles are essential for the texture, mouthfeel and behaviour of cheese.”
Once harvested, the casen proteins are functionalised and mixed with other plant-based ingredients to make what Nutropy has termed a “cheeseable milk” powder.
Functionalisation, she says, is key to developing dairy products with the right softness, creaminess or flavour: “We work on ensuring the caseins are able to create the ideal protein network for the targeted functionality, for example, through micelle formation or other functionalisation methods we cannot disclose.”
Plug-and-play and biotech-forward model impresses investors
Courtesy: Nutropy
So how can companies use Nutropy’s ingredient? “Once our cheeseable milk powder is mixed with water, it behaves like traditional milk, with the advantage of significantly reduced waste,” says Bendifallah.
“Conventional milk has whey sidestreams that have to be managed by the dairy industry, while our product is more efficient (as we don’t add anything that we don’t want in the final product). Manufacturers can use their usual equipment to curdle it and make cheese.”
Rolland says that cheese is a starting point: “We focus on providing solutions that fit the needs of our food and industrial partners. Today, the biggest gap is in cheese, but there is also interest in yoghurt, milk and ice cream.”
Nutropy conducts its R&D at Genopole, the largest biocluster in France, and will scale up with external partners in 2026, producing its industrial prototype at a demo scale.
“We target to be a price parity at launch for certain types of products, where clients pay the same amount to purchase our raw materials to make 1kg of cheese, for example, as they would purchasing cow’s milk,” says Rolland. “Later, thanks to the improvement of our whole process, we’ll be able to reach price parity for other products requiring higher casein inclusion rates.”
The company has been in talks with food and dairy companies even before its founding, and they have shown interest in receiving larger samples of its precision-fermented milk powder.
“Our target markets are North America, Europe, particular Asian countries, as well as the Middle East,” the CEO reveals when asked about Nutropy’s regulatory plans. “We hope to have our first right to sell in 2027.”
Its €7M raise comes in the most onerous food tech funding environment in a decade. How did Nutropy convince investors to come aboard? “Fundraising is about finding the right partners who share your vision,” says Rolland.
“Our investors like our B2B plug-and-play formulated ingredient and functionalisation approach. We have been driven by our desire to facilitate the adoption of our innovative raw materials by working on protein and food science from the beginning of our venture. They also value our passion and commitment to improving food systems through biotechnology.”
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Eat Just’s vegan chicken, Beyond Meat’s Walmart expansion, and Tesco’s collab with La Vie.
New products and launches
Californian startup Eat Just has launched its plant-based Just Meat into US foodservice. The vegan chicken is being tested by Texas-based Franklin Barbecue’s Aaron Franklin.
Courtesy: Eat Just
Beyond Meat, meanwhile, has boosted its distribution significantly, rolling out its chicken pieces, Korean BBQ-style steak, and six-pack of burgers into more than 2,000 Walmart stores.
New Zealand-based rubisco protein playerLeaft Foods has teamed up with Meateor Pet Foods to offer its Alfalfa Protein Concentrate to pet food producers in the US.
Courtesy: Alpine Bio
US molecular farming startup Alpine Bio has expanded its tech to produce lactoferrin in soybeans with over 3.5 times more iron than bovine sources, and a highly soluble non-GMO fractionated soy protein isolate with whey-like characteristics.
In the UK, Tesco has introduced a new festive wrap under its Plant Chef own-label brand, featuring La Vie’s vegan bacon.
Courtesy: Emily Giles/LinkedIn
British supplements brand Dr.Vegan has launched MenoFriend, a plant-based menopause formula in 53 Waitrose stores.
Also in the UK, frozen foods maker One Planet Pizza has released its Margherita Pizzetta and Cheezy Garlic Flatbread into Morrisons stores.
Courtesy: Joe Hill/LinkedIn
German chocolate maker Jokolade has rolled out a vegan product with Planet A Foods’s cocoa-free chocolate, ChoViva.
ChoViva is also featured in a new Salted Caramel with Hazelnut Crunch ice cream stick launched by retail giant Rewe’s Best Wahle private-label brand.
Courtesy: Shalom Daniel
Shalom Daniel, founder of blended meat players Joyn Foods and 50/50 Foods, has released a new book, Cut the Bull, to advocate for halving meat consumption.
And oat milk giant Oatly will debut its exclusive signature drinks at the My Coffee Awards in Barcelona (November 7-9), which will also release a Coffee Michelin Guide.
Company and finance developments
Plant Futures Collective‘s Meat Free Made Easy campaign has featured in the Tesco magazine, the UK’s most-read print title.
After sparking online furore for axing several vegan menu favourites in the UK, including the Vegatsu, the CEO of Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group has defended the decision.
Revo Foods founder Robin Simsa | Courtesy: Revo Foods
Austrian mycoprotein player Revo Foods has hired David Petuzzi as CEO, with founder Robin Simsa moving to the role of commercial director.
Italian vegan fast-food chain Flower Burger has kicked off a €1M equity crowdfunding campaign on CrowdFundMe to celebrate its 10-year anniversary.
Courtesy: Sunday Supper
In the US, vegan frozen foods maker Sunday Supper has begun a $625,000 crowd investment drive on WeFunder, after recording 300% year-on-year growth.
In similar news, HumaneCheck has launched a $25,000 Kickstarter campaign for its app, which lets grocery shoppers scan product barcodes for animal welfare grades. Its prototype, FindHumane, is a database of all animal products deemed meaningfully more humane by the ASPCA, which supports the project.
Courtesy: HumaneCheck
US functional wellness company Laird Superfood is the latest to quit the 100% plant-based space, announcing that it will now offer dairy and potentially other animal-based ingredients.
Research, policy and awards
The APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture has teamed up with Beyond Impact VC and Beyond Animal to accelerate capital flows into the cellular agriculture and future food sector.
US animal-free collagen maker Jellatech has been named a finalist in the Sustainable Tech Innovation category for the 2025 NC Tech Awards.
Courtesy: Better Nature
UK tempeh maker Better Nature has been awarded full three stars from the Nourish Awards.
Finally, the World Economic Forum and media publisher Frontiers have named precision fermentation among the top 10 emerging technologies to accelerate planetary health solutions.
French dairy giant Bel Group and precision fermentation firm Standing Ovation have completed an industrial-scale production run of casein by upcycling dairy industry waste.
In a global first, two French companies have developed casein – the main protein found in dairy – from the industry’s biggest waste product: whey.
Bel Group, the dairy behemoth behind Babybel, The Laughing Cow, and Boursin, has teamed up with fellow French firm Standing Ovation to produce recombinant casein from whey waste at an industrial scale.
The achievement follows years of collaboration between the two companies, with Bel having invested in Standing Ovation in 2022. They announced the project to utilise Bel’s whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking, in April.
“By transforming our cheese whey into high-value proteins, we give a second life to our by-products while significantly reducing our carbon footprint,” said Caroline Sorlin, director of investments and startup collaborations at Bel Group. “This innovation shows that technological collaboration and environmental excellence can go hand in hand.”
Standing Ovation makes major industry breakthrough
Courtesy: Standing Ovation
Around 80-90% of milk that enters cheese manufacturing facilities ends up as whey. Globally, between 180 and 190 million tonnes of the liquid are produced annually.
While about half of this waste is processed into added-value products like whey protein, functional foods, edible films and coatings, and lactic acid, a significant amount is left unused. Whey disposal, however, is a costly process, both in terms of economics and the environment.
Its biochemical and chemical oxygen demands are much higher than wastewater, and it can pose risks to groundwater and farmland if not disposed of properly. In fact, up to 47% of cheese-derived whey is discharged into water bodies, causing pollution, ecological imbalances, and uncontrolled microbial growth. This can lead to eutrophication, reducing the oxygen available in the water and affecting aquatic life.
As companies push to accelerate their climate initiatives, the dairy industry has been looking to valorise its co-products to boost the circular economy and meet growing environmental regulations.
Standing Ovation is using precision fermentation to solve this problem. The technology involves inserting a DNA sequence into microbes to teach them to produce specific molecules upon fermentation.
The Parisian startup has used acid whey from Bel’s cheese production to turn it into high-quality casein. After an optimisation process, the initial industrial production cycles have demonstrated the efficacy of Standing Ovation’s process at scale.
The acid whey serum contains minerals, sugar (from lactose), organic acids, and very little protein. “No traces of lactose from acid serum are found in the casein powder obtained by precision fermentation using the Standing Ovation process,” Standing Ovation CEO Yvan Chardonnens told Green Queen earlier this year. Since this is a bioidentical protein, it isn’t suitable for those with dairy allergies.
Bel turns to fermentation amid plant-based cheese struggles
Courtesy: Standing Ovation
This approach offers some vital environmental advantages to Bel. According to an ISO-certified life-cycle assessment, Standing Ovation’s process to produce casein reduces emissions by 74%, land use by 99%, and water consumption by 68%, compared to conventional methods.
The startup notes that the industrial production demonstrates the viability of a closed-loop valorisation model, reduces waste, and also bolsters food sovereignty by leveraging available national resources.
“This industrial validation confirms the robustness of our technology and its ability to sustainably transform practices in the dairy industry. We now have a proven and replicable solution,” said Olivier Ladet, industrial director at Standing Ovation.
It also fits into Bel’s vision to achieve zero destruction of edible products and, when it is unavoidable, 100% valorisation of food waste, as well as its target of reducing scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2035 (from a 2017 baseline) and methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
“The ability to generate caseins from a co-product of traditional cheese-making represents a true technological revolution, as well as a significant step forward in our commitment to a sustainable food transition,” emphasises Anne Pitkowski, research and applications director at Bel.
The partnership with Standing Ovation comes months after the company announced it was withdrawing its Nurishh brand of dairy-free cheese by the end of the year, which will lead to the closure of its Saint-Nazaire factory and impact around 30 jobs. The decision was driven by a failure to attract new consumers and become profitable.
Instead, Bel is focusing on its core brands, each of which has non-dairy offerings, as part of its goal to generate 50% of sales from plant-based alternatives and fruit-derived offerings by 2030. It is also working with three companies on a €9M project to develop better-tasting, more nutritious vegan cheese via fermentation and ageing techniques, backed in part by the French government.
Standing Ovation said it will now look to gradually scale up production, and support other dairy producers in adopting its circular, low-carbon valorisation approach. It has already been working with Ajinomoto Foods Europe to co-manufacture its recombinant casein at its industrial-scale plant in northern France.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand has formally accepted a dossier by French firm Parima to sell cultivated duck products, which is expected to be approved next year.
Parima, a cultivated meat company formed last week, could be selling cultured foie gras and pâté to consumers in Australia and New Zealand by August 2026.
The startup’s regulatory dossier for cultivated duck, made under its Gourmey brand, has been officially accepted by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ). Now, the application will enter the scientific risk assessment process.
Parima emerged as a new entity after Gourmey acquired French cultivated chicken firm Vital Meat, marrying their tech, regulatory and manufacturing prowess, with a combined 15 patent families and more than 70 applications. The company is seeking regulatory clearance for its cultivated meat products in seven markets.
Its FSANZ filing comes months after the regulator gave the green light to Sydney-based cultivated quail maker Vow, which has been selling its protein in the form of parfait and foie gras in restaurants across Australia since July.
How Gourmey makes its cultivated duck
Courtesy: Sherry Hack
The standout feature of Parima’s application is that it will be assessed under FSANZ’s General (Level 5) Procedure, as opposed to its Major Procedure. It means the process is expected to take less than a year, since it only requires one round of public consultation. It’s also around A$40,000 cheaper.
It’s important to note that the late August 2026 timeline underlined by FSANZ is not set in stone. Vow’s application was meant to take around 15 months and be approved by June 2024, but was delayed by a year as the regulator amended its Food Standards Code.
Parima submitted its application in August. In its dossier, the startup explains that it employs non-GM cell lines and a semi-continuous process using shake flasks. Duck cells are grown in controlled conditions until the viable density is reached – after this, the majority of the culture volume is inoculated in a suspension bioreactor, and a small amount is retained to maintain a continuous process.
Once the culture in the bioreactor reaches the desired density, the biomass is harvested and separated from the culture media by centrifugation, before being washed with a saline solution. It is then packed and frozen until it’s ready to be used to make a final product, in combination with other food-safe ingredients.
“Cell-cultured duck is proposed for use by the general population, without sensitivities to duck or other avian species, as a food ingredient for further processing to be used [in] duck meat analogues at an inclusion rate of 5-80% by weight of the finished food,” the company says.
The cultivated duck can be turned into meat analogues, spreadable specialties, and fats and oils. Gourmey has already unveiled its foie gras application, which has been endorsed by a group of Michelin-starred chefs.
Parima’s regulatory progress latest in milestone year for cultivated meat
Courtesy: Parima
According to a document released by the FSANZ, the scientific risk assessment report will take about six months, followed by a six-week public consultation period starting in March. The FSANZ board will then make its approval decision, before being discussed by ministers in both countries in June.
“We look forward to working transparently and constructively with FSANZ as the review progresses, bringing cultivated foods one step closer to consumers’ plates,” Parima said in a statement.
It currently operates an innovation centre and a pilot facility in central Paris, where it runs multiple 400-litre bioreactors, and a pilot plant near Nantes, equipped with 2,000-litre bioreactors run daily. It also has a dedicated setup with a 5,000-litre fermenter, which analysis shows can bring costs down to $3.43 per lb. And in June, it partnered with AI specialist DeepLife to develop an avian digital twin to optimise production of its cultivated meat.
Aside from Australia and New Zealand, Parima has filed for approval in the EU (where it is the most advanced), the UK (also the most advanced here), Switzerland, Singapore, the US, and another undisclosed country.
In an interview with Green Queen this summer, Gourmey co-founder and Parima CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest had said it was expecting approval in Singapore first.
“We anticipate the first market authorisations within the next few months,” he said last week. “We’re aiming to become the first European cultivated meat company to get approved, and the first ever company with approval for two species: duck and chicken.”
Friends & Family Pet Food Company, meanwhile, was cleared to sell cultivated pet food in Singapore, and Biocraft Pet Nutrition and Umami Bioworks registered their cultivated meat innovations as feed materials in the EU, allowing them to sell the products as pet food ingredients.
Danish food tech startup Matr Foods has raised €20M ($23M) in Series A funding for its mycelium meat alternatives, adding to the €20M debt funding it received from the EU in 2024.
Copenhagen-based Matr Foods has secured fresh funding to build a large-scale factory that can churn out thousands of tonnes of mycelium protein.
The company has received €20M ($23.2M) in Series A financing co-led by Novo Holdings (the owner of Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk) and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark. This comes on top of a €20M ($22.2M at the time) debt investment from the European Investment Bank last year.
The fundraising total of €40M is the largest secured by a Danish food tech startup to date, and will be used to construct a commercial plant in Ansager. Set to be operational in 2027, it will enable Matr to expand its production capacity from 30 to 4,000 tonnes a year, and create around 60 jobs.
“Our current pilot site is in Nordhavn, Copenhagen. It will only remain functional until the new site is up a running. But we will keep R&D facilities and office in Copenhagen,” Matr CEO Randi Wahlsten tells Green Queen.
“We are building up [our] team in Germany and Switzerland, building out our commercial capabilities, and getting the organisation in gear to move from a startup to a scaling-production tech company,” she says.
“The next 12 months are all about scaling and preparing our internationalisation both in terms of brand, organisation, customers and production,” Wahlsten adds. “We have some very interesting pipeline projects that we are also kicking off in the coming months. So, a busy and exciting year ahead.”
Matr Foods’s products are selling out every month
Courtesy: Matr Foods
A former executive at Danish dairy giant Arla, Wahlsten established Matr with Noma co-founder Claus Meyer, Morten Sommera, and Rasmus Toft-Kehler in 2021. The company employs a solid-state fermentation process to make its mycelium-derived meat analogues, inoculating upcycled ingredients like beetroots, potatoes, lupins, peas and oats with fungi spores.
Tiny roots called hyphae make up the mycelium and break down the nutrients in the mix, a process that releases flavour-packed amino acids and starches that enhances browning when cooked. The mycelium additionally binds all the ingredients together to create a juicy texture.
Matr adds beet juice, salt, thyme and garlic powder to its mince and burger, which have 8.5g of protein, 2.5g of saturated fat (0.5g of which is saturated) and 10g of dietary fibre per 100g. The products have an amino acid profile akin to meat, but with a carbon footprint of just 1.6kg CO2e per kg, 94% lower than that of beef.
Wahlsten believes that despite the sales slump, the appetite for meat alternatives is unchanged. That said, consumers and chefs are “asking more questions and looking for different answers”.
“Matr offers a new generation of products: it is real food of real whole organic vegetables and legumes, no additives and minimal processing. And at the same time, it delivers on unmatched juiciness and natural umami depth in the flavour,” she says. “That resonates. We are constantly met with reactions like ‘This is what I have been waiting for’ and people keep coming back for seconds and thirds.”
This is why Matr’s sales have bucked the trend seen in places like the US or the UK, where consumers have reduced their spending on plant-based meat. Wahlsten says the company’s revenues have been “as great as they could be” in 2024 and 2025.
“We have literally been 100% sold out every month. Demand both from current and new customers have been increasing, but our challenge has been that we can only produce so much from our current pilot site,” she says. “Therefore, we are super excited to finally unlock the industrial scale production to be able to finally serve those amazing customers who have been waiting for us to be able to deliver.”
Matr’s fungi patty and mince are available at Danish restaurant chains like Gasoline Grill, Rørt, and Gao Dumpling, and at all Sticks’n’Sushi locations in Denmark, Germany and the UK. The company has “a very nice pipeline” of new products in the works too.
Matr’s funding signals resurgence in future food investments
Courtesy: Matr Foods
Matr’s €20M raise goes against the grain of alternative protein investment, which has slowed dramatically over the last couple of years. “It is very clear that there has been increasing insecurity in the market when it comes to green food tech and alternative proteins,” contends Wahlsten.
“While climate and human health are as important as ever, the public agenda has shifted more to trade wars and military threats, which has clearly affected the market both on consumer and investor level. I think there has also been some hesitation on whether the alternative protein technologies that received a lot of investments previously will be able to deliver all that we hoped for,” she adds.
Matr, she suggests, has a technology that “very clearly differentiates from what is in the market today and meets what consumers and customers are asking for”, reiterating the whole-food, clean-label, yet umami-rich attributs of its proteins.
“With food tech, it is not just about the words, the proof is in the experience. And that seems to have convinced the investors just as it has convinced, chefs, gastronomes, customers and consumers,” she says.
Thomas Grotkjær, a partner at Novo Holdings’s Planetary Health Investments team, blames the investment downturn on disappointment and a lack of patience. “Changing food patterns is not something that happens overnight, and even for myself, it has taken a decade or two to change my view on how we eat for a more sustainable future,” he tells Green Queen.
“There may have been a little bit of overpromising as well. However, the trend towards new food sources that are non-animal derived is strong, and it will continue. It is not a revolution; it is a marathon, and we have to keep that in mind.”
Highlighting what Novo Holdings looks for in its investment decisions, Grotkjær points to the confluence of biotechnology, gastronomy, and scalability. “When it comes to new food products, taste ultimately drives demand: if it’s not good, you can’t sell it, and therefore it’s not investable,” he says.
“While there are many great food concepts out there, without a clear biotech angle they don’t align with our investment logic. Scalability is also a key factor and is often underestimated, bringing technology from the lab to the real world is a major challenge. These three elements – strong science, great taste, and scalability – are what make Matr such an attractive investment for us.”
The funding comes amid an uptick in big funding rounds for alternative protein in Q3, which include The Better Meat Co‘s $31M round, Nxtfood‘s $58M raise, The Protein Brewery‘s $35M financing, and Revyve‘s $28M investment.
“At the end of the day, the problems we are all trying to solve are too important to drop, so I have no doubt that we will see investments picking up and stronger, better companies emerge out of this phase,” says Wahlsten.
Plant-based giant Beyond Meat has kicked off the Beyond Test Kitchen, releasing its clean-label Ground products and whole-cut mycelium steak to quick success.
As it works to turn around its sales and eliminate its debt, US plant-based pioneer Beyond Meat has debuted a new strategy to launch its innovations.
The company has unveiled Beyond Test Kitchen, a customer-led approach to product development, gi giving them an exclusive first taste of its new proteins before wider rollout.
Each product is produced in limited quantities and sold in fashion-industry-style ‘drops exclusively on Beyond Test Kitchen’s direct-to-consumer website.
Its first products are the much-anticipated Beyond Ground and the mycelium-based steak that has only been available in restaurants, and they’ve been selling fast.
Beyond Test Kitchen debuts Ground range and mycelium steak for home use
Courtesy: Beyond Meat/Titus Group
Beyond Ground was first announced in July, when CEO Ethan Brown announced that the company would begin dropping the word ‘Meat’ from its brand name to spotlight traditional plant proteins that go beyond replicating animal-based foods.
In its original form, the product contains just four ingredients: water, fava bean protein, potato protein, and psyllium husk. It is intended as a response to the category’s biggest criticisms, from ultra-processing and long ingredient lists.
The mince-like protein will boost the nutritional perceptions of plant proteins. Each 4oz serving of the uneasoned Beyond Ground contains 140 calories, 4g of fibre, 1.5g of fat, and 27g of protein (higher than beef). Plus, it has zero cholesterol, saturated fat, or added oils. Home cooks can add any seasonings, marinades, or sauces to build their meals around the product.
As part of the Beyond Test Kitchen, the company has also launched the Ground product in three flavours: Chipotle Pineapple, Korean BBQ Style, and Tuscan Style Tomato. These do contain more fat, saturated fat, and sodium, but don’t need further seasoning during cooking.
Meanwhile, the whole-cut Beyond Steak Filet has so far been confined to eateries like Boa Steakhouse, Ladybird, and Next Level Veggie Grill. But after feedback from its custmers, Beyond Meat is opening up the mycelium-derived protein to home cooks for the first time through this approach.
The whole-cut steak is comprised of a base of wheat gluten, fava bean protein, avocado oil and mycelium, with a small amount of brown rice powder, oat bran, malted barley flour, beet juice colour, apple extract, spices and natural flavours, starter culture, and salt. Each 127g fillet delivers 28g of protein and 3g of fibre, with just 1g of saturated fat.
Most Beyond Test Kitchen bundles sold out amid financial unrest
Courtesy: Beyond Meat/Karola G/Pexels
On the Beyond Test Kitchen, the products are available in four bundles. Three of them – comprising an eight-pack of the steak or combining it with the Beyond Ground products – have already sold out. A variety pack of the latter is still up for grabs.
The products are priced similarly to Beyond Meat’s existing range, with the eight-packs starting from $71.20. The bundle with just the Beyond Ground is $72.50, putting each product at just over $9, while the all-steak option costs $84 (or $10.50 per fillet).
Beyond Meat said information on future Test Kitchen products, including how customers can get involved with feedback on new ideas and tasting products early, will be available on its social channels. Brown has previously teased products like chickpea hot dogs and lentil sausages.
The move comes amid a media storm for the company. Its stock fell to an all-time low of 85 cents last week, after announcing the early settlement of an exchange offer for convertible bonds to eliminate over $800M of debt.
Beyond Meat is currently $1.15B in debt, thanks to 0% convertible notes that will mature in 2027. But the proposal would see them swapped for higher-interest 7% notes that are due in 2030, plus stock shares. The firm needed 85% of its holders to agree to this by the end of October, but 97% did so by last week.
The firm recorded its lowest quarterly revenue in Q1 2025, reaching $69M. It also secured $100M in debt financing from Unprocessed Foods, a subsidiary of Ahimsa Foundation, a non-profit advancing plant-based diets. In the ensuing three months, Beyond Meat’s sales fell by 20% compared to the year-ago period.
In February, it announced that it would lay off 9% of its global workforce, or 64 employees, which included all its staff in China, where it has suspended operations. And in August, it said it would let go of 44 employees in North America, though it isn’t clear if this is part of the same job cuts as above, or an additional round of layoffs.
However, Brown said the “opportunity to potentially live outside some of the confines we’ve been in recently”, with Beyond Ground and “the use of the Beyond brand and protein occasions for consumers”, makes him “very optimistic” about the future. With Beyond Test Kitchen, the company is doubling down on this approach.
Sanah Baig, who has years of experience working for the US government, explains why she chose to join the Plant Based Foods Institute, and her thoughts on the MAHA and livestock lobby.
Few people know about agricultural policy in the US as well as Sanah Baig.
She spent years working for the government, beginning with a stint at President Barack Obama’s US Department of Agriculture (USDA) between 2011 and 2016, before returning to the agency under Joe Biden’s administration in 2022. During this time, Baig also served as a senior policy advisor for agriculture and nutrition to the White House.
She left the government this January at the end of the Democrats’ term, and five months later, joined the Plant Based Foods Institute (PBFI) as its new executive director.
Her tenure has dovetailed with the chaos that has come with Donald Trump’s second presidency. The administration has erased any mentions of climate change from the USDA website, reduced funding for the food stamps programme by around 20% (the largest reduction in its history), and scrapped the annual food security survey to stave off criticism of the budget cuts.
With a few months under her belt at PBFI, Baig speaks to Green Queen in an extensive interview about her role, the government’s view on plant-based eating, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, the influence of meat lobby groups, and the proposed changes to the national dietary guidelines.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Green Queen: What compelled you to join PBFI? What has your focus been for the first few months?
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Institute
Sanah Baig: I was drawn to PBFI’s mission to architect a food system where plants take centre stage, meaning food is produced using dramatically fewer resources and less land, farmers and rural communities thrive through new market opportunities, and families have delicious options that nourish and delight them.
I saw an opportunity to link actors across the food value chain, from researchers to companies to consumers, as well as to partner with unconventional allies like economic development and public health groups.
Since my career has been focused on agricultural development, I bring a natural passion for working with producers, the research and extension communities, government officials and industry to scale innovative food systems. To that end, we’ve just secured philanthropic funding to advance our domestic sourcing and upstream value chain development work.
Since starting as executive director in June, I’ve been focused on ensuring PBFI can maximise its unique role as the sister organisation to the Plant Based Foods Association, and fill gaps in a robust NGO ecosystem that has made huge strides to increase R&D funding, public procurement policies, institutional foodservice adoption, and menu and behavioural change efforts that advance plant-based foods.
In the coming months, we’re launching a new effort that will build regional plant-based agricultural networks, starting in the Midwest. We’re also in the process of building out our team and developing strategic workgroups that will tackle key challenges around plant protein production, market development, and consumer education.
GQ: What are the biggest challenges facing you in your new role? What are your goals going forward?
SB: The exciting challenge is to come in as PBFI’s first executive director and translate the strong foundation of impressive knowledge, research, and relationships into action. That means new programmes that build upon our learnings, including from our signature domestic sourcing initiative, which connects plant-based food companies with American farmers to build resilient domestic supply chains.
The level of interest in the organisation these first few months has been extraordinary – we received 1,000+ applications for two new positions, which tells me there’s significant buy-in for this work and recognition that plant-based foods are a critical piece of the giant food systems transformation puzzle.
We also just secured two new grants to support our domestic value chain development efforts and to strengthen the Plant Based Foods Global Alliance, which will enhance collaboration across emerging markets like Turkey and Argentina, and more established markets like Canada and the EU.
As the global market for plant-based foods continues to grow, so do our shared challenges, especially in terms of labelling, infrastructure, and positioning. Especially against the backdrop of a polarised world, with food issues in the crosshairs, maintaining clarity and progress requires ecosystem-level coordination.
We face uphill challenges around shifting both agricultural incentives and narratives. On the incentive side, we need to create pathways for farmers to grow more diversified inputs like oats, peas, chickpeas, small grains and a range of emerging crops with functional and nutritional benefits that meet consumers’ needs.
We need to ensure they have the agronomic support, insurance coverage, infrastructure support, market connections, and long-term contracts to sustain economic viability. Farmers need to know the demand is there. This requires working with governments at all levels, research institutions, and the private sector. This is not a domestic issue, but a global one. The new Eat-Lancet report notes that we must increase the production of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts by 9% annually, and up to 150% by 2050.
On the narrative side, we’re working to reframe how people think about plant-based foods. Mindset shifts are not easy, and incredibly context-dependent. But we see an opportunity to tell a better story about plant-based foods that highlight choice, abundance, deliciousness, wellness, and local tradition.
In the policy space, we can strengthen our message about rural opportunity, public health improvement, and climate resilience as our evidence grows. My main goals are to build the partnerships, programmes, and policy frameworks that make this vision a reality – connecting farmers to markets, advancing the research agenda, and creating spaces for collaborative problem-solving across the entire value chain.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Institute
GQ: As a political insider, how do you think government agencies like the USDA view plant-based eating?
SB: Nearly two decades ago, I got an internship at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service HQ. That experience lit a fire in my belly because it introduced me to a set of wickedly complex challenges around food production, not just in the faraway places I focused on as an international relations student, but right here at home.
It was astounding to see how much public R&D and global cooperation were required to produce safe, nourishing, affordable food with fewer resources, booming population growth, and new pests and diseases constantly emerging. I knew these problems were not just worth solving, but absolutely existential. At such a formative stage, it was deeply motivating to be surrounded by the world’s foremost agricultural scientists working to stay ahead of these crises.
It also opened my eyes to the realisation that government agencies are not monolithic entities with single viewpoints. The USDA alone is made up of nearly 30 distinct agencies and offices with differing missions (for example, resource conservation, rural development, forest management, food safety, innovation, and foreign trade).
And it depends greatly on the leadership at the top. We had a saying that “people are policy”, which I saw firsthand at both the USDA and the White House. It’s more apparent than ever in today’s political reality.
During this time, I had a growing interest in nutrition as a widening circle of family members began suffering from diet-related chronic diseases. In a different corner of the USDA, the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americanswere developed and I read it closely. Even then, the 2005 report underscored the crucial role of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes as foundational to our health.
When I looked at the USDA’s research, marketing, and farm production programs, I was shocked that these programs did not focus on incentivising the very foods that the department itself said were most beneficial for us. I set out on a mission to understand why, and to do my best to close the gap. Ultimately, it depends on the agency’s mission, what its leadership prioritises, and what resources are available.
Throughout my decade in government, I was pleasantly surprised to see interest in plant-based foods from different angles. The science community especially understood that meeting global demand for protein by 2050 was not possible within the current system and that we needed to embrace innovation to fill the growing supply gap.
The USDA allocated at least $30M for plant protein R&D in just the past few years, with much of the innovation driven through interest by land grant university partners who recognised the need for US competitiveness. This was complemented by historic investments in the USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program supporting state-level fruit, vegetable, and nut production.
The Food is Medicine movement championed by the HHS embraced plant-forward eating through produce prescriptions and medically-tailored meals. NIH Research Grants funded clinical trials on plant-based diets for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and inflammation.
Courtesy: Touacha Her
The Department of Defense piloted plant-based MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) in collaboration with private suppliers. Small Business Innovation Research Grants via the USDA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Education fund plant-based protein startups.
To me, these are clear signs of progress that policy officials acted on the overwhelming body of evidence that plant-based foods advance human and planetary health, and expand economic opportunity. That said, progress is not linear, and we have to work harder than ever to sustain these efforts, especially with hundreds of thousands of federal workers exiting government service this year alone.
GQ: How do you view the rise of meat and dairy consumption in the US, and animal protein’s winning role in the culture wars, especially in the context of your role and goals at PBFI?
SB: Looking at the data, meat and dairy consumption has seen a steady long-term rise, and this is happening against a backdrop where the median US farm-only income was negative $900 in 2023. This indicates the current agricultural system isn’t working for many producers, regardless of long-standing cultural narratives around it.
PBFI is working to offer an on-ramp for producers to get to true profitability and stability through the production of crops needed for a growing global plant-based market, especially in alignment with the Planetary Health Diet. Whether it’s growing beans, mushrooms, or almonds, there’s real economic potential here that spans both whole and value-added foods.
And it’s not an all-or-nothing approach; we’re seeing corn growers adding legumes into their rotations for nitrogen-fixing, soil health and yield benefits. I’m excited to work with commodity producers to see how they can integrate new crops into their systems and generate more economic and environmental value.
As for the culture war aspect, there’s a really compelling and untapped story about the power of plants. The plant-based movement is about abundance, choice, opportunity, and tradition. Plants have been at the centre of human diets and agricultural traditions for millennia.
The more we can celebrate the deliciousness, versatility, and nutritional benefits of plant-based foods, and connect that to the economic opportunities for growers and rural communities, the more we can move beyond divisive rhetoric and toward practical solutions that benefit everyone.
GQ: What are your thoughts on the proposed US dietary guidelines? Do you believe the recommendation to increase plant protein intake and reduce red meat will make it to the final document?
Courtesy: National Institutes of Health
SB: I am hopeful that the final report will reflect the recommendations from the Advisory Committee’s scientific report issued late last year. The committee proposed emphasising beans, peas, and lentils and moving them to the top of the “protein foods” subgroup.
One of our main goals is to ensure the revised US dietary guidelines recognise the nutritional benefits of plant-based foods and diets. They provide the basis of many federal food procurement programmes, including nutritional assistance programs, and are a pathway to ensure increased access to plant-based options that many rely on to meet specific dietary needs and preferences.
GQ: Do you believe government bodies and public policy are under the influence of the livestock lobby to some extent, as several investigations have claimed?
SB: Policymakers respond to the groups that engage them most. As public servants, their job is to seek input and feedback when advancing new programs, policies or laws.
Groups that represent conventional agricultural producers have a long history of advocating for their interests at both the national and federal levels. For example, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association was founded in 1898, which means they have had a more than 125-year history of building relationships with public officials. They formed because of clear challenges they were facing, like a monopoly in the packer market. And they understood the power of collective action at the national level.
Fast-forward to 1985, and groups like the Organic Trade Association emerged with their own set of clearly defined goals around creating uniform standards, certification, and marketing programs. In five years, they and a coalition of like-minded groups pushed forward the passage of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 to directly address those needs. We should learn from those lessons.
There has never been a larger coalition of organisations calling for plant-forward food systems. But this ecosystem is still in its emergent stage. We must urgently align on our core goals in order to present unified asks to policymakers.
As the trade group representing US companies that make plant-based foods, PBFA has been advocating on behalf of the industry for a fair and transparent playing field for many years. PBFI is focused on welcoming US farmers into the supply chain to catalyse more domestic production, and unlocking policy incentives to make this feasible.
But we can’t do it alone, and I’m excited to have so many allies working together to set a clear policy agenda that we can unite around.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Institute
GQ: What opportunities and challenges do you see with the MAHA movement? Do you see a chance to align on certain issues?
SB: There is common ground in wanting to do everything we can to make healthy foods more affordable, more accessible, and more delicious than junk foods as a way to combat chronic diet-related diseases.
The delicious part is getting better: plant-based innovation has come so far in terms of taste and variety. Accessibility is advancing through foodservice, especially getting nutritious plant-based options into schools, hospitals, workplaces, and communities that want and need options that align with their dietary needs and preferences.
Part of the affordability challenge goes back to the farm level, and this is where the opportunity gets really interesting. The majority of what we grow in this country does not go to feeding people directly.
If we can begin to change the upstream supply chain by incentivising farmers to grow more diverse crops for direct human consumption, including the ingredients needed for plant-based foods, we can improve the downstream cost for consumers.
Of course, there’s a lot of creativity needed in the middle of the supply chain, too. Plant-based foods span an incredible spectrum, from whole grains and legumes to innovative products. Our focus should be on supporting farmers, advancing research, improving nutrition access, and giving consumers better choices that fit their budget.
These are goals that can resonate across many different political perspectives and seek to unite us around what to advance, versus solely on what to ban.
GQ: Do you believe more Americans can, after all, become flexitarians or meat reducers?
Courtesy: PBFA
SB: Absolutely. We know from our research that 59% of US households purchase plant-based products, and 79% of those households are repeat buyers. At the same time, taste concerns (historically the biggest barrier) have dropped significantly, from 41% in 2023 to just 27% this year.
There is a big opportunity gap in access. People may be willing and interested in plant-based foods, but it’s not always easy to find the options that align with their needs/preferences in retail or foodservice settings.
Our research indicates plant-based options are still hard to find, and variety doesn’t always align with growing interest areas – for example, culturally diverse flavors or cleaner labels. Our role is to be the convener and catalyst, bringing together stakeholders across the entire value chain to identify barriers and co-create solutions.
We’ll work with farmers to diversify into plant-based ingredient crops, support manufacturers in scaling innovation (and we’ve already seen rapid progress), partner with retailers and foodservice operators on accessibility, and connect into the research community advancing ingredient science and consumer insights.
When these value chain partners are aligned and supported, flexitarian eating becomes an easier choice. It’s not about convincing people to change; it’s about building a system that makes it easy for them to put more plants on the table.
SB: Overall, the UPF discourse is driven by the good/correct desire to improve diet quality and public health outcomes in America and beyond. The public and decision-makers alike have coalesced around the term ‘ultra-processed’ as shorthand for foods that shouldn’t be consumed.
But the idea that a food is unhealthy or unsustainable just because it is processed lacks scientific backing and confuses consumers. To lead to the positive public health outcomes we all desire, UPF policies should target foods that do not provide positive contributions to the diet – that is, true junk foods – and not lump in nutrient-dense foods like plant-based meat, dairy, and eggs. That is to say, the focus should be on championing nutrition, not punishing processing.
Thankfully, health organisations, including the American Heart Association, are also calling for nuance in the UPF space and recognising that plant-based products contribute positively to healthy dietary patterns.
We are hard at work to prevent nutritious plant-based foods from being lumped into state and federal definitions of UPFs and to ensure that consumers who rely on these products to get the nutrition that they need will continue to have access to them.
Courtesy: Plant Based Foods Institute
GQ: What has the plant-based sector done wrong over the last five years? What’s it gotten right?
SB: As an ecosystem, we can tell a better story and challenge oversimplified narratives, especially about overall VC funding or one company’s sales being the only measures of success. We can embrace both whole foods and value-added products as part of a diversity of options available to consumers.
Beyond the bright spots in foodservice, things are steady and improving in some dimensions of retail, despite narrative challenges. Plant-based sales have stayed steady or grown in many pockets (milk, protein powders, and tofu) and in terms of household penetration and repeat purchases.
Visibility and proper merchandising matter: plant-based doubles its share in e-commerce (6% of sales) versus in-store (3% of sales). Based on 2024 migration analyses from Kroger’s 84.51 data arm, we are seeing that consumers are growing happier with the taste and texture of plant-based products.
Manufacturers are innovating on the R&D side. Consumers are noticing and responding positively, but they want more. Specifically, more variety, better prices, and convenient formats.
I think it’s most productive to focus on lessons learned throughout the evolution of this relatively new sector. Innovation has been our greatest strength. Plant-based manufacturers have pushed R&D at a pace rarely seen in the food sector, responding to consumer insights in real time.
The results are promising: taste and texture are no longer the barriers they once were, and more consumers are choosing plant-based options. This is underpinned by agility: when consumers ask for cleaner labels, higher protein, or ingredients sourced through regenerative practices, plant-based companies have been able to pivot more quickly.
In a world where consumer preferences are shifting rapidly, this responsiveness is a powerful differentiator.
To further accelerate their progress, the country is home to a new partnership between the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC, a non-profit think tank focused on alternative proteins, and the World FoodTech Council, which comprises over 3,300 members and will host the World FoodTech 2025 Conference in Seoul later this month.
As part of the MoU, the two organisations will get together to support strategic regulatory policies on novel foods in Korea, boost domestic R&D initiatives, and spur new scientific talent development pathways to enable researchers from adjacent fields to contribute to the future food sector.
South Korea’s alternative protein space needs international representation
Courtesy: TissenBioFarm
“For more than a decade, South Korea has invested more money into scientific R&D as a percentage of GDP than any other Asian country – an asset the country is now leveraging to become an alternative protein powerhouse,” said GFI APAC managing director Mirte Gosker.
“Just as Asia was early in understanding the untapped potential of renewable energy technologies to satisfy soaring global demand, every country will inevitably need innovative ways to make more meat with fewer resources – and our region is once again laying the groundwork to sell the world what it needs.”
But despite South Korea’s progress in alternative proteins, there lies a structural gap in the integration of that expertise into global discussions. At this year’s AltProtein Asia event (held at the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein in Singapore), stakeholders exchanged knowledge about how to tackle technical bottlenecks hindering taste, scale, and price parity for alternative proteins.
The symposium attracted top scientists from Singapore, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, but not South Korea. GFI APAC is aiming to change that next year, ensuring that the latter country isn’t just present, but also takes a central role in the dialogue.
“South Korea is home to one of Asia’s most advanced tech ecosystems, including 10 biotech innovation and manufacturing clusters, dozens of alternative protein companies, and the highest number of researchers per capita of any country on Earth,” says Yeonjoo La, South Korea startup lead at GFI, who is also working to establish GFI Korea.
“By connecting Korea’s scientists, policymakers, and technologists with their overseas counterparts, we can supercharge plant-based and cultivated meat development, rapidly increase regional regulatory knowledge-sharing, and create an impact far greater than the sum of its parts,” she adds.
Korean government goes big on sustainable proteins
Courtesy: Space F
The partnership between GFI APAC and the World FoodTech Council comes as government support for alternative proteins is ramped up in South Korea. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, for starters, has established a framework for regulatory approval of these proteins.
Last year, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced an investment of ₩29B ($21M) in research funding for plant-based and cultivated seafood technologies, and the North Jeolla Province announced that it would open a Food Tech Research Support Center dedicated to plant-based proteins in 2026.
Meanwhile, GFI APAC itself signed an MOU with the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization and its Bio-based Future Food Industry Committee – a coalition of 33 future food companies – to advance market research and knowledge exchange, increase policy coordination for novel food regulation, facilitate training, and host joint workshops on alternative protein innovation.
Also in 2024, the federal government enacted the Food Tech Industry Promotion Act, which aims to improve citizens’ lives, create jobs and develop the national economy by reinforcing the convergence of food production with cutting-edge technologies. It’s set to come into effect this December.
And earlier this year, Uiseong County won its bid to build a 2,660 sq m Food Tech Research Support Center focused on cultivated meat, backed by public investment to the tune of ₩14.5B ($10M). Opening in 2027, it will help companies develop and scale up their processes, and apply for regulatory approval.
The building will be located next to the existing Cell Culture Industry Support Center. Both are situated inside a special zone in the North Gyeongsang Province, which exempts companies from certain regulatory hurdles to fast-track novel food development.
GFI APAC’s collaboration with the World FoodTech Council aligns with these developments. The latter is focused on establishing global standards, certification support systems, and international cooperation on emerging food technologies.
“Food tech tackles the defining challenges of our era – from population growth and climate change to public health in the age of AI,” said Prof Ki Won Lee, co-chair of the World FoodTech Council. “In partnership with GFI, we are committed to positioning K-food-tech as a key driver of the future food system and a leader in this transformative industry.”
The Good Food Institute has acquired cell lines and growth media from defunct startup SciFi Foods, and partnered with Tufts University to make them available for cultivated meat researchers.
In a major move to save the future food industry years of effort and millions of dollars for R&D, the Good Food Institute (GFI) has purchased cultivated meat components developed by SciFi Foods to free them up for public use.
The non-profit has bought eight bovine cell lines and two serum-free media formulations at an auction of SciFi Foods’s assets, following the Californian startup’s closure in 2024.
GFI has also partnered with the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) to store and validate the components and place them in an open-access cell bank for academia and, eventually, companies. This cell bank will be housed at the institute’s upcoming future foods innovation hub.
It marks the first time suspension-adapted bovine cell lines will be available to cultivated meat researchers globally, and is set to remove some of the preeminent barriers to market entry for industry players.
“SCiFi’s pioneering work is like a baton in a relay. Given our role in the field, GFI was able to ensure that baton didn’t drop, and through our partnership with Tufts, copies of that same baton will be handed off to scientists and startups around the world, enabling more people to join the race,” highlighted Dr Amanda Hildebrand, VP of science and technology at GFI.
How GFI snapped up SciFi Foods’s cell lines
Courtesy: SciFi Foods
Founded in 2019, SciFi Foods began growing cell lines for beef in 2023, developing a hybrid burger with 90% soy protein and 10% cultivated meat. It had raised $40M in funding, was in consultation with the US FDA for approval, and operated a 16,000 sq ft pilot facility, where it completed a commercial-scale production run in a 500-litre bioreactor.
The startup had hoped to enter the market by 2025, but as investors withdrew from the wider cultivated meat sector, SciFi Foods was unable to escape the headwinds. It shut down in June 2024 after running out of cash, appointing an advisory firm for the sale of its assets.
Among the parties notified of the auction were GFI and Tufts. The former’s bid was accepted in August, and the cells and media were successfully transferred to the latter for storage and distribution a month later.
“We didn’t know who else might show up for the auction, but collectively agreed it would be a shame for SCiFI’s technology to get locked in a box somewhere, so we were excited that GFI decided to bid,” said Meera Zassenhaus, director of communications for TUCCA.
The components bought by GFI include the three most commercially developed beef cell lines from SciFi Foods. These had been modified by the gene-editing technology CRISPR to ensure their ability to grow indefinitely in culture, and subsequently adapted to grow in scalable single-cell suspensions.
Two of these cell lines were further engineered to remove markers of antibiotic resistance (genes inserted in the R&D stage), making them suitable for food applications.
“When we started SCiFi Foods, we had to start from square one, beginning with a small sample of cells from a cow on an actual farm. It took us four years and tens of millions of dollars to develop these cells into commercial cell lines that grow quickly in suspension and in serum-free media,” said SciFi Foods co-founder and CEO Joshua March.
“This was a massive technical achievement… but despite our relative speed, our progress wasn’t on the time-to-revenue required in today’s VC market. Despite our disappointment that we can’t take the SCiFi burger to market, we are extremely excited by GFI’s acquisition of our cell lines and the collaboration with Tufts for use by the field.”
Open-access cell lines a ‘win-win-win’ for cultivated meat
Courtesy: Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture
“So many experiments currently take place in small-scale systems, and at the end of the day, those experiments can only go so far in informing large-scale, bioreactor-based processes,” said Dr Andrew Stout, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at TUCCA.
“When labs across the field have access to shared, scalable, and serum-free systems, I think it will cause a real leap in the value and applicability of their research. At the same time, I’m hopeful that these cells will also help to catalyse a broadening pattern of resource sharing and cell line optimisation across the field,” he added.
According to GFI, cultivated meat makers currently spend a significant portion of their funds and time on cell line development, which costs between $2-10M, so access to these materials could save the industry tens of millions and years of R&D, removing barriers for future startups.
Open access to these cells and the media formulations will kickstart immediate R&D work and enable studies to be run in small bioreactors, which can help researchers refine process development. Plus, their availability reduces redundancies and spurs innovation through research collaborations, and benefits B2B players like media and scaffold suppliers and bioreactor and equipment manufacturers.
“Talk about a win-win-win,” said Hildebrand. “This type of open-access jumpstart invites more people to the field, gives everyone a better starting position, and ultimately can produce more winners – companies that get more products to consumer plates, and consumers who have more choices for foods they love.”
Tufts said the cell bank will offer shared-use prototyping and scale-up research facilities, incubator lab space for startups to co-locate, and a network of experts to accelerate cellular agriculture development globally. The university is currently raising capital to build out its infrastructure to acquire and develop additional cells, including bovine, mackerel, and pork lines.
Researchers interested in the cell lines can now join a waitlist, while the media formulations are already available online. “We are essentially composting intellectual property, or IP, from an individual start-up and transforming it into a public good to benefit the entire field,” said Tufts’s Zassenhaus.
“This model of IP reuse makes sense for all kinds of technologies even beyond alternative proteins, especially as climate tech broadly faces a contraction in funding,” she added.
Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn has launched a blended yoghurt combining dairy with fava beans, just as Kerry has discontinued its hybrid Smug Dairy range in the UK.
While blended meat is entering supermarkets in Europe and the US with aplomb, the same can’t be said of hybrid dairy.
When Kerry launched its Smug Dairy range in the UK last year, combining dairy with oats to produce milk, cheese and butter products, it promised to “shake up the dairy category” and give consumers “healthier and more sustainable” options without compromising on taste. It even spent £5M on a marketing campaign for the range.
Last month, though, it said it was scrapping the entire lineup, turning its focus to a 100% dairy-based snacking range. It was a major example of a disruptive product not quite scaling the heights it needed to.
Just across the North Sea, things are going the opposite way. After introducing two blended milk products in June, Dutch retailer Albert Heijn has expanded into hybrid yoghurts.
The two contrasting approaches beg the question: why did Kerry’s effort fail, and what keeps Albert Heijn confident in the category’s future?
Why Kerry’s hybrid Smug Dairy range didn’t work
Courtesy: Smug Dairy
Explaining the decision to withdraw the hybrid dairy products, Kerry Dairy Ireland’s strategy and marketing head, Victoria Southern, said that though the range had delivered on taste and function, “categories like milk and butter are difficult to disrupt”.
“Our focus is now on leaning into Smug’s strengths to deliver new products that are great in taste, stand out with playful branding and highlight clear nutritional benefits. These are best applied in categories where consumers are more curious and open to trial,” she highlighted.
So why didn’t Brits find these products appealing? There were two primary issues: the milk-to-oat ratio and the price tag.
Kerry’s blended milk only contained 25% of plant-based ingredients, rising to 25% for the block butter and 30% for its Cheddar. The only offering with an equivalent amount of plants was the spreadable butter, which was its most climate-friendly product, offering 54% lower emissions than 100% dairy butter.
The other products offered very little in terms of sustainability – for example, the Smug Dairy milk only achieved an 18% emissions reduction. It just wasn’t a big enough difference to move the needle with most dairy consumers.
Smug Dairy didn’t cater to those who would be swayed by cheaper products either. Its hybrid butter was priced at £9.38 per kg, higher than the £7 cost of its Kerrymaid dairy spread, and more than twice as expensive as the dairy-free spreadable butter sold by Kerry’s Pure brand (for £4.30 per kg).
Its hybrid Cheddar block was also only 36p cheaper per kg than Cathedral City’s dairy-free version, and the oat-dairy milk set you back only 5p less than Alpro’s oat milk. Blended proteins are designed as a bridge between flexitarians and plant-based eaters, but it’s hard to justify a shift towards hybrid dairy when the gap with vegan versions is so narrow.
There’s one more problem worth looking at: did Kerry launch the wrong products? A recent study found that consumers are least receptive to hybrid beverages and milks, and most interested in yoghurt and ice cream formats.
Albert Heijn looks to lure shoppers with cheaper hybrid yoghurt
Courtesy: Albert Heijn
This is where Albert Heijn comes in. Its latest launch is a hybrid yoghurt with 60% dairy and 40% plant-based ingredients (primarily sunflower oil and fava bean protein), a recipe much more suited to success.
The launch adds to its existing blended dairy range, which includes whole and semi-skimmed milk with 70% and 60% dairy, respectively. They’re produced by Dutch firm Farm Dairy and Denmark’s PlanetDairy, and can lower emissions by 20-30%.
While the inclusion rate for the hybrid whole milk is still low for plant-based ingredients, Albert Heijn ensured that these products are priced the same as their conventional counterparts, minimising the risk of alienating shoppers.
The hybrid yoghurt, sold in one-litre cartons, goes one better. It costs €1.49, 10 cents cheaper than Albert Heijn’s own-brand dairy yoghurt with 1.5% fat.
Further, it delivers on the nutritional front, containing an equal amount of protein, but 90% fewer saturated fat (just 0.1g per 100ml), and more vitamin B12, vitamin D and calcium than yoghurt made entirely from cow’s milk.
These attributes put Albert Heijn’s hybrid dairy range on course for success. They’re part of its larger ‘balanced protein’ range, which also features 13 blended meat products, the most extensive such lineup anywhere in the world. The retailer has rolled out a blended beef burger in Belgium too.
In July, it became the first supermarket to publicly report its methane footprint, which makes up 14% of its scope 3 emissions. Albert Heijn is now aiming to reduce this by 45% by 2030 (compared to 2018 levels) – that effort will only be aided by its big bet on blended proteins.
Fable Food Co has launched its omnivore-favourite blended meat range at Central Market stores in Texas, the US’s largest beef-producing state – and to great success.
Texas is the leading cattle producer in the US, with beef being its third-largest economic generator. However, this also means the state has an outsized impact on the planet, since beef is the food system’s single-worst polluter.
But the Republican-led government in Texas has gone to some impressive lengths to protect the industry’s economic interests. In June, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill to ban cultivated meat, a product that is still in its infancy. In fact, no company has yet been approved to sell cultivated beef in the US.
Of the startups cleared to sell, only Wildtype’s salmon made it to a Texan restaurant, and was swiftly taken off the menu as the ban took place. Now, the state is being sued for its anti-cultivated-meat legislation.
And while Texans love their beef, they also live in a state amongst the most vulnerable to climate change in the US. With the Trump administration’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill rolling back tax credits for green energy, they’re also set to pay higher utility bills, given Texas’s leading wind power capacity.
So they need innovations that are kinder to the planet than incumbent options, cultivated meat among them. But while the courts sort that ban out, one startup has taken a shrewd approach to fulfil Texas’s appetite for meat while lowering its climate footprint.
Fable Food Co is blending beef with shiitake mushrooms to produce a range of ‘balanced protein’ products with better health and environmental outcomes. Taste tests have already proven their potential to attract meat-eaters, and the company has just launched the lineup in Central Market stores in Texas.
Fable Food Co’s Shiitake Infusion beats beef in taste tests
Courtesy: Michael Fox/LinkedIn
Based in Australia, Fable Food made its name with mushroom-based meat alternatives, but last year, it forayed into the burgeoning blended meat space with the Shiitake Infusion offering.
“At the moment, the plant-based options in the market – including ours – require most omnivore consumers to make some sacrifice. And that’s why the plant-based market has remained small,” Fable Food founder and CEO Michael Fox told Green Queen at the time.
“We started brainstorming new ways to help consumers who want to reduce their meat consumption. We decided to try and meet those consumers where they are: reducing with smaller portions of meat, and altering recipes by substituting vegetables for some meat.”
Fable Food combines the stems of shiitake mushrooms (which make up 89% of the product) with water, rice, canola and coconut oils, yeast extract, mushroom powder, and salt. Compared to an 80/20 beef mince, Fable Food’s blended protein is 35% lower in saturated fat, has half the cholesterol and 17% fewer calories, and contains 8g of fibre per serving (versus zero).
The innovation is also 10-15% cheaper than 100% beef, a crucial advantage at a time when beef prices are at an all-time high in the US. Plus, it’s much more climate-friendly, using less land, water and feed.
But taste is the primary driver of food choices, and this is where Fable Food delivers its biggest win. The shiitake mushrooms add a rich umami flavour that enhances the taste of conventional beef, a feature that has impressed omnivores and flexitarians.
Sensory testing by non-profit Nectar in the US has shown that Shiitake Infusion outperforms 100% beef on taste, with three in four meat-eaters preferring a blended burger over one made just from beef.
Blended meat rollout successful, mirroring global trends
Courtesy: Michael Fox/LinkedIn
At Central Market, Fable Food is rolling out five products: burgers, sliders and meatballs mixed with beef, and two koftas featuring lamb and beef.
“If you’ve ever been to Central Market, you’ll know it’s no ordinary grocery store,” Fox said. “They’re culinary innovators – with their own cooking schools, world-class produce, and a track record of launching some of the most exciting specialty food brands in the US. We couldn’t imagine a better launch partner.”
And the early results are impressive. Fox noted that selling five to 10 units in each store per week is considered a success for the plant-based category, but in-store sampling shows that Fable Food’s shiitake-infused products are selling 20 units per hour. In fact, one in two people who sampled the innovations have bought it on the spot, the same conversion rate it has witnessed in Australia.
When you consider the Nectar taste test results, this isn’t a surprise. The organisation’s research has previously found that blended meat is more likely to appeal to omnivores and flexitarians than plant-based alternatives.
The launch mirrors similar developments in Europe. Supermarkets in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, including discounters like Lidl and Aldi, have brought out balanced protein products under their own-label brands. Albert Heijn, meanwhile, has a 13-strong range of blended meats.
For food producers, the shift to hybrid proteins makes financial sense. Fable Food itself saw revenues expand by 50% in 2024, and anticipates even nimbler growth this year, thanks to its shiitake-mushroom-based products.
The product’s early success in Texas highlights the potential of eco-minded innovations in climate-vulnerable areas. The state is one of seven (all Republican-led) that have banned cultivated meat, while several more have sought to restrict the labelling of meat-free products.
The irony, though, is that while Republicans play down or even flat-out deny climate change, it’s red states that actually need and would benefit the most from sustainable proteins.
Italian non-dairy cheese maker Dreamfarm has expanded into supermarkets in France, bringing its suite of innovations to the Paris area.
Parisians can get a taste of classic Italian cheeses made without the cow, as Dreamfarm brings its nut-based alternatives to grocery stores in the French capital.
The startup has gained a listing with retail giant Monoprix, rolling out six of its innovations in around 70 stores across the Paris area. “We’re proud to bring our plant-based alternatives to such an iconic cheese-loving country,” says Dreamfarm CEO Giovanni Menozzi.
Dreamfarm is hoping to tap into France’s burgeoning vegan cheese market – sales of dairy-free cheese grew by 19% in 2024 (albeit from a relatively small base), making it the fastest-growing segment in the country’s plant-based food market.
Dreamfarm wants to tap into France’s ‘incredible food culture’
Courtesy: Dreamfarm
Founded in 2021 by Maddalena Zanoni and Mattia Sandei, Dreamfarm uses almonds and cashews to make clean-label dairy-free alternatives to staple Italian cheeses like mozzarella, ricotta, and stracciatella, each with a Nutri-Score A rating.
The mozzarella, its flagship product, comes as a ball-shaped piece submerged in water, reminiscent of its conventional counterpart. And earlier this year, Dreamfarm debuted vegan ciliegine, or mini mozzarella balls. The firm also makes cream-cheese-like spreads in plain and garlic-and-herb flavours.
Its cheeses have already been available in France through online retailer Official Vegan Shop, and via Végétal Food and Prevogel for foodservice. But the Monoprix launch marks the brand’s brick-and-mortar debut, and will open it up to a wider audience of “flexitarian, vegan, and food-curious consumers”.
“France has an incredible food culture, and we believe Dreamfarm can be part of it, offering the same pleasure and creativity of traditional dairy, but made from plants,” Menozzi said.
Plenty of potential and challenges for non-dairy cheese in France
Courtesy: Dreamfarm
Dreamfarm raised €5M in funding in 2023, and is actively targeting the Gen Z market. In May, it conducted a guerrilla marketing stunt in the streets of Milan, with actors posing as tourists wearing cow masks and vacation-ready attire to send cows on a break, since they’re no longer needed to produce great-tasting cheese.
Now, to celebrate its French launch, Dreamfarm and Monoprix are planning in-store tastings, local events, and collaboration with food influencers. The company will face competition from existing vegan cheese players in the country, including Jay&Joy and its now-subsidiary Les Nouveaux Affineurs, Sojami, Petit Veganne, and Tomm’Pousse.
Despite vegan cheese’s growth in France, it remains 42% more expensive than conventional cheese, and makes up just 0.1% of the overall market. But Dreamfarm’s products are highly rated – they have earned rave reviews from Miyoko Schinner, a pioneer of modern plant-based cheese, who told Green Queen she found its cheeses “voluptuous, silky, and delicious”.
The development follows Dreamfarm’s expansion in other European countries, namely Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Now, it aims to continue its continental growth, with plans to enter more nations this year.
France’s Gourmey has snapped up Vital Meat to form Parima, aiming to become the first cultivated protein company to get regulatory approval for two species.
In the latest consolidation move for alternative proteins, Paris-based Gourmey has acquired fellow French cultivated meat firm Vital Meat, combining their tech, regulatory and manufacturing prowess under a new entity, Parima.
The company combines Gourmey’s cultivated duck platform (which has spawned a foie gras product) with Vital Meat’s cultured chicken technology, which are collectively the subject of nine active regulatory filings across the world.
“Parima represents a new chapter, a unified platform built to lead the next generation of animal production, spanning multiple species and market applications, from premium to mass market. It’s about creating abundance through efficiency and scale,” Parima CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest tells Green Queen.
Vital Meat’s team is joining Parima, including co-founder Etienne Duthoit, who is taking up a leadership role. “We’re expanding our site presence in France,” adds Morin-Forest.
“Gourmey remains the group’s culinary brand, focused on premium products, chef collaborations, and established partnerships with leading gourmet distributors serving the world’s top restaurants and hotels,” he says. The brand’s demand from leading restaurants will “remain a key differentiator” as Parima expands across multiple species and applications.
Gourmey and Vital Meat to combine production at French facilities
Courtesy: Vital Meat
Gourmey made a splash in the future food world when it announced regulatory submissions in five geographies last year, including the first ever in the EU. It has created a foie gras product using cultured duck cells, which has been endorsed by Michelin-starred chefs, and has been working on chicken too.
The startup’s platform leverages a “second-generation” tech stack that replaces legacy biopharma techniques with food-grade, cost-effective, scalable processes. It combines continuous production, undifferentiated cell biomass, and suspension-based cell cultures to support efficiency and consistency.
In June, Gourmey partnered with AI specialist DeepLife to develop the world’s first avian digital twin to optimise production of its cultivated meat, shortly after analysis revealed that its 5,000-litre bioreactor system can bring costs down to $3.43 per lb.
Vital Meat, meanwhile, makes cultivated chicken using cell-line technology developed from nearly 25 years of avian cell research at Groupe Grimaud, a global animal genetics leader. The startup filed for approval in Singapore in late 2023, and in the UK in summer 2024. And months later, it held a public tasting at Hue restaurant in Singapore.
Gourmey currently operates an innovation centre and a pilot facility in central Paris, where it runs multiple 400-litre bioreactors. It also has a dedicated setup with a 5,000-litre fermenter. Likewise, Vital Meat has a pilot plant near Nantes, equipped with 2,000-litre bioreactors that are run daily.
Following the acquisition, both sites will remain operational. “Together, they form a fully integrated end-to-end platform, covering cell line and process development, scale-up, and culinary innovation. Our combined bioreactor capacity reaches several thousand litres,” Morin-Forest highlights.
Parima expects regulatory nod in ‘next few months’
Gourmey’s foie gras is made from cultivated duck cells | Courtesy: Sherry Hack
Parima has over 15 patent families and more than 70 applications, alongside regulatory filings in various geographies. “They cover the EU, where we’re the first and most advanced; the UK, where the Vital Meat and Gourmey dossiers are the two most advanced; Switzerland; Singapore, where both companies have active applications; the US; Australia; and another country we’re not disclosing yet,” says Morin-Forest.
Each company’s dossiers will continue under their existing procedures, and in an interview with Green Queen this summer, the Gourmey co-founder had said it was expecting approval in Singapore first.
“We anticipate the first market authorisations within the next few months,” Morin-Forest says now. “We’re aiming to become the first European cultivated meat company to get approved, and the first ever company with approval for two species: duck and chicken.”
Over the next 12 months, the company’s focus is on “execution, advancing regulatory approvals, scaling our production systems, and preparing our first market launches”.
“Our culinary brand, Gourmey, is grounded in B2B readiness, with strong culinary validation (we launched the industry’s first-ever culinary advisory board, bringing together Michelin-starred chefs Claude Le Tohic, Rasmus Munk and Daniel Calvert), global demand, and commercial partnerships already in place,” he says.
Since September 2024, more than 40 alternative protein companies have ceased trading, fallen into insolvency, or been acquired, partly a reflection of the industry’s struggles to fundraise. This year, cultivated fat maker Upstream Foods and cell culture tech firm CellRev shut down, while Uncommon Bio sold off its cultivated meat platform to Meatable and Vow to focus on therapeutics instead.
“After the initial hype, consolidation is the natural next step for our industry,” contends Morin-Forest. “A handful of leaders with the most scalable IP, the strongest products, and global regulatory market access will prevail. That’s what Parima is about.”
Israeli food tech startup Celleste Bio has developed a cell-based chocolate-grade cocoa butter at an EU-backed innovation event in Brussels.
Celleste Bio has unveiled a first-of-a-kind innovation to address the climate change-induced supply crisis hampering the chocolate industry.
The Tel Aviv-based firm has created cocoa butter from plant cell culture technology, showcasing the chocolate-grade innovation at EIT Food’s Next Bite Summit in Brussels.
The company, whose list of investors includes Cadbury and Oreo maker Mondelēz International, developed the fat using real cocoa cells, which were grown in suspension in a bioreactor. The process takes one to two beans to produce the same amount of cocoa butter that traditionally requires four tonnes of cocoa and 10,000 sq m of land.
“Our ability to produce real cocoa butter via cell culture proves that science can be used to grow and produce ingredients that mirror nature with integrity and transparency,” says Celleste Bio CEO Michal Berresi Golomb.
“The cocoa butter is made from the cells that are grown with vitamins, minerals, water, sugar and other key ingredients. The end product is pure cocoa butter, like you would get directly from the bean,” she tells Green Queen, confirming that there are no additional ingredients.
The innovation comes as the chocolate industry struggles to cope with climate change and rising demand. Extreme weather events have decimated cocoa yields in West Africa, home to the two largest producers of cocoa, and scientists have warned that a third of all cocoa trees might die out by 2050. Supply shortages have pushed cocoa prices to all-time highs,
Chocolate production itself is a major driver of climate change, producing more greenhouse gases than any other food bar beef, and being the source of widespread deforestation and food waste.
How Celleste Bio makes its cell-based cocoa butter
Courtesy: Celleste Bio
Founded in 2022 by Hanne Volpin, Orna Harel, Avishay Levy and Daphna Michaeli, with support from The Trendlines Group, Celleste Bio pairs agtech and biotech with computational AI to produce cocoa ingredients via cell culture.
“We select beans, different varietals, from our ‘bank’ and extract the cocoa cells. We then put them in a bioreactor – think a beer or wine tank – and grow them with vitamins, minerals, water and sugar,” explains Berresi Golomb.
“This then becomes a biomass where we can extract the butter and powder. So it’s very similar to how cocoa is produced in nature, but it is in a controlled setting, [with] optimal conditions, and checked for quality and consistency every step of the way.”
“The other important part is that the cells keep growing after we remove biomass, so the process repeats itself without having to use another bean. This means we don’t have to be finding more pods and cutting down more trees,” she says.
According to Celleste Bio, chocolate manufacturers spend about $16B on cocoa ingredients a year, and cocoa butter alone makes up nearly half of that outlay. And while crop yields and prices can level out at certain points, long-term instability is almost a guarantee without tech-forward solutions.
Howard Yano Shapiro, former chief agriculture officer at chocolate giant Mars, notes that technology “doesn’t replace traditional farming”, but acts as an “insurance policy” against supply chain shocks.
“Celleste Bio is one example of a technology that is getting ahead of a long-term crisis,” he says. “Cocoa butter is the single most important, expensive and resource-intensive ingredient in chocolate – and if we’ve learned anything from last year, it’s that solutions for crop supplementation are crucial.”
Celleste Bio eyes approval in four markets, targets 2027 launch
Courtesy: Celleste Bio
Celleste Bio’s ingredient is described as chemically and functionally bioidentical to conventional cocoa butter, with the same fatty acid profile essential for producing chocolate. In addition, it matches sensory qualities like the melting point, the smooth texture, and the ‘snap’ characteristic of a premium chocolate bar.
The cell-based cocoa fat has been designed to be scaled up and produced in a stable and sustainable manner, without any agricultural limitations. As a bonus, the company claims the process generates zero waste, as all inputs are used efficiently.
“We are about to finalise our pilot facility that will give us the [fermentation] capacity to produce at 1,000 litres, and we anticipate being market-ready by 2027,” says Berresi Golomb, adding: “We are currently in the regulatory process in the US, the EU, the UK and Israel.”
Its commercialisation efforts will be helped by the $4.5M it secured in funding last year, taking its total raised to $5.6M. Mondelēz International has twice invested in the startup and is a strategic design partner that will help it get closer to market. Celleste Bio is also in talks with “many chocolate manufacturers interested in cocoa supply chain solutions”.
One crucial aspect would be the price of the ingredient, as the cost of cocoa is what’s driving the industry towards food tech solutions. “The ingredient is and must be at parity with cocoa prices, ideally more cost-efficient when traditional cocoa supply is skyrocketing,” she says.
“We have two parts of the business: a drop-in replacement, which will be more on par with market costs; and premium cocoa, which will be priced for the premium market.”
Celleste Bio is one of several firms working with cell-based cocoa. California Cultured supplies its Flavanol Cocoa Powder to Japanese chocolate giant Meiji as part of a decade-long deal, and filed a cell-based cocoa butter patent earlier this year.
Fellow Israeli startup Kokomodo is developing cell-cultured cocoa powder and butter, and was acquired by publicly listed cellular agriculture firm Pluri in January. In Switzerland, Food Brewer is creating cell-based chocolate, backed by local chocolate major Felchlin. Finnish food conglomerate Fazer is also exploring cell-based cocoa.
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Redefine Meat’s Asda rollout, Purezza’s new online vegan store, and Beyond Meat’s debt swap.
New products and launches
Redefine Meat is making its brick-and-mortar debut in the UK, launching seven of its 3D-printed plant-based whole cuts in 197 Asda stores, and at least three products in 385 locations.
Courtesy: Redefine Meat/StillFx/Getty Images
After selling vegan cheese brand La Fauxmagerie to Honestly Tasty last month, UK plant-based pizza chain Purezza has openedSaporia, a new online marketplace offering over 1,000 vegan products.
UK frozen pizza makerOne Planet Pizza has expanded into Thailand, launching its single-serve Three Cheeze Margherita and Spicy Korean Chk’n pizzettas at 60 Tops supermarkets on October 20, in collaboration with Swees Plant-Based Foods.
Courtesy: One Planet Pizza
British gut-friendly food brand Bio&Me has rolled out Daily Boost Fibre + Protein bars in cocoa and blueberry flavours. The women-oriented snacks contain 9g of protein and 10 plant-based ingredients, and are available at Tesco for £3.35 per pack of three 40g bars.
In the US, The Plant-Based Seafood Co has made its vegan dusted scallops, sold under the Mind Blown brand, available in bulk packs for foodservice customers on WebstaurantStore.
Courtesy: The Plant-Based Seafood Co
And at the same time, The Plant-Based Seafood Co is moving beyond plant-based, launching Smash It Foods, a hybrid seafood brand combining wild-caught salmon with plants, feta and/or honey as part of Superfood Balls.
Company, finance and policy developments
Speaking of blended proteins, Kerry has discontinued the hybrid milk, cheese and butter products it launched under the Smug Dairy brand in the UK, which combined cow’s milk with oat milk. The brand will now focus on dairy snacking instead.
Courtesy: Kerry
Israeli molecular farming startup Asterix Foods has emerged from stealth with $4.2M in funding to scale up the production of dairy, egg and other animal proteins via plant cell culture and a growing system that leverages cheap plastic bags that can be reused several times.
After proposing an exchange offer for convertible bonds to eliminate over $800M of debt last month, Beyond Meat has closed the settlement two weeks ahead of schedule, with nearly 97% of its holders having already agreed to the swap. But the decision sent its stock crashing to a new all-time low of 85 cents on Monday.
Courtesy: Nasdaq
After exiting her embattled animal-free dairy company Fermify, Eva Sommer has joined vegan and vegetarian food discovery platform HappyCow as its new CEO.
DSM-Firmenich has opened the Van Marken Food Innovation Center in Delft, Netherlands, which will serve as the headquarters for its Taste, Texture and Health business, including plant-based alternatives and sugar reduction.
Courtesy: DSM-Firmenich
US material science company Corning has entered the cultivated meat world, having published a patent covering edible microcarriers and support structures to produce animal proteins in cell culture.
Asian investment platform Further will host a new summit in Singapore to unlock capital in the region’s agrifood tech sector, in partnership with VC firm AgFunder.
Asia-Pacific produces half of the world’s food, but only attracts a quarter of global agrifood investment, creating a funding gap that plagues the sector’s growth amid climate challenges.
To bridge that gap, early- and growth-stage companies, investors, and corporate stakeholders will convene at a new summit at the Guoco Midtown Network Hub in Singapore next month (November 3).
The event, set to be a curtain-raiser to the Singapore International Agri Week, is being launched by Further, a Singaporean platform accelerating investment into agrifood tech, in partnership with VC firm AgFunder.
“Across Asia, a wave of dynamic entrepreneurs are driving bold solutions for food and climate. The Further Summit is built for them,” said Further co-founder Jennifer Yuen.
Agrifood summit to focus on three investment verticals
Courtesy: AgFunder
According to research published by AgFunder last November, agrifood tech funding in Asia-Pacific recovered from two underperforming years in 2024, having raised $4.2B until the end of October, a 38% increase over 2023. In contrast, global investments in the sector fell by 4% in the same period.
However, as the firm’s updated report showed earlier this year, much of Asia-Pacific’s funding wins can be attributed to one country: India. Agrifood tech startups in the world’s most populous country alone secured $2.5B in 2024, a fourfold rise from the year before.
In stark contrast, funding in all other markets in Asia-Pacific suffered a decline. Deal totals fell by 40% to $1.2B in East Asia, by 23% to $361M in Southeast Asia, and by 30% to $190M in Australia and New Zealand.
The production-funding gap poses a challenge to what Further calls a “multi-trillion-dollar business opportunity” to build climate-resilient, tech-forward, and scalable food systems in Asia-Pacific.
This is what propelled the firm to launch the Further Food & Ag Investment Summit. Here, it will focus on three investment frontiers. The first reckons with using AI to build faster, smarter and more resilient systems, and digitalisation to drive productivity and growth in the agrifood value chain.
The second centres on regenerative farming, sustainable aquaculture, and nature-positive approaches that restore soil, ocean, and ecosystem health. And the final frontier spotlights next-gen proteins and bio-based ingredients, including plant-based, precision-fermented, and cell-cultured foods.
‘Capital and collaboration’ crucial for Asia-Pacific’s food system shift
Courtesy: Eclipse Ingredients
The Further Food & Ag Investment Summit will bring together more than 100 investors, corporate leaders, and companies in a curated, invite-only format to unlock capital and customers and drive solutions to the region’s agrifood challenges.
It will feature pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings to accelerate partnerships, interactive panels on the funding landscape and the three frontiers, and various networking opportunities.
“We’re passionate about building a community where founders can connect directly with investors and partners to turn ambition into traction, driving real change in how we feed and sustain the planet,” said Yuen.
Aside from AgFunder, some of the investors and corporations participating in the summit include Clay Capital, Better Bite Ventures, ING, Mirova, The Radical Fund, Terratai and Toyo Seikan. Meanwhile, Living Roots, Zentide, Eclipse Ingredients, OlsAro, Yindii, and Teraxxy are among the startups confirmed to attend.
“Transforming our food system requires both capital and collaboration, none more so than in Asia-Pacific,” said John Friedman, Asia director at AgFunder. “That’s why AgFunder has partnered with the Further Summit to spotlight leading innovators and work with investors to build a stronger capital stack for the region and sector as a whole.”
He added: “We believe this kind of collaborative platform is essential to scaling solutions that will redefine the future of Asia’s agrifood industry.”
US plant-based meat startup Tender Food has now turned into a larger tech company, Lasso, which has raised $6.5M to create a suite of clean-label ingredients with its fibre-spinning technology.
Who knew that cotton candy could be the solution to the food system’s myriad problems?
But while the food climate is rapidly changing, the industry is largely reliant on outdated technologies, like extrusion. And most innovation is centred around stuffing healthy ingredients into traditionally unhealthy products (think prebiotic sodas) or championing new ingredients like mycelium (which is still slapped with the UPF tag).
One startup is looking to fill the void with a technology reminiscent of the fluffy, sticky, sugary floss that populates fairs and street food stalls across the world.
Tender Food has been around since 2020, built on technology developed at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. The firm leverages a fibre-spinning process to turn plant proteins into structured cuts of meat, akin to how sugar is spun to make cotton candy. Its alternatives have made it to restaurants and universities around the Boston area, including Clover Food Lab.
Now, though, Tender Food is expanding its horizons past plant-based meat, evolving into a tech company called Lasso, through which it will launch a slate of new brands and license its technology to other food producers – both aimed at creating better-for-you, additive-free consumer products fit for the anti-UPF, pro-protein, Ozempic-fuelled era.
The company has just closed a $6.5M funding round led by Rhapsody Venture Partners, with further participation from Safar Partners, Claridge Venture Partners, and others. It takes the firm’s total funding past $25.6M, including previous VC rounds and grants.
“It isn’t a big revelation that the plant-based meat category is struggling,” Lasso CEO Mike Messersmith tells Green Queen. “We are trying to build an incredible company and create impact in the food industry that really needs it. Expanding the category focus better allows us to create a path for that impact.”
A former president of Oatly North America, Messersmith joined the company in June 2024 and took over as CEO from co-founder Christophe Chantre in October. He confirmed that Chantre is no longer involved in the firm.
“He will always be a key player in the company’s development as a co-founder and was hugely instrumental in getting us to where we are, where we can really start pushing scaled commercialisation of the technology,” says Messersmith.
How Lasso spins fibres and proteins into clean-label ingredients
Courtesy: Lasso
Lasso SpinTech, as the technology is called, was developed in a multi-disciplinary lab at Harvard, where researchers worked on applications “ranging from textiles to pharma to food”, Messersmith notes.
The company’s patented food manufacturing platform can use centrifugal force to weave proteins together into sheets of woven fibres, without high heat, artificial binders and gums, or additives. These can then be processed into a wide range of clean-label products.
“The technology resembles a large-scale ‘cotton candy machine’ where we use a rotary jet spinning process to turn a mix of ingredients into microfibers that are collected in sheets, which are then used to make a wide range of food products using standard post-processing equipment,” explains Messersmith.
“[It] is incredibly efficient, high throughput, and flexible, and we have now demonstrated applications across many high-growth consumer categories,” he adds. “We’ve worked with over 1,000 ingredients, including the full spectrum of protein and fibre sources, to make food.”
Since its flexible process works at an ambient temperature, Lasso can process everything from plant-based (like chickpeas) to animal-based (such as whey), wet or dry, and commodity to novel sustainable ingredients (think mycelium, fermentation-derived probiotics, or cultivated ingredients).
“Flexibility has always been built into the core of the platform, giving it the ability to create solutions across a range of food categories. Plant-based meat was the first killer application we focused the tech on to support funding and scale-up,” he says.
“As the food industry has evolved, with consumers demanding protein and fibre-rich foods across categories, it made sense to expand the range of Lasso SpinTech applications – both to realise the full potential of what the company is capable of, and also the reality of it being short-sighted to put all our chips into a single application within a single category.”
Energy-efficient production with prices close to conventional meat
Courtesy: Tender Food
Over the last four years, Lasso has scaled up from a countertop system in a lab to commercial volumes. “We have managed to increase our throughput by a factor of 10x every year over the past several years since the company was founded out of the lab at Harvard. All of that while not materially adding significant cost or size to the footprint of the hardware itself,” says Messermith.
Today, a single Lasso SpinTech machine the size of a washing machine can generate over 1,000 lbs of finished product per hour – comparable to industry processing equipment, like extrusion, baking, etc.,” he outlines.
This equates to over two million lbs of product annually (which could help produce 18 million protein bars, for example). The technology is much more climate-friendly than standard industry tech, requiring 95% less energy and producing 85% fewer emissions. In fact, Lasso SpinTech uses less energy than a toaster oven, while shortening the product development cycle from a year to several weeks.
“There are straightforward pathways to continue to scale the throughput of our individual systems, and because of its compact size, the machine itself can also scale by deploying multiple in parallel for high volume needs,” says Messersmith.
At $150,000, the production system represents a fraction of the capital costs of commercial extruders. Over the last year, Lasso has become unit-profitable and reduced the cost of Tender’s meat alternatives by over 85% (from $30 to $3.50 per lb), almost at parity with conventional meat.
“We use a wide array of ingredients, which can allow us to find really high-quality sources but also be really selective on cost structure. Because our technology creates texture naturally and our low-heat process doesn’t create off notes, we avoid having to add high-cost additives, binders, gums, or flavour maskers,” the CEO explains.
“When we deployed [the tech] at our partner manufacturing site, we were able to really demonstrate amazing throughput with very low loss. High-throughput, low-loss, and easy-to-use is a great recipe for cost competitiveness, especially on new technology, keeping operating and labour costs low.
“The technology is incredibly resource-efficient. It uses very little electricity and water with very little waste, which means that the cost to operate it to make food is very competitive. The machine itself is quite efficient to fabricate, meaning our depreciated equipment cost is extremely low.”
Sales of plant-based meat fell by 7% in 2024, and many alternative protein companies have restructured or fallen into insolvency. Even big players, like Beyond Meat, have changed tack to highlight whole foods amid falling sales and mounting debt.
How does Lasso plan to win over consumers with its fibre-spinning tech, at a time when anything remotely processed is facing scrutiny? Messesmith reiterates the fact that its process eschews the need for additives to hold ingredients together, instead using physics to weave protein and fibre into something “super nutritionally dense”.
“A big component of the UPF debate is people pushing back on overly complex ingredient decks that have lots of ingredients they don’t understand or are familiar with. People want protein-dense foods across the stores, but they hate the impact that has on the ingredient decks required to make those foods,” he states.
“We are making major progress in creating better, cleaner- and simpler-label foods that people want because of our advanced technology process that invents new types of bars, snacks, and foods across the store. Because we are ingredient-flexible, we can accommodate new, less processed ingredients as they come to market to continue to push our products.”
The GLP-1 potential is personal for Messersmith
Courtesy: Lasso
The other trend the industry has had to contend with is the GLP-1 boom, which has given giants like Nestlé, Conagra, and JBS pause. One in eight Americans has already tried a weight-loss drug, and Messermith himself is an active user.
“I started taking GLP-1s over a year ago, and it has had such an incredible and profound effect on my diet and health. I started seeing a nutritionist as part of that journey, and she advised me of the importance of building a snacking routine that matched my GLP-1 diet: protein, fibre, nutritionally dense foods to eat throughout the day to stay full and keep up muscle mass,” he recalls.
“One of the big effects for me was that many of the snacks I used to love to eat (sweet snacks, sugar-laden snacks, fat- and carb-based salty snacks) I could no longer eat. They really didn’t fit my new diet,” he adds.
It’s why one of the things Messersmith is most excited about is Lasso’s potential to create products that he’d love to eat himself. “It may sound selfish, but I know a lot of people experience that same level of diet change when they are taking GLP-1s, and many of their favourite food rituals really change,” he highlights.
“We think that by creating really clean-label, protein and fibre-rich, delicious products, we can make something pretty exciting for people on that journey.”
Lasso launching its own brands and licensing SpinTech platform
Courtesy: Lasso
Asked about Lasso’s financial performance over the last 12 months, Messersmith says: “We have kept pretty disciplined on our existing plant-based meat business with a regional New England-based distribution approach. That has been steadily consistent while we have been developing the new category applications that we are excited to bring to market here in the next couple of months.”
Speaking of which, the company has created prototypes for over 15 categories, including snacks, bars, confectionery, and pet food.
“We really think our technology platform is pretty extraordinary in what it can create for the food industry and the impact it will have. We can’t wait a decade for that adoption to occur, so we are being pretty aggressive on how we show what is possible and invite other partners equally interested in change and new solutions,” says Messersmith.
“We are launching some own brands because we want to show what is possible with the tech, and no one can move as fast or with as much intention as we can. We are also in deep, advanced discussions with several global food partners about using the technology for their own businesses, which is an incredible compliment and pathway to scale and impact at an expedited rate.
“The own-brand launches could be great businesses on their own and also serve as public billboards for what is possible with our Lasso platform, which will invite more partners into the conversation about working with us to expedite scale. Ultimately, our goal is to establish our technology as an industry standard, and drive volume through it, whether our own brands that we spin out if successful, or our licensing partners.”
Armed with the new funds (which Messersmith called a “major milestone”), Lasso has three key focus areas for the next 12 months: launch brands in new categories like snacking, finalise and kickstart key manufacturing and licensing partnerships, and continue deploying the technology with a spotlight on scale-up and supporting continued ingredient expansion.
Messersmith is not revealing the first category Lasso will expand to, but says he’s “really excited about the snacking category and looking at spaces like salty snacks, fruit snacks, and other spaces that really are looking for protein [or] fibre solutions”.
Lasso isn’t the only food tech startup leveraging fibre-spinning tech – Germany’s Project Eaden has created pork-free ham using a fibre-spinning process inspired by the textile industry, and raised $15.6M in January as it expands into several other meat alternatives.
Dutch startup Rival Foods, meanwhile, secured $11.5M for its shear-cell tech to make whole-cut vegan meat. Its production system resembles a pressure cooker with a rotating part, using temperature and rotation to enable deformation and alignment of proteins to create fibrous textures.
Australia could be a global hub for food biomanufacturing, which could bring economic and food security wins, but only if the government backs the industry through policymaking.
Home to a leading food safety framework, high-quality feedstock supply, and cross-disciplinary research capabilities, and established trade links with fast-growing Asian markets, Australia has a “once-in-a-generation” biomanufacturing opportunity.
Food technologies like precision fermentation, cell cultivation, and plant molecular farming can boost the country’s food security and economic resilience, generate employment, as well as decarbonise production.
However, despite these advantages, biomanufacturing remains under-invested compared to other bio-based sectors in Australia, and without urgent action from the government, it risks losing its early-mover advantage to global competitors.
That’s the consensus of a new white paper by Cellular Agriculture Australia (CAA), the Agrifood Innovation Institute, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and ANU National Security College, which calls for a coherent national approach to food tech, alongside significant and sustained investment in biomanufacturing.
The report sets out 25 recommendations across five priority domains to ensure Australia can fulfil its potential as a biomanufacturing leader.
1) National security
New South Wales representatives Jacqui Scruby, Emma Hurst and Alex Greenwich | Courtesy: Magic Valley
The organisations suggest that food security should be formally recognised by the federal government as a core national security priority. This would ensure that related policies and risk assessments would explicitly address vulnerabilities in Australia’s agricultural systems and food supply chains.
“It is misleading to present Australia as a food-secure nation without acknowledging the vulnerabilities embedded in our supply chains,” the report reads. “One key lever available to government to increase resilience is diversification of domestic production mechanisms through investing in novel and emerging biotechnologies for food production.”
Moreover, each node in the food security ecosystem should engage in a coordinated process to identify key drivers, risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. “Such an approach would provide the government with the comprehensive data needed to strengthen national resilience and safeguard critical food and technology supply chains,” the paper explains.
2) Policy alignment
New South Wales representatives Jacqui Scruby, Emma Hurst and Alex Greenwich trying cultivated meat in the Parliament | Courtesy: Magic Valley
The report argues that current policy settings are “fragmented, outdated, and fail to recognise the role of emerging food biotechnologies”. It says the federal agriculture department’s Feeding Australia plan should acknowledge that biotech will underpin the future of food, which will help diversify an otherwise highly concentrated food system vulnerable to climate and geopolitical shocks.
Feeding Australia should further recognise that food security is a cross-portfolio priority that would need to address national security, sovereign manufacturing capability and regional resilience.
The agriculture department should also team up with the industry and science department and the Treasury to establish a working group with industry members to set clear targets to diversify Australia’s food system and speed up the adoption of emerging food technologies. Future public funding should be linked to progress against these targets, and a formal government-industry body should be set up to oversee these goals.
Meanwhile, existing R&D policy frameworks should be tasked with supporting the emergence of new technologies, products or industries through explicit funding initiatives or simple changes to purpose and definitions.
And the industry and science ministry should promptly develop a bioeconomy strategy that explicitly includes biotech and biomanufacturing as core pillars, and recognises their role in agricultural and food security to build a future-proof food system.
Finally, CAA said it would establish an industry working group to develop policy solutions grounded in the sector’s needs and opportunities, and collaborate further with the Agrifood Innovation Institute and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute to drive government engagement and mitigate policy barriers.
3) Research and technical innovation
Courtesy: All G
Further cross-disciplinary, open-access foundational research is crucial to closing the price gap of future-friendly foods with conventional products. Both the federal and state governments should expand support for such research, which requires ensuring its eligibility for and priority in public funding mechanisms.
The report recommends that at least 30% of the R&D funding allocated to the agrifood sector over the next funding cycle prioritise food biotechnologies and biomanufacturing.
The Australian government should also pump additional National Collaborative Research Infrastructure funding beyond the current 2024-28 period, which is essential to maintain continuity in foundational biotechnology research.
Additionally, the science and innovation ministry should review current allocations in Cooperative Research Centres to determine whether they can expand their mandates to include biotech, or whether a new centre is needed.
As for the industry itself, stakeholders should clearly identify and document the high-priority research areas and technical innovations needed to support scale-up.
4) Regulation
Courtesy: Vow
Australia’s regulatory system is robust and trusted, but under-resourced and reactive, the organisations write. The agriculture ministry should therefore add “regulatory and policy agility” as a key guiding principle in the formation of Feeding Australia.
The next Federal Budget should increase the funds allocated to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), so it can shorten approval timelines without compromising safety. Federal departments are also advised to review and update the Food Standards Code to ensure it keeps pace with emerging technologies.
Likewise, the FSANZ workplans should be amended to formally propose the use of biotech in food production, particularly precision fermentation, to ensure the Food Standards Code is fit-for-purpose.
According to the white paper, the FSANZ Act should be revised to include a comparable overseas regulator regime, which would allow the body to accept dossiers and assessment outcomes from trusted regulators in other countries and streamline local approvals.
The regulator must further develop clear guidance documents outlining what companies must include in their novel food dossiers before submission, as the current handbook does not provide sufficient details. Plus, a cross-agency working group between FSANZ, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration could help reduce overlap and inconsistency among regulators.
From an industry perspective, companies should leverage CAA’s Regulatory Industry Working Group to identify challenges and advocate for reform through public consultations and direct engagement with regulatory bodies.
5) Commercial infrastructure finance
Courtesy: Cauldron
While regulation, research and policy are important, the most immediate barrier facing the country’s food biomanufacturing industry is access to fit-for-purpose infrastructure. Shared pilot facilities are scarce and expensive, and there are no large-scale commercial plants, forcing companies to look offshore.
The report recommends that the Treasury carry out a sector assessment to identify investment priorities and barriers, and clarify which public financing instruments are viable. To support this effort, a sub-working group of Feeding Australia should assess the current funding landscape and recommend priority actions.
Further, the agriculture ministry should set up a dedicated agency for the Australian biomanufacturing sector, in the mould of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
And the industry, innovation and science minister should work with the finance minister to ensure the risk tolerance guidelines of the National Reconstruction Fund align with the “catalytic nature of funding” needed to support nascent industries like food tech.
Finally, sector representatives should carry out robust economic modelling to assess the commercial, employment and export potential of the biomanufacturing industry, which would support a unified vision that demonstrates biotech’s value case to public and private investors.
“If we act now, food biotechnologies and biomanufacturing can deliver resilience, prosperity, and a leadership position for Australia in the global bioeconomy,” the report states. “The building blocks are here, the question is whether we will move fast enough to seize them.”
The US will introduce vegan meals and snacks in the military in 2027, in response to requests from service members.
American troops will be able to choose vegan food as part of an upcoming update to the Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs) programme, the US government has confirmed.
MREs are dehydrated field rations for soldiers in combat or in situations where cooking isn’t possible. Each packaged meal contains an entrée, a side dish, snacks, a beverage powder, a utensil, and accessories like matches.
These have historically been meat-heavy, with vegetarian meals only appearing in 1986. The current menu of 24 dishes only contains four meatless options. Starting in 2027, vegetarian MREs will be replaced by vegan options instead.
US military will serve over six million vegan MREs annually
Courtesy: Tyler J Bolken
Each year, food scientists at the DEVCOM Soldier Center’s Combat Feeding Division work to develop new components of the MRE menu, based on feedback from service members and food trends in the commercial sector.
The next iteration of MREs is due in 2026, and will replace several unpopular beef items and add more protein-filled snacks (like freeze-dried chocolate peanut butter bites) and caffeinated products.
Items for MRE 47, due in 2027, are already in development. According to Julie Edwards, a registered dietitian and senior technologist at the Combat Feeding Division, one request from soldiers was the inclusion of more plant-based meals.
The team has developed several plant-based snacks, including animal-shaped crackers, a protein bar, a recovery bar, and a fruit-flavoured cereal. Edwards confirmed that the four vegetarian entrées will be swapped for vegan ones when this iteration of MREs is rolled out.
According to animal rights charity Mercy for Animals, the US military issues over 37 million MREs every year, so the move could result in more than six million vegan meals served to service members annually. This will cater to the 81% of service members who say the military should provide plant-based MREs, according to a 2022 survey by the animal rights group.
And while the environmental benefit would have been higher had the vegan MREs replaced meat-based dishes instead of vegetarian ones, the change will still lower a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions. Dairy alone takes up 4% of the world’s emissions, and plant-based foods have a much lower climate footprint.
A sign of the prevailing demand for plant-based food in the military
Courtesy: Julio Hernandez
The shift towards vegan MREs has been some years in the making. In July 2022, the US House of Representatives passed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, one of whose requirements was that the Defense Logistics Agency produce a report on the demand for plant-based MREs.
The report was not submitted by its September 2023 deadline, but internal discussions continued within the Department of Defense, according to Mercy for Animals.
As mentioned above, the organisation has previously conducted its own survey of over 200 active-duty troops to measure demand for vegan MREs. It found that 3.5% of service members are vegan, and 42% either didn’t eat meat, were flexitarian, or were trying to decrease their intake of animal products.
Moreover, 63% felt plant-based food is more sustainable, and just over half believed it’s healthier and provides more energy than meat. When asked specifically about MREs, 81% said they’d pick climate-friendly meals if given the option, and 63% would choose vegan over meat-based ready meals.
The military’s provision of vegan MREs is a big deal, especially amid a climate where animal-based foods are being championed by the Trump administration and sales of plant-based food are falling. The impending rollout of these meals showcases the demand for more sustainable eating habits among soldiers.
The move builds on previous instances of plant-based options being available at specific facilities. In 2019, one vegan soldier successfully campaigned to include a plant-based main at every meal in a US Army dining facility.
And last year, Impossible Foods began working with US Army Central to serve its meat alternatives at military cafeterias in North Africa, the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia. Months later, Korean food giant CJ CheilJedang rolled out its Bibigo plant-based dumplings to grocery stores inside US military bases in South Korea.
Nigel Sizer, the new CEO of the Good Food Institute, discusses the current predicament of alternative proteins, the industry’s milestones, and the need for more investment.
It’s been over a month since Nigel Sizer took over as CEO of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI).
Based in New York, Sizer is leading the non-profit’s global operations, working closely with regional offices in Asia-Pacific, Brazil, Europe, Japan, India, and Israel.
His appointment comes amid a turbulent time for the industry. Sales have plummeted in some of the biggest markets for alternative proteins, including the US and the UK, and investment has slowed dramatically.
Take plant-based food, for example. In 2021, startups in this space garnered $3.8B in funding, as the sector gained ground on the back of highly publicised IPOs for Beyond Meat and Oatly, and animal proteins took a hit amid Covid-19 and growing concern around the climate crisis. In 2024, however, this segment secured just $309M in investment.
These challenges have caused tons of disruption to an industry built on the idea of disruption. Since September 2024, more than 40 alternative protein businesses have either shut or been acquired, and the era of consolidation will likely continue for the foreseeable future.
GFI is at the heart of the industry’s push to boost investment and policy support, which has diminished as climate takes a backseat in stakeholders’ decision-making.
Sizer is hoping to change that. He spent 15 years in the Global South working for organisations like the UN Environmental Programme and The Nature Conservancy, among others. In addition, he served as the president and CEO of Rainforest Alliance, and as the global director for forests at the World Resources Institute. After Covid-19, he founded Preventing Pandemic at the Source, a 20-organisation coalition lobbying for policies centring on upstream pandemic prevention.
Now, Sizer is building upon all that experience to take the fight for food systems transformation to the next level. In an interview with Green Queen, he outlines the alternative protein space’s most prominent accomplishments and challenges, whether the climate argument still works with consumers, and his immediate priorities at GFI.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Green Queen: What’s your view on the current state of alternative proteins? What hasn’t been done well? What could be done better?
Graphic by Green Queen
Nigel Sizer: It’s an important moment for alternative proteins. The field has made some real progress in terms of scientific research and innovation, regulatory advancements, and consumer awareness.
We know that products still aren’t consistently meeting people’s expectations on taste, price, and convenience. Funding levels—both public and private—are also far below where they need to be to unlock the full potential of these innovations.
And on top of that, disinformation campaigns disparaging new foods are impacting consumer perceptions, and some of the alternatives, like cultivated meat, are being judged prematurely and even banned before they’ve had the chance to prove themselves in a fair marketplace.
I see many of these challenges as the natural growing pains of a young sector. It’s a bit like where solar power or electric vehicles were a couple of decades ago – scepticism and costs were high, and adoption was slow, but look where they are now.
What excites me is that alternative proteins are increasingly being recognised by experts and policymakers as essential for addressing climate change, food security, and public health.
With more investment, continued scientific breakthroughs, and strong collaboration across the public and private sectors, I’m confident the field can deliver products people love while helping solve some of the world’s most urgent challenges.
GQ: What do you feel are some of the industry’s biggest wins?
Graphic by Green Queen
NS: In recent years, governments around the world have begun leaning into alternative proteins in a way we haven’t seen before, recognising their potential to strengthen food security, resilience, and climate action.
Those kinds of signals matter. They show that policymakers increasingly see the alternative protein industry as part of the solution set for the world’s most urgent challenges.
We’ve also seen remarkable regulatory and consumer-facing progress. In just the last few months, US regulators have completed rigorous FDA and USDA reviews, resulting in the world’s first approvals of several cultivated products.
Today, Americans in several cities can order cultivated salmon, and we’re expecting the first-ever retail launch of a cultivated meat product in the US to happen any day now – a milestone that points to what the future of food could look like. Globally, consumers in Australia and Singapore can currently buy cultivated meat at more than 60 points of sale, and just this month, a product using cultivated pork fat was served in a US restaurant for the first time.
It’s also been exciting to see that over the past year, both public and private funding for the fermentation sector has grown significantly, with initiatives like the US iFAB Tech Hub signalling that policymakers now view fermentation as a cornerstone of the American bioeconomy.
It’s still early days compared to nearly a century of industrial animal agriculture, but the pace of progress is undeniable – whether it’s reports showing culture media costs dropping by more than 99% from pharmaceutical baselines, or the launch of major new research hubs like the Bezos Centers for Sustainable Proteins in North Carolina, London, and Singapore.
Taken together, these wins are laying the foundation for alternative proteins to deliver on their promise of a more sustainable, secure, and resilient food future.
Courtesy: Rocío Lower/Bezos Earth Fund
GQ: Do you think the climate argument still holds weight with consumers?
NS: There are definitely consumers – especially younger and more values-driven communities – who prioritise climate and sustainability when making their food choices.
For example, GFI’s consumer segmentation research shows that groups like ‘Ethical Alternative Seekers’ are motivated by sustainability, among other values, when deciding whether to buy plant-based meat. And GFI Europe also found that environmental concerns play an important role for many European consumers who are consciously reducing their meat consumption. So yes, the climate argument still matters for some consumer segments around the world.
At the same time, most people choose what to eat based on price, taste, and convenience – and that’s why GFI’s theory of change is centred on making sure alternative proteins compete on those terms.
Because regardless of whether someone is motivated by climate when they shop, the fact remains that we cannot meet growing global demand for protein under our current, business-as-usual food system. Something has to change, and alternative proteins are one of the most powerful tools we have to meet that demand in a way that’s sustainable, secure, and equitable.
GQ: What lessons are you applying from your previous roles?
Courtesy: Wildtype
NS: Looking back, a lot of what I’ve done in past roles feels like preparation for this moment at GFI. Whether it was working to protect forests or scaling climate and health initiatives, I saw again and again how our food system is deeply tied to some of the world’s toughest challenges.
One lesson that really stuck with me at the Rainforest Alliance and World Resources Institute is that progress doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens when you bring people together around practical, science-based solutions and build the partnerships needed to take them to scale.
That’s exactly the kind of approach we need at GFI. Transforming how the world produces protein isn’t something one sector or one country can do on its own – it requires international collaboration, diverse expertise, and coordination across both public and private sectors.
My background in building global coalitions and mobilising resources gives me a solid foundation to help GFI do just that. And what excites me is the chance to apply that experience to accelerate the work so that sustainable proteins become a trusted, central part of how we feed the world.
GQ: What are the biggest challenges facing you in your role? And what are your main goals over the next 12 months?
Courtesy: GEA Group
NS: Like nearly every sector outside of AI, alternative proteins are navigating a tough funding environment right now. That means one of the biggest challenges ahead is ensuring that the scientific research, infrastructure, and innovation critical to this field continue to move forward despite near-term investment headwinds.
Securing resources and making the case for why this work matters – for climate, biodiversity, food security, and public health – is central to my role. And when advocating for increased investment in science and scaling, it’s vital to underscore both the stakes and the solutions: the risks we face if food systems don’t change, and the opportunities we unlock if they do.
Over the next year, my focus will be twofold: first, strengthening GFI’s capacity to drive more public investment into R&D, manufacturing, and scale-up for alternative proteins.
Second, keeping our work tightly connected to the bigger picture: the rate of forest loss from agricultural expansion, the state of our oceans under pressure from overfishing, and the rise of zoonotic diseases with pandemic potential, just to name a few.
Alternative proteins are a powerful part of the solution to all of these challenges, and I’m committed to making sure GFI helps turn that potential into measurable progress. By building momentum now, we can lay the groundwork for a more resilient, secure, and sustainable global food system for the decades to come.
As food innovators respond to soaring egg prices with replacers ranging from yeast to pea protein, one French startup is betting on chickpea water – but in a new format.
For some years now, aquafaba has been the go-to egg white substitute for home bakers making meringues and bartenders mixing up a whiskey sour.
The ingredient – the leftover liquid from cooking beans – gave chickpeas a new purpose, birthing everything from dedicated cookbooks to startups selling the liquid by itself.
Despite its magical abilities, though, there have been questions over whether we really need companies to sell chickpea water when consumers can just buy cans of the beans for a fraction of the price at the supermarket, getting two ingredients for the price of one.
With avian flu pushing egg prices to record-highs, there’s a new market opening up for aquafaba, one that’s beyond the home kitchen. Professional bakeries and the CPG food manufacturing industry are both in dire need of egg white alternatives that offer the same emulsification, foamability, and whippability.
“When we first asked chefs how they replaced egg whites, many smiled and pointed to chickpea cans. They used the cooking water, aquafaba, because it foamed and bound just like egg whites. A clever hack, but not sustainable if we wanted to make this alternative accessible at scale,” says Arnaud Delacour, co-founder and CEO of The Very Food Co, which has turned the “kitchen trick into a clean-label, ready-to-use product with consistent functionality”.
Its liquid version is already in use in eight countries, including France, Canada, Australia and Germany. “But when we moved into bakeries and industrial manufacturing, we hit a wall: liquid didn’t fit their processes. At first, we thought it was only about size – one-litre packs were too small. But the real insight was that many professionals can only work with powders,” he explains.
That led the French startup to develop its newest solution, a Very Aquafaba Powder that is stable, lightweight, and easy to dose in industrial lines. “Together, the two formats make aquafaba truly universal, from chefs’ kitchens to large-scale production,” Delacour says.
How The Very Food Co makes its aquafaba powder
Courtesy: The Very Food Co
To make its liquid version, The Very Food Co starts by cooking dry chickpeas much like you would at home, except on an industrial scale and under controlled conditions, to ensure consistent functionality each time.
“We then concentrate it by reducing the water content, and finally dry it into a fine, soluble powder that can be rehydrated and used just like egg whites in foams, mousses, or bakery applications,” says Delacour, who founded the startup in 2022 with CSO and CTO Oscar Castellani.
“We work with European-grown chickpeas. In our process, only the cooking water – where the functional proteins and soluble fibres are released – becomes aquafaba. The chickpeas themselves don’t go to waste: they are fully valorised, most commonly into food products like hummus, flours, or purées.
“This circular approach means that nothing is discarded, and every part of the raw material is put to good use. It’s a core part of our sustainability story: creating value from what was once overlooked, while ensuring no food is wasted.”
So how does the powder differ from conventional aquafaba from a chickpea can? Delacour suggests that the powder builds on its liquid’s success by offering a different set of advantages.
“It’s much more concentrated, so chefs and manufacturers can dose it precisely depending on the recipe, and it’s shelf-stable at room temperature, even after opening. It also lets you store and transport far more ‘egg equivalent’ in a much smaller footprint. Rehydrated, it delivers the same foaming, binding, and emulsifying properties as liquid – just in a format that fits better into industrial processes,” he says.
TLDR? “Liquid aquafaba made the ingredient accessible, and powdered aquafaba makes it universal, from artisan bakers to large-scale manufacturing,” the CEO highlights.
Courtesy: The Very Food Co
A clean-label, easy-to-understand egg replacer
We’re talking aquafaba at a time when the global egg supply chain has been wrecked by bird flu. Prices have never been high in some countries, though the demand has sharply increased. At the same time, anticipated price corrections have led some producers of powdered eggs to delay purchases, exacerbating the supply gap.
“Egg whites are a commodity, one of the most optimised ingredients in the world. Decades of industrial farming have driven costs down to the bare minimum. Aquafaba, by contrast, is a specialty ingredient, and the economics are very different. We’re building a new category from the ground up, so by definition, costs are higher today,” Delacour explains.
He argues that the Very Aquafaba products go “far beyond cost per kg”, offering a clean-label, allergen-free alternative with a transparent and simplified value chain. “You don’t rely on animal farming or volatile commodity markets, and you can make products that are lower in calories, easier to label, and safer for consumers with dietary restrictions,” he says.
The company produces its aquafaba in an industrial site in Europe. “Our process is designed to scale efficiently, which means we can ramp up quickly as demand grows. From 2026 onwards, we will have the capacity to produce around 100 tonnes of powder per year, with clear potential to expand well beyond that,” notes Delacour.
The Very Food Co is among several startups that have come out with functional vegan egg replacers for B2B applications recently, including Revyve (which uses yeast protein) and Meala (pea protein), which are upgrades to first-generation egg substitutes. How does its chickpea-based alternative fare?
Courtesy: The Very Food Co
“The first point of difference is the clean-label appeal. On an ingredient list, aquafaba is simply ‘water, chickpeas’ – that’s it. Compare that with many egg replacers today, which rely on gums, starches, microalgae extracts, or protein isolates from peas or potatoes. These can work functionally, but they often look technical or artificial to the average consumer. Aquafaba, by contrast, is simple, familiar, and easy to understand,” he says.
“Functionally, it’s one of the most studied egg white alternatives in the world. Food enthusiasts already know the trick: open a can of chickpeas and use the liquid as a natural egg white replacer. It foams, binds, and emulsifies, and it has been proven in countless recipes, from meringues to mousses. Beyond foaming, it even acts as a partial whole-egg replacer thanks to its natural binding properties.”
He adds that The Very Food Co isn’t inventing a new ingredient. Instead, it’s industrialising one that people already know works: “We make it reliable, consistent, and available to manufacturers worldwide.”
Why it’s all about B2B for The Very Food Co
The liquid aquafaba made by the startup is already being used in restaurants and cocktail bars globally. “In pastry, chefs rely on the liquid version to create allergen-free desserts such as mousses, meringues, pavlova, etc. In mixology, bartenders prefer it over egg whites for cocktails like sours, where it delivers the same texture without the allergen concerns,” says Delacour.
“One of my favourite experiences so far has been at the Hôtel du Palais Royal in Paris, where chef Maxime Raab uses Very Aquafaba in desserts while the bar team incorporates it into cocktails. Seeing the same ingredient bring together both kitchen and bar for pairing dinners is exactly the kind of versatility that makes aquafaba so exciting.”
The startup’s primary target market for the aquafaba powder is France. It’s already in talks with manufacturers here – until now, many of those discussions have centred on its other innovations, like Very Tourage (a butter alternative), which Delacour believes has helped the brand build a strong, credible platform to introduce Very Aquafaba Powder.
“We will begin sampling in October, so while we don’t yet have ongoing projects with manufacturers specifically on the powder, we know the interest is there. Compared to when we started, the difference is striking: people now listen and are eager to see what we can bring,” he says.
Courtesy: The Very Food Co
Could we see the powder make it onto supermarket shelves? “It’s hard to say at this stage. We know there are initiatives in the B2C segment for egg replacers, but for us, the real opportunity is an ingredient play. Egg replacement is fundamentally about functionality, and our strength is making that functionality available to professionals and manufacturers at scale,” explains Delacour.
“Of course, there could be opportunities in retail, but rather than building our own consumer brand, we see more value in supplying retail brands or co-developing products with them. Going B2C would require heavy marketing investments and a very different focus, whereas our priority is to be the best possible ingredient partner.”
So far, the startup has raised around €1M ($1.2M) in funding. “At this stage, our priority is not fundraising but turning our products into a commercial success,” says Delacour. “We may consider raising again in 2026 to accelerate growth, but right now the focus is on execution and building the business.”
Can its Very Aquafaba whip up an alt-egg revolution?
Time Magazine has released its annual list of the world’s best inventions, recognising a range of alternative protein and future food innovations.
From fish grown in bioreactors to butter made from carbon, some of this year’s most exciting food tech innovations have made it to Time Magazine’s list of the Best Inventions of 2025.
The annual publication has been expanded to include 300 products and technologies, the biggest in its 25-year history. The magazine sought nominations from its editors and correspondents around the world, with special attention paid to growing fields like AI and healthcare.
Each innovation was evaluated on a range of factors, including originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact. The honourees span a multitude of categories, including food and drink, agriculture, sustainability, green tech, and social impact.
When it comes to food tech, the 2025 list features innovations like cultivated seafood, animal- and plant-free butter, vegan gummies, mycoprotein, and more.
Wildtype, Savor, and The Better Meat Co among 2025 honourees
The company was the first to sell cultivated seafood anywhere in the world, and has joined forces with cultivated chicken maker Upside Foods to sue Texas over its ban on these proteins.
California is, in fact, home to several food tech startups on Time’s Best Inventions list. This includes Savor, which transforms point-captured carbon dioxide, green hydrogen, and methane into agriculture-free fats that can replace dairy and palm oil.
It launched its carbon-derived butter this year, working with the patisserie of San Francisco’s Michelin-starred outpost, One65, to sell bonbons and cookies. Savor has also partnered with fellow Michelin-starred eateries SingleThread and Atelier Crenn, and beloved establishment Jane the Bakery. And it’s now raising a Series B round to build a 10,000-tonne facility.
Speaking of fundraisers, in August, West Sacramento-based The Better Meat Co secured $31M in Series A funding for its Rhiza mycoprotein, a whole-biomass ingredient offering complete protein and high digestibility. Recognised on Time’s list, it is produced by feeding microbes on sorghum and potato sidestreams, and is on course to beat commodity beef prices next year.
Courtesy: The Better Meat Co
Rhiza can be used in vegan and blended meat applications, and is already sold to Hormel Foods, Maple Leaf Foods, K12 caterer SFE, and plant-based salmon maker Oshi. The company has secured five agreements from major meat producers in North America, South America and Asia, which are set to bring $13M in annual revenue.
Meanwhile, Swedish firm Orkla Snacks’s vegan foamy gummies, called Bubs, went viral on social media last year, causing an unexpected supply shortage. Now, four new flavours have been launched in the US, made from the same proprietary recipe and manufacturing technique that earned it a spot on Time’s list.
In the experimental category of the Best Inventions list, Time namechecked a cultivated chicken that made international headlines. University of Tokyo researchers created a nugget-sized piece of meat via a hollow fibre bioreactor, opening possibilities to grow whole cuts of cultivated meat, the industry’s holy grail.
Time Magazine’s list also featured 100 special mentions, and among them is Texas-based artisanal dairy-free brand Rebel Cheese, which uses “cave ageing and proprietary cultures to better match the flavours of their dairy counterparts”.
Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and Alpro named World’s Best Brands
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
This week, Time Magazine also released its annual list of the World’s Best Brands, which aims to guide consumers to make more informed decisions and navigate through the brands available in each category.
The publication works with Statista to identify the top brands in the US, the UK, Germany, and Mexico, based on surveys of over 90,000 consumers in each country (India and Brazil will be added in December).
A weighted overall score based on brand awareness (15%), social buzz (10%), likability (30%), usage (15%), and loyalty (30%) was calculated for each brand in the 72 categories. The top-rated entry’s overall score was set at 100, and the scores of the following brands were adjusted accordingly.
In the US, Silk was named the top plant-based milk brand, followed by Almond Breeze, Chobani, Planet Oat, and Califia Farms. Likewise, Chobani topped the overall yoghurt category (it makes both dairy and plant-based versions), and Silk’s fully dairy-free yoghurts were third.
When it came to meat alternatives, Kellanova-owned MorningStar Farms was recognised as the best brand in the US, followed closely by Beyond Meat (with a score of 98.2) and Impossible Foods (92). Field Roast and Gardein rounded out the top five.
Courtesy: Alpro
In the UK, Alpro was named as the best plant-based milk brand in 2025 by Time, with Oatly close behind. Califia Farms, Rude Health and Koko were also on the list, but the gap between the scores is sizeable. Alpro was also fifth in the overall yoghurt segment. Meanwhile, market-leading Quorn was the best meat-free brand, a list also featuring Linda McCartney, Beyond Meat, Amy’s Kitchen, and Cauldron Foods.
Alpro’s dominance of the non-dairy milk market continued in Germany, where it was trailed by Alnatura, Oatly, KoRo and Bio Primo. Rügenwalder Mühle won the honour of the best meat alternative brand, with Green Cuisine, Alnatura, Beyond Meat, and Nestlé’s Garden Gourmet also on the list.
Finally, in Mexico, local company César Soya was named the best brand of meat analogues, followed by Gardein, fellow Mexican firm Soi-yah!, Loma Linda, and Beyond Meat.
The owner of the world’s largest meat company has warned that the US is not producing enough beef to satisfy the GLP-1-fuelled protein demand. But two of its subsidiaries have a readymade solution.
As beef prices go out of control, leading consumers to opt for other proteins, the world’s biggest meat producer is putting part of the blame on Ozempic.
Americans are chomping down on protein like never before. This year, 70% are trying to consume the macroingredient, and one in three have increased their intake, with meat being the top source. However, the food industry isn’t able to keep up with this soaring demand, thanks to climate-change-induced supply shortages.
Beef is the primary example of this mess. It has never been more expensive in the US, breaking the all-time record every month since March. In August, average ground beef prices reached $6.32 per lb, up by 14% from last 12 months ago. In contrast, the rate of overall inflation was 3%.
US consumer price index for beef (from 2020) | Courtesy: Bureau of Labor Statistics
It is the most polluting and land-intensive food out there, and the planet simply does not have the resources to produce the amount of beef people want.
But the co-owner of JBS, a $15B stain on the climate fight, says rising beef prices are a result of high tariffs and the GLP-1 boom. One in eight Americans has used a weight-loss drug like Ozempic and Mounjaro, which have turned the food industry on its head.
“No one knows exactly what is the impact of these new drugs, Ozempic or Mounjaro… but something is happening because protein overall became [a trend],” Wesley Batista, who sits on JBS’s board, told the Financial Times. “In the past […] the doctor said you should not eat too [many] eggs, you should not eat too much protein. Now it’s the other way around.”
Why beef is getting more expensive
Batista’s claim that Ozempic is driving protein demand isn’t unfounded. GLP-1 users are recommended to eat plenty of protein, since these drugs can cause a 25-40% decrease in muscle mass over eight to 16 months, several times greater than non-medicated weight-loss approaches and age-related muscle loss.
Meanwhile, GLP-1 users are already spending 11% less on most categories of food, and over half (56%) are aiming to make healthier food choices. Foods high in sugar, fat and calories stand to lose, while protein and fibre are all the rage.
The conundrum for the US meat industry, though, is keeping up with the demand while retaining prices. Right now, it is unable to do either. American beef cattle herd inventories have fallen to levels not seen in 70 years, as an ongoing drought decimates grazing pastures.
Cattle cycles tend to run for eight to 12 years, characterised by cattle production and producers’ response to changes in the market. The current cycle began in 2014 and hit a contraction phase in 2020 that has continued since, thanks in large part to drought.
Courtesy: US Drought Monitor
In fact, cattle inventories have contracted at an increasing rate each year since the start of the pandemic. In October 2024, 62% of cattle were in areas suffering from drought, the most since December 2022. The US Department of the Interior warns that drought poses a “serious environmental threat”, and climate change makes droughts “more frequent, longer, and more severe”.
Beef herds will also continue to get smaller unless producers expand their operations, an expensive premise given the high interest rates that mean they’re paying more for operating loans.
US beef imports set to rise, at a climate cost
“The US is facing the highest beef price in history, and so the US needs to import more and more because production is not there to support the demand,” Batista told the Financial Times.
While it’s the largest beef-producing country, the US has imported 30% more beef in the first half of 2025. And Brazil has benefitted particularly, exporting 91% more beef to the US in this period, despite a 10% tariff imposed by President Donald Trump.
Brazilian beef imports only began to fall in August after Trump increased the tariffs to 50%, thanks in part to a political spat with the South American country. Batista said JBS, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in June despite widespread calls to block its IPO, wasn’t hit hard by the tariffs.
Courtesy: PCRM/Morning Consult
Consumers, though, have borne the brunt. In the last six months, 72% of Americans have noticed that beef has become more expensive, leading half (48%) to reduce the amount of beef they’re buying, and 12% to give it up altogether, a recent poll by Morning Consult and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) found.
The US Department of Agriculture forecasts beef imports to increase in the second half of 2025 too, bringing the total volume up by 16% for the entire year. That, combined with inflation and tariffs, will mean continued high prices for beef.
There’s also a climate drawback here. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization notes that American beef has just a quarter of the carbon footprint of Brazilian beef. That said, the industry still has an outsized impact on the planet, generating more emissions and using up more land than any other food.
JBS already has a solution in Vivera and The Vegetarian Butcher
Courtesy: Rene Van Den Berg/Dreamstime
For Batista and JBS, the solution to beef’s multifaceted issues lies in-house. The company has invested hundreds of millions in alternative proteins over the years, most prominently buying meat-free leader Vivera for $400M in 2021, and then The Vegetarian Butcher from Unilever this year (the two have now been merged in a new collective).
Plant-based meat offers comparable amounts of protein to beef, albeit with a fraction of the climate footprint. For example, ground beef sold by JBS’s Certified Angus Beef brand in the US contains 19g of protein and 22g of fat. The Vegetarian Butcher’s soy-based Nomince, meanwhile, offers 22g of protein for the same amount, and with 98% less fat (and no cholesterol), playing into GLP-1 trends.
Similarly, a beef tenderloin steak from Swift Meats (another JBS subsidiary) contains 20g of protein, the same amount present in Vivera’s plant-based steak.
Americans aren’t afraid to shift away from beef. While only 7% of Americans have resorted to buying plant-based alternatives in response to high beef prices, 35% will consider doing so on their next trip to the grocery store, according to the PCRM poll. If the cost of beef continues to climb, this would rise to 37% in the long run.
In fact, high beef prices are by far the top reason that would drive consumers to buy plant proteins instead of beef, cited by 58%. Another 46% are concerned about the health implications of eating beef. Crucially, 44% of Americans would buy these proteins instead of beef if they’re cheaper (as of 2024, the average price gap stood at 14%), and 41% would do so if they tasted better – some already do.
Courtesy: PCRM/Morning Consult
There are other factors at play too. “In Nebraska, a slaughterhouse recently experienced an immigration raid, and given that there are other incidents, the current administration’s immigration policies could lead to a shortage of slaughterhouse workers,” Anna Herby, a nutrition education specialist at PCRM, told Green Queen.
“Producing plant protein requires fewer workers. Overall, it’s much more efficient to raise food for people to eat directly rather than hire workers to raise crops to feed to cattle and then employ another set of (mostly immigrant workers) to slaughter the cattle,” she added.
Batista said that while beef products keep getting pricier in some markets, the “demand is still very strong, especially in the US”. However, with extreme weather and tariffs butchering the industry’s ability to meet the appetite for protein, plant-based brands with established supply chains can fill the gap, and that too with better nutrition and climate credentials.
