Canadian alt-protein platform Cult Food Science has launched vegan cat treats under its sub-brand Noochies. The new product uses the company’s patented Bmmune nutritional yeast ingredient.
Cult Food Science’s new plant-based cat treats are freeze-dried and said to have “an amino acid profile similar to cuts of chicken or lamb”, alongside “high levels of protein and dietary fibre, and some great B vitamin content”, according to Noochies founder Joshua Errett, who is the VP of product development at Cult Food Science.
Errett claims the product is “first to market” in this segment in North America. He added: “I don’t believe there is a healthier cat snack in the world today.” In addition, Noochies says it uses post-consumer recycled packaging and carbon-neutral shipping for the product.
The cat treats are made with Cult Food Science’s patented Bmmune ingredient, which is a blend of nutritional yeast and fermented fungi – Errett confirmed to Green Queen that Bmmune is a cultivated yeast, as opposed to a wild or Brewer’s yeast, but there’s no cultivated meat in the treats. The ingredient is rich in postbiotic material and polyphenols, which have been found to fight inflammation, rebalance cats’ intestinal health, reduce oxidative stress and even decrease cancer-related bacteria activity.
Noochies’ brand history
Courtesy: Noochies
Noochies was previously a brand asset of BioCraft Pet Nutrition (formerly Because Animals), which was co-founded by Errett and CEO Shannon Falconer. Subsequently, Everett joined Cult Food Science as VP of Product Development, which acquired Noochies and two provisional patents for rehydrated-then-freeze-dried-yeast, probiotic-based pet supplements.
At the time, Falconer said the company aimed to focus on the commercialisation of its cultivated meat tech, having discontinued its nutritional-yeast-based products last year and agreed to sell “all formulations and two provisional patents related to these discontinued products” to Errett, who had departed the company and joined Cult as VP in October 2022.
“Because Animals retains all of its intellectual property relating to cultured meat – which is our core business – and we are committed to revolutionising the pet food industry with this technology,” said Falconer. Earlier this month, the company unveiled an AI and machine learning tool to accelerate R&D and identify cheaper inputs and ingredients, as well as those less likely to raise regulatory concerns – a big step for cultured meat companies.
Alt-protein for pets
Courtesy: BioCraft Pet Nutrition
Noochies isn’t the only Cult brand working on alternative pet food. In August, it partnered with Singapore-based cultured seafood producer Umami Bioworks to unveil Marina Cat, a cultivated pet food brand. It will combine Umami’s cell-cultured red ocean snapper and Cult’s Bmmune ingredient, with aims to begin production later this year, and have a widespread launch in 2024.
“My vision for the future is that we no longer have to slaughter other animals to feed our cats,” Errett said at the time. “This brand brings me one very great step closer to making that a reality.” Other brands working in the cell-based pet food space include Bond Pet Food, which created cultured chicken for pets in 2020, and Wild Earth, which developed a cultivated chicken broth topper for dogs last year.
Wild Earth makes vegan pet food too, a category that features brands like Omni, The Pack, V-Dog, Hownd and Benevo as well, among others. Research has shown that if all the world’s dogs and cats went vegan, it would help feed nearly 520 million people, conserve land the size of multiple countries, and save billions of animals from slaughter. Studies have also eased consumer concerns about the health benefits of vegan food for cats, who have always been known as obligate carnivores.
Last month, a survey of 1,369 cat owners found that cats on a plant-based diet could be healthier than those fed meat, with owners reporting fewer visits to the vet, reduced medication use and assessments of severe illness, and more vets describing vegan cats as healthy – though only 127 cats were on a vegan diet in the study, which is a small sample size.
In 2021, a similar study of 1,026 cats found that 18% of felines (187) who were fed plant-based diets were more frequently reported by guardians to be in very good health. This is translating to consumers too: in the UK, a 2022 survey by The Vegan Society revealed that 40% of owners who feed their cats a plant-based diet do so because they believe it’s healthier.
As for Noochies, which has worked with cultivated proteins previously, Erret says: “I’m mission-driven, for animals and the environment, so everything I do is going to be vegan – until I can get regulatory approval on cell-cultivated meats.”
Andy Shovel, co-founder of UK plant-based meat brand THIS, talks to Green Queen about the company’s new TV ad, profitability plans, and why he’s optimistic about the vegan meat industry.
THIS has just launched its first TV spot starring British food critic Grace Dent, who appears to be fooled by the ‘hyperrealistic-ness’ of the company’s pea protein sausage. The two-month-long campaign is the brand’s biggest to date, with an investment of over £600,000 across TV, out-of-home, in-store, digital, social and influencer advertising.
The 30-second commercial sees Dent participate in a pork sausage taste test, where she says she can tell the difference between traditional and plant-based pork. But as she bites into what she appears to believe is a conventional sausage, Dent is told that it’s actually vegan.
She proceeds to walk off the set disgruntled, as on-screen tiles read: “83% less fat than pork sausage” and “Can really annoy a food critic”. It ends with a voicemail from her agent played back on the screen, where he says Dent is concerned about her credibility as a food critic.
Leaning into health
It’s a neatly packaged ad that sums up THIS’s entire brand appeal and mission to position health at the forefront of its messaging – something more and more plant-based meat brands are doing as they lean into consumer priorities. A 1,000-person survey published yesterday by Bryant Research and ProVeg International found that health benefits are the top reason for Brits to eat plant-based meat (39%), followed closely by taste (36%).
Courtesy: Bryant Research/ProVeg International
“Oh, the delicious deception!” Dent said in a statement. “Being tricked into savouring a plant-based pork sausage was certainly a revelation. The taste and texture [were] uncanny to the real deal.”
It’s important to note that despite the realness of the ad, THIS points out that this ‘deception’ was just an illusion. “Grace did actually know she was going to be trying plant-based sausages,” admits THIS co-founder Andy Shovel. “But, we’ve actually fooled a bunch of food critics in a previous social media campaign, which then spurred on the idea of entering into a partnership with Grace Dent.”
Reaching profitability and reading between the headlines
THIS’s new campaign comes just on the back of its announcement that – after four years of operations and over £38M raised in funding – it is on track for profitability by next year. Shovel told City A.M. that the company’s gross margins “massively improved” in the first half of 2023, following years of focusing on growth over profitability.
Asked how THIS got to this point, Shovel tells Green Queen it has been a huge undertaking. “We’ve looked at all parts of our supply chain to ensure we maintain THIS quality but drive a culture of continuous cost improvement, and it’s a journey that will continue,” he says.
THIS co-founders Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman | Courtesy: THIS
“[The] biggest driver of this has been rationalising our supplier base and focusing on a few key partners. We’ve also set up our own UK manufacturing site, which is now fully operational and have been working hard on ramping up our volumes. As a result of our growth, we’ve also been able to unlock better costs on raw materials and packaging.”
It’s a bit of positive news in an overall bleaker time for plant-based food in the UK. Despite being Europe’s second-largest vegan market – with Brits spending £964M on plant-based meat and dairy last year – sales have stagnated and total investment in plant-based protein R&D has been overtaken by cultivated meat in the last decade. According to the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe, plant-based sales declined by 3% between 2021-22 in the UK, with meat alternative sales sliding by 8% in the same period.
Just last week, for example, mycoprotein giant Quorn announced a loss of £15.3M in its yearly accounts, citing cost hikes, stagnating sales and post-pandemic inflationary pressures. The UK market has seen a number of vegan brands pull some products from supermarkets, including the likes of Oatly (ice cream tubs), Innocent Drinks (smoothies), Nestlé (Wunda and Garden Gourmet), and Heck (most of its meatless range).
Courtesy: THIS
But Shovel believes the bigger picture isn’t as despairing. “If you step back and look at it through a less press-driven lens, stripping out increased in-home consumption driven by COVID, the growth has been nothing short of huge: 47% since 2020, compared to meat, fish and poultry growing by just 8% in the same time period,” he says, citing THIS’s managing director Mark Turner.
“There’s been a lot of doom and gloom in the headlines due to declines of a few players, when in fact better-tasting stronger brands like THIS have been able to grow – we are 50% up year-on-year at the moment,” Shovel adds. In the long term, he remains bullish about the segment, noting that health, environment and ethics are reasons that “matter loads and aren’t going away”.
Optimism for the category and Dutch focus
“I am actually really excited about the stage the market is entering,” he says. “For too long, there’s been too many brands with wildly varying product quality, that have put off meat reducers from truly believing in the category. It’s also been confusing to shop – no supermarket needs to list 15 types of plant-based sausage.”
But there are mixed sentiments regarding this, at least according to data from the Bryant Research/ProVeg International survey. It revealed that while 27% said there’s too much choice and it’s confusing to shop for plant-based meat in the UK, it was the statement most disagreed with in the study.
Courtesy: Bryant Research/ProVeg International
On the contrary, the research shows that along with health, taste is paramount to consumers in this category, with 51% citing taste and textural reasons for reducing their vegan meat consumption. It follows further analysis by the Kerry Group last year – covering 1,500 consumers across four countries (including the UK) – which revealed that flavour is key to consumer preference.
It’s along these lines that Shovel says: “We’re now at a stage where the sector is consolidating and poor-quality brands are coming out the market, with more brands consumers can trust and shelves that are way easier to navigate. Finally, I’m excited about finding other ways to service the 58% of UK consumers who are actively reducing their meat intake – beyond just meat alternatives.” [We haven’t verified this number.]
As for THIS, where next? It recently launched vegan roast chicken and chicken and bacon pie, and made its first splash into international waters by launching in the Netherlands. “It’s an interesting market as most brands there still cater to just vegans and vegetarians with very green branding and messaging – not too dissimilar [to] where the UK was when we first entered the market, so it feels prime for disruption,” explains Shovel.
Courtesy: THIS
But instead of “scattergunning into loads more countries”, it wants to dig deep into its Netherlands operations for now. “A recent GFI report revealed that the Dutch have the highest consumption of plant-based foods per capita. So for now, we really want to establish ourselves there as it’s no small project,” he says.
“Longer term,” he adds, “no region is off the table!”
Months after voting to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat in the country, Italy has withdrawn its notification of the proposed bill to the EU. But while this could spell a victory for alt-protein and a sustainable future food system, it may not all be rosy.
In March of this year, Giorgia Meloni’s newly appointed far-right government proposed a draft law to ban lab-grown food in Italy – which included cultivated meat – to “safeguard our nation’s heritage”. Anyone found to produce or trade these proteins risked facing a €60,000 ban and having their manufacturing plants closed down.
It drew criticism from activists and opposition politicians. Riccardo Magi, president of the left-wing party Più Europa, called it “a new crime” by the government: “They are taking it out on synthetic food and prefer to continue with their reckless prohibition, instead of doing research and developing a technology that could allow us to pollute and kill less.”
Good Food Insitute Europe’s policy head Alice Ravenscroft said the move would shut down the economic potential of this field, hold back scientific progress, and limit consumer choice. “Italy would be left behind as the rest of Europe and the world progresses towards a more sustainable and secure food system. And the 54% of Italians who already want to try cultivated meat would be banned from doing so,” she cautioned.
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/CC
Backtracking on proposed cultivated meat ban
Despite the backlash, the Italian senate approved this bill in July, with 60% of senators voting in favour of banning the manufacturing and sale of cultivated meat, claiming it would protect human health and national heritage. The bill still needed to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies, the parliament’s lower house. The proposal was in tandem with a potential ban on the use of meat-related terms on plant-based meat labels.
Italy had submitted what is called a Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS) notification to the EU, which is a procedure that aims to prevent the creation of barriers in EU countries. Essentially, if Italy wants to ban cultivated meat, it needs EU approval, with other members of the bloc having the opportunity to weigh in on the decision as well.
But according to the animal advocacy group Essere Animali, Italy withdrew its TRIS notification on Friday, in light of ongoing parliamentary discussions and potential changes. And while it may be seen as a softening of its stance on alt-protein, it’s likely a way to avoid official rejection from the EU, as it’s understood that Italy knew its proposed ban would be denied by the bloc, with some member states already reacting negatively to the draft measure.
There’s also the fact that due to EU trade laws, Italy’s bill still wouldn’t be able to ban future imports of cultivated meat products, as long as they obtain regulatory approval. The EU has stringent measures around the regulation of cultured meat – classed as “novel foods” – and no company has filed for regulatory approval in the region so far. But it has expressed support for alt-protein and sustainable food production: just last month, for example, the EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee voted to implement a strategy to increase the production of plant proteins in the EU.
Courtesy: Upside Foods
Anticipating the EU’s rejection, Italy’s withdrawal is being seen as a halt to proceedings, but not necessarily a win for alt-protein. “We are happy to see that the ideological and anti-scientific approach of the Italian government is finding a difficult wall to overcome, so much so that it is forced to do a major about-face,” noted Essere Animali development manager Claudio Pomo.
But he added: “What happened is certainly an important result, but it is not yet a definitive victory, and we must not let our guard down. [Agricultural] minister [Francesco] Lollobrigida has already said that he wants to move forward with this battle, and there will certainly be other moves.”
Robert E Jones, president of industry association Cellular Agriculture Europe, similarly welcomed the news and cautioned that the Italian government will likely continue to pursue a ban. “While it is a positive sign that Italy has withdrawn its TRIS notification, the battle to protect complementary protein innovations is still ongoing,” he told Green Queen.
“We expect the Italian government will soon move forward with its national ban on cellular agriculture and meat terms for plant-based products while evading any scrutiny by the EU Commission,” he added. “As such a move will be a blatant violation of EU law, it is yet another sign that this is all political theatre to fulfil a campaign promise to a vocal minority, and a monumental distraction from the real conversation we need to have about creating a climate-resilient food system in Europe.”
Preserving heritage against food security
So where does that leave Italy and its national heritage? Stefano Lattanzi, CEO of Italian cultivated meat consortium Bruno Cell, told Time that Italy’s ban would damage local innovation, adding that the government’s “frontal attack” makes no sense. “Here in Italy, we are fanatics with our food,” he said. So when politicians use the word ‘synthetic’ – which is incorrect because cultivated meat is real meat – it is something like blasphemy for us.”
This idea of national heritage and pride in its culture was portrayed wonderfully by Marianna Giusti in the Financial Times in March. “There’s a dark side to Italy’s often ludicrous attitude towards culinary purity,” she wrote.
She explained how the archbishop of Bologna suggested adding pork-free tortellini to its San Petronio feast as an inclusive gesture for Muslim residents. Far-right League party leader Matteo Salvini responded by saying: “They’re trying to erase our history, our culture”. This is despite pork not being a tortellini filling until the late 19th century.
Courtesy: Eat Just
Now, as another far-right leader heads the government, Giusti wrote: “Italian food is as much a leitmotif for rightwing politicians as beautiful young women and football were in the Berlusconi era.” In this vein, Lollobrigida suggested that a task force be established to monitor quality standards in Italian restaurants globally, fearing that “chefs may get recipes wrong, or use ingredients that aren’t Italian”.
In a piece titled ‘Lab Meat Skeptics, Please Just Get Out of the Way’, Bloomberg columnist Amanda Little outlined why tradition might need to give way for innovation, with the planet burning and our food system being a primary contributor to it: “We have entered an era of disruption and adaptation that is understandably painful for the food-nostalgic, but unavoidably necessary.”
Let Italians decide what they want from their food
So where does Italy go from here? No one knows for sure yet. What we do know for certain is that the EU itself is lagging behind other governments when it comes to alt-protein regulation. Singapore and the US have already approved the sale of cultivated meat, and Switzerland and the UK are currently considering applications from Aleph Farms – with the latter said to be looking to fast-track the process.
“The EU already has a robust regulatory process in place for confirming the safety of new foods like cultivated meat, and regulators in the United States and Singapore have already found it to be safe,” GFI Europe’s Ravenscroft said. “The government should let Italians make up their own minds about what they want to eat, instead of stifling consumer freedom.”
And Italians shouldn’t worry. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization have both allayed fears and misconceptions about cultivated meat, playing down concerns about tumour formation, cancer and other health ill-effects caused by cell-cultured meat. The negative impact of GMOs and concerns about human infections have been eased in a joint report by the two bodies.
Courtesy: Mosa Meat
Cultural anthropologist and Follow the Future founder Dr Muriel Vernon reasoned how cultivated meat should be thought of as just another part of an animal – one that has never existed. “If we accept the fact that a single animal can be arbitrarily cut up into vastly different price categories based on equally arbitrary cut preferences, then we may not be so far off in adding a new cut that tastes as good as the top existing cut, but appeases our growing appetite for ethics and sustainability,” she wrote.
In another contribution to the tradition vs future debate, Cecilia Manduca, a VC at Talis Capital, compared the ‘BioRevolution’ to the Industrial Revolution. “SynBio allows society to move away from using centralised, huge, polluting factories as primary production facilities, towards a world where primary goods are produced locally, efficiently, sustainably and through waste or organic feedstocks,” she wrote. “Cells can enable us to produce whatever we want, wherever and whenever we need, potentially transforming manufacturing and supply chains as we know them.”
Ahead of the Chamber of Deputies debate last month, GFI Europe’s Italy policy consultant, Francesca Gallelli, said the alt-protein sector will create tens of thousands of jobs and offer opportunities for farmers to diverse and produce high-value proteins. “The government must ensure those jobs are created in Italy, rather than overseas,” she noted. “Without engaging in an open and fully informed debate, Italy will cut itself off from crucial opportunities for sustainable development and economic growth.”
As evidenced by developments around the world, cultivated meat feels inevitable – can Italy and its far-right government put its fork down?
How can we realistically shift away from animal agriculture, incorporate more plant-based foods in our diet, and ensure policies and funding go towards helping the environment and mitigating climate change? Two researchers put forth their ideas in a new study.
Over the years, especially in the last few, a ton of research has shown us time and again the huge impact our diets and eating patterns have on the planet. Our food system accounts for a third of all global emissions, while meat itself amounts to nearly 60% of all emissions from food.
Meanwhile, livestock farming has been found to produce between 11-19.5% of the planet’s overall emissions, and further research has shown that animal-derived foods like meat and dairy cause twice as many emissions as plant-based foods.
Studies have also shown that vegan diets can reduce emissions, water pollution and land use by 75% compared to meat-rich diets and that replacing half of our meat and dairy consumption with plant-based alternatives could cut agricultural and land use emissions by 31%, reduce the land used for livestock by 12%, slash water use by 10%, and halt deforestation.
But if we continue in a business-as-usual scenario, demand for meat will rise globally, with people set to be eating 14% more meat by 2030. A new study published in the peer-reviewed Heliyon journal argues that we can’t afford to continue on this path, as we only have seven to eight years to enact meaningful change to mitigate the climate crisis.
Courtesy: Svetlana V Feigin/Mad Ideas
It provides a roadmap based on three key strategic approaches: a shift to a plant-based diet with a gradual phasing out of animal agriculture, an ‘All Life’ approach, and a standardisation of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) measures. Here are the steps that could help move to a better future for humans and the planet alike:
1. Phaseout of industrialised agriculture
Despite animal agriculture’s climate impact, the authors say the reduction and phaseout of animal agriculture is often entirely overlooked in many climate change solutions. But doing so would provide 52% of the necessary net emissions reduction to limit global warming to 2°C by 2100, with 47% of the benefits of a phaseout of livestock farming accounting for by beef alone, while cow’s milk makes up 24%.
Importantly, a full phaseout of animals from the food industry would substantially cut emissions to a point that even a complete replacement of fossil fuels with clean energy couldn’t achieve. In fact, eliminating industrial animal agriculture could buy us time to develop tech that could affect a fossil fuel phaseout too.
To do so, the researchers say there needs to be a clear distinction between factory farming and other forms of animal agriculture – concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have a loose definition. In the US alone, most animals are factory-farmed, including over 98% of chickens, pigs, turkeys, hens and fish, and 70% of cows. “Our proposal for the global phaseout of industrialised animal agriculture encompasses factory farming of all land and water animals,” reads the study.
Graphic by Green Queen Media
2. Transition to plant-based and cultivated proteins
Simultaneously, a shift to plant-based and cultivated alternatives to meat, dairy and eggs is vital. “To achieve this, further developments and investment are required in technologies which allow for the creation of cheaper, more widely available, and tasty meat, dairy and egg alternatives,” the authors say.
They add that additional funding is needed towards plan-based agriculture, which would feed more people and use fewer resources while preserving ecosystems too, as the land freed from animal farming could be used to grow new crops. Investment is also needed to aid a smooth transition for farmers in this space.
3. Ending animal subsidies and introducing meat taxes
In the EU and the US, livestock farming receives about 1,000 times more funding than plant-based and cultivated meat, with the former obtaining up to 97% of all research and innovation spending to improve production. Public money spent on plant-based meat was at $42M between 2014-20 – just 0.1% of the $35B spent on meat and dairy. European cattle farmers receive 50% of their income through direct subsidies.
The authors propose ending these government subsidies for conventional meat, dairy and eggs, and introducing taxes on products to account for the true externalised carbon costs of these products. Taxes could be levied based on the type of food, with differentiated taxes on ruminant meat or milk (being the most climate-damaging), followed by non-differentiated charges on other meat and milk products.
But this could mean an increase in pork and poultry consumption – which, as mentioned above, are almost entirely factory-farmed – so taxes could be applied to all animal products produced via industrialised farming. These taxes would also need to be levied in high-income countries first.
“The taxes and money saved from government subsidies could then be used to develop technological innovations in alternative meat/milk products and aid farmers in their transition from animal agriculture to non-animal agriculture,” notes the study. “The goal is for lab and plant-based alternatives to become competitive with industrialized meat production.”
Courtesy: Unsplash
4. More stringent animal welfare legislation and livestock ag divestment
Along the same lines, government intervention is key. The authors call for “more stringent legislation on animal welfare standards, legislative limitations on where factory farms can exist, as well as mass-media public information campaigns to clearly outline the benefits of vegan food, and the dangers inherent in livestock farming.
They add that corporate investment in animal agriculture is “becoming increasingly high-risk” due to its impact on climate change: “Divestment from companies engaged in industrialised animal farming is critical if we are to achieve less environmentally damaging food sources.”
5. All Life approach: recognizing that all life on Earth is connected
The study suggests the adoption of an all-life approach, referring to a confluence of the scientific community, government policy/action, and corporate behaviour and policy. A change in global mindsets can be achieved through education and awareness.
“An All Life approach recognises the profound interconnectedness of all life on our planet, its protection, and shifts away from a human-centric paradigm to an Earth-centric paradigm,” reads the study, touching upon the importance of collaboration and working together. It adds that this approach stresses that “our health and the health of our planet are intimately intertwined with the health and well-being of all living beings”.
Courtesy: Getty Images via Canva
6. Standardize ESG measures and create a regulatory body to curb greenwashing
Finally, the authors outline the importance of standardising global ESG measures, the lack of which impacts the “reliability and validity of ESG scores and rankings, affects the trustworthiness and transparency of company disclosures, and disincentivises companies from improving their scores”.
The study proposes the introduction of a regulator to help verify such measures and curb greenwashing, and to ensure credibility and avoid bias, it must be an independent and non-profit body. “Such measures will have a fundamental impact upon corporate and governmental performance, accountability and effectiveness while providing important guidance for individual and institutional investors,” the study notes.
“We must recognise that by solely focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming, we are treating the symptom of the cause, and the cause is major global unsustainability,” says lead author Svetlana V. Feigin. “To achieve long-lasting transformative change, which will benefit current and future generations (and save our planet), we need to change our mindset and behaviour as individuals, communities, businesses, governments, and global citizens.”
At this week’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney tech conference, Australian plant-based meat companies v2food and Nourish Ingredients debuted new ingredients that change the colour of vegan meat alternatives and give them a more realistic texture, respectively. Can these appeal to consumers more concerned with flavour and health?
As the plant-based meat sector endeavours to overcome a difficult period, the key is to lean into what consumers want from their food. Surveys in different countries have shown that taste and health are more important than ever before when it comes to meat alternatives, with price and texture also playing a significant role.
One company is adding another component to that list of priorities: appearance. At SXSW, Aussie brand v2food unveiled its new colour system for plant-based meat, banking on visuals to rope in consumer interest.
v2food’s new bleeding burger ingredient
Courtesy: v2food
The brand, which makes meat alternatives including burgers, mince, sausages and schnitzels, is calling the ingredient RepliHue. It argues that most plant proteins remain the same colour before and after cooking, but its tech enables vegan meat to change colour from raw-looking to brown-grey at the same time and temperature as its conventional counterparts do.
The effect creates ‘bleeding’ alt-proteins – the storied effect achieved by Impossible Foods thanks to an ingredient called heme, which makes its burgers bleed and taste more akin to animal-derived meat. But unlike heme, which is a soy-derived genetically modified element, RepliHue is derived naturally from red algae and other plants.
v2food claims red algae can be produced sustainably as it has the ability to consume carbon dioxide and uses light for energy. The company calls the ingredient a breakthrough that will create an “authentic and more normalised experience for chefs and consumers cooking with plant-based meats”.
CEO Tim York said: “Our red algae is a breakthrough, natural solution that has been developed to create this highly desirable attribute that will play a major role in fighting climate change.”
What do consumers really want?
But while v2food is creating a more ‘realistic’ cooking experience with the colour-changing ingredient, it says RepliHue “incorporates multiple advances” in taste and texture too. And it’s those latter two factors that have been cited as a consumer priority in multiple studies.
Take YouGov Australia’s 1,039-person poll, published last week, which found that across the diet spectrum – meat-eaters, flexitarians, vegans/vegetarians and pescetarians – taste was the number-one factor influencing them to consume foods. This was followed by price for three of the groups, with health effects coming in second for flexitarians.
Similarly, an 11-country European survey by ProVeg in 2020 found that taste and health are the most significant purchase drivers for the 7,500 flexitarians polled when it comes to choosing plant-based products. In the US, the Plant Based Foods Association and insights firm 84.51° collated Kroger data from 60 million American households earlier this year, revealing that health benefits, animal welfare aspects, and taste were the things American shoppers like most about plant-based food, while texture, price and processing are the biggest detractors. Appearance didn't play a role in either study.
Courtesy: PBFA/84.51°
It did, however, appear in global research by vegan certification organisation V-Label, which revealed that while taste is important for 82% of consumers buying plant-based analogues, texture and appearance were key for 75% of consumers.
Courtesy: V-Label
Could fat be the key to consumer adoption?
This is what v2food may be cashing in on. It's certainly what Nourish Ingredients is hoping to do with Tastilux, as the team shared on the SXSW stage. It's described as a breakthrough fat to help plant proteins deliver the same taste, smell and experience as animal-based meats.
Tastilux is the result of three years of work and relies on naturally occurring lipids scaled through precision fermentation. The proprietary fat is said to provide the distinct taste and aroma of conventional meat fats and enable similar cooking reactions when used in plant-based chicken, beef, pork and other alternatives.
Courtesy: Nourish Ingredients
The company showcased the fat's features in a vegan chicken wing with edible bones made from calcium. “Tastilux represents a quantum leap in making plant-based meats live up to the rich, fatty taste and cooking performance consumers want and love,” said Nourish Ingredients founder and CEO James Petrie. "We saw an opportunity to revolutionise plant proteins by focusing on the power of fat. Most alternative fats simply can’t replicate the rich, authentic flavour of cooked meat."
He explained: "So rather than take a plant-based approach, we analysed the most flavourful animal fats in their uncooked state. Then identified where we could find these in nature, without the animal. By fermenting only the most potent fats, we’re able to recreate the authentic meat experience."
Given that its fat is produced via precision fermentation, it will need to obtain regulatory approval, with Australian legislation classing these as 'novel foods'. "We are actively engaged in the regulatory processes essential for our products. It’s important to note that not all of the solutions we are developing require extensive regulation, allowing us to expedite certain aspects of our work," Petrie told Green Queen.
"We are currently navigating the regulatory landscape, drawing upon our extensive experience in omega-3 oils. This background equips us with the knowledge and tools to effectively navigate the regulatory pathways."
v2food & Nourish Ingredients target 2024 launch
v2food aims to begin retail distribution for RepliHue – which can be used in beef, pork and chicken analogues – by 2024. "We are thrilled to be unveiling the latest game-changing technology in the plant-based protein market," said York. "RepliHue is the next generation of meat alternatives, that incorporates multiple advancements in texture, flavour and colour, making it only right to be revealing the breakthrough at the world-renowned SXSW conference."
Nourish Ingredients is looking to introduce Tastilux by 2024 aswell, and has already set up multiple collaborations. "We have established collaborations with several prominent plant-based protein companies, and we eagerly anticipate unveiling these exciting partnerships in the near future," said Petrie.
"We hold ambitious global aspirations, and our actions reflect this vision. We have a pilot facility in Singapore, and we’ve established numerous strategic partnerships in both the UK and the US," he added. "The challenge we are tackling is one that transcends borders, making it imperative for us to adopt a truly global perspective.
Courtesy: V2Food
The news comes months after a 3,016-person study by Queensland’s Griffith University found that nearly a third (32.2%) of Australians have reduced their meat consumption over the last year. Crucially, 71.3% said they either eat completely meatless diets, mostly vegan or have some plant-based dishes in an overall omnivorous diet – and 45.6% reported eating plant-based meat sometimes.
So the opportunity is there to appeal to flexitarians – who make up 19% of Australia's population, according to the YouGov survey – and it's exactly what ingredients like v2food's RepliHue and Nourish Ingredient's Tastilux are aiming to do.
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Beyond Meat’s Madison Square Garden link-up, Kaufland’s price drops following Lidl’s lead, and a bunch of livestock farming developments.
New products and launches
Just after launching its new health-focused ad campaign, plant-based meat giant Beyond Meat has opened a concession stand at New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG), part of a larger partnership with the group that will see its products available at the MSG garden during sports, concerts and other live events.
Courtesy: TiNDLE Foods
In further plant-based advertising news, Singapore-based TiNDLE Foodsis launching its first TV spot in Germany, after entering that market earlier this year- in June, the plant-based meat startup announced a media-for-equity deal with SevenVentures, the investment arm of ProSiebenSat.1, Germany’s largest media and digital company. TiNDLE also shared it is partnering with burger chain Peter Pane to introduce seven vegan meat dishes on the menu.
Meanwhile, French whole-cut vegan chicken maker Umiami – plant-based poulet, as we described it –has announced plans to break into the US market with a headquarters in Chicago. It comes weeks after the company extended its Series C investment with a $34.7M cash injection.
And in yet more whole-cut developments, Israel’s Chunk Foods launched into Philadelphia earlier this month, starting with the restaurant Monster Vegan, which will use the meat to make a Chunk Short Rib Ragu. Chunk launched into Charley’s Steak House in August, and on the back of that success, it’s now appearing on the menus of other Talk of the Town restaurants, which is Charley’s parent group.
Courtesy: Chunk Foods
Want more foodservice updates? Plenty more this week! Hong Kong-based OmniFoods is partnering with Neat Burger to add a fish sandwich and a fish and chips option to the latter’s New York City menu, featuring the Omni Golden Fillet.
Meanwhile, US fast-casual chain Veggie Grillunveiled its 2.0 avatar with a revamped menu and feel-good food. Think Sesame Tofu Supergreens Salad and Ranchero Bean Fiesta Bowl. If you visit one of its 17 locations this month, you’ll get a sweet two-for-one deal.
Elsewhere, after launching its York-style plant-based ham slices, Heura is hosting a charcuterie pop-up in Barcelona next week to try the new product. It will be open from 10am to 7:30pm at the Mercat de Santa Caterina on October 20.
In South Korea, Unlimeathas partnered with US plant-based egg giant Just Egg to launch a vegan kimbap delivery service in the Gangnam and Seocho districts. The collaboration began in August, with the new Kimbap items receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Frozen food giant McCains has collaborated with F&B consultants The Culinary Edge (both American) to form a new plant-based appetiser brand called V’DGZ, starting with a portfolio of cauliflower wings, crispy corn ribs and crunchy Brussels sprouts.
In last week’s Future Food Quick Bites, we reported on Eleven Madison Park‘s Hong Kong residency in its 25th year. The mostly-plant-based, three-Michelin-starred New York City eatery is celebrating its silver anniversary with a retrospective menu looking back at its greatest hits from a meatless lens: grilled maitake mushroom skewer with juniper and pine, vegan ricotta tonburi with avocado and cucumber, and even bread and sunflower butter. Its chef-owner Daniel Humm has introduced Climax Foods’ artisan vegan blue cheese on the tasting menu, which runs till the end of the month.
Courtesy: Eleven Madison Park
Speaking of New York City, the city’s coffee festival saw molecular coffee startup Atomoserve its beanless caffeine drink to industry experts and aficionados – a big step for the coffee alternative space.
And what better to have with your alt-coffee than alt-milk? Singaporean oat milk brand Oatside, which has taken Asia’s plant-based milk space by storm, is launching its pocket-sized 200ml cartons at over 700 7-Eleven stores in Hong Kong. These will be available in coffee and chocolate flavours, as well as a barista edition.
Another brand launching across more retail stores is Minneapolis-based vegan brand Wicked Kitchen, which has expanded from its Tesco-only deal in the UK to now launch into Asda (the number of locations is unclear for now).
Another retailer, meanwhile, followed Lidl’s lead to bring its plant-based own-label range to price parity with animal-derived foods. German supermarket Kaufland is dropping prices of over 90 vegan products, with vegan cheese coming down from €1.99 to €1.39, soy yoghurt dropping from €1.39 to 85 cents, and plant-based mince falling from €2.99 to €1.89.
Funding, M&A and policy activity
Just calm down, you plant-based meat detractors. New research says the global meat alternative market reached $6.5B in 2022, and expects it to grow and cross $9.5B in 2028 – a 6.6% yearly increase. According to the report, Europe is the largest market here, and rising health consciousness among consumers is a key factor in this sector’s growth. Of course, this is just one market insight – let’s see how things pan out!
As for things that have panned out splendidly, French plant-based pork brand La Vie – which launched its ham alongside a crowdfunding campaign last month – says it’s the most popular French crowdfunding campaign ever, with 2,945 investors raising €2,172,890 ($2.29M).
Courtesy: La Vie
Also in France, vegan fast-food chain Furahaa has launched its own public funding drive, with a target of €1M and hopes to open 30 franchise stores in 2024.
Meanwhile, Spanish vegan ice cream brand Pink Albatross is opening a financing round too, aiming to raise between €1M and €1.5M to focus on new product development, increased marketing, recruitment and maintenance of working capital.
In Catalonia, the government has injected €7M into a Center for Innovation in Alternative Proteins, which aims to be a leading R&D hub for ingredients and feed alternatives to animal proteins.
Government spending on future foods was seen in the UK too, where 47 winners of the Innovate UK Better Food for All competition will each receive a share of £17.4M to improve food quality and nutrition, develop functional foods and new proteins, and extend the shelf life of healthy and fresh foods.
Talking about novel proteins, Australian company Wide Open Agriculturehas acquired German lupin protein company Prolupin for $4.12M to become the world’s largest producer of the protein and expand its footprint into Europe.
Australia’s $160M Food and Beverage Accelerator, meanwhile, announced a partnership with alt-dairy startup All G Foods to develop nature-identical dairy proteins and ingredients via precision fermentation.
Elsewhere, Berkeley-based precision fermentation producer Pow.Bioraked in $9.5M in Series A funding to bring down the production costs of these proteins. It uses what it claims is the first AI-controlled autonomous continuous fermentation platform.
Courtesy: Stuff
In New Zealand, New Conservative candidate Abe Coulter has been under the spotlight after it emerged that he mocked vegans on social media comments, harassing them, calling them abnormal, and mocking them about sex. The comments have since been blocked, but stuff like “suck it up you sissy” asking people to eat eggs or “veganisum [sic] is the millenial terminalogy [sic] for malnutrition” show that Abe might need to work on both his PR and grammar.
Across the Pacific, Californiabecame the first state government to ban four food additives linked to diseases, despite them being approved by the FDA. From 2027, food products sold in the state won’t be allowed to contain brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben or Red Dye No. 3 – which have been linked to hyperactivity, nervous system damage and increased cancer risk.
Meanwhile, the 2023 International V-Label Awards announced its shortlist of 15 finalists from over 230 entries across the tangents of sustainability, innovation, and marketing and branding. Note: Green Queen founder and editor in chief Sonalie Figueiras was part of the judging panel.
Animal agriculture and manufacturing news
We had to add a dedicated section to this as there was so much – mostly not great stuff – happening in this space. For example, US pork producer Smithfields closed a North Carolina plant to “increase efficiency” and “better utilise existing capacity”. It will affect 107 employees – in total, the company has a workforce of over 10,000 in North Carolina, which represents a quarter of its entire staff.
Then there’s Monogram Meat Snacks, which has been fined over $140,000 by the US Department of Labor and has seen shipping restrictions imposed on account of child labour. At one Minnesota factory, 11 children aged 15-17 were found to be employed illegally, with at least nine operating hazardous equipment.
Courtesy: Tofurky
Meanwhile, as Thanksgiving approaches, turkey prices could be lower than last year, when the bird’s population suffered from an avian flu outbreak. But as turkey numbers have been restored, the virus has returned and could once again affect supplies.
In Australia, we’ve come to a point where farmers have too long of a wait time to slaughter their livestock, with feedlots and abattoirs overwhelmed by drier conditions low commodity prices and labour constraints.
In the UK, chefs are boycotting salmon – often called the “chicken of the sea” – over welfare and climate-related concerns. Overfishing and the use of antibiotics and chemicals have deterred Britain’s leading chefs, who cite ethical and quality concerns for keeping the fish off the menu.
In other salmon news, Icelandic singer Björk has collaborated with Catalan popstar Rosaliá on a new (untitled) song to save wild salmon populations in Iceland, donating proceeds to activists opposing the industrial farming of the fish in the country.
Speaking of protests against industrial farming, the Netherlands witnessed demonstrations from Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion, who rallied in front of Rabobank branches across the country last week to ask the bank to cease its industrial agriculture investments and compensate for the damage caused.
In the vein of brands with shaky animal welfare commitments, a new report by The Humane League and Open Wing Alliance has called out brands that aren’t delivering on their 100% cage-free egg commitments. These include Shake Shack, Ikea, The Cheesecake Factory and Krispy Kreme.
Novel tech and research
US company MycoTechnology has released what it calls a Fermentation as a Service (FaaS) platform, helping companies overcome capacity bottlenecks and scale up their fermentation operations.
In Europe, Dutch food tech startup Vaess and UK’s Marlow Ingredients (a spin-off of Marlow Foods, which makes Quorn) have collaborated to develop binding systems for mycoprotein products. The brands say they will use each other’s experience to make high-quality mycoprotein-based meat alternatives.
Courtesy: Quorn
Germany’s University of Hohenheim, meanwhile, is developing plant-based fish products from microalgae, which would be naturally rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Miroalgae’s ability to bind carbon means and grow in multiple regions gives it bonus climate brownie points, and the researchers have developed a fermentation process using mushrooms to break down the often-undesirable flavour compounds found in the ingredient.
More on the fermentation front: Gingko Bioworks collaborated with Swiss food tech firm QL AG to develop alternative dairy proteins. QL AG will tap into Ginkgo’s strain engineering capabilities to help it produce high-quality, nutritionally equivalent dairy proteins.
In cultivated protein news, BioCraft Pet Nutrition has unveiled an AI and machine learning tool to accelerate R&D and achieve optimal cell proliferation and nutrient production. It can identify cheaper inputs and ingredients too, as well as those less likely to raise regulatory concerns – a big step for any cultured meat company.
Meanwhile, in South Korea CJ Foods – a business unit of food ingredients manufacturer CJ CheilJedang – has teamed up with medtech company T&R Biofab to develop 3D-printed plant-based meat alternatives.
And finally, in slightly left-field news, a survey by vegan dating app Veggly has found that 75% of plant-based people would date a meat-eater who is willing to transition to a vegan diet with some help from their would-be partner. See, we can “suck it up”, Abe.
Want more roundups of alt-protein, plant-based and sustainable food? Stay tuned for next week’s Future Food Quick Bites, published every Wednesday, or get it in your mailbox by signing up for our Alt Protein Weekly newsletter.
When it comes to flexitarianism, Europe is leading the way, with Asia-Pacific catching up– but the US still lags far behind.
There’s no specific definition of what a flexitarian is. It could be a pescatarian who eats fish once a week, a vegetarian who consumes meat on occasion, or even a vegan who consumes meat or fish at times. It’s a – dare I say – flexible diet, and that’s exactly the point.
Amidst an ever-worsening climate crisis, the need to transition towards a more sustainable food system has never been clearer, and while getting the global population to go vegan is tricky, flexitarianism is crucial for a global transition towards a more planet-friendly food system. According to a global consensus of scientists, researchers and increasingly, policymakers, we need to get hundreds of millions of people to reduce their consumption of animal products, particuarly meat and dairy foods produced via conventinal livestock agrictulture.
The number of flexitarians around the world has been growing steadily, as people particularly look to reduce their meat intake for climate- and health-related reasons, and incorporate more plant-based alternatives that taste and feel similar to what they’re used to, all the while drastically lightening their impact on the environment.
But there are geographic divides when it comes to the number of flexitarians – some regions far outnumber or are outpacing others. A new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute calls for a more just transition towards plant-based diets, to ensure consumers, farmers, animals and the planet aren’t overwhelmed – read between the lines, flexitarianism could be the solution.
Europe leads the flexitarian race
Courtesy: Rewe Group
In 2021, an EU-wide study by the Smart Protein Project found that flexitarians made up 30% of Europe’s population, with the figure rising to 40% when including vegetarians and pescetarians. It meant that over a third of consumers don’t view themselves as predominantly meat-eaters (if you don’t count seafood), as 57% said they want to gradually eliminate meat from their diets.
That was two years ago, but the patterns are similar, if not more prominent. Germany – which is the continent’s leading plant-based food market – has one of the largest flexitarian populations in the world, with 55% of its citizens identifying as such. Additionally, only 20% of Germans say they eat meat regularly, while 53% have purchased vegan alternatives to animal foods at least one, according to the country’s 2023 Nutrition Report.
“The topic of sustainability is important to more and more consumers: they want to know what ingredients are in the food and that it is produced in an environmentally and climate-friendly way,” said Germany’s minister of food and agriculture, Cem Özdemir, whose government’s National Nutritional Strategy involves a focus on plant-based diets.
Similarly, in Switzerland, a study published last week found that 24% of its population identifies as flexitarian. It also revealed that 21% consume a plant-based meat or dairy product at least once a week – and of these people, 42% eat conventional meat occasionally or regularly.
In neighbouring France, meanwhile, despite the government clamping down on plant-based meat with unprecedented labelling proposals and its championing of factory farming, a 2021 Kantar World Panel study found that 49% of households had at least one flexitarian among them – almost double the 25% figure in 2015.
And in the Netherlands, while meat consumption hasn’t reduced too much – going down from 50% to 44% between 2019-22 – 44% identify as flexitarians. But in the UK, there’s still lots of room for growth, with only 14% identifying as flexitarian, and just a quarter in total not identifying as regular meat-eaters.
APAC is the fastest-growing flexitarian region
Courtesy: Shiok Meats
The situation is similar in Asia-Pacific, with an August 2022 study calling it the fastest-growing region for the flexitarian market. There were promising signs a year before, with research by the Kerry Group finding that 62% of people in this region are interested in buying plant-based meat, with 44% looking to increase their intake of these products. Additionally, 32% said they wanted to reduce their meat consumption, with 28% reporting to have already done so significantly.
In February 2022, research by FMCG gurus found similar results, with 28% of Asians identifying as flexitarian. It echoes recent findings from a YouGov Australia poll, where 19% of respondents called themselves flexitarians, and a further 9% were vegan, vegetarian or pescetarian. Taste and health were the top priorities for people who are flexitarian, indicating the challenges and opportunities for food manufacturers in this space.
Meanwhile, a study from Queensland’s Griffith University last month found that 32.2% of Australians have reduced their meat consumption over the last year. Crucially, 71.3% said they either eat completely meatless diets, mostly plant-based or have some plant-based dishes in an overall omnivorous diet. And while 45.6% said they eat plant-based analogues to animal foods sometimes, 32.8% prefer sticking to traditional plant protein like legumes, tofu, tempeh, etc.
More recently, the Good Food Institute India’s first State of the Industry report for the country found that flexitarians are among the early adopters of alt-protein, as 89% who have bought alt-milk buy conventional dairy too, and 72% do the same for meat.
There’s a wealth of opportunities in this region, as one report earlier this year pointed out. APAC alt-protein startups are eating into North America’s dominant piece of the pie, reducing the latter’s market share from 92% to 67% over the past decade. And with Asian countries having a high market potential for alt-protein – a quarter of Chinese identify as flexitarian and a third plan to reduce at least one type of meat, while 26% of South Koreans want to cut their meat intake too – it could open up export opportunities for manufacturers in Australia and New Zealand.
Moreover, just 12% of Americans are responsible for half of the country’s meat consumption, while a 2021 survey found that 59% of US citizens believe eating meat is just part of “the American way of life”. A Gallup poll earlier this year showed that the number of vegans in the country had hit a 10-year-low, while the figures for vegetarians dropped marginally from five years ago (note: the sample size was 1,000).
And in June, a US-wide survey by the International Food Information Council revealed that while 30% of Americans said they consumed more plant protein in the last year, and 23% and 32% reported eating less dairy and red meat, respectively, only 6% followed a flexitarian diet last year. Additionally, 5% followed a ‘low-carbon footprint/sustainable diet’ – but 40% never consume plant-based meat or seafood.
Meanwhile, poultry consumption has increased for over a quarter of Americans, while 43% said eco-friendliness didn’t have much or any impact on their buying decisions. Although, 35% said climate impact did influence their purchases, and 84% thought about it when buying food. But this needs to translate into action too – as one study revealed, Americans need to cut their meat intake by 82% if they’re to avoid climate disasters like the ones New York just went through.
The need for a smooth transition
Canva
Globally, one survey last year said one in four consumers are flexitarians. This demographic is an essential cog in improving our food system. The Stockholm Environment Institute research hints at the importance of this group by stressing that a transition towards plant-based eating must be well-planned.
The authors outline guiding principles to back up their theory, which touch upon phasing out policies and financial support for factory farming without worsening animal welfare and providing support to stakeholders to alleviate the impact of a transition through new job opportunities and economic diversification. As vulnerable groups might struggle to find jobs during the transition, governments should support these populations by addressing inequalities in the meat industry and involving these stakeholders in addressing these issues.
Flexitarians – and lowering how much meat and dairy we eat – could unlock a better and more sustainable food system.
Marlow Foods, the Monde Nissin division that makes meatless brands Quorn and Cauldron, has announced a loss of £15.3M in its yearly accounts, owing to cost hikes, stagnating sales and post-pandemic pressures.
Marlow Foods is the latest company to be hit by a financially struggling meat alternatives sector, with retail sales of its Quorn mycoprotein-based products dipping by 4.3% to £192.9M last year across its global operations. This was partly due to post-pandemic pressures, as retail purchases rose in the second half of 2022, as well as inflation caused by the war in Ukraine, which the company says impacted its business significantly. Rising energy costs, as well as price hikes on ingredients like glucose and egg albumen, further impacted its costs.
While a 43.7% hike in foodservice sales to £28.3M and an 81.1% rise in the fast-food sector to £6.7M helped its total top-line revenue post a minor 1.3% increase to £227.9m, this growth is well behind current inflation rates, suggesting that the volume of products sold has fallen.
According to Nielsen IQ data published by the Grocer, the retail volume of Quorn and Cauldron products dipped by 10.9% and 22.6%, respectively – despite Marlow Foods growing its market share marginally by 1.5% to 31.7%, through new product launches, selling its meatless offerings at KFC across Europe, and adding 21,000 distribution points. The news comes months after its Philippines-based owner Monde Nissin – which acquired Quorn in 2015 – set up a B2B ingredients arm to sell to European manufacturers.
Marlow Foods recorded an operating loss of £12.9M last year – compared to £8.7M in profit in 2021 – with inflation squeezing its margins, with a full business review, the closure of part of a manufacturing plant, and one-off redundancies hitting it with £12.1M in costs. Further financing costs of £4.5M from interest on borrowings – up from £3.6M in 2021 – pushed its pre-tax loss to £15.5M, against profits of £7.4M.
“2022 was a year where we saw huge changes in consumer behaviour and turbulence in the global economy, but we were pleased to deliver sales growth and to consolidate our leadership in UK retail,” said Quorn CEO Marco Bertacca. “We always seek to insulate our consumers from the impact of higher costs and to protect the affordability of our food where possible, but these dynamics pushed our business into a loss for the year.”
US restructuring reflects wider trends
Courtesy: Quorn
Marlow Foods has depreciated the value of its £17.7M investment in the US to zero, months after Monde Nissin restructured its meat-free operations in the US by taking out a non-cash impairment charge of $370M and shifting spending away from Quorn. “The situation in the US has been very disappointing,” said Monde Nissin CEO Henry Soesanto earlier this year. “The plan that we had for the US was and it has been to really over-invest.”
It reflects the challenges faced by plant-based meat in the country. In August, plant-based giant Beyond Meat reported a 30% sales drop with a net loss of $53.3M, cutting its full-year revenue forecast and walking back its goal of becoming cashflow-positive in the second half of this year.
It followed job cuts by the company (affecting 200 employees) last year, with similar layoffs seen at fellow vegan meat companies Impossible Foods, Eat Just and Meati. Retail sales of meat alternatives in the US fell by 12.6% to $106.8M in the five weeks to July 2, 2023, with units down by 19.8% year-on-year. And for the year to July 2, 2023, sales declined by 7.3% year-on-year, while units saw a 15.6% drop. These figures coincide with a Gallup poll that found that the number of American vegans has hit a 10-year low.
Meanwhile, a report by the Good Food Institute (GFI) revealed that retail sales of plant-based meat flatlined in the US in 2022, but foodservice sales reached an all-time high of $730M – reflecting Quorn’s sales trends last year.
While the UK is Europe’s second-largest vegan market – with Brits spending £964M on plant-based meat and dairy last year – sales have stagnated and total investment in plant-based protein R&D has been overtaken by cultivated meat in the last decade. According to the GFI Europe, plant-based sales declined by 3% between 2021-22 in the UK, with plant-based meat sales sliding by 8% in the same period.
The UK has seen many brands pull their products from stores, including Coca-Cola-owned Innocent Drinks discontinuing a few of its smoothies, Heck reducing its meatless range from 10 products to just two, Nestlé dropping its Garden Gourmet and Wunda brands, and Oatly withdrawing its entire ice cream range. Late last year, sandwich chain Pret A Manger announced it was closing down most of its Veggie Pret stores..
GFI Europe says the UK must invest £380M in its alt-protein sector if it is to keep up with other countries and avoid losing startups to nations with better regulatory frameworks. Another report by Green Alliance found that, with the right combination of targeted investments and regulation, the UK alt-protein industry could be worth £6.8B annually and create 25,000 jobs by 2035.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the UK could be set to fast-track regulatory approval of cultivated meat with a bilateral deal with Israel. Israeli producer Aleph Farms filed the first such application in the UK in August.
As for plant-based meat, GFI Europe says much more can be done. Its UK policy manager, Linus Pardoe, told Green Queen in August: “While the UK has many of the right ingredients to play a key role in advancing research to make plant-based foods tastier, healthier and more affordable for consumers, most of the expertise in important fields like crop breeding and food science tends to be funded in a way that focuses on other, more established areas of research.”
As governments and stakeholders discuss potential meat taxes to reduce animal consumption and help mitigate the effects of climate change, one major argument against these levies is that they would unfairly overburden lower-income households. A new study shows these taxes this does not have to be the case.
The UK is in the middle of its latest political hullabaloo, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announcing he’s scrapping meat taxes that were never policy in the first place. It comes a few weeks after Sunak U-turned on the country’s climate commitments, pushing back the deadline to ban diesel and petrol cars. He says he wants to continue to stick to the UK’s 2050 net-zero goal in a more “pragmatic” and “realistic” way but hasn’t outlined how to do so.
Amid all this noise, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research’s (PIK) FutureLab and the EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre have debunked the theory that meat taxes always harm low-income populations. The study, published in the Nature Food journal, examined how these taxes can be designed and their revenues be distributed to ease the impact.
Redistributing meat tax revenue
Courtesy: Getty Images via Canva
The study conducted microsimulations with Europe-wide household expenditure data to compare the various options a meat tax could be designed with. It notes that policymakers are faced with three essential design choices, concerning whether taxes should be ad valorem (based on transaction value) or based on product units, to what extent rates can be differentiated based on environmental impact, and how the tax revenues could be used.
“The most decisive question for lowering the burden on low-income households is how the revenues from meat taxation are being used,” says PIK’s Franziska Funke, a co-author of the study. Channelling the revenue back to consumers as monthly or annual transfers – akin to paying climate dividends from the proceeds from taxes on carbon emissions – can reverse the impact of distribution and benefit low-income consumers on average.
The study notes that wealthier households spend more on meat in absolute terms, so they contribute more to the common pot of revenues that are equally shared by everyone. This would mean people on lower incomes would have more money than pre-tax.
And while lowering the VAT on fruits and vegetables – which is under consideration in a few European countries – will have a progressive effect (affecting the wealthy more) and lessen the burden on low-income households, it won’t reverse the regressive impact (where tax burden increases on low-income consumers) completely. This is why redistribution of meat tax revenue is necessary – without recycling this sum, the impact will be regressive across all the designs analysed.
Redirecting animal agriculture subsidies
There were considerable differences between different tax models, like raising the VAT on meat or adjusting tax rates for various types of meat (based on their emissions contributions). For example, regressivity reduces when differentiating taxes based on the average carbon intensity of meat types, dropping by two-thirds when moving from unit taxation to ad valorem.
In fact, Funke says meat tax rates set at levels similar to carbon pricing in the British power sector will have a very small effect per person, leading to less than £10 of additional monthly spending on average. The authors stress that while distribution is important, it’s a small aspect when considering overall food policies, calling for complementary measures to ensure a smooth transition towards a more sustainable food system.
One of these could be redirecting subsidies to the animal agriculture sector – something a coalition of five EU organisations is calling for. A study published earlier this year found that the livestock farming industry received 1,200 times more funding in the EU than plant-based food producers between 2014-20, with 97% of all research and innovation spending going to animal farmers. Additionally, cattle farmers received at least 50% of their income through direct subsidies.
“In the end, price interventions on meat and other emissions-intensive foods will likely be needed to meet environmental targets in the food sector. Improving the distributional fairness when designing meat taxes can be crucial for garnering sufficient support for such policies,” says Funke.
This new study does have some caveats attached to it. It did not include substitution effects across meat types but added that it may “hamper the overall reduction in meat demand in response to a meat tax” anyway. The authors also point out that while a “100% tax incidence on consumers is a reasonably conservative assumption” when assessing the effects of revenue distribution, it won’t hold up to reality.
And finally, demographic inequalities and general equilibrium effects of meat taxation are promising areas for future research. For example, a tax-induced shift towards less greenhouse-gas-intensive meat production like cultivated meat could influence the overall distributional outcome.
Cultivated proteins and meat tax in the UK
Courtesy: Ivy Farm
It’s a particularly relevant point to make as the UK is set to fast-track the regulatory approval of cultured meat, which is fitting given that at least 23 British companies are working in this sector, which received more private funding last year than the rest of Europe combined.
And since 2012, UK Research and Innovation has invested at least £43M in sustainable protein R&D, nearly two-thirds of which has been since last year. In April, meanwhile, the government made its largest investment ever in alt-protein, with a £12M grant for a research centre analysing how to scale up cultivated meat production.
A recent report by alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute Europe found that the UK needs to invest £390M in alternative proteins between 2025 and 2030 to avoid losing momentum to other countries and reduce the risk of startups moving overseas due to regulatory uncertainties.
It chimes with another meat tax report published in the Plos Climate journal. Its co-author Linus Mattauch cites the examples of other countries to showcase how, despite all the shenanigans, it isn’t politically impossible to introduce a meat tax in the UK. He points to New Zealand’s decision to price animal agriculture emissions from 2025, which is effectively a tax that will increase the price of meat.
Mattauch says how policies are packaged is key, with one survey showing that financing higher animal welfare standards and phasing out subsidies for climate-harming agricultural practices could swing consumer opinion on price interventions on meat.
Countries like Germany, whose population is big on animal welfare, have followed this strategy, with a government commission recommending a uniform tax on meat whose proceeds would go to elevating livestock rearing standards. In fact, research has shown that animal welfare would be a stronger justification for a meat tax than climate change for Germans.
“To make the cuts to meat consumption required for better public health, greater animal welfare and a stable climate, taxing meat in some form is inevitable,” Funke and Mattauch write. “To make such a measure more palatable, a winning formula would deliver on public demand for higher animal welfare standards, redistribute the revenue to benefit low-income consumers and shift farming subsidies towards fruit and vegetables.”
Alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) India has just released its first State of the Industry report for the country and by all accounts, there is much to be optimistic about. We break down the seven key highlights from the country’s smart protein sector.
India is making strong progress when it comes to the alt-protein sector – and this is crucial, given the South Asian country now has the largest population in the world, one which is predicted to continue growing over the next three decades.
It’s also the Asian country requiring the second-highest increase in alt-protein production, with 85% of its protein consumption needing to come from alternative and traditional plant sources (like beans, tofu, tempeh, etc.) if it is to carbonise.
So where does its ‘smart protein’ industry stand, and how far does it have to go? It’s these questions that GFI India addresses in its State of the Industry 2023 report – its first dedicated to the country. Here are seven key takeaways from the research, highlighting early adopters, government support, alt-protein regulation, labelling conventions, and more.
Infographic by Green Queen Media using GFI India data
Plant-based dairy is king, but alt meat shows promise
Courtesy: Kingdom & Sparrow/The Alt Co
There are 113 companies working on plant-based, cultivated and fermentation-derived meat, dairy, seafood and eggs in India. Unsurprisingly – given the country has the largest dairy industry in the world – nearly two-thirds (65.8%) of plant-based businesses are focused on alt-dairy (with almond milk brands topping the list), and 30.1% on vegan eggs.
Meat alternatives only account for 4.1% of all vegan brands in India. There’s a large opportunity here, though, given that vegan chicken is the top product format across the sector (followed by alt-milk), and 77% of Indians consume meat daily, weekly or occasionally. Still, the current market landscape values plant-based dairy (₹250 crores/$30M) 2.5 times higher than meat alternatives (₹100 crores/$12M).
In terms of investment, alt-protein startups (across the three pillars) saw a modest investment of $17M between 2021-22, a small share of the $562M total that was injected into APAC companies in 2022. However, a survey of investors active in or entering the alt-protein sector by GFI showed that 99% of respondents are optimistic about the sector’s potential.
“I believe, with its world-class talent and proven track record of cost-efficient scale-up, India is uniquely positioned to be a smart protein innovation and manufacturing hub,” said Michal Klar, investor and funding partner at Better Bite Ventures. “This is especially relevant for technologies like precision fermentation that can benefit from talent and equipment currently used for biomedical research and production.”
Thanks to exports, India’s international presence is growing
Courtesy: GoodDot
While investment within India might not be too high, Indian alt-protein manufacturers are starting to make an international mark and contributing to the government’s $2T export goal by 2030.
Biotech firm Laurus Bio makes animal-origin-free growth factors, recombinant proteins, and cell-culture media supplements to cater to cultivated meat companies globally and help meet cost and scale requirements.
When it comes to plant-based, Greenest Foods shipped India’s first export consignment of plant-based meat from Gujarat to the US last year, while Wakao Foods shipped one of the largest-ever shipments (13 tons) of jackfruit-based products stateside earlier this year.
There were quite a few exports to Singapore, one of APAC’s alt-protein leaders. Blue Tribe Foods launched its line of burgers, tikkas and alt-meat products across Singapore supermarkets, while Shaka Harry will introduce plant-based meat products to the city-state’s Mustafa Centre. Evolved Foods, meanwhile, is exporting vegan meat alternatives to Singapore and Nepal.
More internationally, BVeg Foods supported Haldiram’s International’s launch of its Plant Perfect alt-protein range in the US, UK, EU and Australia, while shipping 22 tons of frozen vegan beef chunks to the UK in July. And as we reported last week, GoodDot – which has been exporting to Singapore, Canada, Nepal, the UAE, South Africa, Oman and Mauritius – entered the US market, with plans to move into the UK and Europe too.
Meanwhile, Kanpur-based Oatmlk became one of the first Indian plant-based dairy brands to export to the UAE and Singapore – which is significant as it isn’t based in one of the top three metro cities of New Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru. “New brands from tier-II and tier-III cities will play an important role in India’s export story in the coming decades,” says GFI India.
Bright visuals and ‘plant-based’ over ‘vegan’: how to nail product packaging
Courtesy: Greenest Foods
Since 2006, food and drink packaging in India has been labelled with green or red dots, signalling whether a product is vegetarian or non-vegetarian (which includes eggs in the country), respectively. But in 2021, the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) introduced a new vegan symbol to help consumers differentiate and identify plant-based products.
GFI India carried out a consumer study to identify packaging cues to help identify vegan food, finding that there’s a gap between comprehension and nomenclature – especially for plant-based dairy, which carries labelling restrictions. But there are certain things brands can still do to make their offerings easily identifiable.
Consumers prefer bright and bold colours with elements of green on the packaging, which they expect to be shaped intuitively (tubs for ice cream, blocks for cheese, etc.). Product imagery on the label is crucial in signalling the nature and taste of the food while mentioning the type of protein helps too. And similarly to global trends, most Indians prefer the term ‘plant-based’ over ‘vegan’.
Like many of their global counterparts, Indians value health above most other criteria when considering smart proteins. In 2021, a Kerry study found that health was the top motivating factor for Indians switching to plant-based food. This is especially true for alt-milk, according to GFI India’s research, with claims like “no added sugar” or “no preservatives” appreciated by consumers.
However, when it comes to meat, taste cues resonated more with consumers. But for both product categories, “high protein” was an important factor. Interestingly, claims about animal cruelty didn’t significantly motivate consumers to eschew animal-based food for vegan alternatives, which are primarily considered substitutes during religious events or festivals when meat consumption is prohibited.
Who is the Indian plant-based consumer, and what’s stopping the rest of the populace?
Courtesy: GFI India
To identify the profile of the early adopters of vegan food in India, GFI looked at consumers who were likely to regularly purchase alt-meat, dairy and eggs, as well as pay more for these products.
The result? Young (aged 25-44), higher income (monthly household income of over ₹50,000/$600), well-educated (college graduates and above), living in urban areas, and flexitarians are the early adopters of plant-based foods in India. Vegan eggs and dairy count vegetarians and non-vegetarians as their target audiences too – and while people aged 18-24 are keen on alt-meat, they’re deterred by the price premium.
Of these early adopters, one in four say they’d consider giving up conventional meat, seafood, dairy or eggs in the future, citing issues like hygiene, smell, ease of cooking and heaviness on the stomach, as well as animal welfare and impact on the climate.
While half of these consumers are aware of plant-based milk, only 30% are familiar with alt-meat and 20% with vegan eggs. And of the households acquainted with these products, 23% have tried milk alternatives (with 43% intending to buy in the future), while only 10% have tried meat analogues (with 33% likely to purchase at some point). Meanwhile, 82% of Indians who have bought plant-based milk in the last six months say they’ll consider buying it again, with repeat purchases of alt-meat coming in at 72%.
Flexitarians are key here: 89% who have bought alt-milk buy conventional dairy as well, and 72% do the same for meat, with protein being a key reason for interest in both product categories (and health is equally important for milk).
Among the barriers to consumer adoption are resistance from family, a perceived ‘unnaturalness’, lack of clarity on health benefits, and taste and price. People over 45 feel these products are not relevant to them and possess a synthetic taste, while product availability is a key hurdle for many Indians.
There is increased government support for alt-protein in India
Map of smart protein startups in India | Courtesy: GFI India
There are strong signs of administrative support and examples of public funding to help propel India’s smart protein sector to the next stage. Within India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the Science and Engineering Research Board included cultivated meat research under its Competitive Research Grant Programmes and announced a funding call centred on making millet-based meat, egg and dairy proteins.
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, meanwhile, has invested in multiple smart protein startups in India via initiatives like the Biotechnology Ignition Grant Scheme.
In March 2022, India’s minister of food processing industries confirmed that smart protein is eligible for financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, a central government scheme that provides monetary support to develop food processing and preservation infrastructure to set up food processing units.
A month earlier, a Ministry of Commerce department set up the Vegan Committee on Export Standards, Guidelines and Promotion for Vegan Food Products to aid the growth of the plant-based industry and set export guidelines. It’s part of the National Programme on Vegan Products, which aims to make India an export leader in the category.
As for state governments, Maharashtra (where Mumbai is located) included smart protein as a pillar to help each its $1T economy target by 2030. And its deputy chief minister signed a directive for manufacturing hubs that will focus on creating plant-based protein value chains.
“The potential for other state governments to chart a path for the smart protein sector is huge, especially since every state in India is uniquely positioned to benefit from various aspects of the innovation and production of smart protein food value chains,” reads the report.
No cultivated meat applications for regulatory approval yet
Sohil Kapadia and Parini Kapadia, founder of Zero Cow, one of India’s only precision fermentation dairy companies | Courtesy: Zero Cow
In India, the FSSAI is the body responsible for the regulatory framework of foods, including plant-based, cultivated and fermented proteins. The latter two fall under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations set out in 2017, which rule that if a product or ingredient doesn’t have a history of human consumption – or is obtained using new tech with engineering processes that significantly alter its composition – it’s classed as a non-specified or novel food product.
In 2020, the FSSAI formed the Working Group on Cultured Meat with regulatory and scientific experts to study the possible regulatory pathways for cultivated meat in India. So far, it hasn’t received any applications for the approval of cultivated meat or proteins made from biomass fermentation.
However, there has been progress on the precision fermentation front, with Californian pioneer Perfect Day obtaining premarket approval from the FSSAI for its animal-free whey protein after it purchased Sterling Biotech last year. Additionally, the regulatory body has approved the use of mycoprotein derived from Fusarium venenatum (the fungi strain used by Quorn).
There’s a lack of clarity when it comes to plant-based labelling in India
Courtesy: Blue Tribe Foods
Like the EU, the FSSAI prohibits the use of terms like ‘milk’, ‘cheese’ and ‘yoghurt’ on the packaging of dairy alternatives. The regulator has specified that alt-dairy products can’t be considered as milk or milk products.
But in June last year, it finalised its Vegan Foods Regulations, a separate framework for plant-based food in India. Producers must comply with these rules and obtain approval to even label their products as vegan. And while the FSSAI published a list of FAQs for further clarity, it mentions that plant-based dairy and cheese analogues are not eligible for consideration as vegan food.
This makes things confusing for plant-based brands, as many alt-dairy products fall under the confines of the Vegan Foods Regulations and satisfy the definition of a dairy alternative. So it’s not clear whether these analogues can be classed as analogues, leaving companies in a neither-here-nor-there dilemma.
The FAQs also mention that the term ‘vegan’ can’t be clubbed with meat-related terms on product labels, with companies not allowed to make claims comparing alt-meats to their conventional counterparts in any sensory manner.
So while a lot of progress is being made, there are some key challenges for India’s alt-protein industry to overcome. “Building trust in these safe, sustainable, and scalable alternatives to conventional proteins is paramount,” Subhaprada Nishtala, director of ITCFSAN, the FSSAI’s training centre, told GFI India. “We envision a future where innovation, safety, and sustainability coexist harmoniously, enriching the dietary choices of the Indian public. Together, we can chart a path towards a more resilient and diversified protein ecosystem in India.”
Read the full State of the Industry 2023 report by GFI India here.
Unilever-owned ice cream giant Ben & Jerry’s has announced that it will be reformulating its entire non-dairy range, switching from a base of almonds or sunflower seeds to oats. Starting with two trademark flavours that will be available this autumn, the rest of the lineup will debut in stores in spring 2024.
Ben & Jerry’s 19-strong vegan ice cream range currently contains a base of almonds and sunflower seeds, but the brand says the existing recipes change the overall flavour of the ice creams. The company sought to change its recipes two years ago, considering 10 different ingredient bases, including coconuts and rejigging the almond recipe.
Ultimately, the flavour team settled on an oat milk base, finding that it had the smoothest texture and most neutral flavour that would allow the core flavours of chocolate, caramel and vanilla to shine. The company adds that the change favours people with nut allergies – though using oats means that none of the frozen desserts are gluten-free either.
The reformulated versions of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Chocolate Fudge Brownie will be available this autumn in the US, while the 17 others will be launched worldwide in the spring. Ben & Jerry’s will also release a new flavour exclusive to the dairy-free ice cream range, specifically with the oat base in mind.
Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy history
Courtesy: Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s, which boasts a 33% market share in the US non-dairy ice-cream sector, first launched its plant-based range in 2016 with Chunky Monkey, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Coffee Caramel Fudge and Peanut Butter & Cookies flavours. This lineup has expanded over the years to include options like vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cherry Garcia and Phish Food.
In 2019, it launched edible cookie dough bites that were available in a vegan variant too, and a year later, it introduced a sunflower-butter-based line of ice creams in the US, whose current flavours include Milk and Cookies, Bananas Foster and Mint Chocolate Cookie.
With the new oat-based recipe, Craig Koskiniemi – one of Ben & Jerry’s ‘flavour gurus’ – told Food Dive that it could backfire with die-hard fans of its current dairy-free lineup, but stressed that oat won out in consumer taste tests. Additionally, non-dairy only makes up 7% of the company’s total packaged business, so the threat of sales crashes isn’t as huge.
In a statement, Colleen Rossell, another ‘flavour guru’, said: “With this new recipe, Ben & Jerry’s fans can expect more: more flavour, smoother texture, and more dessert euphoria with the same signature chunks and swirls. This new recipe is so good, it’s even loved by our most discerning dairy fans who are used to eating [dairy-based] ice cream.”
A crowded vegan ice-cream freezer
Courtesy: Ben & Jerry’s
Plant-based products only account for a 2.6% share of the US ice cream market, with a household penetration rate of 11.8%. Despite the average American consuming 23 lbs of ice cream each year on average, dairy-free sales declined by 4% from 2021-22.
And in the UK – where Ben & Jerry’s leads the way in terms of overall tub and block sales – non-dairy products are said to make up 14% of new ice cream launches while accounting for less than 5% in take-home sales. Moreover, the British market saw a sales drop in vegan ice cream, with a 2% fall from 2021-22 (albeit a 14% hike from pandemic-hit 2020 levels).
It has led to a period of flux within the sector. Oat milk leader Oatly withdrew its entire ice cream range from the UK market earlier this year, citing increased competition and missed sales targets. The UK plant-based ice-cream aisle is getting increasingly congested, featuring brands including Häagen-Dazs, Magnum, Jude’s, Swedish Glace, Booja Booja, Northern Bloc and, of course, Ben & Jerry’s. And this is before you start factoring in supermarkets’ private-label brands.
It’s a similar scenario in the US, with So Delicious (owned by Danone), Häagen-Dazs, Wicked Kitchen, Van Leeuwen, Salt & Straw, Forager Project and Oatly – to name a few – combining with own-label brands to crowd the retail freezers.
Making a better product and exploring new tech
Courtesy: Ben & Jerry’s
Speaking about Ben & Jerry’s recipe change to Food Dive, Koskiniemi explained: “We compared it to some of the other products on the market and we were finding that actually, there’s really room to improve what we had. It really stemmed from this internal view, knowing that we’re not satisfied with what we have. We know we can do better.”
Despite the increasing number of players in this space, it feels like the demand may be there – over half of consumers in a global survey said they’d be more willing to buy vegan ice cream if more options were readily available, according to Olam Food Ingredients.
“We can really help grow the nondairy category by improving the quality of our product,” said Koskiniemi. “We took our time to make sure that we were getting the best possible product for our non-dairy.”
The news also comes a year after Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, began working with European startups to explore precision fermentation technology, specifically pointing out challenges in the non-dairy ice cream segment. “We’ve got some things coming [in precision fermentation] in the next year or so,” said Unilever’s chief R&D officer for ice cream, Andrew Sztehlo, hinting that it would probably come from one of its big global brands, possibly a North American one.
California’s Perfect Day is a pioneer in this segment – with its former consumer-facing brands Brave Robot and Coolhaus using its precision fermentation-derived animal-free whey for its ice cream range.
US precision fermentation protein manufacturer Liberation Labs is lining up a Series A funding round that could ink the brand as much as $75M, reports Axios. The financing will be used to build its upcoming $115M facility in Richmond, Indiana, which will have a capacity of between 600 to 1,200 tonnes of protein per year.
Months after it secured $30M in equipment financing for its biomanufacturing plant, which it broke ground on in June, Liberation Labs CEO Mark Warner told Axios that the company’s Series A funding will largely be equity, but could involve more equipment financing or even government investment.
He added that investors could include traditional VC firms as well as infrastructure and climate funds, and the funds may end up being a blend of debt and equity. The Series A round is set to close by the end of the year and could bring its total funds raised to $126M (including a $20M seed round last year and a $1M funding round).
Building commercial-scale facilities across the globe
Liberation Labs will use the cash to fund the Richmond plant, which is a commercial-scale facility built to meet the growing demands of proteins from precision fermentation. The factory – which is set to cost around $115M and become operational sometime next year – will be capable of producing between 600 to 1,200 tonnes of protein annually, and bring in $40M in yearly revenue.
Warner previously told AFN that the plant will have downstream processing capabilities and support clients ranging from well-funded precision fermentation startups to established ingredient firms and CPG companies: “Our facility in Richmond will be the first fit-for-purpose precision fermentation food protein manufacturing facility in the world, to my knowledge.”
If all goes well, the company will then look to build another factory five times the size of this one, which is estimated to generate $160M in revenue each year and will be funded via more traditional project financing. “Long term, we’re looking at six geographies worldwide,” Warner told AFN in April. “In each one, we expect to build initially a 600,000-litre launch facility, and ultimately a four-million-litre commercial facility.”
“This type of company and industry is a perfect fit for the Hoosier state given Indiana’s strong agriculture and manufacturing sectors,” Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb said in a statement. “We love to see innovative new technologies creating quality jobs and career pathways for both today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.”
Reducing costs for futureproof proteins
Courtesy: Rimmabondarenko/Canva
Warner told Axios that while billions have been poured into working out how to produce cell-cultivated proteins, scale remains a question mark. With precision fermentation, that isn’t as much of a challenge, as it can already be scaled up. “Despite strong consumer interest in bio-based ingredients, the industry has yet to fully deliver on their promise,” Warner said in a statement after breaking ground on the Richmond facility.
Liberation Labs aims to address the capacity bottleneck and lower the costs attached to precision fermentation. “Something like lactoferrin, which has a high dollar value, is certainly attractive, but once you get to the 50 to 100 bucks a kilo range, that’s where it starts to get difficult,” he told AFN. “Really, anything that currently sells for less than 50 bucks is a challenge, although it also depends on how much you use in a given application.”
He added: “As you really get into what I would consider bulk products, there’s going to need to be additional development on the process to reach viability.”
Independent life-cycle assessments carried out on behalf of precision fermentation dairy companies Perfect Day and Bon Vivant found that their animal-free whey proteins have 99% less water use and 97% lower emissions than conventional dairy. And non-company assessments have found that precision-fermented proteins can have a 53-100% lower environmental impact than animal-based proteins.
Touching upon these futureproof aspects, Warner said in June: “We believe our purpose-built biomanufacturing facility will fill the gap and help usher in a new era of advanced bioproducts that will make our lives better, including foods, materials and yet-to-be-discovered breakthroughs.”
Funding and facilities for fermentation
The global fermentation sector has raised about $3.7B in total funding, with over $840M coming in just last year, according to industry think tank the Good Food Institute. It reports that there are at least 62 companies working in the precision fermentation segment across the supply chain, including Perfect Day, Formo, Remilk, Imagindairy and Aqua Cultured Foods.
In terms of production facilities, Remilk – which is worth $325M after a $120M Series B round in January 2022 – had broken ground on what it described as the “world’s largest full-scale precision fermentation facility last year but has put construction on hold for now as it focuses on increasing production at its existing plant. Meanwhile, fellow Israeli company Imagindairy has secured a total of $28M in seed funding so far.
Courtesy: Change Foods
In the UAE, American-Australian producer Change Foods – which has secured $15.3M in total funding – signed an agreement last year to design a first-of-its-kind commercial manufacturing plant, with a capacity of 1.2 million litres.
In Australia, Cauldron Foods raised AU$10.5M ($6.74M) earlier this year to build Asia-Pacific’s largest network of precision fermentation facilities. Fellow Aussie company All G, meanwhile, reeled in $25M in a Series A round last year to take its total funding to $40M. Meanwhile, China’s Changing Biotech secured a $22M Series A round last year and is building a 9,000 sq m facility in Qingdao – its current facility has a capacity of five tons, and it’s working on designing six 50-ton lines.
In India, Sterling Biotech was acquired by Perfect Day last year, which took over its three facilities across the country. The company, which has raised a total of $750M and was worth $1.5B in 2021, has plants in Berkeley and Salt Lake City (60,000 sq ft), and in addition to the Indian factories, it has four commercial-scale co-production facilities globally, giving it the capacity to produce thousands of tonnes of its animal-free whey protein.
Courtesy: Formo
Elsewhere, German precision-fermented egg company Formo raised a record-breaking $50M in Series A funding in 2021 to bring total financing to $54.7M, while Californian counterpart The Every Co closed an oversubscribed $175M Series C round the same year.
Meanwhile, New Culture, which produces precision-fermented casein, is the only company that has claimed it can manufacture animal-free casein at scale, with the capacity to produce up to 25,000 pizzas’ worth of cheese with each batch of its protein.
Earlier this month, Aussie producer Eden Brew, which has developed what it calls a “world-first” animal-free casein micelle, closed a $24.4M Series A funding round. Just today, French precision fermentation company Bon Vivant (which works on both whey and casein) announced a €15M ($15.9M) seed round to accelerate the production of its beta-lactoglobulin protein.
French precision fermentation company Bon Vivant, which is working on animal-free whey and casein proteins for dairy, has closed an oversubscribed €15M ($15.9M) seed round. The startup’s new manufacturing facility will open by Q2 next year, and it is expecting FDA approval for its beta-lactoglobulin by 2025.
The cash injection takes Bon Vivant’s total investment to €19M ($20.1M). The company, which aims to develop animal-free whey and casein proteins via precision fermentation, is currently working on beta-lactoglobulin, the main whey protein found in dairy, though the team is not sharing specific details when it comes to casein R&D, and says this is currently on the back burner.
The funding round was led by Sofinnova Partners, Sparkfood and Captech – and Bon Vivant plans to use the finances to speed up the production of its protein samples to accelerate commercialisation, support the construction of its R&D lab, and obtain regulatory approval in multiple countries.
The pilot facility is already being built and is set to be operational by Q2 2024, which will help it produce large sample quantities for its clients. While Bon Vivant declined to disclose any names, its co-founder Stéphane McMillan says it is partnering with both leading food manufacturers and startups. And last year, it teamed up with fellow French operation Abolis Biotechnologies to co-develop production methods and scale up manufacturing.
Courtesy: Bon Vivant
He reveals that as a B2B ingredient supplier, Bon Vivant has already secured multiple partners and developed a few products with them, including yoghurts, ice creams and cream cheeses. “Combined with our highly productive process, we are confident we will be able to meet the volume our clients need and participate in the transformation of the industry,” McMillan tells Green Queen.
The company says it has no plans to introduce a consumer-facing brand. “Since day one, we were convinced that to have the most impact, we need to work hand-in-hand with the food [manufacturers] and help them reduce their environmental footprint,” he explains. “We know how to produce animal-free proteins. They know how to create delicious dairy products. So it is better to join forces to tackle climate change, with its huge stakes.”
Regulatory approval for animal-free whey protein
Bon Vivant is aiming for FDA approval in the US by 2025, which will be followed by regulatory filings in other locations. In the EU, many products made from precision fermentation are classed as ‘novel foods’ and require regulatory clearance, which can be a lengthy process. So far, no precision fermentation company has cleared this process in the EU.
In the US, three companies have obtained GRAS (Generally Recognised as Safe) status under FDA safety guidelines. These include Californian pioneer Perfect Day, and Israeli producers Remilk and Imagindairy. Is that a factor in why Bon Vivant is choosing to begin stateside?
“The EU’s standards are really high, so indeed it takes more time compared to the US,” notes McMillan in reference to the bloc’s novel food regulatory framework. “Still it’s not the only factor: market readiness to innovation for example is another one.” In March, a study by Perfect Day, Cargill and the Hartman Group found that 77% of US adults who are aware of precision fermentation are likely to purchase such products.
Courtesy: Bon Vivant
“In any case, Europe has an amazing role to play in precision fermentation, because we have a lot of knowhow, leading fermentation companies, production capacity already installed, etc.,” says McMillan. “But we need to make sure that we support the innovation in precision fermentation to make sure tomorrow’s champions will be European and that we don’t end up buying from non-European companies.”
In this vein, earlier this year, five precision fermentation producers formed an EU-wide coalition called Food Fermentation Europe to advance the development and regulatory approval of these ingredients. The focus is to “raise awareness and build a supportive, forward-looking policy framework for fermentation food and food ingredients in Europe” and advocate for a “predictable, non-discriminatory and market-based regulatory framework for fermentation food and food ingredients”.
Precision fermentation’s rise and climate credentials
“We are very proud of this new stage in the development of Bon Vivant, which enables us to welcome leading investors from the biotechnology and agri-food industries to our capital,” McMillan says of the investment. “This round of financing confirms the growing demand for precision fermentation as a solution to the tremendous challenges the agri-food industry, particularly the dairy industry, is facing.”
The news comes days after fellow European precision fermentation dairy producer Vivici announced it had scaled up its platform to produce beta-lactoglobulin (the same protein Bon Vivant is currently focusing on), with an eye towards US regulatory clearance next year. Beta-lactoglobulin is also the protein commercialised by Perfect Day and Remilk.
According to the alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute, the fermentation sector has seen an investment of almost $4B to date, with at least 136 companies across the supply chain working on fermentation-based alt-protein as of 2022 – 62 of these are focused on precision fermentation.
These animal-free proteins can have a much lower impact on the environment than traditional dairy. To calculate just how much, Bon Vivant commissioned a life-cycle assessment (LCA) in 2022 for its whey protein, which the company says was conducted independently according to ISO standards.
Courtesy: Bon Vivant
The LCA found that compared to conventional whey, Bon Vivant’s animal-free alternative emits 96% less carbon, and uses 99% less water and 92% less land. In terms of energy use, its precision-fermented dairy requires only half as much power as traditional dairy production.
According to the company, if only 5% of European milk was animal-free, it would save the equivalent of 660,000 tours of the world in petrol, 20 years of electricity consumption in Paris, and 2.3 million Olympic swimming pools of water (note: these numbers are estimates and not verified by Green Queen).
These figures aren’t a one-off. Perfect Day’s independent LCA, for example, presents similar results, finding that its precision-fermented whey has 91-97% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, 29-60% lower energy demands, and 96-99% lower water consumption than conventional whey protein.
Additionally, a non-company, independent LCA focused on the different forms of energy used to produce all kinds of animal-free proteins from precision fermentation in 2021 concluded that these proteins had a 53-100% lower environmental impact than their animal-based counterparts.
German retailer Lidl has announced that it will be introducing price parity for the majority of its plant-based alternatives to animal-derived foods via its own-label brand Vemondo. The grocer will also place these vegan products directly next to their conventional counterparts across all its stores in Germany.
Lidl introduced its Vemondo range in 2020, which now boasts over 100 products (the retailer stocks a total of 650 vegan items across seasons). Now, most of the products under this label – which include plant-based milk, yoghurt, ice cream, cheese, meat products and ready meals – will be priced on par with their animal-derived counterparts.
The retailer says it wants to “bring equality on the plate”, explaining that widespread “conscious and sustainable consumption” is only possible if these foods are “affordable and more easily accessible for everyone”.
Plant-based price parity to match market trends
Courtesy: Lidl
It comes on the back of research last month revealing that 43% of consumers in Germany would buy more vegan products if they were cheaper – not only is it Europe’s leading plant-based market, it has the second highest per-capita spend on plant-based foods. Meanwhile, 29% would purchase more if there were a higher number of plant-based options to choose from.
The survey was carried out by BVLH, a federal association of German retailers, which found that 43% of the country’s population identifies as flexitarian, while 9% are vegetarian and 3% are vegan. Similar research has found that meat consumption has dropped to a record low in the country, which ranks top when it comes to plant-based meat sales in Europe.
Attitudes towards plant-based dairy are along similar lines. The country is the leading European market for vegan milk, cheese and yoghurt, with sales of the former growing by 20% between 2020-22. Additionally, research by the University of Hohenheim has revealed that Germany has the greatest potential for alt-milk in the continent, with purchases already growing by 62% between 2020-22.
Lidl’s move to introduce price parity will be a win for German MPs Tim Klüssendorf and Bruno Hönel from the Social Democratic Party and Green Party, respectively. In August, the two politicians proposed a change in the country’s tax laws to reduce the VAT on plant-based milk to better reflect consumer needs. Currently, alt-milk carries a 19% levy, compared to 7% for traditional dairy.
Germans spent an average of €6.60 on alt-milk last year, with 28% consuming it once a week. This is why Lidl’s decision to reduce their prices to match them with cow’s milk is such an important step. “By adjusting the price of our Vemondo products, we would like to increasingly invite customers to try out the plant-based alternatives – without the price being the decisive criterion,” said Lidl Germany’s chief buyer Christoph Graf.
“Price is a key lever in nudging people to transition to a more plant-based diet, particularly in times when household budgets are being squeezed,” Jasmijn de Boo, CEO of alt-protein non-profit ProVeg International, said in a statement. “This is also the first time we are seeing a long-term, permanent pricing measure by a large retailer to promote plant-based nutrition and we hope other retailers will follow Lidl’s example and make similar adjustments to their pricing.”
Positioning vegan products in the meat and dairy aisles
Courtesy: Lidl
Lidl isn’t just aligning its vegan product prices with animal-based food: it’s now putting them together. It will place plant-based products in the traditional aisles of all 3,250 of its stores – so plant-based meat will go alongside conventional meat, while plant-based milk will be positioned next to cow’s milk, for example.
It follows a trial by the retailer in June, where it placed its four bestselling meat analogues in the meat aisle for increased visibility. It’s a strategy that has been known to be successful in creating more awareness and increasing consumer adoption of these products across different countries.
A 2020 trial by US retailer Kroger and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) showed that when sold in the meat aisle, plant-based meat sales rose by 23%, with one consumer explaining that their first thought is that these products will be in the meat section, while another said this makes buying vegan a lot easier.
In 2021, a UK-wide report by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) found that 57% of respondents strongly agreed that moving plant-based products into the meat aisle would make it easier for them to follow healthier and more sustainable diets. Although it could be important to have a segregated bay within the meat aisle, as opposed to placing products right next to the meat, Asda found the latter saw a 30% sales decline versus the former.
It’s important to make these changes permanent, as Lidl is doing. IGD reports how, in one European study, meatless spreads and sausages were moved alongside their conventional counterparts (as well as remaining in their original positions). While sales increased initially, they came back down once the trial had ended.
Additionally, a 2021 poll by Attest found that a fifth of US and UK consumers never visited a dedicated vegan aisle, with 28% doing so rarely. Meanwhile, 16% of non-vegans said they’d never buy from these sections.
Replacing meat and dairy with plant-based alternatives
Courtesy: Lidl
Lidl – which was the first retailer to introduce the V-Label on price indicators on shelves in Germany – claims that it is the first German supermarket to disclose data on the proportion of animal to plant-based protein in its product range. The grocer has found that vegan to animal protein has a ratio of 11% to 89%, while for dairy, this changes to 6% to 94%, respectively.
The retailer says it’s the first to set concrete goals around these foods. It will endeavour to increase the proportion of plant-based protein sources in its German stores by 20% and alt-dairy by 10% by 2030. The company adds that it will advocate for a cross-industry methodology to calculate protein ratios. The move comes months after Lidl announced it will be cutting back its meat offerings in favour of more plant-based food as there is “no second planet”.
“Only if we enable our customers to make ever more conscious and sustainable purchasing decisions and fair choices can we help shape the transformation to sustainable nutrition,” said Graf. “For us, this also includes remaining in active dialogue with our partners in German agriculture and continually developing our animal range in terms of transparency and husbandry methods.”
Plant Sifu, Hong Kong’s first locally produced plant-based meat brand, has made impressive strides since launching in late 2021. Now, the food tech company has extended its partnership with the city’s flag carrier, Cathay Pacific, bringing its tasty plant-based pork range to even more travellers across the world.
The consumer-facing brand of Hong Kong foodtech company Good Food Technologies, Plant Sifu, made waves last year when it introduced its next-gen plant-based pork with patented AROMAXTM fat technology after the parent company closed an oversubscribed HK$12.5M ($1.5M) seed funding round in early 2022.
Since then, the brand has entered multiple foodservice locations in Hong Kong, showcasing its products at seven of the city’s most reputable Chinese restaurants, before extending its footprint with a partnership at Cafe de Coral-owned Shanghainese chain Shanghai Lao Lao in April. The soup dumpling and fresh noodle chain launched a green plant-based menu featuring Plant Sifu’s pork in all 12 of its locations, marking the first fully vegan menu by the restaurant. The four dishes were so successful that they have become a permanent addition. Additionally, the Asian plant-based brand launched with Fairwood (Hong Kong’s second largest Chinese fast-food chain with 100+ outlets), Nosh (the city’s leading meal delivery service provider), and recently returned to IKEA in Hong Kong and Macau in the form of plant-based siu mai.
Photo copyright @ Plant Sifu
But perhaps Plant Sifu’s most notable link-up is with Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s national carrier and a pioneer in food innovation in the airline industry. In July, the two companies collaborated to debut in-flight meals containing Plant Sifu’s plant-based pork.
Plant Sifu in the sky
“Cathay Pacific is not only a global top 10 airline, but also one of Hong Kong’s best-recognised enterprises for culinary innovation and quality,” Joshua Ng, co-founder of Good Food Technologies, told Green Queen in August. “Our ‘taste-first’ and localised approach in product development separated us early on to secure this key partnership,” added co-founder Dr Andrew Leung.
Now, the two brands have extended their link-up with a six-month trial that will see more meals containing the vegan pork appear on the Economy and Premium Economy menus of select long-haul Cathay Pacific flights. These include routes departing from Hong Kong and rotating across North America, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Photo copyright @ Plant Sifu
Chefs from the carrier’s Culinary Design team created Chinese and Asian dishes by using all formats of Plant Sifu’s pork, including mince and bites. Think braised egg tofu with pork mince and shiitake mushrooms, and wok-fried mince with Thai basil, morning glory and vegetarian sambal.
“Plant Sifu is proud to be Cathay Pacific’s selected partner to serve their Premium Economy and Economy class globally,” said Ng. “This is also a first for Hong Kong food innovation with global impact.”
The collaboration is part of Cathay Pacific’s wider Greener Together strategy, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality and battle climate change. In August, it worked with Hong Kong vegetarian restaurant Veda, part of the Ovolo Hotel Group, to create 16 meat-free dishes for the carrier’s in-flight menu.
Photo copyright @ Plant Sifu
It was part of Cathay Pacific’s ‘The difference is in the detail‘ campaign, which aims to elevate its in-flight dining experiences and improve its wellness and sustainability credentials, as well as supports its long-term partnership with Hong Kong environmental charity The Green Earth, helping travellers “make better lifestyle choices for the planet”.
In February of this year, Cathay Pacific launched a First and Business Class menu with Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Duddell’s, also one of Plant Sifu’s partners.
Contributing to a healthier, more sustainable planet
Photo copyright @ Plant Sifu
Plant Sifu began by focusing on cleaner plant-based alternatives catering to Asian diets and cooking applications, starting with pork and dim sum. All Plant Sifu products are free from MSG, preservatives, refined sugar, and genetic modification. The secret to its superior juiciness and texture? The company’s fat tech AROMAXTM. “After extensive research with chefs, it was clear that pork fat and lard are quintessential ingredients in Chinese and Asian recipes,” said Leung.
“However, they come along with health hazards of high fat and high cholesterol commonly associated with heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Therefore, our team went on to invent AROMAXTM – using konjac gelatin structures locked with flavours and aromas to mimic fatty pork.”
In terms of sustainability, the brand claims that independent life-cycle assessments have shown that its meat products use at least 75% fewer resources compared to their conventional counterparts, and are hence more planet-friendly.
Working with Cathay Pacific extends its mission to “feed the world sustainably”. Plant Sifu truly is soaring – both figuratively and literally.
German alt-meat company Esencia Foods hosted Europe’s first tasting of mycelium-derived seafood at the Anuga gastronomic fair in Cologne. The startup makes whole-cut whitefish like seabass and cod comprised of just two ingredients using solid-state fermentation.
The startup, which was founded in August 2022 by Hendrik Kate and Bruno Scocozza, began by creating mycelium alternatives to scallops and salmon and how now finalized prototypes for whitefish species like seabass and cod.
Esencia leverages a proprietary solid-state fermentation process that involves growing microbes atop an inoculated solid surface. The core ingredient for this process is a strain of edible fungi often used in the food industry. And unlike many “plant-based processed products”, the company claims its biomass is composed of two ingredients only, and adds that its mycelium alternatives are high in protein, fibre and omega-3, though it is not disclosing the exact ingredient list (previous coverage suggested the final product has 5-6).
Biomass fermentation uses considerably less land, water and energy, and produces a fraction of the greenhouse gases associated with traditional animal husbandry, for an equivalent amount of protein, according to food scientist Dr Martin Wickham.
Courtesy: Esencia Foods
‘A new generation of protein’
Esencia’s mycelium-derived whitefish was on display for tastings at Anuga – which takes place biennially and is one of the world’s largest food industry trade show fairs – with the company looking to ink partnerships with restaurants, foodservice distributors and food corporations at the event.
“Tastings at selected industry-focused events will help us to win important partners, but also to fine-tune our products and learn which dishes can be most successful at the market,” said Kaye. “The number of samples is limited. Tasters should be prepared to try not just seafood alternatives, but the start of a new generation of protein to feed humanity.”
Esencia, which raised $500,000 in a pre-seed round last September, isn’t the only company that will be exhibiting alt-seafood products at Anuga. Spanish brand Zyrcular Foods will showcase its plant-based tuna and salmon alternatives, alongside a Smashburger at the event.
Courtesy: Esencia Foods
Mycelium meat and alt-seafood on the rise
While the alternative seafood space is increasingly crowded on the plant-based side and boasts a handful of cultivated startups, Esencia’s only other major whole-cut mycelium seafood competitor is US company Aqua Cultured Foods, which says it’s the world’s first whole-cut microbial-fermented seafood producer, makes analogues to whole-muscle ahi tuna, whitefish, shrimp and calamari, among others. Earlier this year, the startup raised $5.5M in a seed funding round to accelerate production and scale up.
In July, California’s The Better Meat Co and Israel’s Oshi (previously Plantish) signed an MoU to develop a salmon alternative – the former is known for its B2B mycelium ingredients. Last year, scientists in Copenhagen began working with two Michelin-starred restaurant Alchemist to develop mycelium-based seafood.
Other companies working in the mycelium meat space include Meati, Libre Foods, Prime Roots, MyForest Foods and Adamo Foods, among others. Meanwhile, Canadian brand Seed to Surf is also making vegan whitefish but with a whole-foods plant-based approach- celeriac is the base ingredient.
Courtesy: BlueNalu
The seafood analogue sector has seen a flurry of developments this year. Vegan startups like Konscious Foods and Hooked Foods have secured funding, and two European brands received a €1.5M grant to create 3D-printed mycoprotein to replace seafood, which debuted last month. Other product launches include South Korean startup Unlimeat‘s upcycled vegan tuna and Singapore-based HAPPIEE‘s vegan shrimp and squid in the UK.
In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Eleven Madison Park’s Hong Kong pop-up, UK environment secretary Thérèse Coffey’s anti-alt-meat comments, and a host of alt-seafood developments.
New products and launches
Eleven Madison Park, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant once named the world’s best, turned (mostly) vegan in 2021 – but for the milk and honey in its tea and coffee service. Now, it’s crossing continents in its 25th year, partnering with Hong Kong luxury hotel Rosewood on a five-day-long vegan pop-up at its Asaya Kitchen, led by EMP chef-owner Daniel Humm. And in true EMP fashion, the eight-course tasting menu will cost HK$3,998 ($510) plus 10% per person. Go figure.
Also in the restaurant world, popular vegan sushi chain Planta has opened its second outpost in Los Angeles, following the launch of the first one in Marina Bay earlier this year. The new Brentwood location is its 14th across the US and Canada. Another new vegan restaurant in Los Angeles is Ubuntu, a West African restaurant, whose chef is behind the New York vegan soul food eatery Cadence.
Courtesy: Planta
Speaking of plant-based sushi, Konscious Foods has collaborated with Whole Foods Market’s sushi venues on ready-to-eat sushi rolls, which feature the brand’s vegan seafood. The Tuna California and Spicy Sno Crab tolls are available at Whole Foods stores nationwide.
Whole Foods in the UK, by the way, will now feature products from Danish brand PerfectSeason, which makes whole-food plant-based meat, including beetroot patties, mushroom patties, and dill cakes. They come in 200g packs of two patties, with the aim to make vegetables the main dish.
The UK has actually been a hotbed for plant-based news this week. Swiss startup Planted has secured a listing for three products in Tesco: a vegan kebab, and lemon and herb chicken, and a new duck SKU that is exclusive to the UK. The B Corp-certified brand’s products will be available in 350 Tesco stores, joining Holland & Barrett, Morrisons and Planet Organic in its retail roster.
Meanwhile, British chef James Taylor has partnered with Hodmedod’s, a grains and pulses supplier, to include British pulses on the primary school menus he creates. He’ll be using ingredients like carlin peas, flamingo peas and coral lentils (among others) in dishes such as lasagne, shepherd’s pie and chilli. If you have any more suggestions, there’s an open call!
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
And on the heels of its new US ad campaign highlighting its health credentials, Beyond Meat is finally releasing its heart-healthy Beyond Steak in the UK, which will be available for restaurants and chefs to order. There’s no announcement about a retail launch, however.
In the US, frozen food giant Dr. Praeger’s is making a texture play with a new crunchy veggie burger line. Available in Crunchy Cauliflower and Crunchy Southwestern Sweet Potato variants, they’re made from six vegetables and can be found at Whole Foods, Shoprite, HEB, Sprouts and Publix nationwide, after debuting on telemarketing channel QVC last month.
Speaking of frozen foods, Indian plant-based meat company GoodDot is entering the US via a partnership with food exporter and distributor Regal Kitchen Foods. Its vegan chicken tikka curry and butter chicken are currently available via the latter’s website, and will soon appear on supermarket shelves in the US.
Meanwhile, upcycled food producer Supplant Kitchen has updated the recipe for its ultra-popular shortbreads, which contain its Sugars from Fibre ingredient claiming 30-40% less sugar than regular shortbread. Available in classic and chocolate formulations, the packaging has been updated to highlight the health and eco credentials too.
Courtesy: Meati
And Colorado-based Meati – which has had tons going on recently – has now joined the snacking category with a shelf-stable mycelium meat jerky in Original, Peppered and Sweet Chile flavours. It comes just weeks after the company opened its D2C online marketplace and subscription service, promising never-seen-before products.
If you’re a keen ocean traveller, Princess Cruisesis launching several vegan menus across its fleet of 15 ships in response to “surging demand”. Passengers can request plant-based options ahead of the trip – these would include Baja-style cauliflower tacos, green goddess salad with tofu and endive, and “walkaway” ratatouille.
Going back to the seafood realm, US producer Plant Based Seafood Co. has partnered with premium wholesaler Sam Rust Seafood to introduce the former’s vegan range to Sam Rust’s foodservice and retail customers.
Courtesy: Zyrcular Foods
In Europe, Catalan plant-based brand Zyrcular Foods is exhibiting its vegan tuna and salmon, as well as a smashburger, pulled pork and pulled chicken at the ongoing German trade fair Anuga 2023 (October 7-11).
Elsewhere, Singapore’s OnlyEg, owned by Float Foods, is making its Australia debut, seeking foodservice partnerships in Sydney. It makes plant-based egg yolks, poached eggs, tamagoyaki, omelette wraps, egg shreds and patties.
Funding and M&A activity
Superlatus, the new company that recently agreed to acquire Perfect Day’s consumer-facing brand The Urgent Company, has now entered an agreement to purchase plant-based dairy and egg company Spero, which will join Coolhaus, Modern Kitchen, Brave Robot and more under The Urgent Company umbrella. Next year, Spero will launch mozzarella sticks and shreds, as well as Cheddar shreds.
Courtesy: Spero Foods
Meanwhile, months after confirming its exit from the dairy category, Finnish company Fazer is considering changes to its plant-based dairy production due to a ‘slowdown’ in the sector’s growth. It’s looking to make its Sweden factory the hub for oat milk manufacturing, while its Finnish facility would focus on oat yoghurt – this could affect 133 employees, with 93 positions possibly being terminated.
Also in the dairy category, Spain’s Pascual Innoventures and Eatable Adventures have launched the third edition of Mylkcubator: More Than Mylk, an accelerator for cellular agriculture companies. Startups that were part of its previous editions include Novo Dairy, Zero Cow Factory, Miruku and Maolac, and have generated a total value of $107M. It has opened calls for this year’s incubator programme.
And in Barcelona, Japanese tofu maker Someno’s Tofu Co. – which opened its first overseas branch in the city in February – has reported a sales growth of 179% in the last eight months.
Speaking of soy-based protein powerhouses, UK tempeh maker Better Nature has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs with a £1M goal. It comes months after it launched a £3M Series A round – and yesterday, it emerged that the brand is the UK’s top-scoring meat-free B Corp, with an impact score of 99.7 (20% higher than the sector average).
Another company celebrating a milestone is Omni, the UK vegan pet food company, which says it has served over a million plant-based dog meals since its founding in 2020 and has seen a sales rise of 60% since the beginning of the year.
Courtesy: Omni
New Zealand-based NewFish, meanwhile, which has developed an 80%-concentrate marine whey protein from microalgae, gained investment from Oslo-based VC firm Katapult. It will join 22 startups in the latter’s accelerator programme, after being in the top 1% of 2,500 candidates and valued at NZ$10M ($6M).
In other startup news, the Vegan Women Summit Pathfinder competition has just announced its top 10 finalists for this year with startups working on everything from alt-fats to mushroom-centric meat-free ranges. The founders of Liven Proteins Corp, Kula Foods, Big Mountain Foods, Nud Fud (all Canada), Lypid, Tiamat Sciences, FoodNerd (all US), Alver (Switzerland), Poseidona (Spain), and Time Travelling Milkman (the Netherlands) will be pitching to the jury on November 1.
Policy and research
Did you hear that plant-based is good for you and the planet? Well, now, even one of the EU Commission’s scientific advisors is saying that. Eric Lambin, co-author of a study earlier this year that highlighted how the meat and dairy lobby are blocking the rise of alt-protein, is calling on the EU to adopt policies that will help drive this shift towards a more sustainable food system.
And speaking of people who used to be in the EU, the UK’s environment secretary Thérèse Coffey recently attacked plant-based meat at a Conservative Party Conference, saying they “might be okay” for astronauts. In an open letter, Plant Based News co-founder Robbie Lockie criticised her remarks: “Your dismissive attitude towards plant-based meats is not only misinformed but incredibly irresponsible… Your lack of environmental foresight is not merely disappointing; it’s a dereliction of your duty to both the public and the planet we inhabit.”
Courtesy: World Economic Forum/CC
Elsewhere, Chinese impact investment firm Dao Foods has released a new report highlighting the potential of fermentation in novel protein adoption in the country, examining its history of biomanufacturing infrastructure development, supportive government policies, and the opportunities and challenges faced by the sector.
In Asia, the industry think tank the Good Food Institute APAC has published its first Korean-language State of the Policy report, highlighting how the South Korean government is accelerating the development of cultivated meat and other alt-proteins via strategic investments and collaborations.
And in further Asian news, alt-protein advocacy non-profit ProVeg International has opened a new office in Malaysia, its 12th branch across the globe. The organisation is also introducing V-Label to the southeast Asian country.
Novel tech and manufacturing news
SIngapore-headquartered plant-based meat company TiNDLE Foods, which has made a wave of headlines over the last year, recently opened an R&D centre in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, complementing its existing Chicago and Singapore. The company announced another milestone, its TiNDLE Nuggets, Wings, or Tenderslanded at Whole Foods in the UK.
On the other end of the spectrum, US meat giant Tyson Foods has laid off a reported 250 employees at a poultry processing plant in North Carolina in response to weak consumer demand, inflation and fluctuating prices. Prior to this, Tyson had already announced the closure of six poultry processing plants this year.
In new tech developments, Israeli nutri-tech startup Novella is unveiling its new line of berry-derived bioactive at the Las Vegas trade show SupplySide West (October 23-27). It’s in the advanced stages of making intact-cell berry compounds grown outside of the plant using “novel, precision-controlled-environment technology”.
Courtesy: Veg of Lund
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Veg of Lund – the company behind the Dug potato milks that caused a stir upon launch in 2021 – has received a notice of intention from the US Patent and Trademark Office, which is set to approve its application for a “vegan potato emulsion”, clearing the way for launch stateside. The company already holds similar patents in Sweden, Europe and Canada, and has active applications in Australia, China, India, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the UAE.
Finally, Chilean food tech startup NotCo – the company behind the AI-powered range of plant-based milks, mayo and burgers – has been named a Climate Tech Company to Watch by the MIT Technology Review for its potential to reduce emissions and address the challenges posed by global warming.
Want more roundups of alt-protein, plant-based and sustainable food? Stay tuned for next week’s Future Food Quick Bites, published every Wednesday, or get it in your mailbox by signing up for our Alt Protein Weekly newsletter.
Wanda Fish, the Israeli startup making cultivated whole-cut bluefin tuna, has raised $7M in a seed funding round to accelerate production and scalability. The company is planning for regulatory approval in the US in 2025, and says it will launch in the market the year after.
The latest cash injection brings Wanda Fish’s total financing to $10M. The latest funding round was led by Dutch aquaculture investment fund Aqua-Spark and joined by returning pre-seed investors The Kitchen Hub by the Strauss Group, Peregrine Ventures, LLC, Pico Venture Partners, MOREVC, and CPT Capital, LLP. The announcement came the same day BlueNalu, a fellow cultured bluefin tuna maker, announced its $33.5M Series B raise.
Founded in 2021 as a joint venture between Israeli food tech incubator The Kitchen Hub and biotech innovation expert Daphna Heffetz, Wanda Fish makes whole-cut filets of cultivated seafood. The company started with bluefin tuna, a fish species that is sought-after for its flavour, texture and nutritional attributes. The premium product is used in high-grade sushi and sashimi restaurants across the world– with Asia responsible for over 80% of its global consumption.
But bluefin tuna supply can be limited and extremely variable in quality, and it faces declines in stocks due to overfishing and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, according to BlueNalu. Wanda Fish adds that further demand is driving the species towards endangerment and has led to governments placing quotas to limit its fishing. Moreover, tuna is one of the most polluted fish in the oceans, often contaminated with plastic debris and extremely high levels of heavy metals like mercury.
How Wanda Fish makes cultured bluefin tuna
CourtesyWanda Fish
Wanda Fish, which is still in relatively early stages, says it has made progress on several key breakthroughs to develop a cell-cultured whole-cut bluefin tuna prototype. This includes forming a 3D filet structure using bluefin tuna cells, differentiated into both muscle and fat tissues. The startup is using animal-free growth mediums and custom bioreactors as they will be instantly scaleable, when appropriate, and allow for costs to remain palatable.
With its proprietary tech, the company can control fat levels (which is key as the fish is renowned for its balance of fat and protein). This can help develop a diverse range of filet cuts, including the premium tuna belly cut called toro that BlueNalu is working on (which plans to open a commercial-scale facility by 2027).
In March 2022, Wanda Fish entered a licensing agreement with Tufts University, gaining exclusive access to the latter’s IP surrounding cultivated fish development, created by cellular agriculture expert David Kaplan. As part of the collaboration, the company will support a two-year research programme by the university into the production of fish cells.
“We start with a single, one-time sample of a real native fish muscle and fat tissues,” Kaplan said at the time. “We then pursue the replication of the biological growth of fish, with the nutritional attributes, including protein and omega-3 content, as well as the flavour and textural properties.”
Price parity and regulatory approval
“By integrating innovative proprietary applications from multiple disciplines, including cell culture, biotechnology, food tech, and culinary design, we will produce a versatile range of fish species to satisfy all preferences, at affordable prices, and with uncompromising quality,” Wanda Fish CEO Heffetz had added. It’s worth noting that while cost continues to be one of cultivated meat’s biggest challenges, bluefin tuna’s premium position means it wouldn’t carry the same price differences as cultured alternatives to beef, pork or chicken.
Heffetz told TechCrunch that Wanda Fish expects to obtain regulatory approval from the USDA and other agencies in early 2025, and plans to enter foodservice by 2026. “We will now scale up production and work on the cost parity. We will also collaborate with big food companies for distribution. Our core technology is being done in-house, but we need to collaborate to get to market as fast as possible.”
“We are excited and feel incredibly fortunate to collaborate with Aqua-Spark in propelling our venture forward,” Heffetz said in a statement. “We are on a shared mission to improve the global food value chain, creating a tasty, more sustainable future for all. This financial backing by leading global venture funds gives us significant leverage to make sustainably cultivated, cruelty-free, and ocean-friendly bluefin tuna a reality.”
Chen Galili via Wanda Fish
Growing investment in cultivated seafood
“Wanda Fish is transforming visionary ideas into a tangible, cutting-edge product that is just steps away from reaching its prototype,” said Jonathan Berger, CEO of The Kitchen Hub. “This is credited to a skilled and ambitious multinational team led by Daphna Heffetz that is undoubtedly poised for a resounding success story in the thriving alternative protein space; this spells good news for an overburdened marine ecosystem.”
Wildtype (from California) secured the largest-ever cultivated seafood investment with a $100M Series B for its cell-based salmon in 2022. Meanwhile, China’s Avant closed a $10.8M Series A round the same year, while in 2021, Singapore’s Shiok Meats closed an oversubscribed bridge round that brought its total financing to $30M – the cultured crustacean player counts Aqua-Spark as a backer too. Earlier this year, Berlin-based Bluu Seafood secured $17.5M in a Series A raise with the aim to launch in Singapore next year.
Months after bailing out fellow British alt-meat brand Meatless Farm, vegan chicken maker VFC has expanded its portfolio of plant-based brands by agreeing to acquire vegan pie maker Clive’s Purely Plants for an undisclosed sum. The deal is pending final-stage due diligence, which is expected to conclude in a matter of days.
The move will diversify VFC’s offerings to include Clive’s premium vegetable pies, savoury tarts, quiches, nut roasts and sausage rolls – bar the latter, all of Clive’s products feature vegetables, expanding VFC’s position from an alt-meat company to a plant-based food producer. The acquisition also means VFC now has a production facility in Dartmouth, which makes it the company’s first foray into primary manufacturing.
Clive’s was previously owned by Veg Capital – a VFC investor, which led its £6M seed funding round in April. Clive’s will operate as a subsidiary of VFC Foods with full support from its existing team. But VFC added that it will unveil “a new trade-facing identity” in the near future.
In June, VFC rescued Meatless Farm, which had laid off its workforce and filed a notice of intent to appoint administrators after facing millions of losses and failing to secure funding. In just over a week, VFC purchased Meatless Farm in a £12M deal for its UK operations (VFC paid just a small portion of the sum, saving it from bankruptcy and keeping the brand assets intact).
By integrating both brands, we can utilise numerous synergies with valued customers and suppliers, thus driving innovation and extending customer choice,” VFC and (now) Meatless Farm CEO Dave Sparrow said at the time.
Courtesy: Clive’s Purely Plants
‘A formidable player’
Now, Sparrow – who also served as a non-executive director at Clive’s – says this latest acquisition of Clive’s positioned it as “a formidable player” in the market. “With three strong brands experiencing substantial growth, we are well-positioned to further penetrate the retail and foodservice sectors in the UK and Europe,” he said.
“What excites us the most is the diverse range of products we can offer consumers, from enticing meat alternatives to wholesome and delicious vegetable-based options, making us one of the most diversified players in the category.”
Clive’s managing director Esther Pearson, who remains a shareholder, added: “We are thrilled to have found a like-minded partner in VFC Foods to support us through this period of accelerated growth. We are committed to maintaining business as usual with all existing customers and ensuring that we uphold our high standards of customer service.”
In July, VFC expanded its portfolio by launching chilled SKUs of its plant-based chicken, and last month, Meatless Farm returned to UK supermarkets with a few of its old products, as well as a new offering. Clive’s, which is stocked in Waitrose, Asda, Ocado, and Abel & Cole, will soon announce a further Big Five UK supermarket listing this December (poised to be Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons or Aldi).
“Reducing meat consumption is crucial for a healthier and more sustainable future, and consumers are increasingly seeking varied options in the plant-based aisle, including high-quality vegetable-based products,” Sparrow added. “Clive’s perfectly complements our portfolio and enhances our ability to meet this growing demand.”
VFC co-founders Matthew Glover and Adam Lyons | Courtesy: VFC
A stagnating UK plant-based market
The UK is the second-largest market for plant-based foods in Europe, with Brits spending £964M on vegan meat and dairy last year. But sales have stagnated and, over the last decade, total investment in plant-based protein R&D has been overtaken by cultivated meat. In August, the UK received its first regulatory filing for approval of cultivated meat sales by Israeli company Aleph Farms – and last week, it was reported the government was set to fast-track this process.
“Much has been reported on the plant-based market recently and it’s clear that, whilst it will see continued growth and demand, the level of early capital and emerging brands has saturated the space,” Sparrow told Green Queen last month. “Consumer-led brands that stay true to their core values will weather the storm to create strong businesses.”
“Within VFC Foods, that starts with having quality-led products, impactful brand communications and an eye on maintaining affordable price points for consumer entry into plant-based foods. Beyond this, ensuring that choice and convenience remain a priority to make eating plant-based food an easy transition is key – bringing both VFC and Meatless Farm brands together is a big part of our objective here and an excellent opportunity to be at the forefront of the market in the coming years.”
In a world increasingly ravaged by the climate crisis and food insecurity, one crop could be a solution to meeting our future nutritional, environmental and health needs. Find out more about the startups growing duckweed, the future protein that could power plant-based alternatives to meat and egg, help us fight cancer, feed space colonies, serve as animal feed and more!
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, there will be about 9.3 billion people on Earth by 2050. To feed this population, we’ll need to produce 60% more food than current levels. But food production is already responsible for a third of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and half of the world’s habitable land is currently being used for agriculture.
How are we supposed to grow more food? Especially considering that climate-change-induced extreme heat, wildfires, droughts, floods, typhoons and everything in between are already decimating crops and threatening our food supply.
Plus, we’re already eating a ton of meat (and are expected to be consuming more of it), and study after study has shown the environmental detriments of doing so, compared to a vegan diet. And with plant-based meat being in a relatively dormant state of late, and cultivated meat still years from reaching widespread acceptance, approval and production, we need more alternatives, and soon.
Scientists may have found the answer in the naturally occurring plant known as duckweed, which has been consumed in certain parts of the world for centuries and boasts unique health and climate benefits.
Duckweed, aka lemna, or water lentils
Courtesy: Getty Images via Canva
Duckweeds are free-floating freshwater aquatic plants that combine to form what resembles a green carpet on the surface of water. Water lentils is another name for duckweed, which is the non-botanical name of the genus Lemna (variants include minor and minuta) and they are sometimes described as green caviar- pretty cool, right?
This pond weed cleans the water it grows in, by removing pollutants like nitrate and purifying the water. Additionally, it helps with nutrient recovery in municipal wastewater and (in its dry form) is used as a source of animal feed and in the production of medicines. While mostly a freshwater plant, some studies suggest duckweed could be grown in saltwater.
The plant has tremendous – and largely untapped – potential for human use too. Wild duckweed has been consumed in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand (where it is called khai-nam), Myanmar and Laos for centuries, where it is grown, harvested and used in soups and curries, and it’s grown as a vegetable in Israel too. Its flavour is described as being mild with an almost neutral, nutty profile akin to other greens like sweet cabbage, and can be used in similar applications as spinach, for example.
Why should we eat duckweed?
Courtesy: GreenOnyx
One of the most cited health benefits of duckweed is a high protein content that’s easily absorbed by the body. It can potentially contain 43% of protein in its dry form and can yield 10 times more crude protein per hectare than soy.
Lemna is additionally rich in all essential and many non-essential amino acids, as well as iron, zinc and vitamin B12 – nutrients that aren’t always as easy to find in plant-based sources. And these can be found in higher concentrations than most vegetables. Plus, duckweed is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids. This is why it’s known as khai-nam in Thailand, which translates to ‘water eggs’ (referring to eggs’ high omega-3 content).
Many people also eat the fibre-rich duckweed to treat respiratory infections, rheumatoid arthritis and gout – although that’s based more on anecdotal than scientific evidence. What there is proof of, though, is the presence of flavonoids and carotenoids, which are antioxidants found to help reduce the risk of cancer as well as metabolic, cardiovascular and digestive diseases.
What makes duckweed a climate-resilient, future superfood?
Courtesy: Akaratwimages/Canva
Duckweed’s biggest claim to climate fame is that it’s an aquatic plant, which means it doesn’t occupy any farmland or require the clearing of land for its cultivation or biodiversity loss. This is especially important given the aforementioned share of land taken up by agriculture, and how much food we’ll need to feed future populations. Agrifood systems are responsible for at least three-quarters of global deforestation.
According to one estimate, duckweed uses up to 98% less water per tonne of product than soy, despite being an aquatic weed. This is because the water is recycled within the growing units. Meanwhile, one duckweed startup claims the plant requires up to 20 times less water than protein isolates like soy.
As mentioned above, these water lentils can grow in the same wastewater that they are cleaning. They can absorb contaminants like nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals and carbon dioxide from the air, meaning they have huge climate mitigation potential (there are also minimal disease threats). And while one study found that duckweed ponds release methane, a potent gas, other research points to duckweed’s potential as a carbon sink.
Duckweed can grow in any climate and at any altitude, including freezing temperatures that could be lethal to other plans. This means it could be cultivated in parts of the planet that suffer from food shortages and insecurity, or have diets low in protein or produce.
Plus, duckweed has been dubbed the world’s fastest-growing plant, owing to a process called budding. As its leaves grow, the plants divide and separate, each doubling in size every two or three days in optimum conditions, which means there is potential for exponential growth.
According to the UK science research body the STFC Food Network, this could pen up the potential for “industrial-scale protein production in the eastern hemisphere, including Europe, Africa and Asia, and help avoid deforestation”.
Lemna is all the research rage right now
Courtesy: GreenOnyx
Initial studies have shown low consumer objection to the introduction of duckweed in Europe. Additional research funded by the Wellcome Trust showed that Europeans could be convinced to accept lemna as an everyday food once they are familiar with its nutritional and environmental benefits.
Duckweed truly does possess otherworldly qualities – quite literally, given that NASA has pinpointed it as a top candidate for food grown on Mars. Similarly, Thailand and the European Space Research and Technology Centre are currently studying the possibility of cultivating lemna in space.
Coming back to Earth, the Netherlands submitted an application to the European Food Safety Authority in 2019 to classify duckweed as a novel food fit for human consumption under its regulations, in the hope of making the superfood a supermarket staple.
The startups leveraging duckweed
There are already a host of companies working towards this same goal, leveraging the plant to help produce future-ready food. Here are six startups working with lemna:
Plantible Foods (US)
Courtesy: Plantible Foods
San Diego, California’s Plantible Foods is leveraging the rubisco protein found in duckweed plants, which is said to be the most abundant protein on the planet. In 2021, it raised $21.5M in a Series A funding round to build a commercial-scale production facility and launch its nutrient-dense Rubi Protein. Its current focus is on replacing eggs in applications like baking and pasta-making with Rubi Whisk, and providing a cleaner-label binder to alt-meat with Rubi Prime.
Sustainable Planet (UK)
In the UK, Sustainable Planet is using up desertified land to grow duckweed and disrupt the existing alt-protein market. It was one of four winners of the global FoodTech Challenge earlier this year, which seeks innovative agritech solutions addressing food security. The startup, which is seeking funding to scale up, is aiming to produce lemna in different countries, typically developing nations with available land unsuited to traditional farming. It makes “premium” alt-proteins for plant-based meat, isolates, diabetes treatments, pet food and more.
MicroTERRA (Mexico)
MicroTERRA has created a functional ingredient with lemna that boasts a flavourless and odourless profile and mirrors traditional protein sources, to be used as a functional ingredient or pectin alternative in the plant-based food industry. Having raised $3.3M in total funding, its lemna absorbs nitrogen in residual water and is grown in existing aquaculture farms in its home country of Mexico.
GreenOnyx (Israel)
Courtesy: GreenOnyx
Israeli startup GreenOnyx is making ready-to-eat duckweed that lasts up to a month and can be used in both sweet and savoury applications. In January, it unveiled an urban breeding farm to grow fresh and affordable lemna in the form of green caviar, which it markets via its Wanna Greens brand. The company – valued at $80M after closing an $18M investment round last year – began selling the water lentil caviar for $6.40 in 200g boxes, with plans to retail it for $30 per kg, and has made it onto the menus of some Michelin-starred restaurants.
DryGro (UK – Kenya)
Anglo-Kenyan startup DryGro was founded at Oxford University in 2015 and is growing water lentils for potential use as an egg white replacement, plant-based meat protein ingredient, methylcellulose alternative, and more. The company, which has raised a total of £3.8M ($4.63M) in Series A funding, has research and development partnerships with four universities and has received support from the European Space Agency, Innovate UK, EIT Climate-KIC and EIT Food. In 2021, it opened a facility in Kenya to facilitate its lemna production, following the setup of a pilot farm in 2018.
Fyto (US)
MIT spinoff Fyto is hoping to “out-innovate soy” with its lemna, which it has already deployed at dairy farms for cattle feed and now plans to develop for broader applications. This will be helped by the $15M the Californian company secured in Series A funding last year (bringing total financing to $18M), which it also aims to use to scale to commercial production and grow its team.
With a host of startups working in the budding duckweed category, it seems this ancient water weed could help solve some of our most pressing future food challenges.
US-cultivated seafood producer BlueNalu has closed a $33.5M Series B funding round and extended partnerships with legacy seafood leaders in APAC to bring its cell-cultured bluefin tuna to market once it receives regulatory approval.
BlueNalu, whose first product is a whole-muscle bluefin tuna, says the new funds will help it scale and commercialise its alt-seafood. In 2021, it received a record-breaking $60M investment – the largest sum for a cultivated seafood company at the time. This followed a $20M Series A round in 2019 and a $4.5M seed funding round the year before.
While the details of the Series B raise are under wraps, it did include VC fund Agronomics, which has previously invested in cellular agriculture companies like Mosa Meat, Meatable, The Every Co and Formo. Agronomics has now invested a total of $8M across the seed and Series A rounds, and in a pre-Series B convertible note that has now transferred into preferred shares. This means it holds a 5.12% equity stake in BlueNalu.
Profitability and commercial production
BlueNalu plans to begin construction on its commercial-scale facility in 2026 | Courtesy: BlueNalu
The funding news comes on the heels of the Californian company extending its partnerships with Asian seafood giants Pulmuone (South Korea), Mitsubishi (Japan) and Thai Union (Thailand). BlueNalu partnered with the latter two in April 2021 to accelerate the launch of its alt-seafood products in the APAC region.
Toro, the fatty part of bluefin tuna belly, is a premium sushi- and sashimi-grade seafood product, with its limited supply making it highly sought after. But BlueNalu says it can be extremely variable in quality and sensory attributes and faces steep declines in fish stocks due to overfishing and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
While Bluefin currently operates out of a 38,000 sq ft pilot plant in San Diego that has the capacity to produce enough seafood for a small-scale launch, it hopes to begin construction on a large commercial facility in 2026, with plans to start production 18 months later. It announced these plans last year, claiming the 140,000 sq ft plant will be able to produce six million lbs of seafood once operational.
Simultaneously, it demonstrated a projected 75% gross margin within the first year of the large-scale facility being operational, via an in-depth techno-economic analysis. Since bluefin tuna toro is already a prized product with a premium price, a cultivated alternative would not carry the same cost difference as meats like beef or chicken.
BlueNalu confirmed that it has developed hundreds of cell lines for eight different finfish species, with ongoing projects looking to expand into other premium seafood categories as well.
Asia focus and regulatory approval
Originally, the company planned to introduce its cultivated tuna to the US foodservice sector in late 2021 and has looked into opportunities for a European launch through a partnership with frozen foods leader Nomad Foods. But it has magnified its focus on Asia now, with the renewal of its collaborations with the three seafood giants, as the region accounts for over 80% of global bluefin toro consumption.
“We are honoured to deepen our collaborations with Mitsubishi, Pulmuone and Thai Union, visionary partners who share our commitment to driving innovation and shaping the future of the seafood industry,” said BlueNalu CEO and president Lou Cooperhouse. In January 2022, the company also entered a deal with Food & Life Companies, Japan’s largest sushi restaurant chain.
“These extended partnerships in the APAC region underscore our dedication to working collaboratively with local experts in each region that we target, and our ultimate goal to provide our customers with healthy and trusted seafood options that have superior product benefits and align with evolving market conditions.”
Asia is home to the first country to approve the sale of cultivated meat, with Eat Just getting clearance to market its cell-based chicken in Singapore in 2020. Earlier this year, the US became the second, with USDA approval granted to Eat Just and Upside Foods. And in Europe, Israeli-cultivated meat producer Aleph Farms filed for approval in Switzerland and the UK earlier this year. BlueNalu is in the process of evaluating market strategies and reviewing regulatory frameworks to facilitate its commercial launch.
Wildtype (also Californian) surpassed BlueNalu’s record to secure the largest-ever cultivated seafood investment with a $100M Series B for its cell-based salmon in 2022. Meanwhile, China’s Avant closed a $10.8M Series A round the same year, while in 2021, Singapore’s Shiok Meats closed an oversubscribed bridge round that brought its total financing to $30M. And earlier this year, Berlin-based Bluu Seafood secured $17.5M in a Series A raise with the aim to launch in Singapore next year.
There have been various product launches too, including Canadian brand Seed to Surf‘s whole-food plant-based snow crab and whitefish, South Korean producer Unlimeat‘s upcycled vegan tuna, Singapore-based HAPPIEE‘s vegan shrimp and squid in the UK, and Austrian company Revo Foods‘ 3D-printed whole-cut salmon.
Dutch B2B ingredients company Vivici has announced it has successfully scaled up its platform to produce animal-free beta-lactoglobulin – the chief whey protein found in dairy. The company hopes to earn US regulatory approval by 2024, which is also when it aims to launch the ingredient.
Two months after closing a seed funding round to bring its precision-fermented dairy proteins to market, Vivici says its precision fermentation whey will allow leading food and drink manufacturers to improve their animal-free offerings.
Beta-lactoglobulin is the major whey protein found in cow’s and sheep’s milk – whey itself accounts for about 20% of the proteins in dairy. Vivici claims that beta-lactoglobulin is nutritionally superior to most proteins, and boasts gelling, foaming and emulsification properties that help provide enhanced mouthfeel and texture to a range of food and beverage applications.
The company is headquartered at the Biotech Campus Delft and has a dairy protein application lab in the Food Valley at NIZO food research, utilising the scaling-up facilities and investment climate the Netherlands offers. It’s remaining tight-lipped on the exact applications it’s working on, but says it’s ready to support its B2B customers with their formulation needs.
Vivici is headquartered at the Biotech Campus Delft | Courtesy: Vivici
Aiming for regulatory approval
Beta-lactoglobulin is the same whey protein that has been commercialised by US precision fermentation pioneer Perfect Day, and produced by Israeli startup Remilk. In April, the latter became the first precision-fermented dairy company to gain regulatory approval in Israel, which followed clearance in Singapore. It also received a ‘no questions letter’ from the FDA in the US, the second company to do so after Perfect Day. Now, Vivici is also looking to earn approval in the US, which it aims to do by 2024 when it also plans to release the animal-free beta-lactoglobulin to market.
“We are certainly on track, if not slightly ahead of our original timeline,” Vivici CEO Stephan van Sint Fiet told Dairy Reporter. “We now have the ability to provide potential customers with food-grade sample material for evaluation.”
Marcel Wubbolts, Vivici’s CTO, said in a statement: “I am excited to share this notable milestone in our journey. This not only accelerates our pace but positions us firmly on track to scale further. We are proud of the progress made by our team that has done an exceptional job in developing a robust production strain, and process from upstream fermentation through to downstream processing.”
Courtesy: Vivici
The market potential for precision fermentation
Vivici was announced last year as a joint venture between startup venture backer DSM-Firmenich Venturing and dairy giant Fonterra, with an aim to commercialise animal-free dairy ingredients using intellectual property created by years of collaboration between DSM and Fonterra (who have filed patents for the same).
Fonterra is New Zealand’s largest dairy company and produces 30% of the world’s dairy exports, so the company’s move into the precision fermentation category signposts the potential of this industry. According to the alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute, the fermentation sector has seen an investment of almost $4B to date, with at least 136 companies across the supply chain working on fermentation-based alt-protein as of 2022 – 62 of these are focused on precision fermentation.
Vivici was incorporated last December, after receiving approval from the EU Commission. It came months after the Netherlands poured €60M ($65.4M) into the cellular agriculture sector – the largest public investment into the space to date.
Earlier this year, Europe’s precision fermentation leaders formed a coalition to accelerate the regulatory approval of their dairy alternatives. These animal-free proteins can have a much lower impact on the environment than traditional dairy counterparts. For example, according to a life-cycle assessment by Perfect Day, its animal-free whey protein has 91-97% lower greenhouse gas emissions, 29-60% lower energy demands, and 96-99% of water consumption than conventional whey protein.
In March, Perfect Day also conducted a survey in partnership with the Hartman Group and Cargill, which found that 77% of US adults who said they were familiar with precision fermentation would likely purchase products from this category. It highlights the market potential for Vivici, which will be looking to launch in the US if it gains regulatory approval next year.
In our Indian Changemakers series, we interview brands and founders shaping the future of food in the world’s most populous country. Here, we speak to Komal Khosla, founder of Delhi-based vegan craft chocolate brand Carra, about the country’s changing attitudes towards food quality, health and sustainability – and its love for chocolate.
Indians love a good piece of chocolate. I grew up in a world where ‘Kuch meetha ho jaaye’ (roughly: let’s have something sweet) was an omnipresent tagline thanks to Cadbury and its ultra-popular Dairy Milk brand, which I guarantee you tastes better in India than it does in its own home country of the UK.
Chocolate was also part and parcel of Indian festivals, which might seem counterintuitive given the country’s renown for local sweets. Maybe it was a demographic thing – I can’t count the number of chocolate boxes (containing assortments of Cadbury or Nestlé products) I was gifted after visiting people’s houses every Diwali. I can recall stacks of these boxes lying around in houses to give to visitors. It’s an entire industry in itself.
But somewhere along the way, as India and Indians became more globalized, so too did our tastes. The switch flipped from always buying the cheapest food to buying better – whether that’s higher quality or better for you. It coincided with a growing consciousness around what we eat and where it comes from, alongside climate-change-induced heatwaves and water shortages.
Within the chocolate world – which faces catastrophic climate losses and has been linked to deforestation (with the widespread use of palm oil playing no small part) and human rights abuses – legacy brands tried to adapt to the shift in consumer mindsets. Cadbury, for example, launched a 30% reduced sugar version of its Dairy Milk to appeal to Indians who wanted healthier chocolate.
But the real revolution came from the new, indie challenger brands promising good-for-you, good-for-the-planet, and better-tasting chocolates, all in one. Among them was Carra, a brand that launched six years ago with a range of chocolate that prioritised taste and health.
Reflecting family values in business
Courtesy: Carra
“We, at large, do not eat good quality chocolates here,” says Carra founder Komal Khosla. “[We] do not even know what it is.” But Indians do eat a lot of chocolate: a 2019 Mintel survey found that 61% of them said they eat it daily or at least once a week. For context, that figure equated to about 840 million people at the time – more than 2.5 USAs.
Khosla grew up fascinated with numbers and was sure she was destined to be an accountant, but six to seven years into a career with one of the Big Four, she realised she wanted to do something “bigger and more valuable”. “I thought of taking a break and figuring out what I felt strongly about doing in life,” she recalls. “It was a nervous big gamble back then.”
This was the path that led her to becoming one of India’s finest chocolatiers. The now-vegan brand didn’t start this way – it was, like Khosla, vegetarian. She has always been vegetarian, though her Punjabi family consumed meat and asked how she’d maintain her health if she didn’t eat chicken. But she never liked the smell or the mouthfeel of animal meat– and says she’s glad she never converted to eating meat.
She grew up in a joint family. “In bigger families, taking a stand and having everyone believe in what you believe is not absolutely possible, so I know that you need not revolt and adamantly say a point across –you give logic as to why and eventually everyone will get the point,” she says.
This seeped into how she approached Carra as a brand. “I knew we would have to create tasty products and give people a tasty option as a solution to make a switch towards vegan food consumption easy and more of a choice,” she recalls. “The narrative was always a logical solution and not take up a fight with anyone as to why it’s even needed.”
Unlocking vegan milk chocolate
Courtesy: Carra
The brand came about at a time when veganism wasn’t a familiar concept to Indians. It is now, though. A report by the country’s Plant Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA) in May found that veganism has become “increasingly popular” over the last five years in India, with “more than 2% of people actively identifying as vegan”.
Anecdotally, Khosla agrees with this shift: “I see restauranteurs have added ‘vegan’ as an option in the menus. Most high-end [or] good cafes have at least one vegan dish. With the way restauranteurs are cut-throat towards their businesses, adding a vegan option would have come from some demand – and that says [a lot].”
She explains: “There was a time not so long back that people considered vegan and vegetarian the same, and now we see most people aware of [it as] a separate term.”
And that Carra itself has now made that transition too, overhauling its lineup of premium chocolates to be fully vegan. The range includes a bunch of dark chocolates in different cocoa proportions and flavours, as well as vegan milk and white chocolates. Khosla says her team had previously not been able to crack the right formulation for plant-based versions of the latter two.
“Replicating the taste of dairy isn’t that easy, she tells me. “But when we aced the taste for them, we knew we had to launch them to the world… We are proud of the vegan milk and vegan white that we created. We were India’s first to have launched a vegan white chocolate bar.”
Carra experimented with an array of ingredients to figure out the best flavour combinations – and settled on a base of roasted cashews and oats to replicate the flavour of dairy-based chocolate. “India as a market has a higher consumption of milk chocolates than dark – the trend is changing now, but still at large, we [have] more of [a] sweet tooth and milk tooth,” Khosla explains. Her excitement and pride is palpable and endearing. “Changing that and introducing something in place of what we have been so habitual to consuming is a task – the taste had to be bang on. And I think we have achieved it!”
Good-for-you over everything
Courtesy: Carra
The brand has a sugar-free range too, which uses sweeteners like stevia and erythritol, two ingredients that have been questioned regarding their health credentials. But Khosla argues that these are natural sweeteners – stevia is a plant and erythritol is fermented corn – and she believes they are safe to use.
What do her customers think? “We haven’t faced any concerns on this as yet, and we source our sweeteners from very reliable places, so we are pretty confident that these won’t and don’t have ill-effects,” she outlines. “But we keep ourselves open towards any new norms/studies that people conduct on different sweeteners. So far, we feel this is the best alternative available without [requiring] any insulin or GI-level spike.”
This is especially important for her, as India has been named the ‘diabetes capital of the world’, with over 235 million people suffering from diabetes (mostly type 2) or prediabetes. “We hope to be able to bring some options for sweet indulgence for healthier and better indulgence,” she says. “We are working on bringing a lot more options in No Added Sugar varieties, and also working on a healthy sweet for kids.”
Health really is Carra’s R&D focus, with its factory in Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area the centre of its new product development. For Diwali, Carra is releasing a sugar-free, date-sweetened chocolate fudge SKU. “Chocolates are naturally a superfood, but these are not completely considered healthy,” she explains. “We want to be able to break that notion, by actually making it completely healthy, and bringing better sweet indulgences.”
And it’s these kind of brands that Khosla finds inspiring as well. “We look up to brands that are talking of good indulgence, [whether] in the savoury or sweet category – we think this is a big category in the times to come.” She namechecks Mumbai-based The Whole Truth and Bangalore’s Yoga Bar as fellow trailblazers in India’s better-for-you sweet category.
A local and sustainable slant
Courtesy: Carra
While health is a big deal, Carra is deeply rooted in tradition too. Its India Culture Series celebrates beloved local ingredients like cardamom, cinnamon, saunf (fennel seeds) and meetha paan (sweet betel leaf), infusing them into 55% dark chocolate. “We haven’t glorified our Indian spices enough,” Khosla tells me.
She points out how fennel and betel are used as palate refreshers and mouth fresheners after meals in India. It’s akin to After Eights, the legendary mint chocolate widely used as a palate refresher too. With the same logic, she paired these ingredients with dark chocolate, which ended up having a “very interesting flavour”.
Carra also taps into local artisans for its packaging. For the new Diwali chocolate boxes, the brand worked with an artist whose work is inspired by Madhubani art, which originated in the namesake city in central India, and is widely practised in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. In a LinkedIn post, Khosla called it “a joyful and beautiful depiction”.
Courtesy: Carra
There’s a common thread running among all these chocolates: being planet-friendly is crucial to Carra’s ethos as a brand. While it sources some of its cocoa from Ghana (the world’s second-largest producer), its primary origin is Idukki, Kerala in the south of India. “We have started shifting towards Indian cocoa,” Khosla explains. “We wanted to be able to visit the cocoa farms and oversee the complete fermentation process. A chance visit to Kerala helped us get familiarised with Indian cocoa, and it is on par with cocoa from other regions – it has a very interesting and unique taste profile of its own.”
The chocolate bars are wrapped in paper packaging, and placed into printed paper boxes. And while that’s a start, she acknowledges there’s still some plastic in the pack to enable it to seal properly: “We are trying to figure [out] a completely biodegradable/compostable option for it.”
But despite this focus on sustainability, Khosla believes the best way to broach this topic with Indian consumers is to start talking about how it’s better for their health. “People care for themselves and for other humans,” she explains. “Care for the planet and for the later generations is a far-fetched concept for now. We need to speak the language which people will understand here and put across the point.”
Premium prices, but future-facing
Courtesy: Carra
Being a craft chocolate brand, Carra does fall into the premium category – a 50g bar can set you back ₹180 ($2.16). “We hear all kinds of comments on this,” reveals Khosla. “Some find them a bit high on cost, some understand the purity and taste, and the minimal and quality ingredients that go into making it, and understand the cost.”
This is backed up by data. A December 2021 survey by leading food company Kerry found that 63% of Indians would be willing to buy plant-based products regularly, with 60% not deterred by higher price tags.
“However, we are one of the lowest-priced when it comes to craft chocolates in India,” Khosla says. “We try to keep them as low as we can manage, the idea is to have more people try them.” She likens it to the rise of speciality coffee in India and changing attitudes towards the drink: “With speciality coffee and the roast profiles that people have started understanding about coffee and different coffee beans, that has helped too in people understanding some [of the] nitty-gritty about chocolates.”
And with time, Khosla hopes these evolving attitudes help Carra become the go-to brand for a healthier sweet. When asked where she sees the brand five years from now, she responds: “I hope Carra will be able to spread its wings wide across India and in the global market.”
Carra is changing the way Indians think about chocolate, offering a food fit for the future. “When dairy-based milk chocolates were introduced, that was a refreshing and very innovative creation for the chocolate industry,” she recalls. “I hope Carra brings another revolution with its vegan chocolates.”
As she gears up to release her second cookbook, Plantasia, Singapore-born chef and food writer Pamelia Chia tells Green Queen about why she hates the term ‘meat substitute’, why vegetables rule, and the three things you should always have in your pantry.
Meat was part and parcel of Pamelia Chia’s identity as a child. Growing up in Singapore – where vegetarian cooks are often stigmatised or judged – she knew her way around the nooks and crannies of a fish head or a pig trotter. And it’s something she felt very proud of.
So it comes as no surprise that she never envisioned writing a vegetarian cookbook. There is some precedent, however. While not vegetarian, her first cookbook, Wet Market to Table, centred around the produce you’d find at Singapore’s fruit and vegetable stalls.
“In Singapore, if you were to say that you don’t eat meat, people would think that you either have a health condition that prevents you from doing so, or are hyper-religious,” she tells me. “Vegetarian food is its own category in Singapore, and it is mostly characterised by meat analogues fashioned out of wheat gluten rather than being vegetable-forward.”
Courtesy: Pamelia Chia
Falling in love… with vegetables
Suffice it to say, vegetables weren’t her specialty when it came to cooking as a professional chef. It was only when she got married and moved to Australia – a country renowned for its produce – that she realised the true potential of vegetables. “I was working in Melbourne and was exposed to how thoughtfully crafted many vegetable dishes on the menu were,” she recalls. “They were dynamic, satisfying and very exciting to eat – them being vegetarian or vegan was beside the point.”
At the time, her diet was very meat-heavy. “Between my husband and I, we would buy kilos of meat and poultry every week,” she says. But that was a while ago – pre-pandemic and pre-bushfires. While she now lives in the Netherlands, the wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2018-20 forced Chia to look closely at the impact of her diet on the environment.
It was something she was conscious of, but could never pull the plug on. The bushfires were “the wake-up call that I needed”, she says. Now, she’s on a more balanced diet. Some days, she’ll use the thighs of the chicken she’s bought; another day, the carcass will flavour a vegetable-froward soup. And some days, the food she and her husband eat will be entirely vegetarian or even vegan.
“The idea now,” she outlines, “is to think of meat more as a seasoning to flavour dishes, or as a side dish to be eaten alongside rice and other dishes, rather than being the main thing on the plate.”
So while not vegetarian, vegetables are Chia’s thing. She stopped cooking in restaurants at the height of Covid-19 in 2020, a year after she published her first book. With the pandemic, she found more time to tend to her aspirations. “I felt a strong desire to document Asian traditions, recipes, and cooking techniques because we are so underrepresented in the English-speaking world.”
And so she set out to write her new cookbook, Plantasia: A Vegetarian Cookbook Through Asia. When I ask her why the meat-affecting-the-climate argument doesn’t extend to dairy, she says: “I wrote Plantasia with meat lovers in mind.” While the book contains plenty of inspiration for vegans and vegetarians, the mission is “not necessarily to convert anyone” – but instead “demonstrate the pleasures of vegetables” to encourage people to eat more greens.
“With people who might already find it a tall order to abstain from meat, I find it easier to wean them into loving vegetables by introducing a little egg, cream or butter in some recipes,” she explains. “That said, 95% of the recipes in Plantasia are vegan or vegan-friendly.”
Courtesy: Pamelia Chia
Interviewing Asian culinary pioneers
Accompanying those 88 recipes – which include savoury soy milk with preserved mustard stem, thunder tea kimbap, and sambal goreng with charred coconut – are interviews with 24 chefs from across the world, discussing plant-based eating, Asian food and sustainability. Think Vietnamese chef Andrew Nguyen, Taiwanese chef Cathy Erway (both are James Beard-winning authors), Celestial Peach founder Jenny Lau, and Made in Taiwan founder Ivy Chen – to name a few.
Chiu wanted to shake up the modern cookbook. What used to be your only source of recipes outside word of mouth or family diaries, are now crowded out by the endless stream of online recipes. “I like to think of the stories interspersed between the recipes as providing readers with the cultural context of some of the dishes, philosophies that underpin the way they cook and appreciate vegetables, as well as personal anecdotes – all of which I feel are extremely important to highlight,” Chiu tells me. Indeed some of the most popular cookbooks of late, such as Joanne Lee Molinaro’s The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen are full of rich, intimate prose that elevates the recipes.
I ask her – perhaps cheekily – who were the sources of her favourite conversations. Her answer is what you’d expect (“I learnt so much from all of them”), but she does offer up the subjects she felt most strongly about. “A big highlight for me was understanding how traditional Asian diets evolved as Asians began interacting with people from the West,” she says.
Citing specific interviews, she continues: “Maori Murota [Japanese chef-author] outlines how the Japanese diet leaned more heavily towards meat and dairy after the Japanese people first came into contact with the Americans, whom they perceived to be of stronger builds and attributed that to their heavy meat and dairy consumption.
“A similar narrative was told by [Filipino vegan chef] RG Enriquez-Diez about the Filipino diet, which was influenced by the Spanish conquistadors’ zest for meat. There were also stories of how Asians started altering their diets when they left their homelands – Andrea Nguyen details how her family started eating lots of meat because it was abundant and affordable in the US. In the same vein, Zoey Xinyi Gong, who grew up in Shanghai, discovered how she was getting sick from her new American diet, and was forced to revisit her past eating habits in China.”
Spanakopita with spiced ghee and fried onions | Courtesy: Pamelia Chia
Taking inspiration from the best
“It was fascinating to recognise common threads throughout stories of Asians of seemingly disparate backgrounds, and to realise for myself that the journey of embracing vegetables is in fact one that also speaks of rediscovering my own heritage.”
Embracing vegetables is the mantra of one of Chiu’s key gastronomic influences, Yotam Ottolenghi, the Isreali-British chef who – and I couldn’t describe it any better – “was pretty much the first chef to completely change the way people thought about vegetables and vegetable cookery”. Ottolenghi’s cookbooks and restaurants all champion vegetables, even in his meat-based dishes and recipes – and a similar aesthetic runs through Plantasia, albeit with a more Southeast Asian slant, of course.
Chiu’s other culinary inspirations include Alice Waters, founder of California’s legendary farm-to-table eatery Chez Panisse, “for her work championing eating within your locality and emphasising the importance of ‘slow food'”; Dan Barber, co-owner of New York’s Blue Hill and author of The Third Plate, “for showing how sustainable diets are compatible with pleasure, and for demonstrating that the role of a chef or cook could extend beyond the kitchen”; and Malcolm Lee, owner of Singaporean Michelin-starred restaurant Candlenut and Chiu’s former boss, “who showed me that food from Asia could stand proudly next to other celebrated cuisines around the world”.
Meat ‘substitutes’? It’s complicated
At several points in Plantasia – whose foundations are centred on flavour, accent, technique and texture, and which is divided into chapters highlighting different cooking methods – Chiu touches upon meat substitutes, like in her conversations with Erway, Korean chef Sunny Lee and Sri Lankan chef Gayan Pieris.
Chiu has spoken about her wish to empower vegetables for themselves – but she does think plant-based meat alternatives have a role to play. “In many parts of Asia, meat analogues such as wheat gluten or konnyaku are a big part of vegetarian cuisines,” she says, recalling what she said about vegetarianism in Singapore being pigeonholed into seitan-led meat analogues.
Split pea tofu salad with chilli crisp | Courtesy: Pamelia Chia
“That said, I’m not a fan of – and harbour scepticism towards – a lot of highly processed meats on the market right now. For example, some of these faux meat companies are owned by companies that support factory farming – so there seems to be quite a bit of greenwashing involved,” she explains.
She’s not a fan of calling it a meat substitute or alternative either. “Products such as tofu, tempeh, and young jackfruit are commonly described as ‘meat substitutes’ in the West, but when I was growing up in Singapore, I never understood them as such.” It echoes what Pieris tells her in the book: “Sometimes when there is a protein source, the easiest way for Westerners to wrap their heads around it is to label it a meat substitute.”
And it’s not that Chiu doesn’t understand why they’re labelled this way, it’s more that she honours vegetables on their own merit. “Sure, they offer substantial chew and could replicate certain textural attributes of meat, but I never recognised these products as being substitutes for anything else. I loved them for what they are – doused in curry, slathered in sambal, simmered in stews,” she tells me, sounding very much like Amanda Cohen, chef-owner of Dirt Candy in New York City, whose dishes extolls vegetables as the main gastronomic event and Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, also in NYC. It’s a topic that plant-forward, vegetable-centric food writers such as Alicia Kennedy discuss in detail, eschewing the idea that a diet without meat, dairy and eggs is one of deprivation and one that requires substitutes.
“When we call something a substitute for meat, we’re setting up unrealistic expectations. I remember coming across a headnote of a recipe describing how young jackfruit could be shredded and tossed in a sweet, sticky, savoury sauce to replicate BBQ pulled pork… only to be disappointed after trying the recipe out at how it was nothing like the real deal.”
She provides another example: “A quick internet search for tempeh recipes brings up countless recipes for ‘tempeh bacon’. It is such a shame to fixate on pushing tempeh into a ‘meat box’ when well-made tempeh is so creamy and rich in flavour that a quick marinade in turmeric powder and deep-frying brings out its natural flavour and texture, and transforms it into something I’d snack on obsessively.” (I would too, for the record.)
“I find that when we set aside these expectations for plants to deliver the exact same experience as meat does, that’s when we truly begin to respect and celebrate them for what they are.”
And celebrate she does. Plantasia features stunning recipes that feel as innovative and delicious as they are pretty. Her favourites? Grilled rice paper with tofu sisig, for one! And the charred Brussels sprouts with grapefruit and yuba (tofu skin).
“I’m proud of both because they aren’t vegan versions of existing meat or seafood dishes – they celebrate vegetables or plant-based products for what they are in an original way, are relatively easy to make, and are so incredibly delicious. Nobody would eat them and feel that they lack flavour or texture.”
Charred Brussels sprouts with grapefruit and yuba | Courtesy: Pamelia Chia
Authenticity and approximations
This is a topic Chiu has broached previously. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, she explained why she didn’t want to offer “veganised” versions of traditional meat- or seafood-based dishes. “To produce vegan laksa, to me, is like offering someone a second-rate substitute,” she said of the Southeast Asian noodle dish that uses seafood stock as a base.
But what of those vegans, then, who’d like to have a taste of the dish? Should they abstain from – or miss out on – eating these foods? “I’m sorry if this seems blunt or too direct,” she says politely, “but I think people who’d like to ‘experience these dishes’ would never truly be able to ‘experience’ them per se.”
She continues: “If a laksa’s flavour is defined by that of dried prawns and shrimp stock, and its texture is gritty from the texture of dried prawns (the word laksa translates to ‘spicy sand’), would someone be really experiencing ‘laksa’ if they were to consume a vegan version?”
However, she adds, it is possible for vegetarians and vegans to “experience very good vegan approximations of laksa”. The caveat? “For it to be as close a replica to the original as possible, the person who is preparing the laksa would have to be someone who has tasted the traditional, non-vegan version of the dish in the first place, so that he or she has an ‘authentic’ reference point.”
Okay, then, how does Chiu feel about cultivated meat, which is biologically identical to meat – because it is meat, just from an animal cell? It can be a controversial food, given its relationship with fetal bovine serum and the novelty element. “I would be open to it,” she says. “But I reflexively recoil a little when I think about cultivated meat because the way I think about it, food is inextricably linked to our sense of place and identity. They are a gift from nature. What ‘terroir’ can cultivated meat purport to have?”
Courtesy: Pamelia Chia
The MSG question
Speaking of controversy, one ingredient that bitterly divides people around the world is MSG (aka Monosodium Glutamate), renowned for its umami-lending characteristics and reviled for its (debunked) health ill-effects. It’s a compound originally that occurs naturally in many foods (Parmigiano Reggiano, for example) and has been used in Asia for centuries. Its use as a flavour enhancer in industrially processed food production has contributed to its bad rep in the West, alongside what came to be known as the unfortunately-named Chinese Restaurant Syndrome in the US in the 1960s.
“There seems to be a growing number of voices of Asians who live in the West who are advocating for MSG,” Chiu points out. “I believe that it is mainly to encourage others to not demonise the ingredient, for it is something that is widely used in home cooking, restaurant cooking and street food.
“However, I do sometimes feel that this advocacy, when taken to the extreme, can paint all Asians in the same brushstroke. I certainly never had MSG around the house when I was growing up. My mom was Cantonese, and she believed strongly in the purity of flavours. I don’t have a problem with the use of MSG – as many have pointed out, it is a compound that is naturally occurring in ingredients such as meat, dried shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes and seaweed.
“What I have a problem with, however, is when people begin to use the powder as a crutch for flavour. For example, products such as soy sauce or miso are traditionally fermented over a long period of time. But, to cut costs, a company might cut the fermenting time short and add MSG to enhance the flavour.”
TLDR: there’s nothing wrong with using MSG, she says, but it’s “far better to harness it from natural sources” and introduce umami in your dish through cooking techniques.
It makes sense, then, that when I ask her what three pantry items people should never run out of, her list is umami-rich: fermented tofu, chilli crisp (a Szechuan chilli oil that features crunchy ingredients like fried shallots) and kecap manis (a syrupy Indonesian condiment that is often described as a sweet soy sauce).
“Fermented tofu, also known as Chinese cheese, is incredibly versatile. I use it to stir-fry veggies, dissolve it in water for a quick savoury broth, and add it to my stews and braises for more oomph,” she explains. “Chilli crisp is more of a finishing product in my household – I drizzle it over dumplings, or make a quick salad dressing with it. Kecap manis is great for stir-fries, dipping sauces, or for glazing roasted or barbecued items.”
Just the thought of these mentions makes me want to go straight into the kitchen and whip up something Asian-inspired. And that’s exactly what Chiu wants for her readers, especially those who don’t live in Asia: “I hope that they will get a sense of the richness and depth of wisdom that Asia has to offer to the growing global conversations of vegetarianism and veganism, which are at the moment still very Eurocentric.”
As for the rest of us? “I hope that readers would realise that to eat vegetables is not to be deprived, but a celebration of everything that nature has to offer.”
Plantasia: A Vegetarian Cookbook Through Asia is available for pre-order online and in bookstores in select countries for S$49.90 ($36.40).
Speaking at France’s inaugural Sustainable Gastronomy Summit, Monégasque chef Alain Ducasse called on the world to eat less meat. Highlighting how it would be better for both human and planetary health, the 21-Michelin-starred chef advocated for an 80/20 ratio of plant to animal protein.
Ducasse told French newspaper Le Figaro that animal protein harms both the planet and our health, and haute gastronomy must lead the charge and influence the restaurant industry to transition towards a plant-forward diet.
In 2014 – long before plant-based diets entered the mainstream restaurant consciousness in France – he removed meat from the menu at his flagship eponymous restaurant in Paris’s Plaza Athénée, instead embracing a menu confined to vegetables, sustainable seafood and grains, going as far as to describe it as more ‘natural’ food.
“When I was little, on the farm, every day at 11 am, my grandmother took me to the garden and wondered: ‘What are we eating today?’ It was a kitchen of necessity – naturalness before its time,” he told Le Figaro, adding: “We must reverse the proportions that we see everywhere and move towards a ratio of 80% vegetable to 20% animal protein. We don’t need to eat animal proteins every day.”
Meat is bad for the planet
Research has shown that animal-derived foods cause twice as many emissions as plant-based foods and that vegan diets can reduce emissions, water pollution and land use by 75% compared to meat-rich diets. When asked if he thinks people should stop eating meat completely, Ducasse responded: “I am not an ayatollah of veganism, but it is necessary to realise that we must eat meat in less quantity, but of better quality. And so that they can produce this quality, French farmers must be paid fairly.”
It comes on the heels of France’s U-turn on factory farming last month, with its agricultural minister calling for farmers to eschew quality and instead produce cheaper and higher quantities of meat. It followed a proposed ban on the use of meat-related terms on plant-based alternatives submitted by the French government to the EU Commission.
Courtesy: Sapid
As for the meat reduction point, a recent peer-reviewed study found that replacing 50% of our meat and dairy consumption with plant-based alternatives could reduce agricultural and land-use emissions by 31%, shrink the total agricultural area by 12%, and halt the destruction of forest and natural land. Further
“How can chefs import fatty beef from Japan knowing the cost that transporting it inflicts on the planet? It’s probably chic, but I prefer beef [from] Normandy. Not to mention the burgers that proliferate among my colleagues: fatty, soft, sweet… That’s not the point of the story. The long shadow of haute cuisine must be a stain of… olive oil,” said Ducasse.
Local sourcing is key
The 67-year-old said he looked up to Sydney restaurant St Peter’s Josh Niland, who “doesn’t throw away any part” of the fish being cooked in the eatery. “Rather than ham with butter and lettuce, tomorrow’s diet will be made with fish and butter and seaweed salad.”
He added: “We must be careful not [to] take too much from the land and the sea. Not to mention that there is as much plastic as fish in our oceans, which are the lungs of the planet. For fishing, you have to turn to deep-sea or river species that are not overexploited.”
Overfishing is a massive problem, as it is responsible for supply chain disruptions and destroying biodiversity, according to one alt-seafood brand. Ducasse stresses that we should promote reasonable breeding.
“It is better to farm shrimp in the Atlantic than to import them from Madagascar. And we must also take responsibility and not pass off farmed sea bass as wild sea bass on the stalls! We must decide to feed ourselves differently, not like rich countries that want everything, all the time. It is difficult not to make a link between the billion obese and the 800 million undernourished on the planet.”
Courtesy: Sapid
Alain Ducasse’s sustainability initiatives
The interview touched upon Ducasse’s own impact on the climate and whether his restaurants stick to this philosophy. In 2021, he opened the plant-forward restaurant Sapid in Paris, with dishes like lentil bolognese and tomato and watermelon salad based on that same concept of naturality – which he defines as “preparing good food for people’s health and good for the planet”.
“At Le Louis XV with Emmanuel Pilon and at Le Meurice with Amaury Bouhours, we have reduced the portions of fish and meat. 70g of animal protein on a plate is enough,” notes Ducasse. “At Sapid, our Parisian refectory, our menu – created with Romain Meder – is 80-85% vegan, in a room decorated with cob walls, secondhand furniture and crockery.”
He continued: “I also developed the Burgal, a burger topped with a vegetable pancake in a low-gluten bun [he launched the vegan burger kiosk in the French capital’s Bastille neighbourhood last year]: we distribute 1,000 per day in Business Air France lounges. And I’m working on opening a restaurant dedicated to [it]. I have also developed a white-label Mediterranean restaurant concept where animal proteins only occupy 15% of the menu.”
As for his own personal carbon footprint, he admitted in the interview that he flies a lot, having just come back from the Amazon where he “saw ravages of deforestation” – the rainforest is approaching a tipping point that could see it no longer be able to sustain itself. “I try to compensate for these excesses,” says Ducasse adding that “in Paris, I drive a 100% electric car.”
While that wouldn’t necessarily offset his flying emissions – according to some estimates, it would take two years of driving an electric car to offset emissions from flying to Manaus (at the heart of the rainforest) from Paris – cutting meat would definitely help. After all, livestock farming accounts for 11-19% of total greenhouse gas emissions. And meat contributes to 60% of all food emissions, which in turn make up about a third of all emissions. As Ducasse said, “we must be careful” indeed.
Ducasse joins a handful of Michelin-starred chefs who have pivoted to a vegetable-centric philosophy in recent years, from chef Daniel Humm’s New York City’s 100% vegan Eleven Madison Park to chef Rasmus Kofoed of Geranium in Copenhagen, named the best restaurant world, whose menu is meat-free.
We’re at a point where artificial intelligence is helping us make better food and more realistic alternatives to animal-derived proteins. But if two new studies are anything to go by, it’s not new tech, but an age-old technique, that could be the key to making plant-based meat and cheese more like their conventional counterparts. The answer is fermentation.
While fermentation is already a big deal in the alt-protein world (it’s known as the third pillar alongside plant-based and cultivated proteins), the majority of the focus is on companies using novel fermentation methods like biomass or precision techniques. But traditional fermentation – you know, the one we’ve been using for millennia to make bread, beer, yoghurt and wine – shouldn’t be overlooked, according to two new studies.
Taste is the number one factor for consumers not eating vegan alternatives to animal products, or choosing some brands over others. In our quest to make our plant-based meat meatier and cheese cheesier, researchers say the age-old technique of fermentation could hold the key.
Fermenting alliums to make better plant-based meat
Courtesy: Canva
Last month, the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published a study positing a solution to the challenge of replicating meat’s taste and texture: alliums. Specifically, onions, chives and leeks.
The researchers argue that when fermented with fungi, these ingredients produce natural chemicals that resemble the savoury scent of meat. They say that when manufacturers want to make alt-meat meatier, they’ll often add “precursor ingredients” found in conventional meat that transform into flavour agents during cooking. Alternatively, the flavour is prepped first by heating or chemically manipulating these precursor ingredients.
But the synthetic nature of these products means many countries won’t allow these plant-based meats to be labelled as ‘natural’. To do so, ‘natural’ flavourings would need to be extracted physically from plants or genetically biochemically with enzymes, fungi or bacteria.
This is the backdrop in which research lead YanYan Zhang and his colleagues attempted to explore if fungi strains that are known to produce meaty flavours and aromas from synthetic sources could be used to create the same chemicals from vegetables or spices. After experimentation with a whole host of foods, the team found that meaty aromas were only generated by ingredients from the allium family.
The strongest scent came from a 10-hour-long fermentation of onions using the fungus Polyporus umbellatus, which resulted in a fatty, meaty scent similar to liver sausage. With an analytical method called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the researchers examined the fermented onion to identify the flavour and aroma chemicals – and found that many of those are also known to be responsible for taste and scent in meat.
The researchers say that alliums’ high sulphur content enables them to yield meat-flavored compounds, which often contain sulphur too. “These onion ferments could someday be used as a natural flavoring in various plant-based meat alternatives,” they conclude. It makes sense, too – there’s a reason we add onions to our burgers as flavour and texture enhancers, no?
Yellow peas could elevate vegan cheese
Courtesy: Canva
In Denmark, scientists have been looking to transform peas and beans, which are naturally rich in protein, into bases for vegan cheese. Building upon research from last year, which found that yellow pea protein makes a good base for fermented plant-based cheese, University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Science researcher Carmen Masiá has now developed an alternative that’s said to have a firm texture and improved aroma profile.
Cheese is, of course, one of the most popular fermented foods, and has been made this way for centuries. Many commercial vegan cheeses eschew fermentation altogether, though. Because plant proteins behave differently than milk proteins, they add starch or fat (like coconut oil) alongside colourings and flavourings to mimic dairy cheese. And while many artisanal dairy-free cheese makers use fermentation, the base is usually made from nuts.
Masiá is championing yellow pea protein – the fastest-growing protein ingredient in plant-based meat, including by industry giant Beyond Meat – as the catalyst for superior vegan cheese, by using natural fermentation with bacteria. She investigated 24 bacterial combinations for the development of the pea protein cheese.
“Bacteria can serve to develop firmness in non-dairy cheese in a very short period of time while reducing the bean-like aroma of yellow pea protein, which is used as the main and only protein source,” Masiá explains. She inoculated the bacteria in a protein matrix made from yellow pea protein, which resulted in a firm “cheese-like gel” reminiscent of a fresh soft white cheese after only eight hours.
Courtesy: Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen
Masiá said that while all bacterial combinations produced firm gels without the need for starch or fat and reduced the ‘beaniness’ of the cheese, some performed better than others at producing compounds normally found in dairy cheese. And while eight hours is a rapid timeframe, she says for better results, this cheese may need to mature for longer as conventional varieties do.
“One needs to remember that dairy cheese production has been studied over many years, so it’s not something that we can just mimic overnight with totally different raw materials,” Masiá notes. “Nevertheless, there are many scientists and companies out there doing great progress in the field; I hope that we will get closer to making non-dairy cheeses that taste good over the next few years. We are getting there.”
She adds: “The most challenging thing for now is that, while there are a lot of people who would like to eat plant-based cheese, they aren’t satisfied with how it tastes and feels in the mouth. In the end, this means that no matter how sustainable, nutritious, etc. a food product is, people aren’t interested in buying it if it doesn’t provide a good experience when consumed.”
It’s a concept as promising as it is intriguing. In an increasingly tech-driven world – where we’re using AI even to market vegan cheese, let alone develop it – using an ancient technique to produce food that’s better-tasting, more climate-friendly and, crucially, cost-effective can prove to be a game-changer. It truly is looking back to the future.
Following its first tasting event in May, which involved retail partners and Singapore’s Economic Development Board, Dutch cultivated pork producer Meatable hosted a second such session last week for the media and stakeholders. It demonstrated its cell-cultured pulled pork and sausage products, which it plans to launch in the city-state in mid-2024.
Meatable’s meat alternative is a hybrid cultivated and plant-based product, which it has developed in partnership with Singapore-based Love Handle. The tasting event, held at Love Handle Labs Innovation Centre at The Arts House, featured a version that was one-third cultured meat and two-thirds plant-based, after taste-testing prototypes containing anywhere between 10-50% of cell-based meat.
“We are still in the process of optimising our products and trying out different recipes,” Meatable COO Carolien Wilschut tells Green Queen. “Each recipe is like a puzzle, where all components need to complement each other perfectly. We will keep on working on this to make sure we have the perfect recipe ready for the launch.”
“At our last tasting, participants tasted a hybrid sausage with 33% cultivated meat. The feedback on this was already very positive, but we’re always looking to make our products even better.”
Meatable described the tasting event as “successful”, having received some “invaluable feedback” on the taste and texture of its meat. In her review for The Straits Times, senior environment correspondent Lynda Hong wrote it “can be hard for someone to tell the difference between traditional pork and [Meatable’s] cultivated pork”.
As for the pulled pork, she said it “lacks the fibrous texture, dissolving in the mouth faster than traditionally farmed pork”, but the difference was masked by the sauce, the taco it was wrapped in, and the meat’s own porky flavour. “I never really tried cultivated meat before, and I think it tastes very much like the real stuff,” Hong was quoted as saying by Meatable.
Courtesy: Meatable
“I feel the product is really, really interesting,” said Daniele Sperindio, Michelin-starred chef at Italian restaurant Art. “Depending on the application, if I wasn’t told, I could be even potentially fooled to think it’s simply pork, like shredded pork and so on.” Meanwhile, Stephan Zoisl from Chef’s Table restaurant, said: “Did I like the cultivated meat? Definitely! It’s a new revolution, kind of. Just from a point of flavour, it tastes like pork, I mean, so it does taste like meat. Definitely, I liked that.”
“We are delighted to have delivered this tasting event in Singapore and humbled by the responses we got,” said Meatable co-founder and CEO Krijn de Nood. “It is a great way for us to collect their feedback and optimise our products even further.”
The path to regulatory approval
Meatable announced it will look to conduct more tastings of its products, both in Singapore and elsewhere. Each event requires safety approval by the Singapore Food Agency, which has “stringent safety requirements and a clear framework of criteria that companies need to meet”. Earlier this year, it collaborated with Mosa Meat, HollandBIO and the Dutch government to create a ‘code of practice’ facilitating cultivated meat tastings in the Netherlands – now, it aims to host its first tasting in its home country late this year.
The news comes just two months after Meatable raised $35M in Series B financing, bringing total investment to $95M to date. The company – which has already applied for regulatory clearance in Singapore (which is one of only two countries that currently allow the sale of cultivated meat, alongside the US) – is aiming for a launch in restaurants in mid-2024. “By that time, we aim to have received approval for commercial sale,” says Wilschut.
In October 2022, Meatable partnered with Singapore’s ESCO Aster, the only regulator-approved contracted cultivated meat manufacturing facility in the world, in its bid towards regulatory approval. De Nood told Green Queen in August that the company will look to expand to the US after the Singapore launch, which Wilschut confirmed.
Courtesy: Meatable
“We are taking this process step by step, and will use our experience in Singapore to guide us in other countries,” she said. “After Singapore, we are planning to expand to the US. Depending on regulatory developments elsewhere, we will update our strategy accordingly. “
“In order to gain regulatory approval in the US, we’re working with the relevant US experts and authorities on this matter – including the US Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture,” de Noord said in August. “Our application in Singapore gives us useful points of reference as well.”
Patented tech enables faster cultivated meat production
To produce its cultivated pork, Meatable employs a proprietary tech called Opti-ox, which helps it avoid using the controversial fetal bovine serum. Usually, immortalised cell lines require an alteration of the cells to allow them to multiply indefinitely, but Meatable uses pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which “have the natural ability to keep on multiplying and to do so rapidly” – and these double in just 24 hours.
It can be more challenging to change PSCs from stem cells into specialised cells like muscle or fat, but the Opti-ox tech helps produce real muscle and fat cells that can fully differentiate in eight days, which is 30 times faster than it takes to rear a pig for pork on farms. This technique is paired with a perfusion process allowing Meatable to work in a continuous cycle to produce high cell densities.
“This means we can grow a lot of cells in our bioreactors, and harvest cultured meat from the reactors continuously. This is a great step forward as it increases productivity and makes the process easy to scale,” explains de Nood. “Altogether, this means that when it comes to making real cultivated meat, we have the tools to make the process extremely efficient and one that can scale to serve customers around the world.”
Courtesy: Meatable
Apart from the ESCO Aster production site and the co-manufacturing facility with Love Handle, Meatable has a plant in the Netherlands too. “We are in the process of moving to our new facility in Leiden,” Wilschut tells Green Queen. “In our previous location, we were working with 50-litre bioreactors, but here we have the possibility to work with larger bioreactors and therefore produce more product. This is an important step for us in scaling up. Next to that, we have started production on the ground in Singapore.”
The tasting is a major step forward in its journey to launch commercially. “This is also an important step towards full regulatory approval for sales in Singapore,” says de Nood. “All this helps us move closer to fulfilling our mission to satisfy the world’s appetite for meat without harming people, animals, or the planet.”
Last week, CPG spread giant Upfield caused a (positive) stir when it announced its popular Flora Buttery range would go back to being fully vegan in the UK market, three years after the company added buttermilk as an ingredient. The decision has been welcomed by dairy-free consumers and is a step in the right direction for Upfield’s climate efforts. We check in on how the company’s other climate commitments are going.
Flora’s UK range of block and spreads is now 100% vegan, with the brand launching a Skip the Cow campaign to encourage people to think about their dairy consumption. “We have driven record levels of awareness and consideration for Flora and more households are buying and loving the brand as a result. The natural next step was to unite all our great Flora products under a single identity,” said Upfield UK’s marketing director Ian Hepburn.
“We have also been continuously working to deliver a fully 100% plant-based range, that is even tastier and are pleased that Flora Buttery is now deliciously dairy-free. Our purpose is at the heart of everything we do, and we will continue to make new products to continue the Flora movement.”
Upfield is one of the world’s major food CPG companies: the Dutch giant owns multiple brands of margarine, food spreads and plant-based foods – including Flora and Blue Band – and says it is the largest plant-based consumer packaged goods company in the world with operations in over 90 countries.
The Flora butter range is now fully vegan | Courtesy: Upfield
When asked why Upfield had decided to revert to its 100% vegan butter recipe, the brand didn’t get into the specifics, with a spokesperson telling Green Queen: “There was a decision made some years ago to add a small amount of dairy back into Flora Buttery in the UK. But we have been continuously working to deliver a fully 100% plant-based range that is even tastier – so we are pleased that Flora Buttery is now deliciously dairy-free.”
They confirmed that Upfield has done taste trials with customers for the new recipe for its “plant-based alternative” that “performs just like dairy butter”. “We’ve worked hard to provide the great taste and versatility across cooking, baking and spreading that Flora fans know and love. Customer studies we’ve conducted showed a very positive response to the tastier recipes,” the spokesperson said.
The now-vegan Flora Buttery uses rapeseed, sunflower and linseed oils as a base. Certain seed oils have come under fire from some health experts, they also are known to offer many nutritional benefits. When asked about whether seed oils are healthy, Upfield’s spokesperson stated: “We are proud to offer consumers a healthy source of essential fatty acids within our plant-based products, in line with advice from public health bodies like the WHO and AHA. When compared with dairy butter, our plant-based products are beneficial for heart health, and are suitable for everyone, including those with allergies and intolerances.”
Upfield’s itchy palm
Upfield noted that an ISO-compliant life-cycle assessment (LCA) done using a tool by sustainable consultancy Quantis found the Flora range to have a 68% lower climate impact than conventional dairy butter. It’s a positive step for Upfield’s climate impact, but what about Upfield’s other climate commitments? For example, the company committed to carbon-labelling more and more of its products in 2020, and while the Flora range does not use palm oil – a major driver of deforestation – some of Upfield’s other brands do.
The brand has been in the crosshairs of environmentalists for its palm oil use, with accusations that it worked with BBF, a Brazilian palm oil company that has been accused of violence against Indigenous communities, and Brazilian producer Agropalma, which had its palm oil certification suspended by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) earlier this year.
Asked to respond to the supply chain violations, the company said in a statement: “Upfield is committed to the sustainable sourcing of palm oil. BBF does not enter our supply chains. We do not source from Agropalma directly, but they appear in our mill list as it is possible they enter our supply chains indirectly. We are investigating the issue, and as part of our policy and process, we will review and engage with our partners as necessary, asking them to take appropriate actions towards Agropalma.”
Courtesy: Upfield
Upfield reiterated that it’s a “proud member” of the RSPO and has “firm policies” covering the sourcing of not just its palm oil, but soybean oil, pulp and paper, coconut oil and shea too. “This is supported by the Better Planet pillar of Upfield’s ESG strategy. 100% of the palm oil we source is physically certified sustainable palm oil,” the spokesperson said.
“When sourced sustainably, palm oil is a fantastic ingredient. It has a very high yield, meaning that a large amount of palm oil can be produced with low land use.” They added that Upfield has a “strict No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation policy, and hold our suppliers to account for our commitments”.
Sourcing sustainable palm oil remains a complicated affair and while the RSPO is a good place to start, the certifier has attracted criticism of its own, with activists decrying its failure to properly audit companies, slow action on penalising members for breaches, enabling greenwashing, not having high enough standards, and overall inefficacy for smallholders and the planet as a whole. So while having a certified sustainable palm oil product might seem like a good idea, there is often more to the picture than meets the eye.
Carbon labelling and the road to 100% plant-based
Courtesy: Upfield
As for the carbon labelling of its products, last year, Upfield says that it “over-delivered” on its 2021 labelling target by 20%, with 120 million packs covered with carbon footprint information. It now plans to extend this figure to 500 million by 2025, and the Dutch company’s spokesperson revealed that it had sold 235 million more packs with carbon labels in 2022, after creating a “peer-reviewed and ISO-compliant life-cycle tool that accelerated progress”.
When asked whether it felt counterintuitive to market a Skip the Cow campaign when many of its brands still make and use dairy products, the spokesperson pointed out that the campaign was only for Flora, reiterating that its UK range is now fully dairy-free. Moreover, they alluded to Upfield’s ultimate goal, highlighted as one of its plant-based ESG pillars with the goal to have a billion consumers using its vegan products.
“One of our ESG targets is to transform our portfolio to deliver 100% plant-based products,” they noted. But the timeline for that is unclear.
US mycelium meat producer Meati has received a patent for its MushroomRoot ingredient with exclusivity until 2039. Additionally, the company shared early results of a promising AI-led study into the health benefits of its mycelium strain.
After applying for the patent in 2018, Meati received confirmation from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) last month, giving the mycelium meat maker exclusivity over the use of the Neurospora crassa strain until 2039. The ingredient, which it commercially calls ‘MushroomRoot’, is the base for its vegan whole-cut steaks and cutlets.
“The patent is a culmination of our years-long journey to have our foundational work with MushroomRoot and its wide-ranging food applications acknowledged and protected,” said Meati co-founder and CSO Justin Whiteley. When asked about the five-year wait, he told Green Queen: “Along the way, it was definitely suggested that we narrow the breadth of what we applied for, but we maintained our position to give us the broadest protection possible.”
Meati has been embroiled in a legal battle with fellow mycelium meat producer The Better Meat Co since 2022. The former accused the latter of IP infringement after The Better Meat Co received a patent for its fermentation tech. In response, The Better Meat Co accused Meati of undermining its IP and thus ruining its fundraising efforts.
The legal dispute is still ongoing. “We are not commenting on ongoing litigation beyond restating that we are confident in our case,” noted Whiteley. He reiterated that the patent was “a terrific, long-awaited validation of the early work done by our co-founders”.
An AI-led assessment of health benefits
Courtesy: Meati
In addition, Meati completed a study into the potential health benefits of its mushroom root ingredient using AI company PIPA’s LEAP tool. The PIPA partnership was announced in July following the establishment of the Meati Science Advisory Board. The results reveal that Meati’s now trademarked ingredient contains some “exceedingly rare/non-existent” compounds in food that present “pointed” health benefits, alongside benefits from mycelium’s whole-food nutrient density, which could address “prevalent nutritional deficiencies” and enhance “cardiovascular health”.
Whitely explained that PIPA, which stands for Process Integration and Predictive Analytics, has developed its own Data Analytics Platform that allows for “maximum flexibility and agility to allow the ingestion of many disparate and massive data resources to learn from and be processed in a way that leverages years of experience and the latest in AI technologies”.
“On top of this tech stack sit several platforms and SaaS-based tools to lead best-in-class innovation within food, nutrition and the life sciences, including LEAP for Life Sciences R&D, OES for raw omics data, and Ingredient Profiler to compare, improve and design ingredients to make a product more healthy and sustainable,” said Whiteley.
The PIPA platform integrates public and third-party data to build an integrative knowledge graph. AI pipelines are then applied to find existing or predicted connections and unlock latent knowledge that scientists can use for their project aims.
“We essentially are teaching the machines to think like humans, correlate millions of curated published papers and datasets, and summarise them via LLMs [large language models] to ensure the data is shareable, explainable and actionable,” explained Whiteley. “With these tools, PIPA has completed over 65 programs, increasing hit rates up to 35x higher than traditional research methods, which are typically <1% – [thus] significantly reducing costs and time needed in the lab or trials to verify and validate.”
The LEAP tool identified 14 key compounds in Meati’s MushroomRoot, which can work together or independently to address gaps in achieving optimal nutrition and improving health. These gaps can occur when these compounds, which are essential dietary nutrients, are consumed in lower amounts than required for maintaining good health and performance.
Cardiovascular health was the top health opportunity identified by LEAP, which is an important finding given that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, with one in five Americans dying from the condition. As for the aforementioned rare compounds that were identified, Meati is keeping details under wraps until further research is done.
Leveraging the knowledge to improve alt-meat
Courtesy: Meati
“We knew MushroomRoot was nutrient-dense based on our early research to find a species ideal for food,” Whiteley recalled. “However, we did not know exactly what benefits we could claim to make it easier for consumers to understand why it is unique. In just The PIPA findings unlocked – in a month versus [over[ years – known associations between compounds found in MushroomRoot and health benefits, as well as provided direction for future research.”
Asked how Meati planned to apply the knowledge gained from the AI-led process, Whiteley said the goal is to “crystallise what health benefits are yielded by regularly consuming Meati”, and sharing this information with its customers. “Ultimately, we want to make claims about specific benefits, short- and long-term, addressing specific health needs and also overall health and longevity,” he added.
“PIPA’s findings in this initial research using AI greatly accelerates our understanding of the wide range of public health benefits possible from regular consumption of mycelium as a whole food,” said Dr Roberta Holt, a member of the UC Davis Department of Nutrition and the Meati Science Advisory Board. “The unexpected discovery of additional potentially beneficial compounds that are quite rare further emphasises the importance of integrating AI into research to accelerate our scientific understanding of the complexity of whole-food products like Meati, and their potential role in human health.”
Meati is among a growing number of alt-protein brands leveraging AI to their benefit. NotCo has been using AI to develop its plant-based alternatives for years, Singapore’s Howw Foods employs the tech to make a vegan powdered egg, and Bel Foods has partnered with California’s Climax Foods to make plant-based products. Elsewhere, food and machine learning experts have unveiled an AI-led texturising startup, and two other firms are using AI to find superior protein-producing fungi strains. And in a link-up similar to Meati and PIPA’s, Danone is working with Californian AI firm Brightseed to discover hidden nutrients and compounds in plant crops.
“Receiving our patent just after our AI initiative highlighted MushroomRoot’s significant potential for consumer health benefits is truly remarkable, as they together validate our long-term vision of creating not only new food categories, but making existing foods more nutritious,” added Whiteley.
Meati’s recent developments and future plans
Courtesy: Meati
The news comes a couple of weeks after Meati opened its D2C marketplace featuring a subscription service that offers customers a new alt-meat product made with MushroomRoot every month. Whiteley said people can expect to see novel innovations by the end of the year, and Meati has hinted that the versatility of its fungi ingredient enables “limitless application in products like whole-cut steaks, ground meats, seafood, powders and shelf-stable foods”.
“What is exciting about MushroomRoot and its nutrient density is that it’s truly a platform,” Whiteley stated. “Meati is the first demonstration of the incredible food it can create, and we’re excited to introduce distinct functions and formats down the road, making it even easier to get Meati into other cultures, meals and moments.”
Meati restructured last month after laying off 10% of its workforce and shuttering its pilot plant in Boulder, Colorado, with the brand explaining that it needed to “be nimble and focus on near-term profitability”. While the staff cuts saw 30 employees let go and 60 positions eliminated, the business added 100 additional roles to boost production. And in January, the company – which has raised over $325M in total funding following a $150M Series C raise last year and an extension round last month –opened a ‘mega ranch’ capable of producing tens of millions of pounds of alt-meat to rival the output of animal farms.
Its products are available in over 1,500 US locations at retailers Whole Foods, Sprouts Farmers Market, Meijer and Fresh Thyme, and the company has foodservice partnerships with Birdcall, PLNT Burger and Next Level Burger, as well as a distribution agreement with Dot Foods. It further enjoys mainstream visibility thanks to partnerships with popular American chefs David Chang and Rachael Ray.
Now, Meati is looking to take the next step. “We’re focused on increasing the availability of Meati,” Whiteley says. “Our goal has long been easy access, which translates to being able to purchase Meat at your local grocery stores and restaurants. While we have a near-national footprint at this point with even more coming before year’s end, there is much work to be done to broaden access in 2024, and that’s what we’ll be focused on.”
A year after securing $30M in a Series A fundraiser, French plant-based whole-cut chicken producer Umiami has reeled in a further €32.5M ($34.7M) to scale up its production, accelerate European distribution and set up its US operations.
With the latest cash injection which brings the total Series A round to €59M ($62.8M), the three-year-old company has now secured over €100M ($107M) in total investment, including non-dilutive funding and public sector grants. The fresh round of financing was led by returning investors the Sociétés de Projets Industriels (SPI) fund and French Tech Seed – both managed by Bpifrance for the French government as part of the France 2030 economic investment plan. Other participants comprised Astanor Ventures, Redalpine, Newfund (all historic investors) and VERSO Capital.
The investment will help Umiami with three key objectives. It plans to boost the production of its proprietary plant-based meat texturising tech, “umisation”. It uses this method to create its flagship whole-cut vegan chicken breast, and claims the tech “perfectly mimics the taste and texture of meat and fish, with equivalent nutritional value”. Umiami adds that the resulting meat alternative would contain under 10 ingredients, and be free of texturising agents or “controversial additives”.
“Umisation is an innovative protein texturing technology that is unique and specific to Umiami. It is the world’s first-ever process to be able to create – on a large scale – plant-based fillets that resemble pieces of animal meat: both in taste and texture,” a brand spokesperson told Green Queen. “This technology is the result of several years’ research and development, and uses plant matrices to produce a fibrous texture and control the size, direction and thickness of the resulting fibres.”
They added: “As well as producing better texture, umisation has the advantage of offering a minimally processed product from a very short list of ingredients. The procedure now makes it possible to produce a whole, 100% plant-based thick fillet, with fibres resembling those of meat and reproducing that unique, gourmet sensation mouthfeel.”
A new manufacturing facility
Courtesy: Umiami
The company has been operating in an R&D pilot plant in the Paris region since last year and announced the acquisition of a 14,000 sq m Unilever site near Strasbourg in France’s Alsace region in December. The new facility is slated to open in the coming months, the brand spokesperson confirmed, and boasts a capacity of 7,500 tons per production line, with the potential of reaching 20,000 tons.
Umiami outlined its goal to be at the centre of the region’s reindustrialisation and creation of local jobs and confirmed that it will also be investing in its existing R&D plant near Paris, which currently has a capacity of 100 tons, and has hosted “advanced trials involving a comprehensive range of consumers”. The company now plans to expand its range to include more alt-meat products.
“Playing a part in the industrialisation of a start-up like Umiami is fully in line with the SPI fund’s raison d’être,” said Jean-Philippe Richard, deputy director of the SPI fund. “Thanks to its unique technology, Umiami is offering an upmarket range of plant-based fillets. It enables us to boost reindustrialisation in France while enhancing the country’s reputation for agri-food expertise internationally through the development of cutting-edge initiatives serving healthy, traceable food with a low carbon footprint.”
European expansion and an American dream
Umiami co-founders Martin Habfast, Clémence Pedraza and Tristan Maurel | Courtesy: Umiami
The second objective of this new funding round is to help Umiami with further expansion in Europe. While it has been active in retail and foodservice sectors in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy under a white label, it launched under its own brand name for the first time at 120 Coop stores in Switzerland in August. Now, it plans to announce more restaurant and retail partnerships next year. (Umiami told Green Queen that the number of current outlets isn’t available yet.)
Finally, Umiami also plans to break into the US market with its chicken fillet, which it calls a “more developed market for plant-based meat alternatives”. To facilitate this move, the company has recruited FMCG veteran John Hatto (previously PepsiCo and Lamb Weston) as its US managing director.
In a joint statement, Umiami co-founders Tristan Maurel (CEO) and Martin Habfast (export director) said: “We are determined to bring our innovation to American consumers. With our exceptional team and cutting-edge technology, we’re ready to shape the future of food tech.”
France’s tricky relationship with plant-based meat
Courtesy: Umiami
The news comes on the heels of setbacks for the plant-based meat industry in France. Last month, government officials submitted a proposal to the EU Commission for an unprecedented ban on the use of meat-related terms on plant-based meat labelling, reigniting a long-standing saga (with similar developments internationally). This wasn’t long before its agricultural minister pushed a pro-factory-farming stance by calling for the production of cheaper meat.
When asked about the ban, the spokesperson said: “Umiami is committed to communicating openly with consumers and ensuring that they are not misled in any way.” And pressed on the factory farming news, they said the brand “does not currently hold a position on this topic”.
In the wake of this proposed ban, French retail giant Carrefour formed a coalition with corporations like Unilever and Danone to promote the production of plant-based food in the country, pointing to the country’s growing number of flexitarians as signs of the industry’s growth. A 2021 Kantar World Panel study found that 49% of French households had at least one flexitarian among them – almost double the 25% figure in 2015.
According to the alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute Europe, France is the continent’s fifth-largest plant-based market, with sales increasing by 5% between 2020-22. Alt-meat sales, in fact, grew by 17% in this period. A survey conducted last year found that one in five (22%) French consumers included more plant-based proteins in their diets from 2021-22, while 41% considered vegan food the third most important protein source, after meat and eggs (but above fish).
“We are extremely proud of the huge success of our Series A, and of the confidence that our investors and partners have placed in us,” said Maurel and Habfast. “This round of funding will enable us to continue our mission to revolutionise the food industry by offering sustainable and tasty alternatives to meat-based products.”
ingredient with exclusivity until 2039. Additionally, the company shared early results of a promising AI-led study into the health benefits of its mycelium strain.
