Over in foodservice, behavioral architecture and future-thinking operators are ushering in an age of plant-forward corporate cafeterias, which is good news for both the planet and a new generation of climate-conscious talent.
While the debate over the future of the plant-based meat industry rages on, one area that is showing signs of hope in the fight to reframe what’s on our plate is foodservice. SPINS data, often quoted in hit pieces by underfunded journalists about the supposed demise of the sector covers retailer stats- think grocery stores and other shopping outlets where consumers can purchase food. And while in the US the numbers show flat or negative retail growth for plant-based meat replacement products (important note: Europe, Latam and Asia data does not support the same narrative) as consumers fight rising food inflation, the higher prices of most of these products compared to their conventionally-reared animal counterparts and a general ebb of the novelty of headline-grabbing brands like Impossible Foods, foodservice operators offer lessons in how to transition consumers to lower emissions, plant-forward diets.
A still from the ‘Plant-Forward Meals’ page on the Compass Group website.
Foodservice giants commit to plant-forward eating
Foodservice is a broad term that encompasses everything from school cafeterias to corporate canteens, as well as hospitals, travel meals (food service in airport lounges, on airplanes, in trains) and restaurants (including fast food chains).
Foodservice operators, a fairly consolidated industry that counts giants such as UK-headquartered Compass Group and French MNC Sodexo, are increasingly committing to a more plant-forward offering for the patrons they serve as they work to decarbonize their operations, particularly those pesky Scope 3 numbers aka emissions from agriculture, food processing, waste, and transport upstream, as well as transport, consumption, and waste downstream.
Back in 2021, Compass Group said it was planning to replace 40% of the animal-based foods throughout its supply chain with alternative proteins as part of its net-zero emissions campaign.
Earlier this year, Sodexo shared that ten percent of all meals sold across almost 500 outlets in their UK and Ireland business in 2022 were vegan or vegetarian, up from 8% in 2021. For healthcare clients, that figure was 17%.
Choice Architecture & The Power of Nudging
Eve Turow-Paul, founder of the non-profit Food for Climate League, which works with partners such as Sodexo’s Future Food Collective and the Better Food Foundation to democratize sustainable eating and empower consumers towards climate-smart eating using nudging and choice architecture says that you can shift the norm “by making plant-based or plant-forward the default offering, while still providing the option to consume animal products with a request”.
Dr Sophie Attwood, senior behavorial scientist at the World Resources Institute, has done extensive research on the levers that help change people’s dietary habits. She agrees that making the desired choice accessible and convenient is key. “Some of the stronger approaches are those that don’t directly rely on people making a thought-through change each time they select lunch (i.e. talking to them about the environment etc), but instead craft their choice context so this decision naturally flows.”
In a review of all the levers (her team has identified 81 in total) people use to make food choices, she says there is the most evidence for approaches that “modify the food offering and then incentivize the desired choice – i.e. Increase the variety of plant-rich dishes on offer, add more of them to the menu, and then sell them at a good price or offer reward/loyalty card points.
Linkedin, the US-based business social media company that has over 21,000 employees globally, worked with Sodexo subsidiary Good Eating Company (GEC) and Greener By Default (GDB), an organization that uses behavioral choice architecture to help make plant-based food choices the default says it has halved the carbon emissions of its San Francisco office and saved 14,400 CO2 equivalent, for comparison that’s the emission of driving 35,000 miles.
The company launched a 12-week pilot that involved replacing the majority meat-based menu with a majority plant-based menu (a 2:1 ratio of dishes, or 65% plant-based), making oat milk the default coffee bar choice and featuring flavors rather than words like “vegan” and “vegetarian” on the menu dish title cards.
A company spokesperson told VegNews: “We’ve always incorporated plant-forward efforts into our program, but working with GBD allowed us to take it to the next level and make plant-based offerings front and center while still preserving freedom of choice.”
Interestingly, they did not face any employee pushback. According to a statement by a Sodexo spokesperson, “the pilot was extremely successful.” Not only was the amount of meat served and resulting carbon emissions halved, “diner satisfaction remained constant.”
GEC chef Alicia Jenish Mc Carron, who worked on the pilot, said in a video that “we’ve had not a [sic] negative word about the reduced meat option”. A Linkedin employee said that because of the options presented during the pilot, he ate “a lot more vegetables and a lot more plant-based food”.
Younger Employees Are ‘Eating Less Meat’
Offering environmentally-friendly foods may be key to retaining upcoming talent. Fedele Bauccio, co-founder of Bon Appétit Management Company, which provides food service at corporate cafeterias (including LinkedIn) told the New York Times that younger employees in particular are “demanding more culturally authentic meals and climate-friendly kitchen protocols” and “eating less meat”.
This tracks with what Turow-Paul has observed. “There are many ways to increase eater interest in plant-forward dishes, mainly because people seem to already be interested, it’s just that our usual environments aren’t conducive to plant-forward dining.”
Veganuary, a yearly UK-based global campaign aimed at getting people to try out a vegan diet for 31 days in the month of January says over 150 organizations have signed on to the non-profit’s Veganuary Workplace Challenge. This is a 50% increase compared to last year. 100+ organizations joined in 2022 and more than 60 in 2021, according to numbers shared with Green Queen.
This year, names such as Aveda, Loyola Marymount University, Behaviorally, and LinkGraph are participating. Companies are looking for ways to curb their corporate emissions and empower their employees to discover climate-conscious eating. “By collaborating and making a commitment to Veganuary, we are taking another step and doing our part to support a more sustainable future for all” added Janice Lai, VP Marketing at Behaviorally.
Source: IKEA
Restaurant Chains Are Getting Involved Too
In 2020, the furniture behemoth IKEA pledged that by 2025, 50% of the main dishes offered in its store restaurants would be plant-based and 80% would be red meat-free. Further, it promised that 80% of all of its packaged food would be plant-based. While most people associate IKEA with budget DIY assembly furniture, the Swedish giant told Fast Company in 2019 that it was the sixth-largest restaurant chain in the world. Buildd.co estimates the company serves over 230 million customers at its restaurant each year. That makes the company’s plant-based commitment incredibly powerful from an emissions reduction perspective.
Burger King’s UK franchise made a similar commitment in 2021, stating that 50% of its menu will be plant-based by 2031 at its 500+ locations across the country.
In May of last year, Blue Bottle Coffee chain announced it had made oat milk the default milk choice in their US location (approximately 100 stores) as part of the company’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2024 writing in a blog post that they estimated dairy to be a leading source of emissions in their cafe operations and “sought the opportunity to go plant-based and reframe what it means for a choice to be ‘alternative.’”
Early trials showed promising results in terms of consumer behavior: in Southern California, the company saw a 28 percent increase in oat milk-based beverage orders over six months in 2021 and a 40% increase in New York stores in early 2022 compared to the previous six months.
Cultivated meat industry stakeholders in South Korea, including manufacturers, academia, and several city and provincial governments are working to advance cellular agriculture.
The memo of understanding (MOU) was led by South Korea’s North Gyeongsang Province (Gyeongsangbuk-do) and 28 signatories including city governments (Pohang-si, Gyeongsan-si, Gumi-si, Uiseong-gun), universities (POSTECH, Yeungnam University), research and technology institutions (Korea Food Research Institute, Gyeongbuk Technopark, Pohang Technopark), and corporations including cultivated meat startup TissenBioFarm, health food manufacturer Ildong Foodis, and functional food ingredients developer Neo-Cremar.
Cellular ag hubs across South Korea
The MOU signals the formation of a cellular agriculture cluster across the country with the goal of addressing climate and food crises, the groups said.
“We are working on groundbreaking technologies to overcome key challenges in the cultivated meat field,” TissenBioFarm CEO Wonil Han said in a statement. “Once it is done, South Korea will be a global game changer in the field.”
TissenBioFarm has closely worked with POSTECH, North Gyeongsang Province, the city of Pohang, and the country of Uiseong in efforts to make the region a leader in cellular agriculture.
TissenBioFarm is developing cultivated meat in South Korea | Courtesy
The new cluster will focus on cellular agriculture research efforts in South Korea’s southern region. the MOU points to the development of a regulation-free zone to be formed in Uiseong where companies can showcase proof-of-concept. Uiseong will build an industrial complex with facilities ideal for cultivated meat research and production, it says.
At Yeungnum University in the city of Gyeongsan, an international cell culture research facility will explore culture media, equipment, and systems for developing cultivated meat.
In Pohang, which already has an established biotech infrastructure, the city will make a test region for research and development, prototyping, and production certification that can support the commercialization of both cultivated meat and artificial organs.
Gumi will also develop a strategic base to support the advancement of cultivated meat. The city says it will build a branch of the Korea Food Research Institute to support food industrialization.
Cultivated meat advancements
Last September, TissenBioFarm raised $1.6 million in a pre-Series A funding round. The company has developed three bio-based inks it says are capable of being mass-produced for about $0.33 per 100 grams. The company says the inks can be used in both cultivated meat and plant-based meat.
Han says that the technologies will provide high-quality cultured meat that is “competitive in taste, nutrition, sensory, and price in the near future.”
Cellmeat’s Cultivated Dokdo Shrimp
Last April, the South Korean startup CellMEAT, secured $8.1 million in a Series A for its cell-based shrimp. The company also developed its own alternative to the controversial media, fetal bovine serum.
Plant-based food and beverage manufacturer SunOpta has opened a new $125 million production facility in order to double its output.
Minneapolis-based SunOpta says its Midlothian, Tex., plant is now open, bringing 175 new jobs to the region. SunOpta has invested nearly $200 million into its production capacity over the last three years, with $125 million for this facility alone. The company says the new facility will allow it to double production by 2025 with a focus on plant-based milk and creamers.
“This plant is an important part of SunOpta’s long-term goals and a powerful next step in our company vision,” Joe Ennen, CEO of SunOpta, said in a statement.
SunOpta works as a co-packer for a number of brands including Costco’s Kirkland label, as well as offers its own-label product ranges including Sown, Dream, West Life, and Sunrise Growers.
Low-carbon production facility
“The fully-equipped and state-of-the-art facility will enhance our manufacturing and supply chain capabilities. In addition, through innovation and our dedication to sustainability, we can respond to the increasing nationwide demand for plant-based food and beverages,” Ennen said.
The new location supports SunOpta’s sustainability initiatives, the company says, with the Midlothian facility reducing carbon emissions through more efficient power use, water conservation, and the use of recycled materials in offices and labs.
SunOpta has opened a new sustainable factory | Courtesy
The strategic location will also see reduced emissions through lower transport needs. SunOpta says it will reduce more than 15 million freight miles annually, saving the equivalent of nearly 60 million pounds of CO2.
SunOpta anticipates water usage will drop by 20 million gallons per year, and its energy-efficient HVAC system will reduce energy use by 45 percent. The use of LED lighting and water heaters will drop power use by 95 percent.
The 285,000-square-foot facility will expand to 400,000 square feet as the company anticipates its future growth. At its full capacity, SunOpta says it will be the company’s largest plant-based food and beverage facility in operation.
Dairy-free leaders
Two years ago, SunOpta acquired legacy vegan milk brands Westsoy and Rice Dream for a combined $33 million, now rebranded as West Life and Dream.
The two brands are expected to play a vital role in SunOpta’s production expansion plans.
SunOpta has re-branded legacy dairy-free brands | Courtesy
West Life saw a 30 percent sales increase last month compared to the plant-based milk category’s three percent increase.
“Both of these brands have been around for decades and play different roles for different customers,” Mike Buick, SunOpta’s senior vice president and general manager of plant-based foods and beverages, told the Star Tribune earlier this month.
During an investor conference in January, Ennen called plant-based milk a “40-year overnight success story.”
“We have a lot of different ways to win in this business,” Ennen said in a nod to the company’s range of capabilities for ingredients and packaging.
“An investor one time said in a gold rush, you want to be selling picks and shovels,” Ennen said. “We represent that kind of picks-and-shovels model.”
One-third of US consumers say they like/love plant-based foods, and restaurant operators are increasingly likely to add plant-based menu items, with price and taste still key attributes for diners.
In a January webinar titled ‘The State of Plant-Based in Food Service’, the Plant-Based Foods Association (PBFA), a US-based trade association representing leading plant-based brands, shared some data about how US restaurants are thinking about plant-based meat and plant-based dairy products and what their plans are for 2023.
The PBFA report, produced in partnership with Datassential, US restaurant industry menu database MenuTrends to gather data from a nationally representative sample of 4,800 US chains and independent restaurants. The report features some key data and insights. Below, we highlight what you need to know.
Close to two-thirds of fast-casual restaurants plan to offer plant-based menu items in 2023
Almost half (48.4%) of all restaurants currently offer plant-based alternatives. Trend-forward restaurants are most likely to offer plant-based options (64.7% fast-casual restaurants) with fine dining restaurants the least likely (31.6%) and QSR restaurants coming in at 41.8%. Since 2012, growth in plant-based food menu penetration across all operators stands at 62%.
‘Plant-based’ as a diet and menu descriptor is growing
In terms of menu descriptions and dietary terms, ‘plant-based’ as a descriptor has grown by 20% across national restaurants, compared to 7% for ‘vegetarian’ and 11% for ‘vegan’ over the past year. ‘Dairy-free’ is also up 20%. Over the past 4 years, ‘vegan’ is up 98%.
One-third of US consumers like/love plant-based foods
According to the survey, 28% of the US population has an affinity for plant-based foods (this is defined as consumers who love/like plant-based), with younger consumers (Gen X and Millenials), Asian and Black ethnicities, and fast-casual restaurant consumers especially likely to support these products.
Price and taste are still the biggest concerns for plant-based meat consumers
When polled about the concerns around eating less meat in restaurants versus eating more plants and plant-forward foods, 40% of consumers said they were worried about not being satisfied with the taste of the alternative meat, while 30% were concerned about paying too much for such dishes. Not getting enough protein (27%) and plant-based foods being too processed (18%)were much further down the list.
60% of restaurants operators see plant-based as a long-term trend
Four times as many operators plan to add plant-based to their menus over the next twelve months than those who said they would drop these products from their menus. 28% of operators plan to add more plant-based menu items (21% for QSR chains), while 29% said they don’t feature them at all and don’t plan to (46% for QSR). 7% said they plan to remove some or all from their menu (8% for QSR).
When asked whether plant-based meat substitutes were a long-term trend or a short-term fad, 60% of operators said long-term.
Plant-based meat burgers restaurant launches double that of whole veggie burgers
Despite the many headlines around the processed nature of plant-based burgers, the latter are expected to double their penetration on restaurant menus, compared to veggie burgers (defined by the survey as traditional plant-based burgers including black bean burgers, chickpea burgers and burgers from brands like Morningstar Farms and Boca).
Consumers are ready for other categories of plant-based like eggs and seafood
That being said, beyond burger patties, other plant-based food products and formats were highlighted as having strong YoY growth potential including plant-based crumbles (87%), seafood (57%), fish (44%), and eggs (52%), as consumers were getting used to burgers (14%) and sausages (24%).
Plant-based meat is doing well overseas
While no exact numbers were shared, PBFA noted that overseas markets have become a key focus for plant-based meat brands, highlighting Burger King’s plant-based menu across many European countries. The USDA’s Foreign Services Agency recently published a report directed at US plant-based brands calling for them to export to Germany where the plant-based foods category is popular and growing.
Plant-based dairy is showing strong growth across all types of products
Dairy-free menu offerings are up over 20% across all restaurant segments and 31% at fast-casual operators. Almond milk is the most popular alternative drinking milk offering on menus, with 3.6% penetration and 41% growth over the past four years. Oat milk comes in at 1.9%; the report notes that oat milk had almost no menu appearances four years ago but is now experiencing strong growth. Coconut milk is by far the most popular alternative milk for savory cooking applications (i.e. used in another dish like a curry). Plant-based cheese has 4.5% menu penetration across all restaurants, with a y-year growth of 110%; mozzarella is the most popular. The report suggests that there is a great deal of potential for this sub-sector.
Plant-based menu launches can offer restaurant menus ‘uniqueness’
The report says that while general monthly menu launches are almost back to pre-Covid levels, uniqueness ratings are declining so there is an opportunity for plant-based food to help operators get those numbers up. January and September are the most popular months for restaurants to launch limited-time plant-based menu offerings.
Cashew fruit meat startup Cajú Love has made its retail debut with placement in select retailers across Los Angeles, Portland, and New York.
Hawaii-based Cajú Love is carving a new category in the booming vegan meat market. But unlike the majority of products made from processed soy, pea, and wheat bases, it’s jumping on a vegan meat trend that started with jackfruit and tacking on food waste commitments as well.
Fruit meat
Cajú Love is using cashew fruit as its meaty substitute. The meat not only offers a sustainable replacement for conventional meat, but it also reduces the agricultural waste left over from the cashew industry. The company says since its 2021 launch, it has upcycled more than 100,000 cashew apples by turning them into vegan meat. It says one 200g pack of cashew fruit meat uses five cashew fruits.
Cajú Love co-founders Felipe Barreneche and Alana Lima show off the fruit | Courtesy
Agricultural waste is a big problem, contributing to the global food waste issue. The United Nations says about one-third of all food is wasted — about 1.3 billion tons annually. This isn’t just a waste of food, but a key contributor to global warming. The United Nations says it adds about 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year, costing the global economy nearly $1 trillion.
Cajú Love says more than two million tons of cashew fruits go to waste in Brazil every year. But uses run the gamut from juice — which uses up about eight percent of the fruits — to jam, wine, candy, and animal feed.
The global Products from Food Waste or upcycled food market size was valued at nearly $53 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.6 percent to reach $83.26 billion by 2032. The Upcycled Certified program is estimated to prevent 840 million lbs. of food waste each year.
Market-ready
The hyped-up cashew fruit meat is now ready for consumers with the company announcing placement at Besties Vegan Paradise in Los Angeles, Food Fight! Grocery in Portland, Ore., and Orchard Grocer in New York City. It’s also available on Amazon.
Cajú Love hits retail stores in the U.S. | Courtesy
“Cashew fruit meat has the potential to feed a growing population without putting pressure on the environment,” Cajú Love founder Alana Lima, said in a statement.
“Cajú Love has been a pioneer in the upcycled food movement by creating a new plant-based staple from upcycled cashew fruits. We have built a new supply chain system to upcycle cashew apples that helps conserve energy in food production, reduce food waste, soil exploitation and water usage, and provides an additional income stream for local farmers,” she added.
Beth Sullivan, owner of Food Fight! Grocery says that her customers have been very excited to try Cajú Love. “We have had several add it to their weekly shopping list,” she said.
Papa John’s expands its South Korea vegan presence while a national brand pushes ahead with U.S. almond cheese expansion plans.
U.S. pizza chain giant Papa John’s has brought two new vegan pizza options to 220 locations across South Korea for the first time.
Papa John’s South Korea
The new Papa John’s pizzas, Green Eat Vegetable Margarita and Green Eat Vegetable Garden Special, feature vegan cheese and a certification pass from the U.K.-based Vegan Society.
“Although the domestic market is still small compared to the overseas vegan market, the role of a premium pizza brand is to respond to preferences of each consumer,” Jeon Joong-gu Papa John’s Korea head, said in a statement.
Papa John’s brings vegan pizza to South Korea | Courtesy
South Korea has been steadily expanding its stake in the vegan market. Last November, Red Baron pizza’s parent company, South Korea’s food giant CJ CheilJedang, invested in New Culture Foods, a precision fermentation cheese startup. CJ CheilJedang’s holdings accounts for about 25 percent of the U.S. frozen pizza market.
“CJ CheilJedang has invaluable experience and connections in the food and pizza industries that will provide New Culture pivotal scale-up momentum as we push forward our go-to-market strategy,” Matt Gibson, co-founder and CEO, New Culture, said in a statement. “This partnership brings New Culture one step closer to being America’s favorite cheese, animal-free or not.”
Almond cheese comes to the U.S.
The news comes as Armored Fresh, the U.S. subsidiary of South Korea’s Armored Fresh Inc., says it is expanding its U.S. headquarters in Tysons, Virginia for its vegan cheese. Armored Fresh makes dairy-free almond milk-based cheese.
“Northern Virginia and Fairfax County has a rich history in dairy and is advancing in tech innovation. We’re glad to make Fairfax County our home and be part of the vibrant business and innovation community,” Andrew Yu, CEO of Armored Fresh, said in a statement.
“I am thrilled to see an innovator like Armored Fresh expand its Fairfax County headquarters, creating jobs and growing its business capacity,” Jeff McKay, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. “Their environmentally sustainable approach to healthy food is an example of the type of forward-thinking companies that make their home here, and I especially appreciate the expansion of our economic ties with South Korea.”
Armored Fresh almond cheese is expanding in the U.S. | Courtesy
The expansion also earned praise from Virginia’s governor Glenn Youngkin (R).
“It is gratifying to support the growth of an international company like Armored Fresh, whose success further strengthens Virginia’s standing as a prime global business destination,” Youngkin said in a statement. “The company is advancing food technology with its vegan cheese products, and we are proud that this industry innovation is happening right here in the Commonwealth.”
Armored Fresh says it’s investing $125,000 into the expansion, and plans to add 27 jobs to the region. According to the company, its dairy-free cheese “comes super close to matching the taste and texture that people expect in cheese.”
The company, which launched in 2021, says it’s the first to commercialize almond milk cheese. It offers a range of slices, shreds, cubes, and cream cheese. Armored Fresh is targeting retail opportunities in New York City, with plans to expand from there.
The Estonian start-up Äio has raised €1 million to create alternative oils and fats using agricultural byproducts.
The funding comes by way of Nordic Foodtech VC, EAS, and other partners. Founded last year by TalTech bioengineers Petri-Jaan Lahtvee and Nemailla Bonturi, Äio is on a mission to make the food system more sustainable.
The problem with oils
Oil production, particularly palm oil, is driving global deforestation and planet-warming gasses. Äio is working with byproducts from agricultural and wood industries to develop clean oils.
“Turning low-value side-streams into something so valuable is very futureproof and has great scalable business potential,” Mika Kukkurainen, partner and founder of Nordic Foodtech VC, said in a statement. “We are happy to join Äio when taking the first steps outside of university, and already looking forward in helping the team towards future success.”
Nemailla Bonturi, co-founder of Äio. Photo by Janek Toomikas
According to Lahtvee, the current food system is responsible for more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions. Plant-based alternatives, such as vegan meat, require 47-99 percent less arable land, emit 30-90 percent fewer greenhouse gases, and use 72-99 percent less water. But, he says, palm and coconut oils used to make plant-based meat alternatives “do not deliver the same taste and mouthfeel as animal fat.”
Bonturi says not only is the production of these oils not sustainable but “they are unhealthy and can cause allergic reactions.”
The company says it will use its new funding to increase production, test new products, and apply for permits to bring its products to market. Äio has a 2026 target to begin industrial-scale production.
Äio uses fermentation tech with a “red bug” microbe from the agricultural waste in a process patented by Bonturi. “In the same way that we make kombucha, yogurt, bread, and beer, we can turn sawdust or other low-value biomass into valuable and healthy ingredients. Our “red bug” cannot turn water into wine, but it can turn sawdust into food,” explained Bonturi.
Photo by Eva Elijas from Pexels.
The company’s Red Oil, a product made to mimic palm oil and petroleum-based mineral oils, also has cosmetic and household product applications, the company says.
“As scientists, we were excited that years of research resulted in a real product that could revolutionize the entire food industry and consumer experience,” said Lahtvee. “We highly appreciate everyone who has contributed to our success story, and we will continue to develop the company and its products together with our partners, the leading investor, and the food industry.”
University of Tokyo professor Shoji Takeuchi and his colleagues say they have succeeded in producing the world’s first cultivated cubed steak.
The diced steak was first produced in 2019, when Takeuchi and his team produced a three-dimensional muscle tissue measuring about a cubic centimeter, which the team says can grow to larger cuts. Currently, most cultivated meat is minced, but the majority of animal meat sales are whole cuts.
Cultivated whole cuts
“Most startup companies are thinking of ways to commercialize lab-grown meat quickly,” Takeuchi told Japan Times in a recent interview. Much of that meat is being produced as chicken nuggets or hamburgers.
“What we are trying to create, on the other hand, is a beefsteak, a chunk of beef, where muscle fibers are neatly aligned in parallel position. They can twitch like real muscles when stimulated by electricity. Few people in the world are thinking of creating such meat,” he said.
Courtesy Flash Dantz via Pexels
But the tech is still a long way off from marketable, Takeuchi said.
“Although we extracted cells from cattle, cultured them and recreated cattle tissues, what we got in the end didn’t taste like beef, unfortunately,” he said. “Something was lost in the process. If we could find out what that is by reviewing the process and fixing it so (cultured meat) tastes like real beef, then we can determine from which point it starts tasting like beef. That would allow us to quantify taste.
“In the future, we may be able to design the meat we consume, to create meat that perhaps tastes better than real meat. We don’t know if we can do that at this point, but we may be able to.”
Cultivated meat demand
The food industry is ready for the tech, even if not yet perfected. Japan’s Nissin Foods Group, the parent company to the leading Cup Noodle ramen brand, began supporting Takeuchi’s research in 2017.
The cultivated meat sector has raised nearly $2 billion in investments globally, according to data collected by the industry think tank, the Good Food Institute. That’s with Singapore currently the only country to have approved the tech for sale and consumption.
But other approvals are expected soon. Late last year, the U.S. granted GRAS status to Upside Foods for its cultivated chicken. It must now earn approval from the USDA before it can be sold in the U.S.
3D Bio-Tissues has created the world’s first cultivated pork steak | Courtesy Kenn Reay Photography
The steak announcement comes just days after U.K.-based BSF Enterprise, a biotech-focused investment company, said its subsidiary 3D Bio-Tissues produced the first cultivated steak in the U.K. made from pork cells.
Whole cuts are the holy grail for cultivated meat as well as plant-based meat. Toronto’s New School Foods recently debuted its whole-cut plant-based salmon.
“The next frontier of meat alternatives is whole cuts,” Chris Bryson, CEO and founder of New School Foods, said in a statement. He says whole cuts represent the majority of animal meat sales, a challenge with two heavily connected issues: “the quality of the meat alternatives in-market and the limited toolkit our industry uses to produce them,” he said.
“What’s generally available for consumers now are rubbery, ground, pre-cooked products that will not convince the average customer to change their lifelong habits.”
Plant Sifu, Hong Kong’s first locally established and produced plant-based food brand, has announced it will be the exclusive plant-based meat partner with the regional meal delivery service Nosh in a limited-edition menu running from February 9th to April 30th.
The Nosh partnership marks the first time Plant Sifu dishes can be made at home, the company says.
‘Healthy and delicious eating’
“We’re very excited to launch a list of exclusive dishes with Nosh, Hong Kong’s leading healthy meal plan company,” Plant Sifu co-founder Joshua Ng said in a statement. “The new menus are all about healthy and delicious eating, combining Plant Sifu plant-based meat with a wide range of nutritious superfoods such as shirataki noodles, quinoa and mixed grains. This is what good food is all about.”
Ng co-founded Good Food Technologies with Dr. Andrew Leung in 2020. The company debuted with its first consumer brand, Plant Sifu, and its plant-based pork. The startup went on to raise HK$12 million in a seed round last March.
Plant Sifu is making its meal kit debut | Courtesy
According to Nosh’s executive chef Kevin James the demand for alternate proteins has boomed in recent years. “We’ve seen a rise in demand for our Nosh Veggie and Flexi meal plans, and we understand the importance of offering a variety of meal options that would appeal to everyone, especially when it comes to plant-based diets.”
Nosh is leading a new wave of meal delivery, using premium and sustainable ingredients with products featuring transparent calorie counts. It’s the first in Hong Kong to offer flexitarian meal plans that highlight plant-based protein along with leafy greens and mixed grains. Nosh says its meal kits come in biodegradable packaging, further underscoring its sustainability commitments.
Plant Sifu x Nosh menu
The Plant Sifu Nosh meal plans will feature two or three weekly meals. Sample menu items include a Thai Basil and Plant Sifu Mince with Broken Rice Bowl, which Nosh says is a healthy take on the Thai street food staple, Pad Kra Pao.
Plant Sifu Mince Chili with Quinoa Brown Rice “brings a new kick to the moreish Mexican must-have dish.” The company says its mince is stewed for two hours to soak up the sauce.
Courtesy Plant Sifu
The menu also includes a Hamburg steak with Japanese Curry rice, Plant Sifu pork slice with Goan curry and basmati rice in a spice-filled creamy curry with rice.
“Given our philosophy of providing customers with healthy meal plans, we appreciate the absence of MSG, preservatives, additives and colouring in Plant Sifu,” James said.
The Australian mushroom startup has secured a $8.5 million Series A round with a diverse group of backers including Princeton Professor Peter Singer, K3 Ventures and former YUM! Brands CEO Greg Creed.
Fable Food Co, the Australian startup making meaty mushroom products, has raised $8.5 million in a Series A round. The round was led by global venture capital firm K3 Ventures, based in Singapore, and included participation from several influential figures including former YUM! Brands CEO Greg Creed, renowned ethicist and Professor Peter Singer of Princeton University, and Asian fast-casual chain SaladStop! founders Frantz Braha and Adrien Desbaillets.
Existing investors Blackbird, AgFunder and Aera VC participated in the round too, as well as vegan personality Osher Günsberg and his wife Audrey Griffen.
“It’s with great pleasure that we announce our Series A fundraise and welcome our partners along in our mission to end industrial animal agriculture. Thanks to the backing and support of K3 Ventures and all of our investors, we will be able to accelerate bringing our delicious, clean label, and sustainable meaty mushroom products to every market in the world,” said Micahel Fox, co-founder and CEO.
Fable’s existing investors include Michael Simkin, the Executive Producer of Netflix Documentary Series Down To Earth With Zac Efron, and APAC alternative protein fund Better Bite Ventures.
Rapid expansion
Since its launch in December 2019, the company has been revolutionizing the meat alternative market with its clean-label, minimally processed, and natural mushroom-based meat products. The company received a major endorsement from Michelin Star chef Heston Blumenthal, who now features Fable’s meaty mushrooms on the menu of his restaurants.
Professor Peter Singer, who many credit with being the father of the effective altruism movement, said in a statement that he was delighted to “be able to invest in a company that seeks to end industrial agriculture by making plant-based food I love to cook with.”
Less than two years after its debut, Fable landed $6.5 million in a seed round and introduced its meaty mushroom burger patty in a partnership with Grill’d. The brand has since expanded its presence in Australia and its products are now available in several international markets including the UK, the US, New Zealand, and Singapore.
Last year saw Fable launched in the U.K. with burger chain Honest Burgers, meal delivery companies Gousto and Planty, and organic supermarket chain Planet Organic. In addition, the brand was added to the menu of U.S. plant-based quick service restaurant chain Beatnic (formerly By Chloe), New Zealand’s Hell Pizza, and SaladStop! in Singapore.
This January, the company announced more US brand partnerships with plant-based New York-based meal delivery service CookUnity and trendy restaurant chain The Butcher’s Daughter.
Fable’s latest funding will be used to further research and development and to push out new meaty mushroom products, as well as accelerate the company’s growth and expansion in international markets with a focus on North America, the UK, and Singapore. The company has already started the year on a high note with new brand partnerships in North America and will soon be expanding its US footprint with the launch of its mushroom burger slider patties at STK Steakhouse.
Jim Fuller in Fable R_D kitchen – Credit Fable Foods Co
Versatile, natural, delicious
With a focus on using mushrooms as the key ingredient, specifically Shitaake mushrooms, Fable creates meaty, flavorful dishes that harness the natural umami flavors and health benefits of mushrooms. The company touts “minimally processed plant-based ingredients” as a key feature for consumers looking to reduce animal meat consumption with a tasty, nutritous alternative.
Mushrooms also offer several health benefits. For instance, some mushrooms are known to have anti-inflammatory properties and can help boost the immune system. In addition, mushrooms are low in calories, fat, and carbohydrates, making them an excellent choice for those who are health-conscious.
Fable was founded by a team of experts including fine dining chef Jim Fuller, chemical engineer Chris McLoghlin, and former Shoes of Prey co-founder and vegan Fox. Together, they are committed to creating a more sustainable food system through the promotion of plant-based alternatives and the use of mushrooms as a key ingredient.
Michael Fox – Credit Fable Food Co
A rise in demand for meat alternatives
As Fox says, “We believe that eating more delicious, meaty food made from mushrooms will help the world reduce global meat consumption – without compromising on taste, texture, or experience – and this is how we will be able to achieve a more sustainable food system.”
The company said that with the increasing demand for plant-based alternatives and the growing recognition of mushrooms as a healthy and versatile ingredient, it believes it is positioned for continued success.
Creed noted that “after four decades working in the consumer goods and food industries, first with Unilever, then with YUM Brands, I have witnessed the changing demands of consumers around the world when it comes to what they eat. I’ve seen plenty of fads and gimmicks along the way and I know one thing that consumers will never compromise on, is taste.” He added that while Fable’s success in both retail and foodservice caught his attention early on, it’s the “team and mission that secured my investment in them.”
Amid the largest avian flu outbreaks in history, Yo Egg is offering Los Angeles-area consumers an alternative: vegan whole-poached eggs.
Israel’s Yo Egg has made its U.S. debut in Los Angeles at six area restaurants including two Real Food Daily locations and its offshoot, Junkyard Dog, as well as longtime east side vegan staple Flore, the popular outposts Swingers Diner and Coyote Grill, and Loma Linda’s Vegan District Asian Eatery.
“We thought if we’re here to conquer brunch and breakfast and to own that space, then L.A. is probably the best place to start,” Yo Egg cofounder and CEO Eran Groner recently told Fast Company.
‘Tastes just like chicken eggs’
Yo Egg says that unlike any other egg alternative on the market, its egg features a runny yolk and tastes just like chicken eggs. The eggs are made from chickpeas and soy.
Yo Egg has debuted in LA | COurtesy
Chef Yosefa Ben Cohen developed the eggs to deliver flavor and functionality with restaurants and home chefs in mind.
Yo Egg says it has already reached price parity with premium eggs, and says it will be able to rival conventional egg prices in just a few years. But consumers are already paying premiums for conventional eggs as the avian flu outbreak shows no sign of slowing down.
“It will work in our benefit to remove the animals from the food system,” Groner told Fast Company. “Because then we won’t see price hikes, we’ll use way less natural resources, and we’ll minimize the use of antibiotics and the danger of animal-borne diseases.”
Bird flu outbreak
As of last month, the deadly bird flu (H5N1) saw 60 million birds dead in North America from the outbreak either from infection or culling. Globally, nearly 150 million have died, according to the World Organization for Animal Health.
The spread of H5N1 has led to widespread egg shortages, driving up the price of eggs and limiting purchases in some stores, sending consumers in search of alternatives.
Photo by Jakub Kapusnak on Unsplash
Yo Egg says it fills that gap with its sustainable and affordable plant-based egg. “Yo Egg is a huge step forward for plant-based foods, as the world moves towards a food system that does not rely on conventional animal agriculture, and avoids their associated pandemics, price fluctuations and environmental concerns,” the company said in a statement.
The new poached egg is being tested in LA restaurants with a range of recipes from a ramen bowl and eggs benedict to poached in toast, in chilaquiles, and in fried rice.
“This product tastes just like an egg. It looks like an egg. The texture and flavor and color, everything is just like an egg. The animal is a middleman that we don’t really need,” Groner said. “It only adds complexity.”
Agri-tech company Better Seeds has developed the first black-eyed peas for mechanized harvesting in a bid to reduce the environmental impact of soybean cultivation.
Black-eyed peas, also called cowpeas or lubias, are high in protein and highly efficient to grow. Now, Better Seeds, Israel’s largest and leading plant genome editing company, says it has engineered black-eyed peas in order to enhance the crop’s productivity for mass-scale production.
The modified black-eyed peas now stand up straighter and can be harvested the same way as soybeans. Better Seeds uses a unique genome editing technology, EDGE (Efficient Delivery of gene Editing), that enables the broad application of CRISPR across crops.
The problem with soy
The soybean is used predominantly in animal feed. But it’s also a key ingredient in a range of foods as oil and protein. according to Better Seeds, the soybean faces threats from global warming, which is expected to lead to yield declines of at least 30 percent over the next decade.
Soy also requires large quantities of water and fertilizer and is more climate-dependent than other legumes, including the cowpea.
Soybeans | Photo by Polina Tankilevitch
Better Seeds says the black-eyed pea is “exceedingly sustainable” offering “enormous nutritional and agronomic value.” It says the black-eyed pea is a leading legume candidate that can “fill the gap” soybean yield.
“If I had to choose one crop to focus on, its cowpea, since we are facing a huge shortfall in the supply of plant-based proteins, namely soybean, due to climate change,” Ido Margalit, Better Seeds CEO said in a statement. “Cowpea has the capability to fill in this gap pending its redesign to make it fit for mass-scale cultivation which is exactly what Better Seeds is doing. Cowpea will help to feed the world,” Margalit said.
“Better Seeds is committed to providing better crops which will solve the World’s looming food security problems. I believe that we will make an enormous impact.”
Redesigning a staple crop
Prior to Better Seeds’ gene editing, the black-eyed pea was not a candidate for mechanized harvesting, which prevented mass-scale production. Instead, the crop must be hand harvested and often grown in developing countries where hand-harvesting is less expensive.
Better Seeds was able to redesign the black-eyed pea by targeting the gene that alters the plant’s architecture, allowing for it to stand upright like the soybean.
Mechanical soy harvesting | Courtesy Pixabay
“With this redesigned cowpea farmers can both increase their versatility of legume cultivation, utilize their land all year round, and also ensure the market of sustainable supply of plant-based protein,” Better Seeds said.
Better Seeds says it is also bringing another key trait to the bean: herbicide resistance, which will further enhance its ability to meet the planet’s growing food security challenges.
Seattle-based vegan food startup Rebellyous Foods says it has raised $9.5 million in new funding, bringing its total funding to more than $30 million.
The new funding for Rebellyous Foods follows a $5.35 million raise in 2021, and a $6 million Series A round in 2020, according to Pitchbook.
In public regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Rebellyous said it’s aiming to raise more than $30.7 million in total. Previously investors include YB Choi of Cercano Management, angel investor Owen Gunden, and Mike Miller of Liquid 2 Ventures. There were at least 55 undisclosed investors in the latest round.
‘Mock 2’
The company, which was launched in 2017 by former Boeing engineer Christie Lagally, says the new funding will be directed toward equipment for its plant-based meat. Rebellyous has been focused on vegan chicken nuggets, patties, and tenders to date.
Rebellyous Foods is developing new equipment to scale vegan meat | Courtesy
It’s now working to develop what it’s calling “Mock 2” — production equipment that can bring Rebellyous’ products to commercial scale.
“It’s food-processing equipment at its core,” Lagally told Geekwire. “But the whole point is not using old style meat processing equipment to make plant-based meat, which is not a very good fit.”
The funding comes as Rebellyous had a record-setting year in 2022, even as sales were down for category leaders including Beyond Meat.
‘You can’t fool kids’
Rebellyous saw retail increase to 1,100 stores in 2022. But the bulk of its business comes from food service; it’s a primary supplier of vegan nuggets for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), serving 108 major school districts across the U.S.
The NSLP has been increasing its plant-based offerings to improve the health and sustainability of its meals in recent years.
Rebellyous Foods chicken | Courtesy
Last July, California earmarked more than $700 million to overhaul school lunch programs in the state, bringing an emphasis to increasing plant-based offerings.
“Many school districts across our state have a sizable student population that requires or wants plant-based or restricted diet options and cannot afford the sometimes-higher prices,” former Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian of Van Nuys said in a statement. Nazarian pushed the legislation forward, saying it’s a “sizable step” toward empowering schools to respond to their students’ needs.
“School lunch has been a fantastic place for us because it’s a good match for our model of price parity and profitability,” Legally said. “And you can’t fool kids — it has to be high quality.”
It’s hard to think of someone who holds truth to power as effectively and as committedly as George Monbiot. The multi-award-winning British thinker, journalist, activist, and long-time environmentalist has been speaking out on the ills of capitalism and the climate crisis for almost 40 years, during which he has been attacked, arrested and shot at. Among the subjects that he has taken on throughout his storied career as an investigative journalist and as a Guardian columnist (a gig he started in 1996!) are indigenous land appropriation, neoliberalism and political corruption, and epidemic loneliness.
In his latest book Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, he tackles our current food system crisis and explores the billion-dollar question of how to sustainably feed a growing global population without destroying our planet’s natural resources and exacerbating climate change.
Below, he talks to Green Queen‘s Sonalie Figueiras about why talking about food system change is so controversial, food tech and the S curve, the ‘mind-blowing’ alt protein products he has tasted, how to deal with Big Food lobbies, whether government regulation matters and what gives him hope after so many years of tireless activism.
Editor’s Note: This interview was recorded live on Wednesday, February 1st 2023 during the City University of Hong Kong’s Webinar Series The Future of Food: Seeking Sustainable Solutions. Watch the full video interview, including a Q&A with questions from students across Asia HERE.
The below transcript was edited for grammar and clarity.
Sonalie Figueiras: George, welcome. I’m going to dive right in. We are here to talk about your new book Regenesis. It’s your 12th book, I believe. What was the main thesis for writing this book, given you’ve written so many others?
George Monbiot: Thanks Sonalie. Yes, it does seem a bit greedy to have written so many books. [Laughs].
But I’ve been puzzling over this question for a long time as to why it is that we apply relatively strict standards to all industries except food and farming. And we create a sort of moral force field around those industries and say: Well, no, we don’t want to criticize them. We don’t want to go there.
And yet, food production is, by a very long way, the most damaging thing we’re doing to the planet. We all need food, we all need farming, we all need to eat. But the way we’re doing it is absolutely devastating to life on earth and to our own future prospects. It’s the number one cause of habitat destruction, the number one cause of wildlife loss, the number one cause of species extinction, the number one cause of soil depletion, of freshwater use. Most importantly, perhaps, and we always neglect this, of land use. And it’s also one of the major causes of greenhouse gas emissions, of water pollution, and of air pollution.
And yet, we don’t want to criticize it. And we don’t even want really to document what it’s doing, let alone find much better ways of doing it. It’s as if we just shy away from the issue except for a few tiny little tweaks around the margins, which just aren’t going to get [us] there.
So this huge central question, how do we feed the world without dividing the planet? That came to divide my mind and really dominate my thinking and my questioning over quite a few years. And so finally, I thought, right, I’ve just got to try to crack this as I can’t avoid it any longer. Because so many people have been avoiding it. I’ve got to tackle it head-on. And that led me into a really fascinating, and quite mind-blowing, intellectual adventure because so little of this issue is known outside very narrow scientific circles. And almost every day, I was coming across things, which made me go, wow! That changes everything! That is absolutely fascinating! Why doesn’t everyone know this? Why isn’t this on the top of the political agenda? And this was day after day after day.
Altogether, as well as doing extensive fieldwork, I read 5,000 scientific papers in researching this book. I just couldn’t stop. I became addicted to reading them, to chasing the citations trail and going on and on and on, to discovering these extraordinary things which specialists know, but the rest of us don’t, and we urgently need to.
Food production is, by a very long way, the most damaging thing we’re doing to the planet. We all need food, we all need farming, we all need to eat. But the way we’re doing it is absolutely devastating to life on earth and to our own future prospects.
Sonalie Figueiras: It’s become a bit of an obsession for me too so I understand very much what you mean.
You have been sounding the alarm about climate and food for a long time now. I actually found some of your columns from almost five years ago, I even found a Guardian article from 2008 making the connection between climate and meat production. So let me ask you, in the last couple of years, do you see a difference in people’s understanding of the connection between food and climate? Do you think it’s changing? Or do you think that most people still don’t know?
George Monbiot: I think most people don’t know. But I think it is also changing. I think we’re beginning to see the beginnings of the shift. We’re starting to see some people becoming much more aware than they were before. And that is beginning to ripple outwards. [But] It’s much too slow. I find so many times I’m having to start from first base with people, to say, right, okay, this is the problem. And yet, what we’re looking at is an even bigger issue than fossil fuels. You know, we finally got there with fossil fuels. It’s taken 30 years or so to persuade people that fossil fuels are a problem and to explain why fossil fuels are a problem. Still, some people deny it, because, well, of course they do. But we broadly got there. Most people are at least vaguely aware that fossil fuels are a problem and why they’re a problem. But the food system? You have to start from scratch again, and again, and again. And it’s frustrating, but that’s what educators are here to do.
Sonalie Figueiras: Do you think the media is doing a good enough job on that front? Other than folks like yourself?
George Monbiot: The media is not doing a good enough job on any front. [Laughs]
Sonalie Figueiras: One of the things that we’re seeing, as people in the industry is an increasing number of attacks from the meat and dairy lobbies on the solutions and alternatives that are being brought to market to solve for our addiction to industrial meat. How do we, as citizens, deal with this, given that most people are not even aware that lobbies are in play?
George Monbiot: I feel like I’ve been here before because I’ve been fighting the fossil fuel industry for so long. And they’ve been using exactly the same tactics. And in fact, they learned those tactics from the tobacco industry. In fact, some of the very same people who did the job for the tobacco industry went on to do the job for the fossil fuel industry. And it’s probably the same people, the same public relations, who are doing the same job for the livestock industry. And they are clever people, they know how to get into your mind. They know what persuades people and what doesn’t. And so they just find all these ways of trying to keep people hooked on the current meat-based economy and demonize any attempts to address that.
And I think you’ve just got to realize this is the sea in which we swim. It’s pointless to even complain about it, you know. This is the circumstances [we find ourselves in]. We are up against massive industrial lobbies who will fight with every dirty trick in the book to try to sustain their position and prevent themselves from being out-competed. In the past, some of these lobbies have been very successful. It’s like how the motor industry and the oil industry nixed electric cars going back a century now- they just stopped the development of electric cars.
We can’t afford to let that happen. And so we have to fight them. And we fight them by making the case again and again. And by making it as well as we can, as creatively as we can. We use the facts, we use the data, the scientific figures, which are very well established, and we get them out there. It’s not enough just to reel off facts and figures. We have to embed them within narratives, within the stories which are going to reach people. And we have to be as clever and creative as possible in doing so.
Often, people who see themselves as environmentalists are actually defending the old against the new regardless of what the environmental impact of that is.
Sonalie Figueiras: One of the more worrying things that we’re seeing is vegan advocates joining forces with pro-pastured beef/regenerative ag advocates. It makes for very strange bedfellows, but this is happening. What is this all about?
George Monbiot: It is peculiar and disturbing, but we’ve seen it before. And, and also often, people who see themselves as environmentalists are actually defending the old against the new regardless of what the environmental impact of that is.
To give you an example in another sector: I know several people who refuse to have a microwave oven in their house because they think it’s going to kill them. Now, there’s no evidence whatsoever that a microwave oven harms you. But the very same people in every case have a wood-burning stove in their house, which absolutely can kill you because of the very dangerous particulate emissions that it creates. But they think that wood burning stove is green. And the microwave oven is not because the wood-burning stove is old, and the microwave oven is new.
Often what we’ve got is a phobia of new stuff, a sort of almost a sort of comfort reaction of regard to cling to the old stuff. And this is why you see this bizarre situation of environmentalists supporting pasture-fed meat, which is the most damaging farm product on Earth. That is what has destroyed more rainforests, more wetlands, more savannas, and more habitat in general than any other food product. It’s what’s driven more indigenous people off their land than any other food product. It’s what produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other food product. It has the biggest carbon and ecological opportunity costs of any product…
But it’s old. Very, very old. It goes back to the Neolithic [period]. People were herding cattle 10,000 years ago, and so, it’s good. Old is good. And the very same people will attack anyone who’s trying to produce plant-based or microbial-based meat substitutes to appeal to people who aren’t going to go vegan but want to eat something like meat that doesn’t come from animals. And because that’s new. It’s scary. It’s new. And it will be made in factories. Well, all the food we eat passes through a factory before it reaches us. So these are scare words like factories… where do you think your food comes from? It might be grown in fields, but it’ll pass through a factory before it reaches you. Even if it’s just a package, it will go through a factory.
All successful new technologies, whether it’s the laptop, I’m speaking on to you on whether it’s this [shows his iPhone], whether it’s the refrigerator, whether it’s a car replacing horses and carts, they all follow this S curve adoption...What we’ve seen happening in the last few months suggests that we’re beginning to move into the second phase of the S curve, which is off the bottom and just starting to climb.
Sonalie Figueiras: It reeks of a certain type of elitism that is really dangerous.
Let’s dive into the alternative technologies. You’ve been tasting and sampling some of them lately. Do you feel most people are aware of the many alternative protein technologies from cultivated meat to microbial fermentation and precision fermentation to plant-based meats 2.0? Are we having an effect in terms of getting the word out? It’s been interesting to see you embrace these new technologies. What made you get behind them?
George Monbiot: With the new food technologies, we’re at the bottom of the S curve. Now, all successful new technologies, whether it’s the laptop, I’m speaking on to you on whether it’s this [shows his iPhone], whether it’s the refrigerator, whether it’s a car replacing horses and carts, they all follow this S curve adoption. For quite a few years, they bump along the bottom and not much seems to be happening, and they have various setbacks, and people say: ‘Oh, the sector is collapsing…you know…there’s not much going on’, and uptake is just 1 or 2%. And you see big fluctuations because you have a low baseline. And then what happens is the price starts to come down, the scale starts to go up, and the quality starts to improve. This has been the case with all of these technologies, even artificial ice as opposed to river ice. The transition has always been the same. There have always been scare stories around new technologies. And so it bumps along the bottom, then it begins slightly to uptick and you’ll see a slow rise to about 10% market penetration, and then it just goes straight up. It’s slow, then sudden. And that’s the S curve adoption. And we see that again, and again, all the way through history.
At the moment, we’re still at the bottom of the S curve for new technologies like precision fermentation, like realistic alternative meats made out of plant or microbial products, [like] cell-cultured meat and the rest of it. I think the answer is going to be a hybrid of all three incidentally, but we’re right at the beginning of this, and most people either don’t even know about it, or say ‘Oh, that’s not for me, you know, I don’t see myself as the sort of person who might eat those things’. And that’s, that’s totally familiar from the whole history of industrial change. That’s how it’s always been.
And what we’ve seen happening in the last few months suggests that we’re beginning to move into the second phase of the S curve, which is off the bottom and just starting to climb. And, and that’s been several quite dramatic breakthroughs. One has been the first approval for cell-cultured meat in Singapore, and in the US.* Another has been the radically improved quality of plant-based meat substitutes. Now that I’m plant-based, I don’t feel any need to eat meat substitutes, but these aren’t aimed at me. And they’re not aimed at you. They’re aimed at the great majority of people who want to eat something like meat.
I’ve eaten recently three sets of products, which are quite mind-blowingly similar to what they’re imitating. So much so that if it were a blind tasting, you really would not know the difference. One is a steak made by a Slovenian company called Juicy Marbles. One is lamb fillet and beef fillet made by an Israeli company called Redefine Meat. And the other is a whole series of sushi and tempura products made by a restaurant in London called 123V. And in every case, it’s like: ‘II can’t believe I’m not eating the original!’ In fact, it’s quite disturbing for someone like me and you. ‘This doesn’t feel right.’ [Laughs].
So I think we’re seeing these very major breakthroughs. We’re gonna see the costs come down, a lot more competition coming in and the costs will start coming down and as that happens, adoption will start to tick up. People in the industry are saying we’re likely to reach cost parity about the middle of this decade. But then the takeoff for the S curve will be in the 2030s, that’s what they reckon.
*Editor’s Note: Cultivated chicken company Upside Foods earned GRAS status from the FDA in November, meaning its chicken meat made from cells was deemed safe to eat by the US agency. It has yet to obtain USDA approval.
The regulatory issues are really the big sticking point in Europe. And in the UK, in the UK, our food regulator, like everything else in the UK, is underfunded and overwhelmed and just can’t cope.
Sonalie Figueiras: Do you think we can get there without government intervention in the form of incentives, or regulation?
George Monbiot: Well, we need some government action. A lot of the time, it’s about government getting out of the way. Because we have governments responding to lobby groups by saying, oh, you can’t call it milk. You can’t call it cheese. You can’t call it meat or sausages or burgers unless it’s come from an animal. Which is slightly confusing because there’s a whole load of products for which they’re perfectly happy for this food literalism not to apply. What about peanut butter? What about coconut? What about Jelly Babies? Are they babies? What about buffalo wings? Do buffaloes have wings? And hot dogs! You ban vegan hotdogs on the basis that they don’t have any meat in them, well why don’t you ban meat hotdogs on the basis that they don’t have a dog in them? This is just bullshit responses to industrial lobbying. But unfortunately, a lot of governments are responsive to that lobbying.
The regulatory issues are really the big sticking point in Europe. And in the UK, in the UK, our food regulator, like everything else in the UK, is underfunded and overwhelmed and just can’t cope with the volume of applications mostly for cannabidiol CBD applications. It’s just been completely flooded with them. And it can’t get through those to get to the alternative protein applications.
And then the EU has this regulatory process where it’s meant to take two years for a novel food application to get adopted. But that process can be suspended at any time. And so what you’ve got is industrial lobbyists, the animal agriculture lobby, putting huge pressure on the regulators by bombarding them with lots of objections. And then they say: ‘Oh, it’s too complicated! We’ll just suspend the process.’ And then it stays in limbo for years, potentially. And so these products can’t then get adopted and they cannot reach the people who want to eat them.
I draw inspiration also from the knowledge that things can change very, very quickly...Once you can reach 25% of the population, and persuade them to get behind a new idea, then that change becomes very hard to stop.
Sonalie Figueiras: Yes, that does slow things down. How do you find the inspiration and strength to continue amidst attacks and the lack of good news and lack of progress? Where’s your hope?
George Monbiot: Yes, it is exhausting and difficult. And it is a struggle. It is a constant struggle. I’ve been doing this for 38 years now. But I draw inspiration from the young people who are stepping forward, the amazingly brave people who are often prepared to risk prison in order to defend the living world and defend the prospects of their own generations.
I draw inspiration also from the knowledge that things can change very, very quickly. Society is a complex system, and all complex systems have tipping points. And with society, we know where the tipping point is- it’s about 25% of people dedicated to a new approach. Once you can reach 25% of the population, and persuade them to get behind a new idea, then that change becomes very hard to stop. And the reason for that is partly the internal dynamics of the complex system called society. But partly that we are hyper-social mammals. And we’re always testing the wind to see which way it’s blowing. And if we perceive that the wind has changed, we swing around to catch that wind. And so the great majority of people never need to be persuaded. They just need to feel that things have changed, and they’ll fall in line with that change. Of course, highly repressive and authoritarian governments can stamp out that change. But in any government, which at least pretends to be a democracy, it’s very hard for them to stop it. And so what we can see is a situation which seems hopeless, we feel, you know, we can’t get anywhere and go on forever fighting people one by one. But actually, we’re not taking into account the dynamics of complex systems and how they operate. And so this above all else gives me hope that things can move much, much faster than we imagined possible.
Sonalie Figueiras: A wonderful message of hope to finish on. Thank you so much, George.
Regenesis: Feeding the World Without Devouring the Planet by George Monbiot is published by Penguin (£20) – order now.
Another Veganuary has come to a close but the vegan options continue to roll in. And one category is set to see big growth this year: vegan sushi.
Supermarket sushi giant Kikka Sushi has announced vegan tuna and salmon sushi coming to Whole Foods Markets’ sushi counters, Konscious Foods comes to freezers, and restaurants go all-in on plant-based fish.
Vegan supermarket sushi
Kikka, a Whole Foods partner for more than 30 years, is using the vegetable root konjac in proprietary preparations to replicate the taste and texture of raw salmon and tuna. The launch is part of Kikka’s five-year mission to create vegan sushi offerings that mimic the taste and texture of conventional seafood. The sushi is rolling out to select locations nationwide.
Kikka’s launch comes on the heels of the November launch of Konscious Foods, a Vancouver-based vegan sushi brand coming to freezer sections. The company is the brainchild of Yves Potvin who launched the popular vegan brands Yves Veggie Cuisine and Gardein.
Kikka sushi comes to Whole Foods | Courtesy
Konscious Foods marks the first time a sushi range comes to freezer sections. It will feature eight products including four sushi and four onigiri rolls for retail and food service.
“At Konscious, our chefs create plant-based seafood that people can choose over traditional options for their own health and the health of the planet,” Potvin said in a statement. “We saw a gap that wasn’t being filled. People want choices, regardless of whether that’s for meat or seafood. Here we match the delicious taste of plant-based sushi and onigiri with the convenience of ready-to-eat meals and snacks.”
Last month, Dutch-based Vegan Zeastar announced “the world’s first” range of vegan sushi and poke bowls, which it served up at a regional food service trade show. The range included palm-oil-free vegan nigiri, sashimi, uramaki, gunkan, handrolls, or poke bowls.
Plant-Based sushi restaurants
Vegan sushi isn’t just coming to supermarkets, though. Restaurants are increasing their options. Vegan sushi bar Kusaki in West Los Angeles is bringing the city its first plant-based omakase experience. Kusaki is offering a mix of appetizers, sashimi, nigiri, and hand rolls with plant-based salmon nigiri and a crispy garlic tuna carpaccio made from tapioca.
Kusaki is bringing plant-based sushi to Los Angeles | Courtesy
Jeffrey Best and Ken Jones, two longtime bar and restaurant operators, are also opening a vegan sushi restaurant, APB (All Plant Based), coming to West Hollywood. APB will be a vegan sushi bar with a menu by Niku Nashi.
Plant-based sushi offerings aren’t new to LA — Shojin in Little Tokyo and Culver City have been vegan destinations since 2008. And other sushi spots including Highland Park’s Ichijiku and Fiish in Culver City’s Platform mall offer a range of vegan items.
Asian-inspired Planta Queen recently opened in New York City near the Empire State Building. It offers a range of sushi items as well as other Asian dishes including bao, dumplings, and noodle dishes.
BSF Enterprise, a biotech-focused investment company, says its subsidiary 3D Bio-Tissues has produced the first cultivated steak in the U.K. made from pork cells.
The first cultivated pork cutlet was made with 3D Bio-Tissues’ (3DBT) serum-free and animal-free cell booster, named City-mix. The result “exceeded expectations in appearance, taste and texture,” the company said. The 3DBT team cooked and ate the filet.
Cultivated pork filet
The company says the pork filet is a world’s first for cultivated meat; while a number of companies have developed cultivated pork, much of that has been mince.
“This is a significant scientific breakthrough which has very positive implications not just for BSF and 3DBT but also for the U.K. and the cultivated meat industry as a whole,” 3DBT CEO Che Connon said in a statement.
“We are absolutely delighted with the look, taste and texture of our cultivated pork, which is the first time we have fully sampled our product,” Connon said. “Our cruelty-free fillet has exceeded our expectations in all respects, and we are extremely excited about the technological progress we are making and the impact this could have upon our industry.”
3DBT used pork cells to produce the 3.5-inch by 1.5-inch steak, similar to a typical cut of meat.
City-mix growth serum
The company is using City-mix, a lower-cost growth factor that can increase yield without the need for animal-based fetal bovine serum. 3DBT says City-mix is a critical IP component, “providing clear competitive differentiation and world-leading technology.”
“City-mix, our serum free media in which we cultivated the fillet, is helping to greatly reduce the cost of cultivated meat such that it may become economically viable in the near future,” Connon said.
Left to right: Dr Craig Stamp, Dr Che Connon and Dr Ricardo Gouveia of 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) taste the cultivated pork | Courtesy Kenn Reay Photography
“At the same time our ‘structure without scaffold’ technology is helping to make cultivated meat that more closely resembles traditional meat in every respect, without the need for plant-based additives,” Connon said. “We look forward to taking the findings through to the next stage of development, focused on producing a chef-ready product for public consumption.”
According to the testers, the raw steak showed visible meat fibers and structural integrity similar to conventional meat in consistency, elasticity, color, and texture. The cooking process mimicked conventional meat as well: shrinkage, searing, browning, charring, and crisping, with aromas identical to conventional pork. 3DBT says the taste and texture of the final product were indistinguishable from pork.
Toronto-based New School Foods has released its first product: a plant-based whole-cut salmon filet it says looks, cooks, tastes, and flakes just like conventional salmon.
New School Foods’ vegan fish release comes on the heels of $12 million in Seed funding from Lever VC, Blue Horizon, Hatch, Good Startup, Alwyn Capital, and grants from multiple Canadian government grant agencies including Protein Industry Canada.
Whole-cut fish
New School says its whole-cut fish is made with plant fibers that replicate the diameter, length, strength, and structure of fish muscle fibers to deliver the same texture and mouthfeel of fish.
It joins a growing category of startups tackling whole-cut fish. Last summer, Revo Foods announced a 3D-printed whole cut salmon and Indian vegan seafood startup SeaSpire unveiled a plant-based snapper filet created using bio-printing.
There’s an increasing demand for seafood that’s free from heavy metals such as mercury. Consumers are also becoming concerned about microplastics in their seafood. Several studies have found microplastics in a range of seafood products including a number of fish species, scallops, and mussels.
New School Foods also says it has achieved a plant-based fish that comes in a raw state — a feat made possible by a cold-based processing technology. Most of the whole-cut plant-based options come to consumers pre-cooked.
The company’s unique scaffolding technology uses directional freezing to create scaffolds that mimic muscle fibers and connective tissues found in meat and fish. They’re then infused with different proteins and flavors that mimic the taste, texture, structure, and cooking process of live meat and fish.
‘The next frontier of meat alternatives’
“The next frontier of meat alternatives is whole cuts, and from day one we understood that New School Foods needed to solve two heavily connected issues: the quality of the meat alternatives in-market and the limited toolkit our industry uses to produce them,” Chris Bryson, CEO and founder of New School Foods, said in a statement.
“What’s generally available for consumers now are rubbery, ground, pre-cooked products that will not convince the average customer to change their lifelong habits,” he said.
New School says its tech was designed to be scalable from day one; its production technologies will allow it to maintain its texture, mouthfeel, and macrostructure at maximum production capacities.
New School Foods’ vegan salmon | Courtesy
“We invested in New School Foods because they recognized that the existing production technologies in the plant-based meat industry are insufficient for creating a whole-cut product that consumers genuinely want to eat,” said Nick Cooney, General Partner at Lever Ventures. “Their technology is unlike anything else we’ve seen in the industry in terms of truly mimicking the texture, mouthfeel, and experience of cooking and eating whole cuts of meat.”
New School says the next frontier in meat successors is whole cuts. They represent the majority of animal meat sales but have proven challenging for the plant-based sector to mimic connective tissue, muscle fibers, and other microstructures in meat.
Consumers in North America could get a chance to taste New School Foods’ fish later this year; the company says it expects to launch its filet in select restaurants following the launch of a chef-only pilot program kickstarting its commercial efforts.
A new report is encouraging US plant-based brands to export to Germany, describes as the ‘fastest-growing plant-based meat market in Europe’
While the US mainstream media is on a headline rampage against plant-based meat, the US Department of Agriculture’s foreign arm is publishing reports extolling the growth of the plant-based meat sector abroad to encourage US plant-based meat brands to lean in to export markets like Germany. So I guess that means the USDA doesn’t think plant-based meat is a has-been ‘fad’ then. Or maybe their copy of Bloomberg BusinessWeek got lost in the mail? But I digress…
The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service has just published a 12-page report titled ‘Plant-Based Food Goes Mainstream in Germany’ aimed at boosting US exports of plant-based foods to the European country, which the authors described as “one of the most important markets for plant-based food worldwide.”
In the report’s synopsis, the authors write: “German food culture is changing. The number of vegans is growing, and more than half of the population wants to reduce meat consumption, considering themselves flexitarian.” Sprichst du Deutsch?
While the report details the rise of the vegan food movement in Germany and describes the typical vegan consumer, it does not delve into the specifics of how this cultural shift took place, though one noteworthy takeaway is that unlike in many other countries, Germany benefits from overt political will for reducing meat consumption.
Nonetheless, the report gathers many interesting data points, which we break down below.
55% of the population is flexitarian or part-time vegetarian
55% or more than half of Germans describe themselves as “part-time vegetarians” or flexitarians, i.e. they are opting for less animal-based food on their plates. That’s close to 46 million people.
Germany has the highest rate of vegetarianism compared to its European neighbors. 8 million people followed a vegetarian diet, around 10% of the population. The number of vegans in Germany reached over 1.5 million people in 2022, compared to just 100,000 people 10 years ago – that’s an impressive 1,400% increase.
Beef, pork and milk are down, but cheese and chicken still popular
In 2011, Germans ate an average 138 pounds of meat each year. That number dropped to 121 pounds in 2021 or a 13% decrease. On the meat front, pork consumption is down by 23% (despite being Germany’s favorite meat), beef is stable and chicken is up by 13%.
Butter and milk consumption is down compared to 2021 levels (3% and 4% respectively) while cheese consumption is stable. 32% of consumers say that they will consume fewer dairy products (e.g., milk, yoghurt, cheese) in the next six months.
Politicians and NGOs support reducing meat consumption
There is political support in Germany for reducing meat consumption- the Green Party is currently part of the ruling government coalition and the country’s Green Minister of Food and Agriculture nutrition strategy includes a focus on plant-based diets.
Further, NGOs in Germany are more vocal about reducing meat consumption than elsewhere- the report cites the German Fridays for Future Movement website which advocates for halving meat consumption by 2035 in contrast to the US Fridays for Future Movement, which does not say anything about meat! Calling Greta!
German vegan brand Veganz delivers products across categories | Courtesy Veganz
Fastest-growing market for plant-based meat
Germany is the fastest-growing plant-based meat market in Europe and one of the fastest-growing plant-based dairy markets in Europe. Earlier today, I was shown off the record data suggesting that the total German plant-based meat category was up between 11% and 16% YoY in the first half of 2022. Every supermarket in Germany stocks plant-based alternatives and almost every major fast food chain has plant-based menu items. Interestingly, Germans are the most likely to pay more for plant-based meat than animal meat compared to citizens of other countries.
The average vegan is young, female and well-educated
Young Germans are driving the rise of flexitarianism, and seemingly bringing their parents along with them. The most commonly cited reasons for consumers to adopt a meat-free diet was moral or ethical in nature, with reasons that included animal welfare, climate conservation and industrial livestock farming. According to veggieworld, the average German vegan is female (81%), young (60% are between 20-39 years old), well-educated (70% have a high level of education), and has a high income.
Consumers across Europe losing their appetite for meat
Across Europe, consumers are eating less meat and are increasingly interested in plant-based foods.
A 2021 European survey byProVeg International and Innova Market Insights spanning 7,500 participants across 10 countries revealed that 46% of respondents had already cut their meat consumption, with just under 40% saying they plan on doing so in the future. The German data supports this trend.
This tracks with data from FMCG Gurus from last April around global consumer behavior trends, which stated that global consumers were planning to moderate their meat intake. 80% of the respondents said this was due to environmental concerns, while 74% felt that eating less meat was a healthier choice.
Brits lowering animal foods intake, French motivated by inflation
Earlier this year, the UK charity the Vegan Society shared the results of a survey they conducted of 2,000 participants: 33% of people said reducing or eliminating animal products is a priority in 2023 and 56% of non-vegans said they would decrease their animal product consumption.
Data analytics outfit Kantar just released its own report about French consumer spending habits in 2022. The report suggests that French people are buying less meat. While that’s good news for the planet, the planet is not their main motivation. Inflationary pressure is what’s keeping more French folks away from their steak hache.
That said, their consumption of plant-based alternatives (the exact wording used by the authors in French is “offres dites de transition alimentaire“, which loosely translates to “product selection aimed at the food transition”, but I am transliterating) is stable. The report states that despite rising food prices, eco-friendly, vegan and plant-based products continue to be popular since September 2022.
Czech food tech startup Mewery has debuted what it says is the world’s first cultivated meat made to use microalgae cells.
Made from a mix of pork cells and microalgae cells, Mewery has released its first cultivated meat prototype and the first for central and Eastern Europe.
The prototype comes after the company launched in 2020; it was included in Big Idea Ventures’ New Protein Fund accelerator and landed investment funds from Credo Ventures and Purple Ventures last year.
Microalgae cells
Using novel tech, the meat is 100 percent cell-based, something Mewery says is an unusual feat in the industry as many other cultivated meat producers rely on inputs including soy and pea mixed with 30 to 50 percent cultivated animal cells.
Mewery’s cultivated meat is made from 75 percent pork cells and 25 percent microalgae cells – growing to a marketable cut in just ten weeks to produce.
Mewery’s pork meatballs are made with microalgae | Courtesy
Mewery says microalgae plays a key role in its cultivated meat development by saving money and replacing controversial ingredients including fetal bovine serum (FBS). Mewery says it also offers a nutritional advantage, enriching the products with additional vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, fiber, and antioxidants.
Microalgae is being hailed as a sustainable food solution with companies exploring its potential in mimicking dairy, seafood, and palm oil, among other applications. Mewery says its use of microalgae in cultivated meat “has great potential to disrupt the whole field.” The company has submitted a patent for its process of production, including the development of its own cultivating medium.
“We already have several variants of media that work for us without animal products and which we continue to work with. It is like a cookbook,” Roman Lauš, Mewery’s founder, said in a statement.
“You have to add somewhere, take away somewhere else, and you will only find out if it was successful when you bake the cake. We have typed specific parameters that we track and compare their dependencies. It’s bioinformatics in practice,” he says.
Market timeline
Mewery is aiming to bring its cultivated meat to market within two years. That timeline could line up with regulatory approvals. Cultivated meat is currently only approved for sale in Singapore, but a recent FDA GRAS status in the U.S. for cultivated meat producer Upside Foods means U.S. approval is likely within the next year.
Impossible Foods
Europe, however, has been notoriously more stringent on approval processes for novel food ingredients. The E.U. and U.K. have still not approved heme, a key ingredient in Impossible Foods’ burgers that give them their meaty taste and texture.
But for Mewery, the time until approval is valuable.
“Now we are working intensively on establishing our own biobank, which is basically a repository of cells from which we can cultivate more meat,” Lauš says. “In this way, we want to ensure a more or less unlimited source of pig cells, which will move us closer to large-scale production. The increase in the volume of cultivation in large-capacity cultivators is directly related to this and should happen already this year.”
Michroma, the California-based biotech startup working to develop natural colorants from fungi, has closed a $6.4 million Seed funding round.
Michroma’s new funding was led by Supply Change Capital, a food tech VC backed by 301 INC, the corporate venture capital arm of food giant General Mills. The round also includes funding from Be8 Ventures, which is backed by food company Dr. Oetker, and CJ CheilJedang, the $23 billion Korean supplier of fermentation-based bio-products.
Sustainable food without petroleum-based ingredients
“We are poised to meet consumer demand for healthier and more sustainable food without petroleum-based ingredients,” Michroma’s CEO and Co-founder, Ricky Cassini, said in a statement. “Unlike the current generation of unstable natural options, like betalains, carminic acid, and anthocyanins, Michroma is producing better-performing natural colorants powered by fungi. This next stage of our development will help us industrialize our fungal platform and enable the world’s transition to natural colors.”
Michroma launched in 2019 with a novel red colorant it called REd+. It says the colorant is temperature resistant and stable across the entire food pH spectrum allowing it to be used in a range of processes including pasteurization and extrusion without altering the color.
Precision fermentation
Michroma says its use of precision fermentation replaces petroleum, which is used as the base ingredient for most mainstream colorants. This tech allows for a more sustainable color market. Colorants are used in a wide range of foods and beverages from snacks and candies to juice and some meat and fish. The food colorants market is valued at more than $2.6 billion.
Michroma’s tech creates “fungal biofactories” which produce small molecules, like colors, more efficiently, the company says.
General Mills’ Bold Cultr precision fermentation cheese
The funding marks General Mills’ second investment in precision fermentation. The multinational food giant recently announced a partnership with Israel’s Remilk, which produces dairy through precision fermentation. General Mills first launched Bold Cultr, a cheese made from Perfect Day’s precision fermentation whey in 2021.
‘The power and versatility of filamentous fungi’
“We are leveraging the power and versatility of filamentous fungi with our synbio platform. By combining a unique fungal chassis strain with precision fermentation, we are capable of producing high-value complex molecules with high yields previously unseen in the biotech industry,” said Michroma’s CSO and Co-Founder, Dr. Mauricio Braia.
“We see compelling market and consumer potential for Michroma’s fungal platform to create next-generation natural ingredients, from colorants to flavors, that are healthier and more sustainable while maximizing production efficiency,” said Noramay Cadena, Supply Change Capital’s Managing Director and Michroma Board Member.
“We are excited by the speed and skill with which they are building out their capabilities. Even more so, in light of the current disruption of supply chains globally, we believe Michroma is laying the foundation for the sustainable ingredients of the future,” Cadena said.
Michroma’s tech also addresses concerns about the safety of artificial colors. The company points to Nielsen data that shows 92 percent of consumers are concerned about artificial colors. Products that contain Yellow 6 and Red 40 must include warning labels in the E.U. and are banned in some countries including Norway and Austria because of the connection to some health issues in children including neurobehavioral issues. U.S. regulators have been considerably laxer on warnings and bans on artificial colors, despite consumer interest in safer ingredients.
Actress Anne Hathaway has invested in The Every Co., a leading precision fermentation protein platform aimed at bringing sustainable alternatives to the food system.
In her first B2B investment, the Academy-Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway has backed Every with an undisclosed funding amount. The platform is best known for its precision fermentation egg product.
“The need to transform our food system has never been clearer or more urgent,” Hathaway said in a statement. “An important piece of the puzzle is in nature-equivalent animal proteins, such as Every has been developing.”
Backing a ‘vision of a better future’
Hathaway joins Every’s other notable investors including Bloom8, McWin Food Systems Fund, Temasek, TO Ventures, Grosvenor, ZX Ventures and others, bringing its funding to more than $230 million.
“I’m proud to back this vision of a better future,” she said. The We Crashed star said she was drawn to impact investing following shifts in her own life including reducing her meat consumption and single-use plastics. She says Every’s impact, technology, and nutrition advantages drove her interest in backing the company.
Every’s egg protein was used in Chantal Guillon macarons | Courtesy
Every says Hathaway’s investment will help further its mission to bring animal-free protein “to everyone, everywhere.”
“We are thrilled to partner with visionary investors like Anne to drive forward our plans to reimagine the way we feed and nourish the world,” said Every CEO Arturo Elizondo. “Ultimately, our vision is to deliver animal-free protein to everyone, everywhere — and help set the table for the better food future we all deserve.”
Every proteins a crucial solution
The announcement follows the company’s seven years of R&D and its recent launch of three new products, Every Pepsin, Every Protein, and Every Egg White. Every was the first company to produce animal-free pepsin and egg proteins using precision fermentation.
Every says its proteins are crucial solutions to the problematic food supply amid rising populations and threats from climate change.
The Every Company x Pulp Culture | Courtesy
Precision fermentation is poised to offer sustainable solutions. The sector, which has seen nearly $2 billion in recent investments, replaces animal ingredients and offers more sustainable solutions to the food system’s challenges.
The category has largely been anchored around precision fermentation whey from California’s Perfect Day and its roster of co-branded partnerships. But Every says there are a number of other vital applications for the tech. It recently showcased its egg protein in a range of products including Pulp Culture’s hard juice and in vegan macarons. Every is currently scaling up its tech with BioBrew from Anheuser Busch InBev.
The world loves coffee and chocolate. But both are linked to two big problems: deforestation and ongoing human rights violations. What will it take for the industries to change their ways for good?
Both coffee and chocolate are loved around the world for their deep and rich flavors, but also, their innate abilities to provide us with much-needed pick-me-ups. Coffee provides an energizing caffeine boost and chocolate has unquestionable mood-lifting powers. But while many of us take both coffee and chocolate for granted and couldn’t imagine getting through the week without them, there is a price to pay for each of these grocery store regulars. And it’s not just the number on the tag.
Chocolate comes from cocoa (also known as cacao), a threatened crop that is associated with environmental destruction and human exploitation. And coffee beans, unfortunately, are connected with very similar problems. Here, we break why our love for chocolate and coffee is problematic. But also take a look at some of the actions being taken to clean up both industries, as well as which brands are doing the right thing by people and the planet.
Coffee, chocolate, and deforestation
The coffee and chocolate industries are huge. To put it into numbers, the global chocolate market was valued at more than $131 billion USD in 2021. In 2022, coffee hit more than $433 billion. Demand for both is predicted to keep growing. But in order to fulfill this, a lot of land is required. And already, both coffee and chocolate contribute to significant amounts of deforestation.
Last year, a study from Japan’s Research Institute for Humanity and Nature suggested that in the west, the average consumer of coffee and chocolate, as well as beef and palm oil, contributes to the felling of four trees every year. On an individual level, this doesn’t seem like a lot. But when you consider the size of the markets, this is catastrophic.
The study concluded that Italy, Germany, and the US are driving deforestation in Vietnam, where coffee production is a major source of income. It also found that the UK and Germany, two major European chocolate markets, are driving deforestation primarily in Ghana and Ivory Coast. In fact, in Ivory Coast, the top cocoa producer in the world, more than 85 percent of the forest has been lost since 1960.
Cocoa and coffee drive deforestation around the world | Courtesy of Pexels
But chocolate deforestation doesn’t just come from growing the beans. Most mainstream products also contain palm oil, which is a major driver of forest destruction. According to some estimates, palm oil plantations account for more than 27 million hectares of land around the world.
All of this deforestation is damaging to the planet, not just because it affects wildlife ecosystems and habitats, but also because it drives up greenhouse gas emissions. This is because as trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. However, when they’re cut down or burnt to make room for plantations of crops like cocoa and coffee, all of this is released back into the atmosphere.
In fact, after fossil fuels, deforestation is the largest human source of greenhouse gas emissions. All of these gasses warm up the planet and contribute to a rise in devastating natural disasters, like extreme heatwaves, storms, floods, drought, and wildfires.
Human rights violations
Demand for coffee and chocolate doesn’t just impact the natural world. Both industries also have a reputation for exploiting human beings.
Just last year, Mars, Nestlé, Mondelēz, and Hershey’s, four major suppliers of chocolate products, were all named in a child slavery lawsuit. It was brought against them by a human rights law firm, called International Rights Advocates, on behalf of eight children from Mali. All of the children, who are now adults, claimed they were forced to work on cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast and were not paid for their time.
Major chocolate brands, like Mars, have been linked to child labor issues. | Courtesy of Pexels
These individuals represent a much bigger problem in the industry. According to Slave Free Chocolate, a coalition working to end forced child labor in the cocoa industry, the number of children exploited in the coffee industry currently stands at around 1.6 million. It notes that this happens because the farmers themselves are not paid a living wage. Their rates, which are less than $1 a day in some places, haven’t increased since the 1970s.
“We are talking about a $100 billion dollar industry, it seems the power is there,” writes the coalition’s director Ayn Riggs in a blog post. “The problem is that the intent isn’t. It must really boil down to profit over promises.”
And again, there are major parallels here with the coffee industry, which is also associated with exploitation.
In 2020, one investigation alleged that in Guatemala, children under the age of 13 were picking beans for one of Nespresso and Starbucks’ coffee suppliers. They were paid, but only around $6 per day. Just a little more than the price of a single Venti Pumpkin Spice latte. Again, this is likely caused by a lack of compensation for farmers. The investigators, which found evidence of child labor on all seven farms they visited, concluded that from one standard cup of coffee, only around 12 cents actually goes to the farmer.
Climate crisis threats
Both industries are fraught with environmental and ethical concerns. But neither may have a future at all. Because, despite rising demand, the climate crisis could wipe them out completely.
Increasing temperatures aren’t just a threat to humans, but to crops too. After all, both coffee and cocoa need a specific environment to grow. According to some reports, the area suitable for growing Arabica coffee, which is what most of the world drinks, could be cut in half by 2050. Likewise, with cocoa, the climate crisis is considered one of the biggest threats to its cultivation.
In 2018, Michel Barel, from French cocoa consultancy firm KawaCao, told Food Navigator: “The cocoa tree needs heat but also lots of humidity, and when we see the Sahel advancing several kilometers southwards every year towards the Côte d’Ivoire [Ivory Coast] and Ghana, this reduces their cocoa-growing capacity.”
So, what are the solutions?
According to Barel, the Ivory Coast government can encourage solutions to the impending threat of the climate crisis by supporting cocoa farmers to plant more shading trees, for example, which will help to protect cocoa plantations from the heat.
And last year, reports surfaced claiming that a wild coffee plant, called Stenophylla, had been rediscovered by scientists and could provide a more climate-resistant alternative to Arabica beans.
Protecting the future of these industries is one thing. But we also need to make sure that in the years to come, they are no longer exploiting people and the planet. And there is some promising progress on the horizon. The EU, for example, has announced a provisional political agreement that aims to fight deforestation.
The EU wants to ensure all products sold in its countries, like coffee beans, are deforestation-free. | Courtesy of Pexels
When the rules are formally applied, all companies operating in the EU will be required to carry out “strict due diligence” on products associated with deforestation. This includes things like beef, coffee, cocoa, and palm oil.
“Since the EU is a major economy and consumer of these commodities, this step will help stop a significant share of global deforestation and forest degradation, in turn reducing greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss,” the EU Commission notes.
And when it comes to child labor, law firms, like the International Rights Advocates, are helping to raise awareness of these issues. They are holding major industry juggernauts to account and helping to influence change. “Most of our cases originate because a multinational company is operating in a country without a fully functioning or corrupt legal system,” it notes. “And uses that lack of the rule of law knowingly to exploit and abuse workers, farmers, and others impacted by the company’s operations.”
Ethical, sustainable coffee and chocolate
As a consumer, it’s easy to feel powerless over the world’s biggest issues. But there are plenty of brands out there that are helping to drive industry change.
Original Beans produces carbon-negative chocolate, for example, which is because its own cacao gardens sequester more carbon than its supply chain emits. And food tech company Planet A Foods is getting around chocolate’s cocoa issue by avoiding it altogether. Right now, it’s working on creating a new type of chocolate that is 100 percent cocoa-free using precision fermentation. It’s joined by brands like WNWN Food Labs and Voyage Foods, the former released its first cocoa-free chocolate this year, while the latter is working on building B2B partnerships, including ingredient-focused collaborations, for its Cocoa-Free Chocolate.
Northern Wonder makes coffee, without the coffee | Courtesy of Northern Wonder
On the other hand, Tony’s Chocolonely does use cocoa beans. But only those picked without child labor. The Dutch brand is also working to raise awareness of slavery in the chocolate industry and helping to empower cocoa farmers to produce crops without it.
In the coffee world, brands are also trying to produce the much-loved drink in a more sustainable way. Similar to Planet A and Voyage, Northern Wonder makes coffee without the coffee. The brand is constantly researching to try and find new ingredients that can deliver the same taste, without deforestation. And, again, Atomo Coffee’s cold brews are beanless, and instead, made with upcycled date seeds using molecular fermentation.
Plus, California Cultured is using cellular agriculture to make both chocolate and coffee products that are identical to the conventional versions on a molecular level, only they’re produced in the lab.
Fixing the coffee and chocolate industries is undoubtedly complex. It is going to take multiple solutions from governments, scientists, and industry giants. But also, us too. By choosing our purchases carefully, we can help to create a fairer, more sustainable future for both industries.
Singaporean foodtech TiNDLE Foods has launched a line of new plant-based chicken products in 2,200 stores across Germany in a collaboration with the country’s largest retailer EDEKA Group, as well as a limited-time release at 4,200 Netto stores.
This is the first time the brand’s products will be available to consumers to cook at home, except for a brief limited three-product seasonal release at UK’s Morrisons supermarket chain for the 2023 Veganuary campaign.
“Our new line of grocery-ready products was created to be easy to prepare and convenient for everyday home cooking, but also intended to be blank canvases that can be elevated or dressed up if you wanted to make a gourmet meal at home,” Andre Menezes, co-founder and CEO of TiNDLE, told Green Queen via email.
Source: TiNDLE Foods
6 new plant-based chicken product formats
Six new plant-based chicken product formats have been announced, including nuggets, sandwich patties, tenders, popcorn chicken and wings, as well as a traditional schnitzel, which is exclusive to the German market. The products will be priced at €3.49 and sold in the chilled aisle.
EDEKA, which operates over 11,000 stores in the country, will debut TiNDLE products in southwest Germany including Frankfurt this week, followed by major metropolitan areas like Berlin and Hanover starting next Monday. The group is also featuring the new range at its Netto Marken-Discount chain for a limited time until February 5th.
TiNDLE continues to be available in restaurants in various countries and Menezes told Greeen Queen that the company plans to continue growing its presence across both restaurants and grocery stores.
The company did not rush a retail launch, working instead with chefs across Europe, Asia and the United States to gather feedback on how the product performed during preparation and to “source open feedback and collect insights on best uses across dishes and cuisines, but also look at details related to flavor, shape, size, color, and more to further improve the overall TiNDLE experience.”
Next Gen Foods co-founders Timo Recker (Chairman) and Andre Menezes (CEO).
Criticism of the sector is “short-sighted”
When asked about the perception that the plant-based meat sector is underperforming, Menezes said “we see our launch into thousands of retail outlets as a strong indicator that the category is continuing to grow.”
He added that “change in our food system happening over decades and not immediately overnight…Such a paradigm shift is not easy even on an individual level, let alone on a broader society.”
Pressed further, Menezes said the criticism of the sector is “a short-sighted evaluation of larger market conditions today, including how the market is reacting to inflation, rising interest rates, and geopolitical tensions. These are factors that have influenced market conditions today, but don’t necessarily correlate to larger macro trends and what will be key to longer-term change in our food production processes.”
US retail launch coming later this year
In addition to the Germany news, TiNDLE is trialing a limited edition range of meal kits created in collaboration with celebrity chef Chad Rosenthal on direct-to-consumer marketplace Goldbelly including a Buffalo Chicken Tenders Wrap Kit, a Chicken Sandwich Kit, a Chicken Sandwich Kit and a Sweet Honey BBQ Chicken Wings Kit ahead of an anticipated US retail launch later this year.
TiNDLE’s products are made entirely of non-GMO plant ingredients and offer consumers 17g of protein and 8g of fiber per 100g serving. They also include Lipi, the company’s proprietary chicken-fat-like emulsion that contributes the aroma and savoriness of its animal counterpart.
Next Gen Foods was founded in 2020 by Timo Recker and Menezes to “reduce humanity’s reliance on animal agriculture.” The startup has raised over $130 million dollars since, including the largest Series A round in plant-based meat history.
Citing an anonymous source ‘familiar with the matter’, Bloombergreported today that California-based plant-based meat startup Impossible Foods is going to lay off 20% of its workforce or approximately 100 employees.
Very few additional details about the layoff announcements are available though the reporter did write that the same source said the company “offered voluntary separation payments and benefits to employees at the end of 2022” and that Bloomberg viewed internal documents that confirmed separation packages. Impossible has yet to officially confirm or deny the news.
Editor’s Note: Green Queen has reached out to Impossible Foods for comment and this piece will be updated with new information.
The maker of the Impossible Burger announced a 6% job cut in October of last year, which it attributed to company restructuring; CEO Peter McGuinness said in a memo the axed roles had either “become redundant to others in the organization” or “no longer aligned with our core business priorities.”
Earlier this month, Bloomberg BusinessWeek dropped a controversial cover story in its print edition decrying plant-based meat a failed ‘fad’, which drew backlash and extended commentary. In response, Impossible took out a cheeky advert in The New York Times and published a heated reply titled “Bloomberg was supposed to report the facts. It just became another opinion piece” on their website, describing the piece as “pages rife with one-sided anecdotes and editorialized framing” and concluded: “the reality is that the plant-based meat category is still young and yet to be fully defined. We’re proud of our leadership in the category, even if that means we take the heat sometimes.”
In a TIME interview about the BloombergBusinessWeek piece that came out two days ago in which the reporter described McGuiness as “hopping mad”, he said of the fad accusation: “We’re in a category that is in first gear. It hasn’t even been created yet, and people are trying to say that it’s the death of it, or it’s a fad. In the beginning, the internet was a fad. In the beginning, cars were a fad and horses were going to stay. Electric cars were a fad. I just don’t like the implication, nor do I think it’s accurate.” He added that Impossible Foods currently has 17% consumer awareness, noting that “83% of the country’s never even heard of us…95% of the country hasn’t even tried us yet, and we’re still growing at those growth rates.”
Despite flat or declining North American grocery sales for the plant-based meat sector, Impossible shared it had achieved a 50% increase in US retail sales in 2022, a year that saw it debut vegan beef in Australia and New Zealand, partner with Kroger on co-branded vegan meat products, expand its Burger King partnerships to include its plant-based chicken patties, launch its chicken nuggets in Hong Kong and add more foodservice offerings to its lineup aimed at school systems and other public procurement channels. Two weeks ago, Impossible collaborated with 7-Eleven Canada on the retail chain’s first plant-based breakfast sandwich featuring Impossible Sausage at 550 stores nationwide.
In addition, the company beefed up its C-Suite, adding former SVP and General Manager at Newell Brands Sherene Jagla as its inaugural Chief Demand Officer, Leslie Sims as its first Chief Marketing and Noel Clark as Senior Vice President of International. In April 2022, Impossible’s founder Pat Brown stepped down as CEO and McGuiness, formerly COO at Chobani Foods, stepped in to run the startup.
Competitor Beyond Meat, whose stock price continues to take a beating, also announced layoffs this past October, removing 19% of its workforce amidst “cost-reduction initiatives intended to reduce operating expenses.”
A new survey shows chefs around the world are embracing alternative proteins at a rapid pace and with optimism about the changing landscape.
Despite US alternative protein retail sales last year dipping for a number of brands including category leader Beyond Meat, experts still predict big things for the category. At the front lines of the shift, chefs are embracing plant-based alternatives and many are pledging to bring cultivated protein to menus once approved.
The findings
German food and beverage-focused GEA Group recently polled 1,000 chefs from 11 countries including Brazil, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, UK and the U.S. about the changes to the protein category. According to the survey, 90 percent of chefs said they’ve seen a growing interest in alternatives from their patrons, with more than 40 percent saying that interest is increasing.
“Considering that chefs not only earn their living via food but, in many cases, define themselves in terms of their devotion to food and culinary traditions, one might expect a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to alternative proteins,” reads the report. But, GEA says that while its survey did uncover some skepticism, “these were decidedly in the minority.”
McDonald’s has launched a Double Beyond Meat McPlant burger | Courtesy
“In fact,” reads the report, “the large majority of chefs surveyed are familiar with the various types of alternative proteins and already using them in their kitchens.”
Only two percent of chefs surveyed said they had “never heard” of plant-based food, while six percent said they had no real knowledge of the alternatives. But an overwhelming 92 percent said they were familiar with plant-based foods and beverages, and a majority (63 percent) said that they know a lot about them.
Cultivated meat, which is only currently approved for sale and consumption in Singapore, also showed surprising levels of awareness among the chefs despite its lack of availability. Eighty percent of the chefs said they were familiar with cultivated meat, with 41 percent claiming to know a lot about the tech.
Nearly 25 percent of the chefs surveyed said they expect new foods including protein and dairy successors to constitute more than 50 percent of all food by 2040, with An additional 43 percent of respondents saying 25 percent to 50 percent of all food by 2040 will be made up of alternatives and new tech.
According to the findings, that shift is well underway with 90 percent of chefs saying they’re already using some forms of protein and dairy successors, with more than 33 percent using them at high frequencies. While egg and seafood alternatives are the lowest on their radar, 30 percent of chefs said they’re using them at high levels.
Making the transition
“If there is one message to take from the survey, it’s that most chefs around the world are definitely not waiting around; they have begun making the transition to new foods,” reads the report.
The findings mirror other research that shows demand is increasing among consumers. A 2022 Boston Consulting Group survey found more than 50 percent of consumers use alternative proteins occasionally and 35 percent use them frequently, with 13 percent identifying as “exclusive or near-exclusive” users.
The shift is especially strong in Europe, with a 2022 survey from The Good Food Institute finding 50 percent of consumers in Spain and Italy are eating plant-based meat monthly.
Spain’s Heura is helping lead the shift to alternative protein | Courtesy
GEA’s survey found chefs feel the responsibility of food choices; 75 percent said they consider it a very important factor in human health and 62 percent consider it very important for the health of the planet. A growing number of chefs are reducing their own meat consumption, the survey finds. Thirty-three percent say they’re reducing their own meat intake and 15 percent identified as vegan or vegetarian. Further, 96 percent of the chefs surveyed said their restaurants are working to reduce their environmental footprints, with 44 percent working to “a great extent” on the issue.
“The overall level of interest among chefs in using alternative proteins reinforces a growing body of data that tells us the following: new food is not just a possibility,” reads the report, “but the emerging new reality.”
Claiming the title of the “world’s first” vegan, no-sugar-added, low-calorie, milk chocolate, Canada’s Moon Magic has announced the launch of six chocolate bars.
According to Moon Magic, while the good-for-you chocolate market has increased recently, much of those offerings are still high in sugar and calories, which can negate the benefits of chocolate.
Moon Magic
Chocolate is a rich source of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, but experts say chocolate diluted by dairy reduces those benefits. Likewise, sugar can make chocolate a high-calorie food and increases the risk of type-2 diabetes and obesity, among other issues.
“The entire goal of this product line and brand is to change what has been ‘too good to be true’ in the past into a reality,” Shawn Brown, Founder of Moon Magic, said in a statement. Brown says Moon Magic is poised to disrupt the $113 billion global chocolate market.
Moon Magic’s vegan chocolate is keto-friendly and gluten-free | Courtesy
“Feeling guilty for consuming ‘treats’ is what I have set out to change — without sacrificing on taste, texture, and experience — and while never wavering from ingredient quality and quantity goals. The entire concept is for consumers to ‘have it all’ when it comes to chocolate confections. We aim to revolutionize the chocolate confections industry, worldwide,” Brown says.
Moon Magic says its 45-gram chocolate bars contain just 117 calories and 2 grams of sugar, which come from the oat milk. Its debut range includes Cosmic Crunch (Crisp puffed rice), Java Rock (Crunchy coffee-flavored), Caramel in Retrograde (Salted caramel), Tropic of Coconut (Shredded coconut and quinoa), and Cherry’s Comet (Cherry forward chocolate), which Brown says are inspired by popular chocolate bar flavors of childhood.
A changing chocolate category
Moon Magic uses allulose, a sugar found in dried fruits and maple syrup that’s not metabolized by the body, delivering a net carb impact of zero.
The company says it also eschews preservatives, chemicals, and a long list of “strange ingredients.” Moon Magic says it works with purist chocolatiers in order to ensure the result is similar to high-quality Swiss chocolate.
Moon Magic joins an emerging low-calorie chocolate category. Lily’s, a popular sugar-free confectionery brand, uses stevia in its chocolate bars. ChocZero uses monk fruit.
Mars and Perfect Day partnered on a precision fermentation milk chocolate | Courtesy
The category is also seeing a move away from dairy. California’s TCHO chocolate recently announced its shift to a fully vegan brand. And last year, leading chocolate brand Mars announced a partnership with Perfect Day, using its precision fermentation dairy in place of conventional milk.
The brand WNWN is ditching chocolate altogether, using a proprietary blend of ingredients that it says deliver the taste and texture of chocolate but bypassing the environmental and ethical complications of the conventional chocolate industry.
SolvPro, the new line of vegan plant protein blends from Osage Foods, is made using EverPro — the upcycled grain from beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Osage Foods, the Missouri-based provider of ingredients and ingredient systems, has launched six protein blends featuring fellow Missouri company Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (AB InBev) EverPro protein. The range is targeted at end-use applications with varying functionalities and benefits, the company says.
EverPro
EverPro is a first-of-its-kind barley protein that dissolves almost instantly when added to beverages. The protein is made from spent brewers’ grains in the beermaking process. AB InBev launched EverGrain to upcycle the leftover grains to reduce its food waste and carbon emissions.
“The EverPro protein isolate is the key ingredient in our SolvPro 008 and 009 systems, in combination with pea protein isolate and with added masking agents, this new system delivers a complete plant protein with adequate levels of all the essential amino acids to deliver a PDCAAS of 1.0, equivalent to whey protein isolates,” Bill Dickinson, President of Osage Food Products, said in a statement.
Anheuser-Busch InBev is identifying new market opportunities for spent beer grains | Courtesy
AB InBev says its EverPro delivers greater solubility, better taste, and improved texture.
“This system allows for a very high usage level and protein levels beyond anything currently on the market (>30 grams per serving) with no thick viscosity, chalkiness, or off flavors,” Dickinson says.
“We’re so excited to partner with Osage Food Products on their SolvProTM solution,” said Greg Belt, CEO of EverGrain. “It truly is a solve, with plants working harder together to give consumers what they crave: great taste, nutrition, and sustainability in their plant-based protein shakes.”
Belt says both EverPro and SolvPro work well in dairy alternatives, coffee, and as an ingredient in nutrition bars.
Upcycling spent grain
AB InBev, the world’s largest beer producer, has been aiming to create new market opportunities for spent grains over the last several years.
EverPro is the world’s first commercially available upcycled barley protein, something AB InBev outperforms popular protein choices like whey and pea protein in absorption and digestibility.
Molson Coors’ Golden Wing barley milk
The use of spent grains makes EverPro a more sustainable protein than other plant-based protein options as it emits fewer emissions and requires less land and water than other proteins. EverPro is also certified by the Upcycled Food Association, a nonprofit that says it is on a mission to “prevent food waste by accelerating the upcycled economy”.
In 2021, EverGrain announced Take Two, which turned more than 500,000 pounds of spent beer grain into plant-based milk. AB InBev’s competitor Molson Coors also brought barley to the dairy-free sector with the launch of Golden Wing barley milk last year.
A new research project from Respect Farms aims to bring cultivated meat production to conventional agricultural operations.
The 18-month feasibility research project is underway with €900,000 in support funding from European governments, NGOs, and industry partners, including Rügenwalder Mühle, the Swiss farmers’ union, fenaco Genossenschaft, the cooperative bank Rabobank, and the Belgium animal rights organization GAIA (Global Action in the Interest of Animals).
The research
The group’s goal is to develop the world’s first cultivated meat farm where meat is grown directly from animal cells. Respect Farms, founded by Ira van Eelen, Ralf Becks, Florentine Zieglowski and Ruud Zanders, is active in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland, working to develop new business models for conventional agriculture, and leveraging cellular agriculture as a key factor.
Cultivated meatball | Courtesy Mosa Meat
A mass shift to cultivated animal protein could help to decentralize cultivated meat production, allowing any farmer or rancher to produce it similar to other crops and animal products.
Respect Farms will look at three key areas: animal-friendly cell selection, circular cell feeding, and bioreactors suited for farm environments.
“We are excited to help develop a vision on how farmers will be included in the future cellular agriculture ecosystem. It is important for our nascent field to explore business models and value chains that maximize the benefits for everyone. We are quite proud to be a scientific and technical partner for this project,” Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat, said in a statement.
“Cultivated meat offers a solution to the significant issues we are facing as a global community: feeding the fast-growing population in a safe and sustainable way while reducing environmental damage and conserving our planet”, said Jan Westra, Strategic Business Developer at consortium partner Priva.
The group calls the research essential, saying it plays a vital role in evaluating the potential future role conventional agriculture will play for cellular agriculture.
New business models for Swiss farmers
“Once the project is completed, we will be able to assess the extent to which cellular agriculture and the production of cultivated meat on farms represent a new business field for Swiss farmers. Our involvement is thus oriented towards the purpose of the fenaco cooperative: to support farmers in the economic development of their businesses” says Christian Consoni, Head of the Food Industry Division at the fenaco Cooperative.
“We believe that this proposition responds well to the demand for necessary new sustainable earning models for the existing agricultural sector,” says Aernout van der Does, Directeur Banking for Food, Kringdirectie Oost-Brabant, Rabobank.
Photo by Joachim Süß on Unsplash
GAIA’s president Michel Vandenbosch praised the project as a win for animal rights advocates.
“For animal welfare, we want the food transition towards cultured meat production to happen as soon as possible, without doubt,” Vandenbosch said.
“For a 100 percent animal-friendly and slaughter-free transition, we aim [sic] a beneficial transition also for farmers,” he said. “With the upcoming feasibility studies, we will assess opportunities for farmers, how they can best use these opportunities and what role they can play. In this way, the transition to cultured meat fits into the broader picture of making the economy ethically sustainable.”
Things are getting meaty over at Meati as the mycelium mushroom meat producer opens a large-scale production facility it says can rival the output of conventional animal farms.
Following a Series C funding round that brings Colorado-based Meati’s capital raise to more than $250 million, the mycelium meat company announced the opening of a ‘mega ranch’ in Thornton, Colo., capable of producing ‘tens of millions of pounds’ of the company’s vegan meat per year.
“Investors and consumers recognize that Meati is a new, differentiated food,” Tyler Huggins, CEO and co-founder of Meati Foods, said in a statement. “They only need to read our simple ingredient list and taste Meati to recognize that this is the cut-through option people have been waiting for — something they absolutely see weekly if not daily on their plates.”
Mega Ranch
The company first announced its plans to open the 80,000-square-foot ranch in 2021, following its $50 million Series B funding round. Meati says the Mega Ranch will rival the output of the largest animal-based operations in the U.S. A vertically integrated approach brings growing, harvesting, processing, and packaging in-house to the ranch. The company anticipates a $1 billion run rate in sales by 2025.
Meati chicken | Courtesy
“Our belief that nature already has the answer to many of today’s challenges allowed us to unlock a new food with Meati at a time when consumers are demanding something different and better,” Huggins said. “Meati delivers an unparalleled food with its taste, texture, nutrition, and purity, and we’re thrilled to open this first phase of the resource-efficient ‘Mega Ranch’ facility to help even more consumers add it to their diets.”
Using just a teaspoon of mycelium spores, Meati says it can produce protein equivalent to “hundreds of cows” in just a few days’ time at a fraction of the resources. This, the company says, creates a “nearly infinitely scalable platform.”
‘A seismic shift in how we eat’
“The next few years will see a seismic shift in how we eat, and Meati’s state-of-the-art, scalable production capabilities coupled with its focus on meeting consumer needs for clean, whole-food protein position the brand to lead,” said Fazeela Abdul Rashid, Partner at Revolution Growth and member of the Meati Foods board.
Courtesy Meati Foods
“Tyler and the team have a vision for a new food category with pure ingredients and taste that doesn’t compromise. We are excited to continue working with them to reach the next level and bring Meati to more consumers across the U.S.,” Rashid said.
Meati says its current lineup of products, which includes the Classic Cutlet, Crispy Cutlet, Classic Steak, and Carne Asada Steak, are all being produced at the Mega Ranch. The popular products continue to sell out online within minutes of launching, the company says. Meati has earned praise from Momofuku founder David Chang, former White House senior policy advisor for nutrition, Sam Kass, and Sweetgreen founders Nicolas Jammet and Jonathan Neman.
Spanish food tech startup Väcka, says it filed a patent application for the first-to-market dairy-free cheese made from melon seeds.
Forget soy, coconut, and cashew — the newest trend in dairy-free cheese is…melon seed? Barcelona-based startup Väcka is betting on it. The company says its cheese is made from a combination of melon seeds and olive oil for a unique and creamy cheese that’s patent-worthy. It filed a U.S. patent application last December, covering its design, ingredients, and manufacturing process.
More sustainable than dairy: melon seeds
According to Väcka, its new Mözza and Pumpkin Chxddar cheese varieties are the only two products made from fermented melon seeds and olive oil, with the tech moving to its other varieties, Vrie and Filä. The fermented melon seed replaces fermented almond milk. The use of melon seeds is a move the company calls a “disruptive innovation” aimed at improving both the taste and sustainability of dairy-free cheese. U.S. based Miyoko’s has also teased a dairy-free cheese made from melon seeds.
Väcka uses melon seeds for its cheese | Courtesy
“We conducted a Life Cycle Analysis, where we researched various seeds and the melon seeds stood out for their nutritional value and properties in terms of aroma and taste,” Ana Luz Sanz, co-founder and CEO of Väcka, said in a statement.
Väcka says the new cheese reduces water usage by more than 99 percent, land use by more than 98 percent, and CO2 emissions by more than 91 percent. On the health front, the Mözza cheese is more than 73 percent lower in saturated fats than conventional cheese.
A healthier cheese
Luz Sanz says the company has also added ingredients of high nutritional value “such as oats and beans, and calcium supplements,” which she says is a product that guarantees a 3.3 increase “in the melted area, giving it greater elasticity and versatility in the preparation of tasty dishes”, she says.
Melon seeds are also high in linoleic acid, which benefits the nervous system, immune system, and supports healthy cardiovascular function.
Ana Luz Sanz, Väcka CEO and co-founder | Courtesy
The other hero ingredient, olive oil, also offers numerous benefits when compared to coconut oil, which is commonly added to dairy-free cheese for its melting properties. But coconut oil is high in saturated fat; olive oil is about 90 percent lower in saturated fat than coconut oil.
“In the laboratory, we do constant research and development work to improve both the appearance of the products and the performance of the ingredients used in their production, and on the environmental impact of the production process,” said Maxime Boniface, Väcka’s CTO.
The company is now gearing up for expansion, eyeing cheese-loving France as a result of winning the French supermarket chain Carrefour’s Plant-Based competition. It’s also expanding across Germany, which leads the E.U. in cheese consumption.
, the company’s proprietary chicken-fat-like emulsion that contributes the aroma and savoriness of its animal counterpart.
