Califia Farms has launched a line of summer-coded fruity drinks using coconut cream, tapping into the growing trend for flavoured plant-based milk.
Los Angeles-based Califia Farms is going back to its juice roots with its latest product range. The plant-based milk company has introduced Creamy Refreshers, which combine fruit juice with coconut cream, for a summery take on non-dairy coolers.
First debuted at Natural Products Expo West this month, the four-strong lineup is available nationwide at Target, Albertsons and Kroger, with each 48oz bottle priced at $6. They will also appear during Weekend 1 at Coachella, courtesy of The 818 Outpost hosted by Kendall Jenner’s tequila brand.
“Over the last 15 years, Califia Farms has loved experimenting with the endless possibilities of plants. Creamy Refreshers is a perfect example of how that innovation unlocked something new, delicious, and fresh,” said Califia Farms CMO Suzanne Ginestro.
Califia Farms targets thirst for lower-sugar juice
Courtesy: Califia Farms
The dairy-free refreshers are said to have less sugar than leading competitors, and are targeting Gen Z and millennial cohorts, who drink more juice than other Americans, according to Califia Farms. This was “evidenced by the cascades of social media moments showing influencers’ fun beverages treats throughout the day”, the brand said.
In the past year, nearly two-thirds of US consumers consumed juice weekly, and concerns around ingredient use are prominent. GlobalData research shows that sugar reduction claims are the most popular benefit in the non-alcoholic beverage space.
Each of Califia Farms’s refreshers mixes coconut milk with real fruit juice, cane sugar, coconut water, stevia leaf sweetener, natural flavours, and more. The Key Lime Colada contains 8g of sugar per 8oz serving, the Strawberry Creme and Piña Colada refreshers have 9g each, and the Orange Creme version has 10g of sugar.
“Today’s consumer embraces mindful indulgences, and we’re proud to bring a new little sweet treat to retail shelves,” said Ginestro. The refreshers will help Americans beat the heat while mitigating the reason why that heat exists in the first place – dairy’s impact on the planet is much higher than plant-based alternatives.
These are the latest in a host of new products launched by the company in recent weeks. In December, it launched single-serve matcha and chai lattes (made from a base of almonds), which contain 40% less sugar than average coffee and tea blends on the market.
Last month, it expanded its clean-label range in the UK with a three-ingredient Simple & Organic lineup, starting with almond and oat milk. And to celebrate its 15th anniversary, it introduced a limited-edition Birthday Cake almond creamer this month, alongside a pistachio-almond creamer, organic cashew milk, and espresso-blend cold brew.
Flavoured plant-based milks are all the rage
Courtesy: Diageo
Califia Farms’s refreshers come at a time when innovation is ripe in the plant-based milk sector – and it likely needs to be, considering that a third of Americans still haven’t found a non-dairy product that meets all of their needs.
Sales of milk alternatives were down by 5% last year, but sales of multi-ingredient milks and coconut milk were up by 10% and 28%, respectively. And while nearly half of American households buy plant-based milk, companies are looking to further encroach upon that share with innovative new products.
Flavoured alt-milk products are a good opportunity here, and Califia Farms has recognised that with the new fruity refreshers. For example, Diageo this month released two non-dairy versions of its popular Baileys cream liqueur. Made with oat milk, they’re available across the US in Coffee Toffee and Cookies & Creamy variants.
Kate Farms, meanwhile, deep-dived into flavoured products with its Kids Nutrition pea protein shakes, which come in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla variants, and contain 27 vitamins and minerals. Similarly, Elmhurst 1925 has come out with vanilla-flavoured pistachio and cashew milks in recent weeks.
This trend transcends the US. In the UK, Continental Wine & Food has launched Lacey’s Vodkashake, a line of dairy-free cream liqueurs available in strawberry and banana flavours. Alpro, meanwhile, introduced a caramel barista milk made from soy and oats.
And this month, Oatly released vanilla and caramel oat milks at Nordic coffee chain Espresso House. They’re part of its iKaffe range (the regional name for its barista edition) and available in both hot and cold drinks.
The EU Commission has answered calls to create a protein diversification strategy; parliamentarians say more definitive action is needed.
After see-sawing on its commitments to a greener protein ecosystem, the EU has finally agreed to establish a plan to boost plant proteins, reduce imported feed, and promote sustainable solutions.
Agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen faced calls from two parliamentarians to develop a protein diversification strategy, which they argued would make the EU’s food system more sustainable and self-sufficient.
In a letter led by Anna Strolenberg (Volt) and Sigrid Friis (Renew), 25 members of parliament pointed out how livestock farming accounts for 81-86% of agricultural emissions in the EU, outlining the “urgent need to rethink how we produce animal protein and to expand the production of plant-based proteins within the EU”.
“Farmers have already demonstrated their willingness to embrace sustainable practices, such as integrating animal and plant-based protein production and leveraging new technologies or production methods to reduce the environmental impact of livestock farming,” the letter read. “However, they need robust policies and targeted support to scale these efforts, ensure fair remuneration, and establish a thriving market for sustainable proteins.”
In response, Hansen noted that the Commission’s much-criticised agrifood vision committed to developing “a comprehensive plan to address the challenges that protein supply faces in the EU”.
Expanding on that for the first time, he said: “This initiative will be based on a holistic approach encompassing the agrifood system, considering both the way protein is produced and consumed. Learning from on-the-ground efforts and research, it will present a way forward to ensure the long-term competitiveness, sustainability, profitability and attractiveness of the sector.
“It will focus on fostering the domestic production to improve self-sufficiency to reduce the long-standing dependency on imported plant-based protein and on diversifying imports of plant-based protein to increase the EU food security.”
It’s a win for Friis and Strolenberg’s efforts, and the two don’t plan to stop here. “While we are encouraged by this outcome, we would have liked to see more concrete steps,” Strolenberg tells Green Queen when asked if this was a binding commitment. “What exactly will this comprehensive strategy include, according to the Commission? Moreover, there is still no timeline for when the strategy will be published.”
Anna Strolenberg (left) and Sigrid Friis (right) have led the charge for protein diversification in the EU | Courtesy: Volt/Esther Kofoed
EU protein strategy should be built on three key elements
The EU’s latest vision for agriculture and food was supposed to take in the conclusions of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, in which farmer lobby groups and climate activists advocated for an EU-wide action plan for plant-based foods.
Doctors, consumer groups, climate experts, and even some of the largest food companies urged the EU to include the outcomes in the food strategy, but to no avail. There were hints of this at Hansen’s confirmation hearing, when he called the Strategic Dialogue “a vague formulation” that needed more discussion in response to a question from Strolenberg.
“The Strategic Dialogue has rightly acknowledged the need for an action plan on plant-based foods,” Strolenberg says. “In our view, the announced strategy should make this a core pillar. A protein strategy that fails to address the role of plant-based foods would be a missed opportunity and a real disappointment.”
She calls Hansen’s latest letter “an important first step” that proves the Commission recognises the significance of the issue and “demonstrates a willingness to tackle both our protein dependency and the unsustainable nature of current protein sources”.
The strategy should be built on three key elements. First, a thorough problem analysis is needed. “How much protein do we import, and how much do we produce? What does our protein consumption pattern look like? What is the ratio between food and feed? What are the barriers and needs for alternative proteins?” she says.
Next, the plan must define concrete goals. “How much protein should we produce, and of what type? What does a sustainable and healthy protein consumption pattern look like?”
And finally, targeted policy initiatives should combine existing and new instruments to achieve these goals. “How will the Common Agriculture Policy [CAP], Horizon Europe, public procurement policies, and health policies be adapted?” wonders Strolenberg.
Graphic by Green Queen
EU should derisk diversification, adjust VAT, and reform dietary guidelines
For Strolenberg, an ideal protein strategy should promote diversification across the value chain. “On the farm side, derisking and rewarding crop diversification is key. New crops and new methods of protein production require knowledge, flexibility, and space for farmers to experiment,” she says, highlighting the role of the CAP in providing farmers the financial stability to try and adopt new crops.
Developing the value chain itself is critical too. “Farmers often report a lack of demand, while processors further up the chain claim there isn’t enough production,” she says. “Bridging this gap by creating and investing in value chain connections is vital. Public procurement policies can also be used to create stable demand.”
She calls on Europe to invest significantly in new crops and technologies: “A dedicated fund for protein diversification could help bring innovative crops and production methods to market more quickly. An innovation cluster should be established to connect all relevant actors, identify research gaps, and foster collaboration.”
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), meanwhile, should be encouraged to fast-track the approval process for novel proteins, as this “currently represents a significant regulatory bottleneck”. The EU’s agrifood plan had identified the need for reinforcements at the EFSA to speed up safety assessments and clear regulatory bottlenecks.
“Healthy and sustainable options should be the most affordable. This can be achieved by adjusting VAT rates on healthy protein products,” Strolenberg says, echoing calls from environmental experts.
“Setting targets in cooperation with the retail sector can help ensure consumers have better access to healthy choices,” she adds. “Finally, the creation of European dietary guidelines would provide clear goals and standards to guide both policymakers and industry.”
Courtesy: Formo
Will the EU actually deliver on its promises?
Strolenberg says her advocacy won’t be limited to the agricultural committee- she says it will extend to the environmental, industry and public health committees aswell. “We will also keep engaging with the Commission and civil society to ensure that the announced strategy lives up to expectations,” she says.
The MEP points to Denmark as a leading example. The country was the first to publish a plant-based action plan back in 2023, supported by funding to boost both supply and demand. It will begin taxing cattle farmers for their emissions in 2030, another global first. “We hope that the Danish Presidency of the Council will give this topic additional momentum at the European level,” she adds.
Most recently, the Commission was set to unveil a sustainable food systems framework to support the protein transition at the end of its previous mandate, but ended up abandoning the plan after backlash from interest groups.
Are Strolenberg and her colleagues confident that the EU will deliver real, lasting change this time? “We believe there is real momentum to take further steps. The Strategic Dialogue has clearly shown that there is strong societal demand,” she says.
“The upcoming CAP reform also presents an opportunity to introduce instruments that support farmers in adopting new protein crops. This can help derisk investments in new production methods and crops. If the strategy also includes measures to develop value chains and expand consumer choices, we believe it has the potential to become a real success.”
We may be overconsuming protein, but the global appetite for the nutrient shows continues to grow – and future food brands are listening.
Protein-enhanced coffee may have been around for a few years, but how often do you find protein in your simple syrup?
Brands are continuing to find ways to deliver America’s favourite macronutrient. The number of people trying to consume more protein has been steadily increasing in the US, from 59% in 2022 and 67% in 2023 to 71% in 2024, according to a 3,000-person survey.
The same poll found that 94% of these consumers source protein from foods and 25% from beverages, compared to just 18% who rely on supplements. At the same time, a quarter of Americans are concerned about the health impact of animal proteins.
This has left future food brands – those producing proteins from plants, microbes, animal cells, or even air – with a huge opportunity. And it seems like they’re listening.
Can protein syrups change the game for coffee?
Courtesy: The Every Company
At the Future Food-Tech event in San Francisco (March 13-14), California’s The Every Company showcased its new protein syrup to attendees.
The startup uses precision fermentation to make recombinant egg proteins, and has received a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration for three proteins, including Every EggWhite (which contains animal-free ovalbumin) and a nearly transparent Every Protein (bioidentical to glycoprotein).
Last year, at the IFT Expo Startup Pavilion, The Every Company unveiled Every OvoBoost, a neutral-tasting, colourless protein ingredient with low viscosity and zero sugar. This was exhibited in a protein syrup for cold brew coffee.
This evolved into the Dash Protein Syrup seen at all coffee stations at Future Food-Tech this month. The sweetener contains 5g of recombinant egg protein per ounce, with the added benefit of being sugar-free.
“The enthusiasm around our protein syrup was electrifying, and the feedback we received was nothing short of amazing,” the company noted after the event. And now, it is bringing the ingredient to market.
“We’re about to pour protein into places it’s never been before,” The Every Company wrote on social media last week. “We’re shaking up the functional beverage category as we introduce the world’s first protein-boosted beverage syrup to consumers.”
It is launching the syrup as part of a protein mocha and protein matcha latte at wellness retailer Earthbar, where it will be available for a limited time in several locations across California.
“With OvoBoost, we’ve created a game-changing ‘Protein Pump’ that allows for easy protein-boosting in almost any kind of drink,” said Arturo Elizondo, co-founder and CEO of The Every Company. “Whether it’s black coffee, carbonated soft drinks, tea, water – you can now boost them with protein.”
He added: Our protein syrup is truly a first-of-kind industry disruptor as consumers continue to demand more convenient ways to add protein to their diets without the added calories, chalkiness, or compromises.”
A protein expo
Courtesy: SimplyProtein
The Every Company’s move to pack protein inside coffee syrups is reflective of the macro trend in the food and beverage industry: if there’s a way to add protein to an everyday food, brands are lining up to do so.
This was evident at Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim, California last month. Famed wholegrains food brand Bob’s Red Mill expanded its Protein Oats line with an overnight oats range in blueberries and cream and vanilla almond flavours. Interestingly, the protein comes from a particular crop of oats that have been bred to produce higher amounts of the nutrient, as opposed to a separate ingredient.
Speaking of breakfast, Stoked Oats exhibited its Protein Oat Cereal (which will roll out at Sprouts later this year). The Cheerios-like product line contains 5g of protein per serving. And ChiChi Foods updated its packaging from ‘Grain Free Hot Cereal’ to ‘Protein Hot Cereal’ in response to consumer attitudes – each serving of its chickpea cereal contains 10g of protein.
Also at Expo West, SimplyProtein unveiled new candy-like bars with 10g of plant protein per 45g serving, as well as two new flavours of its pea-protein-boosted tortilla chips (with 7g of protein per 100g).
Meanwhile, New York-based brand Crisp Power gave attendees a taste of its patent-pending protein pretzels. Containing wheat protein, carob seed protein, and soy protein isolate, they boast 28g of protein and 36% of your daily recommended intake of fibre per pack.
Protein for one, protein for all – but what about the climate?
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
Americans overconsume protein. Men are eating 31% more than what’s recommended, and women 12%. At the same time, 95% are not getting enough fibre into their diets, which is crucial to their gut microbiome and general wellbeing.
The protein craze shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. So one way for companies to give people both what they want (protein) and what they need (fibre) is by focusing on alternative proteins, which have tons more fibre than animal-sourced versions.
This is the focus of products like Impossible Foods’s new Steak Bites (21g of protein and 3g of fibre per serving), Immi’s vegan cup noodles (18g of protein, 10g of fibre per pack), and Cocojune’s high-protein Greek coconut yoghurts (8g of pea protein, 2g of fibre per 5oz pack) – all of which were featured at Expo West.
Numerator data shows that the demand for these nutrients will continue to grow, with 39% and 28% of Americans tracking protein and fibre, respectively, more closely in their diets in 2025 (a six-point increase over last year). A survey by Chobani similarly suggested that 85% of Americans want to increase their protein intake this year.
The protein explosion exposes a significant issue: with consumers demanding more and more protein, what happens to global greenhouse emissions?
The growing shift towards animal-based foods in the US – think crisps made from chicken breast, tortilla chips fried in tallow, shakes containing bone broth, and raw milk– means more land, more water and more intensive livestock farming.
Globally, livestock farming accounts for up to a fifth of all emissions and half the world’s farmland, and one recent study called it the leading cause of climate change. Plant-rich diets, on the other hand, can reduce emissions, land use and water pollution by 75% compared to meat-rich diets. Consumers may not see it this way. Sales of plant-based meat, meanwhile, fell by 9% between July 2023 and 2024.
This is why as food companies rush to meet the skyrocketing appetite for protein, it’s critical to use ingredients and supply chains that don’t take up vast amounts of land and energy or produce as much carbon, methane, and other gases into the atmosphere. The need to decarbonise our protein supply is more important than ever.
With the upcoming dietary guidelines putting plant proteins above meat and dairy, could alternative protein brands seize that opportunity?
Jeff Tripician is the CEO of Meatable, a Dutch food tech startup working on cultivated pork. A former meat industry exec, he argues that a collaborative approach is the only recipe for success.
As global demand for meat rises, one thing is clear: the only sustainable path forward is collaboration – between the meat industry, farmers, ranchers, and all those who have long secured our protein supply.
By combining existing knowledge and infrastructure with new technology, cultivated and conventional meat can work together to make sustainable protein widely available at scale. Cultivated meat isn’t here to replace the industry – it’s here to complement it. Rather than competing, innovation and tradition must join forces to drive the industry forward, benefiting ranchers, businesses, and the environment alike.
This was the focus of Meatable’s recent global summit, where over 80 industry leaders, meat executives, investors, and policymakers gathered to discuss how cultivated and conventional meat can collaborate to really make a difference.
The problem
The problem is undeniable: our current food production system is unsustainable. It harms the climate and depletes vital resources like water and land, and is subject to supply disruptions due to livestock disease, weather conditions and global conflict. If we continue down this path, we won’t be able to feed our growing population without devastating the planet. It’s time to change course and give the Earth a break.
Farmers, ranchers, and the meat industry face immense pressure to meet the surging global demand for protein with finite land, water, and resources – all while minimising their environmental footprint. By 2050, global protein demand is projected to rise by a staggering 70%, relating to two billion more people needing 2 trillion meals per year, putting even more strain on an industry that is already pushing the limits of efficiency and scale. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly clear that relying solely on conventional methods is neither practical nor sustainable.
As the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, former UK Minister of Energy, stated during the event: “Every human being deserves the right to better nutrition, and to protein-rich meals, just as everyone should have the ability to access energy, electricity, or the internet. These are the global goals that sustainability has to deliver: not to ration, nor to restrict the choices and lifestyles of those who have been denied choice or freedom for too long.”
The solution
Courtesy: Meatable
Instead of competing in a zero-sum game, the meat industry has an opportunity to evolve by embracing cultivated meat as part of the solution. By incorporating this technology we can alleviate the burden on farmers and ranchers to continuously increase production under volatile market conditions. Rather than forcing a binary choice between traditional and cultivated meat, cultivated meat will be able to provide additional supply, so the industry can use both to build a more resilient and adaptable food system.
At the same time, cultivated meat’s reduced environmental footprint offers a path toward a more sustainable future. By requiring significantly less land and water while generating fewer emissions, it minimises deforestation, preserves natural ecosystems, and reduces pollution from livestock waste.
With the right approach, the industry can strike a balance between meeting growing consumer demand and protecting the planet for future generations. The future of meat production isn’t about replacement – it’s about integration.
The way forward
Courtesy: Meatable
There is growing interest to do so. As an example, a representative from the New Mexico Partnership (US) outlined during the event that the state of New Mexico, an agricultural hub, is actively exploring opportunities in food innovation, including cultivated meat, and promoting the state as a business hub in this regard.
And we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The meat industry is built on centuries of expertise, finely tuned supply chains, and an extensive infrastructure that already feeds billions. This foundation provides an enormous advantage – one that cultivated meat is set to integrate with rather than replace. By working together, we can scale up high-quality, sustainable protein production without starting from scratch, ensuring a more efficient and practical path forward.
My charge? Give future generations a chance, and give consumers a choice. Innovation has always shaped the food industry, and the market will naturally adapt, as it always does. If we strike the right balance, ranchers will not only survive but thrive, the industry will expand rather than contract, and consumers will enjoy more choices than ever before. This is what the future of meat should look like – one driven by innovation and collaboration, not restriction and competition.
By supporting local farmers and ranchers, continuing the responsible production of conventional meat, and integrating high-quality, great-tasting cultivated meat as a complementary innovation, we can create a more resilient and sustainable future. The path forward isn’t about division or trade-offs – it’s about working together to feed a growing world while protecting the planet.
This is not a battle between old and new. It’s an opportunity to evolve, using the best of what we already have to build something even better. The only way forward is together.
Want to discuss further? I’m always ready to pull up a chair. Contact me on LinkedIn.
New York firm Ecovative has secured $11M to supercharge the expansion of its mycelium-based MyBacon, which it claims is the fastest-selling plant-based breakfast item in the natural channel.
Mycelium innovator Ecovative has raised $11M in new funding to fuel the “explosive growth” of MyBacon, the mycelium-based meat alternative sold under its spinout company, MyForest Foods.
The round was largely led by existing investors, alongside a $1.7M grant and loan from the Advance Albany County Alliance, and will specifically support the “ongoing scale-up of our MyBacon production”, Ecovative founder and CEO Eben Bayer tells Green Queen.
The company has now attracted $156M in investment since 2019, and of this, $82M has been raised into MyForest Foods. This latest capital injection will help the firm expand the production capacity of MyBacon, hire new staff, launch a whole-cut mycelium product, and enter the foodservice channel.
“Every dollar is focused on scaling the business and bringing more high-performance mycelium products to market,” says Bayer.
He notes that Ecovative is creating a “whole new protein category” with AirMycelium, its proprietary tech that grows mushrooms on an industrial scale in vertical farms, allowing it to produce three million sq ft of material annually on one acre of land.
The different strains of mushrooms are used for a variety of applications, including sustainable alternatives to plastic and leather, sold under its various sub-brands Forager, Mushroom Packaging and Grow.bio.
Why MyBacon is outselling its competitors amid UPF concerns
Courtesy: Ecovative
The primary focus of this new funding round is MyForest Foods, whose flagship bacon product has become the fastest-selling plant-based breakfast item in the natural channel, outperforming competitors with three times the average sales velocity, according to the company. It’s available at over 1,200 retail points, including Whole Foods, Erewhon, and Fresh Direct, plus on Hungryroot, Purple Carrot and Good Eggs in the direct-to-consumer channel.
“It’s pretty simple,” Bayer says when asked about the product’s success. “MyBacon performs like meat because we grow it whole and keep it simple, harvest slabs of gourmet mycelium, salt, sugar, smoke flavour, pasteurise, and pack. We’re not trying to mimic meat with a long list of ingredients and additives. We’re growing mycelium tissue that naturally has a meat-like structure and umami flavour.”
He adds: “Most companies are trying to engineer their way to meat-like properties – we’re letting biology do that work, much like traditional animal farming, and consumers can taste the difference. It’s an ancient protein, in a whole new format.”
“Our process is simple – we grow and harvest mycelium, it is sliced and then brined in only four ingredients (sugar, salt, coconut oil, and natural flavours). There’s no grinding and binding like you see with other products – it’s a whole structure,” says Beyer.
“We don’t need to use heavy processing or a long list of ingredients to force materials into meat-like textures because mycelium naturally grows with the right structure. It’s a fundamentally different approach that consumers recognise immediately, both when they look at our simple ingredient list and when they taste the product.”
MyForest Foods to launch whole-cut mycelium and enter foodservice
Courtesy: Ecovative
The cash infusion will primarily support the expansion of Ecovative’s production capacity. “We’ve invested in specialised equipment that allows us to grow and harvest mycelium at commercial scale, as well as the downstream processing and packaging capabilities needed to meet retail demand,” says Beyer.
“We’re also investing in our science and engineering teams to continue improving our production platform and developing new whole protein products.” One of these innovations is coming this summer in a shredded mycelium format.
“It addresses different culinary applications than MyBacon while maintaining the same core advantages: simple ingredients, whole-cut structure, and superior cooking performance. We’ve had chefs testing it for months with excellent feedback on its versatility and flavour absorption capabilities,” says Beyer.
Speaking of which, the bacon recently received a FABI award from the National Restaurant Association, a marker of “significant validation” from culinary professionals. This will help Ecovative’s cause since it is launching into foodservice this year, opening up a new channel for MyBacon.
The company recently built a new packaging facility for MyBacon at its Green Island headquarters, which has ramped up production capacity threefold and is a “critical part” of Ecovative’s growth. It will soon open a MyForest Foods Food Science Lab to develop the new whole-cut mycelium products.
Attracting investors when many others have failed
Courtesy: Ecovative
While most alternative protein players have struggled to raise funds over the last couple of years, Ecovative has been an outlier. In 2024, when investment in the industry dropped by 27%, the firm secured $28M, part of which was earmarked for MyBacon’s expansion.
“The investment bubble in alt proteins was built on promises that weren’t technically feasible at scale,” contends Beyer. “Many companies rushed to market with products that didn’t meet consumer expectations on taste, price, or ingredients. That’s created a tough environment – we’ve seen many of our peers scale back or scale down or disappear in this period, which creates risk for retailers.”
MyBacon, he points out, doesn’t just sell at thrice the rate of the next best in the category – it does so at a higher price and a high repeat purchase rate. “Our primary marketing tools are demos and word of mouth. We create this product with a manufacturing and growth process that is relatively capital-light and a clear path to exciting operating margins,” he says.
“And critically, we’re a farmed product – real gourmet food grown from organic oyster mushroom mycelium. Our approach leverages established equipment and processes that we’ve adapted specifically for mycelium. This dramatically reduces capital requirements, though doesn’t eliminate them,” he adds.
“We’re also continuing to optimise our production efficiency and drive down costs as we scale,” says Beyer. “In 2025, we’re focused on three things: scaling production capacity to meet the demand for MyBacon, expanding our retail footprint nationwide, and bringing our next whole protein products to market.”
Chinese government officials have called for a boost to the national biotech capacity and the introduction of a novel food framework at its Two Sessions summit.
Chinese lawmakers have issued calls to speed up the development of its alternative protein ecosystem, with a focus on R&D and manufacturing, IP protection, and regulatory support.
This month’s Two Sessions summit in Beijing convened lawmakers from across the country to ratify legislation, review government work, and set an economic agenda for the forthcoming year.
Preceding the event were several documents indicating the government’s willingness to propel its alternative protein industry to new heights, which analysts saw as a sign of more things to come.
At the summit, some of China’s top government officials proved them right. For example, in his opening day speech to the National People’s Congress (NPC), Li Qiang, the premier of the State Council, called for deeper integration of strategic emerging industries, which included biomanufacturing, according to industry think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC.
This was followed by calls from several of his deputies who identified parts of the food system where China needed to ramp up its efforts. This included “strengthening IP protections for microbial proteins, leveraging underutilised ingredients like microalgae to help achieve China’s carbon neutrality goals, and redoubling efforts to upskill and grow the domestic future-food workforce”, said GFI APAC.
National and local governments enthused about novel foods
Courtesy: CellX
Perhaps the most sweeping statements came from Wei Chen, deputy of the NPC. In his address, he recommended that the country “expand the boundaries of food resources” and promote resource innovation, including “in-depth exploration, nutritional evaluation, and industrial production of alternative proteins”.
He further highlighted the importance of increasing “the policy guarantee for the development and application” of novel foods and developing talent in this industry to upgrade the national food system and improve global competitiveness.
Technologies like gene-editing and synthetic biology could help “create high-nutrition, high-function novel food ingredients”, according to Chen, who promoted multidisciplinary integration to realise the potential of microbial technology for nutrition, health and sustainable development goals.
Additionally, he called upon the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation to establish “a flexible regulatory framework” to ensure the safety and traceability of novel food resources, according to GFI APAC. Chen stressed the goal of introducing unified novel food standards “as early as possible”.
It’s not just national policymakers promoting alternative proteins. Provincial and city governments are doing so too. The Suzhou Industrial Park, jointly governed by Chinese and Singaporean officials, this month released its 2025-27 action plans for biomanufacturing food, which state its “intent to obtain cell engineering equipment and microbial identification devices that can help scientists cultivate new food ingredients”, said GFI APAC.
In China’s most populous region, the Guangdong province, local officials are planning to build a biomanufacturing hub to pioneer tech breakthroughs in plant-based, microbial and cultivated proteins. “The officials said that the new hub will be specifically geared towards expanding market acceptance of future foods by enhancing their ingredients, texture, and functionality,” GFI APAC noted.
Meanwhile, the country saw its first alternative protein innovation centre open in Beijing last month, fuelled by an $11M investment from public and private investors to develop cultivated meat and fermentation-derived proteins.
Can the statements turn into reality?
Courtesy: Jimi Biotech
The remarks at the Two Sessions summit are the latest in a long list of policy efforts to put China atop the global alternative protein race.
In an official notice about China’s agricultural priorities before the summit, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) identified the safety and nutritional efficacy of alternative proteins as a key priority, while research in novel food tech to create the next generation of food was also highlighted.
A week later, the No. 1 Central Document (which signals China’s top goals for the upcoming year), underscored the importance of “building a diversified food supply system”, including efforts “to cultivate and develop biological agriculture and explore novel food resources.”
The following day, a briefing by MAFRA featured a call to action to “develop new food resources such as plant-based meat”, according to GFI APAC.
The government’s current five-year agriculture plan encourages research in cultivated meat and recombinant proteins, while the bioeconomy development plan aims to advance novel foods too. President Xi Jinping has called for a Grand Food Vision that includes plant-based and microbial protein sources.
Leaders in the US have already highlighted fears of being overtaken by China’s biotech prowess. And experts suggest that for the East Asian country to decarbonise, half of its protein consumption must come from alternative sources by 2060.
How likely are all these statements to become a reality? “After a National People’s Congress deputy puts forward a suggestion during the Two Sessions conference, the Working Committee for Deputies Affairs takes these suggestions and directs them to the relevant government departments for further consideration,” Mirte Gosker, managing director of GFI APAC, told Green Queen.
She clarified that in most cases related to alternative proteins, the relevant department would be MAFRA. “The exceptions would be for situations like regulatory supervision or judicial affairs, which are instead sent to the National Supervisory Commission,” she said.
“After further study, the reviewing department will provide feedback on the suggestion as to whether or not it will be pursued further, but any deputy suggestions are taken very seriously. That’s why it’s so significant that deputies are lining up to show their support for deeper public investments in protein diversification.”
British cultivated meat player Hoxton Farms has partnered with Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation to bring its pork fat ingredient to Asia.
For cultivated meat, fat is all the rage right now.
In Europe, Mosa Meat has filed for regulatory approval to sell its cultivated beef fat in Switzerland and the EU. Across the Atlantic, Mission Barns has received the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take its cultured pork fat one step closer to commercialisation in the US.
Now, a British cultivated fat startup has set its sights on Asia, the world’s largest consumer of pork. Hoxton Farms has partnered with Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo Corporation to bring its pork fat to the country and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
The two companies will work to secure partnerships with food manufacturers to integrate Hoxton Fat into their products, support awareness initiatives to highlight the potential of the ingredient, and work with regulators and stakeholders to obtain approval ahead of its market entry.
“The partnership spans multiple countries, including Japan, Singapore, Korea and beyond,” Hoxton Farms co-founder and CEO Max Jamilly tells Green Queen.
The company’s plans are firmly global, with regulatory filings ongoing for multiple markings. “We will file this year in Singapore and the US, followed by UK and other jurisdictions such as Thailand, Japan, Korea, and Australia and New Zealand,” he says. “We expect to go to market in Singapore first.”
Hoxton Farms takes on conventional animal and plant fats
Courtesy: Hoxton Farms
Founded in 2020 by Jamilly and COO Ed Steele, Hoxton Farms derives its ingredients from a few pig stem cells, which are fed on a blend of plant-based nutrients to multiply and mature into fat. It makes use of cell biology and machine learning to grow pork fat in modular bioreactors and currently operates a 14,000 sq ft facility in London, which has a fermentation capacity of over 1,000 litres.
This is intended as a drop-in replacement for animal fats and plant-based oils, which can be mixed with plant proteins to create products like soups, sauces, and hybrid meats, which are seen as the most viable way for cultivated meat to get to market in the current climate.
There are various motivations driving this innovation. It’s much more sustainable than the alternative – pork is a highly emissive food product, and farming pigs requires excessive amounts of water and land. And common plant-based fats like coconut or palm oil, which are preferred by many manufacturers for their functionality, are the primary contributors to tropical deforestation.
Fat is also key to flavour and mouthfeel, which is the most important aspect of meat for many omnivores. By recreating pork fat in bioreactors, Hoxton Farms can offer meat-eaters the same flavour, minus the environmental and health harms.
Speaking of which, processed meats like bacon and sausages are classed as carcinogenic by the WHO, while red meats such as pork are deemed possible carcinogens. Pork fat, coconut or palm oil, meanwhile, are high in saturated fat, which can raise bad cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.
Since Hoxton Farms can precisely control the composition of its fat, its team is developing versions that are lower in saturated fat and higher in beneficial elements like omega-3 fatty acids. It’s doing this specifically to reduce the risk of diet-related diseases, which can help address public health concerns in Asia.
More than 40% of adults are overweight or obese in Asia-Pacific, and up to 12% of total healthcare spending goes towards treating obesity or related conditions.
“Cell-based foods are an innovative source of protein that can help address future food security challenges without the need for animal sacrifice and with a lower environmental impact,” says Takeo Kojima, agri-innovation head at Sumitomo. “We see Hoxton Farms’s cultured fat as a groundbreaking ingredient that contributes not only to better taste, but also to sustainability.”
Targeting Japan’s curiosity for cultivated meat
Courtesy: Hoxton Farms
Asia’s demand for meat is set to increase by 78% by 2050, putting further strain on the planet’s resources and public health. “Asia is the world’s largest consumer of pork, but supplies are threatened by an array of challenges, including disease (African swine fever massively disrupted the global pork market in 2018),” Jamilly points out. “Further, countries in Asia have a strong regulatory environment for cultivated products.”
The startup, which has raised $35M to date, will co-develop products with food manufacturers via its collaboration with Sumitomo. “With Sumitomo’s unmatched expertise and network, now is the time to bring our cultivated fat to Asia and set a new standard for food innovation,” he says.
The two firms will closely work with food safety bodies in various countries to obtain regulatory approval for the novel ingredient. This includes Japan, whose government is “making steady progress in developing a novel food regulatory framework”, according to Kimiko Hong-Mitsui, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute Japan.
Hoxton Farms and Sumitomo are consulting with the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA), an industry non-profit, which they claim will play a crucial role in shaping regulatory and social acceptance of cultivated meat in the country.
The collaboration gives Japanese stakeholders “efficient access to groundbreaking technologies, production facilities, and essential information regarding safety and taste in addressing challenges in food supply”, notes JACA president Megumi Avigail Yoshitomi.
A 2024 survey found that 42% of Japanese consumers are willing to try cultivated meat products; the creation of government regulations is key for 44% of those who are unsure about their safety aspects.
“We hope that this partnership will serve as a key pillar in strengthening bilateral cooperation between Japan and the UK in the field of food technology,” adds Yoshitomi.
In our interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders.
Erika Hombert is a Senior Investment Manager at Paulig Incubator (PINC).
What is the most ‘future food’ thing you have eaten this month?
Cell-based chocolate – yummy!
Where is your favourite climate-forward restaurant/dish/place to eat anywhere in the world?
I’m currently obsessed with ancient grains grown in my region, like Öland wheat, spelt, and rye. They are great for the soils and ecosystems, and very nutritious and tasty!
What’s your ‘why’? What motivates you to do what you do?
I’m driven by impact. My why is a liveable future for my children and the continuation of humanity.
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Impossible Foods’s beef slider rollout, the New York Mets’s new vegan sandwich, and Grubby’s vegan meal kits for B Corp Month.
New products and launches
Impossible Foods has introduced its latest product, Beef Sliders, exclusively at Walmart stores. The mini vegan patties are available as a six-pack for $7.48.
Courtesy: Impossible Foods
Plant-based startup Daily Harvest has launched a USDA-certified Organic Pea Protein Powder with 24g of protein per 120-calorie serving, which would cost roughly $2.
Tex-Mex chain Pancheros Mexican Grill has rolled out a Tofurizo on its menu, which includes sautéed peppers and onions, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and chilli powder. It’s available at all locations nationwide.
With the Major League Baseball season underway, catering giant Aramark‘s Sport + Entertainment division has introduced a vegan pulled BBQ jackfruit sandwich (with a plant-based pretzel bun and coleslaw) at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets.
Courtesy: Aramark
In the UK, meal kit startup Grubby has partnered with leading plant-based players Oatly and This, nut butter maker ManiLife, and ingredient brand Belazu on a special range of recipes for B Corp Month. These include Creamy White Sausage Ragù Linguine, Greek Mushroom Pastitsio with Cucumber Salad, and Pesto Courgette Tarts with Tomato & Basil Salad.
Speaking of Oatly, the oat milk giant has released two new flavours of its iKaffe range (as its barista edition is known in the Nordics) at coffee chain Espresso House. The vanilla and caramel barista milks are available in both hot and cold drinks at stores in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland.
Courtesy: Oatly/Espresso House
Scottish nutrition brand Vybey has expanded into the snacking category with plant-based Complete Nutrition bars in chocolate brownie, raspberry white chocolate, and mint chocolate flavours. Each 80g bar contains 20g of plant protein.
And French supermarket E.Leclerc has launched a Végé line under its own-label brand, Marque Repère, which comprises 45 animal-free alternatives priced similarly to their conventional counterparts.
Company and finance updates
Indian plant-based nutrition startup Nourish You has raised ₹16 crores ($1.8M) in a Series A funding round led by SIDBI Venture Capital. The parent company of alt-dairy brand One Good, the firm will use the funds to scale operations, launch new products, and expand into new markets, including Australia, Europe, and the US.
Courtesy: Nourish You
Israeli cultivated meat pioneer Aleph Farms has raised $29M in new funding, as part of a larger tranche of financing it expects to close in the coming months. The firm reportedly slashed its valuation in the latest round.
Further Foods, a subsidiary of Canadian cellular agriculture firm Cult Food Science, has signed an R&D supply agreement with a cultivated meat company to develop its Noochies!line of pet food treats, which it will showcase at the Global Pet Expo this week (March 26-28).
Courtesy: Veronika Dvorakova
Also in the cultivated meat space, Californian pioneer Upside Foods has conducted a fresh round of layoffs as it restructures to focus on commercialisation and scale. It is currently awaiting regulatory approval for its second cultivated chicken product in the US.
Catering company Sodexo has announced that it is on track to halve its food waste in the UK and Ireland this year (compared to 2017 levels), five years ahead of schedule.
Courtesy: Sodexo
Belgian food group Vandemoortele has agreed to acquire the European spreads and margarine business of US producer Bunge for an undisclosed sum, which includes several plant-based brands.
The Plant Based Foods Institute has appointed Sanah Baig, former senior policy advisor for agriculture and nutrition at the White House, as its new executive director. She will join the organisation in June.
Policy and awards
The Plant-Based Treaty is working with the Red Cross to provide plant-based food options to people during emergencies and disasters in Los Angeles.
British startup Potina, which makes banana oat milk for kids, has won IFE Manufacturing‘s Clean Label honour, awarded in partnership with the Institute of Food Science & Technology.
Discount retailer Lidl and the ProVeg Incubator have kickstarted a Cheese Alternative Innovation Competition, where participants will pitch their plant-based products to Lidl. Winners will get a listing under the retailer’s vegan private-label brand, Vemondo, in Germany.
Indian cultivated meat startup ClearMeat has struck a partnership with the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), to scale biotech and food tech innovations and leverage their combined expertise and resources to drive the sector forward.
Courtesy: Catastrophy
Finally, Singaporean jewellery brand Catastrophy, which makes ethical jewellery for cat lovers and donates 10% of all proceeds to animal welfare organisations, has received The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark, a world-first for a jewellery line.
Chile’s NotCo pioneered the use of AI in food. Its co-founders explain why they’re doubling down on the B2B business, which is growing by triple digits.
Karim Pichara has been working with artificial intelligence (AI) his whole life. “I always knew that AI was going to be a great thing – [but] not necessarily in the food space,” he says.
The CTO of NotCo, the Chilean food tech startup he co-founded with CEO Matias Muchnick a decade ago, is sitting in the company’s office in San Francisco, speaking to Green Queen on a Zoom call in late February.
“Back in 2015, I had this conversation with Matias,” he recalls. “He brought me this question: ‘Have you ever imagined what would happen if we create an AI technology, especially to formulate food?’ And I say: ‘How’s that? How do you actually formulate food?’ And he started telling me about what it takes to create a full formulation.”
The two realised this was an empty space ripe with opportunity. Pichara went away to build some algorithms and scrape (some totally unused) data from the web. “My main assumption there was that all that data could be a proxy for flavour and texture. So I just created the first version of the algorithm that would generate these formulations,” says Pichara.
“That was a generative AI for actual food formulas, without having any prior experience in the food space. And I think that was a good thing, because it was totally unbiased,” he adds. “We started producing those formulas [on a] kitchen-scale, and we liked the results: very crazy colours and flavours. And we said: ‘Well, we have something here.’”
Courtesy: The Kraft Heinz Company
Fast-forward to 2025. NotCo is a unicorn with $400M raised from investors including Jeff Bezos. It’s a global leader in AI-formulated food tech, with a CPG division that makes everything from meat-free burgers and eggless mayos to plant-based milk and vegan protein bars.
It is perhaps most well-known for its joint venture with The Kraft Heinz Company in the US and Canada, which has borne animal-free alternatives to classics like the blue-box mac and cheese, and Oscar Mayer hot dogs.
As AI’s influence over our lives deepens, NotCo is doubling down on its pioneering work with the technology. Pichara outlines that this is not a food company; it’s a tech firm. And its path to profitability lies in providing AI-led solutions to food manufacturers across the world, including some of the biggest names in the space.
Why AI can change the game for food product developers
Pichara notes that while traditional CPG companies would let the marketing and innovation teams decide what the next product should be, this can be a “very limited” approach.
“What if you had an AI that would explore all the data in social media, all the products that are available out there, and could tell if we found a white space [if] there is a need for this type of product that is not available out there?” he posits.
NotCo’s platform can generate innovative concepts and help humans decide what products to launch. “Let’s say the AI-assisted you in creating the concept of a very innovative product. Now you need to create a formula for that. And if you were just a human without any help or tools, you would have to go and try whatever you know from your experience,” says Pichara.
“That is a super biased approach, because, in general… you might have a few 100 formulations of possible products that might be similar to the one you need to do.”
The number of available combinations is “more than grains of sand on the Earth”, he says. This is where AI can do wonders, helping companies find the ideal formula for product development.
Courtesy: NotCo
“Imagine that you have the prototype and you need to scale it up. You need to make it functional again, you need to optimise the process. You need to rebalance ingredients. You need to change some of the ingredients, add some proteins, decrease sugar, and so on,” adds Pichara.
“As a human, you would try to go step by step. But in general, it’s a multi-dimensional product that needs to be solved at the same time, because in food, if you decrease the sugar, you screw that flavour and texture,” he says. Likewise, finetuning the taste and texture could mean a shift in ingredient use and nutritional quality. AI, he explains, can help avoid this cycle and fast-track product development.
How does NotCo’s AI platform work?
Pichara and Muchnick have dubbed their AI platform ‘Giuseppe’, after the Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who painted human faces using vegetables.
“Initially, the purpose of the technology was to create plant-based formulations that would mimic the flavour of animal-based ingredients,” says Pichara. “We felt like there was a lot of resonance between the artist and what we were trying to do.”
NotCo’s Giuseppe is an AI system that complements the work of food scientists, chefs, product developers, from concept creation all the way to the final version of the formula. “[Ingredient] combinations are almost infinite, right? So you need an AI that guides you through the process of creating the prototype of the formula,” he says.
Courtesy: NotCo
When you’re trying to scale up, you quickly discover that processes that work well in the lab don’t necessarily perform the same way on a larger scale. “You need to take into account all those factors, and at the same time, you need to usually add or make sure that your prototypes have some functional properties,” outlines Pichara.
If you’re making a milk alternative, for example, you’d want it to work in both hot and cold beverages, and sweet and savoury dishes. It needs to have a certain nutritional profile. The texture needs to be on point too.
“With AI, you need to pose a new question where you’re saying: ‘I have this current formulation, and I need to achieve all these new properties,’” he says. “And you put them all together in the platform. Then you say: ‘Help me achieve those results,” and the platform will help you find the variables, optimise the process, rebalance ingredient proportions, [and] bring in new ingredients… to have the product at the level you need.”
Costs can be lowered, but that’s not the end game
Does the use of AI bring in cost savings and better returns on investment? “I think you need to extend the entire development time for every single process and project. So every single development would have cost exponentially higher. And on top of that, [it’s] very likely we will never reach a solution,” explains Pichara.
“We haven’t compared what it would have been doing an entire journey without AI, because we were, by design, an AI company from the very beginning,” he adds. “I don’t think a number can capture what would have happened if we were without [AI], because all our work streams were connected to the technology.
Courtesy: NotCo
“More than cost, it’s about the possibility of discovery. For example, when we launched the NotMilk, it was with pineapple and cabbage. If we didn’t use [the] technology, maybe we [would have] never ended up with that formulation.”
Pichara further notes that NotCo wouldn’t have any business in the B2B domain if it weren’t for AI, which it uses to find product solutions for other companies. “It’s a binary thing: you don’t have the technology, you don’t have a business,” he says.
Industry giants using NotCo’s AI for better products
Speaking of the B2B business, this is one of NotCo’s main areas of focus. “Today, we are working with most of the big players in the CPG industry, and all these companies need product improvement,” says Pichara. Among these are Mars, Mondelēz International, Nestlé, and, of course, Kraft Heinz.
“Usually, they need better nutritional labels, [and] more cost-efficient formulations. Regulations are changing all the time. Governments are pushing towards having better products from many aspects. That’s great for us, because these companies need to improve and renovate their portfolio,” he says.
These companies’ traditional R&D process can take three to five years to update products- NotCo’s tech cuts that time to just three to four months.
Courtesy: NotCo
“Now, we have several projects with all these companies that are related to reformulation and end-to-end product creation. So we have a few products with some companies in Latin America, and also in the US and in Europe, where we are building entirely new concepts for them,” Pichara says.
Submerging its AI tech in other companies is a “great vehicle” to grow its impact, since it isn’t just constrained to NotCo’s own consumer brand. “We’re doing that in two ways. Some companies are just coming to us and saying: ‘You just develop this product entirely, or you just take care of improving this, and we are not using your technology,’” he suggests.
“But we’re also offering the possibility to other companies to directly adopt our technology within their R&D processes, so they can improve their products.”,
More products in development with Kraft Heinz
While NotCo’s B2B business is seeing triple-digit growth globally, it’s just one part of its expansion plan. The company has its sights on its Latin American CPG division. “We are already the biggest player in the continent in the alternative protein category,” Muchnick tells Green Queen via email. “We are expanding into the snacking category, launching a fast-growing platform of functional snacks.”
The other growth focus is the joint venture with Kraft Heinz. NotCo handed over its CPG business in the US and Canada to the food conglomerate last year, with products like NotMilk now only available online. In these markets, NotCo’s retail presence now occurs in the form of the co-branded products with Kraft Heinz.
“Leveraging Kraft Heinz’s amazing capability to operate at scale is unmatched. Therefore, hopping on this operating system made total sense for our business and theirs,” explains Muchnick.
Courtesy: The Kraft Heinz Not Company
“The Kraft Heinz joint venture was able to launch eight categories of superior plant-based products (the timeframe from brief to prototype was three to six months),” he says. “We are working on some new products in the pipeline, but the immediate focus is on continuing to grow the eight categories we launched in less than two years.”
He adds: “Similar to other unicorns like Mercado Libre, Uber, and Airbnb, the focus is now on growing profitably across all our business units.”
As an example of its capabilities, Muchnick last week unveiled a new GLP Booster powder for people who have weaned off Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs, or those who can’t or don’t want to use them.
NotCo teases new versions of ‘iconic, famous products’ this year
Pichara, the CTO, spotlights the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model as one of the most important growth areas. “We deeply believe that companies are going to benefit [from] that technology if they adopt it internally,” he says. “We have a few companies, but now we want to expand that business by reaching out to more companies and rolling our technology within their R&D.
“There are several products – very iconic and famous products – that are going to be rolled out this year with a newer version, and we were the ones that reformulated those.”
“Today, our services are around any product improvement you need to do,” says Pichara. “You can improve a product in so many aspects, like process, cost-effectiveness, ingredient replacement, sugar reduction, cocoa reduction – because maybe their price is too high, [or] some of them want to… change the protein.
“But as far as there is an opportunity to make products better for people, we are going to have a business.”
One of the loudest opponents of cultivated meat, Coldiretti rallied thousands of farmers to demand the EU assess novel foods like new drugs. It cited concerns from scientists, but half of them are members of the organisation.
It was only a week ago that thousands of farmers from across Italy marched the city of Parma with yellow and blue flags to demand an overhaul of European food safety regulations, specifically against cultivated meat and precision-fermented foods.
The procession was organised by Coldiretti, Italy’s leading farmers’ association, which has been a key voice in lobbying for anti-cultivated-meat legislation in the country. The group’s 2022 petition, signed by nearly half a million people and 3,000 local governments, called on policymakers to ban “synthetically produced food” and eventually led to Italy’s world-first ban on cultivated meat a year later.
During the march, Coldiretti – led by its President Ettore Prandini and its General Secretary Vincenzo Gesmundo – rallied against the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to “shed light” on the safety assessments around novel foods. The group’s big ask? For the EU body to require novel food companies to carry out clinical and preclinical medical studies before their products are greenlit.
In a statement justifying its protest, Coldiretti said it was acting upon requests from “illustrious scientists” to ensure greater transparency and scientific attention in the evaluation of novel foods, noting that they “cannot be treated as simple new foods, but must follow the same procedure as drugs”.
As it turns out, the scientists Coldiretti is referring to may not be as independent as they claim, resulting in a significant conflict of interest in the association’s demands, according to reports first reported in Italian media.
‘Concerned scientists’ belong to Coldiretti think tank
Courtesy: Coldiretti
Coldiretti cited an inter-institutional technical roundtable established by Health Minister Orazio Schillaci and Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida in 2024, mere months after the country banned the sale or production of cultivated meat in violation of EU law.
The roundtable assessed the impact of cultivated meat on health, farmers, the economy, and more. Last month, it presented recommendations that cultivated meat and other novel foods should be treated as pharmaceuticals subject to lengthy trials, mimicking the procedure applied by the European Medicine Agency for new drugs.
Meanwhile, a think tank called Aletheia Foundation submitted 11 critical comments to the EFSA early last year, as part of its public consultation on its updated guidelines for cultivated meat regulation, unveiled in July. On its website, Aletheia describes itself as an organisation clarifying “the inextricable link between food and health” via “independent and free research”.
But its recommendations were strikingly similar to those of the roundtable. And according to Italian newspaper Il Foglio, this should come as no surprise, since five of the roundtable’s members are part of Aletheia, which was founded by Coldiretti.
It would appear that the protests sparked by what the union says was a concern from independent scientists are the result of pushback from Coldiretti’s own members.
It also appears the Italian government was aware of the conflict of interest – Schillaci, the Health Minister, was a guest of honour alongside Prandini and Gesmundo in a ‘food and disease’ event held by the ministry and Aletheia last year. During the event, Gesmundo attacked the EFSA for promoting practices that he felt did the most harm to the EU population.
EU clarifies policy after Coldiretti claims victory
Courtesy: Coldiretti/EFSA
After the protest, Coldiretti was quick to claim victory, saying it was “satisfied with EFSA’s commitment to conducting every necessary analysis on every single notified product, including pre-clinical and clinical tests on foods derived from cell cultures and precision fermentation”.
In a statement, EFSA’s senior policy coordinator, Alberto Spagnolli, called the discussion with the group “constructive” and said the request to apply high scientific standards matched the EU’s mission.
“EFSA Panel members will use conditions and requirements for the scientific assessment based on the most recent experience of evaluations, as provided for in the new guidelines in force today,” he said in a statement. “EFSA’s task is precisely to clarify doubts or uncertainties with regards to human health effects, nutritional profiles of these foods, risks linked to the production process or substances used. :
Spagnolli added that the panels would conduct “in-depth, case-by-case, evaluations for each product” and “may use every level of study required (including pre-clinical and clinical tests) to determine safety”.
Speaking to Green Queen, he explained that the “need for clinical trials is already considered” in its guidelines. “Our updated guidance requires that applicants provide comprehensive toxicological studies (similar to pre-clinical studies) to establish the safety of novel food, including cell culture-derived food,” he said.
“If these studies do not enable a conclusive risk assessment, additional tests, including clinical trials in humans, may be requested to resolve data gaps or uncertainties,” Spagnolli added.
However, there’s no precedent for that happening in food, and the EFSA confirmed that Coldiretti’s march hadn’t brought about any additional reforms. “The policy has not changed,” Spagnolli told Green Queen. “We always follow our guidelines for our scientific work, and these were recently updated.”
The protest caused the EFSA to proactively shut down its office for the day and ask employees to not come to work, perhaps mindful of the commotion caused by Coldiretti’s previous protest during the parliament’s final vote on the cultivated meat ban.
Coldiretti’s stunt was criticised by some in the alternative protein industry. “It is not acceptable for an organisation to disrupt the workings of a scientific agency that successfully keeps Europe’s food the safest in the world and, if the results of the investigation are accurate, disturbing that they may have fabricated research to justify their anti-innovation agenda,” Robert E Jones, VP of global public affairs for Mosa Meat, told Green Queen.
The company recently filed for novel food approval for its cultivated beef in the EU. “Fortunately, we know from hundreds of conversations across the EU that [Coldiretti’s] views do not represent mainstream farmers or the agri-food value chain,” Jones added.
Brevel, an Israeli startup using light and fermentation to create microalgae-based ingredients, has secured $5M in a seed extension round.
Israeli food tech player Brevel has extended its seed funding pot by $5M, taking total investment in the round to $25M.
The expansion is based on the exercise of warrants granted to investors in the initial closing of the seed round in June 2023, with notable backers including NevaTeam Partners, Siddhi Capital, the EU’s EIC Fund, and The Food Tech Lab. Several new investors also joined the latest round, and were granted access under the same terms.
Brevel, which makes microalgae-based proteins, lipids, fibres and antioxidants via fermentation, will use the new capital to develop ingredients for multiple food and drink applications, secure manufacturing deals with joint venture partners, and sign additional offtake agreements as it prepares for large-scale production.
“Our investors chose to reinvest, based on Brevel’s impressive progress following the last round,” said Brevel co-founder and CEO Yonatan Golan. “We are dedicated to delivering nutritious protein that can replace animal protein in formulations.
Shay Levy, partner at Nevateam Partners and a board member of Brevel, added. “The shareholders’ decision to exercise their warrants is a strong vote of confidence in Brevel’s mission and execution. We believe their technology will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of alternative proteins, and we are excited to continue supporting their journey toward that.”
A microalgae ingredient to transform dairy alternatives
Courtesy: Brevel
Founded in 2017 by Golan and his brothers Ido and Matan, Brevel combines light with sugar fermentation in indoor bioreactors. Traditional fermentation – limited to dark environments – produces microalgae at high yields and affordable costs, but poor in light-dependant nutrients, functionalities and overall commercial value, according to the company.
Brevel’s process to “take fermentation out of the dark” unites it with light to produce nutrient-rich microalgae at high yields and low costs, without any need for genetic modification. Golan has described the tech as akin to “putting an electric motor into a Tesla car”.
Microalgae’s natural makeup of nutrients – including protein, lipids, fibre, and pigments – depends on photosynthesis for their development and growth. Brevel uses a strain of microalgae from the Chlorella family, a widely commercialised source of single-cell protein already classed as safe for human consumption by the FDA’s GRAS system in the US and part of the EU’s safe list of novel foods for decades.
To extract the protein, it has developed a downstream minimal process that does not involve any solvents or chemicals and retains the quality, functionality, and nutritional value of the microalgae.
The resulting ingredient is a neutral-flavoured white powder with 60-70% protein concentration and a full amino acid profile. This can be integrated into a range of meat and dairy analogues, thanks to emulsifying, gelling, and foaming attributes that can help replicate the taste, and texture of animal proteins.
The company is targeting the dairy alternatives market first, because the segment doesn’t yet have a plant protein solution with zero flavour or colour compromises, as Golan told Green Queen last year.
Brevel gears up for summer launch with cost-effective model
Courtesy: Brevel
To keep costs low, Brevel is taking a leaf out of the soy protein business model. “The revenue must come from the co-products, just as with soy and meat products,” Golan stressed. “Our combined light and fermentation platform allows us to capitalise on all of the components of the microalgae and not just the protein portion.”
Instead of discarding the functional lipids, antioxidants, and fibres from the protein manufacturing process, the company valorises these sidestreams to make clean-label emulsifiers and nutritional boosters for functional foods and supplements.
“While the fermentation process reduces costs, the light in our proprietary technology enables us to increase bottom-line results since we produce, in addition to the protein, functional oil with potent emulsifying properties, antioxidants as valuable food supplements, and nutritional fibres for food applications,” Golan explained.
“Through this wide portfolio, we can achieve overall price parity for our superior protein as well as for each co-product. We plan to roll out the next products in line this summer.”
The startup opened its own 27,000 sq ft commercial factory in southern Israel last year, which can produce hundreds of tonnes of microalgae protein powder every year with bioreactors ranging from a capacity of 50 to 5,000 litres.
In addition, it has put in place several joint-venture partnerships in the US, Europe, and Asia to build large factories with fermentation capacities of over 900,000 litres and produce thousands and tens of thousands of tonnes of microalgae ingredients annually. And earlier this year, it established a 10-year supply deal with The Central Bottling Company (CBC) – the national distributor for Coca-Cola – to use its ingredients in dairy alternatives and functional drinks.
With a number of cultivated meat startups hosting public tastings of their products, three taste-testers take us behind the scenes of what it’s like to bite into the future.
It was a typically humid day in Singapore, with some scattered rain bringing respite from the heat. Danai Georgiadou hopped on Grab – aka Uber for the city-state – in search of a comforting Sunday lunch.
Navigating through the options, she landed on Two Men Bagel House, one of several restaurants that have partnered with Vow, the Australian startup behind cultured quail and foie gras.
She opted for the Foie King, an S$25.20 ($19) bagel featuring the Forged Gras – as it is branded – combined with sous-vide beef skirt steak, jalapeño relish, smokey honey mustard, and double Cheddar.
Courtesy: Danai Georgiadou
Georgiadou is – as you might have guessed – a meat-eater, but as a stem cell scientist and member of Cellular Agriculture Greece, she is at the heart of the future food movement. She’s also part of a small but growing group of people who have tasted cultivated meat.
“What stood out to me was that it was genuinely delicious,” she says of Vow’s foie gras. The bagel delivered to her doorstep wasn’t the first time she had tasted it. Georgiadou has previously enjoyed the company’s cultivated meat at Tipping Club, Ryan Clift’s pioneering gastro-cocktail establishment, before it closed in 2024.
She paid S$250 ($187) for a set dinner menu, and S$150 ($112) for a lunch menu, both featuring Vow. “I’ve tried Forged Gras in many forms/dishes by Ryan Clift. Croquettes, covered in solid duck butter, fluffy texture like whipped cream. In the bagel I got as takeout, it was grilled,” she says.
“The chefs managed to create some amazing dishes with it. I’ll admit, I’m a bit biased since I work in the field and advocate for cultivated meat, but I really enjoyed it. I’d say Forged Gras has a very versatile texture, which gives you the flexibility to cook it in many different ways.”
Can you separate the cultivated from the meat?
Courtesy: Brian Cooley
On the other side of the world, Brian Cooley was in Marin County, California, attending a pop-up event at Loveski Deli. It was hosted by Wildtype, a San Francisco-based startup working to commercialise cultivated seafood.
“I learned about the pop-up by being on a Wildtype waitlist to try their product,” says Cooley, a technology expert who spent nearly three decades as CNET’s tech editor. “A stream of people like me arrived and ordered Wildtype lox on a bagel from a special one-day menu, and we all paid for our orders (about $24 for a bagel with lox as I recall).”
So, the million-dollar question: did it live up to the ‘real thing’? “You would have to tell someone that the Wildtype lox wasn’t conventional for them to suspect it was anything different,” says Cooley. “That’s the crucial bar to clear for any alt-protein.”
He adds: “I think it’s actually better than conventional lox because it doesn’t have the occasional gristle or silverskin you find in conventional products.”
Courtesy: Gustaf Brandberg
Gustaf Brandberg, founding partner at Swedish VC firm Gullspång Invest, is an investor in Mission Barns. The cultivated pork fat maker recently earned a ‘no questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – the first for a cultivated meat company since 2023 – and aims to launch its products into restaurants and supermarkets later this year.
“I have tried Mission Barns’s products for several years, and one of the main reasons we invested in the company is the quality of the products,” says Brandberg. “The bacon tastes just like bacon should, and the meatballs and salami could trick just anyone into thinking that they are made of meat, not a hybrid product with pork fat in an otherwise plant-based product.”
Fat, he says, is the key element: “A lot of the taste is carried through the fat, so what stands out compared to other plant-based alternatives is how closely it mimics meat.”
Where can cultivated meat improve?
Courtesy: Danai Georgiadou
Okay, so cultivated meat has the same – or even – better sensory qualities than the products it’s aiming to replace. Where is it lacking?
Brandberg, understandably, passed on that question. For Georgiadou’s palate, however, the cultured foie gras was a touch salty. “But that’s just personal preference,” she says.
“The fact that Forged Gras contains 51% cultivated quail is already incredible, especially considering how expensive it is to produce any cultivated meat product. If there’s one area for improvement – and I’m confident it will get there – it would be increasing the cultivated meat content.”
As Cooley attested to, the texture of the Wildtype salmon was ideal for him. “But some other tasters mentioned that it was slightly ‘softer’ than conventional lox,” he recalls.
“It also didn’t smell ‘fishy’, which some people might miss,” he adds. “But when you understand why conventional seafood smells fishy, you don’t miss that ever again.”
Cultivated meat is like most tech products
Courtesy: Brian Cooley
So if cultivated meat tastes so good, what’s stopping it from appearing on our plates? Well, policymakers, for starters – one country and two US states have banned cultivated meat from being sold, with others on the horizon.
Investors are stepping away from the sector, with funding falling by 75% in 2023, followed by another 40% drop in 2024, reaching just $137M. “I’m not surprised that investors and consumers, for different reasons, are going through phases of the Gartner Hype Cycle with regards to alt-proteins,” says Cooley.
“But alt protein isn’t one sector: We have a solid sector of plant-based meats, the imminent launch of cultivated meats – Wildtype being one example – and the development of interesting new fermented products, especially in the alt-dairy category.”
These three product groups have room to grow and take repeated “bites at the apple” of consumer acceptance, just like most tech products whose path was rocky before they became ubiquitous. “I’m also reminded of Rosabeth Moss-Kanter’s maxim that many big ideas seem like a failure in the middle, and Roy Amara’s observation that we tend to overestimate a technology’s impact early and underestimate its impact later,” he says.
“Yes, food is very different from VR or AI, but both must work from the playbook of getting people to accept unfamiliar manners and methods of doing things to live better tomorrow than today.”
The ‘right players’ have survived, and things will ‘only go up’
Courtesy: Danai Georgiadou
For Georgiadou, the shift in the cultivated meat landscape was much needed. “When I joined the research front of cultivated meat in Singapore in 2022, funding was flowing, driven by overpromises, unfeasible milestones, and dream-like deliverables pitched to investors. There were many founders who just wanted to join in the hype without actually having a solid scientific foundation or proper planning,” she suggests.
“As a researcher in the public sector, I experienced that firsthand – I was contacted by many of them for scientific advice. So, as we all saw, there was a big drop in the years that followed. Companies went bankrupt or got acquired, simply because they couldn’t meet those unrealistic promises. This not only led to a loss of investor trust, but also hurt the cultivated meat field overall.
“But, because of that drop, I can now see that the right players survived, and anyone stepping in now knows they need to be ready for a fight. Expectations have also been reset. Cultivated meat isn’t just another alternative protein – it’s a novel food, a new technology. So the investors coming in now are better prepared, with more realistic expectations.”
Courtesy: Gustaf Brandberg
Brandberg explains that the FDA approval for Mission Barns took much longer than he believed when his firm invested. “It’s good that the FDA is diligent when approving new food production methods, but we hope they can speed up their processes. After all, the end product is normal pork fat, produced in a bioreactor and not in a living creature,” he says.
“The slow approval processes have hampered the whole industry, and cultivated companies still need to prove that they can produce ingredients at scale cost-efficiently. This is where we think cultivated fat has an advantage over cultivated meat; you only need a few percentages of fat in the end product, dramatically reducing the cost of ingredients.”
Georgiadou is “pretty confident” that things will now “only go up” for cultivated meat. “And when it comes to political challenges – anything new always causes waves in the beginning. IVF (in vitro fertilisation) faced huge political and ethical resistance when it first emerged, but today it’s one of the most common reproductive assistance procedures,” she says.
“Why wouldn’t the same happen with cultivated meat? History always repeats itself.”
Californian food tech startup Savor has launched its farm-free, carbon-based butter, which will appear on Michelin-starred menus this year, ahead of a Series B funding round.
“Life on Earth is carbon-based, meaning both we and the food we eat are made of carbon,” says Kathleen Alexander, one of Inc. Magazine’s 2025 Female Founders 500.
She is the co-founder and CEO of Savor, the Californian firm that made headlines last year with a butter made from carbon dioxide. The alternative fat has impressed figures like Bill Gates, a lead investor in the startup’s seed round in 2022, and in the coming months, it hopes to give diners across the US a taste of the future.
On its three-year anniversary, Savor has officially launched its animal- and plant-free butter, hosting special dinners in New York City and San Francisco to make the occasion. The fat ingredient – self-determined as safe to sell in the US – is molecularly constructed via a thermochemical process involving point-captured carbon dioxide, green hydrogen, and methane.
A host of establishments in California will introduce menu items featuring Savor butter soon, including Michelin-starred eateries SingleThread and ONE65, and beloved establishment Jane the Bakery. While the firm did not reveal the exact timing for each launch, or how the butter will be used, it confirmed that recipes will be rolled out throughout 2025.
How Savor makes its agriculture-free butter
Savor Founders Ian McKay and Kathleen Alexander. Courtesy: Savor
“We use carbon in its simplest forms – gases like carbon dioxide or methane,” says Alexander, who established Savor with Ian McKay in 2022. “These gases are transformed into carbon chains called alkanes, which are then turned into fatty acids (the building blocks of fats and oils) and eventually into fats. This process is achieved through a controlled combination of temperature and pressure.”
Savor’s raw ingredients are food-grade alkanes, which are themselves made from multiple primordial elements, like hydrogen and oxygen from water and carbon from gases like CO2 or methane.
“The fatty acids are then purified and assembled to produce high-quality short-, medium- and long-chain triglycerides (SMLCT) to replace conventional fats in a variety of food applications – meaning that we can make substitutes for any existing fats and oils. Where fluid oils are typically shorter-chain triglycerides and harder fats have more long-chain ones: we have a blueprint to make any of them,” she explains.
“By starting directly with carbon gases, we bypass the lengthy (but equally magical) process of carbon being captured by plants, for animals to eat those plants and for humans to harvest, transform and refine these fats. All of this uses huge amounts of land, with an extensive supply chain and releases more gaseous carbon in the process.”
Alexander says Savor’s fats are “chemically identical” to those we already eat, just in varying concentrations. The butter is its first commercial product. “The main ingredient is MLCT oil (medium- and long-chain triglycerides), which is 100% fat, and Savor’s dairy fat formulation,” she reveals. “Other ingredients are water, less than 2% of sea salt, sunflower lecithin, natural flavour and beta carotene (colour).”
Courtesy: Savor
Savor butter: a like-for-like replacement
Savor intends its fats to be used in ingredients just like conventional fats. “The finished products that use our fats as ingredients are indistinguishable from products that use animal or plant-based fats,” says Alexander.
“This is true whether our products replace existing fats, or are customised to meet a specific purpose, or if they are integrated into more complex products like butter,” adds Chiara Cecchini, VP of commercialisation at Savor. “Our butter formulation has properties that are amazingly close to dairy butter. It can ‘croissant’ and can be a 1:1 replacement in most baking applications.”
The vegan-friendly butter aims to tackle several fat pain points. Animal fats are revered for their flavour and functionality, but they’re terrible for the environment. Livestock farming may just be the leading cause of climate change, and take up vast amounts of land and water resources.
Courtesy: Savor
Plant-based fats are essential to the food system too, with saturated fats like palm and coconut oil providing form and functionality to legions of products. Palm oil alone is present in half of all supermarket items and is responsible for most of the deforestation in tropical regions.
According to Savor’s calculations, the production of animal and plant-based fats collectively generates 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That share will only increase as demand for these ingredients balloons. Compared to unsalted butter with 80% fat, Savor generates 67% fewer emissions per calorie.
For Savor to capture consumers’ wallets, the product needs to capture their palates. Does the taste match up? “Practically everyone who has tried our butter – including home cooks, consumers, chefs, and potential CPG partners – have remarked that from a sensory and performance standpoint, it is extremely close to conventional butter,” says Cecchini. “It also outperforms plant-based alternatives in taste and functionality.”
Savor in talks with CPG companies and pursuing FDA letter
Courtesy: Savor
It’s not just restaurants that Savor’s butter has managed to attract. “A number of CPG companies’ R&D teams are working on ingredient innovation projects that can leverage Savor’s unique ability to create customisable fats and oils and are excited about the potential,” says Cecchini.
The firm is negotiating joint development agreements with some of these companies now. “They have been particularly impressed by the versatility and tunability of fatty acid profiles that Savor’s platform can produce – capabilities that extend well beyond the company’s initial dairy-fat-mimicking formulation,” she adds.
In preparation for its commercial launch, Savor has expanded its R&D capabilities at its San Jose headquarters and opened a 25,000 sq ft pilot facility in Batavia, Illinois, which can produce several metric tonnes of fat.
The startup also self-affirmed its butter as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) last year – though with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr calling this rule a “loophole” that needs closing, many firms are actively looking to notify the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain its approval.
Courtesy: Savor
Savor is among them, having been in contact with the food safety agency for over a year. “We consulted with the FDA throughout the work on our GRAS determination and plan to submit our GRAS dossier and work toward a ‘no questions’ letter,” says Alexander.
“I’ve tasted Savor’s products, and I couldn’t believe I wasn’t eating real butter.” This was the consensus of Gates, who led the company’s $10M seed investment round through his VC firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Add to that its Series A round from 2023, Savor has raised $33M to date. “We expect to kick off a Series B fundraise in the second half of 2025 to pursue commercial scale-up,” reveals Alexander.
Longer term, the firm has its sights on more than just butter. “Scalability and flexibility make Savor’s fat solutions unparalleled in the industry,” she says. “Our ability to match the performance of animal fats, dairy fats, vegetable oils, tropical fats, as well as specialty oils used in the cosmetics industry – all with the same technological platform – sets us apart.”
The US’s move to potentially remove the self-determination pathway of food safety could have significant implications for fermentation protein companies, with the FDA doubling down on safety while outlining its support for innovation.
Between concerns about stifling innovation, an embrace of more robust regulations, and several ‘no comments’, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s attack on a key food safety provision has cast an uncertain shadow over the alternative protein sector.
The US Health Secretary has directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revisit and potentially eliminate the self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) provision. The rule allows companies to independently determine their ingredients as safe for use, based on scientific assessments that comply with the FDA’s standards, but don’t require a review by the agency.
Many companies choose this path because it’s faster, cheaper and confidential, and allows them to sell the ingredient in the market. Notifying the FDA in pursuit of a ‘no questions’ letter is a more transparent process, and simultaneously more rigorous.
Kennedy argues that this is a “loophole” companies use to introduce ingredients into the food supply “often with unknown safety”, and wants to do away with the provision in his bid to Make America Healthy Again.
This could have major repercussions for companies in the alternative protein industry, particularly those working with fermentation. In the last year or so, many precision and biomass fermentation firms have relied on the self-affirmed GRAS path to enter the market, with a view to notifying the FDA eventually.
“If the agency moves toward stricter oversight, it risks stifling innovation in the US, making it harder to bring groundbreaking, sustainable food solutions to market,” says Brittany Chibe, co-founder and CEO of Aqua Cultured Foods, which uses biomass fermentation to make seafood analogues. It obtained self-determined GRAS status last year and began appearing on restaurant menus soon after.
“While food safety is paramount, an overly burdensome regulatory environment could push innovation overseas, where other countries are already creating more agile pathways for novel foods,” she adds.
What happens to foods already self-affirmed as GRAS?
Courtesy: Aqua Cultured Foods
However, Chibe has “mixed feelings” about RFK Jr’s move. “While I believe the FDA should enforce strict rules and set guidelines to improve the American food system, alternative proteins aren’t the main culprit of harmful ingredients and chemicals,” she explains.
“The GRAS self-affirmation pathway has been under scrutiny for well over a decade,” says Tony Pavel. He is a partner at Keller and Heckman LLP and an executive board member of the Precision Fermentation Alliance, a trade association founded by nine startups in 2022. These include The Every Company, Imagindairy, New Culture, Helaina, Onego Bio, and Perfect Day (Pavel’s previous employer), each of whom either has self-affirmed GRAS status or a ‘no questions’ letter from the FDA.
Pavel recalls how Daily Harvest had to pull its Crumbles product from the market due to the use of tara flour, an ingredient it had self-determined as safe, but causes illnesses in hundreds of consumers. The FDA officially declared tara flour as unsafe last year.
That incident “elevated the profile of the issue”, he says, adding: “It is unclear whether the manufacturer actually made a violative GRAS self-determination, or just went to market in direct violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.”
It brings us to one of the biggest questions surrounding RFK Jr’s directive: What happens to ingredients that have already been self-affirmed as GRAS? Will it be mandatory for them to notify the FDA? And if so, can they still sell the product during the regulator’s assessment?
Most of these questions are yet to be answered, and when contacted by Green Queen, the FDA did not indicate its plans for these products, instead pointing to RFK Jr’s announcement on the Health and Human Services website and X/Twitter.
Pavel believes the move “does not affect the regulatory status of substances that have undergone a valid GRAS determination”, at least in the near term.
That sentiment is echoed by The Every Company’s Arturo Elizondo and The Better Meat Co’s Paul Shapiro – both firms have a ‘no questions’ letter for their respective proteins and don’t expect to see their businesses impacted at the moment.
“If we were to file on a new organism in the future, we would still be seeking an FDA ‘no questions’ letter, just like we did with our current organism,” says Shapiro.
Asked if the removal of self-affirmation could delay future ingredients from entering the market, Shapiro says: “That’s possible, but we filed for FDA approval while self-affirmation was still an option, and we’d do the same again if it weren’t an option.”
Aqua Cultured Foods’s Chibe, meanwhile, says: “We don’t know what this means for previous self-GRAS affirmation, but we’d comply with any additional requests from the FDA.” Some other fermentation CEOs declined to comment, highlighting the uncertainty around the situation.
Speaking to Green Queen last week, Stephan van Sint Fiet, CEO of Dutch animal-free whey maker Vivici, noted that it’s early days and the proposals aren’t fully clear yet. His company just received a ‘no questions’ letter for its precision-fermented beta-lactoglobulin.
“We are committed to developing a highly credible and trusted alternative protein industry and we welcome a more robust regulatory process,” he said.
“We consider filing a GRAS notice a best practice that we already adhere to and we see this as a welcome change that will lead to higher-quality data that documents the safety of precision-fermented ingredients, earning us the trust of customers and consumers.”
Trump and Musk’s layoffs could complicate matters
Courtesy: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Chibe advocated for a balanced approach that ensures safety and fosters progress, which she believes is critical for the industry’s growth. “The US has a choice: lead in food innovation, or fall behind due to regulatory limbo,” she says.
She finds “loophole” a strong word that “overlooks the expertise, research, testing, documentation, and expenses tied to the self-affirmed GRAS process”. “Cellulose is the main ingredient of our clean label, fermentation-derived seafood,” she explains. “Over the past few years, we’ve engaged qualified stakeholders – including FDA officials – who indicated that self-affirmed GRAS served as the fastest means to enter the market.”
The Every Company’s Elizondo – which has FDA GRAS approval for three recombinant egg proteins – points out that “most major customers in our space” typically require ingredients to have the no-objections letter anyway.
“So we don’t foresee this being a significant issue. That assumes, however, that we have a well-staffed and functioning FDA. Otherwise, the concern becomes more around protracted timelines,” he says.
The FDA, which underwent a major restructuring last year, hasn’t been spared from President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting initiative, helmed by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Many HHS employees have been let go or put on probation – at the FDA, 180 medical devices department staffers were laid off (before some were rehired shortly after), while the cuts have reached the food safety segment too.
FDA official emphasises safety and transparency
Courtesy: Ben Curtis/AP
As Pavel explains, the impact of the GRAS overhaul will depend on how the HHS and FDA evolve. “As of today, the GRAS programme at the FDA appears likely to remain in operation,” he outlines. “If there is a significant increase in GRAS notifications submitted to the FDA by mandate, without increasing funding and resources, review timelines will likely suffer.”
He adds: “Currently, manufacturers may assess certain manufacturing changes or improvements without necessitating a filing with the FDA. If this flexibility is lost, there will potentially be significant additional burdens on the industry, as it iterates products through continuous improvement processes.”
The FDA, which has doled out a series of ‘no questions’ letters to fermentation protein startups in the least two years, says it will keep fostering innovation, but through the lens of safety.
“As the FDA continues to support innovation in food technologies, the agency’s priority is the safety of food produced through both innovative and traditional methods,” an FDA official told Green Queen. “The agency is committed to transparency on our approach to regulating foods made using innovative food technologies.”
The US’s move to potentially remove the self-determination pathway of food safety could have significant implications for fermentation protein companies, with the FDA doubling down on safety while outlining its support for innovation.
Between concerns about stifling innovation, an embrace of more robust regulations, and several ‘no comments’, Robert F Kennedy Jr’s attack on a key food safety provision has cast an uncertain shadow over the alternative protein sector.
The US Health Secretary has directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revisit and potentially eliminate the self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) provision. The rule allows companies to independently determine their ingredients as safe for use, based on scientific assessments that comply with the FDA’s standards, but don’t require a review by the agency.
Many companies choose this path because it’s faster, cheaper and confidential, and allows them to sell the ingredient in the market. Notifying the FDA in pursuit of a ‘no questions’ letter is a more transparent process, and simultaneously more rigorous.
Kennedy argues that this is a “loophole” companies use to introduce ingredients into the food supply “often with unknown safety”, and wants to do away with the provision in his bid to Make America Healthy Again.
This could have major repercussions for companies in the alternative protein industry, particularly those working with fermentation. In the last year or so, many precision and biomass fermentation firms have relied on the self-affirmed GRAS path to enter the market, with a view to notifying the FDA eventually.
“If the agency moves toward stricter oversight, it risks stifling innovation in the US, making it harder to bring groundbreaking, sustainable food solutions to market,” says Brittany Chibe, co-founder and CEO of Aqua Cultured Foods, which uses biomass fermentation to make seafood analogues. It obtained self-determined GRAS status last year and began appearing on restaurant menus soon after.
“While food safety is paramount, an overly burdensome regulatory environment could push innovation overseas, where other countries are already creating more agile pathways for novel foods,” she adds.
What happens to foods already self-affirmed as GRAS?
Courtesy: Aqua Cultured Foods
However, Chibe has “mixed feelings” about RFK Jr’s move. “While I believe the FDA should enforce strict rules and set guidelines to improve the American food system, alternative proteins aren’t the main culprit of harmful ingredients and chemicals,” she explains.
“The GRAS self-affirmation pathway has been under scrutiny for well over a decade,” says Tony Pavel. He is a partner at Keller and Heckman LLP and an executive board member of the Precision Fermentation Alliance, a trade association founded by nine startups in 2022. These include The Every Company, Imagindairy, New Culture, Helaina, Onego Bio, and Perfect Day (Pavel’s previous employer), each of whom either has self-affirmed GRAS status or a ‘no questions’ letter from the FDA.
Pavel recalls how Daily Harvest had to pull its Crumbles product from the market due to the use of tara flour, an ingredient it had self-determined as safe, but causes illnesses in hundreds of consumers. The FDA officially declared tara flour as unsafe last year.
That incident “elevated the profile of the issue”, he says, adding: “It is unclear whether the manufacturer actually made a violative GRAS self-determination, or just went to market in direct violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.”
It brings us to one of the biggest questions surrounding RFK Jr’s directive: What happens to ingredients that have already been self-affirmed as GRAS? Will it be mandatory for them to notify the FDA? And if so, can they still sell the product during the regulator’s assessment?
Most of these questions are yet to be answered, and when contacted by Green Queen, the FDA did not indicate its plans for these products, instead pointing to RFK Jr’s announcement on the Health and Human Services website and X/Twitter.
Pavel believes the move “does not affect the regulatory status of substances that have undergone a valid GRAS determination”, at least in the near term.
That sentiment is echoed by The Every Company’s Arturo Elizondo and The Better Meat Co’s Paul Shapiro – both firms have a ‘no questions’ letter for their respective proteins and don’t expect to see their businesses impacted at the moment.
“If we were to file on a new organism in the future, we would still be seeking an FDA ‘no questions’ letter, just like we did with our current organism,” says Shapiro.
Asked if the removal of self-affirmation could delay future ingredients from entering the market, Shapiro says: “That’s possible, but we filed for FDA approval while self-affirmation was still an option, and we’d do the same again if it weren’t an option.”
Aqua Cultured Foods’s Chibe, meanwhile, says: “We don’t know what this means for previous self-GRAS affirmation, but we’d comply with any additional requests from the FDA.” Some other fermentation CEOs declined to comment, highlighting the uncertainty around the situation.
Speaking to Green Queen last week, Stephan van Sint Fiet, CEO of Dutch animal-free whey maker Vivici, noted that it’s early days and the proposals aren’t fully clear yet. His company just received a ‘no questions’ letter for its precision-fermented beta-lactoglobulin.
“We are committed to developing a highly credible and trusted alternative protein industry and we welcome a more robust regulatory process,” he said.
“We consider filing a GRAS notice a best practice that we already adhere to and we see this as a welcome change that will lead to higher-quality data that documents the safety of precision-fermented ingredients, earning us the trust of customers and consumers.”
Trump and Musk’s layoffs could complicate matters
Courtesy: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Chibe advocated for a balanced approach that ensures safety and fosters progress, which she believes is critical for the industry’s growth. “The US has a choice: lead in food innovation, or fall behind due to regulatory limbo,” she says.
She finds “loophole” a strong word that “overlooks the expertise, research, testing, documentation, and expenses tied to the self-affirmed GRAS process”. “Cellulose is the main ingredient of our clean label, fermentation-derived seafood,” she explains. “Over the past few years, we’ve engaged qualified stakeholders – including FDA officials – who indicated that self-affirmed GRAS served as the fastest means to enter the market.”
The Every Company’s Elizondo – which has FDA GRAS approval for three recombinant egg proteins – points out that “most major customers in our space” typically require ingredients to have the no-objections letter anyway.
“So we don’t foresee this being a significant issue. That assumes, however, that we have a well-staffed and functioning FDA. Otherwise, the concern becomes more around protracted timelines,” he says.
The FDA, which underwent a major restructuring last year, hasn’t been spared from President Donald Trump’s cost-cutting initiative, helmed by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Many HHS employees have been let go or put on probation – at the FDA, 180 medical devices department staffers were laid off (before some were rehired shortly after), while the cuts have reached the food safety segment too.
FDA official emphasises safety and transparency
Courtesy: Ben Curtis/AP
As Pavel explains, the impact of the GRAS overhaul will depend on how the HHS and FDA evolve. “As of today, the GRAS programme at the FDA appears likely to remain in operation,” he outlines. “If there is a significant increase in GRAS notifications submitted to the FDA by mandate, without increasing funding and resources, review timelines will likely suffer.”
He adds: “Currently, manufacturers may assess certain manufacturing changes or improvements without necessitating a filing with the FDA. If this flexibility is lost, there will potentially be significant additional burdens on the industry, as it iterates products through continuous improvement processes.”
The FDA, which has doled out a series of ‘no questions’ letters to fermentation protein startups in the least two years, says it will keep fostering innovation, but through the lens of safety.
“As the FDA continues to support innovation in food technologies, the agency’s priority is the safety of food produced through both innovative and traditional methods,” an FDA official told Green Queen. “The agency is committed to transparency on our approach to regulating foods made using innovative food technologies.”
In our interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders.
Simon Newstead is a Founding Partner at Better Bite Ventures.
What future food technologies most excite you?
There are many that we’re excited about, a couple of examples are fermentation including for example new types of sustainable ingredients, also interesting coating technologies that help extend the life of food and more.
What are three future food verticals you are actively looking at for 2025?
We’re open to anything that brings down emissions within our food system. If it has an impact on making a better food system, we are open to it. That includes reducing food waste, lowering emissions from fertilizer and working on blends that can lower the meat footprint in existing large channels and form factors.
What do you consider the food tech sector’s greatest achievement in the past five years?
During the past 5 years, the first cultivated meat was regulated and sold, and whilst there’s plenty of work to be done over the long term to bring the potential to the masses, it will go down as a major milestone and achievement.
If you could wave a magic wand, how would you fix plant-based meat?
The basics – price, texture, taste, plus cleaner labels and improved consumer awareness. That said, we see the offerings are improving, and also feel blends are a compelling solution to lower meat emissions in the short term as well.
What’s the top trait you look for in a founder?
Several: being open-minded, willing to take innovation risks and try something different, ability to learn (and track record of execution and learning), communicate and bring others along in the journey, build a team. There’s no one silver bullet – many things are important.
The One That Got Away: What is the deal you wish you had gotten into, but didn’t?
Perhaps getting involved even earlier. As an early-stage investor, there are companies that we might decide are a bit too far along their journey, but otherwise we might want to have engaged with them even earlier.
What do you consider your most successful future food investment so far?
We have several very promising portfolio companies, but as an early-stage investor just a little over three years into our journey, it’s too early to proclaim winners.
What has been your most disappointing investment so far?
We try to follow good decision epistemics and judge our investment calls by the quality of the process we ran through (criteria, analysis, projecting possible scenarios). When we do our future reviews each year, we’re trying to understand if we did a good job with those. I’d say on a meta level, we expanded into other areas of the food system including agri and looking back we could have done that a bit earlier to take advantage of opportunities there.
What do people misunderstand/get wrong most about VC?
That every VC is different in how they run, what their sweet spot is, and how they engage with startups. I’d encourage founders to ask and get to know what each VC they engage with is after, how they make decisions and run, etc.
What is the most ‘future food’ thing you have eaten this month?
Probably the shredded pulled shiitake mushroom filling from Fable Foods in Guzman y Gomez’s taco bowl – that was great! About to travel some more in the coming months, so look forward to adding more entries to the list soon!
Where is your favourite climate-forward restaurant/dish/place to eat anywhere in the world?
I haven’t tried yet some of the bioprinted or new fibre-spun whole-cut products (though my partner Michal has tried a bunch) – that would be fun to taste.
What’s your ‘why’? What motivates you to do what you do?
Personally, I’m driven by making a better food system for all – better for the people, for the animals, for the climate and for the planet. That’s why I got into impact investing and food projects many years ago. It’s a challenging but fun job, and getting to learn from and support all the founders innovating is the best part.
The UK government is being urged to update its Eatwell Guide in line with the Eat-Lancet Planetary Health Diet, with a plant-forward system predicted to save the NHS over £50M every year.
As novel food regulation advances rapidly in the UK, its government is now being called upon to make a policy shift towards plant-based consumption, which activists argue could bring huge cost savings for public systems and the public itself.
In a policy briefing helmed by NGO Feedback Global, experts outline how the Labour government could deliver its promised reform of the £5B it spends on public procurement of food and catering services every year.
In its pre-election manifesto, the party outlined set a target to make half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.
“We strongly recommend baseline standards for all food procurement rooted in healthy sustainable diets, which are required to reduce emissions and can significantly improve health outcomes,” the briefing states, explaining that if school and hospital meals adopt a plant-forward approach, taxpayers and the National Health Service (NHS) would stand to save millions of pounds every year.
The briefing is supported by 25 health and climate organisations, including the Food Foundation, Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, Compassion in World Farming, Fairtrade Foundation, and The Vegan Society.
“Currently, high-emissions meat and dairy [are] the default meal options, often making it difficult to choose anything else – our schools and hospitals can make healthy sustainable meals more abundant, without taking away any freedom of choice,” said Martin Bowman, senior campaigns manager at Feedback Global.
“The Labour government has a huge opportunity to save the NHS money, boost the nation’s health and reach its climate targets by serving up more healthy sustainable meals in schools and hospitals,” he added.
The NHS could save £55M in annual costs through vegan approach
The groups say the UK Eatwell Guide and the related Scottish Eatwell Guide “urgently need updating”, in line with the Eat-Lancet Commission’s Planetary Health Diet. The Eatwell Guide currently recommends eating five fruits and vegetables a day, dairy and dairy alternatives low in fat and sugar, whole grains instead of refined, plant proteins like beans and pulses, two portions of “sustainably sourced” fish a week, and less red and processed meat.
But they need to go further, as dietary guidelines in countries like Germany, Austria, Finland and Norway have done in recent months. The Planetary Health Diet says at least 50% of consumption should come from fruits and vegetables, over a third from whole grains, plant proteins and plant oils, and just 3.6% from dairy products and meat and seafood.
Aligning the UK’s consumption patterns to this would save the cash-strapped NHS a lot of money, both from public procurement and improved health outcomes. And there is public support for this – 35% of Brits say they’d back a transition to a 100% vegan menu at NHS hospitals.
The briefing took the example of New York City’s Health + Hospitals scheme for plant-based meals, which made vegan food the default option in all 11 public hospitals in the city – 55% of patients chose the plant-based option, saving 59 cents per dish. Since the NHS serves 199 million meals a year, replicating this would result in £55M in potential savings.
Additionally, an Oxford University study found that reducing per capita meat consumption to two to three servings each week could prevent 45,000 premature deaths and reduce NHS costs by £1.2B a year.
These findings align with other research, which has found that a ‘plant-based by default’ approach could save the NHS £74M annually, with significant household savings too if patients are supported in making dietary shifts. Similar research by the Office of Health Economics estimated that if England were to adopt a completely plant-based diet, the NHS would see a net benefit of up to £18.8B a year.
The report urges the government to embed sustainability into the Eatwell Guide. Following the Eat-Lancet Planetary Health Diet (at least 50% of which is comprised of fruits and vegetables, over a third from whole grains, plant proteins and plant oils, and just 3.6% from dairy products and meat and seafood) could lower dietary emissions in affluent nations by 61%.
The groups also present potential benefits to farmers from serving organic produce in public settings, citing six local projects that have increased vegetable and pulse production whilst paying a premium to growers.
How the UK government can transform the food system
Courtesy: Department of Health and Social Care
So, how can the UK actually implement any of this? Among the briefing’s recommendations are the creation of a binding target to lower average emissions per meal to help meet national climate targets, ensuring that a plant-based meal is always available, and prioritising whole foods like legumes, nuts, and whole grains.
Further, the UK must scrap its School Food Standards, which currently make it compulsory for schools to serve meat at least three days a week. Removing this would give schools more freedom to adopt a “less but better” approach to meat, set limits on harmful foods like red and processed meat, and ensure at least two portions of vegetables or pulses in each meal.
“Plant-based proteins should be given their own food category rather than being merged with animal protein as is currently the case,” the groups say. “Plant-based alternatives to milk, enriched with calcium, should also be made available on every school day at a time during school hours, as is currently the case for animal milk.”
“Every day, we spend millions of pounds of the public’s money on food. This should be going in the pockets of sustainable farmers, and to creating a healthy environment and healthy people,” said Ruth Westcott, campaign manager at Sustain. “The government has committed to buying local and sustainable food for the public sector and we urge them to lose no time in making good on this promise by introducing the achievable and proven standards set out in this briefing.”
The report is the latest in a growing list of efforts asking the UK to decarbonise via its food system. The Plant-Based Food Alliance – which includes Alpro, Oatly, Quorn, and more – has urged Keir Starmer’s administration to create a plant-based action plan (as Denmark has done).
Food industry leaders recently came together to produce a net-zero transition plan for the country’s food system, highlighting the need for a 20% reduction in meat consumption by 2050 in order to achieve said goals. And the UK Climate Change Committee has noted that meat intake needs to fall by 35% by 2050, with a steeper 40% decline in red meat consumption, if it is to meet its net-zero target.
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Benexia’s new chia seed milk, Violife’s campaign with Chrishell Stause, and Holy Carrot’s upcoming restaurant in London.
New products and launches
Chilean company Benexia has launched what it says is the first milk alternative made from whole chia seeds. Launched under its Seeds of Wellness brand, the Chia Milk is available at Costco and on Amazon in the US for $27.99 for a six-pack.
Courtesy: Benexia
Speaking of the US, Kate Farms‘s Kids Nutrition shakes are making their national retail debut at Target. The pea-milk-based products come in chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla flavours, and contain 27 vitamins and minerals.
Alt-dairy giant Violife has launched a Creamy Confessions campaign to support the launch of its lentil-based Supreme Coffee Creamers, featuring celebrities like Chrishell Stause (Selling Sunset, The Traitors), Bozoma Saint John (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Sasha Farber (Dancing with the Stars), and more.
Courtesy: Violife
The Plant Based Seafood Co. – known for its Mind Blown label – has launched two new brands. Hills Bay Classics focuses on crab cakes and a ‘seafood extender’, while Smash It is centred around health and GLP-1 support.
Speaking of marine products, New Zealand-based Nutrition from Water has released Marine Whey Golden 35, a clean-label algae protein designed for bakery and dairy applications.
Courtesy: Vegan Minerals
Likewise, Los Angeles-based Vegan Minerals has introduced Calcea, a plant-based calcium ingredient sourced from red algae. Apart from the bioavailable calcium, it provides magnesium, over 70 essential trace minerals, and 16 amino acids, while offering superior absorption thanks to a natural honeycomb structure.
France’s HappyVore has released a vegan ham with a Nutri-Score A rating, and a score of 84 out of 100 on nutrition product scanning appYuka. A Saveur de l’Année (Taste of the Year) 2025 recipient, it contains 20g of protein per 100g from peas and beans and is available at Carrefour.
Courtesy: The Raging Pig Company
In Germany, The Raging Pig Company is leaning into the smash burger trend with a new plant-based patty for restaurants. It’s made from peas and mushrooms and is available via select foodservice distributors.
In a bid to revitalise plant-based meat and seafood, Dutch family business Schouten Europe has rolled out Power Bites and Sea Bites as its latest product innovations.
Courtesy: Better Nature Tempeh
Meanwhile, UK-based Better Nature has enhanced its tempeh recipe to boost the protein content from 19g to 22g per 100g serving, which is the same as three eggs, up to 400g of butter beans, or two-thirds of a chicken breast.
Chinese vegan protein brand Starfield is showcasing its diverse range of products, including the Poki Salad Bar, vegan bacon strips, and dairy-free cheese at the 2025 International Food & Drink Event (IFE) in London.
Courtesy: Holy Carrot
And London-based vegan restaurant Holy Carrot is bringing its Michelin Guide-approved vegetable-forward concept to the East End with a new location in Old Spitalfields Market, which is set to open by the end of the year.
Company and finance updates
Solar Foods, the Finnish company known for its gas-based Solein protein, has signed two MoUs with international customers to supply 6,000 tonnes of the ingredient per year. Additionally, it has announced a factory investment plan that could be Europe’s largest emission reduction project.
Courtesy: Solar Foods
Finnish precision fermentation firm Onego Bio has completed the purchase of a 25.9-acre piece of land in Jefferson, Wisconsin for $777,000. Located at the Food and Beverage Innovation Campus, it will build a facility that will produce animal-free egg proteins equivalent to six million hens, and be operational in 2028.
Germany’s Formo, a fellow precision fermentation player working on dairy and egg proteins, has received a €1M ($1.1M) bioeconomy grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and partnered with Brain Biotech to advance strain development and bioprocess optimisation.
Courtesy: Formo
In Portugal, cultivated seafood maker Cell4Food has partnered with agrifood R&D specialist CoLab4Food to co-develop products and enhance their safety and nutritional values.
Meanwhile, Swedish cultivated meat startup Cellevate has appointed biopharma veteran Christel Fenge at CTO to turbo-charge its effort to commercialise its Cellevat3d nanofibre cell culture solutions.
Courtesy: Meatable
Another cultivated meat company, Meatable, has hired two more meat industry veterans. Former Tyson Foods executive Maiko van der Meer has joined as the director of commerce, and Cargill and McCormick alum will join Eugene Leong as its Asia head in May.
AI protein discovery platform Shiru and plant biotech platform GreenLab have teamed up to commercialise novel food proteins for CPG applications using the latter’s corn expression system.
Policy developments
Peet’s Coffee has become the latest coffee chain to remove the surcharge on non-dairy milk, joining the likes of Starbucks, Dunkin’, Tim Hortons and others after campaigning from Sir Paul McCartney and charities like Peta.
Californian alternative protein pioneer Eat Just and its cultivated meat subsidiary, Good Meat, has agreed to pay $4.4M as part of its legal settlement with bioreactor supplier ABEC.
Courtesy: Eat Just
UK supermarket Morrisons has switched suppliers for its own-label coconut milk after a Peta Asia investigation exposed forced monkey labour in Thailand’s coconut industry. The product will now be sourced from Peta-verified Merit Food Products.
EIT Food and Mars Petcare have selectedBioscienZ and Cremer Sustainable Nutrition as the winners of their Fiber Valorisation for Pet Food Challenge. They will now develop proof-of-concept studies to drive sustainable ingredient innovations, with the potential to develop long-term collaborations.
The Better Meat Co has signed a letter of intent with one of South America’s largest meat companies for the use of its mycoprotein in blended meat applications, just as it starts a new $15M fundraising round.
US food tech startup The Better Meat Co is eyeing new capital from investors as it charts its global expansion for its mycoprotein ingredient, Rhiza.
“We opened a fundraising round two weeks ago and intend to raise $15M toward our asset-light scale-up,” founder and CEO Paul Shapiro told Green Queen.
The Californian firm, which has secured $27M in funding to date, has also signed a letter of intent (LOI) with an undisclosed South American meat giant, which stated its interest in buying 30 tonnes of Rhiza mycoprotein (90 meat-equivalent tonnes in dry weight) per month.
This is The Better Meat Co’s largest LOI signed to date, adding to four other agreements from major meat producers in North America and Asia. Together, they’re projected to rake $13M in annual revenue for the company.
“Rhiza mycoprotein is a low-cost, highly versatile whole-food ingredient that enhances both animal meat and animal-free meat applications, which is why major food manufacturers love working with this ingredient so much,” said Shapiro.
He noted that while the company remains committed to plant-based partners like Oshi (which uses Rhiza in its vegan salmon), it has “always been most focused on working with meat companies to help them use fewer animals”.
While investment in alternative proteins has been hard to come by, fermentation-focused startups have piqued VC interest, raising 43% more capital in 2024 versus the year before.
The Better Meat Co projects eight-figure revenue with co-manufacturing deal
Courtesy: The Better Meat Co
The Better Meat Co has partnered with major meat and food companies in joint development agreements (JDAs) to try Rhiza in their formulations. They pay the firm a monthly fee to gain access to the mycoprotein ingredient in its demo plant in Sacramento and create new products with it. Some of these partners include Hormel Foods, Maple Leaf Foods, and K12 caterer SFE.
Once the JDAs conclude, companies often sign LOIs to indicate the volume of mycoprotein they’d like to purchase once The Better Meat Co has commercial quantities available for them.
The aforementioned facility has a 9,000-litre fermentation capacity, but the demand for Rhiza mycoprotein “dramatically outstrips the available supply we can produce in our demonstration plant”, Shapiro said, outlining why “it’s imperative that we scale this system up with a contract manufacturer quickly”.
“Our expansion plans include scaling up at a co-manufacturer that will produce our mycoprotein in approximately 150,000 litres of fermentation capacity,” he said.
“We sell every kilo of mycoprotein we produce at our demonstration fermentation plant in Sacramento, and could quintuple our output there and still not scratch the surface of our demand,” he added. “We need to scale with the contract manufacturer, and at that point, we project a first-year revenue of eight figures.”
The startup has been working with Perdue Farms since 2019, supplying its legacy plant protein for the meat producer’s Chicken Plus blended meat range. It is now positioning Rhiza, derived from filamentous fungi, as a meat enhancer – participants in blind focus groups have preferred blended mycoprotein meatballs over those made from 100% beef.
It is among a number of players targeting the blended meat space, with meat-eaters finding these products more appealing in flavour and texture than fully plant-based or fermentation-derived products (and even some conventional ones).
Rhiza is a whole-biomass ingredient, rather than a protein isolate, produced via the fermentation of fungi strain Neurospora crassa. The mycoprotein contains all essential amino acids and has a protein content of 50% by dry weight, which is higher than eggs. It also has a protein digestibility score of 0.87-0.96 (close to casein, beef and eggs).
Plus, it has more fibre than oats and more potassium than bananas, while containing no cholesterol and virtually no saturated fat.
After hydrating the protein, manufacturers can add functional ingredients like fats and flavours for meat-free applications, or grind it together with animal-derived meat for blended products. It offers producers a cheaper alternative to both plant-based and conventional products, a key differentiator amid global food price hikes.
The company also shifted to a continuous fermentation approach, which entails putting materials into bioreactors at the same time the finished product is being harvested. This has improved yields and reduced production costs by 30% – so even if no further R&D advancements are made, Rhiza will cost the same as commodity beef when produced at scale.
The Better Meat Co has received Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) certification from both the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) to sell its mycoprotein stateside, as well as the Singapore Food Agency.
And in August, it received a $1.5M biomanufacturing grant as part of the US Department of Defense’s Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP), which the company will use to open a new scale-up facility in the US.
But government support for biomanufacturing is shrinking, with President Donald Trump revoking a Biden-era executive order to boost the bioeconomy and foster innovation and new product development. How that impacts alternative proteins remains to be seen, but it is further fuel for the international expansion of companies like The Better Meat Co.
Fermentation tech could account for 4% of global protein production by 2050, but it needs $250B of investment to meet the capacity needs, according to McKinsey.
By 2050, the global population will be approaching 10 billion, a number that has spurred calls for a food systems transformation. Poverty and malnutrition rates are already on the rise, and if current agricultural patterns continue, these problems will already be exacerbated.
This is because animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of climate change, with meat and dairy production generating twice as many emissions as plant-based foods. Alternative proteins – those derived from plants, fermentation, and cell cultivation – can help solve food security challenges while keeping planetary health in check.
Fermentation-derived proteins alone could make up 4% of the global protein market by mid-century, with a valuation of $100-150M. Players in this space – whether they’re using biomass, precision or another form of fermentation – have raised $4.8B from investors in the last decade.
Courtesy: McKinsey
However, to get to this projection, they’ll need to significantly lower production costs through economies of scale. And to expand operations to the required capacity, companies would need to invest over $250 billion by 2050, according to new analysis by McKinsey.
“Over the coming five years, we expect a combination of cost parity and consumer demand to mature and derisk the novel ingredients industry, leading to a global infrastructure expansion,” the consultancy says.
“In the meantime, leaders can continue building creative mechanisms to balance capital, risk, and returns. If players can enter this investment opportunity now, they have a chance to build the food supply chain of the future.”
Process efficiencies can bring more savings than scale-up efforts
Courtesy: McKinsey
McKinsey notes that the existing capacity for fermentation-derived proteins to scale up is limited. Contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs) often have high margin expectations that aren’t in line with food industry standards – the consultancy points out how several new capacity additions have been announced, but some have “fallen by the wayside” due to macroeconomic factors.
The underlying tech and processes need to be enhanced too, while the opportunities and risks of novel ingredients are still being investigated by all industry stakeholders.
Improvements in production could bring a huge benefit, since reducing the unit costs of novel ingredients is the “single most important factor” for expanding the novel food market. By elevating bioprocesses and downstream processes, companies in the space could slash costs in half, according to McKinsey.
While scaling up is important and can bring costs down by 20-40%, process efficiencies alone can lower prices by 40-60%. These savings come from bioprocessing changes like a shift from batch-fed processes to continuous fermentation (as Australia’s Cauldron has done), or converting aerobic processes to anaerobic ones.
It’s also critical to upgrade and redesign bioreactors. Until now, most companies have used vessels optimised for the pharma industry, but new assets that meet food-grade specifications and the margin expectation of the food sector are necessary.
Equipment manufacturers would need to strip down existing bioreactors and their surrounding components, and build them from the ground up to fit the needs of the alternative protein industry. But they have yet to fill this gap, leading some startups to redesign bioreactors and build custom models out of necessity. Others, meanwhile, are exploring more modular fermentation tanks to dramatically lower capital costs and drive learning curves.
Commercial offtakes and tech risks key to unlocking investment
Courtesy: 21st.Bio
Apart from process optimisation, McKinsey also highlights the importance of better food formulation capabilities to introduce new ingredients for consumers. Companies will be able to create products that match people’s taste, texture and health preferences – they could experiment with novel fats to improve mouthfeel or savouriness, or target a specific protein (like beta-lactoglobulin or ovalbumin) to offer specialised outputs.
A 2024 survey by the consulting giant found that 49-67% of Americans were willing to try fermentation-derived proteins, with health being the biggest driver for Gen Zers and taste for older demographics. (And surprisingly, more than half of consumers are happy to pay more for products whose animal-derived counterparts cost less than $2.)
Fermentation had a good year investment-wise in 2024, securing 43% more funding from VCs, against a 27% decline in the overall alternative protein category. But to attract the required $250B, McKinsey says private capital will no longer be enough, leaving a gap the ecosystem must adapt to fill.
It explains how commercial offtakes have been the “linchpin” in securing debt in major capital expansions in other industries – think electric vehicle batteries or sustainable aviation fuel. Binding offtakes have been less common in the consumer sector, but companies are beginning to enter joint development agreements.
Moreover, technological developments around process, assets, and scale – such as redesigning bioreactors or creating new foods – can deter investors, but they’re expected to deliver material cost reductions in the next five years. This would provide a “compelling case” to financers.
These new business models are the “key underlying factor” to allow the novel foods industry to thrive. Industry players need to make choices about what capabilities to invest in, from titer improvements to ongoing IP creation, and investors must establish infrastructure-grade financing from securitised assets (and with committed offtake at market-clearing prices) to scale the industry.
Always at the forefront of food trends, Chilean food tech startup NotCo has unveiled a GLP Booster that uses food as a natural Ozempic alternative.
Today, nearly three-quarters of Americans aged 20 and above are overweight and obese, while one in five children and adolescents are obese.
The rise in diet-related diseases has changed how US consumers view food, with many Americans becoming more conscious of what they’re putting in their bodies and has led to an explosive growth in usage of GLP-1 agonist drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, with projections putting the number of users between 10 to 70 million by 2028.
These weight-loss drugs are set to boost America’s GDP by 1% by that year and command a $105B market by the end of the decade. But their efficacy comes with several side effects and caveats.
According to one survey, a net 30% of people who quit a GLP-1 medication actually eat more calories than they did before they began the course, leading to what has been termed the ‘Ozempic rebound’. Essentially, it refers to the body weight people gain after they stop injecting these drugs – one study found that Ozempic users regained two-thirds of their weight one year after quitting.
So while weight-loss drugs may have transformed the food system – companies from Nestlé to Coca-Cola have launched product lines that (explicitly or otherwise) support GLP-1 users – innovative food companies are also offering products that can help deal with the after-effects of GLP-1, or act as a natural alternative.
NotCo’s botanical powder takes on Ozempic’s side effects
Courtesy: NotCo
This is the promise of the new GLP Booster by NotCo, the AI-driven food tech company best known for its plant-based products and collaboration with Kraft Heinz.
The Chilean startup has been diversifying from its CPG focus to offer AI technologies to businesses all over the world, and as part of this tech-forward strategy, it’s targeting the GLP-1 boom with a food-based precursor to the weight-loss drugs.
The botanical powder, as the New York Post describes it, can be added to any food to help you feel satiated and eat less, replicating – to some extent – the effects of Ozempic and the like.
These drugs work by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone naturally found in the body. This incretin hormone is naturally released in the gut after eating food, and can be boosted by fermented foods and dietary fibre. This helps regulate blood sugar, makes you feel satiated, and manages weight.
“By mimicking the body’s endogenous GLP-1, these drugs suppress appetite, slow gastric emptying, and influence reward mechanisms in the brain. Bottom line, they work,” Matias Muchnick, co-founder and CEO of NotCo, explained in a social media post.
“GLP-1 isn’t just about hunger. It’s a metabolic regulator that affects insulin signalling, digestion, and muscle retention. While these drugs reduce caloric intake, they don’t distinguish between fat loss and muscle loss – a critical factor for long-term metabolic health.”
According to the company, this is why it created its GLP Booster, a powder that uses natural ingredients to stimulate GLP-1 production in the body, just as a high-fibre meal would. It also blocks the enzymes that break the hormone down, keeping it active for a longer time.
NotCo says it will appeal to people apprehensive about these drugs’ side effects – which include gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, and vomiting, and mental health problems like anxiety and irritability, among others – as well as the Ozempic rebound.
GLP Booster set to launch this year
Courtesy: Africa Images via Canva
Muchnick is adamant that the company isn’t trying to replace Ozempic, describing the GLP Booster as “not a drug” or “synthetic agonist”, but “a new category of food-driven metabolic enhancement”.
“We’re working to complement this shift by developing a GLP-1 precursor, this booster aims to assist those who may experience weight rebound after discontinuing GLP-1 drugs. Additionally, for individuals who cannot access these medications, our solution offers a natural alternative that – while not comparable in effect – provides meaningful benefits,” he explained.
The NotCo CEO told the New York Post that the GLP Booster will be sold as a powdered blend that people can add to their pasta or smoothies, and as an ingredient to food manufacturers who can incorporate it into packaged snacks, shakes, and ready meals. It plans to launch the product this year, and has developed additional products that contain it, such as chocolate-covered almonds.
“Integrating this into food ensures that nutrition evolves alongside pharmacology, helping people potentially regulate appetite while preserving muscle mass and metabolic function,” Muchnik wrote on LinkedIn. “The conversation about GLP-1 drugs has been focused on hunger. It’s time to shift the conversation to metabolic resilience.”
NotCo isn’t the only entity making GLP-1 supplements and alternatives – even with AI. Scientists at Spain’s Catholic University of Murcia have discovered two plant extracts that can potentially be used to make GLP-1 agonist pills, while California’s One Bio recently raised $27M for its tech that extracts invisible and tasteless fibres from plants for use in GLP-1-friendly foods (among other products).
Other companies are using fibre-packed food and beverages to take on Ozempic, such as the supplements from Supergut, the prebiotic sodas from Olipop and Poppi, or the GLP-1-supportive smoothies from Daily Harvest and Smoothie King.
Finnish food giant Fazer has teased a snack bar and two protein oat milk beverages made using Solar Foods’s fermentation-derived Solein protein.
How about some CO2 in your protein shake?
Fazer is giving attendees at Future Food-Tech San Francisco (March 13-14) a taste of the future, unveiling three new products made from Solein, the gas-fermented protein by fellow Finnish company Solar Foods.
The vegan lineup is part of Fazer’s Taste the Future series, which it introduced via a chocolate snack bar in Singapore. The newest innovations include a chocolate-hazelnut snack and two protein-packed oat milk drinks in chocolate and banoffee flavours.
The snack bar contains 7% Solein, while each of the drinks has 2% of the ingredient, with the Banoffee beverage racking up 18g of complete protein per serving. Additionally, the products are rich in iron, vitamin B12, and fibre.
Fazer, which is the majority shareholder in Solar Foods, is the first CPG company to introduce packaged Solein products in the US, after the protein was self-affirmed by the company as safe according to federal guidelines (although this food safety provision is facing a threat of elimination by new health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr).
Latest in a line of Solein showcases
Courtesy: Solar Foods
The Taste the Future innovations are the latest in a list of product trials featuring Solein protein. The ingredient received novel food approval in Singapore in 2022, and debuted as part of a vegan chocolate gelato at Italian eatery Fico. It was the base of a line of mooncakes and ice cream sandwiches rolled out by Japanese food giant Ajinomoto in the city-state.
At California’s Natural Products Expo West last week, it exhibited Solein Protein Bites – Nut Mix Edition as a concept product to showcase the ingredient’s capabilities
Now, at Future Food-Tech, Fazer is looking to learn from the feedback from industry taste-testers, which will inform its efforts to refine and develop these products further. The company is also aiming to create more Solein-powered foods for a European launch in the coming years.
Solar Foods has already filed for novel food approval in the EU, and gave the region a taste of Solein last month, with Italy’s KelpEat showcasing high-protein snacks at the Pitti Taste food fair in Florence.
“By adjusting the amount of Solein and other ingredients, it’s easy to develop products to suit different consumer needs and preferences,” said Juan-Manuel Benitez-Garcia, chief commercial officer of Solar Foods.
“The products introduced by Fazer showcase how Solein excels as an ingredient in protein drinks and healthy snacking. Solein is now commercially available in Singapore and the United States, and we are on track on our estimation to receive the novel food approval in the EU in 2026,” he added.
Solar Foods looks to take Solein global
Courtesy: Solar Foods
“These products showcase how extremely versatile and functional Solein is as an ingredient, offering endless possibilities for the food industry to replace traditional animal- and plant-based proteins,” said Benitez-Garcia.
The ingredient is made by feeding microbes on carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen instead of sugar. Doing so eschews the need for agricultural land to grow sugarcane, alongside any irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides. The result is a protein with emissions equal to just 1% of those generated by conventional meat, and 20% of plant proteins.
The microbes are grown in a liquid form, and later dried into an orange-yellow powder that is flavourless and has 78% protein, 6% fat, and 10% dietary fibre. Its macronutrient profile is said to be akin to dried soy or algae.
Solein is produced in Solar Foods’s commercial-scale facility, Factory 01, which can currently manufacture 160 tons per year. But it’s planning a much larger plant, Factory 02, which would be able to annually produce 12,800 tons of protein at a cost of €4.30-5.20 ($4.60-5.50) per kg.
The publicly-listed company recently received €10M ($10.6M) from the government as part of a larger financing deal for its facilities. To date, it has raised over €43M ($47M) in equity funding, and €30M ($32M) in debt financing.
“Solein provides superior nutrition with great taste, ticks off all major ‘free from’ claims, and is one of the most sustainable proteins in the market,” said Benitez-Garcia. “We can’t wait to see products made with Solein hit the shelves of stores and available for consumers all over the world.”
South Korea’s Uiseong County has won its bid to build a cultivated meat research centre, supported by $10M in government funding as part of the country’s food tech drive.
With regulatory support for cultivated meat ramping up in South Korea, the country’s first centre dedicated to cell-cultured foods is opening in Uiseong-gun, a city in the Gyeongsangbuk-do province.
The 2,660 sq m Food Tech Research Support Center is slated to open in 2027, and backed by public investment to the tune of ₩14.5B ($9.9M). The centre will pour in ₩5.25B ($3.6M), with the rest of the funds deployed by the local North Gyeongsang and Uiseong-gun governments.
Based in Uiseong-gun’s Bio Valley General Industrial Complex, the project was announced after the county was selected in the cell-cultured food field in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’s (MAFRA) competition for the construction of food tech R&D centres.
It will help companies develop their processes, scale up production, and apply for regulatory approval, and is the latest move positioning South Korea as one of Asia’s future food leaders.
“The new facility is one of several set up by the MAFRA designed to ramp up development of food technology,” explains Mirte Gosker, managing director of alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC.
“Understanding that future food development is big business, Uiseong County submitted a successful bid to MAFRA to host this new facility as a means of boosting its local economy,” she tells Green Queen.
Lee Chul-woo, governor of the North Gyeongsang province, called cellular agriculture “an innovative solution for the sustainable future food industry”. “The establishment of a core infrastructure at the Food Tech Research Support Center will serve as an opportunity for Gyeongbuk to leap to the center of the Korean food tech industry,” he noted.
Almost a dozen companies interested in new centre
Courtesy: SeaWith
The Food Tech Research Support Center plans to build a cellular agriculture system that can produce up to 100kg of cultivated meat per year, and support 60 new jobs. It will be run by the Gyeongbuk Technopark.
The facility will integrate research, development and commercial support, providing mass cultivation equipment and prototype production facilities, safety evaluation and licensing assistance, and infrastructure for the full-cycle industrialisation of cultivated food products.
According to Korean publication Gyeongbuk Ilbo, 11 companies have expressed their intention to move into the centre, including SeaWith, Micro Digital, and LMK. Meanwhile, Yeungnam University and the Animal Cell Proof-of-Sale Support Center are partner institutions.
“Other collaborations are under discussion with research institutions like the K-Bio CMO Center,” says Gosker, while potential partnerships with large corporations and initiatives like the World FoodTech Council are on the cards aswell.
These collaborations are also aimed at promoting the AI-based discovery of materials derived from natural products, food processing and robotics tech, and the quality control of cell-cultured production, according to Gyeongbuk Ilbo.
The new centre is “located next door to the existing Cell Culture Industry Support Center, which opened in 2023″, notes Gosker. “Both are within the special regulatory zone that South Korea established to accelerate domestic alternative protein innovation.” This $7M project harbours 10 cultivated meat firms that are exempt from restrictions on using biopsies and same-day slaughtered tissues in support of mass production of high-quality novel proteins.
South Korea ramps up support for novel proteins
Courtesy: GFI APAC
The new facility is part of the province’s plans to develop the local economy by becoming a food tech leader. It has established a production facility for culture media, which will support downstream industries, including cell-culture materials and equipment manufacturing.
Further, the local government plans to launch consumer awareness initiatives aimed at normalising and popularising cultivated meat. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has established a framework for regulatory approval of these proteins, and polling shows that 90% of Koreans are willing to try cultivated meat, and two in five are in favour of it being sold at supermarkets and restaurants.
Outside Gyeongsangbuk-do, similar food tech support centres have been established in Iksan, Jeollabuk-do (for alternative foods) and Naju, Jeollanam-do (for food upcycling).
Last year, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced an investment of ₩29B ($21M) in research funding for plant-based and cultivated seafood technologies. Industry giant Pulmuone and Singapore’s Umami Bioworks have both made moves to manufacture cultivated fish products in South Korea recently.
And in November, leading food tech organisations signed a deal to advance market research and knowledge exchanges, increase policy coordination for novel food regulation, facilitate training, and increase awareness about alternative protein innovation.
“As part of its mission to improve food system stability and efficiency, MAFRA has been stepping up its strategic investments into emerging food technologies like cultivated meat,” says Gosker.
“These investments will further enhance what is already one of the world’s most advanced tech ecosystems, which includes 10 biotechnology innovation and manufacturing clusters, around 40 companies working across the alt protein value chain, and major multinational corporations like Samsung Biologics. Add to that the world’s highest number of scientific researchers per capita and South Korea is well-positioned to be a global powerhouse for cellular agriculture.”
Cultivated meat regulatory approval imminent in South Korea
Courtesy: CellMEAT
GFI identified South Korea as one of the places to watch for regulatory progress in this field in 2025. “Our experts believe it’s a safe assumption that this will happen in 2025, possibly in the first half of the year,” reveals Gosker.
“Korean cultivated meat startup CellMEAT submitted its application for regulatory approval in early 2024 and the review process is expected to take around 270 working days (roughly one year),” she says. “If all goes well, the first product approval could theoretically come any day now.”
This, she adds, would “trigger a cascade of additional applications”, similar to what regulators have experienced in Singapore and the US (which just cleared its third cultivated meat product for sale).
Seoul-based startup Simple Planet previously indicated to Green Queen that it aims to obtain the regulatory greenlight for its cultivated meat this year as well.
“No individual country can reimagine the global protein supply – but a network of Asian R&D hubs working collaboratively to accelerate future-food development and manufacturing very well could,” says Gosker. “Korea is a central player in turning that dream into reality, alongside other established foodtech leaders like Japan, China, and Singapore, and rising economies like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.”
She continues: “If this regional coalition works together to supercharge scientific research, leverage each country’s supply-chain strengths, and rapidly increase regulatory knowledge-sharing, the combined impact will be far greater than the sum of its parts.”
In our interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders.
Martin Davalos is a Partner and Head of Food Tech at McWin Capital Partners.
What future food technologies most excite you?
Precision fermentation, AI-driven food tech, and sustainable packaging solutions. Precision fermentation, in particular, has the potential to revolutionise the production of alternative proteins and other food ingredients by making them more efficient and scalable.
Additionally, gene editing for crops is gaining traction as the market seeks improved crop resilience, yield, and nutrition while reducing environmental impact.
What are the future food verticals you are actively looking at for 2025?
For 2025, I am actively looking at the following four future food verticals:
Alternative fats and oils: Fats and oils have seen substantial inflation in the last year. I think that long-term demand growth will run up against decreasingly predictable crop yields and other environmental challenges, adding to the inflationary pressure on this category. Additionally, Robert F Kennedy Jr has specifically designated seed oils as a category that he intends to attack.
Gene editing for crops: Gene editing for crops is gaining traction as the market seeks improved crop resilience, yield, and nutrition while reducing environmental impact.
Food as Medicine: I remain optimistic about this trend, and our investment in Nuritas may cover part of it. We see more value here and possibly an opportunity in functional drinks. There’s potential for hyper-personalisation, particularly with AI-powered recommendations. However, this area may face low barriers to defensibility.
Precision spraying: It seems like startups have understood they need to propose actionable solutions to retain customers. Reducing and regulating the use of pesticides are major pillars of RFK Jr’s plan for the FDA. We think precision spraying companies are well positioned to benefit from the advances in AI and machine vision over the past couple of years, and can offer meaningful cost savings to customers.
What do you consider the food tech sector’s greatest achievement in the past five years?
The greatest achievement in the food tech sector over the past five years has been the commercialisation of cultivated meat and precision fermentation products. Companies like Upside Foods and The Every Company have made significant strides in bringing lab-grown meat and animal-free egg proteins to market, which are monumental steps towards a more sustainable food system.
If you could wave a magic wand, how would you fix plant-based meat?
The top trait I look for in a founder is resilience. Building a startup is incredibly challenging, and the ability to persevere through setbacks and adapt to changing circumstances is crucial for success.
The One That Got Away: What is the deal you wish you had gotten into, but didn’t?
It involves a company that has made significant strides in precision spraying technology. Their innovative approach leverages AI and machine vision to offer meaningful cost savings to customers, while also aligning with broader goals of reducing and regulating pesticide use.
What do you consider your most successful future food investment so far?
CookUnity. They have revolutionised the meal delivery space by connecting talented chefs with consumers, creating an elevated at-home dining experience. Their growth and market penetration have been impressive. Most recently, they have announced their upcoming launch in Toronto for the next quarter.
What has been your most disappointing investment so far?
It’s a company that did not meet its growth projections and struggled with market adoption. Despite the initial promise, the company faced significant challenges that hindered its success.
What do people misunderstand/get wrong most about VC?
One common misunderstanding is that securing funding guarantees success in itself. While funding is crucial, other factors are equally important, such as building a sustainable business model, a solid team, and a compelling value proposition.
What is the most ‘future food’ thing you have eaten this month?
A dish made with precision-fermented egg protein from The Every Company. It was fascinating to see how closely it mimicked the taste and texture of traditional eggs.
Where is your favourite climate-forward restaurant/dish/place to eat anywhere in the world?
Pink Mamma, one of the Big Mamma Group restaurants in Paris. They focus on using locally sourced, sustainable ingredients to create delicious and innovative dishes.
What’s your ‘why’? What motivates you to do what you do?
My motivation comes from the desire to create a more sustainable and equitable food system. I believe that through innovation and investment in food tech, we can address some of the most pressing challenges facing our planet and improve the health and well-being of people around the world.
Dutch startup Vivici has received a ‘no questions’ letter for its precision-fermented whey protein from the US FDA, just as the rule to ‘self-affirm’ food safety faces upheaval.
Precision fermentation firm Vivici has secured a ‘no questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with the regulator certifying its animal-free whey protein as safe to use in a suite of applications.
The recombinant beta-lactoglobulin has already carried self-affirmed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status since February 2024, but earlier this week, health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr directed the FDA to reevaluate and eventually eliminate this rule, which he labelled a “loophole” that prevents transparency.
It has put alternative protein startups – especially those working with precision fermentation, like Vivici – in the spotlight, with the need to obtain the FDA GRAS letter potentially becoming even more important.
“Based on the information that Vivici provided, as well as other information available to FDA, we have no questions at this time regarding Vivici’s conclusion that beta-lactoglobulin is GRAS under its intended conditions of use,” the FDA concluded, according to the startup, which closed a €32.5M ($33.7M) funding round last month.
“We notified the FDA in July 2024 and received the letter in February 2025,” CEO Stephan van Sint Fiet tells Green Queen. “This relatively short timeline is reflective of the high-quality work that our experienced team has put in.”
Vivici’s beta-lactoglobulin suitable for a wide range of products
Courtesy: Vivici
Vivici is one of several companies working on recombinant whey proteins via precision fermentation, a process that combines traditional fermentation with the latest biotech advances to efficiently produce a compound of interest.
But it has been able to progress rapidly thanks to the expertise and IP created by years of collaboration between DSM-Firmenich and Fonterra, which have been investors in the startup since 2023. Its first ingredient, Vivitein BLG, is bioidentical to beta-lactoglobulin, the main whey protein found in dairy.
It has gelling, foaming, and emulsification properties that enhance the texture of foods and beverages, contains all essential amino acids, and is clear in colour and neutral in flavour. And according to an independent life-cycle assessment, its animal-free beta-lactoglobulin has a 68% lower carbon footprint than its conventional counterpart and uses 86% less water.
Vivici’s GRAS notice to the FDA suggests that the ingredient can be used as a source of protein in meal replacements, functional beverages, nutrition bars, and dairy and alternative products at levels of up to 50% by weight. It can also be used in desserts, confectionery, fillings, bakery mixes, and meat, fish and egg analogues.
“We are thrilled to receive a ‘no questions’ letter for our Vivitein BLG, as this further increases the confidence of our customers in our product,” says van Sint Fiet, adding that the company is pursuing approval in the EU, the UK, Canada and Singapore too, with applications filed in several of these locations.
Courtesy: Vivici
Self-affirmed GRAS change creates uncertainty for Vivici’s next ingredient
Vivici’s recent fundraising round was earmarked for the expansion of its beta-lactoglobulin platform and the ingredient’s market entry. For its rollout, the company is focusing on the active nutrition segment, says van Sint Fiet.
“Valued globally at $28.4B a year in 2023, with an 8.5% growth that same year, the category is primed for growth in the coming years,” he says. “With the first customer offtake agreements for Vivitein BLG already secured, Vivici is uniquely placed to capitalise on that growth.”
And later this year, Vivici will also launch its recombinant bovine lactoferrin, a whey protein known for its iron-binding and functional properties. It’s an ingredient that’s short in supply and high in demand. “It has always been Vivici’s ambition to market a broader valuable protein portfolio, so to not just be a one-trick pony,” van Sint Fiet told Green Queen last month.
Courtesy: Vivici
So far, Singapore’s TurtleTree and Sydney-based All G Foods have self-obtained GRAS status for animal-free lactoferrin in the US. “We plan to bring the product market to the second half of 2025, and that requires that we have reached self-affirmed GRAS status, at the very least, by that time,” he said at the time.
But now, RFK Jr’s directive to close the self-affirmation rule has created uncertainty. Van Sint Fiet notes that it’s still early days and the proposed changes aren’t fully clear yet, but confirmed that Vivici is closely monitoring the situation.
“We are committed to developing a highly credible and trusted alternative protein industry and we welcome a more robust regulatory process,” he says.
“We consider filing a GRAS notice a best practice that we already adhere to and we see this as a welcome change that will lead to higher-quality data that documents the safety of precision-fermented ingredients, earning us the trust of customers and consumers.”
Meat-eaters find most plant-based alternatives inferior to animal protein in taste and texture, but some industry-leading products show how to bridge the gap.
Vegan meat alternatives have a taste and texture problem, and it is what’s keeping omnivores and flexitarians away, according to sensory testing by Nectar, a non-profit initiative focused on accelerating alternative protein transition through taste.
In its second annual Taste of the Industry report, the organisation conducted a blind test of 144 plant-based analogues with over 2,600 meat-eaters. Only 30% of participants liked the average meat-free product, compared to the 68% who liked conventional meat. Across all 14 categories, 46% said they ‘liked’ or ‘liked very much’ the leading vegan products.
Courtesy: Nectar
Off-flavours, a weird aftertaste, mushiness, and off-colours were some of the biggest weaknesses identified in the tested products. On the plus side, 20 of the plant-based leaders were rated the same or better than their animal-derived counterparts by at least half the taste-testers, providing an R&D roadmap for the rest of the industry.
Investment in R&D offers strong returns – Nectar’s research found that the leading products in each category capture a 28% market share, versus just 18% for other offerings. In fact, for every 5% increase in the share of consumers rating plant-based meat as the same or better than conventional meat, sales of the former grew by $1.5M.
Plant-based burgers, nuggets and fillets most appealing to meat-eaters
Courtesy: Nectar
The analysis revealed that meat-eaters tend to find vegan burgers, nuggets and meatballs more appealing than bacon or hot dog analogues – the better-performing categories have five to 15 times higher market penetration.
“These leader products are outperforming average products primarily in flavour,” says Nectar director Caroline Cotto. “Also, plant-based chicken as a category is winning in R&D over pork and beef, with no chicken products showing a big gap in liking between the average plant-based product and the leader product.”
“Our research shows that the biggest opportunity for plant-based products to catch up to their animal counterparts is on texture. For some categories, like nuggets, burgers, turkey, etc, mimicking texture is significantly easier than for other categories, like bacon, bratwurst, and whole-cut steak,” she says.
“The balance of fattiness and chewiness in bacon, the snap of a bratwurst casing, and the tender but firm chew of whole-cut steak are all textural elements that require further R&D if plant-based products want to meet omnivore consumers’ expectations in these categories,” adds Cotto.
Courtesy: Nectar
While the analysis didn’t look at chopped steak products like the ones offered by Beyond Meat (and recently Impossible Foods), for whole cuts, reducing the off-flavour and aftertaste, mushy texture, and dryness and toughness are the biggest opportunities.
At the same time, the research suggested that people prefer unbreaded chicken fillets over strips or chunks. “One of the biggest R&D opportunities across all categories was juiciness [or] tenderness,” explains Cotto. “That played out in this category clearly where perhaps the smaller pieces have more problems retaining their moisture.” FIllets were rated as juicy or tender about 1.5 times more.
Further, strips and chunks were found to have weird aftertastes or off-flavours more frequently than fillets, which Cotto says could be because Nectar tested some of the lower-performing brands instead of industry leaders here.
The best plant-based meat brands, according to meat-eaters
Courtesy: Nectar
Nectar is also launching the Tasty Awards to celebrate innovation in the category, with the winners announced at a ceremony in San Francisco today. They honour brands that were found to be the most-liked in its tests, with products that over half of omnivores say taste the same or better than animal protein.
A total of 13 companies won an award across the categories, with Impossible Foods the biggest winner (with wins in six categories). Brands seem to be performing the best with burgers and unbreaded chicken fillets, categories where five companies won an award each.
This includes Heura, Meati Foods, and Swap – a sign that consumers are perhaps more inclined towards ‘clean’ labels and short ingredient lists. However, Cotto clarifies that the actual base ingredients don’t have a large impact on purchase intent.
“Our research found that coconut oil had the best consumer perception, over seed oils like canola or sunflower, but relatively no impact on taste,” she explains. “Mushrooms and mycelium were conceptually appealing ingredients to consumers, leading to a positive change in purchase intent, but products with these ingredients actually had lower overall liking ratings.”
Courtesy: Nectar
Cotto suggests that “taste parity is on the horizon”, but “no plant-based products in this year’s study” achieved parity with or outperformed an animal product. She reiterates that texture innovation is the most important lever for plant-based leaders to catch up with animal proteins.
“Plant-based products were described as juicy 62% less often than the animal, leading to decreases in liking of 1.1 points – increasing tenderness and reducing mushiness are meaningful secondary priorities,” she says.
Meat-free offerings were found to be savoury 35% less often and have a weird aftertaste or off-flavour five to six times more often than animal proteins. “These differences were associated with a 1.5- to two-point liking gap between animal and plant-based products,” says Cotto, noting that flavour is the “biggest opportunity for plant-based as a whole to improve”.
“We think it’s important for the industry to raise the standard of the average plant-based product because the average product was generally disliked,” she says.
As cocoa and coffee prices reach record highs, one startup is turning waste from the world’s favourite drink into its favourite sweet treat.
What if your hot chocolate was made from coffee waste?
As the world’s largest producer of coffee, Brazil is responsible for a lot of waste that comes from the industry too. In 2017, its industry was responsible for over 3.3 million tonnes of organic waste.
Much of this waste gets discarded – from the outer husks of the coffee cherry to the silver skin that coats the bean – even though these byproducts are ripe for industrial use. According to the International Coffee Organization, the sector generates over 40 million tonnes of biomass annually.
This is a problem for an industry that already has a heavy impact on the planet and its water resources. Coffee production emits more greenhouse gases than pork, shrimp, rice and cheese – and studies suggest that 40-70% of these emissions come during the cultivation and processing stages.
For one Brazilian startup, this just didn’t make sense. Why waste biomass that is highly functional and nutritional, especially at a time when both hunger and food prices are skyrocketing?
Courtesy: Cellva Ingredients
Its solution? Chocolate made from coffee waste instead of cocoa beans, which solves multiple problems at once: it lowers the emissions of chocolate production, one of the only commodities more carbon-intensive than coffee; it saves food waste, another major source of emissions; and it tackles the record-high prices of cocoa.
“Our coffee-husk-derived ingredient costs 30% less than conventional cocoa powder, making it a cost-effective alternative without compromising functionality or sensory experience,” explains Sérgio Pinto, co-founder and CEO of Cellva Ingredients.
The São Paulo-based biotech startup was founded in 2022 and originally was working on cultivated pork fat but has since expanded its platform to offer an upcycled ingredient that companies can use to replace up to 70% of cocoa in various applications. It will unveil the new ingredient, called CoffeeCoa, at the Future Food Tech Summit in San Francisco tomorrow (March 13).
Client interest strong as Cellva scales up
Courtesy: Cellva Ingredients
Cellva claims its coffee-waste-derived cocoa alternative can save the food industry $435M every year. This figure reflects the market potential for sustainable and functional ingredients, covering both the food sector (chocolates, baked goods and confectionery) and the nutraceutical industry, which is increasingly incorporating bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties,” Pinto tells Green Queen.
The firm uses byproducts like parchment and silver skin – the former is a protective cellulose layer over the coffee bean, and the latter is the inner-most covering that falls off during roasting (a process that turns it into chaff).
“Coffee and cocoa have intrinsically similar notes and characteristics, so our process simply aims to isolate the compounds responsible for them,” Pinto says. “We obtain a bioactive extract from the husks, which is microencapsulated using our proprietary processes, ensuring better stability and sensory properties. The microencapsulated extract can then be incorporated into any food matrix, including chocolate formulations.”
The startup sources its coffee husks from Bahia – ironically Brazil’s largest cocoa-producing state. “We are actively sourcing from new suppliers – domestically and internationally – as we expect a large demand,” says Pinto.
He explains that despite the pre-launch status, Cellva has secured over $1M in committed interest contracts from its B2B clients, worth over 80 tonnes a year in volume. To meet this demand, it’s establishing a manufacturing facility in Bahia in partnership with “an extremely experienced operator”. “Additionally, we are refining distribution agreements across Latin America, ensuring broad market access and commercial scalability,” he says.
CoffeeCoa offers functional and health gains
Courtesy: Cellva Ingredients
Apart from the financial and environmental benefits, CoffeeCoa is rich in antioxidants and fibre, helping improve digestion, boost satiety, and enhance metabolic health. “The health benefits stem from the bioactive compounds in coffee husks, particularly chlorogenic acids, trigonelline, and polyphenols,” says Pinto.
“[These] provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic benefits, supporting heart health, cognitive function, gut microbiome balance, and weight management, making cellva’s ingredient a powerful functional alternative to cocoa,” he adds.
“Tests showed that the microcapsules retained high levels of antioxidant capacity and total polyphenol content, even after being incorporated into food applications. The encapsulation technology preserves and enhances these bioactive properties, offering a functional ingredient with potential health benefits. And as tasty and colourful as cocoa.”
Speaking of functionality, Cellva claims the upcycled ingredient has a naturally sweet profile, making it an ideal substitute for cocoa in products like baked goods (such as brownies or muffins), beverages, functional foods, supplements, and, of course, chocolates.
“Importantly, it maintains the sensory qualities of cocoa – taste, texture, and appearance – while providing greater stability in formulations,” notes Pinto.
“We recognise that our strength is in using technology to develop and scale ingredients and solutions,” he adds, noting that the company doesn’t intend to sell cocoa powder or finished chocolates. “What we plan instead is to offer an affordable and functional ingredient that can be incorporated into various formulations, substituting partially and complementing the use of cocoa.”
Cellva raising funds to expand production
Courtesy: Cellva Ingredients
Pinto highlights that CoffeeCoa provides a “more stable pricing structure while adding sustainability value to manufacturers”, considering the volatility of cocoa prices.
While the chocolate industry itself is a major polluter, climate change is wiping out cocoa crops, with global stocks falling to their lowest levels in a decade. Left unaddressed, a third of the world’s cocoa trees might die out by 2050.
Cocoa prices shot up by three- to fourfold in 2024, reaching all-time highs – in New York, cocoa futures reached a record $12,565 per tonne in mid-December. In fact, cocoa was the fastest-gaining commodity in the value chain last year, and prices are likely to stay high this year.
Cellva itself has attracted the interest of investors, securing $1.7M from ProVeg, Rumbo Ventures, and AirCapital. Now, it is extending its funding round to $4.6M, with $2.9M already secured.
“This capital will be used to expand our commercial reach, ensure working capital for scaling production, and finalise our bioactive ingredient operations in the Amazon region, reinforcing our positioning in sustainable, high-value food innovations,” says Pinto.
“The demand for clean-label, upcycled, and functional food ingredients is accelerating, and our technology aligns with this shift by offering a novel, health-oriented ingredient with a strong environmental impact.”
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Diageo’s newest non-dairy Baileys, Beyond Meat’s mycelium steak, and Minor Figures’s ‘Hyper’ oat milk.
New products and launches
Beverage giant Diageo has released two non-dairy versions of its popular cream liqueur Baileys. Made with oat milk, they’re available across the US in Coffee Toffee and Cookies & Creamy flavours for $24.99 per 700ml bottle.
Courtesy: Diageo
Also in the US, Malk Organics, known for its clean-label milk alternatives, has introduced organic coconut and soy milks, which will be available for $6.99 and $5.99 per 28oz bottle at Whole Foods Market and Sprouts Farmers Market.
Elmhurst 1925 is getting in on the clean-label alt-milk action too, rolling out a suite of unsweetened options – from plain and vanilla pistachio to coconut barista and vanilla cashew – as well as a barista cashew milk. They will retail for $7.99-8.99 per pack starting June, and were debuted at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California last week.
To celebrate its 15th anniversary, plant-based dairy leader Califia Farms has introduced a limited-edition Birthday Cake almond creamer, retailing at Kroger, Wegmans and Wakefern for $5.79. This is in addition to its new pistachio-almond creamer, organic cashew milk, and espresso-blend cold brew (available for $5.49-6.99 at various supermarkets).
Courtesy: Califia Farms
US ice-cream giant Häagen-Dazs has released the new non-dairy sorbets: Summer Blueberry & Lemon, Passion Fruit & Sweet Pear, and Sweet Lemon Coconut. They’re available nationwide for $6.99 per pint.
At the trade show, British oat milk brand Minor Figures also unveiled the newest additions to its US lineup: mocha and cinnamon oat lattes, and a functional Hyper Oat SKU, due to be launched in 2026. It has also reintroduced its barista lite edition with 33% fewer calories, which is rolling out this month.
Meanwhile, plant-based leader Beyond Meatshowcased its upcoming whole-cut steak at the event. While it didn’t confirm if this was the mycelium-based product it teased last year, the brand promised it “mirrors the texture, flavour, and experience of a premium USDA steak fillet”.
Courtesy: Beyond Meat
South Korean meat-free brand Unlimeatdebuted its new bowl SKUs, with the range comprising Galbi & Kimchi Rice, Bulgogi Japchae, and Gochujang Bibimbap.
In yet another Expo West launch, plant protein maker Beleafintroduced a shelf-stable Soybean Beef Slice (which can last up to 18 months), alongside vegan bacon, mini drumsticks, and shrimp.
In the UK, The Coconut Collab has rolled out a strawberry-flavoured protein yoghurt made with a base of coconuts and almonds. Available at Tesco and (shortly) Ocado, each £1.60 single-serve pot contains 9g of plant protein.
Courtesy: Oatly
Oat milk giant Oatly has kickstarted its latest marketing drive, which will see the company dole out 20,000 free coffees with its barista milk. It comes after blind taste tests found that four times as many Brits prefer oat milk in their coffee than currently purchase it.
Speaking of brand promotions, Impossible Foods has launched its Bloody Delicious campaign in Australia, partnering with TV personality and TikTok chef Iain ‘Huey’ Hewitson to challenge locals to distinguish between its burger and beef in a blind taste test.
Meanwhile, Australian cultured meat makerVow has debuted its Forged Gras product at Two Men Bagel House in Singapore, with the cultivated foie gras appearing in several limited-edition menu items.
And as part of its blended meat move, fellow Aussie startup Fable Foods has partnered with catering giant Aramark and William White Meats in the UK to create a 65-35 Beef and Shiitake Mushroom burger.
Company and finance developments
Polish vegan restaurant chain Krowarzywa – once the largest plant-based group in the country – is shutting down its last location at the end of the month, citing financial difficulties.
Courtesy: Shlomi Arbiv
Umami Bioworks is continuing the global expansion of its cultivated seafood operations, establishing a hub in Wageningen in the Netherlands. This is its second office in Europe, following its move into the UK last October.
Swedish cultivated meat player Re:meat has closed an oversubscribed €1M investment round to open a new facility it calls Re:meatery.
British tempeh brand Tiba Tempeh has raised £1.1M ($1.4M) in a funding round led by Maven Capital Partners, after its retail sales jumped by 736% in 2024, making it the fastest-growing meat-free brand in the UK.
Courtesy: Tiba Tempeh
Canadian vegan fast-food chain Odd Burger saw revenue grow by 6% from Q3 to Q4 2024 (though it was flat compared to Q4 2023), while losses plunged by 80% in the last three months of 2024. It ascribed the performance to the expansion of its franchise model and CPG business.
Californian biomanufacturing startup Pow.Bio has opened a 25,000 sq ft demo facility with bench- and pilot-scale continuous fermentation capacities in Alameda. The FDA-approved plant will help precision fermentation startups transition from gram-scale experiments to production in the hundreds of kgs.
Through its Prairies Economic Development Canada department, the Canadian government has invested C$1M to support the Cellular Agriculture Prairies Ecosystem project led by New Harvest Canada. It will be matched by contributions from regional partners, bringing total investment to C$2.4M over three years.
Courtesy: Second Cup
Also in Canada, coffee chain Second Cup has scrapped the non-dairy surcharge, meaning all its plant-based milks are available as a free swap. It comes shortly after similar announcements from Tim Hortons and Dunkin’.
Los Angeles coffee chain Go Get Em Tiger has partnered with Elmhurst 1925 to make its barista oat milk the exclusive oat option across all eight locations, in what is positioned as a transition to seed-oil-free milks.
Research, policy and awards
The Good Food Institute, a think tank focused on future foods, has introduced an interactive Alternative Protein Career Pathways web tool to provide career guidance for people interested in the sector.
Courtesy: GFI
The government of India has launched a call for biomanufacturing grant proposals for researchers working on smart proteins. Applications are open until March 25.
In the UK, the University of Oxford is working with several other institutes to help design food policies that promote net-zero targets and address public health challenges. The Thriving Food Futures project will run for five years, and has been set up with a £6M grant from UK Research and Innovation and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
Courtesy: Plant FWD
Alternative protein trade conference Plant FWD is returning to Amsterdam next month (April 8-9), convening over 1,000 industry professionals, investors, and policymakers. The event will include new product demos, a preview of the Eat-Lancet Dietary Guidelines 2.0, and pitches from 10 startups.
The annual What’s Trending in Nutrition survey by Pollock Communications and Today’s Dietitian has named gut health and plant-based eating among the top trends that will shape consumer choices this year. However, myths about the protein content of plant-based food persist.
Courtesy: Morning Consult/PCRM
Aligning with the above, 87% of American adults believe they need to eat meat, dairy, eggs and other animal products to get enough protein, according to a new survey by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Morning Consult. Women and Gen Zers are most likely to disagree with this misconception.
In California’s Bay Area, artificial intelligence organisations Electric Sheep and OpenPawshosted a hackathon with 81 coders as part of its AI for Animals conference series. It tackled 16 real-world challenges drawn from the social impact, food system transformation, and animal protection communities.
Courtesy: Nature’s Fynd
Finally, fungi protein startup Nature’s Fynd‘s Dairy-Free Strawberry Fy Yogurt has been named the winner in the Dairy Alternative category at the 2025 Nexty Awards.
House and Senate representatives in Mississippi have unanimously passed a bill to ban the sale of cultivated meat in the state, which is on the way to the governor’s desk now.
Sell cultivated meat, go to jail.
Mississippi has followed Florida and Alabama to become the third US state to pass a bill that would ban people from producing or selling cultivated meat within its borders.
The House of Representatives – where the bill was first introduced – voted 116-0 in favour of the legislation (with four absentees) earlier this week, sending the bill to Governor Tate Reeves’s desk for final approval.
Unless Reeves vetoes the bill, selling these proteins in Mississippi could land you a misdemeanour charge with a $500 fine, or even a jail term of up to three months. But the governor, who signed legislation prohibiting cultivated meat from being labelled as meat back in 2019 – when no such product had been federally approved for sale – is likely to sign this latest bill into law too.
Cultivated meat opposition misguided
Courtesy: Mission Barns
The bill was introduced in January by two Republican representatives, Bill Pigott and Lester Carpenter. Pigott, a beef and dairy farmer, has long been an opponent of alternative protein. He introduced a bill to restrict how these products are labelled in 2019, which was unsuccessful and preceded the one eventually signed by Governor Reeves.
Speaking to the New York Times that year, he said: “The fake, lab-produced meat is a little bit more of a science fiction-type deal that concerns me more.”
Unlike similar bills in several other states, Pigott and Carpenter’s HB 1006 passed through the legislature without any opposition. Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate were unanimous in their view that beef derived from animal cells and grown in bioreactors should not be sold in the state. Under the bill, retailers that sell cultivated meat could have their licence revoked.
The move was supported by Andy Gispon, Mississippi’s agricultural commissioner, another long-term critic of cultivated meat. In July last year, he called it a “science experiment”, declaring: “I don’t know about you, but I want my steak to come from farm-raised beef, not a petri dish from a lab.”
He wasn’t shy about the reasons behind his support of a ban: the state’s livestock industry. “We know that American farmers are the true conservationists. Throughout the process of raising an animal, all the way to slaughter, animals must be treated humanely,” he said.
“Farmers and ranchers know more than anyone that their livelihood depends on the way they work their land and treat their livestock,” Gispon added, though his comment ignores the fact that most of the inputs needed to cultivate animal cells into meat come from farms.
Cultivated meat industry weathering the storm
Courtesy: Eat Just
Mississippi’s bill is nothing new. More than 20 states have tried to ban or restrict cultivated meat in recent years, and most have failed to get anywhere. The anti-cultivated-meat rhetoric has grown louder in the last year, as some Americans take to the carnivore diet, others become apprehensive of ultra-processed foods, and public figures like Elon Musk proclaim steak and eggs as the ideal breakfast
Meanwhile, investors are flocking away from the sector, with startups receiving 40% less capital in 2024, followed by a 75% plunge in 2023. Some startups have struggled to stay afloat, and others have made adjustments to their workforce.
Downturn or not, the industry appears prepared to fight the burgeoning sector. “Cell-based meats are not expected to be on grocery stores any time soon, but we must be vigilant and proactive rather than getting caught asleep at the wheel,” Gispon wrote last year.
It may come as a surprise to him that Californian startup Mission Barns has landed a deal to roll out bacon and meatballs made from its cultivated pork fat at Sprouts Farmers Market. It received a ‘no questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this month, the first such regulatory approval in the country since 2023.
Although legislators in states including South Carolina, West Virginia, Montana, Georgia have brought similar bills into consideration this year, others have faced setbacks. South Dakota’s HB 1109 failed to pass through the Senate, as did Wyoming’s HB 0168. Nebraska’s LB 246, meanwhile, has faced pushback from farmers and ranchers, who bemoaned that the effort would stifle competition in a free market.
It’s not the first instance of the meat industry hitting back against lawmakers claiming to protect them with these bills. Florida’s law received criticism from the country’s oldest and largest trade association, which represents 95% of the US’s meat output.
In a letter sent to Governor Ron DeSantis in March 2024, the North American Meat Institute called the ban “bad public policy”. “These bills establish a precedent for adopting policies and regulatory requirements that could one day adversely affect the bills’ supporters,” it said, emphasising the importance of consumer choice.
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