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Category: Vegan

  • India’s Future Food Changemakers: How Heritage Vegan Brand Carra Got Indians to Love Dark Chocolate

    carra chocolates
    10 Mins Read

    In our Indian Changemakers series, we interview brands and founders shaping the future of food in the world’s most populous country. Here, we speak to Komal Khosla, founder of Delhi-based vegan craft chocolate brand Carra, about the country’s changing attitudes towards food quality, health and sustainability – and its love for chocolate.

    Indians love a good piece of chocolate. I grew up in a world where ‘Kuch meetha ho jaaye’ (roughly: let’s have something sweet) was an omnipresent tagline thanks to Cadbury and its ultra-popular Dairy Milk brand, which I guarantee you tastes better in India than it does in its own home country of the UK.

    Chocolate was also part and parcel of Indian festivals, which might seem counterintuitive given the country’s renown for local sweets. Maybe it was a demographic thing – I can’t count the number of chocolate boxes (containing assortments of Cadbury or Nestlé products) I was gifted after visiting people’s houses every Diwali. I can recall stacks of these boxes lying around in houses to give to visitors. It’s an entire industry in itself.

    But somewhere along the way, as India and Indians became more globalized, so too did our tastes. The switch flipped from always buying the cheapest food to buying better – whether that’s higher quality or better for you. It coincided with a growing consciousness around what we eat and where it comes from, alongside climate-change-induced heatwaves and water shortages.

    Within the chocolate world – which faces catastrophic climate losses and has been linked to deforestation (with the widespread use of palm oil playing no small part) and human rights abuses – legacy brands tried to adapt to the shift in consumer mindsets. Cadbury, for example, launched a 30% reduced sugar version of its Dairy Milk to appeal to Indians who wanted healthier chocolate.

    But the real revolution came from the new, indie challenger brands promising good-for-you, good-for-the-planet, and better-tasting chocolates, all in one. Among them was Carra, a brand that launched six years ago with a range of chocolate that prioritised taste and health.

    Reflecting family values in business

    carra craft chocolate
    Courtesy: Carra

    “We, at large, do not eat good quality chocolates here,” says Carra founder Komal Khosla. “[We] do not even know what it is.” But Indians do eat a lot of chocolate: a 2019 Mintel survey found that 61% of them said they eat it daily or at least once a week. For context, that figure equated to about 840 million people at the time – more than 2.5 USAs.

    Khosla grew up fascinated with numbers and was sure she was destined to be an accountant, but six to seven years into a career with one of the Big Four, she realised she wanted to do something “bigger and more valuable”. “I thought of taking a break and figuring out what I felt strongly about doing in life,” she recalls. “It was a nervous big gamble back then.”

    This was the path that led her to becoming one of India’s finest chocolatiers. The now-vegan brand didn’t start this way – it was, like Khosla, vegetarian. She has always been vegetarian, though her Punjabi family consumed meat and asked how she’d maintain her health if she didn’t eat chicken. But she never liked the smell or the mouthfeel of animal meat– and says she’s glad she never converted to eating meat.

    She grew up in a joint family. “In bigger families, taking a stand and having everyone believe in what you believe is not absolutely possible, so I know that you need not revolt and adamantly say a point across –you give logic as to why and eventually everyone will get the point,” she says.

    This seeped into how she approached Carra as a brand. “I knew we would have to create tasty products and give people a tasty option as a solution to make a switch towards vegan food consumption easy and more of a choice,” she recalls. “The narrative was always a logical solution and not take up a fight with anyone as to why it’s even needed.”

    Unlocking vegan milk chocolate

    vegan chocolate
    Courtesy: Carra

    The brand came about at a time when veganism wasn’t a familiar concept to Indians. It is now, though. A report by the country’s Plant Based Foods Industry Association (PBFIA) in May found that veganism has become “increasingly popular” over the last five years in India, with “more than 2% of people actively identifying as vegan”.

    Anecdotally, Khosla agrees with this shift: “I see restauranteurs have added ‘vegan’ as an option in the menus. Most high-end [or] good cafes have at least one vegan dish. With the way restauranteurs are cut-throat towards their businesses, adding a vegan option would have come from some demand – and that says [a lot].”

    She explains: “There was a time not so long back that people considered vegan and vegetarian the same, and now we see most people aware of [it as] a separate term.”

    And that Carra itself has now made that transition too, overhauling its lineup of premium chocolates to be fully vegan. The range includes a bunch of dark chocolates in different cocoa proportions and flavours, as well as vegan milk and white chocolates. Khosla says her team had previously not been able to crack the right formulation for plant-based versions of the latter two.

    “Replicating the taste of dairy isn’t that easy, she tells me. “But when we aced the taste for them, we knew we had to launch them to the world… We are proud of the vegan milk and vegan white that we created. We were India’s first to have launched a vegan white chocolate bar.”

    Carra experimented with an array of ingredients to figure out the best flavour combinations – and settled on a base of roasted cashews and oats to replicate the flavour of dairy-based chocolate. “India as a market has a higher consumption of milk chocolates than dark – the trend is changing now, but still at large, we [have] more of [a] sweet tooth and milk tooth,” Khosla explains. Her excitement and pride is palpable and endearing. “Changing that and introducing something in place of what we have been so habitual to consuming is a task – the taste had to be bang on. And I think we have achieved it!”

    Good-for-you over everything

    madhubani art
    Courtesy: Carra

    The brand has a sugar-free range too, which uses sweeteners like stevia and erythritol, two ingredients that have been questioned regarding their health credentials. But Khosla argues that these are natural sweeteners – stevia is a plant and erythritol is fermented corn – and she believes they are safe to use.

    What do her customers think? “We haven’t faced any concerns on this as yet, and we source our sweeteners from very reliable places, so we are pretty confident that these won’t and don’t have ill-effects,” she outlines. “But we keep ourselves open towards any new norms/studies that people conduct on different sweeteners. So far, we feel this is the best alternative available without [requiring] any insulin or GI-level spike.”

    This is especially important for her, as India has been named the ‘diabetes capital of the world’, with over 235 million people suffering from diabetes (mostly type 2) or prediabetes. “We hope to be able to bring some options for sweet indulgence for healthier and better indulgence,” she says. “We are working on bringing a lot more options in No Added Sugar varieties, and also working on a healthy sweet for kids.”

    Health really is Carra’s R&D focus, with its factory in Delhi’s Okhla Industrial Area the centre of its new product development. For Diwali, Carra is releasing a sugar-free, date-sweetened chocolate fudge SKU. “Chocolates are naturally a superfood, but these are not completely considered healthy,” she explains. “We want to be able to break that notion, by actually making it completely healthy, and bringing better sweet indulgences.”

    And it’s these kind of brands that Khosla finds inspiring as well. “We look up to brands that are talking of good indulgence, [whether] in the savoury or sweet category – we think this is a big category in the times to come.” She namechecks Mumbai-based The Whole Truth and Bangalore’s Yoga Bar as fellow trailblazers in India’s better-for-you sweet category.

    A local and sustainable slant

    carra india culture series
    Courtesy: Carra

    While health is a big deal, Carra is deeply rooted in tradition too. Its India Culture Series celebrates beloved local ingredients like cardamom, cinnamon, saunf (fennel seeds) and meetha paan (sweet betel leaf), infusing them into 55% dark chocolate. “We haven’t glorified our Indian spices enough,” Khosla tells me.

    She points out how fennel and betel are used as palate refreshers and mouth fresheners after meals in India. It’s akin to After Eights, the legendary mint chocolate widely used as a palate refresher too. With the same logic, she paired these ingredients with dark chocolate, which ended up having a “very interesting flavour”.

    Carra also taps into local artisans for its packaging. For the new Diwali chocolate boxes, the brand worked with an artist whose work is inspired by Madhubani art, which originated in the namesake city in central India, and is widely practised in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. In a LinkedIn post, Khosla called it “a joyful and beautiful depiction”.

    diwali chocolates
    Courtesy: Carra

    There’s a common thread running among all these chocolates: being planet-friendly is crucial to Carra’s ethos as a brand. While it sources some of its cocoa from Ghana (the world’s second-largest producer), its primary origin is Idukki, Kerala in the south of India. “We have started shifting towards Indian cocoa,” Khosla explains. “We wanted to be able to visit the cocoa farms and oversee the complete fermentation process. A chance visit to Kerala helped us get familiarised with Indian cocoa, and it is on par with cocoa from other regions – it has a very interesting and unique taste profile of its own.”

    The chocolate bars are wrapped in paper packaging, and placed into printed paper boxes. And while that’s a start, she acknowledges there’s still some plastic in the pack to enable it to seal properly: “We are trying to figure [out] a completely biodegradable/compostable option for it.”

    But despite this focus on sustainability, Khosla believes the best way to broach this topic with Indian consumers is to start talking about how it’s better for their health. “People care for themselves and for other humans,” she explains. “Care for the planet and for the later generations is a far-fetched concept for now. We need to speak the language which people will understand here and put across the point.”

    Premium prices, but future-facing

    vegan chocolate india
    Courtesy: Carra

    Being a craft chocolate brand, Carra does fall into the premium category – a 50g bar can set you back ₹180 ($2.16). “We hear all kinds of comments on this,” reveals Khosla. “Some find them a bit high on cost, some understand the purity and taste, and the minimal and quality ingredients that go into making it, and understand the cost.”

    This is backed up by data. A December 2021 survey by leading food company Kerry found that 63% of Indians would be willing to buy plant-based products regularly, with 60% not deterred by higher price tags.

    “However, we are one of the lowest-priced when it comes to craft chocolates in India,” Khosla says. “We try to keep them as low as we can manage, the idea is to have more people try them.” She likens it to the rise of speciality coffee in India and changing attitudes towards the drink: “With speciality coffee and the roast profiles that people have started understanding about coffee and different coffee beans, that has helped too in people understanding some [of the] nitty-gritty about chocolates.”

    And with time, Khosla hopes these evolving attitudes help Carra become the go-to brand for a healthier sweet. When asked where she sees the brand five years from now, she responds: “I hope Carra will be able to spread its wings wide across India and in the global market.”

    Carra is changing the way Indians think about chocolate, offering a food fit for the future. “When dairy-based milk chocolates were introduced, that was a refreshing and very innovative creation for the chocolate industry,” she recalls. “I hope Carra brings another revolution with its vegan chocolates.”

    The post India’s Future Food Changemakers: How Heritage Vegan Brand Carra Got Indians to Love Dark Chocolate appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • The Number One Tip for Going Number Two? Go Vegan!

    If you have a “gut feeling” that going vegan will help your bowel movements, you’re not wrong. Among all the wonderful benefits of being vegan—like sparing animals, reducing your environmental footprint, and protecting yourself from heart disease, cancer, and other health issues—there’s another major plus-side: curbing constipation.

    plate of green foods including cucumber, avocado, and leafy greens that are vegan and can help curb constipation

    It may be taboo to talk about poo, but constipation is a widespread issue. Studies show that up to 20% of Americans suffer from chronic constipation, accounting for millions of doctors’ visits each year. Since 1997, the number of patients admitted to the hospital primarily for constipation has more than doubled. If left untreated, chronic constipation can lead to painful heath ailments such as hemorrhoids, rectal prolapse, and other related diseases that affect your overall health.

    woman in blue sweater grabs at her belly due to an apparent stomach ache

    Talk About a Pain in the Butt

    So what’s causing America’s constipation epidemic? Nutritionists are blaming a serious lack of dietary fiber—something that many vegan foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, are rich in. Research shows than only 5% of Americans are getting enough fiber daily—an issue nutritionists call the “fiber gap.”

    Do Vegans Really ‘Go’ More?

    They say that beans—the “magical fruit”—are the number one food for going number two, but you can enjoy a variety of nutritious, fiber-rich vegan foods that promote good digestion by reducing the amount of sugar your blood absorbs.
     bowl of oats sprinkled with almonds and dried fruits, these fiber-packed foods are vegan and can help curb constipation

    Eating fiber-rich vegan foods has been linked to more frequent bowel movements and softer stools. And because vegans may consume up to twice as much fiber as meat-eaters do on average, they’re less likely to suffer from constipation and other related complications. A University of Oxford study found that vegans had more frequent bowel movements than vegetarians, who had more frequent bowel movements than meat-eaters.

    Listen to Your Gut—Go Vegan!

    Going vegan won’t just help you with constipation issues—it could improve your overall health. Studies have shown that vegans enjoy a lower risk of heart disease, lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower overall cancer rates. Research has also found that going vegan can enhance your immune system.

    Additionally, going vegan helps the countless animals who are exploited and killed in the meat, egg, and dairy industries. Cows, chickens, pigs, fish, and other animals used for food are intelligent, complex living beings who deserve our empathy and compassion. Be kind to them and yourself by going vegan today.

    Need Resources for Being a Healthy Vegan?

    Check out PETA’s simple guide for meeting your nutritional needs with vegan foods, tips for vegan gut-friendly foods, and easy, healthy vegan recipes. Our vegan starter kit comes with everything you need to make the switch:

    The post The Number One Tip for Going Number Two? Go Vegan! appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • This Changes Everything: Beyond Meat Goes All-In On Health with New Ad Campaign

    beyond meat ad
    5 Mins Read

    Two months after launching its farmer- and health-centric marketing drive, alt-meat giant Beyond Meat is doubling down on the health aspect of its products with its new This Changes Everything campaign. It comes a few months after its Beyond Steak product was certified as heart-healthy by the American Heart Association (AHA).

    The new ad spot features Schitt’s Creek actor Rizwan Manji, comedian Chris Parnell and an unnamed former Saturday Night Live cast member, honing in on Manji’s character’s excitement about the fact that meat (Beyond’s, in this case) can be healthy.

    The 30-second commercial aims to emphasise the health benefits of Beyond Meat’s products – particularly its vegan steak, which eschews the usually longer ingredient lists with a cleaner label using wheat gluten and fava beans as the base and became the first meat product – conventional or plant-based – to receive the AHA certification.

    The slot involves Manji getting overly excited after finding out that Beyond Steak is “good for you”, ending up in a sequence where he proclaims everything from cheesesteaks to doing his own stunts as “good for him” – “Everything bad is good for me,” he says. It ends with Parnell’s voiceover saying the good-for-you mantra only applies to Beyond’s alt-meat.

    rizwan manji
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    Fighting off the anti-alt-meat lobby

    The campaign, which goes live on Monday, takes a more direct approach than the previous There’s Goodness Here, which took a subtler route towards tackling misinformation. It’s an extension of Beyond’s overall goal of educating consumers about the health benefits of plant-based meat after years of coordinated attacks and ad campaigns by the meat lobby.

    “There is a considerable gap between the strong health credentials of our products and a broader counternarrative that is now afoot, and this gap appears to have widened,” Beyond CEO Ethan Brown said in an August earnings call.

    “This change in perception is not without encouragement from interest groups, who have succeeded in seeding doubt and fear around the ingredients and processes we use to create our and other plant-based meats. Nor is it without contribution from well-meaning yet misguided comparisons of our products to kale salads, versus the animal-based meats they are intended to replace.”

    beyond steak
    With Beyond Steak, the company hopes to quell consumer concern about plant-based meat’s health benefits | Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    A recent Mintel survey showed that nutrition is the second-biggest reason (35%) for Americans’ reticence to try alt-meat, after flavour (48%). Another study earlier this year found that more Gen Zers in the US want to go vegan for their health than the environment. Health is a regular topic in US mainstream due to alarming and rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes- over two-thirds (69%) of Americans are overweight and 36% of are obese.

    Brown said plant-based food consumption is “more driven by health”, and there’s been a decline in the health perception of this sector. He cited a Food Marketing Institute study that found 50% of Americans believed plant-based meats were healthy in 2020, compared to just 38% in 2022.

    Plus, there’s the fact that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US – and this is why the Californian alt-meat giant is banking on Beyond Steak’s AHA certification as an effective marketing tool. “If you look at Beyond Steak, it’s absolutely delicious – you have such high levels of protein and a gram of saturated fat,” Brown said in August. “Those things matter when the consumer is willing to come in.”

    Turning a corner with the health focus

    Beyond has had a tough run over the last couple of years, with sales declines, employee layoffs, a class action-lawsuit compounded by the overall decline of the plant-based meat industry in the US, supply chain disruptions across the food sector, and the decrease in consumer adoption of vegan food in the country.

    “We know that health is a top driver to the plant-based meat category, so we wanted to emphasise our products’ key nutritional benefits, including Beyond Steak’s heart-healthy credentials, while still communicating their great taste to elevate these products for consumers who are looking for plant-based meat options that not only taste incredible but are better for them and their families,” Beyond’s SVP for brand marketing, Akerho Oghoghomeh.

    The company is hoping to push the health messaging further with the new This Changes Everything campaign. While Beyond Meat and its peers have sometimes been criticised for their long ingredient lists, its Beyond Steak product contains 12 ingredients (many of which are spices or natural flavourings) with no ‘hard-to-pronounce’ elements, offers a21g of protein per serving and is low in saturated fat at just 1g for each serving.

    beyond meat new ad
    Courtesy: Beyond Meat

    Beyond also stresses that all its meat products contain no cholesterol, GMOs, or added antibiotics and hormones, and adds that its new sausages have 40% less saturated fat than a leading conventional sausage brand.

    The new ad campaign is slightly louder than the last one, mirroring the approach adopted by Beyond’s traditional alt-meat competitor Impossible Foods, whose Making Meat History campaign is a more direct retaliation to the anti-vegan marketing campaigns by meat industry lobby groups.

    Beyond entered the year on an optimistic financial note, with its Q1 2023 earnings (while down year-on-year) exceeding Wall Street projections. Now, the plant-based leader– which says its steak is the best-selling alt-meat product in US retail – is expecting sharper revenue growth in the second half of the year. Will this new health-focused ad campaign help it go Beyond? Only time will tell.

    The post This Changes Everything: Beyond Meat Goes All-In On Health with New Ad Campaign appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Back to the Future: Using Traditional Fermentation to Make Vegan Cheese Cheesier and Plant-Based Meat Meatier

    plant based fermentation
    5 Mins Read

    We’re at a point where artificial intelligence is helping us make better food and more realistic alternatives to animal-derived proteins. But if two new studies are anything to go by, it’s not new tech, but an age-old technique, that could be the key to making plant-based meat and cheese more like their conventional counterparts. The answer is fermentation.

    While fermentation is already a big deal in the alt-protein world (it’s known as the third pillar alongside plant-based and cultivated proteins), the majority of the focus is on companies using novel fermentation methods like biomass or precision techniques. But traditional fermentation – you know, the one we’ve been using for millennia to make bread, beer, yoghurt and wine – shouldn’t be overlooked, according to two new studies.

    Taste is the number one factor for consumers not eating vegan alternatives to animal products, or choosing some brands over others. In our quest to make our plant-based meat meatier and cheese cheesier, researchers say the age-old technique of fermentation could hold the key.

    Fermenting alliums to make better plant-based meat

    plant based meat
    Courtesy: Canva

    Last month, the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry published a study positing a solution to the challenge of replicating meat’s taste and texture: alliums. Specifically, onions, chives and leeks.

    The researchers argue that when fermented with fungi, these ingredients produce natural chemicals that resemble the savoury scent of meat. They say that when manufacturers want to make alt-meat meatier, they’ll often add “precursor ingredients” found in conventional meat that transform into flavour agents during cooking. Alternatively, the flavour is prepped first by heating or chemically manipulating these precursor ingredients.

    But the synthetic nature of these products means many countries won’t allow these plant-based meats to be labelled as ‘natural’. To do so, ‘natural’ flavourings would need to be extracted physically from plants or genetically biochemically with enzymes, fungi or bacteria.

    This is the backdrop in which research lead YanYan Zhang and his colleagues attempted to explore if fungi strains that are known to produce meaty flavours and aromas from synthetic sources could be used to create the same chemicals from vegetables or spices. After experimentation with a whole host of foods, the team found that meaty aromas were only generated by ingredients from the allium family.

    The strongest scent came from a 10-hour-long fermentation of onions using the fungus Polyporus umbellatus, which resulted in a fatty, meaty scent similar to liver sausage. With an analytical method called gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the researchers examined the fermented onion to identify the flavour and aroma chemicals – and found that many of those are also known to be responsible for taste and scent in meat.

    The researchers say that alliums’ high sulphur content enables them to yield meat-flavored compounds, which often contain sulphur too. “These onion ferments could someday be used as a natural flavoring in various plant-based meat alternatives,” they conclude. It makes sense, too – there’s a reason we add onions to our burgers as flavour and texture enhancers, no?

    Yellow peas could elevate vegan cheese

    pea protein
    Courtesy: Canva

    In Denmark, scientists have been looking to transform peas and beans, which are naturally rich in protein, into bases for vegan cheese. Building upon research from last year, which found that yellow pea protein makes a good base for fermented plant-based cheese, University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food Science researcher Carmen Masiá has now developed an alternative that’s said to have a firm texture and improved aroma profile.

    Cheese is, of course, one of the most popular fermented foods, and has been made this way for centuries. Many commercial vegan cheeses eschew fermentation altogether, though. Because plant proteins behave differently than milk proteins, they add starch or fat (like coconut oil) alongside colourings and flavourings to mimic dairy cheese. And while many artisanal dairy-free cheese makers use fermentation, the base is usually made from nuts.

    Masiá is championing yellow pea protein – the fastest-growing protein ingredient in plant-based meat, including by industry giant Beyond Meat – as the catalyst for superior vegan cheese, by using natural fermentation with bacteria. She investigated 24 bacterial combinations for the development of the pea protein cheese.

    “Bacteria can serve to develop firmness in non-dairy cheese in a very short period of time while reducing the bean-like aroma of yellow pea protein, which is used as the main and only protein source,” Masiá explains. She inoculated the bacteria in a protein matrix made from yellow pea protein, which resulted in a firm “cheese-like gel” reminiscent of a fresh soft white cheese after only eight hours.

    pea protein cheese
    Courtesy: Department of Food Science, University of Copenhagen

    Masiá said that while all bacterial combinations produced firm gels without the need for starch or fat and reduced the ‘beaniness’ of the cheese, some performed better than others at producing compounds normally found in dairy cheese. And while eight hours is a rapid timeframe, she says for better results, this cheese may need to mature for longer as conventional varieties do.

    “One needs to remember that dairy cheese production has been studied over many years, so it’s not something that we can just mimic overnight with totally different raw materials,” Masiá notes. “Nevertheless, there are many scientists and companies out there doing great progress in the field; I hope that we will get closer to making non-dairy cheeses that taste good over the next few years. We are getting there.”

    She adds: “The most challenging thing for now is that, while there are a lot of people who would like to eat plant-based cheese, they aren’t satisfied with how it tastes and feels in the mouth. In the end, this means that no matter how sustainable, nutritious, etc. a food product is, people aren’t interested in buying it if it doesn’t provide a good experience when consumed.”

    It’s a concept as promising as it is intriguing. In an increasingly tech-driven world – where we’re using AI even to market vegan cheese, let alone develop it – using an ancient technique to produce food that’s better-tasting, more climate-friendly and, crucially, cost-effective can prove to be a game-changer. It truly is looking back to the future.

    The post Back to the Future: Using Traditional Fermentation to Make Vegan Cheese Cheesier and Plant-Based Meat Meatier appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Update: PETA to Hit E-Town With Tofurky Free-for-All

    As part of our nationwide “ThanksVegan” campaign, PETA members will give away free festive Gardein stuffed turk’y to passersby on Saturday, a few blocks from a just-raised sky-high appeal that urges everyone to give birds a break by celebrating with a vegan holiday—something that’s easy to do with PETA’s free ThanksVegan Guide.

    When:    Saturday, October 7, 11 a.m.

    Where:    Old Strathcona Farmers Market, 10310 83rd Ave. N.W., Edmonton

    “More people than ever are choosing to protect birds from suffering by celebrating the holidays with healthy and humane vegan foods,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages everyone to put a vegan roast on the table and enjoy a delicious ThanksVegan meal that gives birds something to be thankful for, too.”

    PETA’s original news release appears below.

    ‘She Did Not Consent’ Pro-Turkey ‘ThanksVegan’ Appeal Lands Locally, Courtesy of PETA

    Edmonton, Alberta — Ahead of Thanksgiving, PETA has erected towering appeals in Edmonton and Spruce Grove urging everyone to give birds a break and enjoy a delicious “ThanksVegan” feast instead.

    “Turkeys are individuals who feel pain and fear, experience joy, value their lives, and don’t want to be carved up and stuffed any more than we do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging everyone to show a little mercy, keep turkeys off the table, and tuck into savory and satisfying vegan roasts that give everyone something to be thankful for.”

    Each year in Canada, about 2.7 million turkeys are killed and sold for Thanksgiving. During their short lives, they’re forced to stand in their own waste and inhale ammonia-laden air inside dark warehouses. The birds are bred to grow so large that their legs break under them. In addition to sparing the lives of nearly 200 animals a year, everyone who goes vegan shrinks their carbon footprint and reduces their risk of suffering from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other ailments.

    PETA’s “ThanksVegan” guide is packed with recipes, cooking tips, and everything else needed to enjoy a delicious, turkey-friendly holiday.

    The group’s message in Edmonton is located at 10639 82nd Ave. N.W., between 107th Street N.W. and 106th Street. In Spruce Grove, it’s located at the intersection of Highway 16A and Calahoo Road, near Safeway. It will also be posted in London, Ontario.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on the group’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Update: PETA to Hit E-Town With Tofurky Free-for-All appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • This Popular Cookie Company Is Taking a Bite out of Cruelty

    You may be putting your heart and soul into helping animals, but did you know that your sweet tooth can help save animals, too?

    PETA has partnered with Uncle Eddie’s Vegan Cookies, a company whose delicious baked treats have wowed vegans for decades, to create a special limited-edition line of cookies. Two dollars from every bag purchased will be put into PETA’s “cookie jar” to help us do even more to stop cruelty, exploitation, and abuse.

    Now, that’s one smart cookie!

    Single bag of Uncle Eddies cookies with PETA's cookies for causes sticker

    Uncle Eddie’s knows what’s up when it comes to cookies. This family-owned bakery has perfected the best melt-in-your-mouth recipes. Everything it offers is delicious and, of course, vegan.

    Will you try the magnificent Molasses or the comforting Cocoa Spice cookies? Maybe you’re more into the classics, such as Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin.

    Whatever flavor (or flavors) you choose, each will give you the delicious feeling of knowing that your purchase is supporting a great vegan-friendly business and PETA’s lifesaving work for animalkind.

    Product lineup of Uncle Eddies cookies with PETA stickers

    We love Uncle Eddie’s Cookies, a brand with compassionate values and products, and we know you will, too!

    The post This Popular Cookie Company Is Taking a Bite out of Cruelty appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Flora UK Spreads Are Vegan Again, As Upfield Reviews Global Climate Commitments

    flora buttery vegan
    5 Mins Read

    Last week, CPG spread giant Upfield caused a (positive) stir when it announced its popular Flora Buttery range would go back to being fully vegan in the UK market, three years after the company added buttermilk as an ingredient. The decision has been welcomed by dairy-free consumers and is a step in the right direction for Upfield’s climate efforts. We check in on how the company’s other climate commitments are going.

    Flora’s UK range of block and spreads is now 100% vegan, with the brand launching a Skip the Cow campaign to encourage people to think about their dairy consumption. “We have driven record levels of awareness and consideration for Flora and more households are buying and loving the brand as a result. The natural next step was to unite all our great Flora products under a single identity,” said Upfield UK’s marketing director Ian Hepburn.

    “We have also been continuously working to deliver a fully 100% plant-based range, that is even tastier and are pleased that Flora Buttery is now deliciously dairy-free. Our purpose is at the heart of everything we do, and we will continue to make new products to continue the Flora movement.”

    Upfield is one of the world’s major food CPG companies: the Dutch giant owns multiple brands of margarine, food spreads and plant-based foods – including Flora and Blue Band – and says it is the largest plant-based consumer packaged goods company in the world with operations in over 90 countries.

    flora butter
    The Flora butter range is now fully vegan | Courtesy: Upfield

    When asked why Upfield had decided to revert to its 100% vegan butter recipe, the brand didn’t get into the specifics, with a spokesperson telling Green Queen: “There was a decision made some years ago to add a small amount of dairy back into Flora Buttery in the UK. But we have been continuously working to deliver a fully 100% plant-based range that is even tastier – so we are pleased that Flora Buttery is now deliciously dairy-free.”

    They confirmed that Upfield has done taste trials with customers for the new recipe for its “plant-based alternative” that “performs just like dairy butter”. “We’ve worked hard to provide the great taste and versatility across cooking, baking and spreading that Flora fans know and love. Customer studies we’ve conducted showed a very positive response to the tastier recipes,” the spokesperson said.

    The now-vegan Flora Buttery uses rapeseed, sunflower and linseed oils as a base. Certain seed oils have come under fire from some health experts, they also are known to offer many nutritional benefits. When asked about whether seed oils are healthy, Upfield’s spokesperson stated: “We are proud to offer consumers a healthy source of essential fatty acids within our plant-based products, in line with advice from public health bodies like the WHO and AHA. When compared with dairy butter, our plant-based products are beneficial for heart health, and are suitable for everyone, including those with allergies and intolerances.”

    Upfield’s itchy palm

    Upfield noted that an ISO-compliant life-cycle assessment (LCA) done using a tool by sustainable consultancy Quantis found the Flora range to have a 68% lower climate impact than conventional dairy butter. It’s a positive step for Upfield’s climate impact, but what about Upfield’s other climate commitments? For example, the company committed to carbon-labelling more and more of its products in 2020, and while the Flora range does not use palm oil – a major driver of deforestation – some of Upfield’s other brands do.

    The brand has been in the crosshairs of environmentalists for its palm oil use, with accusations that it worked with BBF, a Brazilian palm oil company that has been accused of violence against Indigenous communities, and Brazilian producer Agropalma, which had its palm oil certification suspended by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) earlier this year.

    Asked to respond to the supply chain violations, the company said in a statement: “Upfield is committed to the sustainable sourcing of palm oil. BBF does not enter our supply chains. We do not source from Agropalma directly, but they appear in our mill list as it is possible they enter our supply chains indirectly. We are investigating the issue, and as part of our policy and process, we will review and engage with our partners as necessary, asking them to take appropriate actions towards Agropalma.”

    flora carbon label
    Courtesy: Upfield

    Upfield reiterated that it’s a “proud member” of the RSPO and has “firm policies” covering the sourcing of not just its palm oil, but soybean oil, pulp and paper, coconut oil and shea too. “This is supported by the Better Planet pillar of Upfield’s ESG strategy. 100% of the palm oil we source is physically certified sustainable palm oil,” the spokesperson said.

    “When sourced sustainably, palm oil is a fantastic ingredient. It has a very high yield, meaning that a large amount of palm oil can be produced with low land use.” They added that Upfield has a “strict No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation policy, and hold our suppliers to account for our commitments”.

    Sourcing sustainable palm oil remains a complicated affair and while the RSPO is a good place to start, the certifier has attracted criticism of its own, with activists decrying its failure to properly audit companies, slow action on penalising members for breaches, enabling greenwashing, not having high enough standards, and overall inefficacy for smallholders and the planet as a whole. So while having a certified sustainable palm oil product might seem like a good idea, there is often more to the picture than meets the eye.

    Carbon labelling and the road to 100% plant-based

    Courtesy: Upfield

    As for the carbon labelling of its products, last year, Upfield says that it “over-delivered” on its 2021 labelling target by 20%, with 120 million packs covered with carbon footprint information. It now plans to extend this figure to 500 million by 2025, and the Dutch company’s spokesperson revealed that it had sold 235 million more packs with carbon labels in 2022, after creating a “peer-reviewed and ISO-compliant life-cycle tool that accelerated progress”.

    When asked whether it felt counterintuitive to market a Skip the Cow campaign when many of its brands still make and use dairy products, the spokesperson pointed out that the campaign was only for Flora, reiterating that its UK range is now fully dairy-free. Moreover, they alluded to Upfield’s ultimate goal, highlighted as one of its plant-based ESG pillars with the goal to have a billion consumers using its vegan products.

    “One of our ESG targets is to transform our portfolio to deliver 100% plant-based products,” they noted. But the timeline for that is unclear.

    The post Flora UK Spreads Are Vegan Again, As Upfield Reviews Global Climate Commitments appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • If All Dogs and Cats Went Vegan, We Could Feed 520 Million People – New Research

    vegan dogs
    6 Mins Read

    A new peer-reviewed study has found that if the world’s dogs and cats went vegan, it could have tremendous benefits for the climate and global food security. It would help feed nearly 520 million people, conserve land the size of multiple countries, and also save billions of animals from slaughter.

    If all dogs were put on a nutritionally complete vegan diet, it would help feed nearly 450 million people, which is higher than the entire EU population. For cats, this would equate to almost 70 million, more than the populations of France or the UK. Doing so would also help save more greenhouse gas emissions produced by the UK or South Africa (for dogs), or Israel or New Zealand (for cats).

    These are the results of research led by the University of Winchester’s Professor Andrew Knight, who has previously published a series of studies about the impact of plant-based diets on pet health. This latest analysis – published in the journal Plos One – found that dogs and cats consume about 9% of all land animals slaughtered for food – that’s nearly seven billion per year. And this isn’t counting aquatic species like fish, which would be much higher (this is harder to calculate as data is provided in terms of weight of seafood, not the absolute numbers of animals).

    Given that meat has a much higher climate, land use and water footprint than plant-based food, if all dogs in the world went vegan, it would free up land larger than the size of Saudi Arabia or Mexico (the 12th- and 13th-largest countries by area, respectively) and save more freshwater than all renewable freshwater in Denmark. For cats, this would mean more land than Japan or Germany, and saving more water than available in Jordan.

    The research also calculated the impact of humans transitioning to a plant-based diet. If that were to happen, it would feed 5.3 billion people – about two-thirds of the world’s population. It would also save more greenhouse gas emissions than emitted by India or the entire EU, more renewable water than available in Cuba, and more land than the area of Russia and India combined (the largest and seventh-largest countries in the world).

    The environmental impact of pet food

    The calculated figures are staggering, and show the potential impact a vegan diet could have on climate change, water scarcity and food insecurity. And the researchers say all these estimates are conservative. “I think that the true environmental impacts of dog food are actually larger than those found in my results; probably substantially larger,” Knight told UK vegan dog food startup The Pack in a blog post published on the brand’s website. “Conversely, the benefits of transitioning them on to nutritionally-sound vegan diets, are probably much greater than shown in my study – which already shows very large benefits.”

    According to the research, when considering the total number of dogs and cats that could alternatively be fed using the food energy savings from a vegan transition amounts to between 150-190% of the entire global dog and cat population (as of 2018).

    “Pet owners who care about the environment or their animals’ health should consider nutritionally sound vegan pet food,” said Knight, who called the study “game-changing”. “We’ve long known that plant-based diets are better for the planet, but have not seriously considered the impacts of pet food.”

    vegan cats
    Courtesy: Canva

    He added: “However, pet food has profound environmental impacts.” In the US alone, for example, producing dry cat and dog food equates to between 25-30% of all emissions related to animal consumption by Americans. And globally, dog and cat food emit around 64 million tons of carbon per year – that’s the equivalent of over 13 million cars.

    “There have been many calls for human diet change, but virtually no calls for diet change for dogs or cats. This is partly because of the assumption that they consume relatively few livestock products and that what they do consume is mainly by-products of human food production and is therefore beneficial ‘recycling’,” Knight told The Pack.

    “But actually, what this study shows is that the only benefit of using byproducts within meat-based pet foods is that they’re cheaper than human-grade meat. The actual environmental impact of using by-products is greater than if pets were to be fed human-grade meat. This is because using byproducts requires more livestock animals to produce, than producing human-grade meat. It’s less efficient on a per-carcass basis.”

    Health benefits and increased brand presence

    In a statement, Knight added: “Large-scale studies have also shown that health outcomes for both dogs and cats are as good or better. And studies of feeding behaviour have demonstrated that average dogs and cats enjoy vegan pet foods as much as those made from meat.”

    Last month, he co-authored a large-scale peer-reviewed study revealing that cats on a vegan diet could be healthier than those on a meat-based one, challenging the notion of felines being obligate carnivores. It followed research published last year by Knight and other researchers that found that vegan diets are the healthiest and least hazardous choice for dogs.

    The British Veterinary Association, which previously discouraged consumers from feeding their pets alternative protein, is now reviewing its advice. Moreover, in February, the industry body UK Pet Food published new guidelines that acknowledged animal-derived nutrients can be sourced synthetically or from novel ingredients, so long as they are carefully formulated by highly qualified pet nutritionists. “There is little evidence of adverse effects arising in dogs and cats on vegan diets,” it stated.

    vegan pet food
    Courtesy: Canva

    It coincides with the growing interest in feeding future-facing food to our furry friends. The vegan dog food market, for example, is valued at £11.5bn in 2023, and projected to reach £21bn by 2033, the Guardian reports. Plant-based dog food is already an established category, with brands like Wild Earth, Omni and The Pack being some of the most popular ones (Wild Earth also makes cell-cultured dog food).

    While vegan cat food is still much more niche, an increasing number of brands are working with plant-based or cultivated meat for cats, like BioCraft Pet Nutrition (formerly Because Animals), Bond Pet Food, and Marina Cat.

    “Change is happening, but it’s not going to take place overnight, where all the supermarkets suddenly have good availability of these brands,” Knight told the Pack. “In fact, I’m hearing of shortages of vegan pet food in various regions of the world, and we know that consumer convenience is a key factor in determining whether products like these succeed. It’s therefore really important that this is addressed.

    “I think we’re seeing the teething problems that occur when a disruptive industry first emerges, and new products become available. There’s always a period when demand outpaces supply, and supply needs to catch up. We’re going through that at the moment with vegan pet food.”

    The post If All Dogs and Cats Went Vegan, We Could Feed 520 Million People – New Research appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Victoria for Thanksgiving

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), this Friday PETA supporters will gather in Victoria and give away free Gardein roasts to encourage people to enjoy a vegan holiday and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold in Canada each year for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Friday, October 6, 6 p.m.

    Where:    Cook Street Village (near the intersection of Cook and Oxford streets), Victoria

    ThanksVEGAN? PETA Hands Out Free Meatless Roasts

    “Turkeys feel pain and fear, experience joy, value their lives, and don’t deserve to be carved up and stuffed any more than we do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging everyone to show a little mercy by tucking into savory, satisfying vegan roasts that give everyone something to be thankful for.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Victoria for Thanksgiving appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Montréal for Thanksgiving

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), this Friday PETA supporters will gather in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and give away Gardein roasts to encourage people to enjoy a vegan holiday and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold in Canada each year for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Friday, October 6, 2 p.m.

    Where:    5595 Monkland Ave. (near the intersection with Marcil Avenue), Montréal

    ThanksVEGAN? PETA Hands Out Free Meatless Roasts

    “Turkeys feel pain and fear, experience joy, value their lives, and don’t deserve to be carved up and stuffed any more than we do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging everyone to show a little mercy and tuck into savory, satisfying vegan roasts that give everyone something to be thankful for.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Montréal for Thanksgiving appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Hamilton for ‘ThanksVegan’

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), this Friday PETA supporters will gather outside Goodness Me! Natural Food Market’s Locke Street location and give away Gardein and Sol Cuisine roasts to encourage people to enjoy a vegan holiday and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold in Canada each year for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Friday, October 6, 11:30 a.m.

    Where:    Goodness Me! Natural Food Market, 176 Locke St. S., Hamilton

    ThanksVEGAN? PETA Hands Out Free Meatless Roasts

    PETA supporters hand out free vegan roasts at a previous giveaway. Photo: PETA

    “Turkeys feel pain and fear, experience joy, value their lives, and don’t deserve to be carved up and stuffed any more than we do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging everyone to show a little mercy and tuck into savory, satisfying vegan roasts that give everyone something to be thankful for.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Hamilton for ‘ThanksVegan’ appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Kitchener for ‘ThanksVegan’

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), tomorrow PETA supporters will gather outside a local Farm Boy and give away Field Roast and Tofurky roasts to encourage people to enjoy a vegan holiday and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold in Canada each year for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Thursday, October 5, 4:30 p.m.

    Where:    385 Fairway Road S., Kitchener

    PETA supporters hand out free vegan roasts at a previous giveaway. Photo: PETA

    “Turkeys feel pain and fear, experience joy, value their lives, and don’t deserve to be carved up and stuffed any more than we do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging everyone to show a little mercy and tuck into savory, satisfying vegan roasts that give everyone something to be thankful for.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Kitchener for ‘ThanksVegan’ appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Kitchener for ‘ThanksVegan’

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), tomorrow PETA supporters will gather outside a local Farm Boy and give away Field Roast and Tofurky roasts to encourage people to enjoy a vegan holiday and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold in Canada each year for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Thursday, October 5, 4:30 p.m.

    Where:    385 Fairway Road S., Kitchener

    PETA supporters hand out free vegan roasts at a previous giveaway. Photo: PETA

    “Turkeys feel pain and fear, experience joy, value their lives, and don’t deserve to be carved up and stuffed any more than we do,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is urging everyone to show a little mercy and tuck into savory, satisfying vegan roasts that give everyone something to be thankful for.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Animal Allies to Hand Out Dozens of Turkey-Free Roasts in Kitchener for ‘ThanksVegan’ appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Deadly Barn Fire in Bremen Prompts PETA Memorial for Chickens

    In honor of the 100,000 birds who burned to death after a Cal-Maine Foods egg-laying facility caught fire on Sunday, PETA plans to place a sky-high memorial in the area pointing out who’s responsible for their deaths: everyone who isn’t vegan.

    PETA notes that birds frequently die in agony at Cal-Maine facilities—for instance, a fire at another location killed 250,000 birds in 2020. A previous PETA investigation into Mahard Egg Farm—which is owned by Cal-Maine—revealed workers beating and gassing chickens before throwing them into trucks. And in 2017, PETA received video footage showing Cal-Maine workers dumping scores of chickens—some of them still alive—into a dump truck, according to a witness.

    “Each of these chickens was an individual who died in terror and pain, engulfed by smoke and flames,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to take a stand against Cal-Maine’s wretched history and prevent birds from being crammed into warehouses in the first place by going vegan.”

    Hens used for egg production are confined to cramped barns, where each bird typically has no more than a square foot of space. When hens’ bodies wear out and they’re no longer considered profitable, egg producers stuff them into metal boxes and crudely gas them with carbon dioxide, which is distressing and painful—or send them to slaughterhouses, where workers cut their throats, often while they’re still conscious, and scald many to death in defeathering tanks.

    Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; and dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Deadly Barn Fire in Bremen Prompts PETA Memorial for Chickens appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Deadly Barn Fire in Bremen Prompts PETA Memorial for Chickens

    In honor of the 100,000 birds who burned to death after a Cal-Maine Foods egg-laying facility caught fire on Sunday, PETA plans to place a sky-high memorial in the area pointing out who’s responsible for their deaths: everyone who isn’t vegan.

    PETA notes that birds frequently die in agony at Cal-Maine facilities—for instance, a fire at another location killed 250,000 birds in 2020. A previous PETA investigation into Mahard Egg Farm—which is owned by Cal-Maine—revealed workers beating and gassing chickens before throwing them into trucks. And in 2017, PETA received video footage showing Cal-Maine workers dumping scores of chickens—some of them still alive—into a dump truck, according to a witness.

    “Each of these chickens was an individual who died in terror and pain, engulfed by smoke and flames,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to take a stand against Cal-Maine’s wretched history and prevent birds from being crammed into warehouses in the first place by going vegan.”

    Hens used for egg production are confined to cramped barns, where each bird typically has no more than a square foot of space. When hens’ bodies wear out and they’re no longer considered profitable, egg producers stuff them into metal boxes and crudely gas them with carbon dioxide, which is distressing and painful—or send them to slaughterhouses, where workers cut their throats, often while they’re still conscious, and scald many to death in defeathering tanks.

    Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year; reduces their own risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity; and dramatically shrinks their carbon footprint.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and offers a free vegan starter kit on its website. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Deadly Barn Fire in Bremen Prompts PETA Memorial for Chickens appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘Human Carcass’ Display to Butt In With Thanksgiving Message in Calgary: Go Vegan!

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), on Friday a “trussed up” PETA supporter wearing only underwear will pose alongside “turkey carcasses” on an oversized cutting board as part of the group’s “ThanksVegan” push. This unmissable tableau encourages everyone to recognize the similarities between humans and other animals and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Friday, October 6, 12 noon

    Where:    At the intersection of Second Street S.W. and Eighth Avenue S.W., Calgary

    “Being confined to a filthy, cramped cage and dying by a slaughterhouse knife is as painful and terrifying for birds as it would be for a human,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s provocative display should provide people with the shock of realization they need to opt for a delicious and peaceful ‘ThanksVegan’ feast.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Human Carcass’ Display to Butt In With Thanksgiving Message in Calgary: Go Vegan! appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Whole-Cut Plant-Based Poulet: France’s Umiami Adds Extra $34.7M to Series A Round for EU Expansion & US Launch

    umiami funding
    5 Mins Read

    A year after securing $30M in a Series A fundraiser, French plant-based whole-cut chicken producer Umiami has reeled in a further €32.5M ($34.7M) to scale up its production, accelerate European distribution and set up its US operations.

    With the latest cash injection which brings the total Series A round to €59M ($62.8M), the three-year-old company has now secured over €100M ($107M) in total investment, including non-dilutive funding and public sector grants. The fresh round of financing was led by returning investors the Sociétés de Projets Industriels (SPI) fund and French Tech Seed – both managed by Bpifrance for the French government as part of the France 2030 economic investment plan. Other participants comprised Astanor Ventures, Redalpine, Newfund (all historic investors) and VERSO Capital.

    The investment will help Umiami with three key objectives. It plans to boost the production of its proprietary plant-based meat texturising tech, “umisation”. It uses this method to create its flagship whole-cut vegan chicken breast, and claims the tech “perfectly mimics the taste and texture of meat and fish, with equivalent nutritional value”. Umiami adds that the resulting meat alternative would contain under 10 ingredients, and be free of texturising agents or “controversial additives”.

    “Umisation is an innovative protein texturing technology that is unique and specific to Umiami. It is the world’s first-ever process to be able to create – on a large scale – plant-based fillets that resemble pieces of animal meat: both in taste and texture,” a brand spokesperson told Green Queen. “This technology is the result of several years’ research and development, and uses plant matrices to produce a fibrous texture and control the size, direction and thickness of the resulting fibres.”

    They added: “As well as producing better texture, umisation has the advantage of offering a minimally processed product from a very short list of ingredients. The procedure now makes it possible to produce a whole, 100% plant-based thick fillet, with fibres resembling those of meat and reproducing that unique, gourmet sensation mouthfeel.”

    A new manufacturing facility

    plant based meat france
    Courtesy: Umiami

    The company has been operating in an R&D pilot plant in the Paris region since last year and announced the acquisition of a 14,000 sq m Unilever site near Strasbourg in France’s Alsace region in December. The new facility is slated to open in the coming months, the brand spokesperson confirmed, and boasts a capacity of 7,500 tons per production line, with the potential of reaching 20,000 tons.

    Umiami outlined its goal to be at the centre of the region’s reindustrialisation and creation of local jobs and confirmed that it will also be investing in its existing R&D plant near Paris, which currently has a capacity of 100 tons, and has hosted “advanced trials involving a comprehensive range of consumers”. The company now plans to expand its range to include more alt-meat products.

    “Playing a part in the industrialisation of a start-up like Umiami is fully in line with the SPI fund’s raison d’être,” said Jean-Philippe Richard, deputy director of the SPI fund. “Thanks to its unique technology, Umiami is offering an upmarket range of plant-based fillets. It enables us to boost reindustrialisation in France while enhancing the country’s reputation for agri-food expertise internationally through the development of cutting-edge initiatives serving healthy, traceable food with a low carbon footprint.”

    European expansion and an American dream

    plant based whole cut meat
    Umiami co-founders Martin Habfast, Clémence Pedraza and Tristan Maurel | Courtesy: Umiami

    The second objective of this new funding round is to help Umiami with further expansion in Europe. While it has been active in retail and foodservice sectors in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy under a white label, it launched under its own brand name for the first time at 120 Coop stores in Switzerland in August. Now, it plans to announce more restaurant and retail partnerships next year. (Umiami told Green Queen that the number of current outlets isn’t available yet.)

    Finally, Umiami also plans to break into the US market with its chicken fillet, which it calls a “more developed market for plant-based meat alternatives”. To facilitate this move, the company has recruited FMCG veteran John Hatto (previously PepsiCo and Lamb Weston) as its US managing director.

    In a joint statement, Umiami co-founders Tristan Maurel (CEO) and Martin Habfast (export director) said: “We are determined to bring our innovation to American consumers. With our exceptional team and cutting-edge technology, we’re ready to shape the future of food tech.”

    France’s tricky relationship with plant-based meat

    vegan chicken
    Courtesy: Umiami

    The news comes on the heels of setbacks for the plant-based meat industry in France. Last month, government officials submitted a proposal to the EU Commission for an unprecedented ban on the use of meat-related terms on plant-based meat labelling, reigniting a long-standing saga (with similar developments internationally). This wasn’t long before its agricultural minister pushed a pro-factory-farming stance by calling for the production of cheaper meat.

    When asked about the ban, the spokesperson said: “Umiami is committed to communicating openly with consumers and ensuring that they are not misled in any way.” And pressed on the factory farming news, they said the brand “does not currently hold a position on this topic”.

    In the wake of this proposed ban, French retail giant Carrefour formed a coalition with corporations like Unilever and Danone to promote the production of plant-based food in the country, pointing to the country’s growing number of flexitarians as signs of the industry’s growth. A 2021 Kantar World Panel study found that 49% of French households had at least one flexitarian among them – almost double the 25% figure in 2015.

    According to the alt-protein think tank the Good Food Institute Europe, France is the continent’s fifth-largest plant-based market, with sales increasing by 5% between 2020-22. Alt-meat sales, in fact, grew by 17% in this period. A survey conducted last year found that one in five (22%) French consumers included more plant-based proteins in their diets from 2021-22, while 41% considered vegan food the third most important protein source, after meat and eggs (but above fish).

    “We are extremely proud of the huge success of our Series A, and of the confidence that our investors and partners have placed in us,” said Maurel and Habfast. “This round of funding will enable us to continue our mission to revolutionise the food industry by offering sustainable and tasty alternatives to meat-based products.”

    The post Whole-Cut Plant-Based Poulet: France’s Umiami Adds Extra $34.7M to Series A Round for EU Expansion & US Launch appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Future Food Quick Bites: Less Meat, More Burgers & Vegan Flying

    future food quick bites
    8 Mins Read

    In our new weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Australia’s meat reduction, Kellogg’s omnivore-targeting plant-based burger, and the Canadian dairy sector’s attack on vegan alternatives.

    New products and launches

    Aussie brand Next! Foods has launched a new line of premium, Michelin-starred-chef-created vegan pasta sauces – a Bolognese and carbonara featuring its soy protein mince and bacon, respectively – in over 500 Coles supermarket stores. It plans for an international expansion soon.

    Across the Pacific is another plant-based sauce by fast-food giant Taco Bell. The limited-edition vegan nacho cheese sauce will come as part of its Nacho Fries menu offering and will be available at participating US stores from October 12. The sauce was previously part of Taco Bell’s ultra-popular Vegan Crunchwrap.

    The US has also seen what is my personal favourite launch news of all time. Lindt has launched vegan, oat-milk-based versions of its legendary Lindor chocolate truffles. They come in classic and dark varieties, and use almond butter, and oat and rice extract powders as the base. Details about listings are scant, but the Lindor Non-Dairy Oatmilk Chocolate Candy Truffles are available at the Lindt USA retail stores and online marketplace, as well as Safeway locations. If you’re smart like I am, you’ll buy the 800-piece pack.

    In the North, Hershey’s debuted its first vegan chocolate range in Canada. The Oat Made chocolates come in Creamy and Almond & Sea Salt flavours, with a base of almonds, oats and rice, and are available in major grocery stores across Canada.

    hersheys vegan
    Courtesy: Hershey’s

    Another confectionery release is Colorado-based Trupo Treats‘ vegan chocolate nougat bars. They come in classic and peanut-caramel flavours. The company had set a pre-order sales target of at least $50,000 (pushing to $100,000) by November 1, and it’s already halfway there, so it seems likely these will go into production soon.

    Alt-dairy launches have spanned continents, with German oat milk maker Velike! launching a chilled SKU in returnable glass bottles. The Not M’lk is available in 1.5% and 3% fat options, and Velike! claims it is the first refillable plant-based milk on refrigerated shelves. (Though I wonder what NotCo and a certain alt-dairy giant have to say about the name.)

    Within this sphere, British cheese maker Cathedral City has expanded its vegan range with an extra mature block and a Cheddar spread. The line was introduced last year with plant-based Cheddar blocks, slices and grated SKUs.

    And while you’ll normally associate it with a milky breakfast, Kellogg’s has launched a new plant-based burger under its Morningstar Farms brand. It’s an evolution of a toxic relationship – the previous Incogmeato vegan burger was discontinued, and Morningstar was almost spun off – but the new ‘premium’ Steakhouse Style quarter-pounders hopes to target omnivores with its release into Walmart, Publix and Target stores

    plant based news
    Courtesy: Morningstar Farms

    Speaking of burgers, British chain The Beefy Boys has unveiled its first meatless option, a mushroom-based patty. The burgers do contain dairy cheese by default – so if you happen to visit its Hereford (where it trialled the product in July), Cheltenham and Shrewsbury locations, be sure to ask them to hold the cheese.

    Dutch company NoPalm Ingredients, which makes microbial palm oil alternatives, has produced a prototype boullion powder using the alt-fat, which is upcycled from Unilever’s ice-cream production sidestreams. And in another collaboration, it has taken one of Colgate-Palmolive’s byproducts and turned it into a personal care ingredient for future use in the consumer good giant’s soap bars.

    In terms of product listings, UK plant-based meal kit brand Grubby has made its retail debut in Tesco, the country’s largest retailer, with Thai green curry, coconut dal and gnocchi puttanesca nationwide. Additionally, the B Corp startup’s D2C orders allow you to track the carbon footprint of the meals against their conventional meat equivalents.

    grubby
    Courtesy: Grubby

    In Asia, Indian plant-based meat brand Greenest has collaborated with restaurant chain Hard Rock. Its location at Chandigarh Tricity sees a new vegan menu with Greenest’s plant-based kebabs, burgers and spring rolls.

    And in Hong Kong, vegan pork maker Plant Sifu has extended its partnership with flag carrier Cathay Pacific – weeks after introducing 16 meat-free dishes on select routes – on a six-month trial that will see in-flight meals like braised egg tofu with plant-based mince and shiitake mushrooms and wok-fried mince with Thai basil, morning glory and sambal make it onto Economy and Premium Economy class menus in select long-haul flights.

    Funding and M&A Activity

    Californian food tech startup Novel Farms has been awarded the Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the National Science Foundation, which is worth $999,967 over two years. Known for its cultivated pork loin that uses novel microbial fermentation and tissue engineering tech, the funding will help the company scale up its proprietary scaffolding platform.

    Meanwhile, Finnish alt-dairy brand Oddlygood has acquired Nordic brand Planti, which it claims makes it the market leader in vegan “spoonable snacks” in Sweden and cooking products in Finland. The companies haven’t disclosed the amount of the deal – but Oddlygood recorded a turnover of €23.5M last year, while Plantu made €10.9M.

    oddlygood
    Courtesy: Oddlygood

    Leading alt-protein non-profit ProVeg International has announced its Incubator’s 11th cohort, welcoming eight startups all pushing towards a sustainable food system. These include Allium Bio, Marinas Bio (both Singapore), Poseidona, Guimarana (both Spain), Cellva Ingredients (Brazil), Livestock Labs (United States), Food 4 You (Argentina) and Ex Seed (Bulgaria).

    Policy and research

    ProVeg also responded to a report published by the UK’s Climate Change Committee last month, which called for financial incentives for plant-based foods to make them more “attractive, accessible and affordable”. ProVeg welcomed the report and pushed the spotlight on to Rishi Sunak, who it said is “in danger of going down in history as a leader who failed to act in the best interests of our children and the next generation by taking the necessary steps to reduce dangerous greenhouse gas emissions”.

    Meanwhile, a new study by Australia’s Griffith University found that nearly a third of respondents had reduced their meat consumption in the last year, while only 3.3% had increased it. Health, environment and animal welfare were the top three reasons, as is standard, as nearly 14% reported a wish to transition towards a fully vegan diet.

    alt protein roundup
    Courtesy: Quorn

    And if you eat vegan food, you may have encountered Quorn at some point, the British meatless pioneer that has been championing mycoprotein since the 80s. A new study in the European Journal of Nutrition has found that eating Quorn’s meat alternatives for two weeks can lower LDL (bad) cholesterol by 12%, total cholesterol by 7%, and reduced weight circumference by almost 1cm compared to red meat consumption.

    Elsewhere, Chinese alt-protein impact investment firm Dao Foods released a new white paper assessing fermentation-based proteins in the country. It examines the challenges the sector faces, alongside the advantages of fermentation in China, pathway options for startups, opportunities to catalyse startups, as well as engagement strategies.

    And in the latest chapter of the labelling battle, the Dairy Farmers of Canada are allegedly attempting block a trademark application for the term ‘Dare to be dairy-free’ by New York-based vegan brand Treeline Cheese. The latter calls it an “anti-competitive attempt to impede the sale” of its plant-based dairy alternatives, whose packaging label the dairy lobby argues “deceptively misdescribes” the product.

    treeline cheese
    Courtesy: Treeline Cheese

    In more positive labelling news, Chilean plant-based foundation Vegetarianos Hoy is celebrating the certification of 2,000 products with its Sello Vegano accreditation as well as the V-Label, which is represented by the organisation in Latin America across seven countries.

    Meanwhile, US-based MycoTechnology, which makes mycelium ingredients for protein powders, commissioned a study that found only 17% of vegans made up the 725 consumers of plant-based protein powders it surveyed. It reiterated that while being free from sugar and artificial sweeteners, GMOs, preservatives and colouring is key, the most important factor for customers remains taste.

    Novel tech news

    Israeli biotech firm ProFuse Technology announced a breakthrough in its muscle tissue tech that it says will transform the cultivated meat industry. It has created a scaffolding 3D growth technology that can combine with cell culture media and growth protocols to speed up muscle growth by fivefold, allowing cultured meat to be produced within 48 hours – which is 80% faster than usual according to ProFuse.

    Danish microbial tech company Novozymes, meanwhile, has unveiled Vertera ProBite, a B2B clean-label ingredient formulated to improve the texture and mouthfeel of plant-based meat. Crucially, it has received regulatory approval as a processing aid.

    In a cross-continent deal, Iceland’s ORF Genetics and South Korea’s SeaWith have signed an MoU to boost cultivated meat production using the former’s MESOkine animal-free growth factors made from barley. SeaWith aims to launch cultivated meat products under its Welldone brand to the market by 2025.

    Finally, Cargill, the world’s third-largest meat producer, has opened a European Protein Innovation Hub, enabling its customers to co-create protein-rich menu strategies in test kitchens and a pilot plant. It’s part of a €50M investment into the company’s Saint-Cyr en Val site in France and will allow customers to create protein products based on ideas from Cargill’s chefs. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

    Want more roundups of alt-protein, plant-based and sustainable food? Stay tuned for next week’s Future Food Quick Bites, published every Wednesday or get it in your mailbox by signing u to our Alt Protein Weekly newsletter.

    The post Future Food Quick Bites: Less Meat, More Burgers & Vegan Flying appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • ‘Vegan’ or ‘Plant-Based’? A Kind Way of Life Versus a Misleading Label

    What’s the difference between the terms vegan and plant-based? To get to the root of it, vegan MEANS something—plant-based doesn’t.

    person shopping and looking at a label for the word 'vegan'

    Digging Into the Details: ‘Vegan’ vs. ‘Plant-Based’

    Just as it’s important to know the distinction between vegetarian and vegan, it’s crucial to grasp the difference between plant-based and vegan. Vegan means having respect for all our fellow animals and never using them for experimentation, food, clothing, entertainment, or any other purpose. Plant-based can be a misleading, wishy-washy marketing term that’s ambiguous about the presence of animal-derived ingredients.

    Plant-based has become a buzzword because of its trendy association with health and wellness. Some nonvegan companies have exploited the popularity of vegan foods by slapping “plant-based” labels on products that contain eggs, dairy, and even meat.

    Plant-based products aren’t necessarily vegan, so that label can be deceptive. Going vegan and ensuring that nothing you purchase—whether it’s food or anything else—supports animal exploitation is the best way to be a compassionate consumer. But being vegan doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. It’s not about personal purity or worrying over .000001% of a product’s ingredients—it simply means always doing your best.

    Not Your Mom Not Your Milk cow

    Much of the mainstream discourse about these terms comes from economics and marketing publications interested in boosting sales of plant-based products. These outlets are rarely concerned about the most compelling reason for people to be vegan: respect for our fellow animals.

    chickens crammed into cages at a factory farm© iStock.com/sansubba

    An international survey has shown vegan to be the more consistently understood term, revealing that consumers don’t understand what plant-based means and recommending labeling products “vegan” when appropriate. PETA urges companies to make those labels big and bold.

    Parting With ‘Plant-Based’: PETA Is Making ‘Vegan’ Mainstream

    With over four decades of dedicated advocacy resulting in countless major victories for animals, PETA is doing everything possible to make the word vegan mainstream in a positive way—just as we’re intent on exposing speciesism and ending it.

    PETA is leaning away from the term plant-based. We’re passionate about promoting the importance of being vegan, especially to younger people, who have a natural affinity for animals and will one day be responsible for ensuring their well-being.

    a PETA-approved VEGAN label with white text over a black background

    Being vegan benefits all animals, including humans, and helps do the following:

    colorful pesto bowl

    What You Can Do

    Use the term vegan often to help normalize it. Pledge to go vegan—it’s easy with the help of PETA’s free vegan starter kit—and urge everyone you know to go vegan:

    The post ‘Vegan’ or ‘Plant-Based’? A Kind Way of Life Versus a Misleading Label appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • She Did Not Consent. Go Vegan This Thanksgiving. (Turkey)

    The post She Did Not Consent. Go Vegan This Thanksgiving. (Turkey) appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • ‘Human Carcass’ Display to Butt In With Thanksgiving Message in Winnipeg: Go Vegan!

    Ahead of Thanksgiving (October 9), on Wednesday a “trussed up” PETA supporter wearing only underwear will pose alongside “turkey carcasses” on an oversized cutting board as part of the group’s “ThanksVegan” push. This unmissable tableau will encourage everyone to recognize the similarities between humans and other animals and spare turkeys, nearly 3 million of whom are killed and sold in Canada each year for Thanksgiving alone.

    When:    Wednesday, October 4, 12 noon

    Where:    At the intersection of Portage Avenue and Edmonton Street, Winnipeg

    “Being confined to a filthy, cramped cage and dying by a slaughterhouse knife is as painful and terrifying for birds as it would be for a human,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s provocative display should provide people with the shock of realization they need to opt for a delicious and peaceful ‘ThanksVegan’ feast.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a “ThanksVegan” recipe guide.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post ‘Human Carcass’ Display to Butt In With Thanksgiving Message in Winnipeg: Go Vegan! appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Deception Through the Amber Lens of a Fish-Oil Capsule

    Wondering what’s considered to be the correct dose of fish oil? Ann Marie Navar, M.D., Ph.D., and an associate professor of cardiology, is skeptical. “Zero milligrams. I advise my patients to save their money,” she said.

    fish oil capsules

    You’ve likely seen fish-oil supplements sold in stores, pictured in magazines, and advertised on TV. They’ve been promoted for heart health—among many other perceived benefits.

    These claims are one reason why fish oil is the country’s third most popular dietary supplement. Americans spend more than $1 billion annually on these greasy over-the-counter capsules.

    But producing fish oil involves killing millions of sentient ocean animals every year. In addition, “nontarget” animals such as dolphins, whales, and sea turtles die when they become hooked or entangled in fishing gear.

    And there’s another problem: Most of the health claims touted by fish-oil companies simply aren’t true.

    Recent studies suggest that we should be looking elsewhere—namely, healthy vegan foods—for ways to enhance our heart health. Omega-3 fatty acids—when they come from fish-oil supplements—may not be as beneficial as once believed, and emptying the ocean of fish isn’t good for the Earth or for animals.

    A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that taking fish-oil supplements did not decrease the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks, strokes, or death from heart disease. In fact, the study found no significant difference between those who took these supplements and those who took a placebo.

    So Why Do Some People Still Swear by Fish-Oil Supplements?

    Fish get omega-3 fatty acids from seaweed/algae. Omega-3s are necessary for maintaining overall cardiovascular health for the following reasons:

    • They reduce triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood.
    • They increase good cholesterol.
    • They reduce the risk of developing an irregular heart rhythm.
    • They slow the buildup of plaque, which hardens and blocks arteries.
    • They help to lower blood pressure.

    Omega-3s may also have positive effects on brain health and cognitive function.

    Because our bodies don’t naturally create them, we must get omega-3s from other sources. Fish-oil supplements don’t have the same health benefits as vegan foods, which are rich in omega-3s. So why eat dead fish parts when you can get omega-3s straight from the plant-based source?

    small bowl of flax seeds

    If Fish Oil Can’t Help, at Least It Can’t Hurt, Right? Wrong!

    There’s a limit to how many omega-3s the body can absorb at once, and excess amounts could even be harmful.

    Some evidence shows that taking fish-oil supplements may actually increase the risk of cardiovascular problems. A study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that those taking high doses of fish oil had a slightly higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heart rhythm that can increase the risk of blood clots, strokes, heart failure, and other heart-related complications.

    How to Safely Get the Omega-3s That Your Body Needs

    Always talk to your doctor about which supplements (if any) may benefit your heart health.

    Vegan foods, including seeds, walnuts, and dark-green leafy vegetables, are rich in omega-3s, and getting these essential nutrients from whole-food sources is the way to go. Try the following:

    • Sprinkle flaxseed on your oatmeal, smoothies, or salads.
    • Make chia seed pudding.
    • Add walnuts to baked goods.
    • Nibble on nori (dried seaweed), which is available in stores.
    • Enjoy an ice-cold glass of hemp milk.

    peanut butter, chia, pudding

    Compelling evidence sinking the myth that fish oil improves cardiovascular health is one more reason to leave fish—who are smart and social animals—in the water, where they belong.

    Order a free vegan starter kit to learn more about how you can help spare countless animals by going vegan:

    The post Deception Through the Amber Lens of a Fish-Oil Capsule appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Plant-Based World City: A Food Lover’s Guide to Hong Kong’s Best Vegan Eats

    9 Mins Read

    It’s not known as Asia’s World City for nothing – Hong Kong has some of the best food the planet has to offer, from starred Michelin establishments to comfort-food dai pai dongs. But what does it offer vegans? Plenty it turns out, you’ve just got to know where to look. Here’s a guide to plant-based eating in the city, whatever cuisine you’re after, any time of the day – the best eateries, bubble tea, dessert parlours and pizza, tried and tested by yours truly.

    I lived in London for six years, one of the world’s most exciting cities to eat in, with a pretty fantastic vegan food scene to boot. From holes in the walls to renowned plant-based gastronomy, London’s got it all, no matter the cuisine.

    So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I arrived in another ‘global city’ – Asia’s, I mean – and found an absolutely staggering amount of incredible plant-based food. Hong Kong is jam-packed with a plethora of vegan food experiences and eateries that will leave you in awe. Of course, Cantonese food and dim sum are God’s gift to us, but Asia’s World City has something for everyone.

    As I write this from Bali – another next-level plant-based culinary hotspot – I’m already looking back and reminiscing at my time in Hong Kong, and I’ve marked out which places I’m going to when I return to the city, whether it’s the first time or a revisit. If you end up there before me – or if you’re just a local looking for a handy list of the best plant-based eats – I’m here to help.

    Note: this is not an exhaustive list, just a collection of places/dishes I tried and loved. It’s not a vegan-specific list either, in fact, most of the places mentioned are not 100% vegan. There are some great dedicated vegan restaurants in the city, but I was not able to try them all. If you are looking for an exhaustive list, try the Happy Cow Hong Kong site.

    Chinese food favourites (including dim sum)

    vegan dim sum
    Courtesy: Green Queen Media

    Let’s start with dim sum then, shall we (or yum cha as locals say)? Veggie Kingdom is a traditional dim sum place in Tsim Sha Tsui, the kind where you tick what you want to order with a pencil and are given hot water to wash your utensils. There’s a wonderful tea that accompanies the meal – though there’s an added cost and they bring it by default. Try the shredded turnip puffs, the vegan shrimp dumplings and the mushroom-filled rice noodle rolls – beware though that there might be a couple of elements (like the mayo for the tofu toast) that aren’t vegan.

    On the dim sum front, LockCha has multiple locations and a fully vegetarian dim sum menu too. The traditional teahouse has a killer siu mai and we love the triple treasure wrappers. Plus, the tea is excellent too!

    plant sifu
    Courtesy: Green Queen Media

    For a quick and budget-friendly lunch, Shanghai Lao Lao’s plant-based menu (in partnership with local alt-meat brand Plant Sifu) is a steal. We can’t get enough of the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), dan dan noodles and mapo tofu. The mochi-like dessert rolled in toasted sesame flour is the ideal meal ending.

    Tea, coffee and cafés

    Speaking of tea, if you’re a bubble tea fan, Hong Kong is home not just to one but two 100% vegan pearl milk tea chains! Mother Pearl is hands down my favourite pearl tea spot ever – and it now has six stores across the city so I am clearly not the only one. With a signature gourmet wellness twist, Mother Pearl serves up some stunningly pretty concoctions (ideal for you Insta-foodies), which are equally delicious too. There are so many highlights, it’s hard to pick, but I’d say the Crush on Gold, Soul Full of Sunshine, Glimpse of Sunburst and the Po Mylk Tea are must-haves. Oh, and the mochi cookies (made from their leftover homespun plant-based milks) are otherworldly.

    bubble tea hong kong
    Courtesy: Mother Pearl

    The other bubble tea chain to try is Nuttea. Its signature five-nut cream – which tastes like a nicer Nutella but somehow contains no chocolate – works on every single menu item. The menu itself is expansive, but all I’d say is, whatever flavour you pick, choose the nut cream on top. That’s the best part.

    And while we’re on drinks, if you’re looking for a great cup of aesthetically pretty coffee that doesn’t charge you extra for oat milk (but does carry a dairy surcharge), Clean Coffee is your friend. Fineprint doesn’t put a levy on oat either (although soy has an added cost) in any of its locations – and I daresay these two are among the best – if not the very best – speciality coffee shops in Hong Kong.

    specialty coffee hong kong
    Courtesy: Green Queen Media

    Delicious dinner date spots that span the region

    Mak Mak, the Thai restaurant in Central’s Landmark, has a fail-safe vegetarian menu that is ideal for large group gatherings. Come for the pink pomelo and shallot salad and summer rolls (with two dipping sauces), and stay for the most deceptively innocent-looking, flavour-bomb fried rice you’ll ever find. And finish with the gorgeous mango sticky rice – Mak Mak uses butterfly pea powder to give the rice a strikingly midnight blue tone, and tops it with a perfectly ripe mango and some sweteened condensed coconut milk.

    Speaking of which, Chilli Fagara is an upscale Szechuan restaurant in Soho that’s ideal for anyone visiting the city. The 11-time Michelin Guide-recommended establishment has an excellent vegan menu with dozens of options including the option to swap out meat for Impossible Foods’s alternative in a range of dishes. The menu is divided into three sections with non-spicy options for those who aren’t as comfortable with the numbing powers of those famous peppercorns. The lettuce wraps, mapo tofu and sweet and sour eggplants are a must-order.

    I loved my meal at Isoya in Wan Chai, a fine dining plant-based restaurant that serves fixed vegetarian tasting menus, which can be made vegan upon request. We loved our tofu taster plate, somen noodles, sushi assortment and what turned out to be the single greatest raw tomato I’ve ever had.

    vegan restaurants hong kong
    Courtesy: Green Queen Media

    From kathi rolls to bánh mì, where to grab a vegan-friendly lunch

    If you’re looking for a decent bánh mì, look no further than Le Petit Saigon‘s tofu version over in Star Street. Nearby is the fast-casual Indian street food concept Bengal Brothers, whose chickpea kathi roll (think a desi version of a kebab wrap) is a filling and tasty lunch, or you can grab a slice or three of new pay-by-weight Roman pizza joint Alice Pizza which has a few vegan-friendly offerings including sliced eggplant, sliced potato and marinara.

    Of course, for whole-food healthy vibes, Hong Kong’s resident plant-based lunch spot Treehouse never disappoints. Now with three locations (Central, Taikoo Place and Causeway Bay), its addictive bowls, burgers and flats make for a perfect midday boost.

    More of an al-desko sort? Give chef Tina Barrat’s raw-vegan forward lunch delivery a try. The French chef talent behind the now-closed Ma… and the Seeds of Life and one of Hong Kong’s earliest raw food pioneers, serves up a weekly changing menu of both raw and cooked dishes that are as delicious as they are nourishing. Order one to two days before via Whatsapp and it will be delivered to you in time for lunch at work. Think dishes like Nobu-style miso aubergine with black rice and edamame, Recommended: the zucchini gnocchi with cheesy basil pesto and fresh sprouts, the miso aubergine with black rice and edamame and the smoked tomato soup with homemade almond butter. Barrat opened Hong Kong’s first vegan cheese shop too, so give her range of nut-based wheels a whirl (the Shamembert is addictive).

    If neo-hipster cafe is your vibe, then I’d be remiss not to mention the popular (and always full) spots by the Years group, across five locations (with a few in trendy Sham Shui Po), the restaurants offer up vegan-friendly menus of local and international fare (from burgers to katsu sandos) that are worth the queue.

    For dedicated vegan pizza, head to the newly-opened Mayse in Jordan, a Latvian family-run bakery whose first outpost out in Tai Mei Tuk is always rammed on weekends. The pizzas are reminiscent of family-owned trattorias back in Italy, with spelt crusts and vegan mozzarella. They also do excellent bread, from ciabatta loaves, cornmeal, wholewheat or rye sourdough and even baguettes, and offer paninis and sandwiches to boot.

    Off-the-beaten-path vegan food experiences

    If you’re an adventurous foodie looking for a unique dining experience, Hong Kong more than delivers. At the African Center in Kowloon, you can join an all-you-can-eat buffet-style group dinner of Pan-African or Ethiopian (injera for life!), or grab a few friends and book fully vegan meals for what might be the best bang for your buck (under HK$300 a head and BYOB sans corkage).

    An experience not to miss (IF you can secure a spot) is Olive Leaf, a private kitchen that hosts cooking classes and vegan Middle Eastern brunches. Tucked away on the least busy side of Lamma Island and a short ferry trip from Aberdeen, Israeli chef Ayelet Idan welcomes you to her cosy, warm home and lush garden for an hours-long vegetarian (can be made vegan) meal that you will dream about for months afterwards. From almond labneh to smoked eggplant dips to vine leaf cakes, it’s Middle Eastern food heaven!

    Marvellous plant-based desserts

    mango sticky rice hong kong
    Mak Mak’s mango sticky rice | Courtesy: Green Queen Media

    Talking about alt-dairy, if you’re looking for ice cream, So Coco is a shrine to coconuts. While it has a bunch of retail products (in shops like City’super) it has a café-style location in Causeway Bay. Its signature coconut ice cream comes in a bunch of flavours that can act as a base of milkshakes too. Additionally, there are ‘coconut beverages’ that can be topped with elements like coconut meat and jelly. The showstopper, however, is the signature bowl: it’s coconut ice cream or pudding served in a young coconut with a choice of grass jelly, red bean, tapioca and taro, alongside coconut meat. It’s ridiculously refreshing.

    In terms of other dessert places, Moono is a spot in Tsim Sha Tsui that is famous for its vegan mooncakes, tarts and whole cakes. Oh, it also does a Tiramiso (get it?) in an edible cookie cup, which is unmissable. Finally, Bien Caramélisé is a classic French patisserie with options that are as delectable as they are beautiful. Chef Jessica Chow, who trained in Paris, makes everything herself from her vegan butter to the puff pastry and it’s truly outstanding stuff. It’s mostly by delivery though there’s a pop-up shop in Mong Kok that’s sometimes open on weekends though it’s by appointment only so make sure to book. There are choux, macarons, tarts and even vegan éclairs – what more do you need? Pro tip: the hazelnut cream millefeuille will rock your world.

    This is just a snapshot of some of the best vegan-friendly food Hong Kong has to offer. Suffice it to say, it’s very hard to be disappointed by the city’s culinary offerings, wherever you go so, happy tasting.

    The post Plant-Based World City: A Food Lover’s Guide to Hong Kong’s Best Vegan Eats appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Bus Commuters to Net Free Vegan Fish and a Whale of a Warning From PETA

    As the fishing industry tries to promote October as National Seafood Month, on Tuesday PETA supporters will hand out free vegan tuna next to a new message making waves among local bus commuters and compelling them to consider the hidden costs of their fish fillets. Washing up at bus shelters near Long John Silver’s and other similarly fishy venues across the city, the ad campaign points out that fish aren’t the only victims of the fishing industry—millions of other animals, euphemistically known as “bycatch,” also die on its hooks and in its nets every year.

    bycatch ad

    When:    Tuesday, October 3, 12 noon

    Where:    Next to the bus shelter in front of Kroger, 5533 New Cut Rd., Louisville

    “Dolphins, sea turtles, birds, sharks, and other animals are all collateral damage to fishers and big trawlers alike,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges conscientious consumers to leave all animals off their plates, for the sake of animals and the planet.”

    PETA notes that the fishing industry’s unintentional kills are one of the biggest threats to marine biodiversity worldwide and have resulted in widespread species extinction, habitat destruction, and irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems. The industry is also terribly cruel to its intended victims: More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. Fish feel pain as acutely as mammals do, have long-term memories, and sing underwater—yet they’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, dropped into pots of boiling water, or cut open and gutted, often while they’re conscious.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a list of delicious vegan fish options, such as Gardein’s f’sh filets, Sophie’s Kitchen’s Fish Fillets, and Good Catch Plant-Based Crab Cakes, as well as a free vegan starter kit to help people get hooked on vegan food.

    PETA’s message also appears on bus shelters next to the Walmart Supercenter at 175 Outer Loop and at 11401 Westport Rd.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Bus Commuters to Net Free Vegan Fish and a Whale of a Warning From PETA appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Tampa Nets Vegan Fish Giveaway and a Whale of a Warning From PETA

    As the fishing industry seeks to promote October as National Seafood Month, PETA supporters will hand out free Loving Hut vegan fish fillets just down the road from a new message that’s making waves by compelling commuters to consider the leviathan-sized hidden costs of their fish dinners. The image points out that fish aren’t the only victims of the fishing industry, as millions of other animals, including whales, turtles, seals, and dolphins—euphemistically known as “bycatch”—also die on its hooks, in its nets, and in its abandoned and discarded gear every year.

    bycatch ad

    When:    Wednesday, October 4, 4:30 p.m.

    Where:    Outside Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church, 3501 W. San Jose St., Tampa

    “Dolphins, turtles, sea birds, sharks, whales, and other animals are simply viewed as collateral damage to fishing trawlers and even anglers,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges conscientious consumers who care about animals to leave fish off their plates, for everyone’s sake.”

    PETA notes that the fishing industry’s unintentional kills are one of the biggest threats to marine biodiversity worldwide and have resulted in widespread species extinction, habitat destruction, and irreversible damage to ocean ecosystems. The fishing industry is also terribly cruel to its intended victims: More fish are killed for food each year than all other animals combined. Fish feel pain as acutely as mammals do, have long-term memories, and sing underwater—yet they’re impaled, crushed, suffocated, dropped into pots of boiling water, or cut open and gutted, all while conscious.

    PETA’s message appears on bus shelters in Tampa on S. Dale Mabry Highway (U.S. 92) near Inman Avenue and on W. Kennedy Boulevard at Church Avenue and in Brandon on Causeway Boulevard at Marsh Harbor Way and on Providence Road near Windingwood Avenue. Each location is just a stone’s throw from a Bonefish Grill restaurant, whose headquarters is in Tampa.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers a free vegan starter kit to help people get hooked on vegan food. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Tampa Nets Vegan Fish Giveaway and a Whale of a Warning From PETA appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Free Food! PETA to Hand Out Dozens of ‘ThanksVegan’ Roasts in Vancouver

    Free vegan turkey roasts are coming to roost outside Donald’s Market on Wednesday, courtesy of PETA. The group will hand out the delicious, animal-free roasts to encourage people to keep sensitive birds off their Thanksgiving tables and celebrate “ThanksVegan” instead.

    When:    Wednesday, October 4, 6:30 p.m.

    Where:    Outside Donald’s Market, 2342 E. Hastings St., Vancouver

    A PETA supporter hands out free vegan roasts at a previous giveaway.

    “Each turkey is a unique individual who feels fear and pain and values their own life, yet millions of them are killed for this holiday alone,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is encouraging everyone to show turkeys and all animals kindness this Thanksgiving and go vegan.”

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview,

    and offers a free vegan starter kit plus plenty of delicious ThanksVegan recipes on its website.

    For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Free Food! PETA to Hand Out Dozens of ‘ThanksVegan’ Roasts in Vancouver appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • Urge Canadian Lawmakers to Reject Proposed Amendments That Would Prevent Activists From Providing Aid to Animals and Documenting Abuse

    The post Urge Canadian Lawmakers to Reject Proposed Amendments That Would Prevent Activists From Providing Aid to Animals and Documenting Abuse appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.

  • To Avoid Climate Disasters Like the NYC Floods, the US Must Reduce Its Meat Consumption by 82%

    plant based meat us
    6 Mins Read

    New York City is in a state of emergency, with flash floods leaving the Big Apple struggling to recover, merely three months after the city was engulfed in a polluted haze due to Canadian wildfires. Experts have blamed it on the climate crisis, and warned that it is a “new normal”. To prevent that from becoming a reality nationwide, it’s imperative that the US recognise the link between animal agriculture and climate change – and a new study says this means Americans need to cut their meat intake by 82%.

    It was only two years ago when Hurricane Ida and its accompanying record-breaking rainfall killed 13 people in the US’s largest city. That intensive rainfall has poured down again and caused flash floods and emergencies in New York just two years later, is a sign of things to come. Just listen to New York governor Kathy Hochul, who told Reuters: “This is unfortunately what we have to expect as the new normal.”

    The city’s environmental protection commissioner Rohit Aggarwala told the New York Times: “This changing weather pattern is the result of climate change, and the sad reality is our climate is changing faster than our infrastructure can respond.”

    These are grave statements. Leaders are informing US citizens that flash flooding and hurricanes will be their new reality. While Aggarwala cites a lack of infrastructure preparedness to combat the consequences of climate-related extreme weather events, there’s another key issue he and other officials often omit when discussing what needs to change: meat consumption.

    Americans eat too much meat

    us meat consumption
    Courtesy: Ivan Radic/CC

    The problem – and this should not be news – is that we eat too much meat. Americans alone consume 233.3g of meat a day, which is almost three times the maximum amount recommended by the Eat-Lancet Commission to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and meet the targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

    Equally striking is the fact that just 12% of Americans are responsible for half of the country’s meat consumption, according to a recent study. Additionally, a 2021 poll found that 59% of US citizens believe eating meat is just part of “the American way of life”. If that really is the case, these Americans might need to start making some shifts.

    New research by Compassion in World Farming, an animal advocacy organisation says Americans need to cut their meat intake by 82%, if they’re to avoid similar climate disasters in the long term.

    According to the group’s US director, Ben Williamson, “National governments and other policy-setting institutions ignore the overwhelming evidence that meat consumption is a primary driver of the climate crisis and significantly impacts our ability to limit the planet’s warming to sustainable levels,” he writes for The Hill. “Without a dramatic reduction in US meat consumption, we will be unable to avert a climate catastrophe.”

    Williamson goes as far as to say that our meat-heavy diets are driving us towards extinction. “Not only is it responsible in large part for extreme weather events, it is also a significant contributor to water scarcity and biodiversity loss. Reducing meat consumption would not only help to alleviate these burdens but also allow us to redirect precious resources toward more sustainable agricultural practices and forest preservation.” 

    Eating meat is bad for the climate

    new york floods
    Courtesy: Getty Images via Canva

    Research has constantly pointed to the enormous impact animal agriculture has on the environment. One study revealed that meat accounts for nearly 60% of all emissions from food, while livestock farming itself produces between 11-19.5% of the planet’s overall emissions. Moreover, animal-derived foods like meat and dairy cause twice as many emissions as plant-based foods and vegan diets can cut emissions, water pollution and land use by 75% compared to meat-rich diets.

    Last month, a study revealed the demand for meat continues to rise – globally it’s expected that we will eat 14% more meat by 2030 – and this will lead to a 4% increase in agricultural land. But replacing half of our meat and milk intake with vegan alternatives by 2050 would instead shrink this area by 12%. It will also reduce agricultural and land-use emissions by 31%. The findings echo a similar study showing that we can avoid 100 gigatons of emissions if three-quarters of people adopt plant-rich diets by 2050.

    Despite all this evidence, the detriments of meat-eating don’t seem to hit home for Americans. A Newsweek poll has shown that 40% of Americans don’t believe consuming less red meat would help lower emissions. And in August, a poll by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland found that 74% of Americans don’t think eating less meat would have any impact on climate change. And a survey by Gallup has revealed that the number of vegans in the US has reached a 10-year-low.

    This isn’t helped by the fact that 93% of all media coverage about climate change doesn’t mention animal agriculture. Or that US politicians who are hoping to be president actively reject their own country’s science and call the climate crisis a hoax.

    Just like the world, America needs a transition away from meat, and it needs it now. “It may seem impossible, but it’s not,” suggests Williamson. He explains that while individual diets are a way to achieve the consumption reduction goal, “governments and institutions have their roles to play, too”.

    Policy recommendations to slash meat consumption

    us mayors plant based
    New York City mayor Eric Adams follows a plant-forward diet, and has introduced climate-friendly food policies | Courtesy: Eric Adams/Twitter

    Compassion in World Farming’s report offers multiple policy recommendations. A change in research funding is one. Research has found that livestock farming receives 800 times more funding than plant-based and cultivated meat in the US, while 95% of all research and innovation spending between 2014-20 went to animal farmers, aimed at improving production.

    The report calls for these subsidies to be redirected towards “plant-based innovation”, and urges more “public investment in research and innovation for cell-cultivated meat, plant-based proteins, and protein from fermentation”. It also suggests a meat tax, noting that “altering price instruments to incentivise a move away from industrial production and consumption of animal-sourced foods toward regenerative farming and less animal-dependent diets can help raise public revenue”. This, in turn, will drive the prices of plant-based diets down.

    It further suggests a change in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to recommend a lower amount of red and processed meat consumption. Additionally, cooperation across policy areas and stakeholders – as well as industry collaboration – is “necessary to enable dietary change”, and meat reduction needs to be built into companies’ sustainability goals.

    And perhaps fittingly, Williamson cites the example of the flood-hit New York City, which has a Good Food Purchasing programme to encourage institutions to buy food based on five values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition. The city, whose mayor Eric Adams is a passionate advocate of plant-based diets, has committed to lowering its food-related emissions by a third by 2030.

    Perhaps the rest of the US can follow the city’s lead. There’s already precedent here: earlier this year, 1,400 US mayors ratified a resolution promoting a shift to plant-based diets across the country, arguing that this could address chronic diseases, climate change and national healthcare costs.

    With a national election coming along – and many presidential candidates still ignoring the realities of climate change, even as their country burns and drowns – such initiatives are more important than ever.

    The post To Avoid Climate Disasters Like the NYC Floods, the US Must Reduce Its Meat Consumption by 82% appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Flawless Fungi: EU & US Startups Team Up to Develop Tastier Meat Alternatives

    fungi protein
    4 Mins Read

    German mycoprotein startup Nosh.bio has partnered with Boston-based synthetic biology firm Ginkgo Bioworks to leverage the latter’s cell programming platform to find protein-producing fungi strains with superior sensory profiles. The AI-led process will help Nosh.bio develop a single-ingredient meat alternative.

    Nosh.bio creates functional ingredients from using biomass fermentation for plant-based food products, while Ginkgo hosts a cell programming and biosecurity platform to help companies manufacture more sustainable alternatives for their products.

    The partnership will see Nosh.bio use Ginkgo’s Strain Optimization Services and leverages its ultra-high-throughput encapsulated screening capabilities to screen for fungi strains that can create more flavourful, nutritious alt-proteins that can deliver a savoury and “naturally meaty” flavour in food products.

    nosh.bio
    Courtesy: Nosh.bio

    In search of the perfect fungal ingredient

    The two companies argue that animal-free protein still faces a challenge in creating delicious alt-meat products that are less processed and more affordable than conventional meat. Multiple studies have shown the importance of taste, texture and price parity to the growth of this sector. In addition, ‘clean-labels’ with shorter ingredient lists and fewer processed elements are equally important to consumers.

    Nosh.bio’s tech platform uses fungal biomass to develop single-ingredient mycoprotein-derived meat alternatives. The startup, which raised €3.2M in a seed funding round earlier this year, says red meat products – like steak – are the most challenging product to recreate, and current alternatives can contain many ingredients and chemical additives. It adds that its “highly efficient” and “cost-effective” production process can make alt-meats that taste and feel just like conventional meat but carry better health credentials.

    To enable the creation of such an ingredient, Ginkgo hopes to discover a fungi strain with “higher native proteins” involved in achieving the superior qualities Nosh.bio is looking for in its plant-based meat products. The cell programming platform will run a mutagenesis and screening campaign with EncapS, its proprietary encapsulation and screening technology, which is able to search through up to one million variants in a single run. This will help select the best-performing strains for further development.

    “Nosh.bio is eager to enable the transition from animal-based to animal-free products. Our affordable, high-quality plant-based ingredients can build a product that’s even closer to meat in taste and texture than alt-protein options currently on the market,” said Nosh.bio co-founder and CEO Tim Fronzek. “What really excites us about partnering with Ginkgo is their accelerated screening technology that can help us pinpoint and develop a super ‘meaty’ mycoprotein.”

    Kalpesh Parekh, VP of business development at Ginkgo Bioworks, added: “Our proprietary encapsulation and screening technology can expeditiously deliver valuable insights that enable our partners to optimise their R&D efforts and overall product.”

    Ginkgo, which became a public company on the NYSE in 2021 with a $15B valuation after closing a SPAC deal with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp, already has link-ups with Swiss ingredients giant Givaudan for fermentation-based sustainable ingredients, alt-materials startup Bolt Threads for its b-silk protein, and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, among others. Launched in 2008, its tech has also led to several spinoff companies, like Motif FoodWorks and Joyn Bio (a joint venture with Bayer).

    ginkgo bioworks
    Courtesy: Ginkgo Bioworks

    Artificial intelligence and alt-protein

    As AI makes it into our everyday lives more and more, it’s becoming a part of the alt-protein industry as well, with companies leveraging the future-facing tech to solve current and forthcoming problems. Last month, sustainability non-profit Food System Innovations partnered with AI expert Noa Weiss to launch GreenProtein AI, which uses machine learning to optimise the extrusion and texture of plant-based meat.

    AI has already been in use for years by Chilean food tech brand NotCo for its plant-based alternatives. Its patented AI tech, Giuseppe, is the brains behind the company’s alt-milks, mayo and burgers. Similarly, Singapore’s Howw Foods uses AI to make Hegg, its vegan powdered egg product.

    Meanwhile, many companies have collaborated with AI firms to improve the development of alt-protein products. Bel Foods – the French dairy giant behind Babybel cheese – has partnered with California’s Climax Foods to make vegan products, while Danone is working with Californian AI firm Brightseed to discover hidden nutrients and compounds in plant crops. And Colorado-based mycelium meat maker Meati collaborated with AI company PIPA to speed up and expand its understanding of the health and nutrition credentials of its nutrient-rich products.

    Some companies have used AI as a marketing tool. US startup Pleese Foods unveiled a campaign in August that employed AI to generate whimsical imagery of cheese as a flourishing crop and being grown on trees.

    The post Flawless Fungi: EU & US Startups Team Up to Develop Tastier Meat Alternatives appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Truck Accident Prompts PETA Memorial to Pigs

    To memorialize the dozens of pigs struck by cars and killed along the Mississippi River Bridge last Tuesday after the animals fell from an open gate on the back of a transport truck, PETA plans to place a sky-high message near the site of their deaths proclaiming, “See the Individual. Go Vegan.”

    Pig: © iStock.com/IlonaBudzbon

    “Pigs died in agony and terror after their bodies hit the pavement and cars slammed into them, and traumatized survivors were put back onto the truck and sent to slaughter,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA encourages anyone disturbed by the thought of animals dying under a car to extend that sympathy to the pigs who die under the slaughterhouse knife and go vegan.”

    In today’s meat industry, mother pigs are squeezed into narrow metal stalls barely larger than their bodies and kept almost constantly pregnant or nursing. Pigs’ tails are chopped off, their teeth are cut with pliers, and males are castrated—all without any pain relief. At the slaughterhouse, they’re hung upside down—often while still conscious—and bled to death. Every person who goes vegan spares the lives of nearly 200 animals each year.

    PETA notes that there have been at least 45 accidents involving trucks carrying animals used for food so far this year and that there were at least 89 last year.

    PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram.

    The post Truck Accident Prompts PETA Memorial to Pigs appeared first on PETA.

    This post was originally published on Animal Rights and Campaign News | PETA.