Better Bioeconomy Weekly - Jul 24th 2023 🌏
Krabby Patties are real
BIO BUZZ
🍔 Akua teams up with SpongeBob SquarePants to introduce kid-friendly Kelp Patties
The collaboration aligns with Nickelodeon's ocean sustainability initiative, Operation Sea Change, aiming to make eco-friendly products more accessible to children.
Akua, the New York-based creator of the“world’s first” kelp burger, specializes in creating meat and seafood alternatives using kelp, a highly sustainable and nutrient-rich crop sourced from ocean farmers along the New England seaboard.
Crafted from 100% sustainable ocean-farmed kelp, the patties are not only tasty but also contribute to improving the health of children and the health of oceans, promoting a clean food future centred around whole foods and clean eating.
Read full article - Green Queen
🍄 MycoTechnology has discovered a sweet protein derived from honey truffles that could spice up the sugar and artificial sweetener markets
The sweet protein from honey truffles offers intense, natural sweetness without the aftertaste commonly associated with sugar replacements.
The discovery is timely as the artificial sweetener aspartame has been identified as a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization.
MycoTechnology's breakthrough brings excitement as proteins are recognized as the future of sweeteners, ushering in a new era of clean-label sweeteners and revolutionizing food and beverage creation.
Read full article - Green Queen
🧀 Armored Fresh says it has successfully crafted the first commercially available oat milk cheese slices
The South Korean food tech pioneer raised $23 million last year and its latest product, Oat Milk Cheese slices, expands the brand's dairy-free cheese offerings, which currently include its popular American-style slices.
The slices authentically replicate the sharp, salty, and nutty flavours of dairy cheese and do not contain soy, gluten, dairy, preservatives, or artificial flavours. The product is initially available for food service partnerships in New York.
Improving the nutrition profile of plant-based dairy is a core focus for Armored Fresh, with plans to increase the plant-based protein per slice from its current 1 g per serving to as much as 15-20 g of protein, among other benefits.
Read full article - Green Queen
🛩 Green Rebel has partnered with AirAsia to offer meatless alternatives to traditional Southeast Asian delicacies
AirAsia's food service subsidiary, Santan, has replaced traditional meat ingredients with Green Rebel's plant-based proteins for the in-flight menus. New offerings include Beefless Rendang and elevated Nasi Lemak with Green Rebel Chick’n Chunks.
Green Rebel, Indonesia's top plant-based protein brand, boasts food technology that mimics meat's mouthfeel and enhances absorption of deep flavours, ideal for various Asian culinary methods like braising, stewing, steaming, hotpot, grilling, and deep frying.
AirAsia has undertaken efforts to decrease its carbon footprint, which includes reducing 221 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per aircraft per year through an optimization solution implemented in 2022.
Read full article - Green Queen
👀 Taste Like's public launch helps you find alternative protein products easily in the US
The platform offers a space for consumers, food scientists, companies, and investors to engage, exchange knowledge, and learn about this rapidly growing food sector.
It provides 1000+ product profiles with detailed information, photos, and reviews for informed purchase decisions. Each product includes photos and info on ingredients, taste, nutrition, allergens, and availability to help consumers decide.
Taste Like motivates consumers to switch to animal-free alternatives by providing them with essential information to prevent dissatisfaction and minimize food waste. In addition, Taste Like says that the platform will give exclusive consumer insights to companies, investors, and product developers.
Read full article - vegconomist
🧈 Willicroft is expanding its product range with the introduction of its first non-cheese offering: a fermented butter called "The Original Better”
The Dutch startup's plant-based butter is crafted from fermented beans and 100% natural European soybeans sourced from Austria. Using beans as a base for cheese production cuts CO2 emissions by 5x compared to dairy alternatives.
Willicroft's "The Original Better" mimics the taste, spreadability, cooking properties, and baking characteristics of conventional dairy butter while containing lower levels of saturated fats compared to other plant-based butter.
In 2022, Willicroft became the first plant-based cheese brand in Europe to obtain B-Corp certification and raised >€2 million in Seed funding to expand across Europe.
Read full article - Green Queen
🤝 Alpha Foods and Eat Just team up to expand Alpha's breakfast offerings featuring Just Egg
Alpha Foods also announced the integration of new high-moisture extrusion (HME) technology, driven by consumer and retailer insights, to produce nutritious, convenient, and accessible vegan products.
Alpha Foods stated that these partnerships and technological improvements are essential for the brand's growth and continuous innovation in the plant-based market by creating crave-able, convenient, and accessible options.
Alpha Foods is renovating its core product portfolio, including Chik'n Strips, All-Day Burritos, Chik'n Nuggets, and Chik'n Patties, with formulation changes to improve taste, texture, and nutrition, while maintaining an accessible price point.
Read full article - Green Queen
📊 Unilever is harnessing AI and big data to develop nutritious, low-carbon footprint plant proteins and vegan innovations
Unilever is using machine learning to design next-generation products and optimize processes in various areas, including food and beverage, personal care, beauty, well-being, and homecare.
Unilever is exploring alternative proteins through precision fermentation and leveraging AI and big data to speed up the development of plant-based products with reduced water usage and carbon footprint.
Digital technology tools are enabling Unilever to work smarter, enhance insights, drive innovation, and streamline scientific discovery processes, such as predicting product shelf life and sensory profiles using modelling capabilities.
Read full article - FoodIngredientsFirst
Hungry for a weekly feast of news and updates on the future of food? Devour our free subscription! 👇🏾
BIO BUCKS
💰 Big Idea Ventures has announced the first investments of its New Protein Fund II, providing pre-seed funding to 10 early-stage startups
The selected startups cover a wide range of alternative protein innovations. The 10 startups are Future Cow (Brazil), Naturannova (Chile), Pioneer Biolabs (US), Harvest Moon Foods (Canada), SoundEats (US), New Wave Biotech (UK), Perfat Technologies (Finland), PFx Biotech (Portugal), Yeastime (Italy), Zymoscope (Denmark)
The chosen companies demonstrate the diversity and potential of the alternative protein industry beyond meat applications, highlighting the role of enabling technologies, fats applications, and biomaterials in facilitating growth and scalability.
BIV encourages investors, corporate leaders, and partners to connect with the founders of the selected companies to explore their innovative technologies and applications. Additionally, a third round of investments will be announced soon through their Singapore office.
Read full article - vegconomist
🏆 Nutrophy won France’s i-Lab Grand Prix becoming the first alt protein company to win the Grand Prix award in 25 editions of the competition
The i-Lab Grand Prix is an annual innovation contest in France that aims to recognize and financially support innovative deep tech companies.
Only 2% of the winners each year are awarded the prestigious "Grand Prix," which provides a larger grant and more support. The grant of up to €600,000 will accelerate Nutropy's development to bring animal-free milk ingredients to the market.
Nutropy's winning project focuses on optimizing precision fermentation-based processes for the production of dairy proteins, aiming to create sustainable, tasty, and healthier cheese alternatives while reducing production costs.
Read full article - Nutrophy
🇦🇺 Wide Open Agriculture (WOA) receives AUD$5M government grant to scale up the production of oat milk enriched with a lupin protein
The new plant, expected to launch in Q3 2025, will utilize novel manufacturing technologies to reduce production costs and increase domestic production capabilities to meet the growing demand for plant-based alternatives.
WOA has developed a fossil-fuel-free process to produce a shelf-stable protein-rich concentrate powder from lupins, using renewable energy and no hazardous chemicals.
The lupins used are grown using regenerative farming practices, capturing carbon and increasing biodiversity, supporting WOA's vision for a sustainable and innovative plant-based nutrition industry.
Read full article - vegconomist
🖨 The 3D food printing market is projected to reach $11.3 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 50.2% from 2023-2030
North America is expected to lead the 3D food printing market, followed by Europe, APAC, LATAM, and the MEA. It’s driven by technological progress in food technology, increasing awareness of 3D-printed and plant-based meat products, and rising demand for vegan alternatives.
Challenges such as long processing times and perceived flavour and texture limitations compared to traditional food products exist. But the food & hospitality industries' interest and ongoing research present promising opportunities for market growth.
The machines & accessories segment is expected to dominate the market in 2023 due to wider usage in food industries, offering personalized nutrition, automated cooking, and reduced food wastage. It is also anticipated to have the highest CAGR during the forecast period.
Read full article - vegconomist
Got a taste for this newsletter? Dish it out to your friends!👇🏾
SOCIAL FEAST
🤯 Eating less meat is 'like taking 8 million cars off the road'
A new study by the University of Oxford highlights the environmental impact of a meat-heavy diet, showing that it produces double the greenhouse gases and land use, as well as significantly more water consumption compared to a low meat diet.
Eating meat comes with external costs for society, and sustainable farming practices and carbon storage efforts are not sufficient to offset its negative effects on the environment.
To meet environmental targets, there is a need for a drastic reduction in animal product consumption, with a particular focus on transitioning towards plant-based meals. Every step towards reducing meat consumption, no matter how small, can contribute to positive change.
Read full post - Adrian Boelle
🧠 Why is there such a disconnect between what people say they want to eat and what they actually eat?
Food is not merely a rational decision based on nutrition, but an emotional one driven by pleasure, love, connection, and self-expression.
Decisions about what to eat are frequently made in the moment when emotions are at play, prioritizing pleasure and immediate desires.
Consumers' expressed desires about what they want to eat and how they want to act in the world might not always align with their immediate emotional food choices.
Watch quick snip - Irina Gerry
👀 Can you spot the plant-based patty? 2/3 got it wrong!
TiNDLE TrueCut™ is a plant-based chicken patty that offers an unparalleled taste, texture, and mouthfeel that food lovers crave from real chicken.
In a recent LinkedIn poll, about two-thirds of participants couldn't distinguish TiNDLE TrueCut™ from real chicken patties offered by prominent fast food chains, highlighting its similarity in taste and appearance.
TiNDLE TrueCut™ is a significant milestone in the plant-based food industry, as it achieves a meat-like texture through innovative manufacturing processes using only five ingredients and contains no GMOs or cholesterol.
Find the answer! - TiNDLE Foods
EAR FOOD
🐛 Bugging out with Josh Robinson: Cocoon Biosciences metamorphic journey
Show: Grow Everything
Guest: Josh Robinson, CEO of Cocoon Bioscience
“Scientists have been making bioproducts using single-cell microbes in big, steel bioreactors and highly engineered systems. But insects have evolved to act as natural bioreactors in the cocoon state, which allows us to leverage them to create complex proteins and enzymes.” - Josh Robinson
Small-scale production plays a crucial role in various sectors, including semiconductors and biology, and there is revolutionary potential in mass-producing MRNA vaccines with minimal enzyme usage.
The importance of natural and innovative solutions like fermentation for yielding high-value molecules was brought up, and Josh talks about Cocoon's future and the broader biotech landscape in the next 3-10 years.
🎙 This week in alt protein by Green Queen Media
Show: Green Queen Alt Protein Weekly
Perfect Day is being encouraged by investors to sell its consumer packaged goods (CPG) businesses and focus on business-to-business (B2B) operations.
Despite global investment in alternative protein being at its lowest point since 2Q 2018, startups with true value and differentiation can still thrive and investors are competing to invest in these startups.
MycoTechnology, Inc. and WNWN Food Labs present examples of how "bioidentical" ingredients may not be essential.
VISUAL DELIGHT
🍗 Vegan tries cultivated meat for the first time!
“This is great because people who don’t want to go full vegan, don’t want to get rid of meat and don’t want to lose traditional or cultural dishes can still enjoy them without harming the environment or animals. It’s a win-win-win" - Merle O'Neal
That’s all for this week. Take care and have an awesome week! 🙌🏾
Got any ideas on how I could improve the newsletter? Your input is super valuable to me. Drop me a line or two on LinkedIn or Twitter and let's start a conversation!
I usually read this on my email but I just had to stop by and say thanks!