Better Bioeconomy Weekly - May 15th 2023 🌏
PSA: Food Tech is Climate Tech
As we kick off a new week, I wanted to remind you of something important: exercise and stay active! 💪🏾
Alright, buckle up for an information-packed edition as we dive right into this week's newsletter! 🤿
BIO BUZZ 🌏
🇭🇰 Hong Kong-based WOW Burger Introduces Asia’s First Plant-Forward Fast Food Concept Restaurant
WOW Burger founders aimed to provide vegetarian, inclusive comfort food that maintains taste and quality at an affordable price.
The signature patties at WOW Burger contain over 20 grams of plant-based protein, satisfying both vegetarian and meat-loving customers.
Menu options include flagship WOW Cheeseburger, Wow Chick'n, WOW Spicy Chick'n, and Wow Truffle burger, with traditional American burger-style sides and dairy-free oat milk milkshakes.
Read full article - Green Queen
🇨🇳 China Approves Safety of First Gene-Edited Crop as They Increasingly Look to Science to Boost Food Production
The soybean, developed by Shandong Shunfeng Biotechnology Co., has two modified genes that increase the level of healthy fat oleic acid in the plant.
Gene editing is considered less risky than GMOs as gene editing alters existing genes in a plant, unlike genetic modification that introduces foreign genes.
Shunfeng claims to be the first company in China aiming to commercialize gene-edited crops and is researching other gene-edited crops such as rice, wheat, corn, herbicide-resistant rice and soybeans, and vitamin C-rich lettuce.
Read full article - Reuters
🍔 Mosa Meat Opens World’s Largest Cultivated Meat Facility
Mosa Meat has opened a new 2,760 m2 facility, bringing its total footprint to 7,340 m2 and preparing for large-scale production of cultivated meat once it receives regulatory approval.
The company has raised $96 million in venture capital funding to advance its efforts and is working to clear regulatory hurdles in Singapore, the only country that has approved cultivated meat to date.
The new facility will have the capacity to make tens of thousands of cultivated hamburgers and can grow as demand increases, up to hundreds of thousands of cultivated hamburgers per year.
Read full article - Green Queen
🇩🇪 Germany's Meat Alternative Production Increased by 72% in Just 3 Years
Meat alternative production in Germany increased by 6.5% in 2022 compared to the previous year and by an impressive 72.7% compared to 2019.
German per capita meat consumption reached its lowest point since 1989, while Germany had Europe's highest plant-based food sales value.
The German market for alternative products is the largest in Europe, with sales of €1.9 billion in 2022, and it has the highest growth rate (11%) among European markets.
Read full article - vegconomist
🐷 Washington State University Has Received the First-Ever FDA Approval for Gene-Edited Pigs for Human Consumption
The gene-edited pigs were processed at the WSU Meat Lab, inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and will be used to make German-style sausages for on-campus catering services.
The use of CRISPR gene-editing technology allowed the improvement of genetic traits in the pigs, with the long-term goal of disseminating valuable traits in livestock, such as improved meat quality and disease resistance.
WSU researchers are working towards FDA approval for a line of gene-edited pigs.
Read full article - The Spoon
🖨 Foody’s & Cocuus Launch the World’s First Industrial-Scale 3D Bioprinting Facility for Plant-Based Meat
Foody's will industrialize and market Cocuus's 3D bioprinted alt meat under the Foody's & Cocuus brand, starting with plant-based bacon, with production estimated at 1,000 tons per year.
Cocuus's 3D bioprinting platform, with proprietary bio-inks, AI, and mathematical models, can mimic meat's structure. They claim to print cutlets, bacon, lamb ribs, and salmon at 8 kilograms per minute.
The collaboration aims to address global food production challenges, providing meat and seafood without the need for animals and minimizing the presence of chemicals or heavy metals in the process.
Read full article - vegconomist
🤝🏾 Aleph Farms Partners with Thermo Fisher Scientific for Cost-Efficient Supply Chain in Cultivated Meat Production
The partnership aims to make cultivated meat production cost-efficient by addressing the need for predictable and affordable growth media.
Thermo Fisher Scientific will produce Aleph Farms' growth media formulations at scale and become an industry supplier.
Aleph Farms is focused on eliminating cost barriers in the industry through collaborations, including a previous partnership with Wacker Biotech for food-grade growth medium proteins.
Read full article - vegconomist
🇨🇳 Future of New Protein in China: Insights from VeggieWorld by Brinc’s Nicole Lee
With a population of nearly 1.5 billion, China offers a significant opportunity for the alternative protein industry. However, challenges include consumer acceptance and regulatory approvals for new food technologies.
Alternative protein products must cater to local tastes, flavours, and applications. Chinese brands and companies like Oatly are adapting their products to align with Chinese preferences and beverage trends.
Key areas to address include price parity, managing consumer expectations, and developing efficient manufacturing technologies. The regulatory environment is evolving, opening up research, development, and collaboration possibilities.
Read all of Nicole’s insights - Green Queen
🥟 Sobo Foods Aims to Reimagine Asian Comfort Food With Plant-Based Innovations
With $1 million in funding, the brand's first product line is frozen dumplings with three flavours: Japanese-inspired curry potato, Chinese-inspired pork & chive, and Korean-inspired kimchi & mushroom.
The founders, Adam Yee and Eric Wu wanted to focus on the foods they grew up with, which have cultural heritage, and reflect their values of using food to impact climate, hence the focus on plant-based products.
The Asian section of the frozen food aisle lacks better-for-you products and often relies on outdated or racist branding tropes, according to Wu. The brand’s target consumers are vegans, first and second-generation Asian Americans, and a new generation seeking plant-based alternatives beyond burgers and sausages.
Read full article - AgFunder
BIO BUCKS 💸
📉 Agrifood Tech Funding in Europe Slumped in 2022, But There Were Some Bright Spots
Agrifood tech investment in Europe fell 46% to $5.1 billion in 2022, but it still registered a significant increase versus 2020.
Investment in categories such as novel farming, farm robotics and automation, bioenergy and biomaterials, alternative proteins, and ag biotechnology grew in 2022, but funding for European eGrocery startups dramatically declined.
There were significant variations between countries, with funding surging in France but plunging in Germany, while investment in the UK remained relatively stable.
Read full article - AgFunder
🦠 MicroHarvest Announces Strategic Partnership With Simon Capital to Accelerate Path to Commercialization
MicroHarvest has raised €1.5M ($1.7M) from Simon Capital, bringing the total funding into the Hamburg-and-Lisbon-based start-up to over €10M ($11M).
The investment enables building a pilot plant in Lisbon to produce prototypes and accelerate research while ramping up production with a contract manufacturing partner to achieve commercialization milestones.
MicroHarvest's technology produces protein ingredients with over 60% raw protein in just 24 hours, requiring a fraction of the water and land needed for other commercially available alternatives.
Read full article - Protein Report
🇦🇹 Fermify Closed a $5 Million Seed Funding Round for Its Precision Fermentation Milk Protein
The Austria-based biotech startup aims to develop economically viable vegan cheese by replicating casein through precision fermentation, and it already has 45 global customers in the pipeline.
The funds will accelerate bioprocess optimization, digitalization, and expand the team to meet global demand for Fermify's animal-free production system.
Fermify's technology has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions, achieve cost parity with conventional cheese by 2027, and reduce the need for cows in milk production.
Read full article - Green Queen
🇳🇱 Farmless Raises €1.2M to Turn Renewable Energy and CO2 Into Carbon-Negative Ingredients
The Netherlands-based startup uses fermentation to produce carbon-negative, functional proteins with a complete amino acid profile, decoupling food production from agricultural land.
Farmless' fermentation platform is based on a liquid feedstock made with CO2, hydrogen, and renewable energy, making it significantly more resource- and land-efficient than animal farming.
The startup aims to replace animal proteins and create a new food repertoire, including proteins, carbohydrates, beneficial fats, vitamins, and minerals, using its fermentation technology.
Read full article - Protein Report
🇦🇺 Australia’s Agrifood Tech Investment Dropped 40% YoY in 2022, but Innovative Foods Category Sustains Momentum
Innovative Foods, including alternative proteins and novel ingredients, emerged as Australia's leading VC investment category in agrifood tech, capturing 14.7% of total investments with five deals amounting to $98 million.
Cellular agriculture startup Vow raised a record-breaking $49.2 million Series A funding round in late 2022.
Nourish Ingredients secured a $28.6 million Series A funding round for animal-free fats using fermentation.
Read full article - AgFunder
🔬 Gelatex Awarded €760,000 Grant to Develop Edible Microcarriers for Industrial Cultured Meat Production
Current microcarriers used in cultured meat production face challenges such as being synthetic, inedible, costly, and low cell attachment and proliferation rates.
Gelatex's nanofibrous scaffolds and microcarriers offer a 90% cost-reduction solution, improved cell migration and adhesion properties, and are highly porous, edible, and animal-free.
Gelatex's microcarriers have been successfully used to culture various cell lines and have the potential to disrupt other industries (eg: vaccine production) by providing a more efficient and scalable alternative to traditional microcarrier solutions.
ICYDK: Microcarriers are small beads that provide a surface for anchoring and supporting cells to grow on, allowing for the production of large quantities of meat in a small space.
Read full article - The Future of Protein Production
🇪🇸 Heura Raised Over €2.6 Million in 48 Hours in Its New Crowdfunding Round
The campaign's objective is for the company to become the leading plant-based protein market player in Europe, launch a net positive impact plan, and introduce new patent-pending technology.
The European plant-based sector generates €5.7 billion in sales, with companies raising nearly 24% more last year than in 2021.
Heura is growing and expanding, distributing to 20 countries and achieving an 80% turnover and market share in Spain.
Read full article - vegconomist
SOCIAL FEAST 📱
🚀 Alternative Protein Moonshot: Why We Need It and a Vision for What It Could Look Like
The need for more sustainable food alternatives by 2050 drives the search for complementary paradigms like alternative proteins, as the current animal agriculture industry paradigm is insufficient.
Plant-based proteins gaining market presence, but sensory challenges persist. Alternative protein technologies (fermentation, cell-cultured) advance but face scaling and development hurdles.
The vision includes affordable access to pilot-scale bioreactors, knowledge exchange platforms, contract research and manufacturing, advanced manufacturing technologies, analytics, and consumer education.
Read full article by Jeff Moore and Maya Benami - LinkedIn
🚫 Ditching Beef and Dairy From Our Diet Is the Most Effective Way to Reduce Methane Emissions From Food
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 86 times more powerful than CO2 over a 20-year period.
Human activity contributes to 30% of global warming, with the food system responsible for 60% of anthropogenic methane emissions, mainly from livestock farming, food loss and waste, and rice cultivation.
To achieve the 1.5°C warming limit, global methane emissions must be reduced by 34% in 2030 and 45% in 2050.
Read full post by Irina Gerry - LinkedIn
📉 America’s Largest Meat Company Is Experiencing Negative Margins on Beef. Why?
Livestock is becoming more expensive to raise due to widespread drought and skyrocketing animal feed costs, causing Tyson Foods to expect negative margins on beef.
Shrinking cattle herds, resulting from Tyson's decision to slaughter reproductive cattle and livestock producers unable to afford their upkeep, are impacting the long-term food supply.
Consumers are struggling to afford meat as prices rise across all categories, and Tyson's management issues, including the arrest of their CFO, have further eroded shareholder trust.
Read full post by Jennifer Stojkovic - LinkedIn
EAR FOOD 🎵
💡 Leading the Charge for a Better Food Future: Insights from Green Queen's Sonalie Figueiras
Show: FoodTech Junkies
Guest: Sonalie Figueiras, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Green Queen Media
The episode delves into the current food system, highlighting the influence of technology, policy, and future trends in shaping it.
Sonalie talks about the wider societal impact of our food system beyond sustenance, highlighting global transformative changes driven by sustainability concerns and technology.
While exploring innovative food tech solutions, Sonalie also emphasizes the importance of adopting a holistic approach on a macro level to promote sustainability and equity within the existing model.
🥩 From Lab to Table: Meat Orbillion’s Better-For-You Beef
Show: Grow Everything
Guest: Gabriel Levesque-Tremblay (Founder) and Samet S. Yildirim (Founder & COO) of Orbillion
The episode discusses alternative proteins and the meat market, highlighting the importance of storytelling in biotech and the role of early adopters.
The group explores the environmental impact of animal agriculture and the advantages of alternative protein sources.
Gabriel and Samet talk about the potential to revolutionize the availability of premium products in the mass market and strategies for launching these products through partnerships and food service.
🖨️ 3D Food Printing & Cooking with Lasers with Jonathan Blutinger
Show: The Spoon Podcast
Guest: Jonathan Blutinger, 3D food and software-defined cooking researcher
The episode explores the future of cooking through 3D food printing and laser cooking.
Some topics covered in this conversation include Jonathan's exploration of future cooking technologies, laser cooking and its relation to 3D food printing, and the current state of the 3D food printing industry in comparison to other industries.
They also talk about the differentiation between printing sweet and savoury foods, consumer acceptance of 3D-printed food, and related matters.
VISUAL DELIGHT 🎥
🐟 3D-Printed Fish
As covered in an earlier edition, Stakeholder Food, successfully 3D prints the first ready-to-cook fish fillet using lab-grown animal cells. (Now you can see how it’s made!)
Stakeholder Food partners with Umami Meats to extract cells from grouper, cultivate them into muscle and fat, and incorporate them into a special bio ink for 3D printing.
Umami Meats plans to launch its lab-grown fish products in Singapore in 2024 and expand to the US and Japan, offering a clean, transparent, antibiotics-free alternative to traditional fishing that addresses environmental and animal welfare concerns.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. Have an awesome week! 🙌🏾
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