vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

Israel’s Equinom is a company with a clear mission: to ensure the supply of nutritious and affordable alt proteins for a sustainable future. This year, the company celebrated a $20 million Series C funding round to help achieve that goal. Developing AI and plant breeding techniques to produce improved seeds without the use of genetic modification, Equinom has been involved in a host of partnerships recently, including for Black Sheep Foods’ plant-based lamb, as well as Meatless Farm and Europe’s largest milling company GoodMills. We talked with Founder and CEO Gil Shalev about the company and its work with various high profile partners in the field to assist the acceleration of plant-based. Please introduce EQINOM and its mission Equinom is a food-tech company combining agricultural know-how, culinary expertise, and deep technology to develop delicious, nutritious, affordable and sustainable plant-based ingredients from the ground up. Equinom partners with the food and ingredient industries to custom-design ingredients and enable local sourcing, by leveraging an innovative business model and cutting-edge seed-to-plate food-application technology. By applying AI and computational breeding to its proprietary seed bank, Equinom harnesses the natural diversity in crops to breed a portfolio of non-GMO varieties to meet the needs of the ever-expanding plant-based food industry. These seeds feature premium and value-added characteristics, such as superior protein, organoleptic qualities, and nutrition, along with traits that minimize processing. What exactly is the Manna Platform? Our proprietary Manna™ platform uses artificial intelligence to develop premium quality, high-yield, non-GMO ingredients naturally – in half the ...

CULT Food Science has announced that one of its portfolio companies, Biftek, has made significant progress towards commercialising its animal-free growth medium. Biftek says it will soon transport its first sample to a Singapore-based cultivated meat company. Called “Lyophilized Biftek Growth Medium Supplement”, the medium has been developed to be suitable for global shipping without cold chain logistics. Unlike with animal-derived growth mediums, there is no variation between batches, meaning the quality is consistent. Another key advantage of animal-free mediums is the potential for lower costs. The expense of cultivated meat remains a problem, but 80-90% of production costs come from fetal bovine serum, currently the most widely-used growth medium. Biftek realised that if it could develop a cheaper alternative, cultivated meat costs could be slashed. “The current challenges within the cultivated meat ecosystem are fragmented. We feel that the most important one is to lower the production cost of cultivated meat products and we have developed several potential solutions to address this issue,” said Kerem Erikci, CEO of Biftek. “We believe that growth medium innovations will be the most powerful tools to secure mass adoption of lab-grown foods. Biftek’s growth medium supplement is on track to be one of the best alternatives to FBS.” The expanding portfolio of CULT Food Science CULT Food Science is a Canadian investment firm with a focus on cultivated food products. The company has recently made several strategic investments in the industry. Alongside Biftek, CULT counts Novel Farms, a producer of whole cuts of ...

Vegan food company Piperleaf has announced the launch of Eggishh in India. The plant-based egg alternative comes in a premixed format, enabling a longer shelf life than liquid plant-based egg products. The average Indian eats 81 eggs per year, but only 4.5kg of meat. Despite this, India has far more companies working on alt-meat products than on plant-based eggs. Piperleaf’s founder, Anshul Agarwal, noticed this and decided something needed to change. Agarwal assembled a team of experienced food scientists, who then spent over a year developing Eggishh. The resulting product is made from legumes and is free of gluten, soy, cholesterol, and artificial preservatives. It can be used to make a range of egg-based dishes, including omelette, scrambled eggs, and French toast. Eggishh is already available via Piperleaf’s website, and will soon launch on other Indian e-commerce platforms. “India’s domestic egg production is around 100 billion annually and we want to be the change that is needed today,” said Anshul Agarwal, founder of Piperleaf. “Piperleaf aims at catering to people with all kinds of diet such as non–vegetarians, lacto–ovo vegetarians, vegans etc. to help them move to a plant–based diet which provides them with food they are accustomed to and love. We believe Eggishh can be a part of your daily diet and will slowly allow you to eliminate eggs from your plate altogether.” Plant-based in India India has one of the highest numbers of vegetarians of any country worldwide, and meat is consumed in much smaller quantities than in ...

Vegetarian Cem Özdemir, a Green party member, is expected to become Minister for Food and Agriculture in Germany. The move comes as the new coalition government signed a declaration by all parties to promote alt protein innovations in the EU.  As Angela Merkel departs, a new coalition government was recently formed in Germany between the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Alliance 90/The Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP). Vegetarian Cem Özdemir is currently a member of the German Bundestag, Chairman of the Committee on Transport and Digital Infrastructure, and Deputy Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The news may prove significant as activists and lobbyists around the globe call on governments to invest in alt protein in the fight against climate change. Meat consumption has been found to be on the decline in Germany and – in a first for the country – the new coalition agreement includes a commitment to putting the alt protein industry on the agenda in German federal politics.  “We will strengthen plant-based alternatives and advocate for the approval of innovations such as alternative protein sources and meat substitute products in the EU,” reads the agreement in the chapter on nutrition.  ...

One of the largest coleslaw cabbage growers in Europe, Naylor Farms, has revealed plans to build what it claims will be the world’s first agricultural processing facility to transform cabbages into innovative new functional plant-based protein ingredients, creating 150 jobs in Lincolnshire, UK. Upcycling cabbage crop, trimmings, and leaf from coleslaw production, the company’s Naylor Nutrition arm has developed a unique, patent-pending, cold extraction process that produces protein-plus functional ingredients from cabbages.  The new eco-friendly factory will be built on Naylor Farms land and will create around 150 skilled positions within the food supply chain. As part of the investment, Lincoln University will be involved with the development of an in-house learning and research centre at the facility. Cabbage as a sustainable solution Many plant-based producers have been moving away from soy protein recently, opting for the more sustainable and allergen-friendly pea protein. However, pea production has been hit with droughts and wet harvests impacting both the global price and availability of the ingredient. Naylor Nutrition states that cabbage-based protein is a sustainable, locally sourced, allergen and GMO-free alternative. “The world has a growing requirement and desire for quality, sustainable plant-based food and to deliver this, we will need to grow crops that have positive functional benefits but without the negative environmental impact that soy, for example, has. Cabbage on the other hand, is fully traceable from field to consumer, sustainable and relatively simple to grow with a high yield. This innovative facility is being built on our land so ...

Beauty Kitchen launches reuse model to prevent plastic waste across the beauty and personal care sectors. Scottish personal care brand Beauty Kitchen has launched a “groundbreaking” reuse programme called Re to tackle the 95% of beauty packaging that is discarded after a single use. Companies signing up to the programme will use Re’s reusable stainless steel ‘Smart’ packaging, preventing single-use plastic from ending up in landfill or the ocean. The ‘Smart Bottle’ only needs to be used once to have lower global warming potential than its single-use counterpart. Several big names have already signed up for the programme — multinational giant Unilever was Re’s second customer, and is scaling up its refillable packaging trials across the UK. The company has refill stations for its Radox, Alberto Balsam, Simple, and Persil brands in several ASDA stores. This month, wellness brand ELEMIS has also joined. Any packaging with the Re logo can be returned to be washed and reused numerous times, with the goal of saving over 100 million single-use bottles from landfill within the next three years. The focus will initially be on the beauty and personal care industries, with the eventual aim of expanding to other sectors. Beauty Kitchen is well-known for its sustainability — it was the first high-street beauty brand in the UK to receive B-Corp certification, and is also the country’s highest-rated beauty B-Corp. The company has always strived for sustainable packaging, using materials such as tin, FSC-certified cardboard, plant-derived inks, and film made from compostable wood ...

General Mill is officially testing cream cheese made with animal-free whey protein and has also launched a new Instagram page teasing ice cream With the introduction of Bold Cultr cream cheese, American food manufacturer General Mills has become the first major food company to use animal-free dairy proteins. According to its website, the cream cheeses are made from non-animal whey protein supplied by Perfect Day Foods, a hip startup that uses precision fermentation to create actual dairy proteins from microorganisms instead of cows.  The product is identical in taste and nutritional performance to cow-based dairy, but with no lactose or cholesterol, and carries a substantially smaller environmental footprint. But the dairy surprise doesn’t end there. Taking Milk in a New Direction? In addition to Bold Cultr, General Mills also operates Renegade Creamery, a “consumer testing” space that has been coyly advertising animal-free cheese. Now, Renegade Creamery has quietly revealed a new line of ice creams possibly made from animal-free dairy protein. Its newly minted Instagram page features ice cream in Chocolate, Caramel and Cookies ‘n Cream flavors, declaring they offer “All the Ice Cream – None of the Worries”. It’s not yet clear if the ice creams are actual products, but given General Mills’ collaboration with Perfect Day, it may be planning to launch ice cream made with dairy-identical whey. Indeed, Perfect Day’s whey has already successfully hit the market as an ingredient in smaller, premium ice cream brands, protein powders, and the startup’s own cream cheeses, Modern Kitchen.  The ...

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Organic Wine Market: Global Industry Analysis, Trends, Market Size, and Forecasts up to 2027” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering. The report predicts the global organic wine market to grow with a CAGR of 10.6% over the forecast period from 2021-2027. The report on the global organic wine market provides qualitative and quantitative analysis for the period from 2021 to 2027. The study on organic wine market covers the analysis of the leading geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and RoW for the period of 2021 to 2027. The report on organic wine market is a comprehensive study and presentation of drivers, restraints, opportunities, demand factors, market size, forecasts, and trends in the global organic wine market over the period of 2021 to 2027. Moreover, the report is a collective presentation of primary and secondary research findings. Porter’s five forces model in the report provides insights into the competitive rivalry, supplier and buyer positions in the market and opportunities for the new entrants in the global organic wine market over the period of 2021 to 2027. Further, Growth Matrix gave in the report brings an insight into the investment areas that existing or new market players can consider. Report Findings 1) Drivers Increasing awareness among consumers regarding organic products and their benefits Growing demand for organic wines from restaurants, and cafes 2) Restraints Higher prices of organic wines compared to traditional ones 3) Opportunities Advent of vegan-friendly, carbon-neutral, and biodynamic organic wines Company Profiles The Organic ...

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Global Mushroom Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Product (Button, Oyster), by Form (Fresh, Processed), by Application (Food, Pharma), by Distribution Channel (Online, Grocery Stores), and Segment Forecasts, 2021-2028” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering. The global mushroom market size is expected to reach USD 95.24 billion by 2028, expanding at a CAGR of 9.5% The increasing popularity of vegan diets across developed economies on account of growing environmental concerns and consumer awareness regarding animal welfare is likely to have a positive impact on the industry growth. Rising consumer preferences for natural ingredient-based food and cosmetic products owing to the growing awareness regarding the side effects of synthetic products are expected to drive demand for mushrooms. Furthermore, mushrooms are rich sources of vitamins, antioxidants, essential oils, proteins, and other bioactive compounds, which lead to its increasing demand in pharmaceutical applications. Mushroom manufacturers have started focusing on the adoption of sustainable production processes to improve brand position. For instance, Bonduelle Group, a France-based mushroom producer, focuses on Agroecology, wherein the company uses natural fertilizers and renewable energy sources to produce mushrooms. Recently, the company has also started using cardboard boxes by replacing the plastic packaging of its canned products. The manufacturers are using merger & acquisition and partnership agreement strategies to increase their production capacities and expand their geographical presence. For instance, In April 2019, Greenyard signed an agreement with Carrefour Belgium, a retail group, for the supply of the former’s assortment of fresh fruits and ...

The Mighty Kitchen contacts vegconomist stating that it is the first producer of plant-based chicken in Cyprus, and that its Chick*n range and is seeing large scale expansion through a growing list of food distributors & producers, and restaurants. The company states that it “revolutionizes alternative meat products” using an IP protected technology to produce fibrous, plant-based poultry. The Mighty Kitchen’s Plant-Powered Poultry range of chicken-like strips, gyros, nuggets and tenders, is now set to expand into multiple markets. The company reports that its success comes from leveraging a proprietary fats platform which “allows for a juicier, full-flavored product with balanced fat dispersion and more efficient nutrient delivery.” “We are first and foremost a food company,” said CEO and co-founder George Vou. “Meals should be an experience. Our goal is to transport you with every bite, to that BBQ in the backyard or just standing next to grandma’s stove, with all of those rich scents and aromas floating on the air. The technology side of the business just helps us to do this at scale. People want options, we’re here to make sure they get great ones.”   “Our development team comprises scientists who are foodies,” said CTO and co-founder Louiza Sophocleous. “Our mission is to use our collective expertise to improve our entire faulty food system with flavourful, healthy, plant-based options.” ...