vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

Unity Diner, co-founded by well-known vegan activist Ed Winters AKA Earthling Ed, has partnered with Moving Mountains for a vegan Christmas menu. To celebrate, Unity Diner — London’s biggest vegan restaurant — is offering a “No Pigs In Duvets” bottomless prosecco brunch. Interesting to note is that in October 2019 Unity Diner took over a Spitalfields location which was previously a rib restaurant, enthusing on social media at the time about “taking over a space that was once a hub for animal exploitation” with a fully vegan enterprise which also includes a full-service, 100% vegan cocktail bar. The menu, available from 1st – 23rd December, offers: Moving Mountains’® Christmas Burger, filled with stuffing and Brussels sprouts, served with cranberry sauce and rosemary aioli, in a toasted brioche bun and topped with gravy. Moving Mountains® Christmas Wellington served with roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and Christmas mushroom and miso gravy. Moving Mountains® Brussel Sprouts side dish with spinach and cherry tomatoes sauteed in garlic soya, dusted in pumpkin seed parmesan No Pigs in Duvets Bottomless Brunch The No Pigs in Duvets Bottomless Brunch can be ordered throughout December between 12-5pm, Tuesday – Friday. For £45pp, diners can order a main course and receive an unlimited supply of Moving Mountains’ No Pigs in Duvets and prosecco. Simon Van der Molen, founder of Moving Mountains says: “We’re delighted to be partnering with our friends at Unity Diner to create our Moving Mountains® festive menu. Christmas is synonymous with great food, and Unity ...

MEGGLE Business Group Food Ingredients & Solutions develops, produces and distributes raw materials and individual products for the food processing industry worldwide. With more than 40 years of experience, MEGGLE is one of the leading players in this field. To remain successful in the vegan food market with its increasingly differentiated needs, MEGGLE is continuously working on expanding the vegan product segment. We spoke to Helge Sadowski, Director of MEGGLE Food Ingredients & Solutions, about the current developments in the vegan segment and further plans for the future. What does the MEGGLE Food Ingredients & Solutions Business Group stand for? MEGGLE, with a company history going back more than 130 years, is a regionally anchored family business with a strong international orientation. The company has always stood for high product quality, a high level of expertise in the respective applications and target-oriented innovations. With our many years of experience, we accompany our partners in the development and production of food products and offer customized individual solutions. This customer-oriented service, as well as individual and competent support from the first conversation to reliable delivery, is important to us. Ecological and social responsibility and a sustainable, long-term business approach have guided us from the very beginning. We always want to be open to new ideas and act in a quality-conscious, creative and flexible manner. Out of conviction, it is our concern to constantly expand our vegan product range. Which vegan solutions do you currently offer to which manufacturers? We have developed our ...

WOA Raises $20M for plant-based transition, will construct Western Australia’s first oat milk factory for production of  “world’s lowest carbon” plant-based drinks Wide Open Agriculture (WOA), an Australian company whose subsidiaries include Dirty Clean Food (DCF) and OatUP, announces it has raised $20 million to transition into plant-based production and construct a factory to initially focus on oat and then produce other varieties of plant milks. The funds will also support the expansion of a planned pilot facility to develop lupin proteins. WOA’s food brand, Dirty Clean Food, currently uses oats that are processed in Italy; the expansion activities planned with the fresh funds include the construction of what will be Western Australia’s first oat milk factory, so that the oats will be locally grown rather than imported, thus creating what the Perth company states will be “the world’s lowest carbon plant-based drinks”. The funds will also be used for increased production at its existing plant-based site and the marketing of oat and other product lines following distribution deals in Singapore and with Woolworths, in a deal announced last week marking its biggest distribution deal to date – with Woolworth’s agreeing to carry the oat milk at around half its Australian stores. WOA’s managing director, Ben Cole, says the funding will help the company expand globally. “In the last 12 months, we have… established the company as a leader in regenerative food and farming in Australia,” commented Cole as reported by AUmanufacturing. “As we increase our plant-based offerings, we know this ...

DSM to acquire Vestkorn Milling, leading producer of pea and bean ingredients for plant-based protein products, for an enterprise value of €65m. Dutch multinational corporation Royal DSM announces today that it is to acquire Norway’s Vestkorn Milling, the leading European producer of ingredients from peas and beans, producing Textured Pea Protein, Textured Faba protein, Pea Protein, Faba Protein, Pea Fibre, Pea Starch and flours from peas and beans. The company supplies its proteins, starches and dietary fibres to makers of plant-based foods, pet food and animal feed. The acquisition, according to DSM, is a further step in the company’s strategy to build an alternative protein business and will provide synergy with DSM’s innovative CanolaPRO™ rapeseed protein isolate, which will commercially launch next year. Subject to customary conditions, the transaction is expected to close in Q4 2021. Patrick Niels, Executive Vice President of DSM’s Food & Beverage division, commented on the acquisition: “We very much look forward to welcoming Vestkorn Milling and their team to DSM. Increasingly, food and beverage producers around the world are looking to partners who can offer an integrated portfolio of ingredients, expertise, and solutions to help them differentiate and get to market fast. This is especially important in the highly dynamic meat alternatives space, where consumer and societal expectations around authentic taste, texture, and nutritional profile, as well as climate impact, are becoming more and more sophisticated.” Aslak Lie, CEO of Vestkorn Milling, commented: “Through the cooperation with DSM we have taken a huge step towards ...

Application deadline: 8 December 2021, 11.59pm CET Apply now    View job brochure The Good Food Institute Europe is looking for an Operations Specialist to support operations across all functions in our effective, impactful organisation.   Job description Use your organisational and problem-solving skills to help build a sustainable, healthy and just food system Industrial animal agriculture is at the root of many of the most pressing global issues of our time, from climate change and global hunger, to increased disease risk and the exploitation of billions of animals annually. The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is at the forefront of the movement to replace the products of industrial animal agriculture with plant-based, fermentation-made and cultivated foods. Please check out our website and read GFI’s 2020 Year in Review to find out more about who we are and what we do. We are looking for an Operations Specialist to join our growing team to support operations across all functions in our effective, impactful organisation. For more information about this role, please check out the job brochure. How you will make a difference You will lead on and contribute to a wide range of areas of day-to-day business support operations for GFI Europe, including but not limited to recruitment, travel bookings, remote office administration, finance, internal systems such as fundraising operations, responding to enquiries, and supporting our growing team in all areas of our work. Reporting to our Head of Operations, you will: Enable the smooth running of GFI Europe’s ...

Roquette has created a pea-based softgel solution that can be used to make an alternative to gelatin capsules. The new launch will make it easier for companies to produce vegan-friendly medications and supplements. Made from pea starch, carrageenan, sorbitol, and a gelling agent, Roquette’s ready-to-use pharmaceutical-grade solution is called LYCAGEL™ Premix. It is fully plant-based and meets EU and US standards for both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. The solution allows manufacturers to easily make capsules with comparable characteristics to the conventional gelatin-based variety. These characteristics include strength, seal integrity, quick drying time with no stickiness, fast disintegration, and no cross-linking. The capsules also have a higher processing temperature suitability than gelatin. Animal-free pharmaceuticals Around 70% of medications contain ingredients of animal origin. Surveys suggest that 59% of vegans frequently reject drugs due to animal-based ingredients, leading to concerns that they may be compromising their health. To address this, French company Veggiepharm has launched medications that don’t contain animal-derived ingredients, while Genexa is creating “clean medicines” that are free of allergens such as lactose. Some companies are also developing animal-free alternatives to commonly-used pharmaceutical ingredients, such as The Every Company’s vegan pepsin. “The launch of LYCAGEL marks a new era for softgel formulations and manufacturing. Manufacturers no longer need to compromise on performance when launching a vegetable softgel solution,” said Paul Smaltz, Head of Roquette’s Global Pharmaceutical business unit. “Designed to be easily adaptable to existing gelatin processes, LYCAGEL can support businesses in bringing vegetarian alternatives to market quickly, without significant ...

Jack & Bry launches at Ocado in the latest stage of its retail rollout for its plant-based meat range including jackfruit mince, sausages, and burgers. Jack & Bry, a British brand making meat alternatives from jackfruit, has launched at online supermarket Ocado. The company’s burgers, sausages, and mince, which are infused with locally-sourced smoked oils, are now available for customers to order direct to their doors. Jack & Bry’s products can already be purchased via the company’s own website and online vegan supermarket The Vegan Kind, with plans to launch at more retailers later this year. According to the brand, the meat alternatives are very high in fibre, which aids gut health and boosts immunity. Late last year, Jack & Bry hired Clive Sharpe, the former Chair of Quorn, as its Non-Executive Chairman. It also appointed David Flower, formerly of Kerry, as Non-Executive Director. The new hires were made to help accelerate the brand’s retail launch. “Seeing our meats go live on the Ocado website is an exciting step,” said Bryony Tinn-Disbury, CEO and Founder of Jack & Bry. “So far, our innovative approach to food has enabled us to produce best-in-category jackfruit meats that offer everyone a quick and easy way to eat vegan food with no fuss, and we are now focused on making Jack & Bry available for anyone, anywhere.” ...

Popular snack brand Pringles adds milk to several previously vegan flavours in the UK to cut costs, attracting backlash from vegan community. Potato snack brand Pringles has angered plant-based eaters in the UK by adding milk to several flavours that were previously free of animal products. The de-veganised flavours include Original, Texas BBQ Sauce, Paprika, Smokey Bacon, and Sweet Chilli. “By adding milk we are able to increase capacity, save costs and reduce the amount of food waste,” a spokesperson for Pringles told one customer, as reported in Vegan Food UK. But many Pringles fans have been unconvinced, calling the move a “massive step back”. Unnecessary use of animal products Other companies have been criticised for continuing to use unnecessary animal ingredients, or launching supposedly “plant-based” products that are not vegan. Despite campaigning, many Kellogg’s cereals are not vegan due to the use of animal-derived vitamin D that could easily be replaced with a plant-derived alternative. And Peperami’s meatless option, Vegerami, which it launched over the summer, is not vegan as it contains egg. Several restaurants have also launched meat-free menu items which, while made with products such as Beyond Meat, are not vegan due to the addition of cheese or other animal products. But while it seems strange that these companies are launching supposedly “plant-based” products that actually exclude plant-based eaters, the overall trend is still towards more and better vegan options. ...

Estonia’s Gelatex Technologies has raised €1.2 million to fuel its innovative approach to cultivated meat scaffolds. The startup’s technology has the potential to slash the cost of cultivated meat. Gelatex’s seed funding round was led by Change Ventures and Crosslight Partners. Previously, the company has received support from US accelerator Techstars. What are cultivated meat scaffolds? Scaffolds are what give cultivated meat its structure. The cost of currently available scaffolding materials — currently a huge €100,000 per kilogram — is one reason why the price of cultivated meat remains so high. But Gelatex claims that with its nanofibrous scaffolding material, costs can be slashed to €1000 per kilogram — and this figure could be brought down much further. “If we stay true to our ambitions and keep scaling our technology, it will cost only €40 in less than five years and €20 in less than ten years. This is less than €1 of scaffold per kg of meat,” Gelatex CEO Märt-Erik Martens told FoodIngredientsFirst. Already, Gelatex is working with eight of the world’s top cultivated meat producers to test this technology. Results so far have been positive, demonstrating that the scaffolds work effectively. Lowering cultivated meat costs Currently, the price of cultivated meat is a major barrier to widespread adoption, but a number of companies are attempting to bring costs down. For example, Chinese company CellX says it is aiming for price parity by 2025, though it has not specified how it will achieve this. Meanwhile, Mosa Meat has slashed ...

Vegan shoe brand B_Boheme has launched its first new collection in two years. Developed using its pioneering sustainability techniques, the new range will be made to order, ensuring production is sustainable and that each pair is handcrafted for the owner.  Founded by Alicia Lai – a qualified podiatrist – the affordable luxury shoe brand claims to be one of the few vegan shoe producers who also focus on sustainability, in both their materials and in their processes. The shoes are 100% vegan, even down to the glues, and use polymers extracted from cereal crops combined with viscose obtained from tree pulp, and recycled polyester textile obtained from recycled bottles.  The new range includes The AIMEE Flat and The SCOUT Sneaker, with B_Boheme deciding not to release new collections during the height of the pandemic and instead focussing on further reducing its environmental footprint. Now, every pair of shoes is made to order so as to avoid the waste of the fast-fashion industry, as well as being trans-seasonal and multi-functional. “The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries on the planet. Part of that is the unsustainable materials used, even in other vegan shoes, but there is also a huge amount of waste due to products not being sold,” explained Founder of B_Boheme, Alicia Lai. “By manufacturing the shoes only when they’re ordered we can avoid that. It does mean that we’ve turned our back on fast fashion, our customers have to be more patient, but we know that ...