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San Francisco’s Hooray Foods, announces its debut in the Canadian market. Its plant-based bacon product, which first launched on World Vegan Day last year, is now available in 180 Sobeys Inc stores including Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods locations across Ontario and British Columbia.  The company, founded in 2019 by Sri Artham, previously VP of Consumer Packaged Goods at Fair Trade USA, raised $2 million in seed financing this June to scale production capacity to meet demand from retailers and in response to market changes such as Proposition 12 in California. Early investors include Stray Dog Capital which led Hooray’s seed round in June 2020. Hooray Foods’ USP is its original way to encapsulate fat which allows it to replicate the unique taste and texture of bacon. The flavor profile features a mix of umami, salty and smoky with a hint of sweetness created with coconut oil, rice flour, tapioca starch, liquid smoke, umami seasoning (shiitake mushrooms, salt, mushroom extract, calcium carbonate), maple syrup, salt and beet juice concentrate. “We’ve experienced rapid growth in the U.S. since our launch a year ago. People who love bacon, love Hooray,” says the Canadian-born founder Sri Artham, “As a Canadian, I’m beyond excited to ‘bring home the bacon’ and offer Canadian shoppers a unique and delicious meat alternative. Sobeys Inc. is a perfect partner in this as they’ve been at the forefront of providing customers with innovative plant-based options.” “At Sobeys Inc., we are passionate about providing our customers with a fulsome shopping ...

Novo Farina is a British company making texturised protein and other products from locally-grown yellow peas. And as consumers begin to demand alternatives to imported soy, demand is soaring. Novo’s yellow pea protein is used to produce plant-based products such as burgers and sausages. The company also makes pea flour and pea crumbs, as well as its own pea-based snack brand Simpleas. This June, Novo announced it had raised £3.1 million in funding from investors including billionaire Richard Koch. Following the round, the company says it is planning an expansion. Novo told Eastern Daily Press that it had bought new equipment and was planning a move to a larger site. The move will allow the company to increase production of its existing products, as well as launching new ones. Yellow peas — a more sustainable alternative to soy? A growing number of consumers have concerns about soy due to GMOs, allergies, and the clearing of rainforests to grow the crop. Most soy in the UK is imported, leading many to view it as unsustainable. But according to Novo Farina, yellow peas could be the answer — the crops used by the company are grown locally in Norfolk, the same county where Novo is based. Last year, Novo used 600 acres of peas, but this could rise to 10,000 acres within five years as the company expands. Globally, the market for yellow pea protein is projected to register a CAGR of 4.3% through to 2026, and companies are using the crop ...

L’Acadie Vineyards in Gaspereau Nova Scotia, Canada is the first farm and winery in North America to adopt the stringent European Biocyclic Vegan Standard of avoiding all animal inputs in the vineyard and winery, making it the first farm and winery in North America to be qualified to use the Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal. Biocyclic Vegan agriculture means purely plant-based organic farming. This form of cultivation excludes all commercial livestock farming of animals and does not use any inputs of animal origin in viticulture and winemaking. Special emphasis is placed on the promotion of biodiversity, healthy soil life, the closure of organic cycles and systematic humus build-up. L’Acadie Vineyards is the first organic winery in Nova Scotia since its inception in 2004 and their operations go beyond organic with no animal inputs and sustainable practices such as composted plant residue teas and cover crops, and encouraging biodiversity and soils that are living and regenerative. L’Acadie Vineyards was established in 2004 by well-known Canadian winemaker Bruce Ewert and his family in Gaspereau, Nova Scotia. Bruce has been a professional winemaker for over thirty years for wineries in Canada’s Okanagan Valley and Niagara Peninsula as well as in Sonoma, California, and Hunter Valley and Padthaway in Australia, and now Canada’s emerging wine region, Nova Scotia.  He has been head winemaker responsible for 400,000 cases and has made over half a million bottles of traditional method sparkling in his career. He is integral in establishing Nova Scotia as a sparkling wine region. L’Acadie ...

Scottish biotech firm Roslin Technologies has received a £1 million grant from the UK government to develop its cultivated meat facilities. Connected to Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute – home of Dolly the world-famous cloned sheep – the startup’s funding comes amid discussions on conventional animal agriculture at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow. “We are engaging with cultivated meat producers globally to drive adoption” In order to produce cultivated meat and improve the sustainability of meat production globally, Roslin Technologies will utilize the money to invest in a program of development and commercialization of the firm’s stem cell line portfolio for food companies around the world. After the recruitment of Ernst van Orsouw as CEO following his 15 years in agribusiness, Roslin Technologies looks set to be a major player in the UK cultivated meat scene with the fresh government backing. The £1 million comes from a UK Research and Innovation grant under the Transforming Food Production program, as well as investment led by the British Innovation Fund. Call for Government Action The funding is part of a UK government drive to make food production more sustainable. Throughout 2021, multiple voices from tech, science, and alt protein have joined the call for governments around the world to invest public funds in alt-proteins as a key climate mitigation strategy. The GFI is strongly advocating for $2 billion in funds for open-access alt-protein science, while a recent study found that cultivated meat could add £2.1 billion to the UK economy by 2030, along with creating ...

Tofurky recently announced the onboarding of Gilad Kaufman, former Scientist at Beyond Meat, as the company’s new Vice President of R&D. As part of Tofurky’s senior leadership team, Kaufman will refresh and accelerate the innovation pipeline and work on the development of Tofurky and Moocho products. Kaufman, holder of a PhD in Soft Matter Science from Yale University, spent three years at Beyond Meat, where he served as a Senior Soft Matter Scientist, focusing on improving the texture and appearance of plant-based meats. Kaufman will put together a product development team based in Hood River, Oregon, recruiting scientists with a passion for creating new and exciting plant-based products. Tofurky states this team will “strive to modernize flavor, texture and juiciness experiences for growing product portfolios” in order to expedite expansion into meat and deli departments. “Gilad Kaufman is an exceptionally talented rising star and will without a doubt elevate Tofurky’s contemporary offering to flexitarian consumers,” said Tofurky President and CEO Jaime Athos. “He brings a deep passion for improving planetary welfare that aligns with Tofurky’s vision for food system that values respect and well-being of all species. I’m confident he will attract and grow an R&D team poised for disruptive innovation, that will excite our clients and consumers.” “I am thrilled to join the Tofurky team in this creative leadership role to work alongside Jaime and Seth, true pioneers in the plant-based space,” said Kaufman. “Tofurky’s consumer-first mindset and longstanding commitment to continuous product innovation played a key part in ...

Feel Foods has announced a deal to acquire British Columbia-based vegan food company Plantastic. A specialist in plant-based cheesecake and burgers, Plantastic prides itself on putting community health and wellness at the forefront of its product development.  Founded in 2019, Plantastic products are currently offered in multiple locations throughout British Columbia as well as online marketplaces and DTC. Founder Sanit Jain started the company due to his personal plant-based success and recovery story after losing his father to a heart attack stemming from high cholesterol. Plantastic offers low cholesterol, plant-based alternatives, and the acquisition will allow for increased market exposure and expanded distribution throughout Canada and the US.  Feel Foods – the agri-food holdings company focused on innovative products and technologies in the food services industry – also has the wholly-owned Black Sheep Vegan Cheeze Company and Be Good Plant-based Foods in its growing portfolio. The deal means Feel Foods will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Plantastic.   “We have found a perfect fit in the Feel Foods family that aligns with Plantastics’ values and vision and will allow our current offerings and new in-development products to reach many more health-conscious consumers. Plantastic offers great tasting non-dairy cheesecakes so that dessert lovers can have their cake and eat it too, while being part of a movement towards a plant-based world, that benefits health, the environment and the animals,” stated Plantastic Food founder Sanit Jain.  ...

Plant-based brand GRÖNT is, according to the Copenhagen-based company, the fastest-growing plant-based brand in the Nordics with a presence in 3,000 locations across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. After its recent expansion into Germany, GRÖNT announces its plans to roll out into the rest of Europe after appointing former Carlsberg Group director Mats Perander as Sales Director Europe.  Mats Perander specializes in business development and sales and export, and is experienced with distribution agreements and product launches across Europe. He has been a member of theTasteful Foods Board since March 2021 and began as sales director on November 1st 2021. For Perander, the objective over the next year is finding the right partners and expanding sales and distribution networks into the main European markets.  “There is a clear demand for convenience products that taps into the trend of consuming less meat. Denmark is a gastronomic hotspot and for retailers, GRÖNT is a new and attractive proposal to the frozen section. The listings, sales and feedback in the Nordic markets has been above expectations, which is why I’m excited to get involved in the development of an inspiring and highly marketable brand,” he commented.  “Choosing the right partners and people is instrumental for success and especially for overcoming those bumps on the road that always come around when building something new.” Says Anders P. Christensen, founder and CEO of Tasteful Foods, the company behind GRÖNT: “We are in the process of establishing the office in Germany and expanding into Europe and ...

From January, German chocolate brand Ritter Sport is adding a new variety to its vegan product range — the ‘Vegan Pure Without Moo’ — in time for Veganuary 2022, for German consumers, who are increasingly shifting to a plant-based diet. Ritter Sport has a brand awareness of 99% in Germany and belongs to the family-owned Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG, which is known as the first major chocolate manufacturer in Germany to grow its own cocoa on its own plantation. Additionally, the long-established company became the first volume manufacturer to launch a vegan chocolate range for the German market in 2016. With its new chocolate addition, Ritter Sport responds to the vegan boom in Germany, a trend extending to every category including chocolate bars. According to the latest GfK household panel, there were 1.13 million vegans living in Germany in 2020, 180,000 more than the year before. Overall, vegan was found to be a major product attribute for 14.4% of German consumers. Ritter Sport has faced problems with German food laws in the past when it released its sugar-free vegan chocolate “Cacao y Nada” in February 2021. According to German food law, a chocolate must contain sugar, otherwise it cannot be referred to as chocolate. Ritter Sport boss Andreas Ronken issued a statement on the matter, commenting that German “food law must keep pace with innovations of this kind.” The new addition to the vegan line, the ‘Vegan Pure Without Moo’, does contain sugar, and consists of just four ...

Luya Foods AG, a spin-off from the Swiss BFH, has successfully completed its first seed round. Luya says it is redefining the plant-based protein space by creating a new category of animal-free, alt meat products created through the fermentation of upcycled okara. Luya defines itself as a flavourful plant-based alternative to meat that doesn’t try to be meat. Luya Foods upcycles organic okara, a by-product of tofu and soy milk production, of which more than 14 million tonnes end up in waste worldwide every year despite its high nutritional value and fibre content. Luya has developed its own proprietary process – a combination of traditional fermentation methods and modern technology – to rescue okara and turn it into delicious food. The first products are ready-to-cook chunks and burger patties. With this process, Luya eliminates all additives and highly processed protein isolates and offers 100% natural and organic delicacies made in Switzerland. The seed round was led by Redalpine Venture Partners. Previously, Luya was supported by the Gebert Rüf Foundation, VentureKick and BFH-HAFL. The fresh capital will be used to expand production, product development and enter the retail market. Following the successful launch of Luya Okara Chunks and Luya Okara Burgers in Swiss restaurants in July 2021, the Luya team plans to launch the products in Swiss retailers in 2022. To meet the rapidly growing demand for Luya’s delicious products, a first major production increase is planned for 2022. In addition, the new funding will accelerate research and development for future Luya ...

Dutch company Geneusbiotech has partnered with the University of Amsterdam for a scheme which aims to 3D-print cultivated plant tissues such as wood. The Teredine Project extracts cells from leaves and uses them to grow wood-like cells, which are then cultured in a liquid growth medium. After they have proliferated, the cells are moved to a hydrogel that acts as a 3D-printed scaffold to make them grow into the desired shape. Geneusbiotech points out that the cycle of growing, harvesting, and transforming wood into objects is extremely resource-intensive and creates a significant amount of waste. 3D printing the finished product using cultivated wood could eliminate this process. The company says that while the technology is currently in its infancy, it may ultimately be possible to create shapes that would not be possible with conventional wood. The technology could also allow designers to make products from types of wood that cannot currently be used because they are rare, expensive, or endangered. Cultivated wood is just one of the projects Geneusbiotech is working on — the company is also developing cultivated caviar, cell-based fur, and cultivated human hair (to be used for transplants). 3D printing is gaining ground as a method of producing alternatives to unethical or unsustainable products. To date, most research has focused on animal products such as meat and seafood, but the ability to produce plant tissues could open up a whole new set of possibilities. “Why grow the whole tree, chop it down, saw it into pieces, screw ...