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After being named as one of the World Economic Forum’s “Technology Pioneers” recently, Hong Kong’s cell-cultured fish pioneer Avant has announced the opening of a new production facility in Singapore. Joining forces with A*STAR’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute, a Joint Research Laboratory for Cultivated Fish Bioprocessing in Biopolis, Singapore will be established. The research collaboration will advance the scale-up of Avant’s proprietary process to enable cost-effective, food-grade production of cell-cultured fish. By jointly developing and optimizing solutions for scalable production of cultivated fish cells, Avant takes another step in its strategic development and commercialization process. The company is the first company in Asia to develop technologies for fish cell cultivation and has showcased multiple commercial products, including the world’s first cell-based functional collagen. The company also recently announced a strategic partnership with VHC, one of the world’s largest fish companies. Accelerate Breakthroughs  As the first nation in the world to approve the sale of cell-cultured meat, Singapore is at the center of cell-cultured meat R&D, but the regulatory wheels are in motion in other countries too, such as the USA and Qatar. A recent report identified 23 new cell-cultured meat companies launching in 2020, with $366 million raised in the same period – a 6X increase. Ms. Carrie Chan, Co-Founder & CEO of Avant commented, “Building on the existing experiences of Avant’s in fish cell cultivation and A*STAR’s expertise in bioprocessing, the collaboration will accelerate breakthroughs in methods to optimise cell cultivation process for meat production. It will achieve process efficiency ...

Germany’s GoodMills Innovation, part of the GoodMills Group, Europe’s leading milling corporation, introduces VITATEX texturates based on wheat, soy and peas, for fish and meat substitute products. The company states that the texturates are perfect for alt seafood products such as plant-based tuna, fish fingers, pan- or deep-fried fish, and are optimally suited for the frozen food sector. “Whether it’s fish & chips, fish fingers or fishcakes, all of these specialities can be readily converted into vegan form with VITATEX®”, says the Hamburg based firm. As well as the applications in seafood alternatives, the texturates can be applied to alt meat products such as vegan patties, meatballs, Bolognese sauce, chicken nuggets, Vienna sausages, or schnitzels. After working with wheat texturates for around a decade, GoodMills Innovation claims it has now succeeded in raising the sensory qualities of fish and meat substitute products to a new level with the use of new extrusion technology and the addition of soy and peas as raw materials. “Our secret is Meat Mimicking: we analyse the sensory profile of the original product in the deepest detail – and then replicate it in meat-free form, using 100 per cent natural, clean-label ingredients. Our results are so astonishing that we even convince the most critical sensory panels. We’re very proud of that, believe us!” ...

The majority of plant-based and cell-cultured companies focus on making alternatives to the most widely consumed animal products — like beef, chicken, and cheese. But some startups are instead working on more ethical versions of animal-based luxury foods. Take Dutch company Geneus Biotech, which has partnered with Wageningen University & Research to develop cell-cultured caviar under the name MAGICCAVIAR. Caviar is made from the eggs (roe) of the Beluga sturgeon, which is now endangered due to high demand for the product. To tackle this problem, Geneus plans to use sturgeon cells to grow roe in the lab without harming any fish. Similarly, German company Deli-Caviar has developed plant-based caviar which has been available since 2019. And then there is foie gras, a pâté made from the livers of force-fed ducks and geese. The delicacy has become increasingly controversial in recent years, with many regarding it to be extremely cruel. But French startup Gourmey has developed a cell-cultured version grown from duck cells, which has received extensive interest — the company raised $10 million in funding earlier this year. The company expects to achieve price parity relatively easily, since conventional foie gras is very expensive. It believes it will be able to decrease production costs by 40 times in the coming months. “The ambition is that in many places cultivated foie gras not only will be the best option, but it will be the only option,” co-founder and CEO Nicolas Morin-Forest told Bloomberg. ...

Brave Robot, a US-based brand owned by The Urgent Company, has become the top growth driver in the plant-based ice cream category in its first year of business. The news comes as the brand announces another milestone — it has now sold over a million pints of its vegan ice cream, which is made with milk proteins produced via fermentation. Earlier this year, Brave Robot secured listings at 5000 stores across the US, including chains such as Kroger and Sprouts. The animal-free casein and whey proteins used in Brave Robot’s ice creams are made by Perfect Day, a company that told vegconomist its aim is to “create a whole new category of animal-free food products — for a kinder, greener planet”. A report last year revealed it had become the most funded company in fermented foods. Brave Robot claims that by choosing its products over dairy, consumers have now saved a quantity of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to driving around the circumference of the earth forty times. “We’re thrilled to see growth in the marketplace and the positive response from consumers who are making a rapid shift in relationship to the food we consume and the planet we inhabit,” says Jon Spear, Vice President of Marketing at The Urgent Company. “We will continue to bring new options to market at the intersection of technology and food that put the future of our climate first, without compromising on taste.” ...

A new plant-based brand called The Simple Root is set to launch in the UK, in collaboration with frozen potato product giant McCain Foods. It will offer sauces, dips, and cheeses, all made with potatoes. Specific products will include pesto, bechamel sauce, cream cheese, truffle and cheese sauce, and dips in flavours like smoky chipotle and roasted garlic and herb. The Simple Root says the products will have the creaminess of dairy while being free of soy, nuts, animal products, and artificial ingredients. The range will initially roll out in the UK, but it will later be launched in various markets worldwide. All products were developed in collaboration with McCain, which helped create the technology required to turn potatoes into creamy sauces. In recent years, McCain has been increasingly adapting to meet changing consumer needs — for example, it now manufactures plant-based nuggets for US company NUGGS, and it has also invested in the brand. But potato-based dairy is a new area — not just for McCain, but for the whole industry. Currently, there are few players other than alt-milk brand DUG. “We are always looking for ways to make our delicious products better for consumers and better for our planet, and the plant-based dairy alternative category is an exciting new space for the business,” Mark Hodge, Marketing Director for McCain, told Potato News Today. “We are pleased to bring our global commercial expertise to The Simple Root team, who share this vision, and to work with them on developing ...

The next edition of the Future Food Series from the ProVeg Incubator and NX-Food will be presented this Wednesday, 29 September at 6pm. The event focuses on fermentation, which is fast becoming a game-changer for the alternative protein industry. An industry report from the GFI last September highlighted fermentation as a key concept for the realisation of a sustainable food system and found that in 2019, fermentation companies secured more than $274 million in venture capital funding – over 3.5 times more than cultivated meat. In 2021 fermentation continues at the forefront of innovation and investment, with key players including Perfect Day, Change Foods, Lavva, and Better Nature to name just a few. Panel guests include Dr. Jeremy Chignell, Fermentation Specialist at GFI; Sebastian Koch, Founder and CEO at Completeorganics; Isabella Iglesias-Musachio, Founder and CEO, Kinoko Labs; and Christopher Kong, Co-Founder & CEO at Better Nature. Christopher Kong, Co-founder and CEO of Better Nature: “Fermentation is an incredibly potent technology that has been used by humans to improve the taste, flavour, texture, and nutritional value of foods for millennia. Today, though the applications of fermentation are far more varied, we can leverage fermentation far more precisely, using microorganisms that we have developed for ourselves, to design our foods as we like them to be in a far more efficient manner than using traditional methods of cultivation. In the near future, I envisage a world whereby almost all protein is fermented as it is perhaps the most powerful tool we have ...

With a total capital raise of US$138 million to date, v2food is the Australian alt meat leader with a global vision. Now the most funded alt protein producer in Australia, v2food is on a mission to make meat nutritious and sustainable for generations to come. This year saw the launch of its v2sausage, as well as the continued collaboration with Burger King in Asia to supply its Plant-Based Whopper patty.  Vegconomist had the opportunity to get to know CEO and Founder of v2food, former Masterfoods and PepsiCo Research Director Nick Hazell, to hear his views on being a future unicorn, the plant-based movement in Australia, and expansion into China.  Going back to the start, how was v2food born? Launched in 2018, v2food was formed by CSIRO’s Innovation Fund, managed by Main Sequence, a part of the Australian Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA). Competitive Foods Australia, the company behind Hungry Jack’s, also contributed seed funding to help launch the startup. With the backing of both Government and industry, v2food had all the right ingredients for success from day one. v2food is an innovative Australian company committed to making delicious food that is good for you and good for the planet. Developed with over 100 years of CSIRO food & science research and with powerful collaborations within the food industry, v2food is playing a pivotal role in changing the way we feed the growing global population sustainably. Recognising that there is a need for a version 2 of the food ...

Since the Smart Protein project is aimed at developing sustainable future foods, it makes sense that we should be exploring plant-based fish – especially given the highly unsustainable nature of the global fishing industry. In preparing this article, we consulted with several Smart Protein partners, including the Good Food Institute, ProVeg International, the applied-research organisation Fraunhofer, and the seafood companies Soguima and Thai Union. As the plant-based market continues to grow at an accelerated pace, it might seem like alternatives to fish and seafood have been left behind. While this is true to some extent, it also means that the alt-fish sub-sector represents a key opportunity in the alt-food sector – since there is plenty of space for new products to enter the market and considerable space for growth. And, given the general enthusiasm about the plant-based space from both investors and consumers, it seems likely that plant-based fish is poised to catch up with its meat and dairy counterparts over the course of the next few years. Looking at the alt-seafood sector globally, it’s clear that the industry is beginning to grow at an accelerated rate, particularly in terms of investment, with global investment in the sector growing from a quarter of a million US dollars in 2015 to 100 million dollars in 2021.[1] In Germany, where the plant-based sector is particularly developed, Nielsen data for the two-year period ending October 2020 shows that plant-based fish had the highest growth rate of all plant-based food categories, growing by 623% ...

The Food Funders Circle is a new event series that raises funds to support charities working to transform the global food system. The Food Funders Circle is “a high-impact online event for alternative protein investors and philanthropists to learn about and potentially fund hand-picked projects that support our mission to reduce global animal consumption ”, according to Sebastian Joy, Executive Chair at 50by40. The first Food Funders Circle is proudly presented by 50by40 and Beyond Animal. This is a special opportunity to make a significant contribution to the alternative protein movement, at this unique event format with an impressive line-up of high-profile speakers and industry leaders. The inaugural Food Funders Circle will take place on 28 September at 18:00 CET and is free of charge. You can register online here. This one-hour online event will raise funds to support 50by40’s partner organisations through a virtual funding campaign. 50by40 is a global coalition of over 70 organisations working to reduce the production and consumption of industrial animal products worldwide by 50% by 2040 – for the benefit of the planet, the climate and people. You can find more information here. You can find more information here. ...

The Family Butcher (TFB), Germany’s second-largest sausage producer, will start its own company to develop a brand to offer sausages to flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan consumers: The Plantly Butchers. The meat-free products will be launched in spring 2022. CEO Hans Ewald Reinert comments: “The younger generation in particular questions their consumption much more than we did back then, especially with regard to environmental and animal welfare aspects. As a father of a family, I am sure I speak for the majority of parents when I say that I like to be carried along by our offspring. My children remind me personally every day that we can already help shape the future of the new generation, which of course also significantly influences my work as an entrepreneur at TFB. “That is why I am very pleased that we, as Germany’s second-largest sausage producer, are taking the next forward-looking step with The Plantly Butchers. Together with Sven Wieken, Managing Director of The Plantly Butchers, I want to drive our vision forward: Real meat alternatives for a better life. Spring 2022 will be the time and we will start with a selection of vegan meat alternatives that will be available on the self-service shelf in supermarkets.” General Manager Sven Wieken joined TFB in October 202, his previous stations include EGGY FOODS (German breakfast egg), Dannemann and Homann Feinkost. ...