vegconomist - the vegan business magazine

As of now, Dr. Mannah’s Happy Cashew vegan cheese and co-chocolate alternatives, known as Happy Cheeze from 2012, can be found under the new name Dr. Mannah’s. The German producer previously had to rename its brand from Happy Cheeze to Happy Cashew due to a legal dispute which dictated that it was only allowed to call itself cheese if animal milk was included. “Happy Cashew was an obvious choice at the time, as it was visually not too far removed from the original brand name, while also referring to the raw material that forms the basis of our plant-based alternative products,” says Dr. Mudar Mannah, founder and CEO. In the meantime, the company has been busy working on innovations, the first of which will be launched on the market at the end of August and – this much can already be revealed – will go beyond the cashew. In this respect, it was clear to the Cuxhaven-based company that a new name was needed. It therefore seemed logical to give the brand a face, and that by none other than Dr. Mudar Mannah, founder and creator of the plant-based cheeses and yogurts. Dr. Mannah ‘s has been revamping the vegan cheese alternative market since 2012 with innovative recipes, traditional manufacturing methods as well as all-new hybrid processes. Supported by loyal fans who have enthusiastically followed the startup and its variety of products for years and eagerly await the new items in the vegan refrigerated aisle. “We have set ourselves the ...

Gathered Foods, maker of Good Catch plant-based seafood, has announced a partnership with the largest food redistributor in North America. Dot Foods will supply Good Catch products to businesses and foodservice customers across the US. Various Good Catch products, including its Tuna-Style Flakes, Classic Fish Burgers, Breaded Crab Cakes, and Breaded Fish Fillets, will be distributed via the partnership. Dot Foods’ distribution centres serve all 50 US states and supply a huge range of customers, from large chains to small family businesses. The distributor has previously partnered with several plant-based brands, including Upton’s Naturals and Greenleaf Foods. It has also collaborated with the PBFA to improve consumer access to plant-based foods. Rapid Expansion Gathered Foods has seen huge growth over the past year, securing $26.3 million in April and expanding across Europe in late 2020. Good Catch products were recently launched at Long John Silver’s in Georgia and California, and the brand also launched a new range of breaded plant-based seafood products this May. “This distribution partnership enables us to scale our foodservice presence significantly and allows a full range of consumers from vegans to flexitarians to experience great-tasting Good Catch products,” said Christine Mei, CEO of Gathered Foods. “We remain committed to our mission of bringing high-quality plant-based seafood to consumers and are thrilled to do that with Dot.” ...

Market data platform 1010data has revealed plant-based foods as its category of the year following a spotlight report on the 2020 online grocery sector. The research shows 199% annual growth in online sales of alt meat products and named MorningStar Farms as the top-performing brand.  The research also identified the best retail channels in the category, with Instacart as the market leader. Top sales for meat substitutes via Instacart were at Costco with 18% of sales, Publix 16%, and Sprouts 10%. Walmart and Amazon were the second and third best retail channels respectively. The data showed plant-based producer MorningStar Farms and its Incogmeato range enjoyed 94% annual growth and 30% of the market share, although they had lost customers to second place in the market Beyond Meat with 19%. Gardein is the next biggest competitor with 16%.  The report also analyzed growth in specific pre-purchase search terms which show increased consumer interest in the sector, with words ‘Plant-Based’ growing 148% and ‘Vegan’ up 88%.  In an interview with vegconomist, Morningstar Farms’ Sara Young stated: “More people than ever are exploring plant-based food options. The unmatched quality, taste and texture of the Incogmeato lineup has broad appeal to flexitarians and families. By giving people our most meat-like experience to date, we’re poised to draw new people into the category and further cement our appeal to our current fans.” A full copy of the report can be accessed here.  ...

US biotech company Bolt Threads has announced a partnership with Ginkgo Bioworks, a company creating a platform that allows users to “program cells as easily as computers”. Through the collaboration, Bolt Threads hopes to make the manufacturing process for its synthetic silk protein more sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective. Called b-silk™, the product is inspired by spider silk, and clinical trials have shown that it has benefits for the skin. It has the potential to replace some synthetic, environmentally damaging ingredients in skin and hair care products. However, the silk’s cost means it is currently used mostly in premium products. An improvement in production efficiency would allow it to be more widely adopted. Bolt Threads is well-known for being at the forefront of sustainable material innovation, having also developed a mushroom-based leather alternative called Mylo™. Mylo has already been used by major brands such as Lululemon, Adidas, and Stella McCartney. “Ginkgo’s expertise in engineering biology will enable us to accelerate our work transforming the clean beauty and personal care industries with new, sustainable ingredients that have been previously inaccessible to consumers,” said David Breslauer, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Bolt Threads. “B-silk protein has the potential to bring new performance properties to everyday products while utilizing truly sustainable production processes at scale.” ...

Established in 2011, US company Simply Delish makes jel desserts and puddings that are sweetened with stevia instead of refined sugar. The desserts are set without gelatin and don’t contain dairy or eggs, making them suitable for vegans. All Simply Delish products are free of the eight most common food allergens, as well as GMOs. Many of the desserts contain just six calories per serving. The jel desserts come in strawberry, peach, black cherry, orange, raspberry, and lime flavours, as well as an unflavoured option. The company has also recently launched instant puddings in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and banana flavours. Simply Delish products are stocked at several major supermarket chains across the US and Canada, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Wegman’s, Lablows, and Ambrosia. The company is now one of the top dairy-free dessert brands in North America. Demand for sugar-free vegan desserts While it’s now relatively easy to find sweet treats that are either plant-based or sugar-free, finding ones that meet both criteria can be challenging. There are some options worldwide, such as Free From Fellows’ sugar-free vegan gummy bears in the UK and De Villiers dairy and sugar-free chocolate in South Africa. But it’s clear that there is still unmet demand for natural, sugar-free, and plant-based desserts. “Our mission is to create delicious, healthy, desserts that can be enjoyed every day, everywhere by everyone,” said Simply Delish Founder and CEO Martin Pamensky. “We’ve filled a gap in the dessert market and created a strong global community to bring healthy ...

The Australian Red Meat Advisory Council has commissioned a survey from Pollinate which claims that consumers are being misled by the way meat alternatives are labelled and packaged. According to the organisation, 60% of those surveyed said they found the packaging misleading, while 75% believed it should not be legal for plant-based products to be described as meat. The Council claims that older people and those who don’t speak English as a first language are especially vulnerable to being misled because the products are packaged similarly to conventional meat. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Australian Senate is about to review whether alt-meat products should be able to use meat terms such as “chicken” and “beef” on their packaging. But would banning these terms really benefit consumers? Not according to Allen Zelden, president of digital eco-conscious forum FUTUREVVORLD and founder of Intrinity Global. He argues that restricting the use of these terms could actually create more confusion. “Removing familiar terminology can only lead to consumer turmoil, not transparency,” he told Inside FMCG. He also questioned the new survey findings, referencing research commissioned by Food Frontier and Life Health Foods. This study found that 91% of Australians had never mistakenly bought a plant-based product instead of meat or vice versa. Previous attempts to restrict the terminology used to describe alt-meat products have largely been unsuccessful. In the EU, lobbyists famously tried to ban the use of terms such as “burger” and “sausage” to describe plant-based products, but the proposed restrictions were voted down. ...

Australia’s v2food has announced the closing of a US$54 million Series B Plus funding round, which in addition to its US$57 million round in October 2020, brings the company’s total funds raised to US$138 million. The company reports that, in just two and a half years, its value has increased from $2 million to over $500 million. Launched in October 2019 by CSIRO’s Main Sequence Ventures and food industry leader Jack Cowin, and led by former Masterfoods and PepsiCo research director, Nick Hazell; v2food’s latest round makes it the most funded alternative protein company in Australia. Ten months on from its last raise, v2food continues to expand its market presence, recently announcing its first restaurant partnership with critically-acclaimed Australian chef and restaurateur Neil Perry, launching two new products – v2sausages and v2sauce – as well as welcoming FMCG leader, Tim York as chief operating officer. v2food recently announced its launch into the Chinese market, with its first batch of products including a new iteration of the company’s v2mince, resembling pork. Having already successfully developed international markets in New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, and Korea, the company plans to use the new funds to scale its advanced manufacturing and broaden its global reach across Asia and into Europe. “We are delighted to bring onboard Astanor and are grateful for the continuous support from our returning investors,” said Hazell. “The company is speeding up product advancements and scaling up our business footprint. Adding to our existing Sydney HQ, we have officially ...

This year, the global vegan cosmetics industry was projected to be worth approximately $21.4 billion by 2027. To support the commitment of companies in this industry to a vegan lifestyle, MSL Solution Providers conducts microbiological testing using animal-free culture media and without animal testing. The breakthrough VeganSure® solution replaces all animal ingredients with plant-based or synthetic alternatives to ensure the safety of a cosmetic product without compromising vegan ethics. With this innovative testing solution, brands can take a 360° approach and ensure that their formulations are animal-free from development to microbiological testing. As part of its commitment to deliver 100% vegan formulas of its products by 2023, The Body Shop was one of the first companies to start switching micro-challenge testing to VeganSure solutions. Anne-Laure Fonteneau, Head of R&D Bath & Body, Haircare at The Body Shop, comments: “The introduction of VeganSure for our microbiological challenge tests was a natural decision. For us, going vegan was a natural step. MSL’s VeganSure solution allows us to offer fully tested and regulatory approved products, which supports our goal of becoming 100% vegan.” Angela Davies, CEO and founder of MSL Solution Providers, says: “For the growing number of vegan cosmetics and personal care companies, it can be a challenge to ensure the microbiological safety of their products while staying true to their principles. This is exactly where VeganSure can help. It offers brands a robust, but completely animal-free solution for testing. We’re delighted that The Body Shop, a major player in the beauty ...

German supermarket Lidl has launched a new budget vegan range of 17 plant-based products to UK stores. The plant-based range, called Vemondo, including vegan fish fingers, vegan burgers, and dairy-free ice creams, launched yesterday (Aug 5) with prices starting at 99p. The range is also available in Lidl France as well as Lidl Germany. The budget range is a positive step for the plant-based movement as consumers can purchase vegan products for low prices with ice creams for £1.99, burgers for £1.49 and fish fingers for £1.99. In addition to the budget range, Lidl will stock products such as ready meals, vegan gnocchi, tofu, vegan pizza, vegan tortillas, and vegan medaglioni – a medallion shaped pasta stuffed with fillings. The new non-dairy ice cream range features flavours like strawberry, vanilla and caramel, and dark chocolate and almonds. The Vemondo brand was launched in April with Lidl claiming all the products are ​​climate-neutral by offsetting the CO2 emissions both during production and transport. Lidl initially launched more than 450 items that are marked with the yellow vegan label, but will continue to expand its range in the future and further develop the products in terms of taste, appearance, texture and sustainability. Earlier this year, the supermarket released 11 plant-based products in Belgium, as well as bringing its own label Next Level Burger into stores across Spain. In July, Lidl pledged to increase sales of healthy and healthier products to at least 85% of total sales by 2025 through its ‘Get Fresh’ initiative. ...

Lindt announced yesterday it has launched the HELLO Santa for the first time in a vegan version. This follows its news last July when the global chocolate brand added three vegan “milk” chocolate bars to its popular HELLO range in Germany in Cookie, Hazelnut, and Salted Caramel flavours. The HELLO Vegan bars won the PETA Vegan Food Award as the best vegan chocolate. Now the Hello vegan milk chocolate is available in Santa form, as the confectionary leader introduces the veganised Santa in answer to the common problem of what to gift to vegan friends and family members for Christmas. He is dressed in a new green outfit, which suggests what’s inside – a vegan HELLO recipe, in which the milk is replaced by oat milk and almond paste. Lindt is present in 120 countries and is headquartered in Zurich. It has factories in Switzerland, France, Italy, and Austria, as well as in New Hampshire, USA. ...