Proteins

Roquette Ventures eyes protein sweeteners from fermentation to meet demand for healthier alternatives to sugar

14-Jun-2021 By Oliver Morrison

French investment firm Roquette Ventures (part of ingredients company Roquette Group), which supports start-ups in the food, nutrition, and health markets, is looking to scale up production of plant protein sweeteners made using precision fermentation.

IRI 2020 New Product Pacesetters: Who made the list?

14-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

From emerging keto ice cream brand, Rebel, and Beyond Meat's plant-based sausage, to big food's permissibly indulgent takes on legacy brands (Reese's Thins and Zero Sugar Mountain Dew), one theme rang true in IRI's 2020 New Product...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: What do consumers consider ‘healthy’ and how does that stack up to the truth?

14-Jun-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

While the pandemic shined a light on the role of diet and nutrition in health and wellness, it also revealed that most consumers don’t have a firm – or even loose – idea of what constitutes healthy – underscoring a need for more research and better education...

Animal-free dairy category heats up, with mainstream dairy companies exploring partnerships, says Imagindairy

14-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

“Global and local” dairy companies have approached Imagindairy - one of a clutch of startups using microbes (not cows) to produce milk proteins – about developing ‘animal-free’ dairy milks and other products, says the Israeli company, which lags some...

IFIC: Dairy consumers show category-specific purchase behaviors for non-dairy alternatives

11-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Despite recent rapid growth in non-dairy options, dairy consumers are still more frequently opting for dairy products over their plant-based counterparts, with plant-based cheese facing the biggest consumer acceptance challenges among dairy buyers, according...

'Do we really need another snack bar?' asks Rabobank

10-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Does the market need another snack bar? In short, probably not, but it may be time for a reset of the bellwether category, says Nicholas Fereday, senior analyst, consumer foods at Rabobank.

Banza strikes first branded foodservice partnership with Oath Pizza

09-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

First came chickpea pasta, now with a new foodservice partnership with Oath Pizza in the New England area and expanding retail distribution in the frozen pizza aisle, Banza is unlocking demand for chickpea-crust pizza.

BMJ study: Plant-based, pescatarian diets “may be considered for protection against severe COVID-19”

08-Jun-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

Following a nutrient-dense plant-based or pescatarian diet could protect against severe COVID-19, according to researchers who found healthcare workers at high risk of exposure to the coronavirus were less likely to experience severe infections if they...

Cell-cultured seafood pioneer Finless Foods gears up to launch its first product… plant-based tuna

08-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

Finless Foods – a pioneer in the nascent cell-cultured seafood space – is gearing up to launch its first product: plant-based tuna.

Geltor targets 'beauty-from-within' market with 'extremely rare' Type 21 vegan collagen (made with microbes, not animals)

08-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

Geltor – which has developed a computational biology platform to create a range of ‘designer’ functional proteins via microbial fermentation - will launch the world’s first ingestible ‘animal-free’ vegan collagen for the food and nutrition markets this...

Introducing Rhiza: The Better Meat Co completes construction of 'substantial' mycoprotein production facility in Sacramento

08-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

The Better Meat Co – a startup best-known for providing plant-based meat enhancers – has completed construction of a “substantial mycoprotein fermentation facility” in Sacramento that will produce fungi-based meat alternatives that “work phenomenally...

Egglife Foods disrupts traditional flour tortilla category: 'It truly is the perfect wrap'

07-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Egglife Foods has taken on the lofty goal of disrupting the $4bn tortilla category with an egg-white based tortilla that CEO David Kroll says delivers everything consumers expect from a traditional flour tortilla but with a greater degree of versatility...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: Juice sales rise during pandemic, but how long will the category’s growth last?

07-Jun-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

After years of slow but steady declines, juice sales in the US are rebounding in a trend that may have originated with consumers seeking wellness-enhancing products and moments of intentional indulgence during the pandemic, but which industry insiders,...

Closer to parity: Future Meat Technologies eyes India and China with cost-reducing cultured meat technology

07-Jun-2021 By Pearly Neo

Israeli cultured meat firm Future Meat Technologies has its eye on Asia as a major market for its products with China and India as key targets, after notching-up two successes in significantly lowering production costs this year.

Grounded Foods adds novel twist to plant-based cheese category: ‘We’re not vegans ourselves, and we’re not willing to compromise at all when it comes to cheese’

06-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

Plant-based milk has captured 15% of the US fluid milk market. Plant-based cheese - which has been around for just as long - has captured less than 2%* of the market, because it's much more technically challenging to formulate, and consumers are...

Danone-backed startup Ready, Set, Food! raises $3.5m in funding to accelerate early allergen introduction mission

04-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Ready, Set, Food! has raised $3.5m in new funding to build brand awareness for its three-stage allergen introduction system, which begins by introducing babies (starting at 4 months of age) to peanut, egg, and milk.

Nowadays plant-based nuggets boast ‘unparalleled' nutritional profile: 'We don’t just need to remove animals, we need to create better products'

03-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

The plant-based meat category is not short of starry-eyed founders armed with me-too products and a lofty mission to fix the broken food system (spoiler alert, they probably won’t). But there is still room for new players with a genuine point of difference...

Virtual Natural Products Expo West

Functional beverage sales rise, but not all ingredients, benefits gain equally as consumer interest shifts

03-Jun-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

Sales of functional beverages are bouncing back after slowing early in the pandemic when fewer people bought on-the-go products, reflecting increased consumer mobility, rising interest in food as medicine and innovation that resonates with health-focused...

Insect protein as beneficial as milk protein, find researchers

02-Jun-2021 By Flora Southey

Researchers in Denmark say mealworm protein and milk protein have the same performance on digestion, absorption, and on the ability to stimulate muscle production.

Where next for ice cream? 'Frozen treat brands will need to speak to indulgences differently'

02-Jun-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The US ice cream and frozen novelties category experienced a significant rise in sales in 2020 (+16.3% vs. 2019) as consumers sought out comfort eating while confined to their homes. However, in 2021 and into 2022, the category will be challenged as consumers...

Animal-free dairy: New Culture plans 2023 launch of Mozzarella – minus the cows

01-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

New Culture – one of a cluster of startups in the emerging ‘animal-free’ dairy space* engineering microbes to produce dairy milk proteins, without cows – is aiming to launch animal-free Mozzarella in late 2023.

Virtual Natural Products Expo West

SPINS data shines light on why ‘consumers returned to real dairy in droves during the pandemic’

01-Jun-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

During the pandemic, sales of dairy and animal protein grew off strong foundations, but many of the claims that traditionally drove consumer interest in the categories slowed or performed unevenly – revealing shifting priorities that could influence future...

Virtual Natural Products Expo West

Consumers weigh vegan & specialty diet attributes differently based on category, SPINS data shows

01-Jun-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

With nearly one in five Americans now following some type of specialty diet, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the extent to which products appeal to different food tribes can heavily influence sales – but not all diets are...

Cell-cultured human milk will be nutritional gamechanger for infant formula, says BIOMILQ, ‘but it’s not bio-identical to mother’s milk’

01-Jun-2021 By Elaine Watson

BIOMILQ – a North Carolina-based startup culturing human mammary cells that lactate – says new tests show its milk is not bio-identical to breastmilk, but is significantly closer to it than any infant formula currently on the market.

Doozy Pots hemp and oat gelato drives next generation of plant-based frozen desserts

28-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Doozy Pots – a plant-based gelato made from organic hemp and oat ingredients and the brainchild of a former Ben & Jerry's product developer – is injecting some differentiation and innovation into the plant-based ice cream and frozen desserts...

Bernstein on plant-based meat: ‘We believe this is still very much a two-horse race’

28-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods enjoy more than twice the in-store velocity of other plant-based meat brands in the US retail market, "and so we believe this is still very much a two-horse race,” claim analysts at Bernstein, who say some of the...

Whole Foods Market: Plant-based, plant-forward to dominate summer eating trends

27-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

As shoppers increasingly incorporate more plants into their diets, Whole Foods Market predicts a summer season where plant-based foods and brands take center plate.

Unilever partners with mycoprotein supplier ENOUGH on ‘game changing’ protein innovation

27-May-2021 By Katy Askew

Unilever has partnered with food tech company ENOUGH, which will supply it with mycoprotein to fuel innovation behind its plant-based brands, starting with The Vegetarian Butcher.

Nabati Foods ramps up production with plant-based eggs launch slated for late summer 2021

26-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

With five times the production capacity available at its newest production facility, Nabati Foods is ramping up production of its plant-based 'cheeze' and meat products and has plans to introduce its latest innovation, plant-based eggs, later...

How are consumers thinking about weight management? 'Consumers don’t really talk about 'dieting' anymore,' says Hartman Group

26-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

As just one part of consumers' larger definition of health and wellness, weight management has become less about the number on the scale and part of a broader holistic definition of what it means to be healthy, says Shelley Balanko, Ph.D., senior...

Investing in the Future of Food

Innovations highlighting milk’s functional benefits could score $650,000 in prizes from Real California Milk Excelerator

26-May-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

While most Americans know dairy milk can help growing children build strong bones and healthy bodies, they may not realize it also can help athletes and everyday people of all ages perform better and recover faster – something the California Milk Advisory...

'Protect the liver, feed the gut…’ Dr. Robert Lustig takes fresh aim at processed food industry: ‘We’ve literally turned ourselves into foie gras’

25-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

One cigarette won’t kill you, observes pediatric neuroendocrinologist and sugar’s arch-nemesis Dr. Robert Lustig, but 10,000 cigarettes over 10 years just might. Processed food is also poisoning us, it’s just doing it much more slowly, contends Lustig,...

Oatly goes public, opens Utah factory: ‘We are going to prioritize growth over profit,’ says CEO

20-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Oatly – which made its debut as a public company today (Nasdaq ticker: 'OTLY') after an IPO that raised $1.4bn – has started producing its first products from its new plant in Ogden, Utah, this month, opening up new capacity to meet surging...

Plant-based innovation: Terviva raises $54m, collaborates with Danone on foods using oils, proteins, from Pongamia trees

20-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Terviva – a California-based firm commercializing ingredients from low-input, high-yielding Pongamia trees – has raised $54m in equity capital,* with an additional $24m in equity and debt capital to follow this quarter, and announced a collaboration with...

Brain food startup Memore: ‘The cognitive health market is around $7b and growing 8% annually’

20-May-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

Cognitive decline over time may be inevitable, but according to the husband and wife team behind the recently launched whole food functional beverage blend Memore, feeding the mind the right nutrition early and often not only could delay onset and slow...

Healthy Height targets growing kids snack bar market with functional, ‘picky-eater approved’ bars

19-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Nutritional Growth Solutions (NGS) and its Healthy Height brand is entering the kids snack bar category with a bar line that balances research-based, “growth-boosting” nutrients with a kid-approved flavor profile.

Clif Bar CEO: We are ‘well on our way with plans to transform the business’ with new executives, ad campaign

19-May-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

Clif Bar & Company is moving forward with its “next stage of purpose-driven growth and expansion” with today’s launch of a fully integrated marketing campaign that reaches beyond the company’s typical consumer base of ultra-athletes to appeal to active...

Plant-based chicken maker Daring Foods raises $40m in Series B, demonstrates ‘impressive product-market fit in a short period of time’

19-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Daring Foods – a startup seeking to punch above its weight in the plant-based chicken category via a lower calorie product with a shorter, cleaner, ingredients list and bold branding – has closed a $40m Series B round led by D1 Capital Partners, and supported...

GOOD Meat raises $170m in new funding to scale cell-cultured meat in North America: 'Being the only option is the goal'

18-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Eat Just Inc.'s GOOD Meat division has secured $170m in new funding to scale production of its cell-cultured chicken (and R&D into other animal protein including beef and pork) in North America and Asia through multi-million dollar investments...

Nestlé’s Sweet Earth: “Consumers in all places and points in their lives are interested in plant-based”

18-May-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

Recognizing that the most common reason Americans want to reduce their animal protein consumption is to improve their health, Sweet Earth is diversifying its selection of plant-based meat alternatives – and the ingredients that go into them – to better...

Are fruit seeds the ‘new nuts’? Meet the start-up upcycling fruit kernels into oil, flour, and alt milk

14-May-2021 By Flora Southey

Austrian entrepreneurs are extracting cyanide from stone fruit seeds – a side stream of the fruit processing industry – before upcycling them into B2B food ingredients.

‘Brands want a broader toolbox of ingredients’: Equinom develops ‘first-of-its-kind’ high-protein sesame seed to transform ‘future of plant-based foods’

13-May-2021 By Oliver Morrison

Israeli seed specialist Equinom says its new variety of protein-rich sesame seed could help the solve the taste and texture challenges of plant-based food and beverages.

Plant-based cheese, meat, formulation gamechanger? Motif FoodWorks gains exclusive access to two ‘transformative’ technologies

13-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Boston-based Motif FoodWorks has gained exclusive access to technologies designed to address two key challenges in plant-based formulations: achieving melt and stretch in plant-based cheese, and healthier fat that enables marbling in plant-based meat....

“Carbon score is the next big thing,” predicts CGC co-head, industry experts gathered by FoodBytes!

13-May-2021 By Elizabeth Crawford

Carbon labeling for food and beverage may be coming faster than originally predicted, and soon may hold more sway with consumers than other popular certifications as the ongoing pandemic accelerates consumer interest in sustainable diets, predict industry...

Tyson Foods looks to restore competitive position in chicken heading into second half of 2021

12-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

While demand for animal protein remains strong, says Tyson Foods, the company saw sales volumes decrease for its beef, chicken, and pork segments during Q2 2021 and for the first six months of fiscal 2021 driven by a variety of factors including severe...

Memphis Meats rebrands as UPSIDE Foods, gears up to launch cell-cultured chicken by year-end: ’This is a big historic step for the entire industry’

12-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Cell-cultured meat pioneer Memphis Meats is rebranding as UPSIDE Foods as it gears up for a small-scale consumer launch of its first product – chicken – by the end of the year, pending regulatory review.

Meet the start-up converting wood into food grade protein: ‘We are expanding the definition of what a food crop is’

12-May-2021 By Katy Askew

Arbiom is a start-up developing solutions to convert timber by-products into food and feed ingredients. The group recently unveiled its first protein ingredient, SylPro. We caught up with the company to find out more about its technology and commercialisation...

Target launches Good & Gather Plant Based private label range

11-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Target has expanded its private label offering with the launch of Good & Gather Plant Based, responding to soaring demand for plant-based products from customers, said the retailer.

Both sides claim victory in latest installment of bitter legal dispute between Beyond Meat and former co-manufacturer Don Lee Farms

11-May-2021 By Elaine Watson

Both sides have claimed victory in the latest installment of an increasingly acrimonious legal dispute* between Beyond Meat and its former co-manufacturer Don Lee Farms triggered by the early termination of an exclusive five-year supply agreement the...

Mondelēz SnackFutures' CoLab startup engagement program announces first class of snack entrepreneurs

10-May-2021 By Mary Ellen Shoup

SnackFutures, Mondelēz International's innovation and venture hub, has selected nine well-being snack brands to participate in its inaugural CoLab startup engagement program.