We are nowhere near on track to keep global warning below 2°C, was the stark conclusion of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. But hope was also on offer. FoodNavigator looks at how food system transformation can help mitigate...
The key ingredient in Eat Just’s plant-based egg alternative, mung bean protein, has received approval from the European Commission. The decision ‘opens the door’ to distribution across the bloc, according to Eat Just CEO Josh Tetrick.
In FoodNavigator-USA's latest roundup of new product launches, we include an eclectic mix of new products, from shelf-stable 100% cheese sticks, to chocolate bars featuring 'animal-free' whey protein, to keto crackers made with almond flour,...
A district court in Louisiana has determined that a state law restricting the use of 'meaty' terms on food labels to products derived from slaughtered animals is unconstitutional, in a ruling hailed by Tofurky as "a victory for the entire...
While animal feed and pet food present bigger commercial opportunities for edible insects in the short term, two key European players in the segment - Innovafeed and Ÿnsect, who are both planning large-scale, highly-automated production facilities in...
While plant-based beef patties and grounds, pork sausages and chicken nuggets abound, seafood alternatives are still relatively scare – representing a significant, and fast-growing, opportunity that innovators and investors alike are moving quickly to...
Despite promising test results in small-scale trials last year, the pea-protein-fueled McPlant burger – developed with Beyond Meat – is not setting the world on fire in tests at a broader selection of McDonald’s locations, according to Peter Saleh, managing...
Unilever is piloting new blockchain technology, GreenToken by SAP, in a bid to increase traceability and transparency in the consumer good giant’s palm oil supply chain.
While General Mills is aggressively – and to an extent successfully – tackling supply chain challenges causing shortages of some of its beloved convenience brands, including Pillsbury dough and Totino’s pizza rolls, it likely won’t be able to fully meet...
Boston-based Motif FoodWorks says it is “very confident” it will prevail in its legal spat with Impossible Foods over a new generation of ‘meaty’ flavors produced by precision fermentation.
The EVERY Company has teamed up with upmarket west-coast patisserie brand Chantal Guillon to road test EVERY EggWhite - billed as “the world’s first animal-free egg white” - in a product heavily reliant on the unique functional properties of egg whites:...
US retail sales of frozen meat alternatives dipped -1.7% to $722.8m in the year to February 27, while sales of refrigerated meat alternatives fell -3.9% to $475m over the same period, according to IRI data crunched by 210 Analytics. Cumulatively, the...
A team of scientists have developed a method to effectively produce and extract plant-based oil from a common microalgae that, they claim, could be a ‘healthier and greener’ alternative to palm oil.
Tattooed Chef, a rapidly-growing plant-based frozen foods brand, is entering new categories beyond the frozen foods aisle and into refrigerated snack bars and snacking chips.
Shiru - a startup producing proteins via microbial fermentation - has teamed up with texturizing ingredients specialist CP Kelco to explore label-friendly replacements for methylcellulose and other highly functional ingredients.
After two years of lockdowns and uncertainty during the pandemic, consumers simultaneously are desperate to let loose and enjoy life and to reinstate a sense of self-control – creating a complicated marketing landscape that intelligence experts at Mintel...
While growth in US retail sales of refrigerated plant-based meat has slowed, investors are still pouring large amounts of cash into startups creating alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy products with plant-based and fermentation-based approaches, and...
Chobani has re-hired Kevin Burns – who served as its president and COO between 2014 and 2016 – as president and COO following the departure of Peter McGuinness.
EPG – a plant-based oil restructured in such a way that virtually none of it is absorbed by the body – has demonstrated intriguing properties in plant-based meat applications, where formulators have struggled to find vegan options that behave like animal...
At a time when plastic packaging is emerging as a top concern among environmentally-conscious consumers, plant-based meat company No Evil Foods' decision to switch from fully compostable packaging to paper cartons with plastic inserts may appear...
If the alt-meat space is getting pretty crowded, there is still only a handful of players in the plant-based egg vertical, which is growing strongly, says Just Egg maker Eat Just, which has seen a significant increase in distribution, with its mung-bean-fueled...
Nature’s Fynd - a startup growing protein-packed food from microbes with a fraction of the environmental footprint of meat or dairy – is launching refrigerated breakfast patties featuring its ‘Fy’ nutritional fungi protein in selected Whole Foods stores...
Louis Dreyfus Company – a leading global agricultural commodity trader with interests in grains and oilseeds, coffee, cotton, juice, rice, sugar, and freight - plans to enter the plant-based protein market later this year.
CPG companies with more diverse leadership and which intentionally engage a consumer base that more accurately reflects the racial composition of the US population are attracting shoppers and growing faster than brands that over-index among white shoppers,...
Third-party meal delivery service DoorDash is debuting its DoorDash Accelerator for Local Goods, a program designed to support local packaged food brands owned by women, BIPOC, immigrant, and transgender entrepreneurs.
DSM is gearing up to launch commercial quantities of upcycled canola protein isolate extracted from Non GMO rapeseed at a new facility in Dieppe, France, later this year, and says it is seeing interest from firms spanning plant-based meat and dairy, to...
By now, we are all familiar with the recent topline 'problem' in retail plant-based meat. The slow-down is visible in Beyond Meat's latest earnings call itself. Foodservice and international sales are driving all of the brand's growth....
Better-for-you frozen foods brand The Real Good Food Company is on course to hit between $140m and $150m in net sales by the end of the year with a long-term goal of becoming a $500m brand, owing to a new production facility coming online this month and...
Relocating current croplands to ‘optimal locations’ - while allowing ecosystems in then-abandoned areas to regenerate - could turn back the clock on carbon emissions, according to a team of international researchers.
Western food companies are responding to the invasion of Ukraine by ramping up support for those facing Russian aggression. But what is their moral obligation when it comes to operations in Russia?
Two more high-profile players in the alt meat space are clashing over IP, with Impossible Foods accusing Motif FoodWorks of infringing a patent it secured in 2020 covering the use of its flagship ‘heme’ ingredient in meat substitutes.
While many consumers may be aware of the drawbacks of a high sodium diet, fewer are actively reducing their sodium intake and believe it is the responsibility of food manufacturers to provide products that are both flavorful and low in sodium, presenting...
Emeryville, CA-based Finless Foods has closed a $34m series B round* to fund pilot-scale production of cell-cultured bluefin tuna, and support the national foodservice launch of its first product: plant-based tuna.
Fat is mission-critical to the appearance, smell, taste, mouthfeel, and texture of meat. And if you want to formulate meat alternatives that look, cook, smell, and taste like the real thing, plant-based fats will only get you so far, claims San Francisco-based...
Kroger has teamed up with Impossible Foods and Denver-based Custom Made Meals, which manufactures entrees and appetizers for Kroger’s Home Chef brand, to develop plant-based protein products, although it has not provided details about the scope of the...
While scientists are still unlocking the secrets of the gut microbiome, consumers increasingly understand that what we feed the armies of microbes that line our digestive tracts may be intimately connected to our physical – and mental - wellbeing. So...
Plant-based proteins continue to dominate the so-called ‘alternative protein’ category, but will this still be the case in 10 years’ time? And which emerging plant proteins – from canola, barley and hemp to Pongamia, lupin, and chickpeas – will become...
The US Food and Drug Administration has finalized a guidance on issuing recalls that first issued in draft form in 2019. The document’s plain language should help ensure compliance, experts contacted by NutraIngredients-USA agree.
A legal dispute* between two high-profile startups deploying fermentation to produce fungi-based meat alternatives is heating up with Meati Foods accusing The Better Meat Co of intellectual property theft, and The Better Meat Co accusing Meati of sowing...
Plant-based meat alternatives are getting 'meatier' by the day as brands reverse engineer animal products and put them back together with plants. But getting plant-based fat to behave like animal fat has been a major stumbling block for the...
Natural colour maker Phytolon is collaborating with Ginkgo Bioworks to take its biological production to the ‘next level’. FoodNavigator asks Phytolon co-founder and CEO Halim Jubran how its novel production technology works.
There’s no shortage of startups on a mission to fix the broken food system and FOMO-fueled legacy brands jumping on the plant-based bandwagon, says Dave Zilko, the CPG veteran behind the new Skinny Butcher brand. But buyers, he says, are still open to...
Santiago-based NotCo - which entered the US market in 2020 with plant-based NotMilk - is gearing up to enter the ultra-competitive US meat alternatives category with NotBurger, a brand that has rapidly gained traction in Latin America with high-profile...
Belgian Boys, a fast-growing brand selling European-inspired treats and fresh breakfast items, has received $7m in funding led by Equilibra Ventures, a startup and investment platform from KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky, to expand the brand's...
Nearly a third of the world's crop fields will be unsuitable for food production by the end of this century unless carbon emissions are curbed, warns the latest instalment of the IPCC climate change report.
The draw of industrial biotechnology is compelling: beef without the cow, eggs without the chicken, almost every animal-based product that society has relied on for centuries having a non-animal replacement in the works. Maybe it’s just me, but with...
Despite recent setbacks, the outlook for Beyond Meat is looking rosier in 2022, insisted CEO Ethan Brown during the firm’s Q4 earnings call Thursday as growth in international markets and a recovery in foodservice sales were offset by double-digit year-on-year...
While meal kit demand surged during COVID-19, many consumers still aren't sold on the idea of a meal subscription and players in this space should embrace the full potential of e-commerce to become "true online grocery retailers" by providing...
Pre-harvest spraying of glyphosate-based weedkillers to dry crops is “leading to the mass contamination of essential foods that form the base of our diet,” alleges a new report from The Detox Project, which highlights glyphosate residues on everything...
Over the weekend spice-blend, soup mix and meal kit maker Knorr worked with chefs in select cities to deliver free planet-friendlier pizzas – called plizzas – to show how simple ingredient swaps can reduce food’s environmental impact and to raise awareness...