With the opening of a new facility, dubbed the “Mega Ranch,” fungi-based startup Meati seeks to place its mushroom-root-based, sliced meat product in “tens of thousands of stores” in 2023, company co-founder and CEO, Tyler Huggins, told FoodNavigator-USA
Canadian meat alternative producer No Meat Factory has closed a $42m series B round as it gears up to open a second factory, and says it is seeing significant demand for high-quality capacity, despite the recent slowdown in sales at US retail.
Multiple semi-finalists in the prestigious XPRIZE ‘Feed the Next Billion’ competition have pulled out following a rule change enacted mid-way through the process relating to title sponsor ASPIRE which contestants argue is “unrealistic for any venture-backed...
With surging inflation and continuing supply chain disruptions, 2022 has been another challenging year for the nation’s food and beverage manufacturers. Here are some of the highlights (and a few low lights) and a look ahead to 2023.
Santiago-based NotCo – a food tech company deploying a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) platform called ‘Giuseppe’ to bring a new level of sophistication to the formulation of meat and dairy alternatives – has raised $70m in a series D1 round*...
Motif FoodWorks has filed a suite of new petitions with the US Patent and Trademark Office challenging US patents held by Impossible Foods over the use of heme proteins in meat alternatives as it defends itself against accusations of IP infringement....
While plant-based meat sales have slowed significantly over the past year with many commentators blaming the inflationary environment, Daring - a premium brand deploying pricy high-moisture extrusion to make its plant-based chicken pieces – is going from...
New shopper data from Kroger’s partner 84.51° shows that plant-based meat and dairy products are displacing animal products, albeit on a very small scale; while consumer survey data from 84.51° and the Plant Based Foods Association shows that personal...
“It's very frustrating to hear people talk all the time about transportation and power [in conversations about climate change] when right in front of you three times a day, there is a solution that's more impactful,” observed Beyond Meat founder...
Want to hear from Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown on the challenges facing plant-based meat? Or environmental scientist Dr Matthew Hayek on what happens if you model a nationwide transition from grain- to grass-finishing beef production systems in the US?
While the high-single to double-digit drop in plant-based meat sales over the past year has prompted significant handwringing among investors, retailers and other stakeholders, category front-runner Impossible Foods is neither surprised about the segment’s...
IFF has unveiled SUPRO TEX, a shelf-stable textured protein made via low-moisture extrusion claimed to deliver “a texture to meat alternatives close to what a high moisture extruded product is able to deliver,” at a significantly lower cost.
Six days after settling their lengthy legal dispute over the early termination of a supply contact, Don Lee Farms and Beyond Meat have resolved their differences over a separate lawsuit* in which Don Lee accused Beyond Meat of over-stating the protein...
Motif FoodWorks has suffered a setback in its dispute with Impossible Foods over meaty-tasting heme proteins in meat alternatives after the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected its request for an inter partes review of the patent at the center...
Beyond Meat is rolling out its latest innovation - Beyond Steak - at Kroger and Walmart stores nationwide, as well as at select Albertsons and Ahold divisions and other retailers across the country.
The long-term imperative behind reducing our reliance on animal agriculture seems fairly compelling: The planet can’t sustain it. But with less engaged consumers dipping in and then out of the meat alternatives category as budgets tighten, and a subsegment...
Beyond Meat and former co-packer Don Lee Farms have agreed to settle an ugly five-year legal dispute prompted by the early termination of a supply contract in spring 2017.
Loss-making plant-based meat co Beyond Meat - which is currently squaring up to former co-packer Don Lee Farms in a trial in L.A. - has unveiled plans to lay off approximately 200 employees (19% of its global workforce) in a bid to cut costs and achieve...
The nation’s leading meat companies all got in on the action on meat alternatives, with investments in plant-based and cell-cultured meat startups and their own dedicated consumer brands. But with category sales weakening in recent months amid surging...
Former executive chairman Seth Goldman, CEO Ethan Brown, Mattson CEO Justin Shimek and a cluster of senior Beyond Meat executives, past and present, are listed among 64 potential witnesses in the plant-based meat co’s trial with former co-packer Don Lee...
In a restructuring announced days after meat giant JBS revealed plans to close its Planterra Foods plant-based meat division, impacting 121 jobs, Impossible Foods is eliminating approximately 6% of roles at the company (under 50 staff) in a move it claims...
Meat giant JBS has pulled the plug on its US plant-based meat division Planterra Foods just over two years after debuting the ‘OZO’ brand at Kroger in summer 2020, and is closing a 189,000 square foot factory it opened in Denver in December 2021.
The western diet – and the food system that underpins it – is becoming increasingly unsustainable, for the health of humans and the planet. So how do we futureproof the food system to deliver healthier, more sustainable products that nourish our bodies...
Santiago-based NotCo - which claims to offer superior products in the alt meat set through the use of an artificial intelligence platform called ‘Giuseppe’ - is gearing up to enter the increasingly crowded US plant-based chicken category with NotChicken,...
Days after suspending COO Doug Ramsey following an alleged assault, Beyond Meat says chief supply chain officer Bernie Adcock – who joined the beleaguered plant-based meat co with Ramsey in December 2021 from Tyson Foods – has informed bosses of his plans...
Billed as a “first-of-its kind, category-disrupting product,” the Beyond Carne Asada Steak – the fruit of an 18-month partnership between Beyond Meat and Taco Bell - will be tested in Taco Bell locations in Dayton, Ohio, from October 13 for a limited...
It’s been a “rollercoaster year” for meat alternatives, acknowledges Quorn Foods USA president Judd Zusel. But flagging sales in some parts of the market do not mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Where’s the smart money in food tech? Tackling food waste? Precision nutrition? Cell-cultured meat? And where can investors have the biggest impact on human and planetary health… and make a return? FoodNavigator-USA caught up with Nadav Berger and Yoni...
The long-term imperative driving meat alternatives is clear: We only have one planet, with a growing population and finite resources, and raising animals to feed them all just takes up too many of them, says Tom Mastrobuoni, chief investment officer at...
“12-18 months ago, refrigerated plant-based meat was growing at three times frozen and we were thinking should we try and jump into that?” recalls Bob Nolan, SVP demand science at Conagra Brands, which acquired alt meat brand Gardein in 2018 via the acquisition...
Have we reached peak alt-meat? Or is the weakening performance in US retail merely reflective of inflationary pressures (plant-based meat is more expensive than conventional, although the gap is narrowing) and well-publicized issues at some of the publicly-listed...
While weakening retail sales and grim quarterly earnings from some publicly listed players have prompted intense debate about the future of meat alternatives, the “crisis of confidence” this has prompted has overshadowed the fact that amid all this noise,...
Having experienced an average +30% YoY growth in 2019 and 2020, the alternative meat category slowed to flat YoY growth in 2021, with industry leaders such as Beyond Meat seeing negative growth in measured channels.
US retail sales of meat alternatives in measured channels tell a tale of two temperature states. Dollar sales of refrigerated meat alternatives are declining in double-digits, while frozen products are growing in the high single digits, according to IRI...
Impossible Foods is expanding its collaboration with Burger King with tests of a plant-based ‘chick’n’ patty in 47 restaurants in Cincinnati, Ohio, through mid-October. The move comes hot on the heels of tests of Impossible’s plant-based nuggets in Burger...
It’s easy to see the grim P&L figures at Beyond Meat and Oatly and the recent lackluster performance of some refrigerated meat alternatives in US retail as proof that the entire ‘alt protein’ space is a busted flush, but the real picture is more nuanced,...
Beyond Meat – which has just posted another grim set of quarterly figures driving its share price down to new lows – is gearing up for a showdown with former co-packer Don Lee Farms at a court in Los Angeles with a trial date scheduled for September 26.
Boston-based food tech firm Motif FoodWorks has promoted its CTO Dr Michael Leonard to the role of CEO, effective immediately, as current CEO Jonathan McIntyre moves to an advisory role in the company.
Fungi-fueled startup firm MyForest Foods (formerly Atlast Food Co) has started commissioning ‘Swersey Silos,’ a new production facility in Green Island, New York, which will start churning out meaningful quantities of mycelium-based meat by the end of...
Recent applications work has demonstrated that Merit Functional Foods’ Peazazz pea protein isolate – in combination with an enzyme called transglutaminase - can replace methylcellulose, a binding and gelling ingredient widely used in meat alternatives...
Boulder-based Meati Foods – which is seeking to differentiate itself in the increasingly crowded meat-alternative space with a fungi-based platform capable of producing ‘steaks’ and other whole cuts – has raised $150m in a Series C round led by Revolution...
Boston-based foodtech firm Motif FoodWorks – which has raised $345m since spinning off from synthetic biology firm Ginkgo BioWorks in February 2019 – has just engaged in a round of layoffs, FoodNavigator-USA understands.
Motif FoodWorks has filed a motion to stay a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Impossible Foods over the use of heme ingredients in meat alternatives while the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) reviews the patent at the heart of the case.
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Fungi-fueled Meati Foods – which raised some eyebrows in December after its new president (ex-General Mills president Scott Tassani) suggested the startup could generate a cool $1bn in sales by 2025 from mycelium-based meat alternatives – has seen a surge...
