Meat Alternatives

Planteneers expands customer service and applications capabilities for plant-based customers

12-Sep-2023 By Deniz Ataman

Planteneers broadens its customer service and applications technology team with the launch of its Plantbaser online platform and upcoming pilot plant facility in Aurora, Illinois to better meet the demands of its plant-based customers, explained Ashley...

AI-powered plant-based meat: Non-profit boosts extrusion tech for alt protein players

08-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

Meet GreenProtein AI: the non-profit leveraging artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning to help innovators improve the texture of their plant-based meat products.

ENOUGH prepares to double mycoprotein production: ‘We’re the largest new protein facility built this decade’

21-Aug-2023 By Flora Southey

Mycoprotein supplier ENOUGH has raised €40m to scale up production in the Netherlands. And if global demand increases, the company will look to replicate its model further afield, CEO Jim Laird tells FoodNavigator.

Actual Veggies’ produce-packed patties’ fast growth suggests alternative future for plant-based meat alternatives

09-Aug-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

The rapid growth of plant-based protein newcomer Actual Veggies suggests the sliding sales of alternative protein products that closely mimic their animal counterparts does not represent a lack of consumer interest in vegetarian and vegan options, but...

'We've overcome the first wave of vegan and vegetarian alternatives': Protein Distillery posits brewer’s yeast-based protein as the next stage in the market

26-Jun-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

As alternative protein develops, brewer’s yeast is emerging as a strong driver of the market. Start-up ProteinDistillery has created a protein, developed from brewer’s yeast, that can not only be used for meat and dairy alternatives, but also to replace...

Meatless Farm off the chopping block as VFC Foods confirms takeover

21-Jun-2023 By Flora Southey

Vegan food company VFC has announced its acquisition of Meatless Farm, rescuing the struggling plant-based meat maker from administration.

MyForestFoods secures funding to expand mycelium portfolio across East Coast

08-Jun-2023 By Deniz Ataman

MyForestFoods recently raised $15 million in Series A-2 funding to support the growth of its portfolio across the East Coast, including its mycelium bacon aptly called MyBacon, which was featured at the Vegan Women Summit in New York City May 19. The...

WATCH: Working with fungi to ‘break the plant-based ceiling’

17-May-2023 By Flora Southey

Libre Foods is working with both fungi fruiting bodies and mycelia to boost diversity, functionality, and taste in meat-free offerings, CEO Alan Iván Ramos tells FoodNavigator.

Prime Roots raises $30m in Series B to scale plant-based deli meat

15-May-2023 By Ryan Daily

Mushroom-based protein startup Prime Roots is expanding distribution of its alt-based meats to deli counters and restaurants across the US with the help of $30m in Series B funding, brand CEO and co-founder Kimberlie Le told FoodNavigator-USA.

Plant-based products that attempt to mimic the nutritional qualities of meat and dairy are ‘playing a losing game’

01-May-2023 By Oliver Morrison

It’s time plant-based manufacturers stop talking about the healthy nutrients that plants don’t have and focus on those they do have, says influential Wageningen food scientist Atze Jan van der Goot.

‘The alternative protein space is coming to terms with the reality of what is needed to build self-sustaining businesses’: The challenge of scaling up plant-based production and manufacturing

28-Apr-2023 By Oliver Morrison

The recent Plant-Based Protein Manufacturing Summit in Amsterdam brought together leading businesses in the plant-based food and beverage industry with co-manufacturers, innovative equipment and solution providers to explore the challenges and opportunities...

'We have to focus on growing the category': Behind Quorn parent company's move to make its mycoprotein available to others

18-Apr-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Marlow Foods has unveiled plans to supply the protein in Quorn, mycoprotein, to other food and beverage manufacturers.

Motif FoodWorks goes DTC to drive awareness, show potential of ingredients

17-Apr-2023 By Ryan Daily

Plant-based food technology company Motif FoodWorks is taking a page out of the retail playbook with a limited-time-offering, direct-to-consumer (DTC) offering of its finished products, which sold out in 52 hours, company CEO Michael Leonard told FoodNavigator-USA....

Plant-based meat has more to offer: Stakeholders share strategies for success

23-Mar-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

It is too soon to give up on the plant-based meat segment, which has seen sales and household penetration slip in the past year, but which is evolving to meet demand for products that are healthier, tastier and more convenient, argued industry stakeholders...

Upcycling food waste to grow ‘highly nutritious’ mycelium protein

21-Feb-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Israeli food tech start-up Mush Foods claims it is propelling the “meat-plus” movement to the mainstream of foodservice and food retail.

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: What does plant-based protein need to cross the trough of despair?

13-Feb-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

Alongside falling sales, volume and units, plant-based meat has slid into the trough of despair, also known as valley of disillusionment or sorrow, and while it is unclear if the category has hit bottom yet, many stakeholders already are looking for a...

Hooray Foods’ plant-based bacon bucks declines in overall meat alternatives

09-Feb-2023 By Elizabeth Crawford

Against the grim backdrop of tumbling sales, units and volume for fresh and frozen alternative proteins, plant-based bacon is emerging as a bright spot – with sales inching up, thanks in part to innovative production techniques, like those championed...

Alt protein brand Meati Foods spreads its roots, opens ‘Mega Ranch’

26-Jan-2023 By Ryan Daily

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

Meat alternative producer No Meat Factory raises $42m, gears up to open second production facility

12-Jan-2023 By Elaine Watson

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.

'This is all very unfortunate...' Multiple semi-finalists ‘regretfully’ withdraw from XPRIZE competition following mid-contest rule change

06-Jan-2023 By Elaine Watson

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...

2022 in review: Rampant inflation, the end of the honeymoon period for plant-based meat, and added sugar under attack

21-Dec-2022 By Elaine Watson

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.

NotCo raises $70m to offer AI-platform to wider industry and ‘exponentially accelerate the transformation of the plant-based industry’

12-Dec-2022 By Elaine Watson

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*...

Impossible Foods EU patent revoked; US IP dispute with Motif FoodWorks ramps up: 'If Impossible wins, it means no one else can experiment with heme in the plant-based industry.'

07-Dec-2022 By Elaine Watson

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....

Daring Foods CEO talks plant-based chicken: ‘In every retailer, we’re performing above the category average’

05-Dec-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Kroger/PBFA report: ‘Health is the primary reason shoppers consume plant-based foods’

30-Nov-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

WATCH: Beyond Meat CEO: ‘Let's not judge the category until we get to price parity...’

16-Nov-2022 By Elaine Watson

“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...

Futureproofing the Food System starts Tues November 15! Have you registered yet?

13-Nov-2022 By Elaine Watson

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?

New marketing chief for steadily-growing Impossible Foods to ‘carry the torch’ for otherwise slowing plant-based protein industry

08-Nov-2022 By Elizabeth Crawford

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...

Shelf-stable textured protein that delivers experience ‘much closer to whole muscle meat…’ IFF unveils tech breakthrough for meat alternatives

01-Nov-2022 By Elaine Watson

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.

Don Lee Farms vs Beyond Meat protein claims case dismissed, three related suits from different plaintiffs still moving through courts

27-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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 suffers setback in IP row with Impossible Foods over heme proteins, but remains ‘confident in our legal position’

27-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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 rolls out Beyond Steak plant-based seared tips to Kroger and Walmart nationwide

24-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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.

What’s the future of meat? Join Beyond Meat, Air Protein, Meati Foods, Orbillion Bio and the GFI at Futureproofing the Food System

21-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

'No party admitted liability or wrongdoing...' Beyond Meat and former co-packer Don Lee Farms settle dispute

19-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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.

Beyond Meat to lay off 200 staff, shake up exec team, as it targets cash flow positive operations in late 2023

14-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Big Meat retrenches as meat alternatives lose their luster

13-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

64-strong witness list unveiled as Beyond Meat squares off with former co-packer Don Lee Farms in LA court

11-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

'An emotional, tough day...' Impossible Foods eliminates 6% of roles as new CEO restructures to ‘grow and evolve’

07-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

JBS pulls plug on Planterra Foods US plant-based meat operation

02-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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.

Introducing the FoodNavigator-USA digital summit: Futureproofing the Food System Nov 15-17

01-Oct-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

NotCo to launch NotChicken at Sprouts nationwide, unveil first fruits of Kraft Heinz JV, by year end

28-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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,...

Beyond Meat chief supply chain officer Bernie Adcock gives notice, days after suspension of COO Doug Ramsey

24-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Beyond Meat to trial ‘first-of-its kind’ faba-bean-fueled Beyond Carne Asada Steak with Taco Bell for limited time

21-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Quorn Foods USA president talks meat alternatives: ‘We all need to take a deep breath’

16-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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 going in food tech? From precision nutrition to enabling tech for alt meat, dairy. In conversation with PeakBridge

14-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

‘There’s going to be a lot of burnt capital…’ Navigating the ‘hand-wringing phase’ of alt meat investment

12-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Conagra Brands (Gardein) talks alt meat: ‘There's no way the space supports 20 manufacturers making plant-based burger patties’

06-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

“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...

Where next for meat alternatives? Stakeholders weigh in: ‘Building a food company is not like going live on an app… it takes patient capital’

01-Sep-2022 By Elaine Watson

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...

Impossible Foods tweaks formulation, slashes saturated fat: ‘The category has done a lousy job of explaining itself,' says CEO

26-Aug-2022 By Elaine Watson

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,...

News in brief

Bernstein: ‘The alternative meat space is going through a shake-out period’

26-Aug-2022 By Elaine Watson

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.