Green Queen Media

🌱 Excited to announce that our founder and editor-in-chief Sonalie Figueiras will be speaking at Food Frontier’s AltProteins 24 on 10 October 2024 in Melbourne! There, she will be sharing insights on sustainability and the future of food. Join us for insightful keynotes, pioneering research, dynamic panels, and great networking. Don’t miss out—register now: https://lnkd.in/evRrZHqu #AltProteins24 #SustainableFood #FutureOfFood #GreenQueen

🏜️💡 BLUE HORIZON BUILDS GIGA PROTEIN FACTORY IN THE DESERT Blue Horizon was one of the future food industry’s leading investors – now, it is pivoting to an operational focus with a ‘giga protein factory’ in the Arabian desert. Here’s why. It was 12 months ago that alternative protein fund leader Blue Horizon seemingly decided to pull the plug on its growth fund and exit the investment advisory sector. Over 30 employees had left the Zurich-based future food investor in the preceding months, reportedly leaving behind a minimal staff by August 2023. After a dispute with investors, Blue Horizon had been removed as manager of its first growth capital fund, and now the raising of its second growth fund was also in jeopardy. Reports suggested that the firm was targeting between $500M and $750M for the latter. The fund closed at around $100M. Fast-forward to June 2024: agrifood VC platform AgFunder announced in a social media post that it was taking over the management of Blue Horizon’s growth fund effective immediately. The update stated that Blue Horizon had “exited the investment advisory sector”. According to the announcement, the fund’s limited partners (LPs) would “gain access to AgFunder’s global network, with offices in Silicon Valley, London, and Singapore” and “benefit from the resources provided by AgFunderNews, comprehensive research, and GAIA, AgFunder’s proprietary database and AI platform, which includes over 60,000 agtech and foodtech startups.”. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/ey75aWZP #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefoods #foodsystems #sustainability

🇳🇿🌱 NZ PLAN*T MEAT MAKER SUSTAINABLE FOODS ENTERS ADMINISTRATION Sustainable Foods Limited, the parent company of vegan meat analogue brand Plan*t, has entered voluntary administration, citing harsh market conditions. The company’s directors had appointed administrators on Friday after it struggled to raise capital, CEO Justin Lemmens confirmed to the New Zealand Herald. It planned to raise NZ$500,000 to NZ$1M ($310,000-620,000) to allow it to continue trading in 2025. Sustainable Foods had been “caught in a perfect storm”, he told the newspaper, explaining that consumer and retailer interest cooled in the face of a tough economic environment, just as the manufacturer was investing to develop a new product. Founded in 2018 by Lemmens and Kyran Rei, Sustainable Foods came to prominence via a line of hemp-based meats in partnership with The Craft Meat Co, which it acquired in early 2020. This was rebranded to Plan*t in 2021, with Lemmens calling the asterisk a “versatile” symbol depicting the company’s nutrition, sustainability, origins in New Zealand, and use of novel proteins. The company, which employs over 60 staff and had an annualised revenue of NZ$2.4M, now expects the first report from administrators at PwC soon. “Sustainable Foods will continue to trade while working through possible restructure solutions alongside other options,” Lemmens told the NZ Herald. The development comes months after fellow New Zealand plant-based brand Sunfed® Meats shut down under similar circumstances: supply chain pressure, high costs, and a loss of faith from investors. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eat4vgqg #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefood #plantbasedmeat #sustainability #foodsystems

🌱🐾 MARS PETCARE AND BIG IDEA VENTURES LAUNCH SUSTAINABLE PET FOOD PROGRAMME Industry giant Mars Petcare and food tech investor Big Idea Ventures have partnered with food and feed technology specialist Bühler Group and plant-based fat producer AAK to launch the Next Generation Pet Food Program. The initiative is on the hunt for human food startups that can help greenify the pet food sector through sustainable solutions like novel ingredients and upcycling. The idea is to use alternative proteins and fats to reduce the carbon emissions of the pet food sector. “This initiative aims to highlight the exciting opportunity for developing sustainable pet food products,” said Andrew D Ive, founder and managing general partner of Big Idea Ventures. “It represents a significant step forward in fostering innovative, eco-friendly solutions within the pet food industry.” The organisers are looking for companies innovating with alternative proteins and fats, nutritionally rich and sustainable novel ingredients, and eco-friendly processing technologies like food waste upcycling and innovative extraction techniques. Startups will be chosen based on how unique their solution is, their ability to be scaled up, their potential to reduce emissions (with quantifiable metrics), and their willingness to openly collaborate with partners using their IP. Companies based in Asia-Pacific are preferred, as the showcase event will be held in Singapore, but other geographies will be considered if they have a highly relevant tech solution. The announcement of this initiative comes amid a flurry of activity in the alternative pet food space: 🐈 Wild Earth entered the vegan cat food category with a “nutritionally complete” Unicorn Pate 🐕 Pets Choice Ltd agreed to acquire vegan dog food maker HOWND 🐾 Meatly became the world’s first cultivated pet food company to be approved for sale 🤝 Friends & Family Pet Food Company announced it was partnering with Umami Bioworks to produce cultivated seafood treats for cats ✅ CULT Food Science began preparing for FDA feeding trials in pursuit of regulatory approval for its Noochies! cultivated dog treats. 🌱 British Veterinary Association (BVA) revised its position on the health credentials of vegan pet food, recognising that it’s possible to feed plant-based diets to dogs More information in the full article: https://lnkd.in/eKXJSwYU #GreenQueen #pets #altprotein #futurefoods #sustainability #emissions

🇳🇱✈️ Amsterdam is leading the way in sustainable travel! Schiphol Airport is making strides in sustainability by committing to 60% plant-based protein sales by 2030, and ensuring all food and coffee products are Fairtrade and deforestation-free by 2025. Progress is in the air! 🌱 Visit our website to discover more food innovation: https://lnkd.in/eqEx5DT #GreenQueen #sustainability #foodsystems #futurefood #altprotein #innovation #foodtech

🌿🍔 The shift to plant-based is gaining momentum! A new study by Meatless Farm shows that two-thirds of meat-eaters are willing to switch to a vegan burger once they find out it reduces emissions by 85%. Change is in the air—and on our plates. 🌱 Visit our website to discover more food innovation: https://lnkd.in/eqEx5DT #GreenQueen #sustainability #foodsystems #futurefood #altprotein #innovation #foodtech

📚🐖🐔 Mark your calendars for an impactful release! Leah Garces, president and CEO of Mercy For Animals, is launching her second book, Transfarmation: The Movement to Free Us from Factory Farming, on September 17. Described as a sharp critique of factory farming, the book is available for pre-order and will be part of a six-city book tour this fall. Dive into the movement for a better future. 🌱 Visit our website to discover more food innovation: https://lnkd.in/eqEx5DT #GreenQueen #sustainability #foodsystems #futurefood #altprotein #innovation #foodtech

🧪🐖 MISSION BARNS REVOLUTIONIZES CULTIVATED PORK FAT WITH SCALABLE BIOREACTORS Moving away from the conventional single-cell suspension reactors of the biopharma sector, Mission Barns is hoping to solve cultivated meat’s scalability and cost problems with a novel solution. The Californian startup is working on a cultivated pork fat called Mission Fat, which is meant to be mixed with plant-based proteins and ingredients to make hybrid meat products like bacon, pepperoni and chorizo. Founded in 2018 by Eat Just, Inc. alum Eitan Fischer, Mission Barns plans to launch these products in both foodservice and retail channels once it receives regulatory approval, for which it has filed dossiers in several countries. But to meet the market demand for cultivated meat, the company (and the industry) needs to solve two major bottlenecks: production capacity and price. To get there, the startup has eschewed conventional bioreactors to develop a novel machine that’s more efficient, easier to scale, and ends up with a cheaper final product. “We have different sizes of our proprietary bioreactors, ranging from R&D-scale units for experiments and optimisation, to our largest scale which is currently at pilot scale,” explains Bianca Lê, technical affairs and growth principal at Mission Barns. The current pilot plant facility “can produce enough product to supply a handful of restaurants and retailers”. This would help with the initial market launch, as Lê points out: “We have a number of exciting partnerships confirmed with major US grocery stores, restaurants and food distributors who we have partnered with to sell our products.” Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/e98UXYGu #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefoods #foodsystems #sustainability #climatechange

🥩🌱 LIDL NETHERLANDS BLENDS MEAT & PLANT PROTEINS AT SAME PRICE With a new product and pricing strategy, Lidl Nederland has taken a major step towards its 2030 goal of making 60% of all protein sales plant-based. The discount supermarket has launched its first blended meat product, a minced meat mix with 60% beef and 40% pea protein. It has a lower impact on both the climate and consumer wallets. In addition, it has permanently decreased the prices of its own-label vegan meat and dairy analogues, which will now be priced either the same as their conventional counterparts, or even lower than them. “Much work is being done by supermarkets to encourage the purchase of plant-based food, but this move by Lidl in the Netherlands represents a hugely significant shift in the way supermarkets approach food system change,” said Jasmijn De Boo, CEO of ProVeg International. Pricing has been a major climate strategy for Lidl across several markets. It first achieved price parity for products in its private-label Vemondo brand in its home country of Germany, before extending that to Denmark, Hungary, Austria and Belgium. A report by Madre Brava last month suggested that Lidl and Ahold Delhaize are leading the protein transition in the retail world, aligning their sales goals with climate targets. Lidl is working towards public targets across its locations, having published goals in six countries, with others to follow suit soon. “Doing so within this year could potentially turn Lidl into the first supermarket chain to publicly commit to align their protein offerings with human and planetary health goals,” the report said. Martine van Haperen, health and nutrition expert at ProVeg Netherlands, lauded Lidl’s two initiatives. “Price is the main obstacle for people to choose plant-based more often. The step to make plant-based products the same price or cheaper than meat and dairy removes that obstacle,” she said. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eYVZ-9Hy #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefoods #foodsystems #sustainability #climatechange

🇺🇲🚮 US TO BACK UN GLOBAL PLASTICS TREATY TO CUT PRODUCTION & POLLUTION The US will support an international target to curb plastic production, giving a major boost to the United Nations’ hopes of unveiling the treaty by the end of the year. Countries are scheduled to participate in the fifth and final session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in Busan in November. It will involve a fan round of negotiations on the global plastics treaty, which was first announced and signed by 175 countries in 2022. For two years, the US has been on the fence about curbing plastic production, which is no surprise given it is the world’s largest oil and gas producer and home to some of the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies. The world’s largest economy is also among the leading plastic producers. The US has sided with China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia on its position on the plastics treaty, asking for the treaty to focus on recycling and packaging design, and leaving production cuts up to individual countries. But now, in a mark of its climate policy progress under the Biden-Harris administration, it has shifted away from this stance, according to Reuters. It will now back an annual target of reducing plastic manufacturing and the possible phaseout of certain planet-harming chemicals. The move has unsurprisingly been criticised by industry groups. “With today’s shift in position to support plastic production caps and regulate chemicals via the UN Plastics Agreement, the White House has signalled it is willing to betray US manufacturing and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports,” said Chris Jahn, president of the American Chemistry Council. On the contrary, climate advocates praised the decision, with Greenpeace calling it a “watershed moment”. “It is a welcome signal that they are finally listening to the demands of the American people,” said John Hocevar, oceans campaign director at Greenpeace USA. Learn more in the full article: https://lnkd.in/e3KiDnZj #GreenQueen #plasticpollution #emissions #climatechange #climateaction #sustainability