Adeseye Lasekan, PhD’s Post

UPSIDE Foods responds to the recent Bloomberg article (https://lnkd.in/gtszKEFy)... "The most glaring omission from the article is the tremendous progress we have made towards commercial scale, including the critical role of large-scale “suspension” products in our strategy. "The article concludes that the industry, and UPSIDE specifically, does not have a path to scale its product and has “little to show for itself.” This is inaccurate and is a dated snapshot of our progress from several years ago. Bloomberg ignored our repeated requests stating that our tissue product is not slated for scaling near-term and that we are instead focused on first commercializing our suspension product, which produces delicious blended cultivated meat products. "This suspension product was the basis for our Series C fundraise, has been proven out through dozens of successful runs in our 2kL cultivators at EPIC, and is the design basis for our commercial scale processes. "We told Bloomberg we produced enough cells in a single cultivator in the last month to produce the equivalent of over 2,000 pounds of delicious finished chicken products. They did not print that and instead focused on the small quantities of the chicken we currently have on the market (our “tissue” product)." #foodtech #cultivatedmeat #cellularagriculture

Even though I'm working here in a bomb shelter, I’m still reminded of my privilege. Outside, agriculturalist friends and family risk their lives daily to harvest produce and care for their farm animals with missiles whistling above. Much of the ag land in Israel is located along the borders of conflict areas; a lot of the non-arable land has also been dedicated to cow grazing due to the landmines in these areas (causing an occasional exploding cow). I'd rather be eating from an indoor vertical farm or bioreactor vs. sharing this space with a cow and chickens. In the Netherlands, gov restrictions have currently halted all housing and agricultural expansion due to severe nitrogen pollution. 2 years ago, I had friends begging me to ship baby formula to them in the US, as the leading formula factories were shut down due to contamination. Even in the 1st world, we need more resilient, decentralized solutions to buffer against increasing geopolitical, climatic, and contamination food challenges: CM production can be one of the ways to get there. Let's not kill this new industry with bad PR before it's given the same subsidies, R&D, supply chain ecosystem, marketing, and corporate support as the current food paradigms have been given. 

Eat Just, Inc. has secured the "world's first" retail listing for GOOD Meat made of 3 percent cultivated and 97 percent plant-based ingredients. The business said it has always used a small percentage of cultivated chicken in its cell-based products in combination with plant proteins. It added such a mix “helps reduce costs associated with the production of cultivated meat, one of the main challenges that exist to scaling this developing industry”. Good Meat 3 will be priced at S$7.20 ($5.34) for a 120-gram package and will be available for the remainder of 2024, going on sale officially tomorrow (16 May). https://hubs.li/Q02yn97v0

Good news. The plant based market is evolving rapidly. Big players are putting their marketing and sales power to work. This will effect the whole global marketplace. Smaller business that are not well funded will go out of business. Bigger volumes through more and bigger manufacturing plants will make plant based foods much cheaper than animal based foods for consumers. Change is coming in a big way. #degrowth #plantbasedfoods #organicfoods #regenerativefarming #fruitsandvegetables Plant Based Foodie Forever

Last week’s top food innovation news 📰🛒 Foxtrot files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, closing all 33 locations without warning. Moolec Science gains USDA approval for bioengineered pork proteins grown in soybeans. Solar Foods opens the world's first commercial-scale facility for air protein production. Meatable hosts EU's first public tasting for cultivated meat after safety panel approval. UN accused of distorting data to underestimate meat industry emissions in COP28 study. Nutrient decline in vegetables prompts discussion on reversing it through biofortification. Plant-based food sales dip to $8.1 billion due to consumer demand for lower prices and higher quality. #foodtech #foodstartups #foodbiz  #agrifoodtech  #foxtrot #cultivatedmeat #moolec #airprotein

“It didn’t sizzle right, it didn’t smell right, it didn’t have that incredibly fatty taste and mouth feel,” Jamilly told Fortune. At that point, he realized what plant-based foods have been missing, and what he would spend his future years developing: Fat. 🥓 Thanks to Irina Ivanova for the great coverage in Fortune, explaining why plant-based meat startups are adding real animal fat to the mix. 🗞 Meat alternatives need to deliver on their taste, cost and health promises. Hybrid options with cultivated fat will unlock the enormous potential of this market, so that everyone - even avid meat-eaters - can enjoy a deliciously fatty future. 🌍 At Hoxton Farms we're excited to be at the forefront of this space. 🚀 🔗 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/euUQH_Jc #meatalternatives #food #foodtech #cultivatedmeat #cellularagriculture

🌱🧫🥩 Hybrid meat might be coming to your plate sooner than you think. SCiFi Foods, which makes beef from a mix of cultivated and plant proteins, has completed its first commercial-scale production of its cell-cultured beef in a 500-litre bioreactor. The company achieved this feat in its recently opened 16,000 sq ft pilot facility in San Leandro, California. It’s the same scale that SciFi Foods will be commercialising out once it receives the regulatory green light from the FDA and USDA. SciFi Foods uses a 90/10 blend of vegan and cell-cultured ingredients. The 90% plant-based composition is derived mainly from soy, and helps the company solve a major bottleneck of cultivated meat: scalability. Scaling up is, as the startup puts it, “a major risk factor” for commercialising these proteins. To overcome that, the company has developed beef cell lines that grow in a 100% serum-free process, using a defined media that doesn’t include any animal-derived ingredients. SciFi Foods hopes to get the go-ahead from the USDA and FDA by early next year, and is already in the consultation process with the latter. Then, it plans to launch into foodservice straight after. “We’re also exploring a number of B2B conversations,” co-founder and CEO Joshua March says. “We think that partnering with major food companies is a great way to scale up faster and to get into retail.” #GreenQueen #altprotein #futurefood #innovation #foodtech #sustainability #foodsystems

PETA is urging major U.S. meat companies to "stop peddling animals’ body parts." But will they? 👀 Just a few weeks ago, one of Italy's oldest meat producers, Gruppo Tonazzo, made the unexpected decision to discontinue its meat business at the end of this year. Instead, they will focus solely on plant proteins and the expansion of their plant-based brand, Kioene. How cool is that? This might be the first time we've even seen a meat-to-plants transition of this magnitude. This has undoubtedly prompted PETA's decision to send letters to the CEOs of five major US meat companies—Hormel Foods, Cargill, Smithfield Foods, Tyson Foods, and OSCAR MAYER FOODS, urging them to follow suit, or risk becoming irrelevant (similar to how tobacco farmers who resisted crop diversification ultimately struggled to stay relevant) Tyson, in particular, has already faced challenges, with many of its executives leaving to join alternative protein companies in the last few years. The company also recently closed 4 large facilities, reducing its chicken slaughter capacity by 10% after a drop in chicken sales. All five companies already offer plant-based product lines or have partnerships in alternative protein, so PETA argues the transition should be straightforward, since they don't need to start from scratch. I’m curious to hear your thoughts: Do you think more companies will decide to shift their focus from their meat businesses to plant-based/alt protein? Will the industry continue to adapt, or will we likely see further resistance? Read more in my article below: #foodindustry #futureoffood #plantbased #veganbusiness #altprotein

The majority of customers are willing to spend more cash for their meat purchases... But it’s not just about premium cuts or organic labels. Shoppers are craving knowledge about their meat. Where does it come from? How was it raised? What does this label mean? This insight isn’t just valuable for grocers. It’s a goldmine for marketers, suppliers, and anyone in the food industry. Transparency isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a sales strategy. Imagine transforming your product labels into storytelling tools. Envision your website as a hub for educating the curious consumer. This is where the future of food retail is heading. #protein #meatindustry #groceryretail #CPGbrands

The majority of customers are willing to spend more cash for their meat purchases... But it’s not just about premium cuts or organic labels. Shoppers are craving knowledge about their meat. Where does it come from? How was it raised? What does this label mean? This insight isn’t just valuable for grocers. It’s a goldmine for marketers, suppliers, and anyone in the food industry. Transparency isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a sales strategy. Imagine transforming your product labels into storytelling tools. Envision your website as a hub for educating the curious consumer. This is where the future of food retail is heading. #protein #meatindustry #groceryretail #CPGbrands