Phoebe Fraser’s Post

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

Successfully integrating plant-based meats into the American mainstream is a challenge that requires some serious heavy lifting. Business leader Peter McGuinness suggests an approach similar to the #gotmilk campaign, to shift the category from 'insulting to inviting.' However, this raises an interesting conundrum about what defines the category. Is it only #plantbased meats or any non-conventional meat product, like #cultivatedmeat from pioneers like Aleph Farms? Achieving widespread consumer acceptance is just the start to make a significant dent in the environmental impact of animal-based products. Would love to hear from other leaders in the industry on their thoughts on how to achieve that change. Dr. Lara Ramdin 🇬🇧 Jennifer Stojkovic Irina Gerry Nicky Quinn Didier Toubia #plantbased #sustainability #environmentalimpact #innovation https://lnkd.in/gq-bvnP8

  Are #Price, #Taste, and #Convenience all that's needed to replace meat? This price, taste, and convenience (PTC) hypothesis has never been challenged or tested to sufficient levels to direct marketing and sales channels efforts with decent accuracy. Thanks to Jacob Peacock for his research paper challenging the price, taste, and convenience assumptions within our industry.   At Rebellyous Foods, we’ve spent the last five years working on technology to bring down the cost of making plant-based meat while increasing the quality and availability of these products. In the years since, I have realized, through our market interactions and Rebellyous’ direct market research towards price parity, that price is not a consumer light switch. Instead, we see price as a secret code to unlock the door for accessibility (blocked by many factors), particularly for foodservice directors who are making the choice for thousands of other people.  Price parity is undoubtedly an absolutely necessary goal, but the ways in which consumers interact with price-parity is much more complex. Collaborative research with companies interfacing with the public every day is needed to see what’s truly behind the consumer decision. #Altmeat #altprotein #plantbasedmeat #research #alternativeprotein #startup https://lnkd.in/gzsrWfFU

In June 2023, Upside Foods and Eat Just achieved U.S. regulatory approval for their cultivated chicken products, marking a historic milestone. However, the industry faces challenges such as limited access to capital and political roadblocks. Governments worldwide are investing in research and development for cultivated meat, but access to capital remains a key hurdle. Despite setbacks, dozens of other cultivated meat applications are under review, and companies are moving into production facilities, indicating continued progress. For more details, you can refer to the full article published on June 28! Source: https://lnkd.in/esDE-nBy Look out for more news regarding meat industry and stay informed! #LocalButcher #NYCFoo die #ButcherLife #Meatindustry #HomeCooking #Freshmeat #Meatlovers #foodfacts #NYCeats #meatmarket #kbbq

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. 

The production and sale of cultured meat was approved by US regulators in June 2023, initiating a shift away from traditional animal farming and towards lab-based meat cultivation. Cell-derived meats offer a novel business opportunity and a sustainable alternative. Pluri, Inc. in Israel is one such company taking the lead. They've introduced a more cost-effective method than the traditional bioreactor method, even though cultured meat is still only available in niche markets like a single restaurant in the United States and a single store in Singapore. Despite its promise, there are significant obstacles. The price difference is obvious, with cultivated chicken costing $14 per serving, compared to $4 per pound for farm sourced chicken. Furthermore, scaling production is a challenge. Many businesses use capital-intensive stir-tank bioreactors, but the packed bed reactor, is emerging as the efficiency and volume leader. Pluri, Inc. and its food unit, Ever After Foods, have made notable advances. They're using technology initially developed for pharmaceutical applications to create cultured meat. Their system, PluriMatrix, is expected to increase productivity significantly. They intend to redefine production scalability by strategically detaching their scaffolds from bioreactors and employing novel storage mechanisms. https://lnkd.in/eYbtRXY7 #hygienicfood #cleanfood #cleanmeat #cellculture Follow these companies: Wildtype - Modern Meadow - UPSIDE Foods - GOOD Meat - Omeat - Mosa Meat - Believer Meats - Multus - BioBetter™ - Aleph Farms Meat Future - Orbillion Bio (YC W21) - Blue Ridge Bantam - GOURMEY - Uncommon - Cell Based News - The Davis Alt Protein Project - BIOMILQ - Finless Foods - EVERY® - Real Deal Milk - Novel Farms, Inc. - Shiok Meats - European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) - FDA - NOVAMEAT - MIRAI FOODS - Green Food Lab - Global Food Summit - Cultivated Biosciences - BLUU Seafood - Eat Just, Inc. - BlueNalu - InFamily Foods Holding - The Cultivated B - Pluri #AI #culturedmeat #culturedfood #synthetic #behaviorchange #publichealth #hygiene #hygienic #ethics #sustainability #sustainabilitytransformation

In this second part of a series about meat companies in the plant-based industry, we take a loo at Tyson, Maple Leaf, Hormel, and Perdue Farms. #meatindustry #meatalternatives #bigfood #plantbasedbusiness

This POLITICO article on evolving regulations around raw milk is a great example of how food--sometimes a polarizing issue--can be a stealthy unifier. 🤝 🌾 All of us helping to build great food and agriculture companies must remember this. Blue states and red states both understand food sovereignty, choice and independence. As well as the freedom for farmers and consumers to do commerce together based on trust and preference for how we raise food and how we eat. 🥛 🥦 🥓 As the author points out, “In the 2000s, there was never any question what slice of the political spectrum this organic food revolution belonged to: liberals, of course.” But today, conservatives own this agenda as much as liberals. And that is such a good thing. If we are going to scale good food, don’t we need everyone? Plus, food and farming are the sorts of essential issues that hopefully float above politics and unify eaters and producers everywhere. A few key takeaways that can guide our work: ⚫ While author says it’s an example of how “scrambled” and seemingly unpredictable our politics are, I see this as food being the perennial crossover issue that cuts through stubborn biases and brings us all together. 🚜 🇺🇸 One of our strongest stories to tell is that food doesn’t choose political sides. ⚫ Which also means that food brands expanding their market would do well to be open to customers coming from different walks of life. ☕ Black Rifle Coffee Company capitalizes on its rural roots, but it’s marketing and well-sourced beans also appeal to urbanites. 🍳 🐔 Just as a brand like Handsome Brook Farms, with its day-glo packaging, would play in cities, its values around humane, free-range production appeal to small-town shoppers well beyond Brooklyn and Bozeman. ⚫ Food rules are often times just irrational and not helpful in moving us towards eating better and farming better. 👨🍳 👩🌾 The piece brilliantly points out that consuming raw eggs are not illegal anywhere in the US even though raw milk is. And some rules around food expiration are simply wasteful. Building a healthy food system will mean a more rational approach to food supply chain decisions. cc: Marc Novicoff Evan Hafer Jordan Czeizler Julie Resnick Danielle Nierenberg Julie Kunen Elly Truesdell Hallie Bonnar Anna Lappé

In April, Mosa Meat announced that the Dutch #cultivatedmeat company raised €40 million (USD $42.4 million) in Series C funding. This is the largest funding round by a cultivated meat company since the fourth quarter of 2022. The new financing brings Mosa Meat’s total funding to approximately $136 million. Mosa Meat previously raised $85 million in Series B funding across 2020 and 2021 and $8 million in Series A funding in July 2018. Moving forward, the cultured meat pioneer plans to use the funding round to continue scaling up production, reducing production costs, and launching its first product to market. In May 2023, Mosa Meat moved into its new 30,000-square-foot scale-up facility, the fourth facility to complete its 79,000-square-foot Mosa CAMPUS (Center for Advanced Meat Production, Upscaling, and Sustainability). Mosa Meat claims that the scale-up facility will have the capacity to make tens of thousands of cell-based meat burgers annually from 1,000-liter bioreactors. Mosa Meat stated that the new scale-up facility was also designed to grow production to hundreds of thousands of burgers. Without sharing a timeline for the market launch, Mosa Meat previously shared its plans to launch in Singapore. In October 2022, Mosa Meat announced a partnership with cultivated meat contract manufacturer Esco Aster to leverage its facility to launch in the country. In addition, following Dutch government approval to host cultured meat tasting events in the country, Mosa Meat is also planning to organize its first tasting event for its cell-cultured beef hamburgers in the Netherlands. #cellag #cellbasedmeat #culturedmeat #futureoffood #scaling

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