In this week’s alternative protein round-up, we have news on MeaTech’s cell-based chicken fat, Impossible Pork, the ProVeg Incubator, Tofurky’s partnership with Triton Algae, and Unicorn Biotechnologies.
MeaTech is now producing animal-free chicken fat
In the race to produce real animal fat outside of the animal, Israel-based MeaTech has hit a milestone: The start-up shared that it is now capable of producing over 700 grams of cell-based chicken fat in a single production run. MeaTech acquired Belgium start-up Peace of Meat last year, and is using its platform to produce the cell-based fat. The fat product can be used to create realistic marbling in cell-based meat or even used to create a plant-based hybrid product.
Impossible Foods is bringing its alt. pork product to foodservice
Impossible Pork will soon be found in foodservice locations in the U.S., Singapore, and Hong Kong. As of this week, David Chang’s New York restaurant Momofuku Ssam Bar began serving the alternative pork product in one of its dishes. Impossible Pork is set to launch in 100 plus restaurants in Hong Kong starting October 4th, and in Singapore sometime before the end of this year.
Proveg Incubator announces eight new start-ups in cohort
Berlin-based ProVeg Incubator just kicked off its latest accelerator program on September 20. Through the incubator, the start-ups have access to one-on-one mentoring, ProVeg’s network, and up to €250,000 in funding. This food-tech focused cohort contains eight start-ups from around the world, including:
- Altein Ingredients (India) – mung bean protein
- Alt Foods (India) – Plant-based milk made from grains and sprouted millet
- Brain Foods (Bulgaria) – Plant-based snacks
- Cultivated Biosciences (Netherlands) – uses fermentation to make a fat ingredient from yeast
- Genesea (Israel) – B2B food-ingredient company that uses macroalgae
- Meat Future (Estonia) – mycoprotein chicken and fish
- Plant-based Japan (Japan)
- ProProtein (Estonia) – uses precision fermentation to create dairy proteins
Tofurky partners with Triton Algae for future alt protein products
Plant-based meat brand Tofurky announced that it has partnered with algae producer Triton Algae Innovations to develop a new line of plant-based alternatives. The products will be crafted using Triton’s “essential red” algae, which contains protein, iron, vitamin A, and more. The algae, which is normally green, is grown with UV light which causes it to turn red and produce heme. It was not disclosed what exactly the new product will be, but it is set to launch in the first quarter of 2022.
Unicorn Biotechnologies Is Making Purpose-Built Bioreactors for Cell-Based Meat Production
According to Jack Reid, the CEO a new Cambridge-based startup called Unicorn Biotechnologies, companies trying to make meat without the animal today are mostly using large metal vats built for making something other than meat. “Existing bioreactor systems haven’t been and weren’t developed specifically for the cell ag industry,” said Reid. Read The Spoon’s story about how Unicorn is working to build purpose-built bioreactors for cell-based meat here.
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