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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Ashlen Wilder

Food Tech News: Consumer Acceptance Study on Precision Fermentation Dairy, Seaweed Cattle Feed, and Airdropped Beer

Welcome to the weekly Food Tech News round-up, where we gather recent stories you might have missed. This week a few pieces caught our eye, including a recently published consumer acceptance study on precision fermentation, a new facility for seaweed-based cattle feed, a university in Singapore offering an alternative protein course, and Busch Light dropping beer from a helicopter.

Consumer acceptance study on precision-fermentation-derived dairy products

Formo (formally LegenDairy), a Berlin-based alternative dairy start-up, announced this week that it co-published what it is calling the first-ever consumer acceptance study on precision fermentation-derived dairy products. The study was published in the peer-review journal “Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.” A little over 5,000 people from the U.S., the U.K., Brazil, Germany, and India were surveyed on their attitudes towards animal-free dairy products, specifically cheese, that are molecularly identical to real dairy. The study found that strong enthusiasm from all five countries, with 71 percent of the participants saying they were willing to buy animal-free dairy cheeses and 79 percent willing to try these alternative cheese products.

Photo by Celia Sun on Unsplash

A new $90 million facility for methane-reducing seaweed cattle feed

Pirie Meats and CH4 Global are partnering to build a $90 million dollar facility in Southern Australia at the end of this year to produce cattle feed made from seaweed. Cattle are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and their feed might be to blame for this. Research by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) found that by feeding cattle a mixture of regular cattle feed and a red seaweed called Asparagopsis, greenhouse gas emissions from cattle could be reduced by 90 percent. CH4 Global will initially supply Pirie Meats with enough red seaweed to feed up to 10,000 head of cattle.

Photo by Hu Chen on Unsplash

A university in Singapore will now offer a course on alternative protein

Singapore has recently been gaining recognition as a hub for alternative protein, with it being the first country to offer regulatory approval of the sale of cultured meat and major players in the space opening up new facilities in this Asian city-state. Nanyang Technological University (based in Singapore) will be offering a new course that explores alternative proteins. The course, the first of its kind throughout Asia, will be available starting this upcoming school year for undergraduate students. Called “Future Foods – Introduction to Advanced Meat Alternatives,” the course was developed in partnership with the Good Food Institute and will be coordinated by Professor William Chen. Science and engineering students in their third or fourth year have access to the course that will touch on the three pillars of alternative protein: plant-based, cultured, and fermentation.

Airdropped apple-flavored beer

Busch Light is bringing back its apple-flavored beer, the Busch Light Apple, for the summer season. To celebrate the relaunch, the first batch of the flavored beer will be delivered to fans via helicopter. A small number of fans will be able to receive the airdrop at select locations in the Northwest and Midwest. To enter the free beer giveaway, fans must comment on Busch’s social media posts with the hashtags #BuschLightAppleDrop and #Sweepstakes before June 30th. Those who do not receive Busch Light Apple from the sky can buy the beer for a limited time from select retailers throughout the country.

Kern Tec Upcycles Stone Fruit Pits Into Oils and Alternative Dairy Products

One of the best parts about summer (in my opinion) is that it is stone fruit season, and I always look forward to consuming an abundance of nectarines, apricots, cherries, plums, and peaches. After the vibrant, juicy fruit flesh is devoured, the rock-hard pit is leftover. Pits are not obviously edible and seem like something you would just toss in the garbage or compost. However, a start-up called Kern Tec, based in Austria, is developing methods to transform the discarded pits from fruit to create a variety of consumer packaged good products.

This week I spoke on the phone with Sebastion Jeschko, one of the co-founders of Kern Tec, who said that the inspiration to start the company came when he and his co-founders spoke with local farmers about what part of the stone fruit industry most often went to waste. After processing fruit, there was no obvious use for the pits, which molded quickly and were considered waste. The challenging part of using pits is extracting the seed from the hard outer hull. While the company can’t yet disclose many details on the process, Kern Tec has figured out how to separate these seeds from the outer hull. Once extracted, they can be used as regular nuts, as stone fruit seeds contain a high amount of protein, healthy unsaturated fats, and vitamin E.

At the moment, the company has two products available on the market in Europe. One is a chocolate nougat spread made from a base of upcycled apricot seeds. The other is various oils made from the seeds of plum, apricot, and cherries, which according to Jeschko, has a sweet, fruity taste. Kern Tec is currently in the process of developing non-dairy milk and yogurt alternatives from pits, and will also eventually create a protein powder.

With more and more mouths to feed on a daily basis, it doesn’t make sense to toss things like agricultural side streams that have the potential to be transformed into food. To that end, plenty of other companies are now developing uses for these side streams. The Supplant Company upcycles post-harvest byproducts from wheat, rice, and corn crops to create a new type of sugar. Coffee cherries, the vibrant red fruit that surrounds a coffee bean, is normally tossed, but The Coffee Cherry Co. upcycles this product to create a powder for baked goods and teas. In addition to upcycling agricultural side streams, there are a plethora of companies using food that would otherwise go to waste to create new products.

Kern Tec is currently in the three-month-long incubator through ProVeg International, and which is set to finish in the next few weeks. The startup is currently talking with investors, and after the program, will be closing its first funding round.

Equinom Raises $20M Series C Round for Seed Breeding Tech

Israel-based Equinom announced today it has raised a $20 million Series C funding round led by Phoenix. The round also included participation from Fortissimo, Trendlines, Maverick, and BASF, and brings Equinom’s total funding to $27.6 million.

Equinom uses AI to improve upon the existing nutrition of seeds, including a seed’s protein content. Through its natural non-GMO breeding process, seeds with desired traits are selected and then bred. Equinom’s “Product Profiler” app allows food companies to select what traits they want in a particular seed for the product they are developing. According to its website, the company is working with soy, yellow, pea, sesame, and will offer boosted versions of chickpeas, mung beans, quinoa, cowpeas, and fava beans in the future. Across the world, Equinom is growing over 100,000 acres of these crops.

With this most recent round of capital, Equinom will expand its operations in marketing, research, development, and sales. At the beginning of May, the company partnered with Dipasa, a leading producer of sesame seeds, to launch a new variety of high protein sesame seeds. In addition to Dispasa, Equinom has had contracts with major food companies like Sabra and Roquette to improve upon the nutrition content of seed for use in plant-based foods.

Seeds, nuts, and grains are more sustainable and efficient to produce than meat, yet a common complaint regarding plant-based ingredients is that they often do not have the same high protein content as meat. It’s therefore a pressing issue to find nutrient-dense crops that can support a population that will reach 9.7 billion by 2050. Plant-based ingredients like chickpea, soy, peas, and lentils are nutrient-dense and contain a high protein content, but still fall short of the protein content found in a serving of, say, beef. By increasing protein content in these seeds, Equinom’s technology could prove valuable in helping feed more mouths with more nutritious and environmentally friendly food.

In the last quarter of 2021, Equinom is set to launch the highest pea protein concentrate available on the market, called “Smarter Pea Protein.”

The Supplant Company’s Fiber-Based Sugar Launches in the U.S.

When it comes to growing major crops like corn, rice, wheat, and sugar cane, there is often an abundance of raw material left over post-harvest. Referred to as agricultural side streams, this material includes things like husks, leaves, cobs, and stems. Traditionally, industrial agricultural side streams have not had much use, but upcycling food waste and a focus on a circular economy have garnered a lot of attention in the past few years. Now, more and more companies in the food tech space are upcycling food waste and agricultural byproducts to create something new. One such company is The Supplant Company.

The Supplant Company was founded in 2017 by Dr. Tom Simmons, who holds a Ph.D. in Plant Science. The company upcycles agricultural side streams and uses the fiber from these materials to create its sugar. Stems, stalks, and cobs — parts of the plant that would otherwise go to waste — are the primary ingredients for the sugar.

On a phone call at the end of last week, Simmons said that enzymes produced by fungi are used to break down the long complex chains of sugar found in fibrous materials. From there, the shortened chains can be more easily converted to sugar.

Regular white cane sugar does not contain fiber and has a high glycemic index, which causes blood sugar spikes. Since Supplant’s sugar is made from a base of fiber, it has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar, has fewer calories, and is also prebiotic, according to the company. Sugar obviously provides sweetness, but it can also contribute to the texture of certain foods, like baked goods for example. The Supplant Company said that its sugar behaves the same way as cane sugar in baking, cooking, and caramelizing.

Since there is so much excess raw material leftover from industrial agriculture operations, other companies besides Supplant are also finding uses for side streams. Comet Bio is also upcycling farm waste like stalks and husks to create sweeteners and supplements. Kokoboard uses agricultural waste in Asia, including coconut husks, peanut shells, and rice straw, to create construction building boards. Nestlé launched a product called Nescafé Nativ Cascara this year, a carbonated soft drink that uses the coffee berry fruit surrounding the coffee bean which is typically discarded.

This past Friday, June 18, Supplant debuted its fiber-based sugar in the U.S. in partnership with Chef Thomas Keller. The sugar was used to make vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles, and was offered at Keller’s California and New York restaurants over the weekend. Supplant is currently working with consumer brands, restaurants, and chefs to expand its product throughout the U.S. market.

Food Tech News: Vanillin Made From Plastic Waste, Plant-Based Pâté, and Strella Biotechnology’s Win

The sun is sweltering, the flowers are in full bloom, and food tech news is coming in hot. In this week’s roundup, we have news on the launch of a plant-based pâté, the winner of GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition, scientists transforming used plastic into a food flavoring, and a fully compostable coffee pod.

Plant-based pâté launches in U.S.

Plantcraft shared in an email this week that its plant-based pâté has entered the U.S. market after launching in Erewhon’s (an organic grocer in the Los Angeles area) six locations. The plant-based pâté is made from a combination of ingredients including green banana flour, golden flax seeds, sunflower protein, and grapeseed oil. In the plant-based space, many companies produce meat analogs like burger patties, sausages, crumbles, and strips, but alternatives to charcuterie meats like pâté are uncommon. In addition to pâté, Plantcraft will also launch plant-based pepperoni slices, which will debut in August at the National Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you do not live near an Erewhon, Plantcraft will be making its pâté available for foodservice locations and on its website in the upcoming months.

Strella Biotechnology wins first prize in lab pitch competition

Strella Biotechnology is an ag-tech startup that uses sensors to measure produce maturity, and it was recently announced the winner of the third-annual GS1 US Startup Lab Pitch Competition. The startup won the first prize of $10,000 and will be writing a white paper with GS1 about supply chain practices and how technology can be used to improve them. The company has recently been focused on is expanding its apples and pear packing business, where it monitors the storage of these perishables for packers. Additionally, Strella has gotten involved in monitoring shipping containers traveling overseas filled with perishable produce. Katherine Sizov, the founder of Strella, said the company is currently hiring and looking to partner with more retail chains.

Scientists convert post consumer plastic to vanillin

A team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh has discovered a novel method of converting post-consumer PET plastic to vanillin, an organic compound often used as a flavoring agent in the food industry. For the conversion, the team engineered the bacteria E. coli to transform a molecule derived from PET, called terephthalic acid. This transformation resulted in the molecule that gives real vanilla its taste and smell. Vanillin, produced from various sources such as wood pulp, raw petrochemical materials, or biomass, is cheaper and easier to come by than real vanilla, which is a product of orchids. The researchers believe that the vanillin they produced could be consumed by humans, but more research needs to be conducted to confirm.

NEXE launches fully compostable coffee pods

NEXE Innovations, a material company that develops plant-based products, shared this week about the launch of its new coffee products packaged in compostable pods under the brand XOMA Superfoods. The coffee pods can be used in a Keurig, and varieties include mushroom-infused, MCT-infused, and high-fat Keto coffee. The pod packaging is made from plant fiber, compostable polymers, and a bamboo casing, and is fully compostable in as little as 35 days. NEXE encourages consumers to dispose of the pods in the green commercial composting bins, but also says that pods can be added to your backyard composting set up. The pods are currently available for purchase, and the Xoma variety pack consists of 12 pods that costs $11.99.

Aqua Cultured Foods Is Creating Whole Muscle Cuts of Seafood Using Fungi

Seafood is the most traded commodity in the world, and it is estimated that 85 percent of wild fish stocks are overfished or fully exploited. As a way to address the plethora of environmental issues found within the commercial seafood industry, startup Aqua Cultured Foods is developing alternative forms of seafood using fermentation.

The company, based in Chicago, Illinois, is in the process of developing whole muscle cuts of alternative seafood using fungi. I spoke on the phone this week with Anne Palermo, the CEO and founder of Aqua Cultured Foods, who was looking for a solution that could help feed the rapidly growing global population. She said, “The more I looked into fermentation, the more I thought that was the way to do it. You can create whole, bioavailable proteins that are very efficient to produce anywhere in the world.”

Using its fermentation process, Aqua Cultured Foods can produce a wide variety of seafood analogs — shrimp, white fish, ahi tuna, scallops, and calamari, to name a few. According to Palermo, the products will have the slippery and delicate texture found in many types of seafood, and will also contain the vitamin B12, which can sometimes be challenging to acquire naturally in a vegan or plant-based diet.

When asked about the process and tech behind developing the whole-muscle cuts of seafood, Palermo said she could not share much at the moment. The startup currently has three pending patents for its alternative seafood and the process behind it, including one for its proprietary fungi.

The Good Food Institute considers the plant-based seafood industry a white space, and this sector currently only accounts for 1 percent of total plant-based meat sales. There are so many different types and species of seafood, so at the moment there are seemingly endless possibilities for innovation in this space.

For alternative seafood, there are three different categories: plant-based, cultured, and fermentation. Aqua Cultured Foods seems to be really the only company in the fermentation category, but Prime Roots and Quorn each have one alternative seafood product (lobster ravioli and fish sticks). Blue Nalu, Wild Type, Shiok Meats, Avant Meats are a few companies that fall into the cultured meat category. The plant-based category includes Sophie’s Kitchen, New Waves Foods, Good Catch, and Hooked.

Popcorn shrimp will be the first product launched by Aqua Cultured Foods, but the release date of the product has yet to be announced. The whole-muscle cuts of seafood will be available at some point after the popcorn shrimp on retailer shelves.

RIND Raises $6.1M for Upcycled Fruit Snacks

RIND Snacks, a startup that produces upcycled dried fruit snacks, this week announced that it has raised $6.1 million in a Series A round of funding (news from Forbes). This round was led by Valor Siren Ventures, with participation from an existing investor, Melitas Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to $8.4 million. This most recent round of funding will be used to increase production capacity and expand RIND’s team.

RIND’s chewy dried fruit snacks are made from fruit that would have otherwise be wasted and wind up in the landfill. The peels of the fruits are left on, which are also typically discarded. The company estimates that it has prevented about 120,000 pounds of edible fruit peels from being discarded in 2020. Later this year, RIND will also be launching crunchy dried fruit chips and the company has also hinted at making roasted vegetable snacks (including the peel) in the future.

Towards the end of 2020, Whole Foods made predictions for food trends of 2021, and one of the trends happened to be upcycled foods. A few other companies make use of discarded fruit to create new products, including the Ugly Company and 2050 Company. In April, the “Upcycled Certified” label was officially launched by the Upcycled Food Association to help consumers pick out products from companies like these that are focused on reducing food waste.

RIND’s snacks are available for purchase on the company’s website, and in over 3,000 retail locations throughout the U.S., including Whole Foods, Wegmans, Meijers, and CVS. The company has also partnered with food delivery services like HungryRoot and Imperfect Foods.

Horizon Europe Allocates €32M for Sustainable Protein Research

Horizon Europe, a European Union funding program for research and innovation, announced today that it has €32 million in funding available for research into more sustainable protein options such as cultivated meat and plant-based alternatives. The program works to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and this is the largest funding package set aside specifically for sustainable proteins to date.

There are three project categories supported by Horizon Europe’s funding for researchers to take on:

  1. Fill in the gaps of nutrition, safety, and allergenicity of alternative proteins, and then assessing the environmental footprints of these products. Budget – €11 million.
  2. Develop sustainable protein crop systems and value chains with the facilitation of best practices between farmers
    Budget – €9 million
  3. Focus on food environments and aim to ensure that consumers are able to make healthy and sustainable food choices when at restaurants and supermarkets. Budget – €12 million

Food security is a global issue because of a continuously expanding population and climate change. By 2050, it is estimated that 9.7 billion people will inhabit the planet, yet the resources and land available for food production on Earth are finite. To feed this many people, we would have to double the current amount of food production. According to the Good Food Institute, plant-based meat alternatives use 47-99 percent less land than conventional meat. The same report by GFI stated that 77 percent of all available agricultural land is used for animal agriculture, yet animal agriculture only supplies 17 percent of the world’s food supply. This type of inefficiency would make it challenging to achieve the food requirements needed by 2050.

The Good Food Institute Europe, along with 21 other organizations, sent a letter to the European Commission imploring them to consider allocating funding for the research and development of more sustainable proteins. This isn’t the first time governments have stepped up to provide funding for this type of research. The Spanish government granted BioTech Foods €5.2 million ($6.3 million USD) at the beginning of 2021 for the company’s cultured meat project, which consisted of investigating the health benefits of cultured meat. NovaMeat also received €250,000 (~ $307,500 USD) in funding from the Spanish government, at the beginning of the year to further develop its 3D printed meat alternatives. In the U.S., UC Davis received a $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to research cultivated meat last September.

The Horizon Europe program will run until 2027, and those interested in applying for grant money through Horizon Europe for these three projects can apply here.

Green Rebel Foods Introduces Asia’s First Whole Cut Plant-Based Steak

Green Rebel Foods, an Indonesian-based alternative meat start-up, unveiled today that it has developed a plant-based whole cut steak, as well as an alternative chicken steak (h/t Green Queen). According to the company, this is the first whole-cut alternative steak option in Asia.

The Beefless Steak is made from a combination of soy protein, shiitake mushrooms, coconut oil, seaweed flour, and contains 12 grams of protein in a serving. The Chick’n’steak is not listed on the company’s website yet, so less information is available for this product; however, it is known that soy protein is the primary ingredient used. These two new innovations join Green Rebel’s wide portfolio of plant-based alternatives, including products like chickpea sausages, shroom balls, Chick’n katsu, and beefless black pepper chunks.

Plant-based steak is not just for vegetarians or vegans; there are several reasons why someone might want to avoid steak. Beef is generally considered the worst offender of all meats when it comes to releasing carbon emissions, and for every kilogram of beef produced, 60 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions are released. Additionally, steak is a red meat that if eaten often, can increase the risk for heart problems and certain cancers.

People still love steak, whether it be for the succulent, juicy texture or for the fact that it is in many ways a status symbol. For those who don’t consume meat, there is not really a whole cut, plant-based steak option on the market readily available for consumers to purchase. Meati trialed its mycelium-based steak last year at a few restaurants but has yet to make its products commercially available. MeaTech 3D announced this past May that it has plans to develop a whole cut cell-based steak, but did not offer a concrete timeline on this. In February 2021, Aleph Farms shared that it had created a cultivated 3D-bioprinted ribeye steak, though the company did not say whether or not it had plans to commercialize this product anytime soon.

Green Rebel’s Beefless steak is now available for purchase on its website (only for those living in Indonesia), and one package costs Rp 75.000 (~$5.26 USD), while the Chick’n’steak will be added to the site in July. ABUBA Steak, a chain with 29 locations in Indonesia, and Pepper Lunch, a fast-food steak house, will incorporate the alternative steak products into several menu items this month.

Food Tech News: Goose Poop Beer, Plant-Based Culinary Degrees, and Free Just Egg

In this Food Tech News Round-up we cover beer made from food waste in Finland, the launch of new culinary degree programs in Boulder, Colorado, Natural Light’s vacation giveaway to Alaska, and the opportunity to score some free Just Egg products for you and your friends.

If you haven’t heard already, The Spoon has partnered with ReFED to host the Food Waste Insights + Innovation Forum next week on June 16. Tickets are free, and available here.

Ant Brewery’s new beers are made with food waste, goose poop, and wild herbs

Ant Brew is located in Lahti, Finland – a city that was named the European Green Capital of 2021 by the E.U. commission and aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. The brewery is launching a new series of beers to celebrate called the “Wasted Potential”. The beers will contain local food waste ingredients such as berries, bread, and other fruits, wild herbs, as well as goose droppings. Gathered from a park in the city, the goose droppings will be used (in a food-safe way) to smoke malt to create a dark stout beer. The first beer that will be released is a wit-style beer that incorporates the leftover orange peels from a local pressed juice store, while goose droppings stout is set to be released towards the end of summer.

Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts launches plant-based degree program

Plant-based cooking is not typically a priority in culinary schools; however, Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts just announced the launch of their new plant-based degree programs. The school, based in Boulder, Colorado, and will offer three programs including an online plant-based culinary diploma, an online associate of occupational studies degree in plant-based culinary arts, and an on-campus plant-based cuisine diploma. The programs will teach students traditional culinary skills along with seasonal meal planning, meal composition, cultural plant-based cuisine, ingredient substitutions, and allergy awareness.

Natural Light will send your parents to Alaska for vacation

Some college grads and young adults have had to move back in with their parents due to the pandemic, so Natural Lights is hosting a giveaway to send parents on a well-deserved vacation. The summer vacation will be worth $20K and be hosted in Alaska. The winner will also receive a cash prize worth the amount of two cases of Natural Light and a little extra for snacks. To enter, you simply need to post on social media and share why your parents need a vacation and use the hashtags #sendmyparentsaway and #sweepstakes. The giveaway is open until June 16.

Free Just Egg for your skeptical friends

Eat Just, producers of the plant-based egg products and now cultured meat, will give three of your friends free Just Egg products. To do so, go to this website, and sign up to get an ambassador code. Your friends will use your ambassador code to purchase products from the Just Eat website, and then upload their receipt to be reimbursed. After this process is complete, the company will also send you a free product. The company is using this opportunity to introduce people to their products that may typically be skeptical towards plant-based products. The Just Egg is made from the base of mung beans, and currently comes in three forms: a liquid egg, folded patties, and sous vide bites.

The Very Good Butchers Will Ship Plant-Based Meats Directly to Your House

The Very Good Butchers, based in Vancouver, B.C, is a large player in the Canadian plant-based space that produces a wide variety of alternative protein products. The company recently reached out to me just in time for BBQ season to see if I wanted to try one of its vegan butcher boxes, and I was intrigued by the offer and decided to try it out.

Wheat gluten is the primary ingredient in most of The Very Good Butchers’ meat alternative products, as well as other plant-based ingredients like adzuki beans, kidney beans, mushrooms, jackfruit, and a variety of vegetables. This year, The Very Good Butchers acquired The Cultured Nut, which produces artisanal vegan cheeses, cream cheese spreads, and butter. The Very Good Butchers currently offer Cultured Nut’s products in a few of their boxes, and will eventually change Cultured Nut’s name to The Very Good Cheese Company.

The “butcher box” I received contained plant-based bangers (sausages), burger patties, jackfruit taco meat, and pepperoni. I’ll start out by saying that I am normally not a fan of seitan or wheat-based meat alternatives due to the texture and how dense these products feel. What I enjoyed most was the umami and smokey flavors of each of the alternative meats, and the fact that they were high in protein. What I did not like was how some of the products, like the bangers specifically, had a rubbery texture, which I attribute to the wheat gluten.

My favorite product was the alternative pepperoni, which had a strong fennel flavor and a slightly spicy kick; I sliced this on top of pizza. The plant-based burger patties had a great smokey flavor and came precooked with grill marks. Since the burger was quite dense, I opted to eat it over greens rather than in a bun. I ate the bangers alone, but I think I would have enjoyed them more eaten hot dog style in a bun with ketchup and mustard. The jackfruit taco stuffers were well-seasoned and provided a quick and easy meal inside a corn tortilla (this product would also be good as a burrito filling).

Not having to leave my house to gather up these plant-based meats was convenient, and I enjoyed the novelty of opening a box laden with vegan goods. Direct-to-consumer home delivery accelerated after the start of the pandemic, and companies like Chipotle and PepsiCo. began offering this type of service. As the world slowly opens back up and the “post-pandemic” world is seemingly in site, D2C services are still expected to grow by nearly 20 percent this year.

In addition to The Very Good Butchers, a few other plant-based meat companies offer direct-top-consumer home delivery. Last year when D2C services were surging, both Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods launched their own direct to consumer platforms to allow customers to buy its products in bulk.

The plant-based space has come a long way in terms of creating products that closely emulate their meat counterparts. The Very Good Butchers do a good job of demonstrating of how plant-based ingredients can be transformed into a diversity of meat analogs. Although some plant-based alternatives aren’t exactly on par with what they are trying to replicate, it is still impressive to see what ingredients like wheat, soy, peas, and legumes can create. For many people seeking plant-based based alternatives, myself included, we are not looking for an exact replica of meat, but simply a high protein alternative that tastes good.

If you’re interested in checking out The Very Good Butcher’s alt-meat boxes, they are available on the company’s website. The smallest box starts at $50 (enough for 13+ meals), and the largest box costs $99 (enough for 28+ meals).

Float Foods Secures $2.2M for Alternative Whole Egg Product

Singapore-based Float Foods, which produces whole plant-based eggs, announced today that it has raised $2.2 million SGD (~$1.66 million USD). This round of funding was led by both DSG Consumer Partners and Insignia Ventures, with participation from Teja Ventures Apricot Capital, Baksh Capital, Agrocorp Ventures, Water Tiger Investments, and Ebb & Flow. In addition to this recent round, Float Foods previously raised an undisclosed amount of capital through a grant from the Temasek Foundation in March of this year.

The startup’s proprietary product is called OnlyEg, which is made from a base of legumes. The alternative egg contains both a yellow yolk and the whites like a regular egg, allowing it to function much like a regular egg in various applications.

One common concern with alternative protein products is that they do not have the same nutritional value as their animal counterpart. This can sometimes be true, however, Float Foods claims that its alternative egg contains as many vitamins and minerals as a chicken egg. The company also said it is improving upon the nutritional content of its OnlyEg before it launches.

There are not many other whole plant-based eggs on the market, and Float Foods mainly faces competition from companies making alternative eggs in liquid form. However, there is a company based in Singapore called OsomeFoods that recently launched an alternative whole, hardboiled egg product made from mycoprotein. Eat Just is building a factory in Singapore to expand availability of its liquid egg product throughout Asia.

OnlyEg is not yet available on the market, and Float Foods said that the product will likely launch next year. In addition to the alternative whole egg product, the company is also developing plant-based egg patties and shreds.