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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Stephen J. Bronner

Fancy Countertop Water Machines Are Not the Solution to the Bottled Water Crisis

Single-use plastics are a threat to the world, and a large contributor of that waste is bottled water. The segment, led by food conglomerates including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle, is a huge business, pulling in $16 billion in 2016 in the U.S.

It makes sense then that startups and other companies are now introducing alternatives to bottled water to prevent more plastics from entering landfills and oceans. These alternatives take the form of countertop water filters, and there’s no shortage of them. Coming soon to the market are Lang’s All-in-One Drinks System, the Rocean One and Mitte.

All offer similar features: they filter water, of course, but also carbonate or mineralize it. Lang and Rocean also offer flavoring packs. All the machines are smart, reminding users when to replace the filters, carbon and mineral cartridges and flavoring packs. They also come at a high price, with Lang costing about $555, Mitte coming in at $529 and Rocean $349. Amazingly, there are waitlists for all three devices (the later two were successfully crowdfunded).

While these companies’ goals are laudable — Rocean’s plan is “to remove 1 billion single-use bottles from circulation within five years” — it’s built on the faulty premise that Americans even need to buy bottled water in the first place. Essentially, buying an expensive machine to filter water so you don’t buy bottled water cures a problem that is entirely avoidable in the first place.

For most people in the U.S., tap water is generally safe to drink. If you want to be extra cautious, you can buy a relatively inexpensive filter such as ones made by Brita or Pur. There is also always the option of boiling water to kill potential microorganisms.

But perhaps the main reason to stop buying bottled water is that it’s not even safer to drink than most tap water (and it has more microplastics). This is due to the fact that in the U.S. and Europe, more rigorous standards are applied to tap water than bottled, according to a study commissioned by The World Wildlife Fund. So really, people are paying corporations to put water that’s of equal or lesser quality to tap water in a plastic bottle that will live on for hundreds of years.

So spare yourself from opening your wallet for what Fast Company has dubbed “the Juicero of water,” and pour yourself a nice glass or reusable bottle of tap water. Not only will you prevent another plastic bottle from entering a landfill or the ocean, you’ll save money too.

Inventor Says He Created a Process to Strengthen Banana Leaves for Use as a Plastic Alternative

From single-serve utensils to bags, the world is drowning in plastic, and recycling won’t save us. That’s why environmentally friendly alternatives are desperately needed to prevent more damage to the planet.

One inventive solution, courtesy of 20-year-old Indian inventor Tenith Adithyaa, is what he calls banana leaf technology, a process that he says costs 1 cent each use and strengthens the cell walls and organs of anything made of plants (banana leaves are mostly used because of their availability around the world, he said), stopping their aging for about three years.

Once strengthened, these organic materials can be transformed into cups, plates, cones, envelopes and boxes, which after use can be broken down naturally in 28 days, as opposed to centuries with plastics. Leaves preserved with this technology can resist extreme temperatures and hold more weight, according to Adithyaa.

“Since banana leaf technology is applicable to numerous materials and applications, the usage of these products are countless,” Adithyaa wrote to The Spoon in an email. “We envision a cost-effective biodegradable choice must be available to all human beings regardless of their geographical and economical boundaries.”

Adithyaa didn’t share any details of how the technology works, other than that it’s cellular enhancement and the process doesn’t require the use of chemicals. We currently don’t know whether the technology will work on a large scale.

(Courtesy Tenith Adithyaa)

Adithyaa said he plans to license the technology to companies around the world and currently is in the process of working with a few global enterprises. Partnering with companies allows manufacturing to happen at a local level. For any countries where banana leaves aren’t available, he said other leaves can be used.

It’s unknown how items made of banana leaves will hold up, but Adithyaa isn’t the only working on more natural alternatives to plastics. For example, there’s TIPA, which says its materials break down in 180 days, Zume, the pizza truck company that recently purchased a compostable packaging maker, and Planeteer, creators of an edible spoon (which won the top prize at our Smart Kitchen Summit Future Food competition this week!).

Hopefully, these alternatives will soon replace our dangerous use of plastics and buy the world some time to stave off further ecological disaster.

Aleph Farms Says it Has Grown Meat Cells in Space

Israeli lab-grown food company Aleph Farms on Monday claimed a world’s, or rather, a galaxy’s first, announcing that it has successfully grown small-scale muscle tissue on the International Space Station, which the company points out is “248 miles away from any natural resources.”

Aleph Farms says it uses the natural process of muscle-tissue regeneration in a lab setting to grow its steaks. The Sept. 26 experiment was conducted in the Russian segment of the ISS, using a 3D bioprinter developed by Russia’s 3D Bioprinting Solutions. The U.S.’s Meal Source Technologies and Finless Foods also collaborated on the experiment.

Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka conducting the experiment on the ISS. (Courtesy Aleph Farms)

Not only does the experiment prove that astronauts may one day grow their own steaks, the company says, but it shows that Aleph’s technology could be used anywhere on Earth, despite access to water and other resources. Growing cows for slaughter is one of the most resource-heavy food production processes for the planet, which is why many startups are seeking to replace beef, whether through cultivated or plant-based meat.

“In space, we don’t have 10,000 or 15,000 liters of water available to produce one kilogram of beef,” Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, said in the press release. “This joint experiment marks a significant first step toward achieving our vision to ensure food security for generations to come, while preserving our natural resources.”

While Aleph had Earth’s climate crisis in mind when conducting this experiment, 30 Japanese companies launched a consortium this year to figure out how to feed people in space. But hopefully, all of the solutions currently in the works will mean we won’t have to flee to another planet for survival.

This Startup Uses Genetically Modified Probiotics to Alleviate Hangovers

Several products have sprung up recently claiming that they can prevent the worst next-day effects of drinking, but ZBiotics Company’s is the first to utilize genetically modified probiotics to help with hangover symptoms.

Launched on Aug. 15, ZBiotics claims its beverage — which the company proudly touts is derived from GMOs — mimics an enzyme in your liver that breaks down acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol consumption that in part causes hangovers. Taken either before or during your drinking session, ZBiotics replicates this liver enzyme in your gut.

“It’s meant to support your body while drinking,” Zack Abbott, Zbiotics’ co-founder and CEO and a Ph.D. microbiologist, told The Spoon Friday. But, he warned, “it’s not a get-out-of-jail-free card.” Meaning, you still have to hydrate and get a good night’s rest to stave off a hangover (until there’s  hangover-free booze, that is).

ZBiotics recently debuted in brick-and-mortar stores via b8ta. The beverage will be found in the San Francisco, New York City and Chicago locations, and eventually a pop-up store in Miami opening in December. Abbott said that the store’s format, which presents information on the products on tablets that can be changed by companies in real time, “is a great opportunity” for ZBiotics to tell its story.

“The challenge for our product is it’s in a field where there’s a lot of snake oil,” he said. “The category has credibility issues. [With ZBiotics,] there’s a level of technology that hasn’t been brought to this part of the market.”

That tech, genetic modification, has its share of skeptics. But Abbott hopes that ZBiotics, a 3.5-year-old Y Combinator graduate that has raised $3.4 million in funding, will help create more GMO supporters.

“The problem has been that most people are only hearing one side of the story,” he said. “People walk down the aisle of the grocery store and see this ‘No GMOs’ label. So what are people to think? Our goal is to provide more information and be transparent. That’s the foundation of what we call GMO 2.0. We use the technology responsibly. We test our product and publish our results. We think consumers will be excited by the opportunities that GMOs provide.”

With Impossible Foods, which is made with genetically modified heme, becoming popular, Abbott is right in that perceptions seem to be changing. And if GMOs can prevent people from feeling miserable after a night of drinking, they may change even sooner.

New Food Containers Promise to Keep French Fries Warm and Crispy

One easy way to ruin a relaxed takeout dinner at home are soggy french fries that lack a satisfying crunch when you eat them.

Novolex, a 16-year-old maker of packaging for the food, medical and building industries, hopes to prevent this food catastrophe with its new EcoCraft Fresh & Crispy clamshell containers, which it said in a press release keeps fried foods warm and crunchy. The containers do that with “micro-flute corrugation for superior rigidity and crush strength to maintain food integrity during transport and delivery.” Micro-flutes are the wavy paper in packaging that commonly protect all those items you order online.

“These containers even keep french fries crispy, warm and tasty,” said Adrianne Tipton, senior vice president of innovation at Novolex, in the release. “That’s a real innovation in food delivery.”

The company said the containers are designed for restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets, caterers and delivery services, and are made with a minimum of 33 percent post-consumer recycled content.

A request for more information from Novolex was not returned by press time, so we don’t know when these containers will be available and how much they cost compared to other containers.

Better food containers are much needed now, as delivery apps are becoming more popular, even spurring the creation of ghost restaurants, which exist solely to serve delivery customers. Bloomberg cited data by market-data firm App Annie that food delivery app downloads have increased 380 percent compared to three years ago. DoorDash leads the pack, with Grubhub and Uber Eats not too far behind.

Another company, aptly named Soggy Food Sucks, also offers a solution to the problem with a condensation absorbing patch that can stick to the food containers.

Hopefully, with these innovations in place, you’ll only have a bad feeling about fries when you eat too many of them.

I Tried the JUST Egg Frittata at Le Pain Quotidien. It’s Another Win for Plant-Based Foods.

Quick service and fast food restaurants, from Burger King to Dunkin’, are clamoring to add plant-based options to their menus. You can now count Le Pain Quotidien among them, which teamed up with JUST for a chicken egg-free frittata that is now available at U.S. locations as of Wednesday.

The “Plant-Based ‘Egg’ Frittata” is made of the mung-bean derived egg substitute, roasted butternut squash, broccoli, caramelized onions and almond milk. Le Pain Quotidien feels so strongly about the plant-based version that it will replace its previous frittata.

I had the chance to try the JUST Egg frittata a week before it launched, and it’s clear why Le Pain put it on the menu: it’s delicious, and if I wasn’t told it was egg free, I wouldn’t have known. The way my fork slid into it felt natural, and nothing about the look and texture of the frittata would tell you that it was made with an egg substitute. It’s amazing how mundane, and I mean that in a good way, plant-based foods have become.

Many of other people who got a preview, which included nutritionists and influencers, came away with the same impression.

JUST says in a press release that the liquid version of its egg “has nearly as much protein as conventional chicken eggs, is free of cholesterol, saturated fat and artificial flavoring and its ingredients require considerably less water and emit fewer carbon emissions than chicken eggs.”

The company, which is also working on cultivated meat, has seen other restaurant partnerships hatch: restaurant chain Silver Diner and burger chain Bareburger (where you can also order an Impossible or Beyond Burger) will include JUST Egg on their menus. The company also announced that the liquid egg replacement will be available at Walmart and Kroger stores.

It’s been an impressive run for a product that only launched last year.

Burger King to Stop Giving Out Plastic Toys in U.K. Kids Meals

Many children are often more excited — at least initially — about the cheap toy in a fast food kids meal than the actual food. But those little hunks of plastic will now be a thing of the past at U.K. Burger Kings, CNN reports.

Responding to a Change.org petition from British sisters Ella and Caitlin McEwan that received more than 500,000 signatures, the company said it will stop giving out the toys, saving the planet from 320 tons of single-use plastic each year. Earlier this year, the European Union voted to ban single-use plastics by 2021, which may affect the U.K. depending on the outcome of Brexit.

It will be a while until this initiative comes to the U.S. — Burger King said it plans to get rid of non-biodegradable plastic toys in other markets by 2025.

The burger company, which recently rolled out a plant-based Whopper made with Impossible Foods across the U.S., will also place “plastic toy amnesty bins” in U.K. stores for customers to bring their old toys, whether they came from Burger King or not. Burger King has partnered with Pentatonic, a circular economy company, to melt down the toys to make useful items such as play areas and trays.

McDonald’s has also announced a sustainability initiative around plastics toys. The food giant  will launch a trial program at U.K. locations where customers can choose a piece of fruit, and eventually a book, instead of a toy. The company hopes to reduce its use of about 1,000 tons of plastic in Britain per year.

While scraping plastic toys is a win for sustainability, fast food restaurants have a long way to go on the sustainability front. After all, they still use plenty of single-use tableware, straws and cups. McDonald’s has pledged to reduce its waste by 2025, while Burger King seems to just be getting started.

This New $180 Smart Bottle Tracks How Much of Its Flavored Water You Drink

If you find yourself constantly forgetting to drink or feel the need for some flavor in your water, there’s now a $180 solution: LifeFuels’ Bottle.

The Keurig Dr Pepper-backed startup, which has raised $5 million to date, on Monday introduced the Bottle, which comes with what the company calls FuelPods. Up to three pods can be inserted into the bottle to add customizable flavors to the liquid inside with the touch of a button or through LifeFuels’ app. The app, of course, allows users to set and track hydration goals and check the levels remaining in each FuelPod. 

FuelPods are available in flavors such as peach, blackberry acai and lemon-lime, and the company said in a press release that they’re packed with electrolytes and antioxidants “to provide nutrients on-the-go.” Each FuelPod apparently dispenses up to 30 beverages and can be sent back to the company to be recycled.

Carbonated and flavored water has seen a resurgence in the past few years as health-conscious consumers look for alternatives to sugary juices and sodas. Last year, sales of flavored water reached more than $3 billion, an increase from the previous year, according to Euromonitor data.

LifeFuels seems to be hitting all the checkboxes for a tech-powered wellness company: a high priced item, water flavoring that’s said to be functional, and even a subscription service: new pods can be sent to subscribers for $9.99 each, instead of the usual $11.99.

Other companies have also attempted to entice would-be water drinkers with bells and whistles. Mark One’s smart bottle Pryme Vessyl measured how much water it was holding and tracked users’ sips. The company is now closed. Meanwhile, PepsiCo’s Drinkfinity uses a special bottle and recyclable flavor pods to juice up your water, but doesn’t feature any of tech bells and whistles found in the LifeFuels Bottle.

The question for LifeFuels now is whether there are enough people thirsty for a nearly $200 water bottle.