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Do You Have The Next Big Idea in Cooking Technology?

Here at The Spoon, we think a lot about cooking. Sure, a big part of why is because we love to eat, but it’s also because we’re obsessed with cooking technology.

And to be honest, there’s been a shortage of exciting new technology to make food and drink over the past couple of years. While we’ve seen some exciting advances like new smart ovens, crazy food robots, and even a drink replicator, the reality is there’s a lot more room for innovation.

Which is why we’ve asked those building new things in the world of cooking technology to show us what you’ve got. Whether it’s a new food-making robot, a new kitchen system or something we’ve yet to even conceive of, we want to hear about it!

The best ideas will become finalists for the core cooking category at Smart Kitchen Summit INVENT on October 16th and showcase their innovation. Finalists will also be invited to a dinner at CES 2023, where The Spoon is partnering with the Consumer Technology Association to bring food tech to Vegas.

So if you are building the next big idea in kitchen tech, what are you waiting for? Apply today!

Meati Adds Steak Filets to Its Roster of Mycelium Alt-Meats

Meati co-founder Tyler Huggins radiates the right blend of entrepreneurial enthusiasm and practical knowledge to catapult common mushroom threads into a popular staple for healthy consumers. Huggins walks the walk as a visionary in the future of food space with a diverse background that includes a stint as a field biologist for the U.S. Forest Service, a research engineer, a consultant in the wastewater industry, and a co-founder of a healthy snack company.

“I really dedicate my life to harnessing nature’s power and beauty and then guiding it to help produce sustainable food,” Huggins told The Spoon in a recent interview.

With initial success from the launch of Meati’s mycelium-based alt-chicken and alt-beef cutlets, the company has announced a new product, Meati Steak Filet, which will be available on May 23 directly to consumers through the company’s website. Four steak filets, which should be prepared much as one would cook a steak, will sell for $35.

Like other Meati offerings, the steak fillets are a whole food rich in nutrition. A single serving has only 0.5g of fat and zero cholesterol. It is 120 calories along with 14g of protein, 9g of dietary fiber, and a host of micronutrients such as Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate, Vitamin B12, Zinc, and Copper.

The fermentation process from mushroom roots to the finished product has evolved to become a smooth, sustainable effort, but years of hard work are behind Meati’s success.

“There was a lot of trial and error. We spent over two years and millions of dollars of government grant money to figure out the cultivation and the fermentation part of this process,” Huggins explained.  
And then it was, how do you take all these mushrooms and actually make meat out of it? That was a whole other couple of years because what we do is we make sure we ensure wholesome nutrition. The mushroom roots are actually alive during the entire process. We gently form and orientate the root structure in different ways to mimic different muscles and give you different textures.”

Huggins said that Meati is in the midst of a significant physical expansion, but in doing so, the company looked at other industries for ways to scale without reinventing the wheel. “We looked into other industries and found several analogs. Our existing processes are already scaling, and we said, okay, we’ll take one from here and another from food processing. And we’ve created this unique sort of hybrid of industrial processes where we don’t need some sort of technological breakthrough to be successful.”

The future for Meati includes testing retail distribution in the second half of 2022 and a continued effort to create a brand sanction between itself and the countless other alt-meat products. Beneath it all, Huggins’ passion for delivering a clean, healthy, nutritious product is his and Meati’s north star.

“I look at nature as sort of a toolbox, you know,” Huggins said. “Three billion years of evolution have designed all sorts of different tools. And I believe that most of our problems can be solved by looking into nature because nature’s problem is already solved.”

Front Of House Takes an NFT Program to Smaller Restaurants

If you’ve ever taken home a souvenir menu or ashtray from your favorite restaurant, you will understand the role NFTs play in the hospitality industry. The same goes for attending a restaurant theme night or local pop-up of a new dining establishment. As Front of House (FOH) co-founder Phil Toronto eloquently puts it, a restaurant establishing a successful NFT strategy is “a beautiful merging of the digital and physical experience.”

Launching on May 18, Front of House (FOH) is a marketplace for NFTs of digital collectibles and experiences for independent restaurants. Co-founders Phil Toronto (VaynerFund), Colin Camac (former restaurateur), and Alex Ostroff (Saint Urbain) represent a mix of people with backgrounds in digital technology, advertising, and the hospitality industries. Initial clients include Wildair and Dame, with upcoming partners such as Rosella, Niche Niche, and Tokyo Record Bar.

The company’s business model is for the restaurant to keep 80% of the sale of digital collectibles. If an establishment uses a collectible as an invite to a unique dining experience, the restaurant will keep all the money from the food event.

Toronto stresses that FOH’s digital collectibles will be the digital analog to buying swag (such as a sweatshirt or tote bag) from your go-to dining establishment. Over time, he adds, the digital representations can grow to become interactive experiences that can be shared and/or enjoyed as a personal keepsake. “It’s a passport of sorts from your favorite restaurant,” the FOH co-founder told The Spoon in a recent interview.

The early adopters of using NFT as a marketing and sales tool are “scrappy entrepreneurs,” Toronto added, who had to get creative to stay afloat during the pandemic. “The commonality is that every restaurant owner interested in our program is entrepreneurial and looking to go outside the box,” he said.

Marketing and being on the cutting edge are only part of it. The impetus for jumping on board the growing NFT trend is about money. In addition to their regular dining business, an owner can collect revenue from digital collectibles, but the aspect with the most upside is creating memorable dining experiences. A key to all the possibilities is to make it simple for the customer to engage. A key to FOH’s success will be what the co-founder calls creating a frictionless experience, making it a little more than a typical eCommerce check-out experience.

“One of the avenues we’d like to explore is ticketed experiences where Front of House will work with a restaurant to buy it out for the night and have a special ticketed experience,” Toronto said. “That experience is sold through a digital collectible that lives on as a memory and a digital ticket stub you can take.”

Toronto said he is surprised that 65% of the customers he approaches get the idea and understand its value but might have a wait-and-see attitude. Once the pioneers prove NFTs successful and more than a “get rich quick” concept, he believes any reluctance will disappear. Also, Toronto commented that the NFT opportunity for restaurants isn’t limited to New York, Los Angeles, and other coastal towns. Given the hospitality business’s everyday issues, the concept will work just as well for Des Moines or any eatery wanting to explore a new business opportunity.

Betterland Foods Launches Better-For-You Chocolate Using Perfect Day’s Animal-Free Whey Protein

Move over Hershey and Mars, WOO is coming, and it’s fixing to make a sweet, healthy impact on the candy category.

betterland foods, a Napa-based company that recently introduced its cow-free milk, is taking the alternative whey protein it created to take on the alternative dairy market and now aiming at making noise in the candy space with WOO. This better-for-you candy bar competes with the big names on taste but without guilt.

“Candy has not been disrupted since 1934,” company CEO Lizanne Falsetto said in an interview with The Spoon. “Keep in mind that Hershey and Mars can buy up the shelf space, but they still can’t get to the core of what we believe people want today. They want to have a decadent treat that’s better for them and better for the planet.”

WOO (as in Moo or Whoo) is now available direct to consumers before being launched in retail. WOO’s layered chocolate bar, built using Perfect Day’s whey protein, contains organic chocolate, caramel, peanuts, and cow-free nougat. Falsetto quickly points out the dramatic difference between WOO and its entrenched competitors.

Falsetto explains that most candy bars on the market have 28 grams of sugar, while WOO had nine. The betterland’s bar has six grams of fiber compared to one in most others and eight grams of protein versus four.

Falsetto and her partner, company president Bill Pikar come to the “healthy” food space with a significant win under their belts. Falsetto is the founder and former CEO of Think! A pioneering protein bar that she developed in her kitchen. The company was sold in late 2015, after which Falsetto began working with women leaders in her Holistic Success Network.

Always keeping an eye on the alternative protein space, Falsetto and Pikar were ready to jump at the chance at another chance to (as she puts it) “blow up a category.” The Perfect Day folks reached out to the former nutrition bar creator and suggested a new type of bar using cow-free whey. Not one to focus on their “been-there, done-that” space, the betterland’s team suggested they produce a “better for you” candy bar.

“We decided the candy category would need a disruptive product, and that’s why candy was the choice.” Falsetto commented. She also jokes that betterland’s newest product has a deja-vu experience. “Interestingly enough, we were making nutrition bars on candy equipment in 1995, and now, in reverse, we are now making candy on nutrition bar equipment.”

Having gone through retail product placement with THINK!, Falsetto has developed a clear marketing strategy. Initially, protein bars, she says, didn’t have a set home in a retail store, and she sees the same route for WOO. A “dual placement” strategy, where the vegan-friendly candy bar sits with its category competitors and at the cash wrap for impulse purchases.

WOO’s initial direct-to-consumer campaign aims to create consumer familiarity and tap into social media awareness. When betterland approaches Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods of the world, the company will be in a better position for retail acceptance.

Falsetto’s take on marketing speaks to her success at finding and fulfilling a market need: I would say when it comes to a market campaign., all we want to put the food into people’s mouths, and we want them to eat it alongside a Snickers bar—like the Pepsi Challenge.”

Without going into detail, likely, we’ve not heard the last of betterland’s relationship with Perfect Day and its alternative whey. “Lizanne’s experience as a protein innovator and retail disruptor made her our first choice to launch candy made kinder and greener with Perfect Day’s whey protein,” said Ryan Pandya, co-founder, and CEO of Perfect Day. “Lizanne has already proven what she can do with betterland milk, and we are thrilled to now bring animal-free layered chocolate candy to consumers who have been excitedly awaiting more products made with Perfect Day protein.”

WOO candy bars will retail for $2.69 and are available at woobars.com

The EVERY Company Uses Iconic Product to Showcase Its Animal-Free Egg Whites

It’s common for musicians to play their most challenging piece to open a concert. Not only is the goal to calm the nerves, but it is also a way to showcase talent and let the audience know what they can expect. Using this model, EVERY Co. figures a great way to let the world know how exceptional its EVERY EggWhite is to have Bay Area’s Chantal Guillon, use it in its signature French macarons.

“From the day we founded the company, we have been asked by customers when will we get our hands on it (egg whites),” Arturo Elizondo, CEO, and founder of EVERY, told The Spoon in a recent interview. “We wanted to launch it in the most iconic application that really is the holy grail of functionality and with a customer that lives or dies by the ingredients.”

Founded initially as Clara Foods in 2014, the company rebranded in 2021 to better illustrate its mission of providing animal-free proteins that can be used in a vast array of applications. Unlike cell-cultivated and plant-based proteins, EVERY uses a 3D model of an egg protein and puts it through a fermentation process to achieve three products that serve different high-value markets. Elizondo says the resulting fermented egg white has the perfect consistency and mouthfeel, an ideal substitute ingredient.

In addition to releasing its EVERY EggWhite, the company has EVERY ClearEgg. This clear, highly soluble protein can be used in beverages and fortifying agents. Elizondo said that his company has been partnering with AB InBev, which is experimenting with using ClearEGG in protein drinks and other drinks. EVERY has a similar relationship with cold-pressed juice and plant-based snacks brand Pressed to use its soluble protein in the juicer’s Pressed Pineapple Greens Protein smoothie.

The third product from EVERY is its EVERY Pepsin, a digestive enzyme that is Kosher, Halal, vegan, and vegetarian. Pepsin is often used in dietary supplements and food processing.

With no background in science, Arturo Elizondo brings an element of cache and evangelism to the company that is the backbone of every conversation. His passion for a global future of food security caused him to leave his job in Washington, D.C., and move to the Bay Area without a job or place to live.

“I didn’t want to just sit on the sidelines, and so once I learned about the impact of animal ag,” Elizondo said. “I felt I had to do something about this. “I was in D.C. and Geneva and realized that if we as a world were going to have a shot at averting this climate crisis, I need to at least try and give it a shot.”

Elizondo met his future partners at a conference in the Bay Area. Seven years later, the company hopes to provide a cruelty-free alternative to egg whites and products that use whites as a primary ingredient. The decision to go after the egg market was deliberate.

“The egg is in everything,” EVERY’s CEO said. “I remember when I first went plant-based and was in a grocery store, reading the label and saw eggs in everything. The egg is universally loved across cultures and in so many foods we eat. We wanted to be the first in the world to use this technology for one of the big multi-hundred million animal protein markets.”

Rather than using its three products to go directly to consumers, EVERY wants to enable third parties such as bakeries, beverage companies, and any industry that uses egg whites. “The technology is only as useful as the impact that it has on products,” Elizondo added. “Our products must work in every application. They have to be able to perform across the board. We want to give eggs a run for their money.”

This takes us back to the iconic French macaron. Beginning today, March 23, the macarons, using EVERY’s EggWhites, will be available in-store at Chantal Guillon’s San Francisco and Palo Alto, Calif. locations and for Bay Area delivery via partners like GrubHub, UberEats, Seamless, and Allset on Wednesday, March 30. It is interesting to note that products using these alternative egg whites won’t be labeled “plant-based” (a standard marketing term) but are vegan as no animal is used in their creation. Elizondo believes that vegans will, for example, welcome baked goods back into their lives that have been missing for years because of their use of animal-based eggs.

“I miss eating the angel food cake we used to eat at Xmas every year. Now I can eat that. There’s something really magical about that. We’re not guilting people into comprising. You can truly have your cake and eat it too.”

Plantish Comes Out of Stealth Mode to Unveil Plant-Based Salmon Fillet

Salmon is one of the most popular fish choices to consume, and in the U.S., it is estimated that Americans eat a total of about 450,000 pounds of it a year. Unfortunately for vegans and vegetarians, there has not been a plant-based salmon product that has the ability to directly replace real salmon in all of its classic applications. Plantish, a start-up based in Rehovot, Israel, is looking to change that, and unveiled its plant-based salmon fillet this week.

Plantish is a newer company in the food tech space that was founded six months ago in 2021. Despite being so young, the company raised a pre-seed round of $2 million USD, led by TechAviv Founder Partners, in the middle of 2021.

The company’s first product is called Plantish Salmon, which will be a fully structured, boneless, plant-based salmon fillet. Although the company could not disclose what exactly the ingredients the fillet is made out of, they did state that it will have the same nutritional value as real salmon, including high protein content, B vitamins, and both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.

According to the company, its alternative salmon fillet can be used in any application that conventional salmon is used in. The whole-cut fish analog aims to achieve the same flavor, structure, and texture as a regular salmon fillet.

What Plantish guarantees that it salmon fillet doesn’t have is mercury, microplastics, antibiotics, or other toxins. Sadly, this guarantee cannot be made with all wild-caught or farmed raised salmon. Farmed raised salmon can be fed large amounts of antibiotics, while wild-caught fish raises concerns about overfishing and being contaminated with microplastics.

In 2022, you can find a good plant-based burger (and many other meat analogs) in grocery stores or a restaurant with ease. Vegan seafood? Not so much. Compared to the plant-based meat category, the plant-based seafood category is significantly smaller, and the Good Food Institute has called the plant-based seafood space a “white space“. On top of this, many alternative seafood products come in an minced form, rather than a whole-cut fillet.

Good Catch is one company that produces vegan seafood products, and it launched a new plant-based salmon burger product last week. One other company working towards a plant-based salmon fillet is Revo Foods, which is based in Austria and is using bioprinting technology for some of its alternative products.

As exciting as Plantish Salmon is, the company shared that it is planning for the official launch of the product in 2024. Until then, Plantish will be executing tasting pop-ups that are slated to begin towards the end of 2022.

Soli Organic to Advance Indoor, Soil-Based Agriculture Through Selective Breeding, AI, and Machine Learning

Soli Organic (previously known as Shenandoah Growers) is an agriculture company that operates indoor growing operations to produce organic culinary herbs. Today, the company announced two new partnerships with Rutgers University and AI/IoT company Koidra that will help enhance its cost advantage and increase the accessibility and affordability of its products.

In the multi-year partnership with Rutgers University, Soli Organic will work with plant breeding experts from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. The focus of the collaboration is to optimize the nutrition, flavor, aroma, and yields of selected crops. Additionally, the partners will research what crops that are not feasible for outdoor production but are potentially viable for commercial production in an indoor growing operation.

While leafy greens and herbs are often the most popular types of crops grown via indoor cultivation, there is vast potential for additional crops in this space. Dr. James (Jim) Simon, the Director of the Rutgers New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products Program, said, “Of the over 400,000 plant species on the planet, we consume less than 100. We have not even scratched the surface of the different flavors and textures of plants. What will be key to a sustainable future is identifying plants that offer consumers the highest nutrient density combined with flavor, texture and shelf appeal, and the lowest possible environmental impact.”

With Koidra’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, Soli Organic intends to automate the operation of its growing facilities. This technology will not necessarily replace human growers, but streamline operations and allow growers to make data-informed decisions. In a greenhouse setting, Koidra use of artificial intelligence, data collection, and sensing technology is able to increase yields, profitability, and consistency.

“Soli Organic is relentless in our pursuit of technologies and partnerships that support our vision to offer our retailer partners and consumers nationwide a variety of nutrient-dense, differentiated fresh products in a manner that maximizes profitability while minimizing environmental impact,” said Soli Organic’s Chief Science Officier Tessa Pocock about the new partnerships.

Soli Organic has seven growing facilities and supplies to 20,000 retailers across the country. According to the company, it is the only indoor grower that has soil-based, controlled environment growing operations. Most of the big players in this space, like Gotham Greens, Bright Farms, and Bowery Farming, use hydroponic growing methods instead.

If you have ever seen indoor-grown greens or herbs in your grocery store, you may have noticed that most of these products are a bit pricier than the standard options. Soli Organic already offers affordable herbs, but following the new partnerships, hopes to bring even more indoor-grown produce to consumers.


Uber Eats and Motional to Provide Driverless Food Delivery in 2022

Food delivery platform Uber Eats and driverless technology company Motional announced last week that they are partnering to pilot autonomous food deliveries. The companies plan to launch this service in Santa Monica, California, in early 2022.

The delivery vehicle provided and operated by Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, is the fully electric Hyundai IONIQ 5-based robotaxi. The scope of the autonomous delivery service will be small to start; the electric vehicles will only deliver curated meal kits from select restaurants in Santa Monica on Uber Eats.

The design of Uber Eats drone in 2019.

Although this is Uber Eat’s first attempt at developing driverless car delivery, the company actually experimented with drone delivery in 2019. The design, which included six rotors, was unveiled at the Forbes Under 30 Summit with the intention of testing it out in San Diego in 2020. The drone could apparently carry a dinner for two and had a round trip range of 12 miles. However, since the announcement in 2019, we haven’t heard any other news about the delivery drones.

Uber Eats is certainly not the only company that has taken a stab at autonomous food delivery. In 2018, Postmates (which was acquired by Uber Eats) introduced Postmates Serve, an autonomous sidewalk delivery robot and associated food delivery service platform, which has been running pilot trials in Hollywood. During summer 2021, Grubhub and Yandex announced that they would be bringing food delivery robots to college campuses. Earlier this month, 7-Eleven and Nuro announced a partnership to pilot autonomous food deliveries in Mountain View, California.

Autonomous delivery offers several benefits, including reduced delivery fees for customers and restaurants and minimal human contact. Third-party delivery services were in high demand after the start of the pandemic, and seeing that we are still not out of it, food delivery will likely continue to be a popular choice for customers staying home.

As cool as driverless and drone delivery sounds, there has yet to be a company that has really put its concept into action, especially on a large scale. Several companies have now had the chance to pilot their concepts for a few months to a few years, so maybe, 2022 will be the year we see a wider implementation of this tech.

Cream Cheese and Champagne Shortages? No Fear, Food Tech is Here to the Rescue

In the past few months, supply chain issues have been cited as a reason for major delays in everything from food to holidays gifts. Last week, USA Today published a piece detailing the food and beverages that are in demand for the holiday season but are experiencing shortages throughout the country. A Christmas meal without ham and a New Year’s Eve party without champagne might be a major bummer, but luckily, companies in the food technology space have alternative options for these popular commodities.

Cream Cheese

Cheesecake is a popular dessert option during the holiday season, and bagels with cream cheese are an easy breakfast option for visiting guests. However, according to the USA Today article, bagel shops throughout the country are experiencing shortages, and a cheesecake factory in New Jersey has had to cease production twice due to shortages. Mainstream brands like Philadelphia may be in low stock, but there are quite a few food tech companies that offer alternative cream cheese options. Nature’s Fynd uses fermentation and microbial proteins to create two flavors of cream cheese, while Miyoko’s Creamy uses cashews to craft several different varieties. Spero uses sunflower seeds to produce cream cheese flavors like pumpkin spice, herb, and blueberry.

Champagne

Popping bottles of bubbly is an iconic part of New Year’s Eve, but this year, you may find it more difficult to get your hands on champagne. According to Wine Enthusiast, we are at the beginning of a multi-year champagne shortage. You may want to start “dry January” early and try some alcohol-free sparkling wine options. A few companies that offer varieties of zero-proof champagne or sparkling wine are TÖST, Noughty, and Surely.

Chicken Tenders

With kids at home on holiday break, chicken tenders may be a favorite request for lunch. The price of chicken has been rising, and the meat industry has been experiencing labor shortages. If chicken is pricey or difficult to find, plant-based chicken is certainly one option. The plant-based space recently experienced a “chicken war” where companies were racing to get their alternative chicken products on the market quickly. As a result, Beyond and Impossible now offer chicken tenders and nuggets. Other companies like Daring, Rebellyous, Simulate, and Nowadays all offer plant-based chicken nuggets as well.

Cat and dog food

Our beloved furry family members are susceptible to food supply chain disruptions too. Owners have reported that it is more challenging to find certain wet food brands that they are used to buying. This could be the result of an aluminum shortage on top of delays within the supply chain. In the realm of food tech, Wild Earth offers plant-based pet food and is currently working on a cultivated meat pet food product.

Alt. Protein Round-Up: Wildtype’s Sushi, Cultivated Dokdo Shrimp

Ask any cultivated meat startup in the US and they’ll tell you it’s only a matter of time before the U.S. government grants regulatory approval to sell cell-cultivated meat in the United States. Given their vested interest in this rapidly changing market, many of these same startups had something to say as part of the USDA’s recent public comment period on labeling standards for cultivated meat and poultry products. Some 1,700 total comments were received and The Spoon sifted through many of these comments and connected the threads so you don’t have to. You can read Camille Bond’s summary here.

There was lots of other news this week in the alternative protein space, including Wildtype’s distribution agreement, CellMEAT’s new FBS-free growth serum and cultivated shrimp prototype, Eric Jenkusky’s thoughts on the cultivated meat space, and GOOD Meat in Singapore.

Wildtype to bring cultured seafood to retailers and restaurants in the U.S.

In the United States, we will likely be seeing cultivated seafood in sushi bars, restaurants, and grocery stores within the next year. Wildtype, a company based in San Francisco, California, signed an agreement this week with Pokéworks, a restaurant operator with 65 locations, and Snowfox, a sushi bar that operates within grocery stores with 1,230 locations. The intention of the distribution agreement is to allow the masses to get a taste of cultivated seafood in an affordable and accessible manner. Due to the fact that regulatory approval has yet to be granted, it is currently unclear when this distribution will occur.

CellMEAT’s FBS-free growth serum and cultivated Dokdo shrimp

CellMEAT is a cultivated meat/seafood company based in Korea, and this week, the company announced two different pieces of news. First off, the company has successfully developed a growth serum for animal cells that does not require the use of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS). This particular ingredient raises concern amongst animal welfare groups and activists (because it is harvested from the fetuses of pregnant cows during slaughter), and it is extremely expensive. FBS is one reason why cultivated products have continued to have such a high price tag, but many companies in this space have been working towards changing the ingredients found in their growth serums.

The second piece of news from CellMEAT is that the company unveiled a prototype of its cultivated Dokdo shrimp. The shrimp was actually created with the company’s new FBS-free growth serum. According to CellMEAT, the alternative shrimp was created in a variety of different shapes and sizes for a diversity of cooking applications.

Eric Jenkusky of Matrix Meats calls for transparency in the cultivated meat space

In September, the USDA opened a public comment period to solicit input about the labeling of cultivated meat products. The move was widely seen as an important step forward in the regulatory approval process for the commercial sale of cultivated meat products in the United States, which many anticipate will happen soon. When cultivated meat finally does make it to market, it’s important that consumers know exactly what’s in the product, at least according to Eric Jenkusky. Read the full article here.

Eat Just’s GOOD Meat granted regulatory approval to sell new cultivated chicken products in Singapore

Today Eat Just announced its GOOD Meat division has received the regulatory go-ahead to sell new types of cultivated chicken products in Singapore. The company will debut one of the new formats, a chicken breast, at the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach next week. The green light comes just over a year after the company received the world’s first approval to sell cultivated meat from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), Singapore’s regulatory authority for food safety. Read the full article here.

Eric Jenkusky of Matrix Meats Calls for Transparency in the Cultivated Meat Space

In September, the USDA opened a public comment period to solicit input about the labeling of cultivated meat products. The move was widely seen as an important step forward in the regulatory approval process for the commercial sale of cultivated meat products in the United States, which many anticipate will happen soon.

When cultivated meat finally does make it to market, it’s important that consumers know exactly what’s in the product, at least according to Eric Jenkusky. Jenkusky is the CEO of Matrix Meats, a company that makes plant-based scaffolding for alternative protein and cultivated meat products. I caught up with Jenkusky last week to talk about the cultivated meat market, the regulatory approval process, and the role he saw his company playing in all of it.

In the past year, Matrix has had contact with 50 plus companies in the cultivated meat industry, and is currently engaged with 22. It is also now offering companies a wet lab research contract, where it will assist interested cultivated meat companies with the feeding and scaffold protocols.

After a busy 2021, next year will be even busier for Matrix; according to Jenkusky, “We are looking at assisting a few companies in achieving a product, a cultivated food product with at least 50 percent cultivated cells in the paid product by quarter two of 2022.”

When cultivated meat products are unveiled by various companies, Jenkusky said an important question is never asked, “How much of this product is cultivated cells, and what type of cultivated cells are those?” For the sake of the industry’s reputation and the consumers who care about what they’re eating, transparency will be crucial. We are often shown photos are videos of different whole cuts of cultivated meat products, but the composition of these products is rarely disclosed.

As Matrix Meats works with companies to achieve a cultivated meat product, Jenkusky said, “One of the things that we plan on doing is when our product comes, is we’re going to be completely transparent to the world as to what and who we’re working with.” Although the USDA and FDA will be regulating the labeling and overseeing the production of cultivated meat products, it is currently unclear what level of transparency they will demand of these products.

About 40 percent of surveyed consumers expressed that they were afraid of lab-produced products such as cultivated meat. Fear like this often stems from not knowing or understanding what a product is made of and how it was produced. In the plant-based space, alternative meat sales may be dropping to the lack of ingredient transparency. For consumers to adopt cultivated meat, it will be critical to disclose ingredients, cell composition, and the production process.

Alt. Protein Round-Up: Red Algae “Blood” and 3D-Printed Sea Bass Fillets

In such a fast-paced industry like future food, news can fly right by you, but we have you covered with this week’s alt protein round-up where we’ve gathered some of the most interesting news of the week.

About Ounje by Yemoja LTD
Yemoja introduces its new ingredient, “Ounje”

Yemoja uses red algae to make burgers bleed

Israel-based Yemoja, a marine ingredient start-up, has discovered a novel way to use red algae (which is grown in photobioreactors) to cause plant-based burgers to “bleed”. The ingredient is called “Ounje”, and not only does it look like blood, but it acts as a binder and allows plant-based meat analogs to brown and sizzle like real meat. On top of improving the texture and appearance, the algae additive contains 20-25 percent protein. Ounje seems to function like Impossible’s plant-based heme, which is instead made from a base of soy.

3D-printed scaffolding used for the structure of the fish fillet

Scientists are working with algae to develop a cultivated sea bass fish fillet

A team of scientists, led by Associate Professor Frederico Ferreira from the University of Lisbon’s Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, are spearheading the project called Algae2fish. The project is funded by The Good Food Institute, and its goal is to develop sea bass fillets made with algae, cultivated cells, and 3D-printed scaffolding. Algae and other plant ingredients will be used as the base for the edible 3D-printed scaffolding. The fish stem cells will be enhanced using electrical stimulation to create muscle and fat components. These components will then be used as bioinks in a 3D printer to create patterns and the texture of a fish fillet.

Spent Brewer’s yeast gets a second life as vegan protein

Sacca, a German-based start-up, is using spent Brewer’s yeast from the brewing industry to develop vegan protein. The company extracts proteins from the yeast byproduct to create a powdered protein product containing 80 percent protein and 20 percent fiber. According to Sacca, the protein is completely flavorless, but the company can add an tural umami flavor if this is desired by the customer. The protein will have many applications, ranging from alternative dairy, meat analogs, baked goods, and sport nutrition products.

Real Deal Milk hopes to use precision fermentation to make animal-based dairy obsolete

When asked if it’s possible to fully replace animal-based dairy, Zoltan Toth-Czifra, the founder and CEO of Real Deal Milk, doesn’t hesitate. “I think the question is not if, but when?” he told me. I had caught up with Toth-Czifra this week to learn more about his Barcelona-based company, which uses precision fermentation to create bioidentical milk proteins. The company, which Toth-Czifra founded in February 2021, is currently in its research and development phase and was recently accepted into the Pascual incubator program, an incubator program focused on innovation in the dairy industry is run by a large dairy producer. Read the full article here.

Motif Foodworks’ New HEMAMI Receives GRAS Status From FDA

Motif Foodworks is on a mission to improve the taste and texture of plant-based foods, and in June 2021, the company raised $226 million USD to do exactly that. This week, the food-tech company made its most recent product called HEMAMI commercially available for large-scale distribution to its customers. HEMAMI appears to be the combination of the words “umami” and “heme”. This novel ingredient is a heme protein derived from yeast, created via precision fermentation. Read the full article here.