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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

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Food Tech News: Online Food Bank, Upcycled Cacao Fruit Bites, and $10M for Gluten-Free Snack Brand

If you feel like you’ve fallen behind in the fast-paced world of food tech, you’ve come to the right place. In this week’s Food Tech News roundup, we have stories on Feeding America’s new online platform, Costco’s partnership with Uber, a snack brand’s $10 million funding round, and one of the first companies to receive the Upcycled Food Certification.

Food bank launches online grocery ordering for those facing food insecurity

Feeding America is one of the largest food banks in the country, and this week the non-profit began offering online ordering. Called Order Ahead, food is ordered through a Feeding America network food bank or partner food on a smartphone, tablet, or computer. The order can then be picked up at schools, libraries, or a drive-thru distribution center. Certain markets will also be offering home delivery. Those requiring food assistance unfortunately might feel embarrassed or stigmatized, so offering an online platform allows for the option of being more discreet.

CaPao is one of the first companies to receive the Upcycled Food Certification

CaPao has created a snack product that is made from upcycled cacao fruit. The brand was developed in Mondelēz International’s SnackFuture innovation and venture hub, and this week announced that it is one of the first companies to receive the recently launch Upcycled Food Certification. After cacao beans have been extracted from the cacao pod, there is about 70 percent of the pod remaining goes to waste, and this remaining fruit is used in the snack product. CaPao sources this potential food waste from Cabosse Naturals, a food and beverage company that uses cacao pods to make various ingredients. Using the upcycled cacao fruit, CaPao produces three flavors of snack bites: mango cashew coconut, golden berry apricot chia, and cherry almond cocoa. The products are available for purchase on the company’s website and retailers in Southern California.

Photo by Henry & Co. on Unsplash

Costco partners with Uber to trial same-day delivery

Costco is currently trialing same-day grocery delivery with Uber at 25 Texas locations in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Uber has announced that its drivers will be able to deliver groceries in minutes to a few hours. To use the service trial in Texas, customers must order at least $35 worth of Costco groceries and products. Costo currently also works with Instacart to offer same-day delivery.

Gluten-free snack maker raises $10 million

Quinn produces various gluten-free snacks, and this week the company secured $10 million in its Series B funding round. NewRoad Capital Partners led the round, and Echo Capital, Boulder Food Group, and Sunil Thakor also participated. The capital will be used for product innovation, company growth, and be put towards Quinn’s mission of supporting regenerative agriculture. Quinn uses gluten-free ingredients like sorghum, cassava, and corn for its pretzels sticks and chips, stuffed pretzels, and flavored popcorn. The company provides a map of where its ingredients are sourced and a list of farmers (who are taking steps to reduce their environmental impact) it buys from to provide transparency to consumers. Quinn’s products are available for purchase in approximately 10,000 retailers nationwide.

Kite Hill Aims to Boost Protein Content of Plant-Based Dairy with New Product Launch

One major complaint of plant-based products is the lack of protein, as many alternative products are not on par with the product they are trying to replicate. The average American actually consumes double the amount of protein required, so it’s no surprise that we are so fixated on the protein content of plant-based alternatives. One company in the plant-based space, Kite Hill, recently launched new yogurt products with a boosted protein content.

Kite Hill recently debuted four new flavors of high-protein yogurt; strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, and plain. The yogurt is made from a base of almond milk and boasts 10-12 grams of protein (depending on the flavor) from added soy isolate. Additionally, the company added a new flavor to its dip line, a spicy queso (not a high-protein product), and its main ingredients are cultured almond milk and coconut oil.

When Kite Hill offered to send me samples of its high-protein yogurts and queso, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. One non-dairy protein yogurt I tried recently was straight-up gritty. Catherine Lamb, a previous writer at The Spoon, tried Ripple’s high-protein Greek yogurt and was not a fan.

Photo by Ashlen Wilder

I am pleased to report that none of the flavors of the Kite Hill yogurt had a gritty texture or off-flavor. Each of the flavors had a creamy texture and the tangy flavor that yogurt should have. I normally don’t go for flavored yogurts due to the high sugar content, but each fruit flavor had 5 grams of sugar.

The non-dairy queso had a very thick texture straight out of the refrigerator. The directions on the package instructed that the queso should be heated for 30 seconds in the microwave. After it was heated, it had the familiar gooey, liquid texture of traditional queso. It had a delightfully spicy kick and went well with chips, and drizzled on tacos and black beans.

It’s hard to keep track of how many alternative yogurts and cheese products are now available on the market, and some are definitely better than others. Lavva uses pili nuts to produce a creamy and tangy plant yogurt. The Collaborative raised $7 million last year for the expansion of its coconut-based yogurt. There are also other brands that produce vegan yogurt like Forager, So Delicious, Cocojune, Oatly, Harmless Harvest, and Daiya. Larger companies like Chobani and Yoplait have even stepped up in recent years to offer plant-based options.

As for vegan queso, a few others exist on the market. Loca Food produces delicious non-dairy queso made from a base of potatoes. Siete and Mother Raw are two other companies also competing in this space.

Despite how many alternative options are available on retailer shelves, I would still probably purchase the Kite Hill high-protein yogurt again if I saw it in stores. I typically don’t purchase queso, but I think a queso lover who avoids dairy would enjoy this product. The individual 5.3oz protein yogurts cost $1.99, while the 16 oz. tub of plain yogurt costs $5.99. The 8oz tub of queso costs. $4.99, and all of the products are available in Whole Foods and Sprouts nationwide.

Food Tech News: Lab Grown Chocolate, Lupin Bean Eggs, Cultured Sushi Tasting Room

The summer days are going by fast, but it feels like the rate at which news is breaking in the food tech space is even faster. In this week’s Food Tech News roundup, we have pieces on chocolate being grown in a lab, a tasting room opening in San Franciso for cultured sushi, a new Canadian egg alternative, and a Russian plant-based company’s recent funding round.

Lab-grown chocolate in Switzerland

We live in a chocolate-crazed world, but unfortunately growing cacao for the production of chocolate can cause deforestation and make use of child labor. Some chocolate companies choose to source their cocoa beans from farmers and suppliers that use ethical practices, but this is not always the case. Scientists at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland may have found another option: growing chocolate in a lab. One of the food scientists had the idea to extract cell cultures from cocoa beans to attempt to produce a compound found in chocolate called polyphenols (important for the sensory effects in chocolate). Cocoa beans are cut into quarters and then incubated in a culture medium. After about three weeks a callus grows over the surface of the bean, which can be continuously be replicated. The new material is added to shaking flasks and mixed with suspension culture, and then multiplied in a bioreactor. The cultured cells can then be used to make chocolate.

The scientist said that there is currently no plan for commercial production of lab-grown chocolate. The process is considerably more expensive than conventional chocolate, and they will be continuing to study and compare the production processes of conventional and lab-grown chocolate.

Photo from Wildtype’s Instagram page

Wildtype set to open a cultured sushi tasting room

Wildtype, a cell-ag company focused on seafood, shared that it will be opening a tasting room for cultured sushi in San Francisco. The tasting room will serve as an opportunity to educate consumers on the benefits of cell-based agriculture and provide transparency on this process. Wildtype is focused on creating cultured sushi-grade salmon, and it sources living cells from Pacific salmon. Its pilot plant will soon be capable of producing 50,000 pounds of seafood per year, with a maximum capacity of 200,000 pounds. The tasting room is expected to open in fall 2021.

Nabati launches a plant-based egg product made from lupin beans

Nabati is a Canadian-based plant-based brand, and this week it announced it is filing patents for its plant-based egg product currently being developed. The new egg product will be in liquid form, like Just Egg, and this is the first Canadian-made egg alternative product. Nabati is filing patents for the product in Canada, the United States, and Australia, with the intention to also eventually file in Europe, and China. The egg, called Nabati Plant Eggz, contains no cholesterol, 90 calories per serving, and six grams of protein. Lupin beans and pea protein are the main ingredients used, and the product is both soy and gluten-free. The new egg alternative is expected to be available for purchase sometime later this year.

Russian plant-based brand raises $1.5 million in Series A round

Welldone is a plant-based meat alternative company in Moscow, Russia, and this week it raised $1.5 million in its Series A round. The round was led by Phystech Ventures and Lever VC, and this new capital will be used to increase production and distribution, as well as bring Welldone’s products to new markets. Welldone currently produces alternative cutlets, burger patties, and minced meat made from a base of soy, coconut oil, and cellulose. Plant-based alternatives in Russia can be pricey, and Welldone has set the goal of reaching price parity with meat.

Food Tech News: Indoor Farming as Art, Cover Crop Snacks, and Alcohol-Free Spirits

Welcome to your weekly Food Tech News round-up, where we gather interesting pieces of news you might have missed this week:

Edible artwork is now growing at the Gagosian gallery in New York City

A small, but fully functional, indoor urban farm is now on display at the Gagosian Gallery’s New York City location. The installation, created by artist Linda Goode Bryant and architect Elizabeth Diller, is a part of the “Social Works” exhibit (curated by Antwaun Sargent). The exhibit aims to showcase the relationship between different spaces, like personal, institutional, public, and psychic spaces, and Black social practice. The indoor farm exhibit, called Are we really that different?, features a 40-foot-tall structure in a long hallway that houses plants. Given water and nutrients through dripping IV pouches, the plants receive sunlight through skylights in the gallery. The plants consist of edible flowers and vegetables that are harvested daily for visitors to munch on. The exhibit is on display now until August 13, 2021.

Snack brand uses regenerative cover crop as its main ingredient

Chasin Dreams Farm produces a flavored popcorn-like snack, but instead of using corn, sorghum is the main ingredient in the product. Sorghum is a grain that is drought-resilient, and the company sources its sorghum from farms using regenerative practices. Additionally, sorghum is a cover crop that can be planted after other crops have been harvested to protect the soil from erosion, smother weeds, and add healthy, organic matter to the soil. Chasin Dreams Farm currently has three flavors, Sweet & Salty, Cocoa, and Cinnamon. According to the company, its popped sorghum snacks have around 94 percent less fat than traditional popcorn snacks. Currently raising money on Republic, Chasin Dreams Farm has already met its goal by 171 percent with 61 days left in the campaign.

Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

Scientists discover that microorganisms in the stomach’s of ruminants can help break down plastic

Plastic is a problem due to its negative environmental and health impacts, and despite the fact that humans were the ones that created it, we are always trying to find new solutions to replace it, get rid of it, upcycle it, or break it down in a sustainable manner. A group of scientists from various universities recently discovered that particular microbes found in the stomachs of ruminants can actually help break down certain types of plastic. Ruminants like cows consume a naturally occurring polyester that is produced by plants, called cutin. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the type of plastic typically used to make soda bottles and food packaging, and it has a similar chemical structure to cutin.

Due to this, researchers hypothesized that microbes found in the rumen (the largest part of a ruminant’s stomach) could break down PET and other polyesters in the same manner that cutin was broken down. To test this, the scientists placed different plastics in rumen liquid for one to three days. It was found that the rumen liquid broke down PET, polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and polyethylene furanoate (PEF), with the bacteria-rich liquid breaking down PEF the most effectively.

Optimist: a plastic and alcohol-free spirit

To accommodate the rise of adults looking to cut back on alcohol consumption or be sober, there has been an influx of “alcohol-free” spirits hitting the market. One of these brands, Optimist, has developed three botanical-infused, alcohol-free spirits, completely free from plastic. Intended to be a direct replacement for alcohol spirits, Optimist can be drunk straight up, on the rocks, or mixed into a cocktail. The spirits contain 10-15 botanical distillates, with three different flavors available: Bright (lemony and light, drinks like vodka), Fresh (full of herbs, drinks like a botanical gin), and Smokey (flavors of wood and spice, drinks like a tequila). Both the bottle and cap of the spirits are made from glass, and plastic is intentionally not used in any part of the production, packaging, or distribution process. A 16.9 oz bottle of Optimist is available for $35 on the company’s website.

Fexy Media Launches Relish+ as Premium Paid Feature on Relish.com

Relish.com, a web app created by Fexy Media for meal planning, recipes, and grocery shopping, announced today that it has launched a premium feature called Relish+. The new service will now allow users to have access to a library of over 100 meal plans for a monthly fee starting at $3.75.

The new meal plans on Relish+ are developed by nutritionists, and the recipes are sourced from popular recipe developers and food bloggers. Called “Fodcasts”, users can subscribe to the meal plans that match their interests, just like they would to a podcast.

Once subscribed to the meal plans, users can then add them to a calendar to plan all meals for the entire week or even the next month. The meal plans are customizable and can be edited to change the serving size, alter or delete certain recipes, and add or delete certain days. With the premium subscription, users can also create their own meal plans by dropping their desired recipes into a blank meal plan template.

Ingredients found within the meal plans can be consolidated to create a grocery list. This is list can simply be used by the user to go shopping or sent to a grocery delivery service that is integrated into the app (both of these features are currently available with the free version of Relish.com).

Meal planning and grocery shopping can be tiresome, especially after 15+ months of predominately eating at home, so services like Relish.com and Relish+ are very relevant at the moment. Another app, Whisk, allows users to discover and save recipes, and then shop for the ingredients through the app. Samsung announced at the beginning of this year that it added shoppable recipes and guided cooking through its SmartThings Cooking mobile app.

The Relish+ meal planning library will continue to expand after today’s launch with new meal plans added each week. The subcription starts at $3.75 per month if paid for the entire year up front, and 3-month and 6-month memberships exists starting at $4.95 per month.

Food Tech News: Next Meat’s Alternative Egg, Wagyu Beef Art, and $20K Plant Grants

Before you fire up the grill and bask under the glow of fireworks this weekend, we invite you to catch up on some food tech news. This week we have pieces on a new alternative egg product in Japan, a pricey item that fuses art and Wagyu beef, a new menu item for Just Salad, and a grant program aimed at supporting Black-owned restaurants.

Next Meat launches new egg alternative product

Next Meat, an alternative meat company in Japan, announced this week that it has developed a new fully plant-based egg alternative. The egg alternative is called NEXT EGG 1.0, and will first roll out as a B2B product in Japan and then be offered as B2C. Although Japan is one of the top consumers of eggs in the world, the country currently does not have a commercial alternative egg product. The ingredients of the NEXT EGG 1.0 and the release date were not disclosed. This announcement comes after Next Meat’s recent successful launch of its alternative BBQ ribs products in the U.S., which sold out within a day.

Highest-ranked Wagyu beef in Japan becomes art

Hyotana, a restaurant based in Shiga, Japan, partnered with Kaya, a creative firm, to create a fusion of food and art that represents Japan’s rich history. For the project, 700 grams of A5 grade Wagyu beef gets packaged in artwork, specifically famous images from Hokusai‘s “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” series of woodblock prints. Pieces of the artwork are cut out to showcase the bright red meat, as depicted above. After the beef is removed from the packaging and consumed, Hyotana recommends filling in the empty space by placing red paper behind the artwork. Called Art Beef Gallery, the item is priced at ¥13,000 JPY (~$108 USD) and can be purchased for consumers in Japan on the Hitotema Art Beef Gallery page.

Just Salad launches menu item to support regenerative ag

Just Salad has partnered with nonprofit Zero Foodprint and restauranteur Anthony Myint for a new menu item that will support regenerative agricultural practices. Fifteen percent of sales from the Zero Foodprint Salad will be donated to the nonprofit to help provide grants to farmers switching to regenerative soil practices that restore soil health and sequester carbon. The partnership marks Zero Foodprint’s first fast-casual restaurant partner on the east coast. The Zero Foodprint salad contains a vegan feta cheese alternative, mint, wheat berries, pickled red onions, pita chips and grape tomatoes on a base of mixed greens.

Violife and RZA launch Plant Grants

Violife, a plant-based cheese company, is partnering with RZA, hip hop artist and founding member of Wu-Tang Clan, to launch Plant Grants. This new grant program encourages plant-based eating through mentorship and funding, and this year’s program will focus on assisting Black-owned restaurants struggling from the aftermath of the pandemic. Two plant-based chefs involved in the program, Lemel Durrah and Laricia Chandler, will assist restaurants in introducing plant-based ingredients, menu development, and conversion of original recipes to a plant-based version. Grants of $20,000 will be awarded to five restaurants that meet the criteria, and applications for the program are open now until July 21, 2021.

Recon Food, a Social Media App Connecting Users Through Food, Launches Today

Social media has been under scrutiny in the past few years for its potential negative effect on mental health and overall well being. Today, a new social media app launched with the aim of being a positive space for users to connect and share their love of food. The app is called Recon Food, and it was created by Spencer Rascoff, the co-founder of Hotwire and Zillow, and his daughter Sophia Rascoff.

Instead of meeting up with loved ones at restaurants to connect over a meal during the pandemic, over this past year we connected over social media by sharing photos of trending recipes like banana bread and whipped coffee. However, there are many other tricky things to navigate through on social media like non-stop news, targeted ads, politics, and controversial topics. The father-daughter Rascoff duo was inspired to develop an app like this because of the many aspects of social media that felt unhealthy, and food was something that brought their own family together during the pandemic.

With the Recon Food app, there are two tracks: restaurants and the home kitchen. Users can post photos of food and drink ordered from restaurants and leave a review, or upload photos of dishes they have created themselves. The app has geolocation, which enables users to tag the location of the restaurant and recommend their favorite dishes. Within the app, users can view a map (powered by Apple) to see where different restaurants are located, which can be helpful for finding new restaurants. Only restaurants that have been reviewed will show up on the map, and because the app is so new, there are currently only a handful of restaurants that pop up.

For those cooking at home, (this option does not allow geolocation), users can also post photos of foods or drinks they have created. The Recon app has computer vision technology that will search a user’s camera roll for food photos, and automatically upload them to the app privately or publicly.

Tradionally, people use platforms like Google or Yelp to view photos and reviews left by other diners to decide on where to eat. This is certainly helpful in making a decision, but a downside to these review platforms is that more often than not, a negative experience is more likely to produce a review. Additionally, it is hit or miss if someone actually recommends particular dishes in their review. With Recon Foods, hopefully, there will be a balanced mixture of honest positive and negative reviews, and more users will feel compelled to recommend dishes they’ve tried at a restaurant.

There are a few other food and restaurant-centric apps available besides Recon Food. Jybe is an app that can currently be used in major U.S. cities that helps conscious consumers see where eco-friendly restaurants are located. Diners that post high-quality restaurant reviews on the SynchroLife app are rewarded with the platform’s own cryptocurrency called SynchroCoin (SYC).

The Recon Food app is currently available for free for iOS phones in the App Store or as a desktop version.

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.

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: Promising Mealworm Research, Miller Lite Shoezie, and Rewards for Eating Organic Yogurt

Throughout the week, we gathered some interesting tidbits of food tech news we wanted to share, including:

Study finds that mealworm protein and milk protein are similar

Researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands conducted a study on the nutritional value of mealworm protein and found that it shares similar properties to milk protein. Mealworm protein contains all nine amino acids, and like milk protein, facilitates muscle growth. Additionally, both are absorbed and digested in the body similarly. Ynsect, an insect food start-up, supplied the mealworms for the study. Various insects are commonly found in diets throughout the world, but Western culture certainly seems to shy away from this source of protein. Raising insects like mealworms is considered to be more sustainable than raising pork, cattle, and chicken because they use considerably less land and emit vastly fewer greenhouse gases. Mealworm milk anyone?

Stonyfield Organic will pay you to eat organic yogurt

Stonyfield Organic, producers of dairy products, announced that starting today (June 5th) it will pay people for choosing to eat organic yogurt products. To get in on this deal, you must post a photo to Instagram eating organic yogurt from any brand using the hashtag #YogurtTradeUp. In exchange, Stonyfield will ship you $5 Visa Prepaid Card, a case of 5.3 oz cups of Stonyfield yogurt, and a packet of sunflower seeds. The catch is that there is a limited supply of free yogurt (amount undisclosed) and the selfie must be uploaded between the times of 8 am – 8 pm EST. The company shared that it is hosting this to encourage consumers to see the value of eating organic products and how what we eat affects the environment.

Miller Lite releases the “shoezie” for Father’s Day

Miller Lite and New Balance partnered to create what they are calling a “Shoezie”, which is a combination of a shoe and beer koozie. The concept was created for the upcoming Father’s Day holiday, and aims to appeal to the fashion of middle-aged dads and their light beer-drinking habits. The design of the shoe is inspired by New Balance’s 624 Trainer, often considered a classic “dad” shoe. There will be a limited supply of the Shoezie, which is launching June 10th at 10 am on the Shoezie website.

Competition for an innovative vegan food service product

Copper Branch, a plant-based restaurant chain, and Vegan Women Summit are partnering to host the Plant-Powered Glow Up Contest, a product pitch competition that will award a food service contract to a vegan and women-led or founded business. Criteria set forth by the competition detailed that ideally the product will fit in with the Copper Branch menu, be healthy, differentiated, and aligned with the company’s mission. The winning product will become a menu item this Fall at select Copper Branch locations in the U.S. and Canada. The contest opened at the start of this week and will close on June 30th; it is free for anyone who meets the requirements to enter.

Eclipse Foods Launches Seven New Ice Cream Flavors for Summer

The summer season is rapidly approaching, and I’ve already experienced some 85 degree days here in Denver, Colorado. Therefore, I was thrilled when I was invited to be one of the first to taste test Eclipse Foods’ new ice cream flavors.

Eclipse is a plant-based dairy company based in Berkeley, California that is currently focused on its “cowlessly creamy” ice cream. The startup has previously said that it aims to be the Impossible Foods of the alternative dairy industry.

In June, Eclipse is launching seven new flavors including mango passion fruit, strawberry fields, mint chip, caramel butter pecan, the dark side of the spoon (chocolate, peanut butter cookie dough, and fudge chunks), and cookies n’ cream. Eclipse last released three flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and cookie butter) into retail channels in 2020.

This was my first time trying Eclipse’s ice cream, and I certainly enjoyed it. What stood out to me were the vibrant flavors, and the mint chip and dark side of the spoon flavors were especially tasty.

Prior to tasting the samples, I had analyzed the ingredients in Eclipse’s product and was surprised to find that the ice cream contained no creamy vegan ingredients, like coconut, cashews, or soy. Interestingly, the main ingredients in Eclipse’s ice cream are water, sugar, and canola oil.

Eclipse’s website states that the company looked at the composition of milk and built its own milk from the ground up using plant ingredients. I spoke to Aylon Steinhardt this week, one of the co-founders of Eclipse, who said that “magic of milk” (referring to its taste and creamy texture) comes from a structure found in casein called a micelle. Eclipse was able to recreate this structure in the plant-based milk base it uses for its ice cream, and currently has a patent pending for this.

In a previous interview with The Spoon, Steinhardt said that one of Eclipse’s goals is to make its ice cream available in fast food chains like Sonic, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, and Carl’s Jr., across the nation. He confirmed that this is indeed still a goal of the company, but that the pandemic had an effect on the company’s ability to scale throughout foodservice channels. As the world begins to open back up, Eclipse will take a two-pronged approach to scale in both retail and foodservice channels.

When I first went vegan, I remembered only having a minuscule selection of vegan ice cream to choose from in the average grocery store. Now, there almost seems to be as many alternative dairy ice creams as there are traditional dairy options in the frozen aisle. However, Eclipse claims to be a direct replacement for ice cream, rather than an alternative like most other brands. Perfect Day is another startup with this same mentality, though it uses a different method — a fermented strain of yeast — than Eclipse to create its ice cream.

Eclipse’s new ice cream flavors will be available through the company’s website and in select grocers and retailers starting this June. Additionally, the company is currently available in locations predominantly on the east and west coasts, but will soon expand to differnt regions of the U.S.