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Food Tech News: DeliverZero Reduces Food Delivery Waste, N!ck’s Ice Cream Partners with Perfect Day

Welcome to our weekly Food Tech News round-up. This week, we have stories on DeliverZero’s waste-free food delivery, a partnership between N!ck’s Swedish Ice Cream and Perfect Day, changes to Albertson’s delivery fleet, and Daily Harvest’s new product.

DeliverZero uses reusable packing for food delivery

DeliverZero is a third-party food delivery service (like DoorDash or GrubHub) based in NYC, but what differentiates the company is its use of reusable packaging. When the food is delivered to customers, it arrives in reusable clamshell packaging made from BPA-free polypropylene plastic. Customers won’t have to worry about a pileup of reusable to-go containers, though. For each order they make, a delivery driver will also retrieve the previous order’s packaging and return it to the participating restaurant. If the packaging is not returned within six weeks, the customer gets charged $3.25.

At the moment, DeliverZero has partnered with over 100 restaurants in NYC. The company also announced that it will soon be expanding to Amsterdam and Chicago.

N!ck’s Swedish Ice Cream uses Perfect Day’s tech to create vegan ice cream

N!ck’s Swedish Ice Cream shared in a press release that it recently partnered with Perfect Day to produce several new vegan flavors. The company will use Perfect Day’s animal-free dairy proteins and a plant-based fat called EGP (N!ck’s has 14 patents for this) to create an ice cream that boasts a smooth and creamy texture. The new line will contain seven vegan flavors, will be keto-friendly, and contain no added sugars. Three flavors, Swedish Mint Chip, Choklad Choklad, and Karamell Swirl, are currently available for purchase on N!ck’s website, and one pint goes for $9.99. The rest of the flavors will be available on the website in February, and several undisclosed retailers will carry the ice cream in Spring 2021.

Albertsons will stop operating its own delivery fleet in several markets

Albertsons announced this week that it will stop using its own delivery fleet to fulfill grocery deliveries in several markets starting February 27, 2021. Which states and markets this will affect remains to be announced, though it was confirmed that California-based Albertsons, Vons, and Pavilions will cease using their own delivery fleets. The grocer will instead transition to using an undisclosed third-party delivery service. In the past, the company has used a combination of third-party delivery services like Instacart and Shipt with its own fleet. Due to the increase in home deliveries, the company said this transition will allow Albertsons to compete more effectively in the home delivery market.

Daily Harvest adds plant-based Mylk as an option

Daily Harvest is a trendy subscription service that targets millennials with delivered boxes of pre-made smoothies, bowls, and flatbreads. Now, the company has added a new product called “Mylk.” The plant-based milk comes in two flavors, vanilla and plain, and contains no artificial flavors, fillers, or gums. Interestingly, the almond milk does not come in liquid form, but rather a triangular cube that must be blended with water to create liquid almond milk. One order of almond Mylk costs $7.99 and makes eight 8-ounce servings.

Food Tech News: Virtual Restaurant Accelerator Progam Launch, Mycelium-Based Adidas Shoes

Welcome to our weekend wrap-up of food tech news from around the web.

Happy New Year! I am excited to both say goodbye to the most bizarre year of my life and share some Food Tech News with you. This week, some news pieces that stood out to us included a new accelerator program for virtual restaurants, Adidas shoes made from mycelium, a vegan-friendly Subway sub, and how you can support New York restaurants with a T-shirt.

An accelerator program for “pandemic-proof” virtual restaurants

The Melon Kitchen Food Entrepreneurship Accelerator will be opening a culinary program to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs to assist in the launch of new virtual restaurants. The program will begin in mid-January and take place at AMP (Artisinal Marketplace) in the tech district of Indianapolis. It is a free three-month program that will accept several cohorts consisting of five to seven participants. Through the use of ghost kitchens and delivery through DoorDash, the program aims to build “pandemic-proof” virtual restaurants. The marketplace will open to the public March 2021, and participants are eligible for start-up funding after the completion of the program.

Photo from Bolt Threads’ website

Adidas shoes made from mushroom leather

Adidas announced that they will be launching vegan-friendly shoes made from mycelium-based leather; mycelium is essentially the root system of mushrooms. To produce this new shoe, the company partnered with sustainable materials producer Bolt Threads, which created a mycelium-based leather called “Mylo“. It is currently unclear when the new Adidas shoes will be available for purchase.

Vegan chicken subs at Subway

Now available at Subways in the UK and Ireland, the T.L.C (tastes like chicken) Sub uses soy protein chicken strips to mimic the company’s classic roast chicken breast strips. The new sub will be fully vegan and will also use Violife vegan cheese. The new menu item was added on December 30th, and it is not yet determined if it will be a permanent menu item. Subways located in the UK permanently added a Beyond Meatball Marinara Sub this year, and last year the same sandwich was trialed in the US and Canada.

Morning News clothing company launches T-shirt to support NY restaurants

Clothing company Morning News launched a T-shirt to help struggling local restaurants in New York. The back of the 100 percent cotton T-shirt reads “Support Your Local Restaurants” in hopes of encouraging residents of the state to remember to do so. Additionally, 40 percent of the proceeds from T-shirts will be donated to restaurant owners and employees through ROAR (Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants). Big cities like NYC have experienced a greater number of closures due to the high cost of rent, and over 1,000 restaurants have permanently closed here since March 2020.

Plant-Based E-Commerce Site PlantX Expands To US and Israel

Vancouver-based PlantX, an e-commerce site for plant-based groceries, recently announced its expansion into the US and Israel as well as new brick-and-mortar locations. I had the opportunity to speak this week with Sean Dollinger and Alex Hoffman, the co-founders of PlantX, to discuss the details of the company’s expansion news.

PlantX launched this year and has been operating its e-commerce site in Canada, and now the service is expanding to sell groceries to consumers in the United States and Israel. To accommodate these new channels, the company will be opening brick-and-mortar stores that will serve as shipment fulfillment centers. The US location will be based in San Diego, California, while the Israel location is currently undisclosed.

Hoffman emphasized that the stores will be much more than a grocery store or fulfillment center though; their primary focus will be to provide a learning center that educates consumers on a plant-based diet. The physical location will also include onsite kitchens for meal delivery service and a coffee shop serving plant-based items. To encourage the continued use of its e-commerce site, PlantX customers can actually go shop in these physical locations and can use their phones to scan QR codes and have the groceries delivered to their house.

The demand for purchasing groceries online has certainly soared during the pandemic; online grocery shopping hit a record of $7.2 billion in sales over the summer. PlantX is among a number of smaller e-commerce sites for plant-based only products like GFTO it’s Vegan, Billion Vegans, and Vegan Essentials; however, none of these companies offer physical locations that customers can visit.

Dollinger said that it is the company’s goal to have a brick-and-mortar location in every country, enabling consumers to use the e-commerce site throughout the world. In addition to the main flagship locations in each country, PlantX will be opening smaller franchise locations that will serve as grocery stores, fulfillment centers, and learning centers sometime in the future.

Food Tech News: First Indoor Saltwater Hydroponic Farm + A Boozy Advent Calendar

It’s our weekend food tech wrap-up of stories you might have missed from around the web.

If you celebrate Christmas, we hope you enjoyed the holiday even if it looked a bit different this year. Maybe your loved ones gifted you something from The Spoon’s 2020 gift guide, and you’re busy playing around with your brand new Bonbowl or BEERMKR. Between new gift admiring and leftover cookie scarfing, we invite you to take time to catch up on some Food Tech News. This week we rounded up news on the first indoor saltwater hydroponic farm, Bombay Sapphire’s advent calendar, and a new vegan vending machine in Las Vegas.

Heron Farms is the first indoor saltwater hydroponic farm

Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Heron Farms uses the most plentiful resource on the planet, ocean water, to grow crops in an indoor hydroponic farm. This is apparently the first indoor saltwater hydroponic farm, and it is currently focused on growing sea beans. Sea beans have a crisp, crunchy texture with a flavor close to asparagus, and can be used in dishes such as salads and stirfries. The farm replaces freshwater, which is a resource being drained faster than its being replenished, and uses micronutrient-rich and abundant seawater to feed the crops.

Bombay Sapphire creates an advent calendar

Most advent calendars are filled with chocolate or candies and distributed at the start of December. Bombay Sapphire has partnered with the London Graphic Centre to provide an atypical boozy and artsy advent calendar that celebrates the days between Christmas and the new year. Behind each door of the calendar, there is some type of tool relevant to either making cocktails or art. The calendar comes with a cocktail-making guide, and behind each window of the calendar, there is a QR code that takes you to a website that provides videos and additional instructions.

Las Vegas is getting a vegan vending machine

The Vintage Vegan Diner in Las Vegas, Nevada has been doing catering, curbside pick-up, and delivery of its American-style vegan food since May of this year. The business will now be launching the city’s first vegan vending machine. The machine will contain the most popular dishes from the diner, including tofu bites, sliders, and cookie dough. The retro pink vending machine will pop-up at different areas throughout Las Vegas, eventually settling in one location.

China’s New Food Waste Tactic: Fining Restaurant Customers Who Order Too Much Food

Food waste is a global problem not limited to any country in particular, and it is estimated that around half the fruits and vegetables produced annually go to waste. In China alone, 35 million tons of food is wasted every year, with half of that occurring at retail and other consumer-facing places like restaurants. This week, news surfaced that the country has developed its own particular way of combatting that waste via new law that fines customers for leaving food on their plates at restaurants.

Xi Jinping, a politician and the paramount leader of China, recently submitted a law to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress that aims to reduce food waste in restaurants. The law would allow restaurants to charge customers who order too much food and leave leftovers on their plates (However, customers would still be able to take home leftovers).

It is currently unclear how much a restaurant could charge a customer. On the other hand, restaurants could be charged up to 10,000 yuan (roughly $1,500 USD) for offering deals that encourage customers to order excessive food. A third part of the law would impose the largest fee of 100,000 yuan (15,000 USD) for T.V. ads or shows and radio or online commercials that promote overeating (like “all you can eat” buffets, for example).

Xi Jinping has been targeting the issues of food waste for months now, with Operation Empty Plate launching this past summer. This operation banned the streaming of online videos of famous Chinese mukbangers, who are online performers that eat excessive amounts of food in one sitting. It also encouraged customers to order one less plate than the number of people in their party at family-style restaurant meals.

The most recent law submitted by Xi Jinping is still a draft, but it is deemed likely to pass. There are a handful of other countries using laws to prevent food waste. For example, in 2016, France banned supermarkets from throwing out edible food, and those who break this law can be charged  €3,750 ($4,500 USD) per infraction. A law passed in Italy in 2016 made it easier for food retailers to donate to food banks, even if the food was past its “best by” date. Five states in the U.S. have passed laws that helped keep food waste out of landfills by improving compost infrastructure and rescuing edible waste for consumption.

China’s potential new law cracks down harder than its original Operation Empty Plate, and the food waste fines are a new concept for the country. With our supersized everything, massive restaurant serving sizes, and the beloved all-you-can-eat buffets, it makes me wonder if the U.S. would ever be able to adopt any type of food waste laws countrywide. Food waste laws being implemented by countries are a recent development in the past few years, and it will be fascinating to see if other countries begin adopting laws in the upcoming years.

Food Tech News: A New Potato Preserving Technology, Zomato Closes $660M Round

If you need a break from COVID-19 and vaccine-related news, you’re in the right place. In this week’s Food Tech News, we rounded up pieces on a new technology that helps preserve potatoes, Zomato’s latest funding round, a holiday Pepsi flavor, and carbon-neutral oat milk.

Funding for potato preserving technology

Hazel Technologies received an undisclosed amount in grant money this week from the USDA for its new potato preserving technology. The technology is called Hazel Root, which looks like a small package and is placed in a bin of potatoes after harvesting. The small package emits an undisclosed active ingredient that prevents potatoes from prematurely sprouting. Prior to this new development, Hazel Technologies focused on preserving fresh fruits for longer and has received a total of $900,000 in grant money. Last year, the company also raised $13 million in funding in an oversubscribed series B round.

Zomato closes $660M series J funding round

Indian delivery service Zomato closed its series J funding round this week, totaling $660 million USD. The recent round saw participation from Kora, Tiger Global, Luxor, Fidelity, D1 Capital, Baillie Gifford, Mirae, and Steadview. Zomato is currently valued at $3.9 billion USD, and Deepinder Goyal, the CEO of Zomato, shared that the company may launch its IPO sometime in the first half of next year.

Cocoa Cola for Christmas

On Twitter this week, PepsiCo announced that a new flavor is in the works: “Cocoa Cola.” Pepsi said if its tweet reached 2,021 reposts, the company would begin production of the new flavor. As of now, that tweet has been reposted 4,400 times so far, so it’s safe to say the new drink will go into production. It will have tasting notes of chocolate, marshmallow, and the classic cola flavor, and is expected to reach stores sometime this winter. Near Thanksgiving this year, PepsiCo also released a holiday flavor: a limited batch of apple pie-flavored soda.

Carbon neutral oat milk

Minor Figures, a London-based company that produces oat milk, announced this week it has become carbon neutral. The company partnered with EcoFye, a firm that helps companies lower their carbon footprint and purchase carbon credit for carbon offsetting projects. Becoming carbon-neutral has been quite the buzzword this year, with major companies like Starbucks, Amazon, and Microsoft also making the pledge.

Pea, Soy, Fungi. We Break Down the Main Ingredients Used by Alt Protein Companies

Despite being bad in so many other ways, 2020 has been a huge year for alternative protein. According to the Good Food Institute, $1.5 billion has been invested in alternative protein companies in this year alone.

It can be difficult to keep track of all of the alternative protein companies and their innovations, and even more difficult to keep up with the main ingredients that are being used to create the products. So we decided to compile a list of the main ingredients being used by some of the biggest players in the alternative protein space to get a sense of what is actually coming to your plate. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it includes companies that have received a significant amount of funding this year and incorporate unique food technology into their products.

PEA PROTEIN – This legume-based protein contains nine essential amino acids, iron, and some B vitamins. Just a quarter cup of the pea protein contains 23 grams of protein.

  • Beyond Meat – Available throughout the US and now China, Beyond’s products include alternative burgers, sausages, breakfast links, patties, and ground meat.
  • Meatless Farm Co. This UK-based company launched in the US last year, and its alternative burgers, patties, links, and ground meat can be found in Whole Foods across the country.
  • Good Catch Foods – Available in grocery stores throughout the US and now Europe, Good Catch produces alternative tuna and other seafood products from pea protein and five other legumes.

FUNGI/MYCELIUM – There are a variety of fungi that can be used to produce an umami taste in alternative protein products. Mycelium is essentially the roots of mushrooms, and provide a fleshy texture similar to meat.

  • Prime Roots – Koji, a type of fungus, is the main ingredient in this company’s alternative bacon, chicken, pork, beef, and turkey products.
  • AtLast – Mycelium is the key ingredient in the company’s alternative bacon. The product’s launch will be sometime in 2021.
  • Nature’s Fynd – Fy Protein is the name of the company’s fermented fungi protein product which is derived from a Fusar­i­um strain flavolapis, a microbe found in Yellowstone National Park’s geothermal hot springs.

SOY PROTEIN – Seemingly the most common ingredient for alternative protein, soy has been used for years to create alternative protein products. Soy is high in protein with a neutral flavor, making it an easy ingredient to work with.

  • Impossible Foods – Impossible Foods uses heme iron extracted from plants to give its alternative burgers and ground meat its extremely realistic flavor and texture. The products are available in grocery stores, restaurants, and retailers throughout the US and Canada.
  • Omnipork – The company’s ground pork, luncheon meat, and strips were specifically developed for the Asian market. Although soy is the main ingredient, the products also contain a blend of mushrooms, pea protein, and rice protein.
  • daring – Available in grocery chains like Sprouts, Gelson’s, and Bristol Farms throughout the US, the company produces several varieties (lemon herb, breaded, Cajun, and original) of soy protein-based chicken pieces.
  • THIS – Based in the UK, THIS produces chicken chunks, nuggets, and bacon fortified with iron and B12.
  • V2food – This Australian-based company raised $55M this year for its alternative burgers and mince.

WHEAT PROTEIN – Wheat gluten, also called seitan, is typically extracted to use as an ingredient for alternative protein. Gluten is the protein in wheat that provides elasticity and strength in different doughs, and this helps form a diversity of meat analogs.

  • Very Good Butchers – This Canadian company makes a plethora of alternative protein products like roast beef, steaks, and ribs from vital wheat gluten and a variety of vegetables.

PEANUT PROTEIN – This is a newer ingredient in the alternative protein space, and there is only one company we know of using peanut protein as a main ingredient. Peanuts are a fatty, high protein legume that provide B vitamins, iron, and magnesium.

  • HaoFood – One of the recent finalists of the VWS Pathfinder competition, China-based HaoFood produces plant-based chicken products from peanut protein.

POTATOES – Not a major ingredient being used for alternative protein, but a potato is a versatile ingredient that contains vitamin C, potassium, iron, and fiber.

Know of another startup using a unique ingredient for its protein? Drop us a line and let us know.

Food Tech News: Fake Meat Capital of Europe, Plastic Made From Citrus Peels

It’s your weekend food tech news wrapup!

Plant & Bean Ltd. opens massive plant-based meat factory in Europe

Plant-based meat makers Plant & Bean opened a new factory in Boston, England. The factory is capable of producing 55,000 tons of alternative protein products, which will make Boston the faux-meat capital of Europe. The company uses soy as its main ingredient to produce a variety of different plant-based meats such as sausages, burgers, nuggets, and more. Plant & Bean is looking to continue to expand and open more factories, with potential factory locations opening in the next few years in the US, China, Thailand, and Brazil.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland creates plastic from produce

A new technology was developed at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland that uses agricultural waste to produce a more sustainable plastic, PEF (polyethylene furanoate). Agricultural waste such as citrus peels, sugar beet pulp, or other produce containing pectin can be used to develop the plastic. Fossil fuel-based plastic PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is commonly used for food and beverage packaging; according to the press release, replacing packaging with PEF would reduce the packaging’s carbon footprint by 50%.

Photo from Nestlé Japan

Whiskey barrel-aged Kit Kat bars to be released in Japan

Japan has released the most exciting flavors of Kit Kat bars over the years, with 400 different flavors like matcha, ube, yuzu, adzuki bean, and purple sweet potato to name a few. The newest flavor, a whiskey barrel-aged Kit Kat bar, will be released on December 15th in Japan. This new flavor was developed by Yasumasa Takagi, a pastry chef and former Iron Chef competitor The bar is made from Ghanaian cacao nibs that have been aged in Scotch whiskey barrels for 180 days, and will cost ¥300 ($2.88 USD).

Michael Jordan’s beer and snack- delivering drones

The Grove XXIII, Michael Jordan’s golf course that opened last year, now has drones that deliver boxes of beer and snacks to players. The drones bring beers in a box, while snacks come delivered in a brown paper bag. This new addition to the golf course allows golfers to avoid additional interactions with cashiers or employees.

Food Tech News: New Growth Medium for Cultured Meat, Pepsi’s Plastic-Free Promise

As winter quickly approaches, COVID-19 restrictions resurge and stay-at-home orders seem like they’re in the near future. If you’re like me, you might be trying to decide which new kitchen project you want to take on. I perfected my kombucha process in March and even experimented with alcoholic booch (it was terrible). Should I try my hand at vegan donuts or croissants this time around? Sauerkraut or kimchi?

With many of us being stuck indoors once again, it might be a perfect time to catch up on some Food Tech News. This week we have news on the development of a new growth medium for cultured meat cells, sustainable Pepsi bottle packaging, Good Catch’s expansion into Europe, and Subway’s new online catering platform.

Innovate UK funds development of new growth medium for cultured meat

Centre for Process Innovation and 3D Bio-Tissues, a start-up from Newcastle University, have partnered and received grant money from Innovate UK to make cultured meat animal-free while simultaneously reducing the cost of developing it. The project aims to replace the most common growth media used to culture animal cells, called fetal bovine serum (FBS). There is a morality issue with FBS, as it is extracted from slaughtered pregnant cows in the meat and dairy industry. The new serum will likely be developed from agro-industrial byproducts, which would then remove the use of animals and then solve the ethical issue that FBS poses.

Pepsi to go 100 percent plastic-free in several European markets by 2022

PepsiCo announced this week that it will be transitioning to use recycled post-consumer plastics for its Pepsi bottles in several European countries. By 2021, Spain, Greece, Poland, Germany, and Romania will have 100% rPET(recycled polyethylene terephthalate) Pepsi bottles. France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Great Britain will make the switch by 2022. The company estimates that this change will save around 70,000 tons of single-use plastic a year.

Good Catch expands to Europe

Good Catch, producers of plant-based seafood, expanded its products into the European countries of Spain and the Netherlands this week. The company’s vegan tuna, fish burgers, and crab cakes are now available in 70 different stores throughout the Netherlands and in the specialty chain Sanchez Romero in Madrid. This news follows Good Catch’s recent expansion into Canada in October and the launch of the company’s D2C platform last month.

Subway launches online catering platform

Subway announced the launch of its new online catering platform that is provided by ezCater, an online marketplace for business catering. The new platform aims to offer a convenient way to place large orders for employee lunches and company events. This new feature is now available at every Subway located in the US.

Food Tech News: Food Waste For Solar Energy, DoorDash Announces New Gifting Feature

Food waste used to produce solar energy

A recent winner of the Sustainability 2020 James Dyson Award, Carvey Maigue (a student at Mapúa University in the Philippines) created a technology that converts food waste into UV light-capturing windows and walls. The system, called AuReus, traps luminescent particles from certain fruits and vegetables (which would otherwise be wasted) in a resin substrate. The particles then absorb and reflect the light, and PV cells along the side of the walls and windows absorb this light. Lastly, the captured light is converted to DC electricity.

DoorDash announces new gifting feature

This week, DoorDash announced its new gifting feature for the holiday season. Users can now send favorite food items to friends and family located anywhere in the country through the app. To send a food gift, a user simply needs to enter the recipient’s address on the app, and then customize the order with a digital card. Not sure what to send? According to DoorDash, the most popular requests include french fries, burrito bowls, and cookies.

Ikea pledges to make 50% of menu items vegan

By 2025, Ikea’s goal is to make half of its menu items and 80 percent of its packaged meals vegan. The multinational chain already carries vegan items like meatballs, soft-serve, and hot dogs. After reading scientific reports and consumer research studies, the company aims to do its part in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions through providing foods with a lower carbon footprint.

UK Pizza Huts adds Christmas Pizza

Do you think that pineapple on a pizza is a weird topping? I personally think traditional Christmas dishes as pizza toppings might triumph over pineapple for being even stranger. Pizza Hut locations in the UK are now carrying a Christmas pizza, which includes shredded chicken, bacon, sage & onion stuffing, and a red wine gravy. The pizza is available now and until supplies last.

Food Tech News: $45M Raised for Mycelium Leather, Pistachio Milk Launches in U.S.

With COVID-19 cases spiking once again and winter creeping in, today might be the perfect time to get cozy and catch up on some Food Tech News. This week we have stories on mycelium leather, pistachio milk, a seasonal Pepsi flavor, and a line of formal wear created by your favorite stuffing brand.

MycoWorks raises $45m Series B round

MycoWorks raised a $45m Series B funding round this week, led by WTT Investment and DCVC Bio. New investors include two celebrities, John Legend and Natalie Portman, as well as Valor Equity Partners, Humboldt Fund, and Gruss & Co. MycoWorks makes an animal-free leather from mycelium, which is essentially the root system of mushrooms. In addition to the funding news, the company announced the opening of a new manufacturing plant in Emeryville, California. This funding round will be used to open several more manufacturing plant locations.

Táche launches “first true” pistachio milk

Táche, a New York-based startup, made its pistachio milk available for purchase this week. The milk is the first to be made purely from pistachio nuts and is free of other nuts and added oils; the milk also comes in a sweetened and unsweetened version. During the past few months, the company has raised $1.1 million through angel investors and friends, with one notable investor being the former CEO of Stonyfield Farms. A 32-ounce carton of Táche’s pistachio milk costs $7.99, and customers can purchase a six-pack of the milk on the company’s website. The milk is also available in some coffee shops and cafes in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and California.

Pepsi releases limited addtion apple pie flavor

Pepsi’s release of this seasonal special aims to emulate all of the goods things in a fresh-baked apple pie: cinnamon, a buttery crust, and warm apples. The company wanted to provide an option for those who don’t have baking skills but want to enjoy the flavors of an apple pie. However, there is a catch; not everyone can get their hands on a bottle of this limited-edition soda. In order to enter for a chance to receive a free 2-liter bottle, participants must share a photo of their baking fails on Twitter or TikTok with the hashtag #PepsiApplePieChallenge.

Stove Top creates a line of formal wear for Thanksgiving

Stove Top, a brand of Kraft Heinz known for it’s packaged stuffing mixes, created a line of formal wear for Thanksgiving. The line includes items such as “Stufflinks” (featured above), a stuffing-print shawl, and a headband. Surprisingly, many of the items have sold out already, with the exception of the $30 crushed velvet jacket with a stuffing print lining. The line of formal wear can be found on LetsGetStuffy.com.

Anova Launches New Line of Plastic Neutral Vacuum Sealer Bags

Sous vide specialist Anova announced they had launched a new line of plastic neutral vacuum seal bags through a partnership with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise focused on reducing the amount of plastic entering the waste stream. Companies within the Plastic Bank program become plastic neutral goal through the purchase of plastic reduction offset credits from the Plastic Bank, which use the funds to reclaim ocean-bound plastic and recycle it. Anova’s new bags also feature an accelerated degradation additive so they break down faster when exposed to air and light.

Food Tech News: Potato-based Chicken R&D, Good Catch Launches D2C Platform

If you’re reading this week’s Food Tech News, that means we’ve made it past Friday the 13th, 2020. Congrats! A few stories stood out to us this week, including potato-based chicken alternative development, Good Catch’s D2C platform, and a funding announcement in AI-driven vertical farming.

Large Nordic chicken producer invests in potato-based, chicken alternative

Scandi Standard, the largest producer of chicken in Nordic countries, announced this week its partnership and investment in Veg of Lund, which is a producer of bottled plant-based smoothies. It seems like an unlikely duo, but Veg of Lund has patented its smoothie base of potato and rapeseed oil, which will be used to create the plant-based chicken alternative. The meat producer has invested in a two-year research project to create the chicken alternative, with the investment totaling SEK 4 million (approximately $460K USD).

Good Catch & Alpha Foods now offer home-delivery

Good Catch Foods, producers of plant-based seafood, and Alpha Foods, a plant-based meat company, have now made its products available direct to consumers. The home delivery service can be used by those based in the USA. Consumers can purchase plant-based tuna made from a blend of legumes directly from Good Catch’s website. The company’s other products are not yet available for home delivery, and there is a three tuna pouch minimum order requirement.

On Alpha Food’s website, consumers can purchase plant-based chicken nuggets, burritos, and pouches of “beef” crumbles. The company’s products are sold in bundle packages, with the option of reoccurring shipments every month.

Good Catch and Alpha Foods join companies like Beyond, PepsiCo, Impossible, and many other brands in launching its own D2C platform.

Swegreen secures funding for AI-driven vertical farming

Swedish-based Swegreen and research partners have received an investment totaling 9.1 million Swedish Krona (approximately $1.05M USD) from Vinnova. Research partners include Mälardalen University and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, and the three entities will be working together to continue to develop Swegreen’s AI-platform for vertical farming. Swegreen additionally aims to advance the digital supply chain and achieve climate neutrality through its urban food production.