Future Food

February 20, 2020

Future Food: Personalizing the Alt-Protein Revolution

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Subscribe to get the most important news about alternate and plant-based foods directly in your inbox!

Right now at The Spoon, we’ve all got personalization on the brain. That’s because we’re in the final sprint towards Customize, our food personalization summit happening in NYC one week from today, on February 27. (Want one of the last remaining tickets? Use code SPOON15 to get 15 percent off.)

So it’s pretty natural that I’ve been marinating on how personalization could affect the alternative protein space in the future. Here are a few thoughts:

Nutrition
I recently tried out GenoPalate, a service that gives you personalized nutrition recommendations based on your DNA. My end report stated that, for me, a high protein diet would lead to “reduced waist circumference,” AKA weight loss. It also gave me a list of my “ideal” protein types, including eel, chicken liver, and tofu.

I’m a vegetarian, so the first two proteins on that list aren’t especially relevant. But the report nonetheless got me thinking about how these personalized nutrition services could promote alternative protein consumption, especially amongst folks that are trying to avoid meat for health reasons. As these platforms get more sophisticated, they could sync up with your specific diet (pescetarian, vegan, flexitarian, etc.) to recommend plant-based proteins that are the ideal fit for your health goals — high-protein, low fat, low sodium, etc.

3D Printing
In order to accurately replicate the texture of whole muscle cuts of meat (e.g., steak, chicken breast), some companies, like NovaMeat and Redefine Meat, are turning to 3D printing.

The technology is still in the R&D phase, but down the road it could open possibilities for serious plant-based meat customization. Do you like your “steak” thin-cut and tender? You can print it out that way. Maybe a restaurant is trying to create chicken breasts that are shaped a certain way for a high-end dish. Set the printing specifications and go.

Because while you can’t make cows or chickens grow meat in a certain shape or texture — at least not without a couple hundred generations of breeding — 3D printing technology could allow everyone from foodservice establishments to individuals to create their own custom alt-meats.

Cultured
Cultured (or cell-based) meat also has a lot of potential for customization — though none of it will happen for a while yet. Cultured meat is not even available on the market, but for the sake of argument let’s project into the future:

Say a restaurant is looking for an especially tender cut of beef that is also low in cholesterol. Or they want a super-fatty piece of beef for an especially indulgent dish. That might be tricky to do with meat from a cow, which has biological constraints and also takes much longer to create. However, with cell-based meat, a scientist could theoretically tweak a formula to make exactly what’s needed with a much quicker turnaround than actually raising an animal. This opens up some real possibilities for customized protein.

Okay, so the idea of hyper-personalized protein is pretty futuristic. But there’s plenty of time to develop it. After all, we’re currently in the midst of the plant-based revolution — and just at the forefront of the cell-based one. Once these technologies become more mainstream (and affordable), the possibilities for customized protein could become a lot less out-there and a lot more feasible.

An argument for plant-based burgers

This week nutrition scientist Dr. PK Newby wrote a guest post for The Spoon outlining all the reasons why meatless burgers are not only beneficial for the planet but also a strategic business play for restaurants.

It’s a pretty inspirational post. But to me, Dr. Newby’s most intriguing point was the sheer heat that plant-based burgers are attracting because of their newfound popularity. We’ve already seen widespread criticism in the form of negative SuperBowl ads, online smear campaigns, and even lawsuits against vegan meat and dairy alternatives.

“Novel food technologies will always have haters,” writes Dr. Newby in her article. As the popularity of plant-based meat grows, those haters will likely become more vocal. But what shape will their protests take, and how much will they threaten the growth of meat alternatives?

Keep an eye on this newsletter to find out.

Protein ’round the web

White Castle will start offering vegan cheese on March 1st to complement its Impossible Slider (h/t VegNews).
Is insect fat a viable butter replacement? Food & Wine says… maybe.
Israeli startup Equinom raised $10 million to develop higher-protein seeds, like pea and sesame.

I’ll miss you all next Thursday since I’ll be busy moderating panels and networking at Customize. I’d love to see you there — get your tickets now and come hang in NYC!

Eat well,
Catherine

February 17, 2020

Will Blue Apron’s New Meal Prep Kits Help The Company Get Out of Its Rut?

Beleaguered meal kit company Blue Apron is making yet another attempt to boost declining sales with a new service: meal prep kits.

The new kits come with everything you need to prepare four meals for two people (so eight meals in total). It takes 1.5 to 2 hours to make the components of all the meals, which are meant to be packed away into containers to be reheated or eaten chilled throughout the week.

Blue Apron has four prep kit options: Signature, Carb Conscious, Pescetarian and Multi-Cooker. They shake out to around $72 per box, or $8.99 per serving. The kits don’t come with containers, and the website notes that you’ll need 16 storage vessels to hold your food and sauces (eight large, eight small).

The prep kits are already available to people in select states on the East Coast with a planned delivery date for February 24. Blue Apron will expand their availability nationwide later this year.

You have to give Blue Apron kudos — it’s experimented tirelessly to come up with ways to revitalize its struggling business. So far the company has teamed up with Beyond Meat and Weight Watchers, and last year it even started offering same-day delivery. So far, none of these have done too much to jump start sales for Blue Apron, which reported a 35 percent slump in Q3 of 2019.

So could these meal prep kits finally be a win for the company? I actually think it has a better chance than, say, incorporating Beyond Meat into their menus. Meal prepping is a growing trend and it’s definitely more convenient to get all the ingredients to make four different meals send right to your door.

But even with the prep kits, Blue Apron will still face two big issues: inconvenience and price. Setting aside two full hours to prep four days’ worth of meals may be a smart time investment, but it’s still kind of a long time — especially for those who aren’t very cooking-savvy. And what if you end up going out for lunch or don’t want to reheat that salmon you cooked four days ago? The prepped meals will also cost around $8 per serving, which is not markedly less than grabbing a sandwich or deli salad.

Long story short, while the meal prep kits are an interesting bid, I don’t think they’re enough to entice new consumers to try Blue Apron — or keep them coming back. Then again, 93 million Americans are meal kit curious, so there’s definitely a market out there. If they want to tap into those potential customers, I think Blue Apron would be better off following in the footsteps of other meal kit companies and selling its kits (meal prep or otherwise) in retail, instead.

February 14, 2020

This Swiss Company Can Now 3D Print Tons of Personalized Chocolate

It’s February 14, which means there’s a good chance you’ll give or receive chocolate at some point today. The chances that that chocolate will be 3D printed? Slim to nil.

But all that could soon change thanks to Barry Callebaut AG, a company that makes roughly one-fourth of all the world’s chocolate, including that used by well-known brands like Hershey’s and Nestlé. According to a press release from the Swiss corporation, it will work with gourmet clients to let them print personalized chocolate designs en masse through Mona Lisa, its chocolate decoration brand. In short — Barry Callebaut will help brands print customized chocolate creations.

Business partners can develop their own custom designs and specify size parameters for their chocolate. They’ll then share those with Barry Callebaut, which will print the custom chocolates in large quantities at its Mona Lisa 3D Studio. Barry Callebaut can print thousands of a particular design succession thanks to its new 3D printing tech, which keeps melted chocolate at the perfect temperature for speedy printing.

Chocoholics will have to wait a while before they can buy these 3D printed creations in stores, though. Barry Callebaut will first work with high-end clients, like hotels, pastry chefs and coffee chains. Its first customer will be Dutch hotel chain Van der Valk. Down the road, Barry Callebaut will open up its tech to use with manufacturers such as Nestlé and Hershey.

For aspiring chocolatiers who don’t want to wait, there are some home options. Mycusini is a countertop chocolate printer (though it’s only available in Europe). The Mayku Formbox lets you print DIY chocolate molds at home. And while it’s not available yet, but the Cocoterra lets you make bean-to-bar chocolate right in your kitchen.

Barry Callebaut’s tech is perfectly situated to tap into a trend we at the Spoon have been seeing everywhere lately: personalization. The chocolate-maker can’t produce individualized chocolates for every person, obviously — the Mona Lisa 3D Studio will be printing chocolates on a large scale. But with this new 3D printing service, businesses can get more creative with their sugary marketing and branding efforts. For example, Starbucks could make a line of hot chocolate sticks (it’s a thing!) in the shape of their signature coffee cups. Or your favorite hotel line could make pillow chocolates shaped like pillows!

As consumer demand for personalization grows, CPG companies are hustling to figure out how to tap into the trend — even when manufacturing in massive quantities. In fact, that’s one of the questions we’ll be tackling at Customize, our food personalization summit happening in NYC on February 27th! If you want to come, use code SPOON15 to grab 15 percent off your tickets.

February 6, 2020

Ice Cream by Air! Unilever Tests Ben and Jerry’s Drone Delivery

In the future, when I have an ice cream craving, I won’t need to put on pants to walk across the street for a pint — I’ll just open the window and a drone will be waiting for me with some frozen treats.

This scenario is likely years away, but Unilever took a step toward that vision with a successful drone delivery test of Ben and Jerry’s, according to a press release issued this week. The company, partnering with Terra Drone Europe, demoed the drone delivery of three Ben & Jerry’s mini cups to a predetermined destination inside Unilever’s U.S. headquarters during its annual investor event.

The demo was part of Unilever’s Ice Cream Now service, which launched in 2017. The program uses apps such as UberEats to deliver sweet treats to customers using gas station and convenience store freezers as distribution points. There are at least 900 pickup points across the U.S., The Tampa Bay Times reports. The location and timeline of any commercial ice cream drone delivery roll out has not been determined yet, a spokesperson for Terra Drone told The Spoon.

“With regulations around future drone flights expected to become more flexible, the consumer goods company is preparing for a drone logistics service that will deliver products to more customers faster,” according to the press release.

The race is on to develop delivery drones. Uber unveiled its delivery drone last year and plans to test it this summer in San Diego. Amazon has been at work at its own drone program and patented tech that would charge drones in mid-air. Israeli tech company Flytrix has conducted drone deliveries in Reykjavik, Iceland, as well as a North Dakota golf course.

The big hurdle for drones isn’t so much the technology, but regulation, and if that’s ever cleared, a pint of non-dairy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough will be flying my way.

February 5, 2020

This Alternative Sweetener Is Made From Upcycled Apples and Pears

Overconsumption of sugar is responsible for illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, a problem that’s hard to avoid because American food is full of the stuff. Many people and companies lean on alternatives to avoid sugar, but while research has proven that consumption of aspartame, sucralose and others is safe, many people have concerns about them. Stevia is another sugar alternative that’s made from leaves, but its odd aftertaste disqualifies it for use in many products.

This conundrum in the multi-billion-dollar sweetener industry presents an opportunity for Fooditive, which hopes to provide another option that is not only natural, but also reduces food waste. The Netherlands-based startup’s sweetener is made through a fermentation process that extracts fructose from apples and pears sourced from Dutch farmers that have brown spots or off colors and can’t be sold in stores, Fast Company reports. The company, founded by food scientist Moayad Abushokhedim, has also developed carrot waste into a preserving agent for soups, sauces and bakery items, as well as thickening agents made from banana skins and emulsifiers from potato extracts.

The company is following a B2B model and will distribute the sweetener to food and beverage companies across the Netherlands. There’s no word on when it will go on sale to the general public, although the company’s website says online ordering will be coming soon. Fooditive said it has plans to expand to Sweden, the U.K. and Abushokhedim’s native Jordan.

While Fooditive’s sweetener is novel, using food and food scraps that would otherwise be discarded is part of a growing trend of so-called upcycled foods. Other companies with this model include Barnana, which turns misshapen and over ripened bananas into snacks, ReGrained, a maker of bars made from spent grain leftover from brewing beer, and Sir Kensington, a vegan mayo maker that uses chickpea liquid.

Aside from introducing alternatives, companies are also introducing ways to “improve” sugar so we don’t need to consume too much of it. There’s DouxMatok, which aims to make the sugar we already consume hit our tongues more efficiently, and Nutrition Innovation, a technology company using near-infrared scanning to better refine sugar.

Startups are approaching the issue of humanity’s dangerous sugar addiction from multiple angles, so thankfully there are plenty of sweet solutions emerging.

January 30, 2020

Future Food: A Rollercoaster Week for Beyond Meat

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Subscribe to get the most important news about alternate and plant-based foods directly in your inbox!

You win some, you lose some. That’s how you could sum up news this week for Beyond Meat.

The plant-based protein company announced yesterday that it would begin selling meatless fried “chicken” at more than 70 KFC locations in Charlotte, NC and Nashville, TN. This news comes roughly five months after the viral success of KFC’s one-day test of Beyond Fried Chicken at a store in Atlanta, GA.

It’s not surprising that KFC is rolling out Beyond Meat chicken at more locations. The Atlanta test drew huge crowds, attracted tons of media attention, and sold out in under five hours. Clearly there’s a demand for plant-based poultry in fast-food.

What surprised me more is how long it took KFC to begin expanding the Beyond Fried Chicken. The test was so popular, I thought that KFC/Beyond would move quickly to roll out the product, much like Burger King did after the success of the Impossible Whopper.

But then I read that the new locations will be selling Version 2.0 of the “chicken,” which is meant to look, taste, and — most importantly — pull apart like chicken breast. While the Atlanta test drew huge crowds, reviews of the actual product were pretty lackluster. Since this fried chicken is a new product for Beyond, it makes sense that they would take a step back and do some additional R&D before rolling out on a bigger scale. Especially since once the novelty wears off, they have to rely on taste alone to keep attracting buyers.

Overall I think the Beyond Fried Chicken could be a huge win for both sides of the relationship. I haven’t tried the new-and-improved plant-based chicken yet, but it’s already garnered some positive reviews. If the new rollout can continue to draw in consumers — even at a fraction of the Atlanta test — things are looking pretty golden for the Beyond Fried Chicken.

Beyond Meat at Tim Horton’s [Photo: Tim Horton’s]

But that “if” is far from guaranteed, as is shown by some not-so-favorable news this week also concerning Beyond Meat. The day before the KFC announcement Canadian QSR chain Tim Horton’s stated that it had removed Beyond Meat’s products from all of its locations. Back in September the chain cut Beyond’s burgers from menus except in two provinces. Now they’re gone completely.

Tim Horton’s hasn’t completely closed the door on meatless meat, though. “We may offer plant-based alternatives again in the future, but we have removed it from the menu for now,” a spokesperson told Reuters. Maybe they’ll try again with a local alternative meat supplier, like Lightlife, which is owned by Canadian company Maple Leaf Foods (ironically the brand that KFC Canada used during its one-day test of plant-based chicken back in November!).

The Tim Horton’s rise and fall goes to show that just because Beyond Meat (or any plant-based meat) makes its way onto a fast-food menu, doesn’t mean it’s going to stay there. There are still a lot of pitfalls for meatless meat in QSR’s: production capacity, consumer acceptance, and pricing, for starters. When it comes to fast-food, Beyond Meat — and alternative protein as a whole — still has a lot of work to do. Developing improved product iterations is a good start.

Spices derived from crickets. Photo: Orchestra Provisions

So… are we ready to eat bugs?
In last week’s Future Food I asked the question: Should we give up on trying to make people eat bugs? Since that’s such a buzzy question (pun intended), we dove further into that topic on this week’s episode of the Food Tech Show.

You can listen to the full thing here, but overall I was surprised by how split the Spoon team was on the idea of eating creepy-crawlies. When it comes to tasting newfangled foods we’re a pretty open-minded bunch. So if you can’t even convince folks like us to give crickets a chance, how are you going to convince the average consumer who doesn’t spend all of their free time exploring what’s next in food?

We didn’t solve the whole “should we keep trying to make people eat bugs?” question in the thirty-minute podcast. But we did conclude that if insects had a prayer of entering the Western diet in a serious way, it would have to be as a ground-up powder; selling people on the idea of eating things with wings and antennae is just too buggy.

Protein ’round the web

Trader Joe’s now has its own meatless meat burger! GroceryDive reports that “Protein Patties” are made from pea protein and beets and a 2-pack costs $4.49.
Starbucks will release a breakfast sandwich featuring a plant-based patty sometime this year. Which brand will it be? That’s TBD.
Denny’s is adding Beyond Meat burgers to menus of all of its 1,700 locations nationwide (h/t VegNews).
Four in ten Americans have at least tried plant-based meat, according to a Gallup poll.

Finally, who else wants to try this bacon scratch-n-sniff patch, which is supposed to curb carnivorous cravings?

Eat well,
Catherine

January 29, 2020

KFC Commences Rollout of Beyond Fried Chicken with New Iteration

KFC announced today that it was expanding the test locations of plant-based Beyond Fried Chicken. Starting on February 3, select KFC locations in Charlotte, NC and Nashville, TN areas will offer Beyond Meat’s vegan fried chicken. It will be on menus through February 23, or as long as supplies last.

This news comes roughly five months after KFC debuted the Beyond Fried Chicken sandwich during a one-day test in Atlanta, GA. To say that the test was a success is a bit of an understatement — it drew lines around the block and sold out in less than five hours.

Since then, Beyond hasn’t just been sitting around twiddling their thumbs — according to the press release, the Charlotte and Nashville markets will actually roll out a new-and-improved iteration of the Beyond Fried Chicken. The plant-based chicken 2.0 is apparently more closely resembles the real thing, and also “pulls apart like a chicken breast.”

This last part is especially important since texture is a huge issue for plant-based meats, particularly for whole muscle cuts like steak and — you guessed it — chicken breast. Beyond Meat may have attracted flexitarians with its burger, but chicken is a different, and more challenging, ball game. Beyond knows it only has one shot make a first impression for its plant-based bird, which is likely why it’s being so cautious (and gradual) in its rollout.

Interestingly, the new locations will offer a more streamlined plant-based menu than the Atlanta test. Charlotte and Nashville will sell Beyond Fried Chicken pieces in four and 12-piece a la carte and combo options. Atlanta, however, offered wings and nuggets, but not whole fried chicken pieces. Pricing for the new locations has not yet been disclosed.

It may be moving slowly, but KFC is definitely invested in the plant-based meat movement. And not just in the U.S. In November KFC Canada did a one-day test of a meatless fried chicken sandwich featuring Lightlife “chicken,” though it has yet to announce a rollout schedule. I think that KFC is smart to get a chicken alternative on its menu before its bird-loving QSR competitors like Chick-fil-A and Popeye’s join the party.

If you’re in one of the lucky areas to get the Beyond Fried Chicken, make sure to drop us a line and let us know how it tastes!

January 24, 2020

Alt-Protein Accelerator Big Idea Ventures Is Taking Applications for Its Next Cohort

Alt-protein startups, take note. Big Idea Ventures, an accelerator focusing specifically on the future of protein, is currently taking applications for its next cohort, which has locations in New York City and Singapore.

Part startup accelerator, part venture fund, Big Idea Ventures (also known simply as BIV) looks for companies making plant-based food products, exploring cellular agriculture, or coming up with new ingredients that could pave the way for more animal-free proteins in the food industry. For the $5.2 billion alt-protein space, creating a standout product will become more challenging for companies over the next decade as more versions of non-dairy cheese, plant-based seafood, and lab grown burgers come to market.

The two programs run concurrently. Ten companies are chosen for each, with both programs lasting five months long. Participants get a $125,000 cash investment and a $75,000 in-kind investment, as well as office space, mentorship opportunities, test kitchen facilities, and other resources. There is also potential for BIV to invest more in a company after the program wraps.

The overarching goal, as we noted last year, is to help companies identify and overcome challenges in their business, from finding the right mix of ingredients to getting a product to market and distribution. Companies interested in applying should already have an initial product that’s ready to scale.

“Agriculture and animal farming is one of the largest contributors to global warming. If we can move people towards a more plant-centric diet that are delicious and easy choices to make, that’s going to have an impact,” Andrew D. Ive, Managing General Partner at BIV, told me last year.

As to differences between the two programs, there aren’t many. Part of the reason BIV chooses to host a program outside North America is so that it can connect startups to the right food producers, co-packers, and distributors, and also address some of those cultural nuances and preferences needed for companies to be appealing on a global level. For example, plant-based pork is far more likely to be a success in Asian markets over something like a Beyond burger. “If we’re gonna do this, we need to take into consideration what people eat on a regular basis,” Ive said.

BIV is taking applications for both NYC and Singapore. The final deadline is March 2, 2020, with the Cohort slated to kick off in May.

January 24, 2020

Future Food: Cultured Meat is Gaining Major $$$, and Should We Give Up on Insects?

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Memphis Meats, the Berkeley-based cellular agriculture company that famously grew the world’s first cell-based meatball in 2016, announced this week that it had raised an eye-popping $160 million dollar Series B round. That’s more than had been raised by the entire cellular agriculture and aquaculture space up to now. It also brings Memphis Meats’ total funding to over $180 million.

In some ways, this massive infusion of cash makes sense. Over the past few years cell-based meat and seafood has gone from futuristic vision to actually feasible reality. Cultured meat and seafood companies have demonstrated their potential though recent culinary demos and a spate of partnerships with large ingredient companies. Some have even released plans for giant production facilities that can churn out millions of pounds of cell-based meat per year.

But the key word here is plans. It’s notable that a company which has yet to bring a product to market — and could potentially never do so affordably or on a large scale — has raised such an eye-popping amount of cash. Even though it’s been given a vote of confidence by big-name investors like Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Tyson Foods.

We’re living in a time when investors are throwing cash at any startup that claims to be “disruptive,” with decidedly mixed results. Interestingly, Softbank, which recently went through its WeWork ordeal, led the Series B funding round for Memphis Meats. So is cell-based meat at risk of the same boom-and-bust cycle we’ve seen with other high-tech startups?

Frustratingly, without a product to market, it’s too early to say. I, however, am optimistic about the future of cultured meat and seafood. Studies indicate that one-third of U.S. consumers are open to trying cultured meat. That’s nowhere near the viral popularity of plant-based protein, but as cell-based meat becomes more commonplace — and proves that the product can be as tasty as the real thing — those numbers could rise.

One safe bet is that we can prepare to see a lot more funding funneling into cell-based meat and seafood. Now the pressure is on for those companies to put it to good use by actually getting a tasty product to market.

Should we stop bugging people to eat bugs?
Cultured meat may still be years away from our plate, but insects are ready to hop right on as our new source of alternative protein.

The question is, Will we (meaning Western consumers) ever get over our aversion to bugs and embrace the idea of eating them? The Spoon’s Head Editor Chris Albrecht pointed out a tweet from Mike Bird of the Wall Street Journal that basically said we should give up on insects. People just flat-out don’t want to eat them. I kinda agree.

https://twitter.com/Birdyword/status/1220360879021015041?s=20

I’ve bought cricket chips and tried roasted grasshopper occasionally in the past, but am I ready to make bugs an everyday dietary staple? No way.

I feel pretty guilty about that. We’ve all heard the preaching about how eating bugs is good for the environment, a healthy choice, and can be downright tasty. They’re available everywhere from high-class restaurants to protein bars. They’re even sold at baseball stadiums, for goodness’ sake!

But no matter how much we know we should learn to love insects, I’m skeptical it will ever happen. At least as long as we can see the insects that we’re eating. Maybe the solution is to double down on insect-infused spices and protein powder, which lets you forget you’re eating things with wings and antennae.

Or maybe, like Bird points out, it’s just time to give up. Let’s leave the bugs outside and focus on making protein from plants and animal cells, instead.

Protein Around the Web

TurtleTree Labs, a Sinagpore-based company growing lactating mammary gland cells in a lab (which produce milk!), secured an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding.
Sweet Earth Foods (owned by Nestlé) will begin selling its plant-based meats at so-called ‘Vegetarian Butcher’ deli counters at select supermarkets (h/t VegNews).
JUST is releasing a pre-made frozen vegan omelet made from mung beans, which will be sold in grocery stores and foodservice.

Eat well,
Catherine

January 23, 2020

Dye Another Day: Michroma Makes Sustainable Food Coloring through Fungi Fermentation

Be it Red 40 or Yellow 6, food dyes are hiding in a surprising number of food and bev products on your local grocery shelf. Sometimes these dyes are made from natural ingredients like beet juice, turmeric, or even bugs (which means they’re not vegan, and also kinda gross). But natural dyes aren’t as vibrant or heat-resistant as their artificial counterparts, which are typically made from petroleum (also gross).

Michroma, a new company currently participating in science accelerator IndieBio, is out to recast the food dye industry. The startup is developing a platform to create dyes through fermentation, specifically mushroom root fermentation. Michroma scientists use CRISPR to edit the genes in particular strains of fungi so that when they’re placed in a bioreactor they secrete vibrant, colorful dyes.

Ricky Cassini and Mauricio Braia founded the company a year ago in Argentina before moving to San Francisco for IndieBio. Cassini, who is the CEO, told me over the phone this week that Michroma has raised $250,000 from IndieBio and previously raised $200,000 in Argentina.

According to Cassini, Michroma’s fermentation process could usher in a more sustainable production method for food dyes. In addition to being free from stuff like petroleum and crushed-up bugs, Michroma’s dyes are incredibly scalable to produce since the funghi require very little light, space and energy. Cassini also told me that their fermented dyes are significantly more heat-resistant than plant-derived natural dyes.

Michroma is currently focused on developing red dye. The company can already make orange and yellow. Next up it’ll tackle blue, green and black food colorings.

For now, the startup is creating dyes at a lab scale and, according to Cassini, their products are already cost-competitive with plant- and insect-based dyes. Michroma will sell its dyes B2B to large food corporations (as well as cosmetic and pharma companies), but that won’t happen for a while yet. Cassini said that since their technology is new for food dye, they need to go through something called a “color additive petition” to have it recognized as safe to eat. That could take up to two years. By that time, Cassini said that the fermented dyes will cost around the same as those made with petroleum.

However, he’s hoping that it won’t take a full two years before they can start selling. If he’s right, maybe soon you’ll be able to scan the back of a bag of Dorito’s and see “fermented dye” listed instead of, you know, petroleum and bugs.

January 22, 2020

JUST to Launch Plant-based Omelet. Will It Attract Fast Food Partners?

Today, alternative protein company JUST announced its newest product: a pre-cooked plant-based omelet. The so-called “folded egg” will be made from mung beans, similar to JUST’s liquid eggless scramble.

I’m currently in the midst of Veganuary, so I’m personally bummed that JUST’s eggless omelet won’t be available until April. The new folded egg will be sold as boxes of four and will roll out in the freezer section of 5,000 retailers, including Whole Foods. They will also be sold in restaurants and other foodservice providers for the SRP of $4.99.

JUST’s original liquid egg is also getting a makeover. In May, the San Francisco-based startup will begin selling a new version of JUST Egg, which, according to a press release emailed to The Spoon, is “cleaner, creamier and more egg-like than many chicken eggs.” I’m not sure how an egg can be more egg-like than eggs, but having tasted JUST Egg myself recently, I can say there’s definitely room for some improvement in the flavor department.

This flurry of news comes just a few months after JUST announced it had acquired a manufacturing facility to turn up the dial on its production capacity. As a result, the company noted in the aforementioned press release that its liquid egg will undergo a price reduction to a $4.99 SRP.

As more and more fast-food and fast-casual chains begin testing out plant-based breakfast options, the time is ripe for a pre-made vegan egg patty. Unlike the JUST Egg scramble, which was already sold in the JUST frittata at Le Pain Quotidien last year, the folded option is premade and only needs to be heated up. The new omelet is more similar to the JUST Egg patty, which JUST’s Head of Global Communications Andrew Noyes told me is sold at more than half of JUST’s foodservice partners. IMHO, the fact that both the patties and the omelets are pre-made (just heat and serve) makes them a much a pretty appealing option for quick service restaurants.

In fact, I could see Dunkin’ adding the folded JUST Egg to its Beyond Sausage Breakfast Sandwich, or Burger King listing it as an option for its new Impossible Croissan’wich. JUST Egg could even fit the bill for Starbuck’s, which is reportedly looking to expand plant-based menu offerings.

The question will become whether or not JUST can produce enough mung bean eggs to meet the needs of a massive fast-food operator. Something tells me that before the end of the year, we’ll find out.

January 21, 2020

BlueNalu Partners with Nutreco to Advance Cell-based Fish ‘Feed’

BlueNalu, a cellular aquaculture company growing seafood in the lab, announced a partnership with Nutreco, one of the world’s largest fish feed companies, late last week.

Speaking with BlueNalu CEO Lou Cooperhouse at the time, he told me that working with Nutreco will help BlueNalu commercialize its cell-based seafood in two ways. First, BlueNalu can tap into Nutreco’s extensive knowledge of fish feed so that BlueNalu can optimize its media: the nutrient-dense “food” in which cell cultures are grown.

Though Nutreco currently focuses on feeding live fish, Cooperhouse said that their solution has very similar components to what BlueNalu uses to grow its fish cells in a lab. In fact, he claims that making food for cell cultures is even simpler. “If you’re feeding a living fish, they need certain ingredients to maintain skin, brain, etc,” he said. “But we’re only trying to feed cells that we need.” Think: muscle and fat cells.

Once BlueNalu brings its cell-based fish to market — which he hopes will be within two years — Cooperhouse said that Nutreco could also serve as a supply chain partner for media ingredients. BlueNalu will need a lot of feed; in five years, the startup plans build a massive facility that will produce a whopping 18 million pounds of cell-baased seafood per year.

Media (or cell food) is typically one of the most significant hurdles for cell-based meat and seafood companies. Extracting cells from an animal is cheap; it’s growing them to a significant number in a short time frame that’s the real challenge. Currently media is quite costly, which is why cell-based meat is so costly (it’s typically at least 10x more expensive than animal meat).

Other companies are trying to solve the cell culture feed issue. Canadian startup Future Fields is developing an animal-free media to sell to cellular agriculture companies; in Japan, Integriculture is developing its own B2B feed solution. Some cellular ag companies, like JUST, are developing their own plant-based media internally.

The partnership with Nutreco could give BlueNalu a leg up over other cultured seafood companies. Nutreco’s expertise and existing supply chain could help the cell-based fish startup develop more efficient growth media, and scale it more quickly when the time comes.

But the partnership isn’t just beneficial for BlueNalu. It will also give Nutreco an “in” to the cell-based meat space, where it will join other large ingredient suppliers like Merck and Cargill. Talk about a big fish in a small pond.

Future Food

Protein ’round the web

Protein ’round the web

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