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Future Food

January 15, 2020

General Mills Invests in Good Catch’s $32M Series B to Expand Plant-based Seafood

Today Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch plant-based seafood, announced it has closed a $32 million Series B round. Led by Stray Dog Capital and Rocana Ventures, other participants included Greenleaf Foods, New Crop Capital, Almanac Investments, CPT Capital and 301 INC (the venture arm of General Mills).

Good Catch’s plant-based tuna — made with 6 different plant proteins and algal oil — is currently available at 4,500 retail locations in the U.S., including Whole Foods. It will be moving into the U.K. market over the next few weeks.

This Series B builds on a $10 million convertible note round that Gathered Foods closed back in June 2019. Combined with its $8.7 million Series A, which it announced in August 2018, the New York-based startup has raised just under $41 million.

According to a press release, the net proceeds from the investment will go towards expanding Good Catch’s retail footprint across North America and Europe, as well as a push into Asia. The company will also use its fresh capital to develop new products — like the line of frozen entrées and vegan “crab” cakes it had previously teased for release later this year.

Just after news of the convertible note broke last year, Chris Kerr, co-founder and CEO of Gathered Foods, told NOSH that their upcoming larger round would include a “game changing” new investor.

That’s got to be 301 INC. The Good Catch investment is not the CPG giant’s first foray into the plant-based marketplace. 301 INC has already invested in Kite Hill, maker of animal-free dairy products, and vegan protein bar startup no cow. They were also an early investor in a little old company called Beyond Meat.

301 INC’s investment in Gathered Food certainly beefs up the CPG giant’s plant-based portfolio. It could also offer significant benefits to Good Catch; the startup will be able to leverage General Mills’ manufacturing expertise, R&D resources and retail relationships to accelerate new product development and gain placement on more grocery shelves.

Alternative seafood will also have the chance to play a larger role as fish stocks dwindle due to overfishing and the rise of ocean mercury levels. Good Catch isn’t the only one trying to get ahead of the curve. Sophie’s Kitchen makes vegan canned tuna and Ocean Hugger Foods turns tomatoes and eggplant into plant-based raw fish for sushi (and is also sold at Whole Foods). Back in September, New Wave Foods, which makes ‘shrimp’ from plants, snagged an investment from Tyson.

The rising investor interest in seafood alternatives mirrors consumers’ rising demand for plant-based everything. While grocery shelves are filling up with meatless burgers, hot dogs, and soon, ground pork, vegan seafood is an area that still has relatively few players — and lots of room for improvement. With this Series B round — and especially General Mills’ participation — Good Catch just got a significant leg — er, fin — up.

January 13, 2020

Unlimeat, a Beef Alternative from South Korea, to Launch in U.S. Market

Zikooin, a South Korean food manufacturing company, today announced it would bring its plant-based Unlimeat to the U.S. market this year. Unlimeat is made from grains, oats and nuts and is meant to look and taste like thinly-sliced cuts of beef. It’s currently sold exclusively in South Korea.

According to a press release, Zikooin uses ingredients that would typically be thrown away due to cosmetic imperfections. Those ingredients are combined through Zikooin’s patented “protein compression” technology, which apparently gives the finished product a very meat-like texture. The company has stated that this manufacturing process is already approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Obviously I haven’t tasted Unlimeat yet, but I do think there’s a significant market opportunity in the U.S. for plant-based meats that aren’t burgers, sausages, deli meats or chicken nuggets. Americans demand diverse cuisines and ingredients — and that expands to meat alternatives, as well. Impossible is already rising to meet that demand for the new with its latest product: plant-based ground pork. But when it comes to meatless whole cuts of beef, there are very few options out there.

Zikooin is smart to bring its plant-based beef filets to the U.S. market before it becomes crowded with competitors making a similar product. As of now there are very few alt-steak offerings already available, mostly because of the textural challenge of making whole-muscle “meat” from plants. Some are developing more sophisticated 3D-printed or cell-based versions, which truly emulate the texture of beef, but it’ll be quite a few years before you can pick up those options in a grocery store.

Zikooin’s choice to use upcycled ingredients is also an interesting one. Not only is it a smart environmental and economical choice to make use of often-wasted foods, but it can also help sell to more sustainability-minded consumers — just ask Misfit Foods, Imperfect Foods (formerly Imperfect Produce) and Full Harvest. To tap into growing demand for sustainable ingredients, Zikooin would be smart to emphasize the whole “ugly produce” angle on its packaging when it does hit store shelves.

We’ll soon find out. Over email Keum Chae, CEO of Unlimeat, said that the product is already sold in SUPER FRESH MART in NYC and will be featured for a limited time in several San Francisco restaurants. In April, the company will begin selling Unlimeat online and later this year they plan to selling Unlimeat BBQ and Dumpling products at Costco and Whole Foods. The plant-based beef will sell for around $9 per pound, which is on par with a package of Beyond Meat sausages.

Unlimeat isn’t only expanding into the U.S., however. Chae said that the product will soon launch in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and China.

If you’re in San Francisco, you can give this alt-beef an early taste test: the company is holding a free pop-up event on January 19th at the Ferry Building where it will be grilling up samples of Unlimeat in a Korean-style barbecue. If you hit it up, be sure to let us know what you think!

January 8, 2020

CES 2020: Stratuscent’s Digital Nose Can “Smell” When Crops are Ripe or Food is Burning

Something good-smelling must be in the air at CES this week, because digital noses are becoming a bit of a thing at this year’s tech expo. Yesterday I dropped by the booth of Stratuscent, a Montreal, Quebec-based startup which is digitizing scents to detect freshness.

The company’s sensors, called eNoses, detect chemicals in the air to create a scent print — like a fingerprint for a smell. According to CEO David Wu, who gave me a tour, Stratuscent’s “secret sauce” is its superior AI and machine learning, which can quickly and accurately determine any number of complex scents, even ones too tricky for humans to smell. The company’s tech came from NASA, where it was originally used for leak detection.

The eNose is pretty simple to use. Just wave the product in question under the eNose and it will determine what it is — as well as its percentage of accuracy — in under thirty seconds. You can Wu demonstrating the technology below:

CES 2020: Stratuscent's eNose is a Digital Smelling Machine
Can Stratuscent determine this mystery smell? (Spoiler: Yes, yes it can.)

Wu told me that Stratuscent’s noses have a variety of applications, including sniffing ethylene, a chemical that indicates spoilage, in crop shipments. They’re also working with a dairy company to detect milk freshness. In the home, Wu told me that the eNose could also be integrated into smart kitchen appliances to identify cooking stages (your sauce is about to burn!) and alert users to food spoilage.

Startuscent was founded in 2017 and has raised $4.3 million thus far. Wu said that in addition to its partnership with a dairy company, Stratuscent is pushing further into the food and agriculture space, and is also in conversations to work with indoor agriculture farmers.

Stratuscent isn’t the only player digitizing smell technology (what a world). Yesterday Chris wrote about Aryballe’s new Digital Nose 2.0, which also debuted at CES this week and also digitizes scent to detect freshness, cooking smells, etc.

Regardless, the digital scent landscape is just beginning to emerge. As food safety outbreaks grow — and consumers become more conscious about reducing home food waste — I think there will be a growing market for this sort of technology. Which means there’s ample opportunity for more than one player to nose its way into the digital smelling space.

January 8, 2020

It’s Official: Impossible Will Not be On McDonald’s Menus (but Beyond Will)

After months of wondering which fake meat McDonald’s would finally put on its menus, we’re one step closer to an answer. Today Impossible Foods told Reuters that it was no longer trying to win a deal to supply the largest fast-food chain in the world, stating that it could not produce enough “bleeding” plant-based meat to keep them supplied.

Production is a looming concern for Impossible. At the unveil of its new plant-based pork at CES 2020 in Las Vegas, CEO Pat Brown told the audience that production capacity was the company’s “biggest challenge right now.” Nonetheless, Impossible is expanding its partnership with Burger King, which will begin serving the Impossible Croissan’wich, featuring Impossible’s new faux sausage, this month. It also told CNBC that it’s doubling its R&D team over the next year to speed up new product releases.

But that’s not all. The day after this news broke, McDonald’s and Beyond Meat announced that they were expanding their partnership in Canada. McDonald’s began testing the PLT (Plant, Lettuce, Tomato) sandwich, which is made with a Beyond Meat patty, at 28 restaurants in Southern Ontario last September. Starting this week they’re almost doubling that test to fifty-two restaurants in the Ontario area. The test will last for the next three months.

Put all of these clues together, and it doesn’t take a genius to guess that McDonalds’ in the U.S. could soon be rolling out a Beyond Meat burger. If they do, it would be a smart move for Mickey D’s. Burger King has benefitted enormously from its partnership with Impossible Foods. As more and more fast-food chains embrace plant-based meat — on all parts of their menu, including breakfast — the more notable it is that McDonald’s doesn’t have a meatless meat offering

The big question on my mind — besides when this new menu item will launch — is what a McDonald’s Beyond burger might be called. As I’ve written previously, I have some issues with the name P.L.T. because a) the sandwich doesn’t have any bacon, faux or otherwise, and b) it doesn’t leverage the Beyond brand. If they launch a Beyond offering in the U.S., McDonald’s would be smart to follow Burger King’s lead and put the Beyond name in it.

Whatever they call it, Beyond better wait to make that leap until it’s sure that it can do what Impossible could not: keep up with the massive demand of the number one fast-food chain in the world. At this stage, when alternative meat is starting to gain new audiences from QSR partnerships, a supply hiccup could put off consumers — and it might be hard to get them back. Especially with a fast-food chain that’s pretty much ubiquitous with burgers.

Beyond’s CEO Ethan Brown has previously stated that they were prepared to supply even very large restaurant partners. But will that include the largest restaurant chain in the world? With McDonald’s slowly (but surely) expanding its test of the PLT — and Impossible out of the picture — I’m betting we’ll soon find out.

January 8, 2020

Burger King to Launch New Impossible Sausage Croissan’wich to Compete with Dunkin’

When it comes to breakfast, Burger King diners will soon be able to have it their way with meatless Impossible sausage.

Last night at CES, Impossible Foods unveiled its plant-based pork, its second product since it launched its meatless “bleeding” beef in 2016. (We tasted it, and it was awesome.) Amid samples of meatless banh mi and dumplings, the company dropped one more doozy of an announcement: It had also developed plant-based pork sausage, which would start selling at select Burger King locations later this month.

Impossible sausage, which is essentially a pre-seasoned, pre-formed patty of its plant-based pork, will feature in the Burger King Impossible Croissan’wich, which will also include egg and cheese (so it’s not vegan). It will hit the menus of 139 Burger Kings in Savannah, Georgia; Lansing, Michigan; Springfield, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Montgomery, Alabama starting on January 13. Pricing was not disclosed, though it’s worth noting that the Burger King’s Impossible Whopper is priced at only $1 more than a meaty Whopper.

This move is almost a no-brainer for Burger King. The fast-food chain has benefitted from media buzz plus increased foot traffic and check size ever since it unveiled the Impossible Whopper back in August 2019. It’s no wonder that the fast-food giant wanted to expand that popularity to its breakfast menu.

It’s also a way for them to challenge Dunkin’, which rolled out its Beyond Breakfast Sandwich nationwide a full three months ahead of schedule due to high demand. As I’ve noted before, breakfast is a lucrative, relatively un-crowded space primed for plant-based products. 2019 may have been the year many fast-food restaurants introduced meatless burgers, but I think 2020 will be the year they expand the offerings to vegan sausage, eggs, etc. Impossible also has an advantage since Burger King is a national chain, while Dunkin’ is mainly on the East Coast.

Those eager to try the Impossible Croissan’wich will have to hope that Impossible won’t run into production issues, which the startup has struggled with in the past. Impossible is very aware of the risk. At CES Pat Brown admitted to the audience that “production capacity is our biggest challenge right now,” but was confident that the company wouldn’t face a shortage again.

That remains to be seen, as does the quality of the Impossible Croissan’wich. But what’s not in question is that breakfast is a hot play for the meatless market — and Impossible/BK are smart to tap into it sooner rather than later.

January 6, 2020

Impossible Foods Reveals New Plant-based Pork at CES 2020, will Sell Sausage at Burger King

Today at CES 2020 Impossible Foods, maker of the plant-based “bleeding” burger, unveiled its newest product: pork. Impossible’s plant-based pork is gluten-free and has 16 grams of protein and 13 grams of fat per 4-ounce serving. The company also announced its plant-based sausage, which will debut later this month at 139 Burger King restaurants, which already sell the Impossible Whopper, in the form of a sausage croissan’wich.

Last year at CES, Impossible Foods surprised everyone when it stole the show and won the Best of the Best CES 2019 award for its meatless burger. (We were there at the unveil, and it tasted delicious.) This year they’re hoping to top that by revealing an entirely new product. Like its ground beef, Impossible pork contains heme, a genetically engineered product that gives meat its savory flavor. However, it contains less of the molecule than its beef.

Considering that Impossible is trying to move into the Chinese market, its decision to tackle pork makes a lot of sense. Impossible’s CEO Pat Brown had previously stated that the company already had a “very good prototype of plant-based pork,” though the company has also said it’s developing fish and steak. From a practical standpoint, it’s also a much easier jump to go from ground beef to ground pork than to develop something with an entirely new texture, like chicken.

Impossible is also smart to move into ground pork while it’s still a relative white space. The biggest competitor is probably Omnipork — though not in the U.S. The Hong Kong-based company is developing plant-based pork specifically for Asian palates and doesn’t yet sell outside of the Asian continent. In terms of sausage, adding a plant-based option will help Burger King compete with Dunkin’, which began selling Beyond Meat sausage sandwiches at all of its locations late in 2019.

But I know what you’re all wondering: How did it taste? Honestly, it was awesome — a viable stand-in for ground pork. I sampled the new product in a variety of preparations: meatballs, banh mi, dan dan noodles, and nestled in a bao. It’s slightly less juicy and fatty than traditional pork, and is lacking a distinct, well, porkiness. But the texture and pale pink color are spot-on, and it’s a good neutral palate for a variety of preparations and sauces. I’ll definitely order it when it comes onto menus.

There’s no word on when the Impossible pork will head to menus, outside of the Burger King sausage launch. We also don’t know how much either product will cost. But for the lucky folks at CES this week, you can give the new plant-based pork a try; Impossible will be cooking up samples from January 7-10th in the Las Vegas Convention Center.

January 4, 2020

Here’s Your Handy CES 2020 Food and Kitchen Tech Preview & Walking Guide

Heading to CES?

Make sure to wear comfortable shoes, bring some Tylenol, and get ready for lots of food and cooking tech!

Having gone to the world’s biggest consumer tech show for well over a decade, I’ve gotten pretty good at finding new products that are of interest to me. That said, even for someone like myself who’s spent more than his fair share of shoe leather getting around the ugly carpets of Vegas, finding the latest in food tech has always been something of a challenge at a show where entertainment, robotics and car tech news usually steal most of the headlines.

The good news is that all started to change last year with the debut of Impossible Burger 2.0, and, based on my pre-show planning over the past couple of weeks, I expect to see a whole bunch of food and kitchen tech news at this year’s CES.

I figured I’d share some of my research by putting together a guide to what’s going on in food tech and smart kitchen at CES 2020 to help you make the most of your time in Vegas. I’ve even added booth numbers for most of the products to help you get there.

During the next few days, I’d also suggest you check back in here at The Spoon for stories, videos and interviews from The Spoon editor team. And, if you plan on making foodtech news at CES with a cool product you think we should check out, drop us a note at the tip line.

So here we go! Check out these food and kitchen tech products at CES 2020:

Robot Pizza: Back in October, attendees of the Smart Kitchen Summit got to sample pizza made by the Seattle based pizza robot startup Picnic. For those of you who couldn’t make it to Seattle, now’s your chance: Picnic’s pizzabot will be serving pizza at CES. Lines for food are long at CES, and I expect the pizza-robot lines at the Las Vegas Convention Center to be even longer.

Robot Ramen: If pizza isn’t your thing, you might want to make your way over to the Taiwan Tech Area in the Sands Eureka Park (Sands 51411) to check to another Smart Kitchen Summit alumni Yo-kai Express, which will be dishing up noodles from their robot ramen vending machine.

Beerbots: You’re gonna need something to chase the pizza, so you might want to check out a beerbot like PicoBrew (Sands 41518) or stop by Treasure Island for FoodTech Live (ticket needed) to see MiniBrew or BEERMKR. Also, while I haven’t hear anything out of LG yet about their beerbot, I am waiting to see if they’ll have an update on their beer brewing appliance they debuted at last year’d CES.

Drinkbots: If you’d like something a little stiffer (I’d suggest to wait til after noon, but this is Vegas and you are an adult), try out a cocktail robot like the Drinkworks (Sands 42546 and FoodTech Live) or Bartesian (Sands 40852).

Wine Tech. Oh, so you’re a wine snob, are you? Don’t worry, you can find that too. Earlier this week Chris wrote about the Albi from Albicchiere (Sands 52722), a cool countertop appliance that stores and serves your wine. Invineo will be showing its connected wine dispenser off as well (Sands 50863).

DNA-Driven Food Choices. Food personalization is moving beyond simple suggestions, and in the future it will get downright personal by creating diet plans based on a person’s biological makeup. If you want to check out a couple of companies looking deep inside your body to make food recommendations, check out DNA Nudge (Sands Booth 44316) or Sun Genomics (FoodTech Live – ticket required for entry).

Smart Countertop Cooking. There will be an array of different countertop cooking appliances that are powered by smart software and cook in new and interesting ways. CES will be the first chance to see a working version of the long-promised Anova smart oven (see our post here), which you can see in the Sands (booth 40946) . The Julia, which is a multicooker reminiscent of the Thermomix, features guided cooking videos delivered via a touchscreen interface. You can find the Julia at in the Sands at booth 41367. Speaking of Thermomix, they’ll be showing off the TM6 at FoodTech Live (ticket required). If you’re the smoothie type, check out the cool next-gen Millo blender (Sands 40346), who will also be showing off a smart table with wireless power.

Intelligent Surface Cooking. I expect some interesting news in terms of smart cooking surfaces. One cool demo I plan to check out is the GHSP concept that is both an induction cooking surface and a touch interface (North Hall 3111). I also expect the Wireless Power Consortium to be showing off their Ki cordless kitchen platform at their usual spot in the Las Vegas Convention Center at on the walkway near the South Hall (South Hall SL-2).

Smart Home Gardening/Vertical Farming Systems. I’ve been following smart gardening systems for years at CES, but this is the first year we’ve seen big appliance brands jump in. As Jenn wrote earlier this week, LG will be showing off a new indoor gardening system at CES (Central Hall 11100). Not to be outdone, GE will be coming with its own home gardening kitchen concept called “Home Grown” which it will be showcasing at the Haier/GE booth in the central hall (Central booth 16006).

Home Food Robots. We’re not sure how fully fleshed out the Autokitch cooking robot concept is, but they’ll have a booth at CES (Sands 53034). And while it’s not quite a fully robotic kitchen concept or bread making robot, the Tigoût is a pod-based baking machine from Argentina that’s is worth checking out. Drop in a pod, out spits a souffle or a raspberry muffin. You can see the Tigoût in action at Sands 52768.

Coffee and Tea, Please. If you’re looking for a nice cup of tech-powered tea, you should check out the Teplo tea maker, which will be at the Panasonic booth in the Sands (Sands 42711). If you’re more of a coffee person, then you’re in luck if you have a ticket to FoodTech Live: A production line version of the grind and brew Spinn will make its debut after a long-anticipated wait. The Terra Kaffe – which grinds, brews and steams milk – will also be in attendance at Food Tech Live.

Alexa, Give Me a Coke. Sure, this one is kinda gimmicky, but we are talking CES after all. Amazon and Coca-Cola are teaming up for a voice-powered Amazon Alexa “Coke Energy Wall” where attendees will be able to ask Alexa for a coke and a smile (delivered via what the PR describes as a “one of Alexa’s witty responses”. You can find the Amazon Alexa Coke Energy Wall at Sands booth #40934.

Smart Fridges. Smart fridges have been debuting at CES for years, and this year they are more evolved than ever. LG will be showing off its new InstaView ThinQ refrigerator, which uses computer vision and AI for real-time inventory of what’s inside (Central Hall 11100). Samsung will be back with its latest edition of the Family Hub smart fridge line, this time powered by Whisk, a smart food AI platform they acquired in spring of 2019 (Central Hall 15006). If you’re interested in products that make existing dumb fridges smart, Smarter will be showing off its smart fridge cam platform at FoodTech Live (ticket required).

Fake Meat. Impossible stole the show last year at CES with the debut of the Impossible 2.0. In retrospect, it was a brilliant move for the fake meat unicorn to unveil their next-gen meat at CES 2019, mostly because it would be the first time most journalists and attendees would have a bite of a plant based burger. It also didn’t hurt that the 2.0 is much better than the 1.0. This year Impossible will be back, kicking things off with a press conference at 5 PM on Jan 6th and then serving up twenty five thousand free samples of Impossible Burger (I’m guessing it will be the new recipe/3.0 edition) their new pork product and the Impossible Burger at the Central Plaza of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Smart Grillin’. The Weber folks partnered up with June late last year to add some software powered cooking intelligence to their grill. You can swing by their booth at the South Hall to see what those two have cooking on the Barbie (South Hall SP-2). Also, Chris wrote up the news this weekend about Yummly’s new entry in the increasingly crowded smart thermometer space. You can check that new product if you make an appointment with Whirlpool and swing by their meeting space at the Wynn (Wynn hospitality suites). Speaking of smart thermometers, Meater is back and you can check out their latest if you have a ticket to FoodTech Live.

Tiny Adorable Dishwashers. Like many of you kitchen nerds, I’ve been excited about the Tetra. Only problem is, Heatworks, the company behind the Tetra, is a bit behind on shipping their sexy little countertop cleaning machine and so it looks like they are staying home this year and focusing on getting it out the door in 2020. But don’t worry! If you’re looking to scratch the countertop cleaning machine itch, head on over to the Daan booth to check out equally adorable Bob (Sands 50819).

Ok, that’s it. While this list isn’t exhaustive, it’s a good start. If anything really interesting pops up before tomorrow’s CES Unveiled, I’ll update the post (send me any news I’ve missed via our tip form), and for more detailed updates make sure to check back here at The Spoon all next week!

January 3, 2020

Agrisea is Developing Ocean Farms to Grow Rice using Saltwater

Over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. However, only 2.5 percent of that is fresh water, and roughly 70 percent of that is used for agriculture — which also takes up approximately half of Earth’s land. With climate change and soil degradation, the amount of viable cropland is shrinking at an alarming rate.

So why not grow crops using all of that available saltwater? The short answer is salinity — most of our favorite crops can’t grow in such salty environments. But new startup Agrisea is working to change that. The company creates a floating farm ecosystem that grows crops on saltwater, using only . . . saltwater. No soil, no fertilizers, and no fresh water required. The company is currently participating in life science accelerator IndieBio which includes $250,000 in seed funding. 

“We looked at salt water, and saw a nutrient soup,” Agrisea founder Luke Young told me over the phone on a recent call. He and his co-founder Rory Hornby met while studying plant genetics and tissue regeneration, respectively, at Durham University. They united to develop a way to tap into the natural nutrients that are plentiful in oceans — which already sustain plants like algae — and apply to them to some of the world’s most popular crops.

After two years they developed salt-tolerant rice seeds that could thrive either in oceans or in paddies flooded with seawater. The seeds also don’t produce methane, which is a major climate concern for rice farming. In addition to rice, Agrisea has developed salt-tolerant kale seeds and is working on corn and soy.

Those engineered seeds go into modular floating ocean mini-farms which resemble honeycombs, each roughly a foot in diameter. Each unit contains a double layer of mesh: the top one holds in the plants, while the bottom one acts as a fish nursery. Since they’re not static, the farms can be moved if a major weather event like a hurricane is forecasted.

Initially, the company plans to license out its agriculture platform — including the modular units and salt-tolerant rice seeds — to farming companies and governments on a contract basis. Young said that areas which are experiencing saltwater flooding are, unsurprisingly, the most eager to get their hands on the technology. 

And they might be able to in as little as six months. Young said that companies in some areas struggling with flooding, like Vietnam, are ready to use the saltwater farms as soon as they’re available. However, it’ll likely be two to three years until the tech is available in the U.S., where the farms have to get approval by both the FDA and the USDA. “This is an entirely new technology,” Hornby told me. “It’s not aquaculture, so they’re working to develop a new policy around it.”

With a global population set to reach almost 10 billion by 2050 and a finite amount of land and water, companies are hustling to find more sustainable and economical ways to grow food. Some point to hydroponic farming as a panacea, but it still requires massive amounts of freshwater and energy to function — and some doubt its efficacy. Gene-edited plants (like CRISPR) can be made more drought- or heat-resistant, but they still require water and soil inputs.

That’s why Agrisea’s solution has such potential. Yes, its technology is still chiefly untested — but if successful, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Agrisea’s saltwater farms could massively impact global agriculture. Farmers would no longer have to rely on scarce resources like freshwater and land, and could cut down on methane emissions in the process. In areas that are already dealing with the disastrous effects of climate change, Agrisea’s technology could be a positive sea change for agriculture.

January 2, 2020

Future Food: What’s Next for Alternative Protein in 2020? Think: Small Batch, Clean Label

This is the web version of our weekly Future Food newsletter. Be sure to subscribe here so you don’t miss a beat!

Welcome to 2020, Future Food readers! It wouldn’t be the end of the year/the start of a new one without a flurry of year-end look back pieces. Last week, I did a deep dive into the growth (and challenges) experienced by the plant-based food landscape in 2019. Here’s the full piece if you’re interested, but TL;DR:

  • Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat launched version 2.0 of their plant-based beef, and it was really tasty (especially Impossible’s).
  • Beyond Meat went public (!!!) and smashed expectations with a record-setting IPO.
  • Big Food began to muscle its way into the plant-based meat space.
  • Europe and Asia saw major growth in alternative proteins, both in grocery stores and restaurants.
  • Plant-based meat struggled against public pushback re: processing, as well as labeling restrictions.

Overall, it was a very tumultuous — and chiefly successful — year for animal alternatives, from burgers to dairy. And 2020 is shaping up to be just as exciting. Here are a few of my predictions for the next 364 days:

  • Fast-food chains will continue to embrace plant-based meat, and not just burgers (think: faux chicken).
  • Plant-based foods will make headway in the fight against restrictive state labeling laws, as they have in Mississippi.
  • We’ll see a rise in innovative (and sustainable) protein creation methods, from fermented dairy proteins to protein grown from air and water.
  • As a response to the criticism over heavy processing in plant-based meat production, we’ll see a rise in smaller, clean label, organic brands.
Photo: Daring Foods

I want to explore that last point a bit deeper because I think it’s a significant sea change we’ll see in the plant-based meat space in 2020. One of the biggest challenges for meat alternatives in 2019 was growing pushback against its production methods, which can include processing for texture, dyes, preservatives, or even lab-grown ingredients like Impossible’s ace in the hole, heme. That came to a head when Chipotle’s CEO called plant-based meat “too processed” for its stores.

As a response, I think we’ll see a rise in more clean label plant-based meat products over the coming year; ones that use fewer, minimally processed, and even organic ingredients. Several of these brands already exist and are starting to gain traction: Planted and Daring Foods both make chicken alternatives from five ingredients or under. No Evil makes clean label, non-GMO faux chicken and ground beef. And Fast Company reported this week on how Abbot’s Butcher, a self-described “small batch” meat alternative, is striking deals with fast-casual restaurant chains.

Right now these players are all quite small. I haven’t tasted most of their products, but I imagine it’s hard to make clean label food compete flavor-wise with the umami bomb of an Impossible burger, or the realistic snap of a Beyond Meat sausage. It’ll also be a challenge to compete against Beyond and Impossible’s widespread availability and brand recognition.

But in 2020, I bet we’ll see more of these artisanal meat alternatives popping up — and more restaurants choosing to put them on their menus to cash into consumer demand for organic and non-GMO foods. I’ll check back in a year to see if I was right.

JUST Egg on the left, traditional eggs on the right. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

JUST Egg taste test
The meat alternative space may be diversifying, but plant-based eggs are still a pretty niche product. One that I put to the test over the holidays.

This is a bit of a tradition for me at this point. Last year over Christmas break my extended family — all seventeen of us — did a taste test of White Castle’s plant-based Impossible Sliders. They were a hit. So we decided to continue the try-a-new-animal-product-alternative thing this year with JUST Egg, a mung bean-based liquid scrambled egg substitute.

You can read the full piece here, but long story short, JUST Egg was not as big of a hit as the Impossible Whopper. I did the taste test alongside a plate of scrambled chicken eggs, and while the textures of the two was quite similar, JUST Egg has a uniform pale yellow color that makes it obvious which is which. A couple testers also noted that it had an artificial (though not entirely unpleasant) flavor, or that it tasted “bean-y.”

That said, everyone who tried JUST Egg was impressed by how close the texture was to the real thing. Even my brother, a scrambled egg lover, said that if you mixed it with cheese or tucked it into a breakfast burrito, he probably wouldn’t have known the difference. Here’s to more plant-based egg innovation in 2020.

Photo: KFC

Protein ’round the web
– Starting today, KFC will add its Vegan Burger (a plant-based fried chicken sandwich) to all of its menus across the U.K. (h/t VegNews)
– Speaking of the U.K., LiveKindly reports that Pizza Huts nationwide are now offering plant-based pepperoni made from pea protein for a limited time.
– Plantible, a San Diego-based startup, has developed a new plant-based protein from lemna (AKA the aquatic plant duckweed).

Eat well,
Catherine

January 2, 2020

As We Enter a New Decade, Space Food Has Suddenly Rocketed Into Renewed Prominence

As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s, I’ve always had a fascination with space food.

Whether it was the idea of astronauts drinking Tang or reading stories about how the Space Shuttle crews would prepare their meals and then try to eat in the microgravity environment of space, I couldn’t get enough info about how human space travelers fed themselves.

In a way, it was the very idea that these rigorously trained astronauts flying billion dollar equipment hundreds of miles above the earth’s surface still had to find time to prepare a meal that made the idea of space travel that much more relatable to a kid like me.

And so now, for someone who has always been fascinated with the idea of feeding people hundreds or millions of miles away from earth, I have to say this past year has been an exciting one. That’s because every few weeks or so a new story pops up about some new research effort to develop ways to feed people in zero gravity.

In short, as we leave one decade and enter a new one, it seems space food has rocketed back into prominence.

Here’s a sample of some of the space food news from 2019:

In October, Aleph Farms grew meat cells in space. For the first time ever, meat cells were produced in zero gravity as this Israeli startup made “great steaks” using a 3D bioprinter in the Russian section of the International Space Station.

In November, a Cygnus rocket launched carrying samples of red wine. A French startup called Space Cargo Unlimited is sending the vino into orbit with the intention of studying how space radiation and being in a state of constant free-fall impacts biological aging processes.

Accompanying the wine on this same rocket trip into space was an oven designed for actually cooking food in orbit. Astronauts usually eat pre-cooked food heated with water, but if this oven works they will actually be able to cook food in space. In late December, a space crew aboard the International Space Station baked sugar cookies using the space oven and will bring them back to earth to study them.

Just last week, we heard that SpaceX will be flying coffee and hemp cultures into space this year to see how what the impact zero gravity has on the plants. Colorado-based agricultural company Front Range Biosciences is partnering with SpaceCells USA Inc. and BioServe Space Technologies to put 480 samples aboard a March 2020 cargo flight from Elon Musk’s space startup.

Elon’s brother Kimball also is thinking about feeding people in space with his own startup Square Roots, developing self-contained hydroponic farm modules that he says could one day be used on Mars.

Earlier this year we heard about Space Food-X, a Japanese consortium of 30 or so companies, researchers and governmental organizations looking to develop ways to better feed people in space. Led by Japanese space agency JAXA, venture capital firm RealTech Fund and consulting firm SigmaXYZ, the group has a five-phase plan stretching through 2040 to develop sustainable food systems.

Above: The future of space food as envisioned by Japan’s Space Food-X

With the glut of space food news over the past year or so, it got me to wondering why? Why is there a rapidly growing interest in feeding people in space?

One obvious reason is the renewed interest in space travel in the US and abroad. With Space-X and Blue Origin inching us closer to more affordable space travel and Russia, China and the European Union investing heavily in space programs, it just makes sense that developing food systems for space would be a part of that.

I also think it’s because we’ve moving closer to a reality of long-term space travel and permanent habitation. Whether it’s the actual habitation of Mars or some other place in the galaxy, simply packing up freeze dried food won’t cut it. If there are people on a space station or a settlement on Mars, we need to develop ways to feed them over long time periods in space, which means actually growing food in space.

Finally, if we learned anything from the first space race between the US and the Soviet Union, it’s that the effort to feed people in orbit ends up paying dividends here on earth. Sure, you get fun foods like Tang and freeze dried ice cream, but there’s also big ideas like gas fermentation born out of space agency research decades ago that is being further developed today as a way to create more sustainable protein sources.

So as we enter a new decade, I have to say the space food nerd in me is getting pretty excited, not only because it seems we’re seeing real effort across the globe to develop sustainable food systems for space that could help would-be Mars colonizers feed themselves someday, but also because I’m excited to see how all this effort to develop food in the toughest of environments could be used to feed us non-astronauts here on Earth.

January 1, 2020

Plantible is Turning Aquatic Plants into Next-Gen Plant-based Protein

Look at an ingredient list for plant-based meat or dairy products, and right up top you’ll probably see pea, soy, wheat, or maybe even mung bean. But San Diego-based startup Plantible is introducing a brand new player to the alternative protein landscape: lemna (commonly known as duckweed).

Plantible’s co-founders, Tony Martens and Maurits van de Ven, stumbled upon lemna as they were searching for a plant-based protein superior to what was already out there in the market. Martens explained that many alternative proteins require stabilizers to accurately mimic the texture of animal products, especially ones that “gel” when cooked, like egg whites or cheese. Stabilizers not only add to the ingredient list, they also make product development more expensive and time-consuming. 

Martens and van de Ven wanted to find a protein that could copy the nutrition and texture of animal products, and was also more sustainable to produce than industry leaders pea and soy. They believe they’ve found it in lemna, a free-floating aquatic plant commonly known as “duckweed” (though van de Ven said, understandably, they’re pushing away from the term, because who wants to eat something called duckweed?). Plantible’s scientists developed a proprietary process to extract the grassy flavor from lemna, leaving a protein that’s on par with pea or soy nutrition-wise, but is completely colorless, odorless, and flavorless. The perfect blank canvas for a variety of animal alternative products. 

Lemna is also meant to be more sustainable than other plant-based proteins out there. The plant is grown in indoor aquatic farms, so it doesn’t require land or irrigation (though it no doubt requires a lot of water on which to grow). The aquatic plant also doubles its mass every 48 hours, so it can be harvested daily as opposed to once or twice a year.

Plantible’s aquatic lemna farms. [Photo: Plantible]

For now, we have to take Plantible’s word for that. The startup began validating its lemna through CPG partners five months ago — who have used the protein as a building block for everything from plant-based burgers to ice cream. In 2020, Plantible plans to start selling its lemna to CPG partners and also launch its own consumer product featuring the protein. Martens told me that the lemna will cost about the same as pea protein.

Founded in the Netherlands, Plantible quickly relocated to the U.S. because, according to Martens, the harsher regulatory restrictions means it takes much longer to launch a new product in Europe than the U.S. Thus far the startup has raised more than $1 million, though the founders wouldn’t give me exact numbers.

Plantible may be trying to next “it” alternative protein, but if it were up to the company’s founders, we wouldn’t be using the term “alternative” at all. They prefer to call their product “next-generation” protein instead. “These ingredients are not alternative,” Martens explained. “They’re just the new standard of how we produce food.”

Considering how the plant-based food market has ballooned in 2019, that’s not too lofty an exaggeration. That said, Plantible’s lemna is still extremely green compared to behemoths like pea and soy. But with companies hungry to develop more and more plant-based products, I expect there will be plenty of demand for a new alternative — er, next-gen — protein.

December 30, 2019

Will 2020 Be the Year Truly Personalized Food Becomes a Reality? (Sort of.)

You’re almost certainly already used to customizing your food to some degree. Maybe you get extra guac at Chipotle, or leave off the mayo on your drive-thru burgers. You might even use platforms like Innit to easily substitute ingredients when cooking at home.

But the era of truly personalized food — exactly what you want (or need), and nothing you don’t — has yet to come. And advancements in AI, data, and food science are helping us get there.

2020 is the time for personalization to mature and become more than just a gimmick. I see a few high-potential spaces in which personalization has the opportunity to really grow over the next year (or two): drive-thrus, sit-down restaurants, and dietary guidance.

When it comes to personalization in fast-food, McDonald’s is the clear leader. Earlier this year the QSR giant acquired Dynamic Yield, a personalization platform which it’s using to tailor menu recommendations based off of things like weather, time of day, etc.

But what Dynamic Yield brings to Mickey D’s isn’t real personalization, per se. The software can customize menus based on external factors— if it’s cold out, maybe you’d like a piping hot cup of coffee? — but it doesn’t pull from customer data to create menus actually drawn from individual preferences, dietary restraints, or allergies. And as the Spoon founder Mike Wolf pointed out earlier this year, true menu personalization is the holy grail for dining establishments.

That holy grail might be closer than we think, however. Startup 5Thru‘s tech will scan people’s license plates to access their past orders, which it uses to suggest your favorite foods. KFC is testing out similar tech. The fast-food space in general is investing heavily in personalization, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see lots of individual players accelerating their efforts in 2020 to try and smoke the competition.

Non-fast-food restaurants are also trying to leverage personalization to improve the consumer dining experience (and, you know, sell you more stuff). Suggestic and THE.FIT are developing tools to generate personalized versions of restaurant menus based on consumers’ dietary goals and restrictions. That sort of customization also extends to in-restaurant experiences; this year OpenTable and Upserve partnered to share guest data so restaurant employees can have pre-warning about their preferences, allergies, etc.

As these sorts of tech become more commonplace and affordable, restaurants will only get more personalized in 2020. I’m betting over the next twelve months that in-restaurant menu customization apps like Suggestic and THE.FIT will become, while not commonplace, at least more widely available. On the digital search side I could also envision Google Maps, which already surfaces restaurants’ most popular dishes during searches, displaying customized sample menus based off of your customized dietary profile.

2020 could also be the year that personalized nutrition becomes more mainstream. Viome and GenoPalate already create customized food and recipe recommendations based on your microbiome and DNA, respectively, to help fight preventable diseases. As these technologies become more widespread and affordable, we might even see these services integrating with restaurants to help you see which menu items best suit your diet and/or avoid triggering foods.

True, that might not happen in the next twelve months. But we will no doubt see more vaguely customized products like Nourished, which creates individualized 3D printed vitamins. That sort of generalized personalization also extends to things like baby food and wine delivery. While these offerings are based off of broader markets like age and preferences, not data as granular as your microbiome makeup, they indicate a real effort by companies to take a step in that direction and offer customized CPG products, typically delivered right to your doorstep.

It’s also worth acknowledging the potential pushback against personalization. Creating things like highly customized menus and restaurant recommendations necessitates massive amounts of personal data, which could have frightening consequences if that data gets hacked. Despite those risks, I have no doubt that companies will keep pursuing the personalization trend into 2020 and beyond.

That said, we’ve got a ways to go until we reach a truly personalized dining future. I don’t think that by December 31st, 2020 we’ll be able to go to a drive-thru and see menus sporting all of our favorite dishes thanks to info it gleaned from your dietary profile. But it might remember you love the Buffalo sauce with your chicken nuggets — and that’s a start.

We’re so interested in the potential (and challenges) of food personalization that we created a whole summit around it! Join us at Customize in NYC on February 27th — Early Bird tickets are on sale for a few more days.

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