This week’s food tech news roundup starts out with a tale of two cheeses. On one hand, we have Morningstar, which has pledged to make all their products vegan over the next two years (cheese and all). On the other, we have Fromaggio, a smart cheesemaking device which just launched on Kickstarter, and which will allow you to make cheese from scratch in your own kitchen.
Kind of makes you hungry, right? Well go make a grilled cheese sandwich (vegan or not) and settle in to read our latest missive from the world of food tech news. In addition to all the cheese, this week we’ve got stories on canned tuna blockchain and a new tool that’ll tell you what wine to pair with your recipes. Enjoy!
Photo: Morningstar Farms.
Morningstar Farms to go 100% vegan by 2021
This week Morningstar Farms, which is owned by Kellogg, pledged to make its product line completely vegan by 2021. The company already sells plant-based products — from veggie breakfast sausage to burger patties — but will stop using eggs and dairy. Morningstar Farms is also debuting a vegan “Cheezeburger” at Expo West this week, which is their vegan Meat Lovers patty topped with dairy-free “cheddar.” This shift is a strategic move on Morningstar’s part to hone in on blossoming demand for plant-based products, especially protein.
Photo: Fromaggio Kickstarter.
Smart cheesemaking device Fromaggio launches on Kickstarter
For those who aren’t avoiding dairy, you might consider backing Fromaggio, a smart countertop cheesemaker that launched on Kickstarter this week. We’ve been fans of Fromaggio since we got to sample its tasty products at our Food Tech Live event at CES this past January. Cheese-lovers can snag a Fromaggio for $299 (the $249 level has already sold out), with estimated delivery in March 2020 (though we all know the struggle of crowdfunded hardware). The Fromaggio will retail for $579.
Photo by Thomas Martinsen on Unsplash
Allrecipes has a new tool that will recommend wine pairings
This Tuesday Meredith, owner of recipe recommendation site Allrecipes, unveiled a new tool that will recommend wine pairings to go with certain recipes in their database (h/t Digiday). Wine recommendations will be shoppable in U.S. states where it’s legal. The tool is part of Meredith’s partnership with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, a vintner in Washington State (where Allrecipes is based), and will initially have 17 Ste. Michelle wines available.
Photo: Bumblebee.
Bumble Bee Foods and Carrefour use blockchain to track tuna and milk
It was quite the week for food companies to experiment with blockchain — though I suppose with buzz around the new technology, it’s always quite the week. Bumble Bee Foods announced that it has been piloting a program which uses blockchain to trace its yellowfin tuna from the time it’s caught until when it arrives on store shelves (h/t Fortune).
Over in Europe, Carrefour stated that it will soon begin rolling out a new product, Carrefour Quality Line (CQL) milk, which uses blockchain to provide increased traceability. Consumers can scan a QR code on CQL milk and get information about where the cows were milked, and when it arrived on retail shelves.
Did we miss anything? Tweet us @TheSpoonTech to clue us in on any food tech news!
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