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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Meatless Farm

The Alt Protein News Round-Up: Cultured Pork in China and McPlant Burger’s Launch

If you haven’t had the chance to check it out, The Spoon was given an exclusive virtual tour of Rebellyous Foods’ production facility, where it manufactures its plant-based chicken. Speaking of which, we have some news about Rebellyous Foods’ school cafeteria launch, CellX’s cultured pork unveil, the official launch of the McPlant burger, and Equinom’s new partnership.

CellX unveils cultured pork and shares goals for price parity

China-based cultured meat producer CellX revealed its cultured pork product this week, which uses cells extracted from the country’s native black pig. The alternative pork product was incorporated into various dishes and served to potential investors. Pork is the most consumed meat in China, but the country has experienced supply chain issues due to the pandemic and an outbreak of African Swine Fever amongst herds. The company’s goal is to reach price parity with conventional pork by 2025.

Rebellyous plant-based chicken nuggets to be served in public schools

Rebellyous Foods, a producer of plant-based chicken tenders, nuggets, and patties, shared this week that its alternative nuggets will be making their way into public school cafeterias in Washington and California. The first school to supply the nuggets was Ramon Valley Unified School District (SRVUSD) in Northern California last year, and the five new school districts to do so are Dublin Unified, Livermore Joint Unified, Santa Ana Unified, Pleasanton Unified, and Everett Public Schools. The “Kickin Nuggets” were developed specifically for K-12 food service and are made from a base of soy protein.

McPlant burger launches in McDonald’s throughout the UK

Starting September 29th, select McDonald’s locations in the UK will begin rolling out the highly anticipated McPlant burger, which is now 100 percent vegan. The meat-free patty was made in partnership with Beyond Meat, and the burger will also include vegan cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup, and pickles. McDonald’s previously ran trials of the McPlant in 2020 in various countries, and at that time, the burger was vegetarian but not vegan. The McPlant will become available nationwide starting in 2022.

Equinom to partner with Meatless farms as a supplier

Equinom, a nutrition company that uses AI to improve the nutrition content of seeds, disclosed this week in a press release sent to The Spoon that it will begin supplying Meatless Farm, a plant-based meat brand, and its ingredient subsidiary Lovingly Made Ingredients. Meatless Farms will use Equinom’s pea protein concentrate in a variety of its products, boosting the protein content by up to 50 percent. This is the first plant-based company that Equinom has partnered with.

Wild Earth Launches Cell-Based Petfood

Plant-based pet food brand Wild Earth has announced plans to expand its product line into pet food made with cell-based meat. The announcement comes on the heels of a new $23 million funding round from a group of investors that includes Mark Cuban and the star of Vampire Diaries, Paul Wesley.

Led by alternative protein entrepreneur and investor Ryan Bethencourt, Wild Earth has been one of the early leaders in creating pet food from plant-based ingredients. With products like Clean Protein dog food (which uses pea and potato protein) and Superfood Dog Treats With Koji (Koji is a fungi protein used in fermented food in Asia), company sales have grown more than 700% year over year, according to a release sent to The Spoon.

Food Tech News: H&M’s Castor Bean Oil Fabric, Self-Heating Coffee Cans

Welcome to this week’s Food Tech News round-up! With March just around the corner, we’re nearly at the “anniversary” of U.S. business shutting down due to the pandemic. We’re not sure if this is the kind of anniversary worth celebrating or crying over, but whatever mood you’re in, we have some news from the world food tech to make your day better.

This week we have news on H&M’s castor bean oil and cactus fiber fabrics, self-heating coffee cans, a plant-based innovation competition, and new vegan hot dogs from Meatless Farm.

H&M is making castor bean oil-based nylon fabric and leather from prickly pear fibers

Swedish multinational clothing company H&M has launched a sustainability concept called Innovation Stories, and recently debuted the first clothing line, Science Stories. In this new line, a castor bean oil-based yarn made by Fulgar will be used to create a fabric much like nylon, which is typically made from a group of plastics called polyamide. Additionally, H&M will be using Desserto’s vegan cactus leather for several clothing items. Pieces made from these fabrics will include women’s pants, shirts, and tracksuits, and will be available in select stores and on H&M’s website starting March 8.

Photo from High Brew’s website

High Brew Coffee now produces self-heating coffee cans

High Brew Coffee produces a variety of canned cold brew, espresso, and latte drinks, and the company’s latest innovation is a self-heating can of black coffee. BevNet reviewed the product this week and found that the temperature of the coffee reached around 120 degrees (which is moderately warm for a cup of coffee). The can is manufactured by HeatGen, and the coffee drinker simply needs to twist the bottom of the can and shake it a few times to activate the solid-state chemical reaction that warms the coffee. The self-heating can is available for High Brew’s 10.3 Oz Black & Bold flavor and costs $20 for a 4-pack.

Photo from Unsplash

ProVeg Asia to host plant-based innovation contest

ProVeg International is a non-profit that advocates for sustainable food system change, and this week it announced the Plant-based Food Innovation Challenge. The challenge is looking for students who have innovative ideas for plant-based foods and is open to students enrolled at universities in the ASEAN region. The event is supported by companies in the plant-based space like Oatly, Beyond Meat, HaoFoods, and Nestle. ProVeg is currently accepting applications for proposals from now and until March 13, 2021. Competition finalists receive up to $1,500, mentorship, and internship opportunities.

Meatless Farm to launch plant-based hot dogs during summer

Meatless Farm, a British-based producer of plant-based meat alternatives, announced this week that it will be launching vegan hot dogs during the summer of 2021. The hot dogs will be made from base ingredients of coconut fat and pea protein, and free of both gluten and soy. After launching this upcoming summer, the hot dogs will be available in retailers and foodservice operators throughout the U.S.

Food Tech News: Cryogenic Avocado Trees, Vegans Take Over Television

This Friday, I bring you news on freezing avocado trees for future generations, vegan food brands advertising on television, and plant-based seafood hitting the frozen food aisle of Walmart. Between avocados and vegan food, these news tidbits are a direct appeal to millennials. Now all I need is some food tech news about brunch.

Avocados can now be cryogenically frozen for the future

I am pleased to share that my descendants will now be able to experience avocado toast. Chris O’ Brien, a Ph.D. student at the University of Queensland in Australia was able to revive avocado plant cuttings that he froze at -320°F with liquid nitrogen. Avocado trees are susceptible to disease, pests, disasters, and climate change; this discovery is important because it may help ensure that we will have avocados for future generations. Beside avocado trees, other plants like potatoes, grapevines, apples, bananas, and berries have all been successfully frozen then revived using cryopreservation.

Vegan foods brands are advertising on T.V.

Big names in the plant-based space have started running T.V. advertisements this year. Beyond Meat ran its first television campaign in August during the Lakers vs. Jazz game, with actress Octavia Spencer as the narrator. The Meatless Farm showcased its pea protein meat alternatives in a tantalizing commercial that ran in the UK, and Dr. Praegers used vegetable superheroes to promote its veggie burgers.

Vegan food brands seem to also be expanding their advertisements off the television. In the past week, I have personally seen ads for OZO pop up on my computer, and cheeky Oatly ads on the side of bus stops.

Sophie’s Kitchen brings plant-based seafood to Walmart

Sophie’s Kitchen, which makes plant-based seafood, will launch in Walmart this month. The company’s frozen plant-based crab cakes and shrimp will be made available in 400 Walmart locations. Sophie’s Kitchen joins other vegan brands available at Walmart including Gardein, So Delicious, Beyond Meat, and Lightlife.

The Meatless Farm Gets Investment from UK’s Channel 4, Trades Equity for Air Time

Yesterday news broke that British broadcaster Channel 4 invested an undisclosed seven-figure sum in The Meatless Farm Co, a plant-based meat company based in Leeds, UK that makes vegan burgers, ground “beef,” and sausages. Under the terms of the deal, Meatless Farm will also give the broadcaster equity in exchange for regional TV advertising on both Channel 4 and its streaming services.

Well we haven’t seen this before. Plenty of VC firms and Big Food companies have invested in alt-meat, but a television broadcaster?

It makes sense, though. As the plant-based meat section in retail gets more crowded, brands have to think up new ways to differentiate themselves from the masses. TV advertising is a great way for Meatless Farm to quickly expose a wider number of consumers to its brand name, which will hopefully translate to more sales in the grocery store.

From Channel 4’s perspective, there are a few benefits to partnering with Meatless Farm. One, they get to invest in the white-hot alternative meat space, which, thanks chiefly to Beyond Meat’s eye-catching IPO last year, is drawing lots of capital.

By showing an ad for plant-based meat, it’s also a way for Channel 4 to frame itself as hip to the trends to younger audiences — especially Gen Z and millennials — which are increasingly embracing flexitarian lifestyles. Vinay Solanki, Head of Commercial Growth Fund at Channel 4, said in a blog post on Meatless Farm’s website: “The Meatless Farm Co’s innovation and sustainability credentials are inspiring, and we hope that through advertising across our channel portfolio and reaching our valuable core 16-34 audience, we’ll help support their impact and growth journey.”

This deal just applies to UK air time, but Meatless Farms isn’t siloed in Britain. Founded in 2016, Meatless Farms made headlines this summer when it jumped across the pond and onto retail shelves at U.S. Whole Foods stores. The deal was only supposed to last for six months, and it hasn’t been revealed if the company will continue to sell its wares in the U.S. after December. Maybe we’ll see ads for the company’s meatless mince — er, ground “meat” — popping up on local TV states stateside sometime soon, too.