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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

protein

We Tried the Plant-based Chicken Nuggets from High Tech Startup Rebellyous

Even though I technically have more time to cook during quarantine, there are some days when my motivation to scrounge up a meal is exactly zero. On those days, I turn to my freezer — frozen burritos, pre-made meals, and ravioli are always ready to go when I need them. Now I have a new staple to add to my freezer: plant-based chicken nuggets from Rebellyous Foods.

If you’re not familiar, Rebellyous is a plant-based meat company that’s reinventing manufacturing technology to make meat alternatives more scalable. After launching in 2017, the Seattle-based startup began selling its first product, a plant-based chicken nugget, to hospital and office cafeterias.

But with COVID-19 essentially closing down their marketplace, Rebellyous quickly pivoted to begin offering its nuggets on retail shelves. Last week the vegan nuggets hit the freezer sections of several small retailers in the Seattle area. A pack of 30 nuggets costs $5.99. The plant-based nuggets have a protein content comparable to regular chicken nuggets and are meant to be just as easy to prepare — whether in a corporate dining hall or a home kitchen.

A bag of Rebellyous plant-based nuggets. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

This week I was able to put that assertion to the test when I received a sample of Rebellyous’ frozen nuggets. I reached for the nuggets when I was feeling especially hangry, hoping that they wouldn’t take forever to cook. The package suggests three cooking methods: Bake, Pan Fry, or Deep Fry. It explicitly notes not to consume the nuggets raw or microwave them, which I assume would be bad for their texture.

I decided to bake my nuggets. I preheated the oven to 425°F, shook out a some nuggets onto a bare baking sheet, and popped them into the oven. Eight minutes and one flip later, and the nuggets were ready. They did stick to the baking sheet a little bit, so next time I would line the pan with parchment paper.

I’ve tasted Rebellyous’ nuggets before, so I knew what to expect. But in the past they’ve always been prepared by an air fryer; I was skeptical that my oven would provide the same crunchy exterior.

Happily I was wrong. The nuggets had a crisp, crunchy coating and a juicy interior that almost exactly mimics the nuggets I grew up eating in my elementary school cafeteria. It’s almost uncanny. The nuggets were tasty enough that I didn’t even feel the need to use a dipping sauce, though a side of barbecue would have been delicious.

Rebellyous’ nuggets post-bake. [Photo: Catherine Lamb]

I just enjoyed one serving, which is six Rebellyous nuggets. One serving has 160 calories, 7 grams of fat and 14 grams of protein (Rebellyous uses wheat protein). The serving didn’t look like a whole lot on my plate, but they actually filled me up quite nicely. Since they have a relatively low calorie and fat count, you could double the serving size or just eat them as a snack.

Rebellyous is certainly heading to retail at an opportune time. Sales of plant-based meats have increased dramatically during the pandemic, as meat prices spike and people search for healthier foods. A handful of plant-based companies have also raised funding over the past few weeks, including Rebellyous itself.

Rebellyous is actually cashing in on three food trends right now: plant-based meat, comfort food, and frozen food. Consumers are looking for food that keeps well, prepares easily, and satisfies. Rebellyous ticks all of those boxes, and has the bonus that it’s kid-friendly (a boon for parents working from home).

I may not be a kid, but after trying them I’m a fan of Rebellyous’ nuggets. The fact that they cook in ten minutes, require no prep, taste satisfying and provide a hearty serving of protein means that they’ve definitely earned a spot in my freezer rotation.

Rebellyous’ nuggets are only available in the Seattle area for now. If you buy a pack, please leave us a comment and let us know what you thought!

Barcelona’s Cubiq Foods Raises €5M to Produce Better-for-You Cultured Fat

Cubiq Foods, a Barcelona-based startup making cultured fats for food products, announced today that it had raised €5 million ($5.4 million) from Blue Horizon Ventures and Moira Capital Partners (h/t Tech.eu). This bumps the company’s total amount of funding up to €17 million ($18.4 million).

Founded in 2018, Cubiq Foods cultivates fats and fat/water emulsions for use in industrial food products. The process is very similar to what companies are doing with cultured meat, only they’re doing it with fat. Specifically, Cubiq Foods makes oils that are rich in omega-3s, which have a laundry list of health benefits.

With its new funding, Cubiq Foods will scale up the production of its fats to industrial levels. It aims to make its cell-based fats commercially available to companies around the world by the end of 2020.

In addition to its omega-3 fat, Cubiq also converts liquid oils — like olive oil — into solids, which are intended as replacements for vegan fats like coconut oil. This could have real benefits in plant-based meat, specifically. Many options on the market right now, like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, use coconut oil to give their ground “beef” a juicy richness. Coconut oil is high in saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol levels. Adding Cubiq Foods’ new fats to their products could help plant-based meat companies make their foods more healthy and better fight critiques around health they’ve struggled against over the past year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, plant-based meat has been getting more attention than ever — and attracting a boatload of funding, to boot. In this climate, I doubt that Cubiq Foods will have difficulty finding alternative protein companies to partner up with.

Hargol FoodTech Raises $3M to Launch First Grasshopper Protein Product

Hargol FoodTech, a company that produces commercial grasshopper protein, announced today that it had raised $3 million from existing shareholders Sirius Venture Capital and SLF Investment Partners. This brings the company’s total funding to $5 million.

With its new funding Hargol plans to expand its production capacity to launch its first insect protein product line, which will be called Biblical Protein.

Based in Israel, Hargol is a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group and has been commercially farming grasshoppers for human consumption since 2014. This will be its first product release. Back in 2018, the company stated that it had already received $5 million in requests for orders of its grasshopper protein from companies like Ikea and Pepsico. Almost exactly two years later it seems like it’s finally prepared to start fulfilling said orders.

Hargol is far from the only company out there in the bug biz. Aspire makes B2B insect protein and acquired consumer-facing cricket bar brand Exo in 2018. Entomo Farms makes roasted crickets and cricket powder, and Orchestra Provisions is trying to entice consumers to eat insects by turning them into spice mixes.

There’s no question that we should be eating bugs — they’re high in protein and amino acids, incredibly sustainable, and easy to produce. But what is unsure is whether or not we’ll ever want to eat bugs. Western consumers may never get over the “ick” factor around eating creepy crawlies, regardless of how high in protein or easy on the environment they are.

Hargol has an advantage in that its grasshoppers are blended up into a powder, so they’re unrecognizable as bugs and can be easily added into other foods, like smoothies or cookies. Still, I’m not sure how ready Western consumers will be to “hop” up and buy a bag of grasshopper powder.

On the flip side, the coronavirus pandemic is making us all take a long, hard look at our food systems and security. Insects have the advantage of being incredibly easy to produce with limited natural resources and space, so maybe COVID-19 will actually help nudge consumers to open their minds to eating bugs.

Sustainable Bioproducts Rebrands, Raises $80M for Protein Fermentation Tech

Biotech company Sustainable Bioproducts announced this morning that it has rebranded as Nature’s Fynd and raised $80 million in fresh funding. The Series B round was co-led by Generation Investment Management LLP and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from 1955 Capital, Mousse Partners, ADM Ventures, and Danone Manifesto Ventures. This brings the total amount of funding for Nature’s Fynd so far to $113 million.

Chicago-based Nature’s Fynd grew out of NASA-supported research in 2016. The company creates complete proteins by fermenting extremophile microbes based off of those that live in the scalding-hot geothermal springs in Yellowstone National Parks. The resulting protein contains all nine essential amino acids. Eventually Nature’s Fynd plans to use said protein to create its own food and beverage product lines.

For now, though, Nature’s Fynd has yet to start actually producing this fermented protein at a large scale. Today the company announced it will begin production at its 35,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chicago later this month. Nature’s Fynd CMO Karuna Rawal told me via email that they plan to start selling branded products to retailers in 12 to 15 months.

Food made with Nature’s Fynd’s protein. [Photo: Charles Cherney Photography]

The fact that Nature’s Fynd was able to attract such a hefty amount of capital suggests that investors believe in the potential of protein fermentation. It’s especially notable that the venture arms of Big Food companies ADM and Danone both contributed to Nature’s Fynd’s latest fundraise (both groups also participated in the Series A round). Perhaps those companies are hoping that down the road, they could incorporate alt-protein from Nature’s Fynd into their own animal-free products as an alternative to, say, pea or soy.

Nature’s Fynd is not the only company developing fermentation tech to create protein. Perfect Day and New Culture both use genetically-engineered microbes to ferment the building blocks of dairy. This is a cousin to so-called gas fermentation, in which microbes transform carbon dioxide into edible protein. And Motif Foodworks provides bespoke fermented protein to CPG companies making animal-free products.

“Our innovative technology was developed by studying nature’s own solutions for adapting — and ultimately thriving — in environments with limited resources,” Thomas Jonas, the CEO and co-founder of Nature’s Fynd, stated in an email to The Spoon. Considering that the future of our food production is a bit perilous right now, it’s a smart move to invest in novel ways to create dietary staples. Protein included.

World’s Largest Meat Processor to Launch Line of Plant-based Burgers, Meatballs

Colorado-based Planterra Foods announced a new plant-based brand today. Called OZO, the brand will include a line of meatless burgers, grounds, and meatballs. And here’s the kicker: Planterra Foods is owned by the U.S. branch of JBS, the Brazilian corporation that processes the largest amount of meat in the world.

OZO’s offerings are made of a mix of pea and rice protein fermented with shiitake mushrooms, which, according to a press release from Planterra, makes the products more “easily digestible.” OZO’s products will be priced from $5.99 to $7.99, which puts them in line with competitors like Beyond Meat.

The plant-based products will launch in grocery stores across the U.S. in April, after which the company will begin rolling them out through foodservice partners. Well, that’s the plan, anyway. The OZO line was meant to make its debut at Expo West this week, but the trade show was postponed a day before its start due to the coronavirus. It’s unclear if the outbreak will affect the April retail release timeline.

Interestingly, the press release announcing OZO’s launch doesn’t mention JBS until the very last sentence of the last paragraph, effectively burying it at the end. Maybe they’re worried that the information will turn off vegetarians and vegans who don’t want to eat plant-based food associated with a giant meat processor.

Despite Planterra Foods’ seeming reticence around it, the JBS affiliation is what will give the company a fighting chance to stand out in a plant-based meat aisle that’s extremely crowded — and getting more so by the day. OZO can leverage JBS’ existing supply chain to easily source its plant-based ingredients, and can also tap into its retail partnerships to elbow out some shelf space.

However, JBS isn’t the only Big Meat company hoping to leverage its retail connections to carve out a space for its plant-based branch. Tyson, Hormel, and Smithfield Foods have released their own meat alternatives over the past year as well. And just last week Cargill, another food and agriculture giant, announced its own plant-based burger, which will also be hitting retail shelves in April.

All this goes to show that the alterna-meat boom has finally made it all the way up to the largest players — even those specialize in meat. And with demand for plant-based food growing 11 percent year-over-year, it’s likely that JBS won’t be the last Big Food company we see trying to get in on the alternative meat action.

Equinom Raises $10M to Develop Smarter Seeds to Feed the Protein Craze

Israeli seed breeding startup Equinom announced today that it has closed a $10 million Series B round of funding led by BASF Venture Capital with participation from Roquette, Trendlines Group, and Equinom’s current investor, Fortissimo Capital. This brings the total funding raised by Equinom to $17.6 million.

Founded in 2012, Equinom uses cross-breeding technology to create seeds and legumes that grow faster, produce better yields, and have higher protein levels. Instead of relying on GMO’s or gene editing technology like CRISPR to produce their seeds, Equinom’s scientists use predictive algorithms to precisely breed plants to produce their ideal traits. The startup claims that their technology can produce new seeds in half the time as traditional breeding.

According to a press release from the company, Equinom currently supplies its specially bred sesame seeds to food producers across the globe. Equinom will start selling its next product — a high protein pea varietal — in 2021. With its new funding, the startup plans to expand its seed distribution globally and build out its team.

As the world’s population grows, so too does the need for highly-nutrition food that can be grown without totally depleting our planet. Paired with the burgeoning demand globally for plant-based protein, it’s no wonder that seed companies are trying to find the most efficient ways to grow high-protein plants like legumes and beans — the key ingredient in alternative meat and dairy products.

Many organizations turn to high-tech solutions like gene editing (including CRISPR) or GMO‘s to create their ideal seeds. Interestingly, Equinom is eschewing these in favor of more traditional breeding, albeit breeding augmented with data and algorithms to make it more efficient. Considering the serious challenges we’ll face feeding the world sustainably, this multi-pronged approach will hopefully pay off.

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.

Plant-based Ingredient Supplier Nutriati Nets $12.7M Series C

This week Manna Tree Partners announced it had led a $12.7 million Series C investment round in Nutriati, a supplier of plant-based base ingredients like beans and grains. Private equity firm Open Prairie also participated. Based in Virginia, Nutriari sells B2B ingredients meant to go into alternative proteins, like meat and eggs, as well as a gluten-free flour replacement out of chickpeas.

Pulses — like lentils, chickpeas, and beans — may not sound all that revolutionary on their own. However, they’re the key ingredients adding protein to buzzed-about plant-based foods like Beyond Meat burgers and JUST Egg. As rising numbers of flexitarian diners have spurred an increase in alternative meats (and eggs, and milk), and finding consistent, good-tasting base ingredients is critical for plant-based food companies.

There are plenty of other plant protein players cashing in on the flexitarian revolution. Cargill has invested $100 million in pea protein company PURIS. Ingredient company Ingredion recently amped up internal investment in plant-based protein. And last year Innovopro raised $4.25 million for its chickpea protein. On the more bespoke side, Motif FoodWorks has raised almost $120 million to ferment tailored ingredients for alternative meat, eggs, milk, etc.

Considering how the popularity of plant-based foods is growing by leaps and bounds, there’s room for all of these players and more. Especially as both Big Food and new startups start creating new products in the space. Going forward, ingredient suppliers would be smart to get into the alt-protein game — if they’re not already.

In Finland, EntoCube Aims to Make Insect Farming Cheaper By Taking It Deep Underground

In an old mine deep underground in Finland, something is stirring. It may sound like the intro to a monster movie, but it’s actually the location of Finnish startup EntoCube’s latest edible insect farm.

For the last year, EntoCube has been growing insects for human consumption in underground farms located in old mines. The mines are roughly 1,400 meters deep, with a temperature that hovers at around 28 °C (~82 °F), thanks to natural geothermal heat. EntoCube’s farming project, which cost €250,000 (~$277,000 USD) to build according to Sifted, is done in partnership with Callio Pyhäjärvi, which runs Europe’s deepest metal mine.

Founded in 2014, EntoCube builds and sells farming tech for edible insects geared towards everyone from home experimenters up to those looking to start their own insect enterprise. The startup also sells its own line of insect foodstuffs through its website, including cricket granola and powder.

According to the Sifted article, EntoCube founder Robert Nemlander took the farm underground to capitalize on the natural climate of the mines. Their temperature and humidity level is not only ideal for growing crickets, it also makes the whole endeavor cheaper since the company doesn’t have to pay for heating — one of the most expensive parts of insect farming.

Surprisingly, insect farming is costlier than, say, cattle farming. Bugs may require only minimal land, food, and water, but the technology to farm them is so new that, for now, it costs more to buy a pound of crickets than a pound of beef. Nemlander is hoping to change all of that by creating more efficient production methods and also thinking outside the traditional farm formula — or, more accurately, under it.

The startup’s latest underground location may be unique, but it’s not the only one betting on insects as the next big sustainable protein source — and not just for humans. Israeli startup Flying Spark has partnered with Thai Union, one of the world’s largest seafood companies, to make insect-based animal feed. In France, Ÿnsect raised a whopping €110 million (~$124M USD) to build the world’s biggest insect farm, where bugs will be grown for fish and pet food. Here in the U.S., Chips makes chips and protein powder from crickets, while Aspire acquired cricket protein bar Exo last year.

There’s no question that the edible insect market has a lot of potential. Bugs are quick to grow, don’t require many resources, and take a much smaller toll on the environment than meat. Since demand for protein doesn’t seem like it’ll slow anytime soon, insects could provide a much-needed ethical and sustainable source.

That is, if people can get over the “ick” factor. More than a quarter of the world’s population already chows down on bugs, but Western consumers are hesitant to embrace creepy crawlies on their plates. Companies are hoping to get consumers over their aversion to bugs to blending them into products like protein bars and spices and serving them as a crispy snack at baseball stadiums. Even celebrities are taking up the cause.

EntoCube’s underground farm is certainly an interesting strategy to reduce cricket cost. Now we’ll just have to wait and see if people actually want to eat them.

SKS 2019: The Key to Sustainable Protein Might be Fermentation, not Plants

When you hear the term alternative proteins, your thoughts likely jump to plant-based foods, or maybe even cultured meat.

But there’s actually a third way to create high-protein meat alternatives without plants by leveraging a relatively old technology, and that is fermentation. At SKS 2019, Dr. Lisa Dyson of Air Protein, Perumal Gandhi of Perfect Day, and Morgan Keim of Motif FoodWorks discussed how their companies are using genetically engineered microbes to ferment sustainable, highly customizable proteins.

If you’re intrigued by all the buzz around the alternative protein space, it’s worth watching the whole video below. (You get to learn how Air Protein makes protein from air, c’mon.) Here are a few takeaways from the conversation:

Fermented protein is super sustainable
Plant-based protein is certainly more environmentally friendly than animal protein, but fermented protein has the potential to be even more sustainable. Dr. Dyson noted that their protein is made using only energy (which can come from solar or wind) and elements of the air. Bonus: unlike farming, it can scale vertically, is independent of weather conditions, and makes protein incredibly quickly.

It’s more efficient, too
One of the perks of fermenting protein is you can get really granular about which molecules you want to create, eliminating waste. “If you just want one part of, say, a dairy molecule, why create the whole thing?” asked Keim onstage. “Why not just make the one part you actually need?” Having that sort of control over the protein leads to more efficient R&D processes for all sorts of animal alternative products.

Fermentation isn’t *that* out of this world
Dr. Dyson noted that growing protein from fermentation “may sound like science fiction,’ but it’s actually quite close to our current standard methods of growing many staple foods — including yogurt and beer.

Gandhi echoed this sentiment. Perfect Day, which dubbed their proteins “flora-based” after the microflora used to create them, noted that fermenting protein isn’t anything new. “We’ve been using it for 40 years now,” Gandhi said. “We’re just applying [the technology] in a new way.”

Watch the full video below to learn more about what Keim called “the next generation of what non-animal foods will be.” It’ll make you rethink the protein on your plate.

SKS 2019: Growing Protein: The Emerging Food Tech Ingredient Market

Israeli Insect Protein Startup Flying Spark Gets Investment from Seafood Company Thai Union

Today Flying Spark, an Israeli startup that makes food products from larval insect protein, announced a partnership with Thai Union Group PCL, one of the world’s largest seafood producers. As part of the deal, Thai Union will also invest in the Israeli company.

Thai Union did not disclose how much it would invest in Flying Spark. However, a press release sent to The Spoon did reveal that this is the first investment by Thai Union from its new $30 million venture fund intended for food tech companies, including those in the alternative protein space.

While dining on larvae might not sound appetizing, at least to most Western consumers, insects are actually an incredibly sustainable source of protein. They require very little food or water, grow quickly, and the whole insect can be eaten — which means no food waste.

Companies like Aspire (which acquired cricket protein bar company Exo), Chirp’s, Orchestra Provisions and others are all trying to get Western consumers to eat insects. Even some celebrities have taken up the cause to advocate for bugs.

Considering Thai Union is one of the world’s largest seafood producers, however, their interest might be more focused on insect protein’s other main use: cheap, sustainable animal feed.

Currently the majority of feed for farmed fish is made from, well, smaller fish. That can be expensive and also means that those fish can’t be sold to consumers. Using insects to cultivate farmed fish could be a cheaper high-protein option.

If that is indeed the route they’re going, Flying Spark won’t be the first to get into the space. Last year French startup Ÿnsect raised €110 million (~$124 million) to build a giant farm to grow larvae for fish feed. However, with demand for fish predicted to increase by more than 50 percent over the next 15 years, there’ll be plenty of room for multiple players to swim onto the scene.

Michele Fite Wants to Defy Your Idea of What Animal-Free Alternatives Can Be

Burbling bread starters and pots of kimchi or kraut are common in today’s fermentation-forward, health-conscious kitchens. But what happens when you merge the ancient craft that brought us fine wine, soy sauce, and chocolate with cutting-edge science and technology ? You get protein, which is exactly what new(ish) spinoff company Motif Foodworks is all about: making animal-free protein solutions to help feed the alt-meat revolution.

We talked to Michele Fite, Chief Commercial Officer of Motif FoodWorks, to find out more. She will be at the Smart Food Summit (SKS) on October 7th speaking about Next-Gen Food Building Blocks next month. Tickets are almost gone, so register now!

This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity.

Tell us more about how Motif FoodWorks works.
We are an ingredient innovation company dedicated to reshaping the landscape of food through science and technology. We will do that by partnering with food innovators, from chefs to startups to major enterprise brands, and creating animal-free ingredients that will enable new and better food experiences. Ultimately, our goal is to defy expectations of what animal-free alternatives can be.

To achieve breakthroughs in ingredient innovation, we employ an exhaustive process to understand and unlock new food properties. We start with a thorough analysis of the sensory experience that allows us to identify the underlying components. We then decode the genetic makeup of those ingredients, translating them into animal-free counterparts. Powered by fermentation, we harness biology and select microbes designed to produce our target ingredients — ones we have traditionally gotten from animals — through a process that is akin to brewing beer.

Motif FoodWorks just raised $27.5 million dollars. What do you plan to use your new capital to achieve?
With the new funding, we plan to add to and accelerate our product pipeline; expand academic collaborations across a broad set of molecular food science disciplines; scale our science and regulatory staff; and deepen our research and development efforts.

This year alone we have been able to expand our leadership team with the additions of Janet Collins, Head of Regulatory, Government and Industry Affairs, Julie Post-Smith, Director of Business Development, and Morgan Keim, Business Development Manager, who will help Motif unlock the secrets of food and meet consumer demand for delicious, responsibly produced foods.

Why do you think the alternative protein space is so white-hot right now? What is motivating its rise in popularity?
The alternative protein space is rising in popularity because of shifting consumer attitudes, emerging technologies, and the “cool factor” of brands like Beyond and Impossible drawing more attention to the industry as a whole.

People want to eat a little better, both for their own health and the health of the environment, and Motif sees a unique opportunity to move plant-based and animal-free foods beyond a fad and solidify them into a movement by making sure consumers don’t have to compromise between taste, nutrition and values.

You previously worked in big CPG companies such as Nestlé, Dupont and Kerry. How has your experience informed your role at Motif Bioworks?
I am fortunate to bring a depth of experience in the food industry to my work at Motif – from working in consumer packaged goods experience as a marketer and brand manager to serving as a B2B executive in highly technical and specialized businesses such as infant formula, weight management, sports nutrition, medical foods, and dietary supplements. I will apply my abilities to understand consumer insights and trends in the food space and connect them back to technology to my role at Motif, as we work to reshape the food landscape and bring more nutritious, accessible and sustainable food experiences to consumers.

Come hear Michele, Perumal Gandhi of Perfect Day and Lisa Dyson of Air Protein speak at SKS next month! Tickets are going fast.