Despite a downturn in investment and economic contribution, sales of plant-based meat in Australia have grown from pre-pandemic levels, with a greater number of brands and a smaller price gap with conventional proteins. Food Frontier CEO Simon Eassom and report author Klara Kalocsay explain why.

Plant-based meat is inching closer to the cost of its conventional counterparts in Australia, driven by a proliferation of brands and significant foodservice growth, according to a new report by Food Frontier.

The think tank’s 2023 State of the Industry report combines industry data and insights from Deloitte Access Economics, highlighting the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector after a tricky couple of years globally.

Where has the industry gained, and where is it lacking? What will it look like in the future? Here are the key takeaways from Food Frontier’s analysis.

Foodservice surge offsets retail slide

The rise of plant-based meat in Australia has been driven by its foodservice performance since Covid-19. In 2023, sales across foodservice and retail reached AU$272.5M, representing a 47% increase from 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Per capita consumption is also up by 28% since 2020.

But while retail sales dipped by 1.1% annually, the wholesale demand in foodservice has increased by 59%. This means the latter is now responsible for 45% of the sector’s sales, up from 17% in 2020. Most of these sales (80%) come from quick-service restaurants (QSRs), with the report suggesting manufacturers stand to gain by expanding into new foodservice outlets and across untapped segments.

“The foodservice sector has come from a very low base, so growth has always had significant potential. Australians eat out a great deal as part of their culture. With plant-based meats becoming more popular and well-known, QSRs and other service outlets have been able to rapidly introduce non-meat alternatives into their menus very simply and without significant input into chef education,” Food Frontier CEO Simon Eassom told Green Queen.

He cited the ease of offering meatless versions of traditional choices like plant-based burgers or an Aussie breakfast with vegan bacon and sausages as an example. “There is evidence that consumers are more willing to try something new in a service setting and, particularly if one member of a group or family doesn’t eat meat, QSRs have recognised the value of catering for the requirements of the whole group,” he added. “Hungry Jacks (Australia’s version of Burger King) has seen this value when introducing the ‘Rebel Whopper’ as its plant-based version of its meat offerings.”

Eassom continued: “The retail sector grew very quickly before the pandemic and has suffered inevitable contractions, readjustments and corrections. Whilst the leading brands have consolidated or grown their market share, other brands have contracted or disappeared, so the overall growth trajectory through the financial difficulties of the past few years has been relatively flat, but there are strong signs of recovery,”

When you look at mid-term trends, the industry has steadily grown from pre-pandemic levels, with retail sales swelling by 9% annually since 2019, and foodservice expanding by 37%.

The industry’s economic contribution is down

Despite the market performance, the plant-based meat manufacturing sector’s contribution to the economy has reduced by 9%, from AU$50.4M in 2020 to AU$45.8M last year. This drop is witnessed across both direct and indirect contributions.

One of the major factors behind this was a slight contraction in domestic manufacturing in the first half of 2023, stemming from a lack of investment and grant funding, rising manufacturing and labour costs, and reduced consumer expenditure.

When it comes to indirect employment, plant-based meat’s contribution dipped by 9% as well. But it’s largely benefitting the agriculture, manufacturing and professional services industries, which account for 33%, 15% and 14% of the total.

“This agricultural potential remains largely untapped, primarily due to the absence of sufficient infrastructure for processing domestic plant proteins. Expanding domestic production and increasing the availability of Australian-grown plant protein ingredients present promising economic prospects for Australian farmers,” explained Klara Kalocsay, head of research strategy at Food Frontier, and the report’s author.

“There is substantial demand within the domestic plant-based food sector and in international export markets for Australian protein ingredients. Of course, the capital outlay to construct processing facilities is considerable and will likely require co-investment, either in consortiums or public-private partnerships to fund construction,” she added.

“Australia is seen throughout Asia as a supplier of reliable, safe and high-quality foods and food ingredients. With an increased number of facilities able to produce the ingredients and the incentives needed to convert commodity crops into high-value products, the economic and employment contribution from the sector will continue to grow.”

Investment mirrors global trends, but brand options increase

Globally, plant-based companies saw a 28% decline in VC investment in 2023, reflecting the larger 61% drop in food tech funding. The pattern is similar in Australia, where plant-based meat makers have witnessed a 70% decrease in financing since 2020, and a 13% drop from 2022, reaching AU$16.75M last year.

However, the number of companies producing vegan meat analogues increased from 10 in 2019 to 22 in 2023. As Food Frontier outlined in its supermarket audit released in February, this has given rise to an explosion in the number of products, which went from less than 90 in 2020 to 275 in January 2024.

In fact, this figure peaked at nearly 350 in 2023, but consolidation in the category (with mergers like The Aussie Plant Based Co.) brought about a rationalisation of SKUs. “The industry could expect investment to drop further if the current economic climate continues. However, manufacturers are moving beyond the early days of requiring injections of capital from investors and seeing greater returns on collaboration, market expansion, mergers and acquisitions,” said Eassom.

“We anticipate any future investment in plant-based meat to mostly revolve around initiatives that add value to the industry by way of taste and texture – technologies and developments that help to improve the quality of the product and/or make it cheaper, thus addressing consumer barriers.”

Burgers give way to chunks, strips and crumbed formats

Australia has witnessed a shift in consumer preference for the type of plant-based meat. Long-standing formats like burgers and mince have stabilised in number, while newer options such as strips/chunks and whole cuts have become more popular.

Crumbed chicken, deli meats, ready meals and snacking SKUs have all expanded too, pinpointing a preference for convenience. Meanwhile, vegan seafood products have fallen sharply. Additionally, the number of frozen products has increased by 10%, making up just over half of all products on shelves.

And 63% of these products are from Australian companies (up from 42% in 2020), with 48% being manufactured domestically.

“Consumers are looking for convenience, which has seen a significant increase in the supply of formats like schnitzels and nuggets, through to mince and meatballs, and to deli slices, snacking and finger foods,” Eassom outlined. “In addition, recreating the taste and texture of beef-style products – particularly chunks and strips – is more challenging than producing a crumbed or battered product where flavours can be added through the format.

“‘Southern-style’ flavourings, for example, have a greater impact on the flavour experience than the plant-based meat or animal meat itself. Such formats are readily available with animal meat through fast-food outlets and QSRs, so there is greater public acceptance.”

Plant-based meat closer to price parity

Despite increased per capita spend amid inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, the price gap between plant-based and animal-derived meat is narrowing. While the former carried a premium of 49% in 2020, they were just 33% more expensive last year.

Vegan seafood and ready meals are almost at price parity, with only a 1.5% and 3.2% markup, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, bacon (83%) and burgers (63.4%) carry the largest price premium.

But domestically produced plant-based meats are universally cheaper than imported products, representing a 14.8% difference. This also translates to cost-competitiveness with animal proteins, with the gap in ready meal prices down to an even smaller 0.3%, and beef chunks/strips (2.8%) and mince (8%) approaching parity too. In fact, Australian-made vegan seafood and chicken chunks/strips are actually cheaper than their conventional counterparts, costing 5.3% and 0.5% less.

“Some Australian manufacturers said they absorbed price hikes whenever feasible to shield consumers from bearing the brunt, recognising the role of pricing in consumer decision-making,” explained Eassom. “And some companies improved efficiencies in their supply chain, while others pursued vertical integration to reduce overall expenses. Another contributor to the narrowing of the price gap is the departure of several imported plant-based meats, which were more expensive per kilo than locally produced products.”

That said, regular retail prices of plant-based meats are still too high for consumers, with a 7.4% increase in cost across the board. Bacon (+27.5%) and sausages (+26.6%) have had the highest hikes (the former is the most expensive meat analogue in the country), while snacking products (21.1%) and beef chunks/strips (10%) have had the biggest price drops.

“It is worth noting that pricing is controlled by the retail sector as much as by the manufacturer and with relatively low volume sales, the margin demanded by retailers necessarily affects the RRP,” noted Eassom. “As volume of sales increases, the potential reduction in margins should see price parity grow closer.”

“If overseas trends are anything to go by, we think the Australian market, when it can, will see even closer price parity,” he added. This could happen in several ways: retailers could introduce a policy of increasing plant-based food sales and sell their products at price parity, something European chain stores are doing; manufacturers will likely become more efficient in making products (many are still young companies and improving scaling costs); and local production could be expanded, driving prices further down.

Health the largest driver, taste the biggest detractor

Research shows that 20-39% of Australians are cutting back on meat or eating none at all, with 38% open to replacing it with a plant-based option. Health seems to be the major influencing factor, with protein requirements and ultra-processing top of mind. After consulting with manufacturers, Food Frontier found that they are prioritising health and nutrition in plant-based meat production.

This is followed by price, thanks to the higher cost of living. High costs are also a deterrent, as is the taste of these products, which is the tallest barrier for plant-based meat purchases. “In line with most comparable markets, Australian consumers who consciously plan their diet say that health and nutrition are key drivers for their dietary decisions and corresponding purchasing behaviour. These rate higher, for example, than environmental issues or animal welfare (vegan consumers excepted),” said Kalocsay.

“Interest in plant-based meat is less driven by the positive perception of the nutritional benefits of plant-based meat and more by a growing concern of the negative effects of red meat consumption, deli-meat consumption, saturated fat, and lack of fibre in our diets,” added Eassom.

It means consumers are still not big on the environmental benefits of plant-based meat. due to a lack of press coverage – only 5% of Australian media stories mentioned the impact of food on climate change between 2011 and 2021.

The road ahead

In Food Frontier’s first State of the Industry report, Deloitte Access Economics modelled three potential 10-year scenarios for the plant-based meat manufacturing industry. These are based on three trajectories. The first centres on these products as conscious consumers’ choice, a conservative estimate; the second is a moderate forecast labelling vegan meats as popular and accessible alternatives; and the third, more accelerated prediction analyses these as popular mass-market commodities.

But the change in market size from 2019 to 2023 is not on track to meet the potential scenarios outlined in its first such report, thanks to “a confluence of macroeconomic trends”, “supply chain factors specific to the food manufacturing sector industry”, low repeat purchases due to poor experiences with early meat analogues, and assumptions that behaviour change would be much faster.

“Some products were not meeting consumer expectations around taste, and the higher price point compared to conventional counterparts has reduced repeat purchases, leading to a revised forecast value,” explained Eassom.

The first scenario now predicts sales to reach AU$361M by 2033, a conservative estimate accounting for 896 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs. The second forecast – representing increased R&D and infrastructure investment, reduced import reliance and lower meat consumption – would mean sales hitting $1.65B, with 6,063 FTE jobs. The third and most aggressive scenario, meanwhile, will see 17,430 FTE jobs and sales of $3.7B by 2033.

“Scenario two is considered the most likely to play out. It depicts a steady growth path until 2033, mirroring the ongoing medium-term trends observed over the past five years, particularly the robust growth from FY19 to FY20,” said Eassom. “Within this scenario, moderate growth is seen across both the retail and foodservice sectors in the category, with a parallel increase noted in the domestic plant-based meat manufacturing industry.”

He added: “There is limited further growth from the early adopters and diet evangelists. The challenge is to normalise the consumption of plant-based meat alternatives as an occasional part of the diet of flexitarians. Scenario two models two variables (number of consumers and frequency of consumption) that we believe represent achievable growth trajectories.”

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Australian hyper-fermentation company Cauldron Ferm has secured AU$9.5M ($6.25M) in Series A funding to build a large-scale facility to manufacture high-value ingredients through precision fermentation.

A year after closing a large AU$10.5M ($7M) seed financing round, Cauldron Ferm has raised a further AU$9.5M ($6.25M) in its Series A round, which was led by Horizons Ventures, with participation from existing investor Main Sequence, alongside SOSV and In-Q-Tel (IQT).

The startup’s manufacturing platform enables partners to produce high-value ingredients using precision fermentation in a continuous, more efficient process. It is the only business approved to manufacture precision-fermented protein ingredients at scale in Australia. The latest investment will enable the company to support “faster-than-expected customer growth, build robust proof cases around the application of its hyper-fermentation technology, and finalise partners and plans for a 500,000-litre facility”.

“Precision fermentation is an amazing technology, because it enables bio-based production of a wide range of products with diverse applications,” said Horizons Ventures’ Chis Liu. “To date, the technology has been hamstrung by its costs compared to conventional production methods, but Cauldron’s unique solution significantly improves the competitiveness of precision fermentation both in capital and operating expenditure.”

Continuous fermentation produces more proteins for cheaper

Founded in 2022, Cauldron’s hyper-fermentation tech is built on 35 years of R&D from Agritechnology, where co-founder and CEO Michele Stansfield worked for over a decade. In fact, the reason why its seed round was larger than the Series A is because it was used to buy out Agritechnology’s precision fermentation IP last year. The company’s tech involves a novel bioreactor design and proprietary growth medium formulation, which improve the economics of large-scale fermentation production by five times compared to the current industry standard.

The key is that this technology can run continuous fermentation, compared to the short-term batch production that’s widely in use. The company has successfully run a 10,000-litre production system for protein ingredients continuously for eight months without any contamination or any “genetic drift” of microbes, which are two of the biggest challenges of running long-term fermentation. This was facilitated by approval from Australia’s Office of the Gene Technology Regulatory.

This hyper-fermentation process allows the startup to outproduce batch systems that are five times larger with its smaller, cheaper bioreactors. It is currently operating out of a facility with a 25,000-litre fermentation capacity in Orange, New South Wales, but the latest capital injection will accelerate its plans for a 500,000-litre site. The longer-term plan is to build a large network of precision fermentation facilities globally for bio-based product manufacturing.

“Cauldron has proven its precision fermentation at an industrially relevant scale, unlocking a significant decrease – between 30% and 50% – in the cost of goods for our customers vs traditional batch fermentation,” said Stansfield. “From biofuels and agriculture to cosmetics and chemicals, the opportunities are immense, and with the support of our incredible investors, we’re poised to capitalise on them.”

Olivia Jones, director at IQT, said: “Food insecurity and competition among countries to control resources is a real risk. The technology Cauldron has created in enabling alternative ways of producing food, proteins, and materials on an industrial scale will be game-changing.”  

Advancing Australia’s nascent precision fermentation sector

Cauldron is already working with global commercial partners through its current plant in Orange, but plans to raise more funds as part of a Series B round by the end of the year to fund the new facility. It will help the company offer dairy ingredients to food manufacturers that could eventually satisfy the growing demand for dairy proteins globally at a competitive price, according to Australian alternative protein think tank Food Frontier.

“This development is not a new project or R&D experiment, it is a pathway to market success for Australia’s precision fermentation food companies who have needed access to larger facilities,” explained Food Frontier CEO Simon Eassom. “This not only opens the door for Australian food ingredient manufacturers, but also opens the door for Australia to exploit brand new industry growth and become a world leader in the precision fermentation field.”

Po Bronson, general partner at SOSV and managing director of IndieBio, called Stansfield and Cauldron’s long-run fermentation prowess “unparalleled”. She added: “The benefits of the technology – the ability to continuously produce, up to 50% lower net unit costs, and 20% more output with 45% less capex – dismantle a major obstacle for the industry and position the company as a critical manufacturing partner for companies building a more sustainable future.”

There are only a handful of precision fermentation companies in Australia and New Zealand, including Eden Brew, Daisy Lab and All G Foods. So while it’s still a young industry, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation – Australia’s science agency – forecasts that it will reach a value of $1.45B by the end of the decade.

Food Frontier believes Cauldron’s new infrastructure will only go on to help the country’s sector realise this potential, noting that if Australia has enough capability and capacity, international manufacturers will have the option of sourcing ingredients from down under.

“Food ingredients made from precision fermentation might be new now, but they will become the norm around the world for producing foods using dairy proteins and fats without the animal to improve performance and flavour in milk derivatives, cheeses, and products like plant-based meats,” said Eassom. “Cauldron Ferm has enabled the path forward for producing ingredients made from precision fermentation to be cheaper to use in food production than their animal-based counterparts and meet future protein demand in a much more environmentally sustainable way.”

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Australia has become a global leader in alternative proteins, says Food Frontier’s Simon Easson, with the country witnessing a surge in innovation, government support, and market strategies. From shifting policies to groundbreaking technologies, the Australian smart protein sector is booming.

Whilst nobody has been immune to the challenges arising from geopolitical and financial issues of the past two years, Australia has fared better than most, with alternative proteins beginning to gain traction at the federal and state level: more than 26 government-authored or funded papers now feature alternative proteins in their discussions – a topic that was largely absent from government policy before 2018. Foodservice, especially, has bucked the trend with Food Industry Foresight’s Sissel Rosengren reporting sector growth at Food Frontier’s AltProteins23 conference.

Food Frontier’s 2020 State of the Industry report projected that plant-based meats alone could generate nearly AU$3 billion in Australian sales and provide 6,000 full-time jobs by 2030. The Australian government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) further projected that the broader plant protein sector, including dairy milk alternatives, bakery ingredients, and protein products used in sports nutrition, could deliver an additional AU$3 billion (totalling AU$6 billion) and that precision fermentation presents an AU$1.45 billion domestic opportunity by 2030. While there is no Australia-specific projection at this stage, McKinsey & Company estimate the global cultivated meat market to be worth US$25 billion by 2030.

According to Alternative Proteins Global data (see graphic above), Australia ranks eighth globally for total alternative protein investment from 2022 to the end of June 2023. Moreover, it is the fourth top market globally for cellular agriculture based on deal count and the fifth for direct cellular agriculture investment with US$176 million raised. The number of alternative protein companies in Australia has risen from fewer than five in 2017 to more than 30 in 2023 and, of the 300 products now available on our supermarket shelves, 56 per cent are made by Australian plant-based meat manufacturers.

Recognising the scale of the broader plant protein opportunity, the number of plant protein ingredient manufacturers in Australia has increased to at least six and is growing. Made from Australian-grown grains and pulses, these value-added products are now being used by domestic and international companies across more than 23 different food and beverage categories to deliver increased protein and fibre content. Start-up innovators, such as Eighth Day Foods and Whole Green Foods, have achieved significant technology breakthroughs with strong interest shown by multi-national food manufacturers: Eighth Day with its ‘Rapid Solid-State Fermentation’ process re-defining the game in affordable and sustainable plant-based protein production and Whole’s ‘Whole Ingredient Nutrient Extraction’ (WINX) utilising ultra-high pressure to efficiently ‘explode’ the cells of the input ingredient, significantly enhancing the nutritional value and making it more bioavailable.

There are now nine domestic cellular agriculture companies, and Australia is on the verge of having its first cell-cultivated ‘meat’ product approved for domestic sale: Vow Foods’ novel foods application for cell-cultured Japanese quail as a food ingredient is currently before Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Food Frontier anticipates that Eden Brew will be submitting its application to FSANZ in 2024 for precision fermented dairy products, and is looking to release its dairy-free ice cream into retail outlets before the end of the year.

Against this backdrop, it is clear that several trends and growth strategies are emerging that will drive increasing adoption of alternative proteins across the food sector. Many of these can be seen across the globe but Australia is at the forefront of their development, as many ecosystem players and insiders shared during Food Frontier’s October 2023 conference.

1. Producers, manufacturers, and service providers are beginning to take an ‘outside-in’, rather than an ‘inside-out’ approach.
   
   To begin with, investments and advancements have been driven by the innovators developing a ‘good idea’ with limited reflection on consumer demand and market requirements. Promising signs show that providers are modifying their packaging, messaging and marketing. For example, menus in quick service restaurants are providing more plant-based options with descriptions focusing on ingredients and taste rather than labelling as vegan. Manufacturers are emphasising nutritional credentials rather than focusing exclusively on meat-free and animal-friendly credentials.
   
2. Foodservice is increasingly being seen as the lead environment for consumers’ first experience of plant-based meats, according to Mark Field of Prof Consulting Group.
   
   That experience needs to be both a good one and repeatable, encouraging consumers to seek out future experiences, as well as identify the products they’re consuming for their own purchase and home cooking. Attracting first-time trialists via retail has been limited to those already consciously consuming for environmental or health reasons with few ‘curious’ consumers being converted.
   
   Some restaurants, such as Brother Bon in Melbourne’s suburbs, base the entirety of their extensive menu on alternative proteins and focus on the Asian food styles on offer that can be enjoyed by an entire group of diners, meat eaters or otherwise. Promoting this approach, Harvest B, an Australian B2B alternative protein food technology business, has invested in chef training to facilitate the adoption of plant-based meats into institutional catering for hospitals, schools, prisons, armed forces establishments, and aged care facilities. FoodBuy, the sole sourcing partner of major foodservice player, Compass Group Australia, has seen business grow 800% in 2023.
   
3. These two aforementioned points have demonstrated the need to meet consumers “where they are”. One indisputable fact is that the vast majority of consumers are solely interested in tasty, affordable food with little motivation to compromise on those factors. A small percentage of consumers are interested in novel foods for their own sake.
   
   
   
   The impact of this factor is most apparent in the utility foods sector, with the market bombarded in its early years with multiple manufacturers of burgers, sausages, meatballs, nuggets and other finished products. The market has inevitably corrected itself and fewer players now dominate retail shelves in Australia. v2food, a partnership between Jack Cowin’s Competitive Foods Australia and CSIRO’s Main Sequence, enjoys a near monopoly in the major food supermarkets for chicken-style products (such as schnitzels, dippers, and nuggets) and its burgers and sausages. v2food’s burger has enjoyed growing sales as the plant-based meat offering at Australia’s fast-food equivalent of Burger King: Hungry Jacks. Cale Drouin’s manufacturing operation, Cale & Daughters, has moved towards making products under license to supplement its growing range of deli meats and dairy products sold under different brand labels. Diem Fuggersberger’s food business, Coco & Lucas, makes ready meals using its own ingredients as well as those of other manufacturers, such as Quorn.
   
   Further partnerships forthcoming in 2024 reflect the increasing recognition for collaboration and inputs from ‘world’s best’ suppliers, rather than manufacturers attempting everything from end to end. The net result will be fewer, but better quality, choices for consumers such as a “planet burger” using 10-15% cultured meat with precision fermented fats, new algae-derived binders replacing methylcellulose, and a plant-based protein (such as mycelium) providing the increased umami flavour and texture. Several companies in Australia are actively forming these partnerships.
   
4. By far the biggest single growth impact for the alternative proteins sector will come from the ‘normalisation’ of these foods. The best example of progress to date comes from the precision fermentation of casein dairy protein for the manufacture of cheese and the advancements made by Dave Bucca’s Change Foods and the start of large-scale production of mozzarella in import-dependent countries such as the United Arab Emirates.
   
   Global cheese production exceeds 20 million tonnes, trebling over the last 50 years, and driven largely by the obsession with pizza (Americans consume more than 3 billion pizzas per year). Precision-fermented mozzarella will soon become more readily available and cheaper than dairy-farmed mozzarella. As the cheese topping on pizza, this alternative protein (identical in taste and texture) will simply be ‘cheese’ with no need for customers to make choices based on environmental or animal welfare concerns. Likewise, the use of precision fermented eggs for scrambled eggs, omelettes, sauces, and in baking will also become normalised.

Australia has navigated global challenges adeptly, witnessing a remarkable surge in alternative protein adoption. Government support, a thriving foodservice sector, and a burgeoning industry indicate a promising trajectory.  We stand at the forefront of shaping a sustainable and diverse future for the alternative protein sector. Food Frontier looks forward to releasing its State of the Industry report in mid-2024 which will demonstrate the current position and outlook for the next 10 years. 

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At a major APAC food tech conference in Singapore last month, I spoke to four alt-meat founders from India, China, the Philippines and Australia to find out what Asian consumers want from plant-based meat products.

Last month, as part of the Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW), the Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit organized by Rethink Events welcomed over 1,000 global leaders to meet and learn about Asia’s agri-food system to “accelerate the transition to a climate-smart food system” as organizer Rethink Events states on the event website.

As part of the week’s programming, I chaired a discussion about the ‘Healthier Proteins Shaping the Future for Plant-Based Innovation’ on stage. Joining me were four founders and leaders from plant-based meat startups in the APAC region, each representing some of the biggest markets in India, China, the Philippines and Australia, as well as the APAC Science and Technology Director from one of the world’s leading flavour companies.

Our discussion spanned a range of topics, from how important are clean labels to whether Asian consumers are still actively purchasing these products. We talked about what factors influence decision-making, what new ingredients are being developed in the sector, and what brands can do to build confidence in the nutritional value and overall quality of plant-based products

Most of all, the question we were trying to answer was: what does the Asian plant-based consumer want? The key takeaway from the discussion is that each Asian market is unique and its consumers have very specific and very different needs.

The below transcriptions have been edited for clarity and concision.

Anand Nagarajan, Co-Founder at Shaka Harry on Indian Consumers

On the Indian plant-based meat consumer: India is not one market. We’ve got 1.4 billion people, so it’s important not to view the Indian market as one ubiquitous market. The relationship to meat is complicated. In terms of who our consumer is, we have a very simple definition: anyone who has an affinity for the taste of meat is the consumer we’re looking for. We are going after the two-thirds of Indians who eat meat. Culturally, a large percentage of the Indian population that still consumes meat would abstain from it for close to 150 days of the year for various reasons. Some people abstain from meat on certain days. Some people will not eat meat at home. Some people only eat meat when they travel. Some people won’t eat meat on festival days. But all these people may want something that’s a familiar taste. This is where we position Shaka Harry.

On creating products for specific occasions: How do we create salience in a customer’s life, rather than trying to over-intellectualize the conversation? If something needs a lot of education…it won’t scale. We can’t educate a billion people individually. Even if I were to take the 100-200 million high-end consumer market, I can’t sit down and educate every single one of them. Instead, we focus on occasions. How do I win breakfast? How do I win school lunch prep? How do I win at a Saturday family gathering? We’re saying: here’s a very good product, it’s priced well and it is tasty. We’ll give you an occasion for when you need to have this at home. And we find that a far easier method to scale, rather than pursuing micro-markets.

On whether Indians want healthier products: Do Indian consumers want healthier products? There’s a disconnect between what the consumer tells you they want versus what they’re ready to pay for. When they go into the store, and you give them two products, one being healthier but with a 20-30% price premium, they will choose the value product. That’s what we are seeing. 

On We have an entire line of clean-label products coming out soon with easy-to-read, natural ingredients. Thanks to consumer insights, we’ve developed a millet range. Millets is something that traditionally Indians have consumed a lot and consumers have very positive connotations about it. But here the point is not to mimic a meat experience. Rather we’re saying: here’s a very good product. We’re going to ‘de-junk’ your regular roti and paratha. We’re taking the gluten out.  We’re adding natural fiber. The initial market response has been fantastic. So de-junking regular meals and giving consumers a superior version of everyday foods is working really well.

Shaka Harry is a plant protein company based out of India with a range of ready-to-eat products designed for the Indian palate and for Indian cuisines. 

Astrid Prajogo, Founder and CEO at Haofood on Chinese Consumers

On the Chinese consumer base: Our consumer base is very interesting. They’re not flexitarian, but they’re gym-goers. So they choose our product because they are looking for specific protein with specific features- that’s one type of consumer that is pretty loyal to us. We also have the forein vegan community. Although not a large group, they have strong purchasing power. They also have a voice, which can be powerful. Finally, we have the local Chinese vegan community as well, they continue to support our products.

On what Chinese consumers are looking for from meat: We have spent the last couple of years studying how Chinese consumers approach buying meat. Not just plant-based meat, just meat. That’s what we want to understand. And taste is absolutely key, especially umami. China is the land of tasty food, every single part of the country has great-tasting food. So first: taste – they demand great taste. Second is safety. McKinsey published research earlier this year that revealed that for Chinese consumers, health and safety are the most important. Part of safety is for a product not to contain ingredients that consumers deem less safe, like methylcellulose or added gums so our definition of clean-label is free from added artificial ingredients, be it binders or perseveratives. We combine different types of plant proteins and we work with fruit fibres, so we can make a clean-label product where the cost is actually reasonable- we’re down to under $3.5 per kilogram.

Haofood is a Shanghai-based specialist in Asian plant-based meat designed for Asian applications.

Stephen Michael, Co-Founder and CEO at WTH Foods on Filipino consumers 

The Philippines is a pretty sizable country- we have over 110 million Filipinos, and it’s a very meat heavy culture. As a predominantly Catholic country, we don’t have any dietary restrictions, so I’m jealous of my Thai and Malaysian friends whose vegetarian market exists already. In the Philippines, it’s almost non-existent and that’s what we are up against. Culturally and traditionally, a lot of dishes are meat-based, so putting out a plant-based meat product might not be the best idea. We’re continuously trying to figure out what the Filipino consumer wants. It seems they see something as healthy when it is local with added functional benefits in terms of beauty or physical aspects. So for example, if plant-based meat products are helpful for slimming, or if eating these products can help radiate beauty- that’s a driver. The entry point for the Filipino market is health, more than whether something is plant-based. Sustainability and animal welfare are very, very far down the list in terms of our consumers adopting plant-based meat.

When Filipinos think about health, they go for descriptive words like ‘organic’ or ‘cholesterol-free’, ‘low sodium’, ‘low fat’, ‘low sugar. Adding to that, Filipino consumers want their food to be more fortified or to have a unique ingredient like a local oil. For example, we’re trying mungbeans as an additive to respond to that demand- it’s a local and natural ingredient. to add a more local and natural ingredient to that. Consumers want to avoid preservatives and flavor enhancers so they do look at the ingredient list and want a cleaner label as well. For more of our plant-based meats, we fortify with local proteins or local ingredients to give them a more local and healthier profile. 

There’s actually been a bit of pushback with plant-based meats when we offer Filipino favourites like sisig and sausages and holiday hams, where Filipinos will go for the real thing instead of the plant-based version, which has been a difficult scenario. So we’re done pretending to be meat. Achieving something as close to meat as possible will require that long list of ingredients and our customers are looking at labels, and if they don’t understand certain ingredients, they deem it to be less healthy. So we are actually in the midst of a pivot in terms of products. We are decreasing the number of our ingredients for our second generation of products and we don’t try so hard to be the meat product. I believe in the alternative protein industry and I believe there will be increased demand and need for protein, so we’re looking into high-protein snacks in more shelf-stable formats. The Philippines is an archipelago shipping frozen meat across all the islands is a logistical nightmare. So it’s a triple challenge: how do you ship your products across an archipelago, while making them shelf-stable and reducing the number of ingredients so they can be clean-label?

WTH Foods is a plant-based alternative protein startup based in Manila.

Chris Coburn, General Manager APAC at v2food on Australian plant-based meat consumers

On why Australia is different from the rest of Asia: I would say Australia is a little bit different from the rest of Asia, where I think we’re still seeing animal protein as being aspirational. Consumers in the rest of the region are looking to purchase animal products now that there’s more wealth available and a growing middle class. In Australia, as in a number of the developed markets, we’re seeing this trend to be a reducetarian, where people who have reached peak meat consumption are probably looking to come back the other way. If you look at animal consumption per capita in Australia, obviously it’s at levels that are close to the UK and US, unlike the rest of Asia.

On v2foods’ Australian consumer base: I would say v2food’s consumer base is the conscious consumers, those who are looking to reduce their meat intake, so we have a different challenge to the rest of Asia. Probably half of our retail sales are from this younger demographic -the millennials / the single-income-no-kids / the double-income-no-kids / those coming into families over the next 10 years- those conscious consumers looking to reduce meat consumption and consume alternatives.

On clean labels: I think from a portfolio point of view, we’re looking at the clean-label issue in two different ways and trying to distinguish from those more indulgent occasions where consumers are looking for that great taste and probably a treat and those everyday occasions where people are looking for more healthy options. In the first group of our products, we have burgers and sausages, and we’re competing against animal protein products which are highly processed, and for those, we are really trying to drive taste as the priority for our target consumers. Our biggest fear is that sometimes our competitors’ products are not good, and consumers are having a bad experience. So we really feel like taste is important for the category of products like sausages, burgers, and nuggets. 

v2food is Australia’s number-one plant-based meat company.

Ai Mey Chuah, APAC Science & Technology Director at Givaudan Singapore on Asian Consumer Tastes 

Ultimately for our customers, the most important thing is taste. If their products don’t taste good, and don’t look appealing, they won’t get a repurchase by the consumers. So in our business, what we do is customize the solutions to meet the needs of their consumers from the regions that they are marketing their products to. 

I would say that in APAC cost is still a very important factor. So while for our Europe and US business, clean-label and natural solutions are very important, for the APAC region cost is still the determining factor- we help our clients change their label to be more cost-effective, rather than clean-label, as our [clean-label] solutions tend to be more expensive. 

Some markets like China have well-educated consumers who don’t like artificial ingredients or additives in their products, so when it comes to replacing ingredients like methylcellulose, Asia is slowly gaining traction and we have products in our portfolio like citrus fibre that can act synergistically with certain proteins to actually provide that texture that is meat-like, juicy and succulent. 

Givaudan is a global leader in fragrance and flavour; the company develops tastes and scents for food companies all over the world.

The post What Do Asian Consumers Want From Plant-Based Meat? 4 Startup Founders Spill All. appeared first on Green Queen.

Better Bite Ventures has announced investments in three APAC food tech startups as part of its early-stage First Bite initiative and has opened applications for the next funding round.

The three startups part of the latest First Bite funding round – which offers early-stage investments of between $50,000 and $150,000 – are Singapore’s Fattastic, Australia’s Pivot Eat, and South Korea’s Everything But.

“As part of the broader transition to a net-zero economy, we need new, more sustainable ways of making food,” said Better Bite Ventures founding partner Michal Klar. “But these new products must also be tasty – only then will consumers truly buy in.”

New fats, whole cuts and cultivated pet food

Klar added: “The startups we are announcing today are pioneering new solutions to improve the taste and texture of meat and dairy alternatives.” Fattastic, for example, engineers plant-based fats to improve the sensorial and functional attributes of vegan meat and dairy analogues. Its oil structuring tech transforms plant oils into solid states to resemble animal fats. It was founded by Satnam Singh, a former researcher at A*STAR agency in Singapore.

Pivot Eat, meanwhile, is working on a novel process to enhance the structure and accelerate the scalability of plant-based whole-cut meat. Founder Ann Limley is a food scientist with over two decades of food R&D experience across Singapore, Europe and Australia.

Finally, South Korea-based Everything But is Asia’s first cultivated meat startup for pet food. One study suggests that if cats and dogs were considered their own nation, they would rank as the world’s fifth-largest meat-consuming entity. To reduce the impact of our furry friends on the environment, the startup – founded by veterinarians and scientists and helmed by CEO Yoonchan Hwang – is developing more sustainable, protein-rich pet food with high taste, texture and nutritional quality.

Klar reiterated that sustainable food products need to have better taste and textural attributes for greater consumer adoption. “Hence [the] focus on solutions like enhanced plant-based fats replacing animal fat and better structure of whole cuts. With Everything But, it is about [the] important and growing climate impact of pet food.”

Building upon previous early-stage investments

Better Bite Ventures launched the First Bite initiative last year, with a focus on APAC startups tackling food system challenges with innovative solutions. “Bold technology innovation is needed to reduce the climate impact of our current food system in Asia. The response to the First Bite initiative has been encouraging – to date, we’ve invested in seven food tech startups, and are now open for more,” said Better Bite Ventures founding partner Simon Newstead.

In April, it unveiled four investments in early-stage APAC alt-protein startups. These included Singaporean startups Allium Bio, which co-cultures microalgae and mycelium and turns them into functional ingredients like protein isolates, and Cultivaer, which is working on bioreactor-free tech to slash the costs and speed up the scalability of fermentation-derived protein. The other two startups part of the First Bite funding in April were New Zealand-based cauliflower ice cream brand EatKinda, and Klevermeat, which claims to be India’s first cultivated seafood startup.

Better Bite Ventures was launched in early 2022 by Klar and Simon Newstead as APAC’s first dedicated climate-centric food tech fund, with $15M in assets under management. It typically invests between $200,000 and $700,000 in pre-seed and seed rounds across the cultivated, precision fermentation and plant-based protein sectors.

It has already invested in over 20 food tech startups, including Aussie-American precision fermentation dairy maker Change Foods, Indian alt-meat brands Greenest and Liberate Foods, Indonesian plant-based giant Green Rebel, Australian mushroom meat maker Fable Food, Chinese cultivated meat company CellX, and Singapore-headquartered vegan meat producer TiNDLE.

Now, it’s opened applications for the next round of First BIte investments, earmarking between $50,000 to $150,000 for early-stage founders.

Disclaimer: Green Queen founder and editor-in-chief Sonalie Figueiras is a Venture Partner at Better Bite Ventures.

The post First Bite: APAC Startups Developing Plant Fats, Whole Cuts & Cultured Pet Food Backed by Climate-Centric VC Fund appeared first on Green Queen.

At this week’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney tech conference, Australian plant-based meat companies v2food and Nourish Ingredients debuted new ingredients that change the colour of vegan meat alternatives and give them a more realistic texture, respectively. Can these appeal to consumers more concerned with flavour and health?

As the plant-based meat sector endeavours to overcome a difficult period, the key is to lean into what consumers want from their food. Surveys in different countries have shown that taste and health are more important than ever before when it comes to meat alternatives, with price and texture also playing a significant role.

One company is adding another component to that list of priorities: appearance. At SXSW, Aussie brand v2food unveiled its new colour system for plant-based meat, banking on visuals to rope in consumer interest.

v2food’s new bleeding burger ingredient

The brand, which makes meat alternatives including burgers, mince, sausages and schnitzels, is calling the ingredient RepliHue. It argues that most plant proteins remain the same colour before and after cooking, but its tech enables vegan meat to change colour from raw-looking to brown-grey at the same time and temperature as its conventional counterparts do.

The effect creates ‘bleeding’ alt-proteins – the storied effect achieved by Impossible Foods thanks to an ingredient called heme, which makes its burgers bleed and taste more akin to animal-derived meat. But unlike heme, which is a soy-derived genetically modified element, RepliHue is derived naturally from red algae and other plants.

v2food claims red algae can be produced sustainably as it has the ability to consume carbon dioxide and uses light for energy. The company calls the ingredient a breakthrough that will create an “authentic and more normalised experience for chefs and consumers cooking with plant-based meats”.

CEO Tim York said: “Our red algae is a breakthrough, natural solution that has been developed to create this highly desirable attribute that will play a major role in fighting climate change.”

What do consumers really want?

But while v2food is creating a more ‘realistic’ cooking experience with the colour-changing ingredient, it says RepliHue “incorporates multiple advances” in taste and texture too. And it’s those latter two factors that have been cited as a consumer priority in multiple studies.

Take YouGov Australia’s 1,039-person poll, published last week, which found that across the diet spectrum – meat-eaters, flexitarians, vegans/vegetarians and pescetarians – taste was the number-one factor influencing them to consume foods. This was followed by price for three of the groups, with health effects coming in second for flexitarians.

Similarly, an 11-country European survey by ProVeg in 2020 found that taste and health are the most significant purchase drivers for the 7,500 flexitarians polled when it comes to choosing plant-based products. In the US, the Plant Based Foods Association and insights firm 84.51° collated Kroger data from 60 million American households earlier this year, revealing that health benefits, animal welfare aspects, and taste were the things American shoppers like most about plant-based food, while texture, price and processing are the biggest detractors. Appearance didn't play a role in either study.

It did, however, appear in global research by vegan certification organisation V-Label, which revealed that while taste is important for 82% of consumers buying plant-based analogues, texture and appearance were key for 75% of consumers.

Could fat be the key to consumer adoption?

This is what v2food may be cashing in on. It's certainly what Nourish Ingredients is hoping to do with Tastilux, as the team shared on the SXSW stage. It's described as a breakthrough fat to help plant proteins deliver the same taste, smell and experience as animal-based meats.

Tastilux is the result of three years of work and relies on naturally occurring lipids scaled through precision fermentation. The proprietary fat is said to provide the distinct taste and aroma of conventional meat fats and enable similar cooking reactions when used in plant-based chicken, beef, pork and other alternatives.

The company showcased the fat's features in a vegan chicken wing with edible bones made from calcium. “Tastilux represents a quantum leap in making plant-based meats live up to the rich, fatty taste and cooking performance consumers want and love,” said Nourish Ingredients founder and CEO James Petrie. "We saw an opportunity to revolutionise plant proteins by focusing on the power of fat. Most alternative fats simply can’t replicate the rich, authentic flavour of cooked meat."

He explained: "So rather than take a plant-based approach, we analysed the most flavourful animal fats in their uncooked state. Then identified where we could find these in nature, without the animal. By fermenting only the most potent fats, we’re able to recreate the authentic meat experience."

Given that its fat is produced via precision fermentation, it will need to obtain regulatory approval, with Australian legislation classing these as 'novel foods'. "We are actively engaged in the regulatory processes essential for our products. It’s important to note that not all of the solutions we are developing require extensive regulation, allowing us to expedite certain aspects of our work," Petrie told Green Queen.

"We are currently navigating the regulatory landscape, drawing upon our extensive experience in omega-3 oils. This background equips us with the knowledge and tools to effectively navigate the regulatory pathways."

v2food & Nourish Ingredients target 2024 launch

v2food aims to begin retail distribution for RepliHue – which can be used in beef, pork and chicken analogues – by 2024. "We are thrilled to be unveiling the latest game-changing technology in the plant-based protein market," said York. "RepliHue is the next generation of meat alternatives, that incorporates multiple advancements in texture, flavour and colour, making it only right to be revealing the breakthrough at the world-renowned SXSW conference."

Nourish Ingredients is looking to introduce Tastilux by 2024 aswell, and has already set up multiple collaborations. "We have established collaborations with several prominent plant-based protein companies, and we eagerly anticipate unveiling these exciting partnerships in the near future," said Petrie.

"We hold ambitious global aspirations, and our actions reflect this vision. We have a pilot facility in Singapore, and we’ve established numerous strategic partnerships in both the UK and the US," he added. "The challenge we are tackling is one that transcends borders, making it imperative for us to adopt a truly global perspective.

The news comes months after a 3,016-person study by Queensland’s Griffith University found that nearly a third (32.2%) of Australians have reduced their meat consumption over the last year. Crucially, 71.3% said they either eat completely meatless diets, mostly vegan or have some plant-based dishes in an overall omnivorous diet – and 45.6% reported eating plant-based meat sometimes.

So the opportunity is there to appeal to flexitarians – who make up 19% of Australia's population, according to the YouGov survey – and it's exactly what ingredients like v2food's RepliHue and Nourish Ingredient's Tastilux are aiming to do.

The post SXSW Sydney 2023 Showcases Colour-Changing Plant-Based Meat & Ultra Realistic Molecular Fat appeared first on Green Queen.

As Australians eat less meat, vegan companies All G Foods’ Love Buds and Fenn Foods’ vEEF have announced a strategic merger to form The Aussie Plant-Based Co. The two brands will see access expanded to 6,000 distribution points, while All G Foods will dig deep into its mission to reach price parity for precision fermentation dairy.

All G Foods, a portfolio company of VC firm and cellular agriculture investor Agronomics (which owns 8% of the business), will spin out its Love Buds brand to form The Aussie Plant-Based Co. with Fenn’s vEEF. As a result, All G Foods will own 49% of the merged company.

Love Buds makes plant-based mince, burgers, sausages, chicken nuggets and schnitzels, while vEEF makes beef and chicken burgers and pieces, as well as bacon bits. Both companies have products in retail and foodservice locations, with the merger combing the footprint to 6,000 stores across Australia. The move will also combine production at vEEF’s Sunshine Coast manufacturing facility, helping the brands expand into Asia and the Middle East.

Fenn, founded by Aussie chef Alejandro Cancino in 2015, claims it’s the country’s first company to introduce a certified carbon-neutral mince alternative under the vEEF brand. All G Foods, meanwhile, had multiple focuses: while Love Buds produced plant-based meat, its biotech arm focused on producing precision fermentation dairy proteins.

All G Foods doubles down on precision fermentation

The merger will allow All G Foods, which raised $25M in a Series A round last year to bring total funding to $41M, to focus solely on its precision fermentation research and development. The company is initially looking to create animal-free bioidentical lactoferrin, which is a component of whey protein. It has teamed up with Australia’s Food and Beverage Accelerator to speed up development as well as create dairy products that consumers are looking for.

“Since inception, we have always had one foot in the ‘deep-tech’ segment of precision fermentation and the other in the consumer-facing ‘plant-based meat’ business,” explained All G Foods founder and CEO Jan Pacas, who is chairman of the newly merged company. “This transaction represents a pivotal strategic move to allow the two different businesses to concentrate exclusively on their respective and unique needs.”

To advance its mission, the company invested in a 24/7 BioFoundry located in Sydney, which has an AI-driven ecosystem. All G Foods is working on lactoferrin first due to its prized antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, prebiotic and probiotic attributes, according to Pacas.

While the company hasn’t conducted a life-cycle assessment to determine the exact climate benefits of its animal-free protein, De Novo Foodlabs, an Anglo-South African startup also making precision-fermented lactoferrin, has published an environmental impact report for its protein. It was potentially found to have a 99.9% lower GHG footprint and land use footprint, and an equal decrease in water use compared to conventional lactoferrin.

All G Foods isn’t just stopping there – it plans to make precision-fermented casein proteins too, which represent 80% of the total protein content found in dairy and are responsible for the key functional attributes these foods are associated with. The company has previously earmarked plans to launch in Singapore by the end of 2024 while looking at other APAC markets, the Middle East, and the US as well.

Eden Brew is another Aussie precision fermentation dairy startup, which is focusing on animal-free casein micelle, and earlier this month, it closed a $24.4M Series A round. Other developments in the sector down under include Cauldron’s $10.5M raise earlier this year to build APAC’s largest network of microbial fermentation facilities, and Aussie-American startup Change Foods’ award of two government grants last year to develop manufacturing plants and scale up its animal-free dairy production.

A key obstacle for startups like All G Foods is regulatory approval. In Australia, cellular agriculture products are classed as novel foods and require pre-market authorisation before being cleared for sale. Currently, no company has filed for approval in the country.

Catering to a meat-reducing Australia

Speaking about the merger, Pacas said: “I believe our team’s strong chemistry and dedication to success will help The Aussie Plant-Based Co to succeed [in] reaching new and old customers and consumers alike with a variety of taste-first plant-based meat products.”

He told Food & Drink Business: “There are significant synergies between the two companies we can leverage to accelerate growth for both brands. VEEF has superior manufacturing processing while we have stronger R&D and vEEF is in the retail market while Love Buds is strong in foodservice.”

Cancino, who is the CEO of the new brand, added: “This collaboration is a testament to our shared commitment to creating a sustainable, healthier and tastier future for Australians. By combining our strengths, we can accelerate the adoption of plant-based alternatives and contribute to a greener planet and more ethical sources of protein.”

It comes shortly after a study by Queensland’s Griffith University found that nearly a third (32.2%) of Australians have reduced their meat consumption over the last year. Crucially, 71.3% said they either eat completely meatless diets, mostly vegan or have some plant-based dishes in an overall omnivorous diet. And 45.6% said they eat plant-based analogues to animal foods sometimes.

It highlights an opportunity for brands like The Aussie Plant-Based Co, which should zero in on taste and health credentials. A YouGov Australia poll of 1,093 Aussies conducted last week found that 19% identify as flexitarians, and 6% as vegan/vegetarian – across the board, taste was the number one factor prioritised by consumers when explaining their food choices, with health coming in second for flexitarians and price for the rest of the groups.

Can The Aussie Plant-Based Co capitalise on these trends? We'll find out soon enough.

The post The Aussie Plant-Based Co: All G Foods Spins Off Vegan Meat Brand to Focus on Precision Fermentation Dairy Proteins appeared first on Green Queen.

Australian precision fermentation startup Eden Brew – co-owned by the country’s largest dairy cooperative, Norco – has closed a $24.4M Series A funding round. The company has developed what it calls a “world-first” animal-free casein micelle, which helps it emulate the sensorial and nutritional properties of conventional dairy.

Launched in 2020, Eden Brew says the latest funding will help it scale up its brewing process of animal-free proteins to commercial production levels, enable the next stage of development and approvals, and speed up its path to launch its ice-cream product.

The investment round was led by existing investor Main Sequence Ventures, with other participants including the government-funded Breakthrough Victoria, Radar Ventures, Possible Ventures, Mars’ Digitalis Ventures, NGS Super, and Norwegian branded goods company Orkla. It also attracted financing from several Australian celebrities, like musicians Bernard Fanning, Angus Stone and Paul Piticco, and Paralympian Dylan Alcott.

The Series A round follows a $5M cash injection in June 2022, which included its co-founders Main Sequence and Norco, as well as Digitalis Ventures. Norco’s continued interest is an indicator of a potential opportunity to bring Eden Brew’s precision-fermented dairy products to the Nordics as well.

“Investing in Eden Brew goes beyond just business,” said Chris Hitchen, managing partner at Possible Ventures. “It represents our commitment to a sustainable solution addressing the protein needs of a future 10-billion-strong population. We’re proud to support this exceptional team, their visionary approach and cutting-edge science.”

The casein key to unlocking animal-free dairy

“We created Eden Brew with the aim of sustainably increasing the world’s milk supply, through Australian research ingenuity and the immense precision fermentation opportunity,” said Phil Morle, partner at Main Sequence and co-founder of Eden Brew. “As the global population grows, it poses a very real threat to our existing food supply and resources, and companies like Eden Brew augment this to ensure the availability of food in the future.”

The company has developed an animal-free casein micelle, which is responsible for 80% of the total protein content in dairy and is the key to recreating the sensory and nutritional characteristics of conventional dairy. Eden Brew has previously claimed that its milk is more sustainable than other counterparts, requiring less than 10 litres of water to make a litre of finished milk product – compared to 1,000 litres for cow’s milk and 6,000 litres for almond milk.

Its co-founder and CEO Jim Fader stressed that the funding will allow the company to bring to market its precision fermentation milk products. “We are focused on creating the ultimate animal-free casein micelle, which is critical to produce the properties of milk that we’re used to, and yet it’s cow-free,” he said.

“The micelle makes nutrition such as calcium bioavailable and its replication via precision fermentation means families have another source to meet their nutritional needs. This is something alternative plant-derived milks cannot replicate. It’s a huge deal, it’s never been done, and will change the landscape of alternative milks.”

Its route to scalability will be helped by the fact that it is co-owned by Norco, Australia’s oldest and largest dairy cooperative. Norco’s dairy production capabilities and experience, as well as established supply chains, will significantly advance Eden Brew’s scale-up efforts.

‘Major obstacles’ for precision fermentation

“We urgently require innovations and support to bring products like this to the market. These products aim to feed a growing population without placing increased pressure on our agricultural ecosystems,” said Dr Simon Eassom, executive director of Australian alt-protein think tank Food Frontier. “One of the barriers for the sector is the ability to produce the products at a commercial scale, something this support will help to overcome.”

Another major hurdle for the startup to overcome is regulatory approval. In Australia, cellular agriculture products are classed as novel foods, and require pre-market authorisation before being allowed to be sold. Currently, no company has applied for such clearance in the country.

Other recent developments in the precision fermentation sector down under include Cauldron’s $10.5M raise earlier this year to build the largest network of microbial fermentation facilities in Asia-Pacific, and Aussie-American startup Change Foods’ award of two government grants last year to develop manufacturing plants and scale up its animal-free dairy production.

Animal-free casein at scale remains the holy grail of alt cheese

Globally, companies who are working with animal-free casein proteins include Pureture, New Culture, Climax Foods (all US), Fermify (Austria), Zero Cow (India), Standing Ovation (France) and Fooditive (the Netherlands).

Convincing dairy cheese alternatives have remained elusive (plant-based varieties have not won over the mainstream) and while precision fermentation leaders like Perfect Day and Remilk have debuted whey-based cream cheeses that mimic the animal milk versions fairly successfully, melty cheeses and harder cheeses that require casein, a protein that gives dairy cheese many of its key characteristics, are not yet available at scale.

Pureture says it is vegan casein from yeast-based traditional fermentation and Climax Foods says its AI-powered plant-based casein “mimics the functionality, flavor, texture, melt, and stretch of dairy casein”, but New Culture is the only precision fermentation startup to claim it can scale casein and has held tastings of its animal-free mozzarella at chef Nancy Silverton’s Mozza pizza restaurants in Los Angeles, with a wider release expected next year.

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Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has published a comprehensive report proposing a major shift in Australia’s food production and consumption strategies to bolster the nation’s sustainability efforts.

The agency’s report, entitled “Reshaping Australian Food Systems” outlines five primary areas where Australia could forge a more resilient, productive, and sustainable food system. These are aligned with the challenges Australia currently faces, including climate change, rising costs, supply chain and workforce disruptions, growing demand, and public health issues related to nutrition.

The findings

According to the report, Australia is ideally placed to become a global leader in alternative protein markets, including plant-based meats and cell-cultivation products, leading to a reduction in emissions.

Australia’s food industry, which safely feeds approximately 75 million people domestically and abroad, serves as a major economic engine and job creator. But to ensure a thriving future, the roadmap asserts that the nation must redefine its approach to food systems.

The specific areas of focus include promoting equitable access to healthy, sustainable diets, reducing waste while enhancing circularity, aiding Australia’s transition to net-zero emissions, aligning socio-economic resilience with environmental sustainability, and increasing productivity and value.

The report also emphasizes the role and potential of alternative proteins in lowering emissions from the agrifood sector and diversifying Australia’s food production and exports, thereby strengthening the country’s long-term economic outlook.

“Food systems are highly complex, impacting health, environment, climate, and energy domains, among others,” CSIRO says. “They contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, intensive production systems, land use change and deforestation, biodiversity loss, poor resource management, and pollution.

“At the same time these food systems are vulnerable to these changes themselves. Climate-induced risks reduce the ability of food systems to grow and produce, threatening food security and livelihoods. Despite this complex relationship, food systems have the potential to be a major lever to address interrelated challenges of environmental health, climate change, and human well-being,” the agency says.

Recommendations

By investing across these sectors, Australia could see improvements in environmental, economic, and public health arenas.

The roadmap identifies digitalization as a crucial component, supporting efforts such as process optimization, mapping, modeling, and forecasting, and it underscores the importance of traceability, ensuring product origin verification, and protecting brand reputations.

The roadmap further advocates for solutions rooted in local communities, emphasizing the need to consider cultural diversity, socio-economic disparities, and Indigenous knowledge. Recognizing the wealth of knowledge contained within Indigenous systems of plant, animal, and land management, the roadmap encourages avenues for Indigenous leadership within Australia’s food systems.

“Change is possible across all sectors of Australia’s food system, but significant collaboration and coordination will be necessary to achieve it,” CSIRO says. “Our Roadmap highlights the need for collective engagement and actions underpinned by systems-based thinking.”

As part of the initiative, a collaboration with The University of Queensland has established the Food System Horizons, aiming to advance discussions and build capacity to manage change processes. “Together we can shift Australia’s food systems to be more sustainable, productive, and resilient,” CSIRO says.

The post Rethinking Australia’s Food System As a Path to Sustainability appeared first on Green Queen.

Queensland-based plant-based foods production company Fënn Foods has become the first certified carbon-neutral food producer in Australia, as certified by carbon consulting company the Carbon Reduction Institute (CRI).

Fënn Foods was founded eight years ago by chef Alejandro Cancino and co-founder Paola Moro, who wanted to create affordable and delicious plant-based foods that are ethically produced and planet-conscious.

The company, which is locally owned, produces popular vegan-friendly alternative meat products made from peas, mushrooms and non-GMo soy protein under the vEEF brand. Its range includes burger patties, bacon bits, mince, meatballs and pulled pork among other formats, and has been successful in both the grocery and food service sectors, and partnerships include meal kit company HelloFresh, retailer Woolworths and pub chain Brewdog.

“We created vEEF^® because we wanted a meat alternative we could feel good about eating that didn’t compromise on taste or texture,” says Cancino.

Its range of plant-based meat products has become popular among chefs, companies, and consumers who want to support local businesses and adopt sustainable practices. The company had its premium, plant-based mince beef product certified carbon neutral in 2018 and has now achieved carbon neutral certification for the entire business.

The carbon-neutral certification process is rigorous, with the CRI conducting a full audit of Fënn Foods’ ingredients, products, packaging, and practices, including employees’ commutes to and from work. The CRI calculated all potential carbon emissions, and the company purchased carbon offsets accredited under the Verified Carbon Standard to offset emissions.

Fënn Foods’ founders say they are proud of the company’s carbon-neutral certification, which helps to provide customers with proof that they are backing an environmentally conscious business that produces delicious plant-based foods without contributing to excess carbon emissions. The company says its goal is to continue producing innovative, sustainable, and delicious food under its three pillars of sustainability, deliciousness, and innovation.

“I’m so proud to announce that Fënn Foods is now certified carbon neutral. Many Australians are choosing to eat plant-based foods because of the environmental impact and for their health, but now they can do even better and buy from a completely carbon-neutral business that happens to be locally owned. Better yet, our products are delicious, versatile and easy to prepare,” said Cancino.

Last year, Fënn Foods raised $3 million in an oversubscribed funding round from Bombora Investment Management. At the time, the company said it planned to use the funds for a range of purposes, including expansion across all areas of its operations and refining its production processes.

2022 also saw the company appoint CPG industry veteran Tony Rowlinson as chief executive officer. “The plant-based foods market in Australia is in its infancy and, based on global trends, it will be a billion-dollar market in the very near future,” said Mr Rowlinson in a press statement at the time.

“There are tremendous growth opportunities in delivering ongoing innovation and I am excited at the prospect of building on Fënn Foods culinary reputation in establishing the company as a leading player in this market,” he added.

Fenn Foods’s carbon-neutral certification news comes amidst multiple studies showing that plant-based diets are an important part of fighting rising global greenhouse gas emissions amidst an ever-worsening climate crisis.

New research from the University of Bonn suggests that if the planet is to sustainably feed humans, wealthy nations must significantly reduce their meat consumption, ideally by at least 75%. The study, titled “Meat Consumption and Sustainability,” provides an overview of recent research on the environmental and economic impacts of meat consumption. Specifically, the study highlights the role of methane, which is emitted by ruminant animals such as cattle and sheep raised for food. The IPCC has called for a 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2025 in its Sixth Annual Report on climate change.

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