The IP case between mycelium meat makers Meati and The Better Meat Co has drawn to a close, after a judge ruled largely in favour of the latter.

California’s The Better Meat Co and Colorado-based Meati have ended their two-and-a-half-year-long intellectual property dispute over their mycelium protein products, paving the way for the former’s fundraising efforts.

As reported by AgFunder, a judge in the Eastern District of California court ruled largely in favour of The Better Meat Co, accusing Meati of deploying “inexplicable” tactics and engaging in “sandbagging”. The court also rejected Meati’s claim over The Better Meat Co’s patent.

The legal battle began in December 2021 after The Better Meat Co sued Meati for undermining its IP and attempting to “bully” a less-funded rival. Meati, in response, accused the former of stealing its IP. Both companies produce meat analogues derived from the same fungi strain and using submerged fermentation.

The meat of the matter

Meati was founded in 2015 by Tyler Huggins and Justin Whiteley, and has raised $365M in venture capital to date, including a $100M Series C1 round just last month. The company’s chicken cutlets and steaks are now available in more than 6,000 retail locations, and it’s aiming to take the store count to 10,000 by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, The Better Meat Co, was founded by Paul Shapiro, Joanna Bromley and Adam Yee three years later. It has brought in only $27M in funding, thanks in part to the long-running court case. It began as a company producing plant-based meat enhancers, but later revealed it had been developing meat analogues using filamentous fungi. Its Rhiza mycoprotein is, among other applications, part of Perdue Farms’ Chicken Plus blended meat line.

In July 2021, The Better Meat Co was granted a US patent for this tech, listing Augustus H Pattillo as its inventor. According to CEO Paul Shapiro, Pattillo had previously spent a year working on a Department of Energy fellowship at Chicago’s Argonne National Laboratory, at the same time Meati (then called Emergy and working on renewable batteries) was also doing work at the federal agency.

In 2019, Pattillo joined The Better Meat Co (BMC), which was accused of IP theft by Meati after receiving the patent. “On information and belief, no one had ever discovered how to make textured mycelial masses resembling animal meat before Drs. Huggins and Whitely,” Meati’s legal team had stated. Huggins and Whiteley “did not believe it was possible for BMC to have brought a product to market so quickly on its own unless Pattillo had taken something” from Meati, and argued that their names should have been on the patent.

The Better Meat Co argued that Meati had “provided no evidence that it had identified the novel claim terms of the BMC patent, had shared any of the concepts at issue with Mr Pattillo, or was even actively researching meat replacement uses of mycelium prior to 2019″.

The Californian startup also claimed that Meati had failed to provide hard, admissible evidence – despite repeated requests – to “corroborate Huggins’ and Whiteley’s testimony that they, and not Pattillo, first conceived of the claims listed in Better Meat’s patents”.

Judge reprimands Meati for ‘sandbagging’ and ‘shenanigans’

In the court order in California, judge Kimberly J Mueller sided with The Better Meat Co for the most part, admitting some trade secret claims made by Meati to proceed, but rejecting its core patent claims.

She said Meati “has not supported its opposition with citations of particular parts of materials in the record to corroborate Huggins’s and Whiteley’s testimony that they are among the inventors – or the sole inventors – who should be listed on the four Better Meat patents”.

Mueller also outlined how Meati served The Better Meat Co with nearly 3,0000 pages of documents the night before a hearing on May 17, which the Colorado-based company said supported its inventorship claims. But, the judge said, Meati’s counsel offered “no credible explanation” of why it didn’t provide such materials sooner, considering the case has been going on since December 2021.

“In a case like this one – a case pending for more than two years in which the claimant can reasonably be expected to possess the evidence it would need to prove its claims – that claimant cannot avoid summary judgment through such sandbagging and shenanigans,” she said.

Instead of showing any “genuine dispute of material fact”, she stated that Meati’s action led the court to doubt it was pursuing its claims for “a proper purpose in the first place”.

Meati targets profitability, The Better Meat Co aims to scale up

The ruling is a positive one for The Better Meat Co, which can now hope to amp up its fundraising efforts without the IP albatross on its neck.

The judge did find that Meati had “identified genuine disputes of material fact within the record” related to trade secret claims, but both companies have now agreed to bring the dispute to an end. “The case has been concluded satisfactorily and we don’t have any further comment at this time,” a Meati spokesperson said.

Echoing this, a representative for The Better Meat Co added: “This case is now concluded, and we look forward to continuing to build a better food system.”

The Better Meat Co CEO Shapiro, a long-standing animal rights advocate, was previously the subject of sexual harassment allegations during his time as VP at the Humane Society of the United States.

After leaving the charity for unrelated reasons in 2018, he told Politico: “I’ve taken responsibility for inappropriate behaviour years earlier in my career, and apologised to those who may have been offended. I cannot, however, respond to allegations that I’m unaware of, were never presented to my former employer or me during the inquiry 16 months ago, are alleged to have occurred many years ago and, frankly, just never happened.”

Both Meati and The Better Meat Co will hope to move forward with their business plans following the end of the case. Meati has enacted three rounds of layoffs in the last 12 months, the latest one cutting 13% of its workforce. It has also seen shifts in the C-suite, with Phil Graves taking over as CEO from Huggins, who has moved into an advisory role, just as COO and president Scott Tassani left the company.

The Colorado-based startup is now aiming for profitability, and has previously set out its plan to reach $1B in sales by 2025 (although the restructuring has likely pushed back this target).

The Better Meat Co just announced it had slashed the cost of its mycoprotein. When produced at scale, it will now cost the same as commodity beef, even if no further R&D advancements are made. It is now looking to scale up to supply major CPG brands in the US and Asia, who have signed letters of intent and offtake agreements for its mycoprotein.

The post Judge Rules in Favour of The Better Meat Co in IP Dispute Against Meati appeared first on Green Queen.

New research shows that health is the priority for Chinese consumers when it comes to plant-based food – and the more they know about the benefits, the more they’ll eat it.

When you inform people in China about the benefits of a vegan diet, nearly all of them (98%) would be willing to eat more plant-based foods, according to a new survey.

This number stays the same for flexitarians, though this demographic has more people displaying a ‘strong willingness’ to add plant-based foods (64%, versus 57% of the total). This makes sense considering that flexitarian by definition refers to people actively reducing their meat intake – but even amongst meat-eaters (or omnivores), 54% are willing to up their vegan consumption once learning about the benefits.

The results are from a poll carried out by Kantar for ProVeg International, covering 1,000 consumers from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It found that nearly a third (32%) of Chinese people identify as flexitarians, though the incidence of vegetarianism (1.5%) and veganism (0.9%) is low.

They were presented with 15 benefit statements about plant-based foods, 14 of which were based on peer-reviewed research. These included preventing or lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, and antibiotic resistance; lowering body mass index (BMI); cutting greenhouse gas emissions; reducing global hunger; and being a source of delicious and satisfying meals (among others).

“We found that most people are concerned that they eat healthy food and that once they know just how healthy and climate-friendly plant-based food is, they will eat a lot more of it,” said Shirley Lu, managing director and Asia and China representative at ProVeg.

Health high on the agenda for China’s consumers

The survey participants were asked to agree or disagree with each of the statements, while also rating which ones would be the most effective in persuading them to eat plant-based food. Using this data, the pollsters created a four-quadrant Agreement/Persuasion Matrix.

Seven of the top 10 statements that respondents agreed with were related to health. The most popular was the one that suggested plant-based diets lowered BMI and reduced obesity rates, therefore also reducing rates of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. More than half (56%) of Chinese people believe this is true.

The BMI statement was also the most persuasive in encouraging increased plant-based consumption, leading the first quadrant of the matrix. The three other statements in this quadrant – which combined strong agreement with strong persuasion – were health-related too. They stated that plant-based diets are high in calcium and bioavailability (52% agreement), provide adequate protein (49%), and are iron-rich (51%).

In quadrant 2, which highlights benefits that were met with low agreement but still tend to be influential in increasing uptake of plant-based foods, the top statement suggests that these foods lower the risk of developing antibiotic resistance. This was also the most persuasive statement overall, and was followed in this quadrant by the statements that animal agriculture makes up 80% of rainforest destruction, beef and dairy are among the biggest sources of methane, and vegan diets can help reduce world hunger.

In contrast, the idea that plant-based foods are more energy-efficient and use fewer natural resources was the least persuasive argument, despite 49% agreeing with this. The statement people agreed with the least was that animal agriculture accounts for up to 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions, something that was also one of the most insignificant benefits for respondents.

Who should plant-based companies market to?

This reflects the emphasis Chinese consumers put on health over the environment. Overall, the main reasons for consuming plant-based food were health (46%), nutrition (39%) and food safety (35%). Only 24% are motivated by the fact that they are climate-friendly.

Conversely, the biggest barriers are dissatisfaction with the freshness of ingredients (cited by 36%) and the taste (31%), and uncertainty about the nutritional completeness (30%).

For food manufacturers, targeting the right demographic is key to hit home your message. While more women (59%) expressed a strong willingness to change their diet than men (41%), responses were very similar across the age ranges of both sexes, at between 24% for those aged 18-24 and 27% for 40- to 60-year-olds.

Meanwhile, 36% of flexitarians displayed a strong willingness to eat more plant-based food. Among income groups, it seemed the richer the person, the less willing they were to change. People earning between ¥15,000 and ¥25,000 ($2,000-$3,300) each month were most happy to shift to a plant-based diet (29%), and those on the highest household income (above ¥40,000/5,400) were the least likely to do so (16%).

The report recommends companies leverage the high-awareness and high-persuasion factors from the matrix, amplify the benefits that had low agreement but were still highly convincing, and market popular benefits with low persuasion rates in ways that can be more relevant to consumers.

Spotlight health, whether it’s produce or plant-based meat

In 2016, the Chinese government introduced the Healthy China 2030 policy, which stipulated that public health should be a precondition for all future socio-economic development. And four years later, it announced the 30-60 policy, committing to hit peak emissions by 2030 and become carbon-neutral by 2060.

Last year, a study by Singapore-based firm Asia Research Engagement found that China – the world’s largest producer of pork, fish and eggs – is expected to see animal consumption increase by 2030 despite falling population numbers. But if it is to meet the 1.5°C goal, 50% of all protein consumption in the country must be from alternative sources by 2060.

There are several things industry players can do to help nudge more plant-based consumption. Social media was found to be the most effective marketing tool, while a focus on nutritional transparency and lower price points will go a long way too.

Companies need to improve the knowledge and awareness of nutrition and food processing, and finance R&D efforts to develop healthier and tastier plant-based meat products. More investment in consumer education about meat analogues’ health benefits is crucial too.

Finally, vegetables that are high in protein, iron and calcium are particularly appealing to consumers, so marketing strategies that highlight the nutritional value of both fresh produce and meat and dairy analogues can be highly influential.

“China boasts a rich heritage of plant-based diets and a wealth of healthy plant ingredients. Government agencies, educational institutions, and plant-based food businesses can leverage this study to educate consumers about the benefits and impact of plant-based diets,” said Lu.

“By highlighting the health, environmental, and culinary advantages, we can collectively work towards transforming our food system to one that is beneficial for humans, plants, and animals alike.”

The post When Told About the Benefits, Almost Everybody in China Would Eat More Plant-Based Foods appeared first on Green Queen.

The increasing use of wind and solar energy in the US is driving massive economic benefits and emission reductions in the US, according to a new study.

Lower emissions, better air quality, and greater health benefits – these are the headline gains from the rise of renewable power in the US. Between 2010 and 2020, the country’s wind and solar generation capacity quadrupled from 40 gigawatts to 166 gigawatts – and for the first five months of last year, these sources generated more electricity than coal, following a trend from 2022.

This has driven significant climate benefits, according to a new study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and green energy consulting firm Clean Kilowatts. Published in the Cell Reports Sustainability journal, the research focuses on wind and solar energy from 2019 and 2022, and the accompanying impact on carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx).

“From 2019 through 2022, wind and solar generation increased by about 55%,” LBNL scientist Dev Millstein told the Guardian. “By 2022, wind and solar provided roughly 14% of total electricity needs for the US.”

The study estimates that by reducing the need for fossil fuel electricity generation, the US avoided 915 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to taking over 217 million gas-powered vehicles off the road for a year. Additionally, wind and solar energy use also removed 525,000 of SO2 and 468,000 tonnes of NOx from the atmosphere – both of which are produced during fossil fuel combustion and linked to greater asthma risk and a host of other conditions.

Wind and solar energy are saving lives

The researchers calculated economic benefits based on three factors: the change in gas or coal generation, the emissions rate of the generator type, and the damage caused by emissions changes. Over the four-year period, the hike in renewable energy brought about $249B in climate and health benefits to the US.

In 2022 alone, wind and solar energy provided $62B and $12B, respectively, in combined climate and air quality benefits. This is equivalent to $143 per MWh of wind energy, and $100 per MWh of solar power. When accounting solely for air quality, wind and solar energy provided $16B and $2.2B worth of health gains.

The latter figures are derived almost entirely from a reduced risk of premature deaths across the US. In 2022, the increased solar and wind capacity led to 1,200 to 1,600 fewer deaths, thanks to the removal of over 250 million tonnes of CO2 (a number that steadily increased over the period covered in the study).

To contextualise this, the authors point to research suggesting that improvements in the prevention and treatment of heart disease and cancer can reduce 21,000 premature deaths per year in the US until 2030. While wind and solar benefits are comparatively small, but “not negligible”. It also tackles a highly concerning trend – each year, the premature deaths of 350,000 Americans are attributed to fossil fuel pollution.

“These findings can help us target future wind and solar development to provide the greatest climate and health benefits,” said Johnson.

US investment in renewable energy at all-time high

There is a major disparity between the benefits of wind and solar energy – the former is responsible for much greater emission cuts and economic potential. But this gap makes sense when you consider that wind power has penetrated the US energy mix much more than solar installations. In 2023, wind energy generated 430 billion kWh of electricity in the country, versus 163 billion kWh from solar power.

The report also outlines how many areas that rely more heavily on wind are also more dependent on coal. So greater wind power use leads to a higher level of coal pollution being avoided.

Differences in the location of renewable energy plants also highlight the contrast in impact. For example, solar power primarily benefitted Western US, Texas, the Southeast, and the Carolinas, while wind energy aided Texas, Central US, and the Midwest. The latter two have a relatively higher amount of coal generation, and vice versa for the Western US region. This is consistent with the fact that most wind emission benefits come from offsetting coal power, and solar benefits are derived from offsetting gas generation.

Johnson said he hoped the research would help showcase the already-tangible advantages of solar and wind energy. “It is also important to recognise when something is working,” he said, particularly since people are “often focused on the challenges we face” with the climate crisis.

The US has been bolstering its clean energy investments in recent years, with financing from private and government sources reaching a record $239B in 2023, a 38% rise from the year before. These have been supported by legislations like the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provide R&D grants and tax incentives for clean energy. The latter made up the vast majority of federal renewable power investment last year (which reached $34B).

The focus on renewable energy is in line with a recent report that suggests governments stop issuing new oil, gas and coal licences, since there are enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet global energy demand forecasts for 2050. A transition away from fossil fuels was the major talking point of the UN’s flagship climate conference in Dubai last year, though the final text avoided the mention of a ‘phaseout’. But COP28 did call on governments to speed up the transition to renewable energy in their next round of climate commitments (or nationally determined contributions) due next year.

The post In 4 Years, Renewable Energy Has Yielded $250B in Health & Climate Benefits in the US appeared first on Green Queen.

The crown prince of Abu Dhabi has approved a new economic cluster for novel foods and alternative proteins to tackle food insecurity and water shortages.

Abu Dhabi has launched the AgriFood Growth and Water Abundance (AGWA) hub, an economic cluster built to advance the production of novel food and ingredients, and technologies that increase access to and better utilise water resources.

Announced by the Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the Emirati capital, the food security cluster will aim to meet increasing global demand for food and water, alleviate pressures on agricultural systems, address shifting dietary patterns, and capitalise on technological advancements to ensure a reliable and resilient supply chain.

It will be led by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), which will support both local suppliers and exporters to help maximise commercial opportunities.

“The launch of AgriFood Growth and Water Abundance cluster is a game changer in our efforts to further diversify the economy, enhance innovation, and achieve objectives of the UAE food security strategy 2051,” said ADDED chairman Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi.

Alternative proteins to help create 60,000 jobs and $25B in GDP

AGWA will help food and water industry players leverage innovations in alternative proteins, algae and reverse osmosis technologies, and enhance traditional food and water production and supply. Sheikh Khaled underlined food and water security as a national priority, stating that “smart solutions” and research and innovation projects for modern agriculture are crucial for both the local economy as well as sustainable development.

The AGWA is said to be tapping into an AED77.4 trillion ($21T) industry, and is expected to contribute AED90 billion ($24.5B) in additional GDP to the city’s economy by 2045. The cluster will also create 60,000 new jobs by this time, with an anticipated investment of AED128 billion ($34.8B).

“Abu Dhabi has been exploring sustainable solutions to food production challenges since [the] late 1960s,” said Al Zaabi. In 1969, UAE founder Sheikh Zayed set up the first network of greenhouses on Abu Dhabhi’s Saadiyat Island, which featured “advanced technologies of that era” for more sustainable food production.

“Our recent initiatives continue this legacy of long-term vision and commitment to innovation, sustainability, and inclusive socio-economic development,” he added.

The development follows the UAE’s announcement of its latest food and agriculture strategy last September, which aimed to boost the industry’s value to $10B and create 20,000 jobs by 2025. A few months earlier, Abu Dhabi also witnessed the opening of its first exclusively plant-based meat production plant by Switch Foods.

‘Non-oil’ expansion mustn’t distract from need for fossil fuel phaseout

As a country with vast swathes of desert and limited arable land, the UAE relies heavily on food imports to meet 90% of its population’s needs, totalling $14B in 2020, according to the USDA. But as Al Zaabi alluded to, the country’s current National Food Security Strategy aims to make it the world’s most food-secure country by 2051.

While its position on the Global Food Security Index has risen from 35th to 23rd (and it tops the MENA region), the original strategy was to break into the top 10 by 2021. Nearly a fifth of its population lives below the poverty line, and according to the World Bank, 6% of its citizens are undernourished.

“Abu Dhabi’s new food and water economic cluster addresses sustainability, critical global challenges, and new investment opportunities,” said Badr Al-Olama, director-general at the ADIO. “This is the next step in achieving Abu Dhabi’s economic diversification strategy by accelerating non-oil sectors.”

Speaking of which, the UAE is heavily reliant on oil and gas, which contribute to 30% of its GDP and 13% of its exports. And while it has laid out a plan to diversify its economy away from fossil fuels and support the growth of various industries, it’s currently in the middle of a five-year, $130B plan to double its refining capacity and triple petroleum production.

Despite hosting COP28, the UAE didn’t back the fossil fuel phaseout demanded by climate scientists globally. In fact, Sultan Al Jaber – the summit’s president and the head of the UAE’s national oil company, Adnoc – went so far as to claim that there was “no science” behind the environmental efficacies of a fossil fuel phaseout, adding that it would not allow sustainable development “unless you want to take the world back into caves”.

The UAE also has the world’s third-largest net-zero-busting plans for oil and gas expansion, and many of its new fossil fuel developments are incompatible with the 2050 net-zero goals. And Adnoc – which is based in Abu Dhabi – hasn’t disclosed its emissions since 2016.

So it’s not just the expansion of non-oil sectors that will help the UAE reach its climate goals – the country also must simultaneously divest and scale back its fossil fuel operations. The preceding economic cluster, which was the first announced, focused on just that. Titled Smart and Autonomous Vehicle Industries, it is designed to make the nation a leader in “future mobility solutions” across air, land and sea transport.

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In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Alpro’s collaboration with Peter Crouch, a new alternative protein jobs platform, and a host of university-related news.

New products and launches

In the UK, Alpro has partnered with Peter Crouch to kickstart its new Alpro Plant Protein Morning Trials campaign. The former England footballer tests celeb fitness routines, including waking up at 2:30 AM, multiple gym sessions, and plunging into ice baths to promote the recently extended Plant Protein range.

Also in the UK, there’s a new musical about the meat industry. Mad Cow will be coming to Canterbury’s new fully vegan Garlinge Theater next month.

Swiss meat analogues maker Planted has rolled out its fermentation-derived steak in Switzerland at Coop and in Germany at Rewe stores.

Belgian startup Bolder Foods is continuing to showcase its biomass-fermented cheese prototypes, with investors and entrepreneurs getting a taste of its product at an event hosted by ingredients leader Givaudan.

San Francisco-based startup Impact Food has announced its sushi-grade plant-based salmon, with wholesale pre-orders running now. The product premiered at Oisixs Ra Daichi’s annual World Oceans Day event in sashimi and nigiri formats in Japan.

That’s not all for vegan salmon this week – German alt-seafood producer BettaF!sh has also entered the space with SAL-NOM, a hot smoked salmon analogue made from seaweed. It retails for €3.29 per 130g jar, and will be launched as a tinned SKU too in the summer.

As part of its roster of new mini-campaigns, Veganuary ran its Choose Fish-Free Week from June 3-8, shedding light on alternative seafood brands and recipes. A BBQ Month and Choose Dairy-Free Week will be next.

Israeli 3D-printed meat producer Redefine Meat has rolled out its New Meat range of lamb kofta mix, pulled beef, pulled pork, burgers, beef mince and bratwurst in German retail via e-tailer Velivery.

Hybrid meat maker Mush Foods has partnered with French specialty meat purveyor Dufour Gourmet to introduce a charcuterie range made from its 50Cut mycelium meat. Offerings include a bratwurst, breakfast sausage, Italian-style sausage, and chicken sausage.

Californian food tech company MeliBio‘s vegan honey, which retails in some parts of Europe under the Better Foodie brand name, is now available in Switzerland and Liechtenstein through a distribution deal with Swiss wholesaler Honeydew.

Fellow Californian startup Upside Foods served its cultivated chicken at Industry Only LA, as part of buffalo chicken bao buns and cold sesame noodles.

In the US, catering giant Sodexo and the University of Cincinnati have introduced 513 Culinary Group, an immersive campus dining venture to spotlight inclusivity and local ingredients. The partnership entails new menu options with more plant-based foods and special care given to allergens.

If you’re in New York, the Fordham Plaza is hosting the Bronx Vegan Bazaar every third Saturday from noon to 6 PM starting this weekend on June 15.

The Roots drummer Questlove partnered with Stella Artois to host the Questlove’s Cheesesteak Diner pop-up, which features Impossible Foods’ beef. It was the first event of the beer brand’s Let’s Do Dinner: Summer Series, which brings together food, lifestyle and entertainment platforms.

Speaking of which, Impossible Foods‘ new beef hot dog has made its way into Safeway stores in California and Jewel-Osco locations in Chicago – and it’s gone straight into the meat aisle.

And Singaporean beanless coffee startup Prefer has moved into the frozen world with a gelato launched in partnership with local dessert parlour Aphrodite Waffles and Gelato. The ice cream uses Prefer’s bean-free coffee concentrate.

Finance and company updates

Accelerator programme ProVeg Incubator has announced its latest cohort of alternative protein startups, featuring Atlantic Fish Co, Optimised Foods, Friends & Family Pet Food Company (all US), AIProtein (Egypt/US), and Fisheroo (Singapore). The initiative has also been extended from 12 weeks to 20.

Danish startup EvodiaBio has raised €7M to produce natural aromas for the food industry using precision fermentation. Its tech can improve the taste of non-alcoholic beer by producing yeast-derived ingredients that recreate the taste of hops.

Fellow fermentation company The Better Meat Co has slashed the production costs of its mycoprotein, which is now on par with commodity beef when manufactured at scale.

Germany’s Veganz Group – which makes plant-based dairy, meat and snack products – has confirmed the drawdown of a grant from the State of Brandenburg’s investment bank to construct a new facility in Ludwigsfelde.

Fellow German company Tälist has introduced AltProtein.Jobs, an AI-led ‘matchmaking’ platform to connect employers with prospective candidates in the future food sector. Its algorithm has made 2,000 matches with a 9+ score, 9,400 with 8+, and 25,000 with a 7+ rating.

The US Department of Defense has released a call for alternative protein funding proposals under BioMade, the public-private biomanufacturing consortium, with projects receiving between $500,000 to $2M. One of its key focus areas is on fermentation-derived and cultivated proteins for military rations. It has already spawned an outraged response from a cattle association.

Research and policy developments

Researchers at the United Arab Emirates University and the National University of Singapore have teamed up to explore novel plant protein sources that can be incorporated into meat analogues for better taste, texture and nutritional attributes.

In the US, Western Oregon University has signed the Humane Society of the United States‘ Forward Food Pledge, committing to transition its campus dining menus to 50% plant-based meals by 2027.

In more university news, the UK’s Nottingham Trent University has launched a master’s degree in smart agriculture, which will explore how AI, vertical farming and precision agriculture can enhance food security and reduce energy costs. Students will develop ‘recipes’ to produce food crops much more rapidly than currently possible outdoors.

Finally, plant-based food company Strong Roots conducted a 1,000-person survey in the US, the UK and Ireland to find that 52% of consumers are more likely to purchase products with carbon footprints on their packaging, and 82% want to be informed about businesses that contribute to climate change.

Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.

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Competitive eater Joey Chestnut has been banned from participating in this year’s hot dog eating contest by Nathan’s Famous over a commercial deal with plant-based meat maker Impossible Foods.

Joey Chestnut, who has won 16 of the last 17 Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest titles, will not be defending his title this year after making a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods and its newly launched plant-based beef franks.

First reported by the New York Post, Major League Eating (MLE) – which runs the competition on behalf of Nathan’s Famous – confirmed that the 40-year-old won’t be allowed to participate in the competition after he chose to represent a “rival brand”.

Chestnut was paid $200,000 to appear in the contest last year, and was offered a four-year contract worth $1.4M going forward. But a partnership with one of the biggest plant-based meat companies in the US, which is rolling out its beef hot dogs nationwide as we speak, was enough for Nathan’s Famous to block him from participating.

But for a competitive eating champion who has made a living by eating hot dogs to now endorse vegan versions is a major shift, and a nod to Americans’ increasing focus on health in the food they eat.

MLE & Nathan’s ‘changed past rules’

Writing on X/Twitter, Chestnut said: “I was gutted to learn from the media that after 19 years I’m banned from the Nathan’s July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. I love competing in that event, I love celebrating America with my fans all over this great country on the 4th and I have been training to defend my title.”

The MLE said in a statement that it was “devastated to learn that Joey Chestnut has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs” instead of competing in the contest. “MLE and Nathan’s went to great lengths to accommodate Joey and his management team, agreeing to the appearance fee and allowing Joey to compete in a rival, unbranded hot dog eating contest on Labor Day,” it said.

The organiser added that it has operated under the same “hot dog exclusivity provisions” for nearly two decades. Prior to the 2010 event, it banned Japanese former competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi over a contract exclusivity dispute as well, which meant the six-time champion never competed in the Nathan’s Famous contest again.

“To set the record straight, I do not have a contract with MLE or Nathans and they are looking to change the rules from past years as it relates to other partners I can work with,” Chestnut said.

“This is apparently the basis on which I’m being banned, and it doesn’t impact the July 4th event. Sadly, this is the decision Nathan’s and Major League Eating are making, and it will deprive the great fans of the holiday’s usual joy and entertainment.”

Speaking to CNBC, MLE president Richard Shea called Chestnut “a great champion and a friend”. “I hope he’s there on July 4th as we celebrate Independence Day and he changes his choice to promote a veggie hot dog rather than ours,” he said.

In response, Impossible Foods said: “We love Joey and support him in any contest he chooses. It’s OK to experiment with a new dog. Meat eaters shouldn’t have to be exclusive to just one wiener.”

Hot dogs are no longer hot

The Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest has been a Fourth of July tradition in Coney Island, New York since the 1970s (though unofficially, the competition dates back to the 1910s). It is broadcast nationwide on ESPN and is a marketing strategy for Nathan’s Famous, which is dealing with the continued decline of hot dogs.

While links are a quintessential American food, concerns around their ill health impacts are driving away consumers. Hot dogs are the epitome of processed food, and processed meats like these are categorised as a Class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO). It means there’s “convincing evidence” that these foods cause cancer.

Last year, research published in The Lancet (and sponsored by WHO) revealed that while ultra-processed foods are linked with a greater risk of multimorbidity (when someone has two life-threatening diseases concurrently) of cancer and metabolic diseases, this is associated mostly with animal-derived foods and artificially sweetened or sugary beverages.

Despite misinformation efforts suggesting the contrary, the above study suggested that plant-based meats were not associated with this risk – thanks to the high fibre content and lower amount of saturated fat, sugar and calories than conventional meat.

Impossible Foods’ beef hot dogs contain 50% less total and saturated fat than “a leading animal-based hot dog served in restaurants”, 12g of protein (vs 6g), and zero cholesterol. The company’s research has also found that 71% of taste-testers agree its links taste like their conventional counterparts.

A win for the plant-based industry?

A 1,022-person survey last year found that health is the major reason Americans eat vegan or vegetarian diets, with six in 10 choosing it. Previous versions of this poll were part of a larger review outlining that 74% of Americans find plant proteins healthy, a number that drops sharply to 39% for animal protein. But while the adoption of plant-rich diets doubled between 2012 and 2022, this still only accounts for a quarter of the US population.

This is why brands like Impossible Foods are hoping to entice meat-eaters to try vegan analogues, which are also far better for the environment. Even Oscar Mayer, a brand synonymous with hot dogs, is launching a plant-based offering.

Chestnut has recognised this shift, and for a celebrated meat-eater to endorse plant-based meat is a big step forward for the alternative proteins sector. Nathan’s Finest banning him only punctuates this point further.

Even Kobayashi has felt the ill effects of eating hot dogs. In the Netflix documentary Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut, he announced his retirement from the sport after losing his appetite and feeling of fullness. At the end of the film, he expressed a desire to create a healthier hot dog.

“I see this as a win for the plant-based meat industry,” Arun Sundaram, VP and senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, told MarketWatch. “The fact that the industry was able to sponsor one of the greatest hot-dog eaters in the world about a month before the famous hot-dog eating competition makes for some great headlines.”

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A group of healthcare organisations are asking the UK government to withdraw a campaign that they say spreads misinformation about the benefits of eating meat and dairy.

As restaurants, retailers and consumers prepared for Veganuary last December, a livestock farming group was working on its own campaign in response.

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) – which is funded by farmers and food suppliers – launched a drive to promote beef, lamb and dairy consumption in the UK, which included three TV commercials as well as magazine and online ads.

A meat industry backlash to a campaign promoting alternatives to its products isn’t anything new – but what set this one apart was that it was backed by the UK government. AHDB falls under the wing of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The Let’s Eat Balanced campaign launched in January was part of its annual efforts targeting people attempting to reduce their meat and dairy intake.

The messaging contained nuggets proclaiming that British meat and dairy are “amongst the most sustainable in the world” and that it was helping consumers “adopt a sustainable, healthy and nutritiously balanced diet”. On its website, one line reads: “Did you know that beef, pork, lamb and dairy are natural sources of vitamin B12, an essential vitamin not naturally present in a vegan diet?”

But now, doctors’ associations from across the UK are hitting back at these claims, warning that these are “disingenuous” and “at odds with established scientific evidence on healthy and sustainable diets”.

In an open letter penned by Dr Matthew Lee, sustainability lead at Doctors Association UK, and Dr Shireen Kassam, co-founder of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, the group is asking the UK government to retract the campaign. The effort is endorsed by organisations like the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, the BDA Renal Nutrition Specialist Group, and Green at Barts Health, among others.

“We call on the AHDB to wholeheartedly embrace this difficult, but necessary step, by retracting the campaign to promote increased consumption of meat and dairy using misleading and un-evidenced marketing,” the letter states.

Suggestive ‘health benefits’ ignore meat reduction guidance

To the AHDB’s point, the letter acknowledges that meat is a source of protein, zinc, iron and vitamin B12, but adds that these can also be obtained by a well-planned plant-based diet. Similarly, dairy is a source of calcium, but this is a mineral in the soil and can also be obtained from beans, green vegetables, and fortified dairy analogues and tofu.

Illustrating this point, the medical experts point out how vitamin B12 is made by microorganisms and that cows are supplemented with cobalt to support sufficient production by gut bacteria. “Many farm animals are also supplemented directly with vitamin B12. Given that fortification of either animal or human food is required for B12 intake, direct fortification of human food or supplementation would be a more efficient use of resources,” it reads.

On the contrary, it points to the cancer risk presented by processed and red meats, which have been classified as class one and two carcinogens, respectively, by the World Health Organization. Moreover, it cites studies that have shown strong links between red meat and type 2 diabetes. Plant-based diets, however, are “not only nutritionally adequate”, but also present better health outcomes, the doctors argue.

“Encouraging a higher consumption of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds whilst limiting or avoiding animal-sourced foods reduces the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity and certain cancers. Replacing animal protein with plant sources of protein is associated with significant improvement in health outcomes, including reduced risk of premature death,” the letter reads.

“Yet the Let’s Eat Balanced campaign has links to suggestive ‘health benefits’ whilst ignoring the guidance to limit meat intake, particularly red and processed meat.”

Meat is not sustainable

The AHDB’s campaign had stated that “sustainability isn’t just about carbon”, and there are “many other things to consider”. It mentioned data showing that transport and energy emissions are higher than livestock in the UK, while the animal agriculture industry accounts for 7% of national GHG emissions.

However, the livestock group left out methane in all of its communications, which is a shorter-lived gas, but 80 times more potent than carbon. The same government report it cited for carbon emissions revealed that agriculture accounted for 48% of the UK’s methane emissions – and while that figure has fallen by 16% from a 1990 baseline, it has largely been at the same level since 2009.

The AHDB is also a supporter of GWP* (global warming potential star), a new metric to measure methane emissions proposed by meat and dairy producers and certain governments. The idea is to replace the current GWP100 system to measure the warming potential of total GHG emissions over a 100-year period with a focus on changes in the rate of emissions between two points in time (usually over a decadal timescale). Critics argue that this is nothing more than a greenwashing tool to allow the industry to understate its impact and avoid climate action

The UK has been heavily hit by climate-change-induced extreme weather, with the recent record amounts of rain leaving the agricultural industry “on the brink”, according to the AHDB itself. It has left many farmers considering quitting the profession altogether, with their confidence at a 14-year low.

Currently, 85% of farmland in the UK is used for animal agriculture, but these foods only provide 48% of the country’s protein and 32% of its calories. “The latest UK-specific research makes it clear that a diet containing animal products is significantly more harmful to the environment than one that does not, with plant-based diets having approximately 25% of the environmental impact of a diet with a high meat intake,” the doctors write.

“In the UK, 70% of our total food-related emissions come from red meat and dairy production. Methane emissions from cows alone will prevent us from limiting global warming to safe levels. Excess consumption of red meat and dairy is leading to 42,000 deaths in the UK annually.”

The financial drawbacks of animal agriculture

The letter highlights a modelling study that shows a ‘plant-based by default’ approach could save the UK’s economically strained and labour-stretched National Health Service (NHS) £74M annually, with significant household savings too if patients are supported in making dietary shifts.

Similar research by the Office of Health Economics estimated that if England were to adopt a completely plant-based diet, the NHS would see a net benefit of up to £18.8B a year. “No other intervention can deliver such significant health benefits alongside cost savings and environmental benefits,” the letter reads.

“As health professionals, we recognise the importance of farmers and the key role they play in the production of healthy and nutritious food whilst being stewards of our land. The countryside will always require farmers, and they need support from their governing bodies to adapt their industry in a way that allows for the restoration of nature and acceleration of carbon sequestration, whilst continuing to provide locally produced plant-based foods,” it continues.

“We encourage AHDB and Defra to engage with healthcare professionals in developing policies and campaigns to support the future of the farming industry that encourages the increased consumption of locally grown fruit, vegetables, beans and pulses, alongside a significant reduction in production and consumption of meat and dairy produce.”

In response, an AHDB representative told the Independent: “Let’s Eat Balanced is a fully evidence-based campaign communicating the nutritional and sustainability benefits of British red meat and dairy in a manner that aligns with the government’s dietary guidelines, as outlined in the Eatwell Guide… Anyone advocating a totally global plant-based diet as a panacea to climate change ignores the fact the realities are far more complex. Solutions lie in a balance of sustainable plant and sustainable meat and sustainable fish production along with a balanced plate approach to diets and portion sizes.”

But the AHDB’s campaign doesn’t make room for much plant-based eating at all – it isn’t encouraging a balance, it is pushing people to eat more meat. As for “sustainable meat”, this really isn’t a thing. Analysis by Our World in Data shows that buying imported beef from Central America in the UK versus buying locally barely makes a difference. What farmers really need to do is reduce meat and dairy production by a third if the UK is to meet its climate goals, according to the WWF.

The UK has been criticised for not centring climate change in its election campaigns this year, but if it is to reach its net zero goal by 2050, a food system transformation is necessary. “This would be invaluable to the health of the environment, the UK public, and to safeguard all our futures,” the letter concludes.

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The first large-scale study to analyse the effects of the Planetary Health Diet has found a lower risk of premature death and a lighter impact on the climate.

Eating a primarily whole-food plant-based diet has tremendous benefits for humans and the environment, according to a new study led by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the research was inspired by the EAT-Lancet Commission’s Planetary Health Diet, which was designed in 2019 as a way to feed 10 billion people and keep the planet healthy by 2050. The diet advocates for more plants and whole foods, and less meat and dairy, with ample room for flexibility for different cultural and culinary preferences.

Ideally, the diet should comprise half a plate of fruits and vegetables, and the other half should contain mainly whole grains and plant protein sources, with optional modest amounts of animal protein.

The Harvard study is the first large-scale assessment of the impacts of the Planetary Health Diet, using the health data of 206,604 Americans over a period of 20 to 34 years. Participants were free of major chronic diseases at the start of the study, and completed questionnaires every four years.

The researchers found that the top 10% of people most closely adhering to the Planetary Health Diet represented a 30% lower risk of premature death than the bottom 10%. Meanwhile, those with the highest adherence also had significantly lower climate footprints, with a 29% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

“The findings show just how linked human and planetary health are. Eating healthfully boosts environmental sustainability – which in turn is essential for the health and wellbeing of every person on Earth,” said senior author Walter Willett.

Plant-forward diets lower risk of all causes of death

The participants were enrolled in long-term government studies, namely the Nurses’ Health Study I and II and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The researchers scored their diets based on the intake of 15 food groups. Planet-friendly and resource-light foods included whole grains, tubers, vegetables, whole fruits, legumes, soy-based products, and unsaturated plant oils (like olive oil).

Meanwhile, foods that require much more land, like those derived from cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry, were also assessed, as was the intake of added sugar.

The researchers suggested that, while other studies have also reported plant-based diets’ human and planetary benefits over animal foods, most have used one-time dietary assessments, which produce weaker results than when you look at diets over a longer period, which is what the team at Harvard did.

People following the Planetary Health Diet were found to have a lower risk of death from every major cause, including cancer (10% lower), cardiovascular diseases (14%), lung disease (47%), and Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative disorders (28%). Additionally, women who closely adhered to the diet had a 38% lower risk of death from infectious diseases.

Essentially, participants who followed the diet closely ate larger amounts of fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes, whole grains, unsaturated fats and poultry, while reducing their intake of red and processed meats, eggs, soft drinks and fruit juices, as well as sugary processed foods like candy, cakes, breakfast cereals, and desserts.

In terms of animal foods, this diet recommends up to two servings per day. This could mean a typical week would entail a daily serving of a dairy product, a weekly serving of red meat as well as eggs, plus two weekly servings each of poultry and fish. This is much lower than the current consumption levels in the US – according to the USDA, Americans eat nearly 102kg of meat annually (excluding seafood), 6.5 times higher than the EAT-Lancet Commission’s recommendations.

USDA dietary recommendations ‘refuse to consider’ climate change

In terms of the environmental gains, the study revealed that the Planetary Health Diet requires 21% fewer fertilisers, 51% less cropland, and 13% less water and irrigation. Land use reduction is particularly vital to facilitate reforestation, which the authors said is “seen as an effective way” to reduce greenhouse gases – although the efficacy of reforesting programmes to offset emissions is sketchy at best.

That said, the results chime with existing literature about the climate impacts of animal-derived and plant-based foods. Livestock farming is responsible for up to 20% of all emissions – and, within the food system, meat accounts for 60% of emissions. Meat and dairy, meanwhile, emit twice as much CO2e as plant-based foods.

A previous study has similarly shown that swapping half of our meat and dairy consumption with plant-based analogues can reduce agricultural and land use emissions by 31%, lower water use by 10%, and effectively halt forest and natural land degradation.

“Climate change has our planet on track for ecological disaster, and our food system plays a major role,” said Willett. “Shifting how we eat can help slow the process of climate change. And what’s healthiest for the planet is also healthiest for humans.”

The Harvard study was observational, which meant its findings were based on correlations between people’s consumption habits and the risk of major diseases, instead of a cause-and-effect relationship. But the research did factor in the intake of alcohol, smoking, exercise, as well as family histories with medical conditions.

“What this study shows is that we can both shift our diets to be far healthier than the average American diet and also at the same time have a substantial impact on slowing down climate change,” Willett told the Washington Post. “We don’t have to trade off planetary health for human health. We can have both – it’s a double win.”

Willett went on to take aim at the USDA for its ignorance of climate change in its dietary recommendations, which are due to be updated next year. “Our study is noteworthy given that the US Department of Agriculture has refused to consider the environmental impacts of dietary choices, and any reference to the environmental effects of diet will not be allowed in the upcoming revision of the US Dietary Guidelines,” said Willett.

It must be noted that the current guidelines do urge Americans to avoid saturated fat, cholesterol, and red and processed meat, and focus on carbohydrate-rich plant-based foods. The document also mentions fortified soy-based dairy and meat products. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an independent non-profit organisation, has criticised the inclusion of animal-based dairy, recommending water instead.

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Agri-fintech platform AgriG8 has received financing from Better Bite Ventures and The Trendlines Group to help rice farmers in Asia reduce methane emissions by up to 55%.

Singaporean VC firm Better Bite Ventures and Israel’s The Trendlines Group have invested an undisclosed sum in AgriG8, a startup that supports Asian rice farmers in decarbonising their production methods.

Some estimates suggest rice’s greenhouse gas emissions are nearly on par with the global aviation industry (around 2% of the global total). It also accounts for 10% of anthropogenic methane emissions, which is a shorter-lived, yet much more potent gas.

So, reducing the climate footprint of rice is essential for governments and food companies in Asia to meet their net-zero targets. It’s because more than 90% of the world’s rice, meanwhile, is grown in Asia, but increasing temperatures could shrink yields of the crop by 40% by the end of the century.

In China, extreme rainfall has reduced rice yields over the last 20 years. And in Vietnam, where rice generates more emissions than the entire transportation sector, almost 250,000 acres of land in the Mekong Delta – its rice bowl – is being taken out of production, partly due to climate change.

“Decarbonising rice production is one of the focus areas for Better Bite’s investments,” said Michal Klar, founding partner at Better Bite Ventures. “Rice is one of the top sources of food and agricultural emissions in Asia-Pacific. We believe AgriG8 will help to accelerate deployment of methane-reducing farming practices, using their unique set of tech and finance tools.”

A gamified platform to incentive farmers

Founded in 2021 by David Chen and Joshua Tan, AgriG8 works with “local farmer aggregators such as cooperatives and NGOs” to help farmers reduce emissions. It has built a gamified digital platform, CropPal, to receive data from producers, as well as finance and incentive methane-cutting agricultural practices.

“[The] CropPal platform consists of three components: the farmer-facing app, a dashboard for lenders and farm managers, and a background validation framework backed by machine learning,” Chen, who is the CEO of AgriG8, told Green Queen. “The app is deliberately gamified to reduce onboarding friction and to cater to a wider audience including farmers’ family members.”

Gamifying the design offers a “fun and easy onboarding experience”, he explained. “Farmers could report their seeding approach, water management and nutrient management via CropPal,” said Chen. “By submitting quality data, farmers unlock real-world rewards like loan rebates. For instance, optimising water usage and verifying it through CropPal can directly translate into financial savings.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Better Bite as our latest investor. Better Bite’s focus on decarbonising food and agriculture in Asia-Pacific is aligned with our mission. This investment will fuel our regional pilots of an inclusive financing solution that encourages sustainable practices among rice farmers and improves their livelihoods.”

Asked what caught Better Bite’s eye, Klar said: “David Chen has deep knowledge about the rice ecosystem in the region, with over 15 years of hands-on experience across the rice value chain. Supporting rice farmers in Southeast Asia to introduce better practices and offer better livelihoods has been his life’s work.”

Rice production is one of the five focus areas of Better Bite’s latest round of its First Bite funding scheme for food startups targeting climate solutions. “What we can do is provide that very first catalytic capital to amazing founders, who will go on and raise more funding to build impactful, transformative companies,” Klar told Green Queen in February.

How Asian rice farmers can reduce methane

One of the proven practices being advocated by AgriG8 is alternate wetting and drying (AWD). The water management system entails farmers going through several wet and dry cycles, rather than keeping the paddy flooded the whole time.

Farmers dig a measuring pipe in a corner and allow the water level to drop to 15cm below the soil’s surface, a level at which the roots are still submerged. The field is then flooded again at around 5cm level, and this cycle is repeated several times during the vegetative state of rice production.

Paddies can create ideal conditions for methane-producing bacteria, but drying the field at regular intervals can suppress their activity and significantly lower emissions, while also saving water. Most importantly for farmers, AWD maintains yields, so they don’t need to be worried about productivity.

This practice, combined with other solutions, can lead to a 55% reduction in methane emissions. AgriG8 has completed a pilot of its technology in central Thailand, with more trials to be held in Tra Vinh, Vietnam and Battambang, Cambodia during the next planting season.

“The first pilot successfully demonstrated farmer adoption of CropPal, with 80% of participants averaging 21 entries per season,” said Chen. “This data will enable AgriG8 to model farmer behaviour and inform the next pilot in September, which will test a digital plus commercial incentive approach to drive climate impact.”

AgriG8 is now also in discussions with several leading climate, food and agritech investors in the Asia-Pacific regions. Other startups innovating with future-friendly rice include Indian-American firm MittiLabs and France’s CarbonFarm, both of which use AI and satellite tech for carbon credits, though the efficacy of the voluntary carbon market has been called into question multiple times. Singapore-based Rize, meanwhile, buys seeds, fertilisers, and other inputs in bulk and sells them to farmers who implement AWD.

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

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US hybrid meat startup SciFi Foods has appointed an advisory firm to sell its assets as cultivated meat continues to face a bleak investment landscape.

San Francisco-based startup SciFi Foods, the maker of hybrid meat from cultivated beef cells and plant-based ingredients, is shutting down its operations.

The news comes months after the company successfully completed its first commercial-scale production run in a 500-litre bioreactor. It had also been in consultation with the FDA over its regulatory approval path in the US.

“Given challenges in the fundraising market, we’ve appointed an advisory firm to run a sale process,” co-founder and CEO Joshua March told AgFunderNews.

“Given the nature of the process, I can’t really say much more beyond this,” he added.

SciFi Foods had achieved price parity with conventional beef

Founded in 2019 as Artemys Foods, the startup rebranded in 2022 with a cultivated beef product to be used in hybrid meat formulations. Backed by Silicon Valley VC Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and other investors like Coldplay, SciFi Foods has brought in over $40M in total financing.

Hybrid meat, which combines cultivated proteins with plant-based ingredients, is aimed at enabling scalability and driving down the high costs of cultivated meat. Investors say this is the only way it is currently commercially viable – Eat Just, the first company to ever sell cultivated meat, has previously rolled out versions with about 60-70% of cultivated cells, and its latest innovation is a retail offering with 3% of chicken cells.

Startups like Aleph Farms, Meatable and Vital Meat – which are all expecting regulatory approval in various markets over the next few months – are also using the hybrid approach for their products. Aleph Farms, which received the go-ahead from the health ministry in Israel in January, will soon roll out its hybrid beef at restaurants in the country.

Late last year, SciFi Foods opened a 16,000 sq ft pilot facility in San Leandro, California, where it began growing beef cell lines in single-cell suspension, in a 100% serum-free process. This is where it had finished its first run in the 500-litre bioreactor.

Single-cell suspension allows cells to be grown in any standard, stirred-tank bioreactor, without the need to try and scale up novel hardware. It also does away with the need for expensive substrates like microcarriers or scaffolding, which is crucial for cost control.

SciFi Foods, whose hybrid burger was a 90/10 mix of a soy protein base and cultivated beef, announced that it had achieved price parity with conventional beef using a combination of its proprietary high-throughput cell line engineering and CRISPR technology in 2022.

Cultivated meat feels the heat

The development comes amid what has been a highly turbulent time for the cultivated meat industry. As March alluded to, fundraising has been a mountain to climb – according to the Good Food Institute (GFI), investment in cultivated meat companies nosedived by 75% from 2022 to 2023. This came amid a wider decline in food tech funding (-61%), with alternative protein financing dropping by 44% to $1.6B.

The loss of faith among VCs has continued for cultivated meat startups this year, with Q1 witnessing merely 5% of the $226M invested in the sector in all of 2023. It’s why AgFunder has earmarked cultivated meat as a “category to watch” this year.

It has become a major headache for companies in this sector. Just last week, Aleph Farms confirmed it had laid off 30% of its local staff in Israel due to difficulties in securing capital amid its scale-up process, and as part of its asset-light growth strategy. Californian cultivated seafood producer Finless Foods had similarly carried out two rounds of layoffs in less than 12 months.

Also in California, cultivated pork startup New Age Eats ceased operations in March 2023. Eat Just, based in San Francisco, has been caught up in a lawsuit against its former contract manufacturer ABEC, which has claimed over $100M in payments for changes to the scope of the work and unpaid bills in relation to its cultivated chicken arm Good Meat. A judge has sided with both entities in several matters, and the case will now proceed to trial.

Another Californian startup, Los Angeles-based Omeat, has had its workforce cut by 80%, with its founder stepping down as CEO amid allegations of creating a hostile work culture.

Apart from the financial headwinds, the industry has also been met with legislative challenges. Italy became the first country to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat last year, with France and Romania contemplating the same. And last month, the US states of Florida and Alabama both passed similar bills, which were heavily criticised even by the meat industry.

Company closures were predicted to continue this year by alternative protein experts, and SciFi Foods has become the latest on that list. “We are in a phase of consolidation and correction that isn’t over yet. Given that venture capital is so scarce, fundraising and due diligence processes are taking extremely long, and especially lead investors are so hard to find, we expect to see more businesses going down,” Albrecht Wolfmeyer, director of ProVeg Incubator, told Green Queen in April.

He added: “At the same time, we are seeing a lot of exciting innovation in the ecosystem and also growing consumer and corporate interest in markets like Germany. This and parts of next year will be tough, then we’ll see more light at the end of the tunnel.”

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