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Congrats to our 6 new Climate Feed fellows!

Before getting started on my regular programming, I wanted to announce the 6 journalists chosen as fellows for the inaugural cohort of the Green Queen Media Climate Feed Fellowship.

Over 400 people applied from more than 50 countries, so being selected is no small feat. They are all extremely impressive young reporters who are dedicated to the biggest story of our time: the climate crisis. They impressed the selection committee with their outstanding pitches and we are thrilled to have them on board.

Journalism shapes what we know, what we question, and what we demand...and food systems are the missing piece in the climate narrative, as many of our most faithful newsletter readers know. The fellowship is the first program designed to empower this next generation of journalists to spotlight the critical link between food and climate.

• Sanchita _ from Bihar, India, working on an investigation into the environmental and ethical costs of India’s glorified dairy industry.

• Dorcas Mofosi (Molula) from Lesotho, Maseru, working on a story about the Lesotho hospitality industry's role in introducing food habits in our society.

• Giorgio Michalopoulos from Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Italy, working on a piece about how global banks are financing controversial companies that are directly or indirectly responsible for deforestation.

• Anne Jomard, Dr. sc. from Lyon, France and Zürich, Switzerland, working on an investigation into the Swiss FoodTech scene's most exciting startups.

• Eric Kasina MPRSK from Nairobi, Kenya, working on a story about Africa's local, plant-forward food future.

• Rachna Verma from Himachal Pradesh, India, working on an investigation into the impact of India’s rapidly expanding renewable energy projects on the country’s food security.

Welcome to all of them! I am excited to kick off our Welcome Call tonight. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue with the 3-month program.

Ok, onto food tech news highlights and key trends I'm seeing:

• Cultivated pet food for sale: Another regulatory win for cultivated meat, this time it’s pet food - kudos to Umami BIoworks for getting the EU registration green light! Pet food has a huge carbon footprint, and while the culture wars are getting in the way of cultivated protein for humans, it appears that pet owners are more open to alternative sources of ingredients (see: insect-based pet food). The market is huge. In the US alone, 66% of households have at least one pet; in Asia, it‘s now 60%. Pet owners are not just growing in numbers; they are also spending more and better on their furry friends, which represents a major opportunity for the alt protein sector.

• More closures: 3 alt protein companies called it quits this past week and one PB dairy alcohol startup ceased trading (oat milk liqueur Panther M*lk). UK cultivated meat startup CellRev, legacy Canadian plant-based meat brand Yves Veggie Cuisine and Dutch plant-based meat brand Vegan Finest Foods. This is more of the same as the sector survives a brutal funding winter: expect more headlines like this and further consolidation.

• School lunch programs: It’s an exciting time to be working on kids’ nutrition and school meals have become a very hot policy topic. All over the globe, governments are getting serious about delivering better food to school kids, from Indonesia, where President Subianto made free school meals a campaign promise to Taiwan, to the US where RFK Jr and the MAHA brigade say they want to remove processed foods from school meals (Texas and Louisiana recently banned additives from school meals) and last week, Taiwanese legislators called for the inclusion of plant-based meat in school to destigmatize these foods. I will be exploring this topic in greater detail in the coming months so stay tuned.

 -Sonalie

✅ Must-Read Headlines

🇫🇮 Finnish Food Factory, a contract manufacturer of plant-based dairy products, secured €10 million in scale-up funding from Taaleri Bioindustry’s Fund I.
💡The company leverages technology and production methods that ensure long shelf life without compromising the flavour or functionality of its products.

🇸🇬 Singapore’s Umami Bioworks has registered two cultivated seafood ingredients for pet food in the EU, and is eyeing a Q2 2026 launch.
💡Having raised $7.5 million to date, Umami is “preparing for the next round of fundraising to accelerate commercialisation and launch market-ready products”.

🇳🇱 Dutch startup NoPalm Ingredients announced that it is building a large factory to scale its palm oil alternatives at contract manufacturer Nizo Food Research’s food innovation campus.
💡It will be able to produce hundreds of tonnes of its oils per year at the factory, and expects the first industrial production of its yeast-derived fats in the second half of 2026, with further scaling expected in 2027 and 2028.

🍼 Californian firm Yali Bio has successfully produced a high-purity breast milk fat using precision fermentation, in a potential breakthrough for the baby formula market.
💡Most of the world’s 130 million babies born annually are fed infant formula at some point, marking a massive opportunity for nutritionally sound infant formula.

🌱Plant-Based Sector News

📈 Lidl GB has blown past its target of increasing private-label plant-based sales by 400% by 2025, recording a rise of 694% in the last five years. The success has been driven more by Lidl GB’s traditional plant protein and veg-led offerings than meat alternatives, which it sells under the Vemondo Plant label.

🇵🇭 With interest in plant-based eating heightening in the Philippines, a wave of hospitality groups, led by Ascott Limited, has committed to increasing meat-free options, a direct response to the four in five Filipinos who say they’re more likely to eat at restaurants and hotels that set such policy goals.

🇪🇸 Spanish firm Novameat has expanded its line of pulled plant-based meats with clean-label pork and lamb alternatives for foodservice partners, distributors and manufacturers.

😲 Yves Veggie Cuisine, a 40-year-old Canadian meat-free brand, is being taken off shelves by owner Hain Celestial, sparking furore on social media.

🇳🇱 Dutch startup Vegan Finest Foods, which makes plant-based seafood, meat and sauces, has declared bankruptcy, citing softening demand and post-Covid difficulties.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Three years after appearing on Dragons’ Den, Scottish startup Beastly Brews, which produced the oat milk liqueur Panther M*lk, has ceased trading after two supermarket listings fell through.

🚀 Everything Else In Future Food

🧫 CellRev, a UK-based bioprocessor of cell culture technologies, has ceased trading and appointed administrators to sell its assets.

🗽 New York City has updated its food standards for public meal initiatives, clamping down on processed meats and requiring more plant-based proteins.

🇹🇼 Legislators and civil society groups in Taiwan are calling on the government to reform its school lunch programme, which they say stigmatises plant-based meat as processed food.

💶 Green Queen Wire: Switzerland-based FOOD FOUNDERS Studio raised CHF 1.2 million from private investors to launch its first venture and commercialise food tech innovations from European universities.

🌱🍔  Future Food Quick Bites 

In our weekly column, Future Food Quick Bites, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Impossible Foods’s Joey Chestnut partnership, Billie Eilish’s emissions-cutting concerts, and Aleph Farms’s Peta promise.

📆 Scene & Heard

Register for your Free Pass to Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia 2025

🇸🇬 Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia 2025 (AFTEA) is the premier sourcing and networking platform in Asia for the global agri-food tech and agri-food communities hosting 7,000 attendees and 250 exhibitors, including international and industry-led pavilions and 100 start-ups, Engage with global leaders and industry experts over three days, under one roof, to explore innovative technologies and sustainable practices designed to future-proof our food systems. Register for free.

💰 The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture opened a new funding opportunity, totalling $300 million, including program priority areas such as "Diet, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases", and "Soil Health”. Find out more and apply here.

💡 Now in its eighth year, Food. Ag. Ideas​, led by Naturally MN,​​​​​ has become a must-attend gathering for individuals, entrepreneurs, and companies alike. This year, the event will focus on the intersection of food and health, and will take place 13th-14th October. Register here.