Hi Folks,

It’s getting towards the middle of December so for us working moms, life is a bit crazy. Did you know we are the real secret Santas? 😉 So I’ll keep this short. This week I have a grim prediction: Europe’s alt-protein sector is in for a bumpy time, especially for startups taking on dominant legacy players (like meat and dairy).

Last week I caught up with a European friend about the US election result. I told him Trump’s win is a bellwether for Europe. He was vehement in his disagreement, saying that Europeans are very different to Americans. Starting with caps on political campaign spending.

My response to him was: sure, the cultural lens is different. The details are different. But the basics are the same. Middle-class people feel financially insecure. Young men are angry. Citizens feel shortchanged by their government. Regular folks are worried about their kids. These are conditions that allow far-right parties to thrive.

Yesterday, Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was voted the most powerful figure in Politico’s annual list. Neither France’s Macron nor Germany’s Scholz even made it on the list, which gives you an idea of where we are.

The two most powerful economies of the bloc are fighting dangerous domestic battles. They are distracted and weakened. Without their support for both the EU dream (that’s a longer post and one for another media platform) and the climate crisis, the fight for a sustainable future of food is going to be a long and hard one.

Europe’s right-wing leaders are filling the power void, and they are pro-livestock, anti-cultivated meat and the protein transition and tepid on climate science (they are also anti-immigration and anti-regulation). Sound familiar yet?

-Sonalie

🍫 The Beanless Chocolate Revolution

It’s all going on in alt chocolate this week! The latest headlines include:

• Germany’s Planet A Foods, a pioneer of cocoa-free chocolate (the startup uses a proprietary fermentation process), raised $30 million Series B funding to expand across Europe, the US and Asia. The round marks one of the largest in food tech this year, despite a wider downturn in investment in the sector.

• Israeli startup Celleste Bio secured $4.5 million for its cell-based cocoa, with repeat participation from Mondelēz International.

• Copenhagen-based Endless Food Co raised €1 million and teamed up with 7-Eleven Denmark to launch cookies made with its upcycled cocoa-free chocolate, made from brewer’s spent grain.

• This year has already seen cocoa prices rise to their highest levels ever, so cocoa-free options play a major role in keeping chocolate on shelves.

• The chocolate industry causes mass deforestation and significant carbon emissions associated with it; decarbonising how we produce chocolate is critical if we’re to safeguard the industry- not to mention regulation like Europe’s EUDR, which limits deforestation-linked product imports into the bloc.

📈 Must-Read Cultivated Headlines

🇹🇭 Israeli startup Aleph Farms submitted the first application for cultivated meat in Thailand, and expects regulatory clearance there by mid-2026.
💡The startup chose Thailand for its “rich culinary heritage, advanced food production capabilities, and strategic position as a gateway to key Asian markets”.

🇮🇳 Mumbai-based Biokraft Foods hosted India’s first formal tasting of cultivated meat last week, presenting a hybrid chicken it hopes to launch next year.
💡Biokraft Foods has been backed by several government grants, and is now in the middle of a pre-seed funding round, which is expected to close “very soon”.

🇨🇭 Migros, Givaudan, and Bühler Group have opened The Cultured Hub, a biotech facility to speed and scale up the production of cellular agriculture foods.
💡The tech platform means that companies will be able to scale without investing in expensive assets or diluting equity.

🌱 Plant-Based News

🇮🇳 India’s foodservice sector is a major opportunity for plant-based brands, according to a new report by the Good Food Institute India. Here’s what’s needed to increase consumer demand.

🌸 Californian startup Lypid debuted its consumer brand via a partnership with Disney, serving vegan pork baos at the Moana 2 premiere in Hawai’i.

🇮🇱 Gavan Technologies, based in Israel, secured $8 million Series A funding to commercialise Fatrix, its plant protein-based animal fat alternative, in Europe.
💡Fatrix is made from pea protein isolate, vegetable oil and water, meaning it doesn’t require novel food approval in the EU.

📝 Key Research

🍄‍🟫 An EU-funded research project, Zest, is exploring how supermarket mushrooms and agricultural waste can be turned into proteins, vitamins and bio-based materials. Learn more here.

🍌 Academics from the University of Bath, RWTH Aachen and Goethe University Frankfurt have found that labelling lone fruits as ‘sad singles’ can make supermarket shoppers feel sorry for them, increasing sales and mitigating food waste.

🇬🇧 The annual WWF Basket report reveals that UK supermarkets are ‘way off track’ on their zero-deforestation food goals.

🫛 New analysis from Oxford University reveals that beans and peas are the best-performing alternatives to meat and milk when it comes to health, environmental and cost benefits.

🧫Everything Else In Future Food

🍯 Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology have developed X3, a ‘honey-like’ protein that is 10,000 times sweeter than sugar.

📺 Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown is the subject of a recent episode of the Wild Hope documentary, which details his dedication to fighting climate change, and his new Carbon Ranch.

🇪🇺 After being shunned from the EU’s strategic dialogue on food and farming, health organisations are asking for representation on the Commission’s new agrifood board. Here’s what they’re saying.

🌱🍔  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 Upside Foods’ latest cultivated meat tasting, a new vegan restaurant in New York City, and THIS’ brand refresh.

📆 Scene & Heard

Explore the 5th Fermentation-Enabled Alternative Protein Summit

🇺🇸 Don’t miss the 5th Fermentation-Enabled Alternative Protein Summit returning to San Francisco on February 24-26, 2025! This unparalleled forum is bringing together 170+ business executives, innovation and R&D decision-makers from leading CPGs and ingredient providers, investors, and late-stage technology enablers shaping the future of alternative proteins. Leave with actionable strategies for achieving cost parity, quality, and taste through scale-driven R&D, infrastructure development, and strategic partnerships, helping diversify food categories with the next generation of ingredients. Discover the 2025 agenda here.

🗽 HackSummit’s first US edition is happening in New York THIS WEEK, and will include Stealth to Series B Climate Tech Founders, Partners and Principals behind some of the most active Funds, as well as Corporates, Banks and Asset Managers with a keen interest in collaborating with companies in this space. Get your ticket here.

🇭🇰 Vegetarian Food Asia is the largest and most comprehensive showcase of vegetarian and eco-friendly living in Hong Kong. Taking place 21st-23rd February, it will host 300+ exhibitors and 600 brands, plus keynotes and workshops. Find out more here.

Want More? Check out Green Queen’s Deep Dive series: 

• Blended Meats Are Here 

• Meat Misinformation Deep Dive

• Ozempic & the GLP-1 Revolution

• Policy Matters: Regulating Future Food Innovation