A Message from our Founding Editor

I’m thrilled to share that I have launched two new newsletters this week (HUGE week 😉)!

Green Queen Gulf: The world is changing and we’re growing! Announcing our brand new media brand Green Queen Gulf, a new monthly industry newsletter spotlighting the Gulf region’s agrifood innovation. Expect the same insight and curation you love from our team with a new geographical focus. More on why we made this move HERE . Thank you to our content partner NUOS for helping make this possible. As always, if you like what we are doing → subscribe and share .

Climate Kitchen: This one is personal and something I have wanted to put out in the world for a few years now- pretty much ever since I became a parent. I truly believe there is a need for a content universe for folks with kids who care about the climate crisis and are looking for hope and inspiration and it’s FINALLY here. Plus I get to do this with two incredible humans, Nico Westermann and Sophie Egan (both global experts in their respective fields) who joined me to make this vision a reality. → check out the first newsletter, subscribe and share .

OK, enough about the launches and onto our regular programming.

-Sonalie

  👀 US Republicans Fear China’s Biotech Revolution

A letter sent by 11 Republican Congress members to the director of national intelligence and the USDA’s director of homeland security last week calls for US action to ensure “continued leadership” , in response to a threat assessment on China’s potential biotech dominance.

• China’s latest five-year plan for agricultural and rural tech development in 2021 calls for research in cultivated meat, alternative egg and dairy, and recombinant proteins, which the lawmakers described in their letter as China looking to “dominate global supply chains”.

• The Congress members’ letter implored the US intelligence community to “conduct a focused analysis” on the potential impact of China’s advancements in innovative protein technologies, and its implications for the global food supply.

• If the US wants to continue being a leader in the alternative protein and biotech sectors, it would perhaps be better if its policymakers stopped bringing bills to try and ban cultivated meat.

• Alternative proteins can reshape global markets, and require government backing - whatever the driver.

💰 Funding Frenzy

🇪🇪 Estonian startup Äio   raised €6.1 million to build a facility for its fermentation-derived alternatives to palm oil and animal fats, made using byproducts from the wood and agricultural industries.
💡Äio has also attracted interest from major food, cosmetics and household CPG companies, which have signed on to develop products together.

🍫 Italian cocoa-free chocolate maker Foreverland   raised €3.4 million seed funding to open its first production facility for its carob-based Choruba alternative.
💡The startup has also secured partnerships with several manufacturers in the bakery and confectionery space.

🇲🇾 Malaysian climate tech startup Qarbotech   secured $1.5 million in a seed extension round for its photosynthesis enhancement technology.
💡The company’s innovation is rooted in carbon quantum dots technology, a market which experts suggest will reach $25 billion by 2032.

🥓 German meat analogue maker The Raging Pig Company   secured undisclosed seed funding ahead of its move into mycelium protein.
💡Raging Pig has been looking into mycelium to replace the “highly processed” pea protein texturates obtained from high-moisture extrusion in its products.

📈 Must-Read Headlines

🏭 Israel’s Believer Meats has joined forces with German engineering firm   GEA to help scale up production of cultivated meat, ahead of opening the industry’s largest facility next year.
💡The collaboration aims to enhance the unit economics and sustainability aspects of cultivated meat, but will also look to set up joint commercial ventures.

🌱 Seattle-based Rebellyous Foods unveiled its Mock 2 Production System , which reduces the cost of manufacturing plant-based meat to reach parity with animal proteins.
💡The platform can produce 2,500-5,000 lbs of different kinds of meat analogues every hour on a single processing line, and deliver 60% cost reductions compared to existing production methods for vegan meat.

📉 Marlow Foods , the parent company of Quorn and Cauldron Foods, saw pre-tax losses surpass £60 million in 2023, four times higher than the year before.
💡The alternative protein giant primarily blamed “the material external pressures of input cost inflation and the decline in demand in the UK and US retail markets”.

🧫 Hot Topic - New Products & Tech

🧀 Dutch-Belgian startup Those Vegan Cowboys debuted its precision-fermented casein protein , with plans to launch animal-free cheese in 2025.

🧬 Synbio firm LanzaTech has extended its carbon recycling operations to human food applications with a new protein , and is teaming up with the US military to discover if its protein can be produced on military platforms.

🌭 Israel’s Kinoko-Tech has partnered with Australia’s Metaphor Foods to commercialise a range of mycelium protein products – including sausages, flapjacks and chips.

🔬Scientists at the University of Tübingen in Germany have discovered a way to turn gases into yeast that contains more protein than beef and enough folate to meet your daily requirements.

🧫 Everything Else In Future Food

🇯🇵 The Good Food Institute has opened an office in Japan to support the country’s alternative protein potential. Here’s why .

🥩 US meat giant Tyson Foods has been sued by an environmental group for misleading consumers about the sustainability credentials of its “climate-smart” Brazen Beef.

📊 The Current State of Meat Alternatives report shows that retail sales of plant-based meat have been shrinking, but they’re still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Here are where the opportunities lie .

🌱🍔  Future Food Quick Bites 

In our weekly column, Future Food Quick Bites, we round up the latest developments in the alt-protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Sunday Supper's plant-based mozzarella sticks, M&S's new vegan cookies, and a cultivated meat tasting in India.

📆 Scene & Heard

Join us at AltProteins 24 next week in Melbourne!

🇦🇺 Our founding editor Sonalie Figueiras will be speaking at Food Frontier’s AltProteins 24 on 10 October 2024 at the Sofitel on Collins in Melbourne, sharing insights on a wide range of future food topics including a keynote on behavioural nudging and the use of defaults in foodservice to push forward a smart protein transition. Prepare for insightful keynotes, pioneering research, dynamic panels, and unmatched networking. This year’s conference, Serving Solutions, will spotlight breakthroughs from industry leaders across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, USA, Brazil, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, The Netherlands, and Germany. Get tickets now.

🧪 With The Future of Protein Production Amsterdam just three weeks away, time is running out to secure your pass . We're pleased to be a media partner at Future of Protein Production Amsterdam, taking place on 23rd & 24th October at RAI Amsterdam. Join us and over 500 attendees at Europe’s meeting place to accelerate the commercialisation of alternative proteins. Use discount code GQ20 for 20% off.

🇩🇪  The Smart Proteins Summit, happening in Frankfurt on November 5th, will offer participants a comprehensive view of market events and developments within the plant-based, fermented and cultivated industries. Get more details here.

👀 At Free From Food Dubai on 2nd-3rd October, you will be able to network with the biggest food manufacturers in the region, as well as government ministries; find out more here.

🌍 Plan ahead for the Africa Future Food Summit, taking place June 30th to July 1st 2025, where you will meet and network with investors, CEOs, innovators and change makers defining the future of sustainable food systems in Africa. Sign up here .

Green Queen Deep Dive Content Series: 

• Blended Meats Are Here  

• Meat Misinformation Deep Dive

• Ozempic & the GLP-1 Revolution

• Policy Matters: Regulating Future Food Innovation