Morning All,

This week I’ve been thinking about what the Huel–Danone deal actually tells us, and what it doesn’t.

On LinkedIn, I argued that Danone’s $1.15B acquisition of Huel isn’t a signal for plant-based meat specifically. Huel lives in a different vertical: health, fitness and wellness, not burgers and nuggets. It’s a brand that happens to be plant-based, rather than a “plant-based brand” in the way our sector usually uses the term. But for Future Food/alt protein founders/investors, the more interesting question is: what did Huel get right that so many alt protein companies haven’t?

From the start, Huel understood that people want convenience, health and simplicity. They took the Soylent idea (AKA complete nutrition in a format that fits a busy life) and made it cleaner, higher quality, and easier to love. They didn’t lead with animals or emissions; they led with macros, vitamins, fibre, satiety, price-per-meal, and “no fuss” appeal. They built products that slotted into people’s existing routines (breakfast, on-the-go lunches, gym culture) and then wrapped it all in a marketing story that felt aspirational but accessible. Plant-based was the default, not the headline.

While I was starting to write this note, I read Liz Dunn’s excellent piece in Consumed, “Why MAHA Understands America,” and it crystallised a lot of this for me. Her argument, in short: for 20–30 years, liberal America tried to get people to care about food systems, farmworker rights, emissions, animal welfare and supply chain ethics. All important, all real…but the concern stayed mostly elite and it turned out most people just weren’t engaging. Then MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) comes along and says many of the same things: eat cleaner, more whole foods, organic, toxin-free…but packages it entirely around the individual: this is better for you, for your kids, your kids are being poisoned, and that’s why you need to care.*

I think that’s the mirror both alt-protein and future-food founders/CEOs need to look into. On the B2B and innovation side, the sector has been wildly successful; we’ve seen a Cambrian explosion of ideas and technologies. But on the consumer and culture side, we largely piggybacked on that same liberal-elite framing: “our food system is broken, here’s why, make different choices for the planet and the animals.” MAHA (and Huel, in its own way) has understood something more basic and more powerful: after factoring affordability, most people make food decisions first and foremost based on what feels healthy, safe and easy for themselves and their families. The case for alternatives (and other future foods) will land more deeply when we start there, and only then layer in everything we care about on food systems, climate and animals.

-Sonalie

*Dunn is frank about what she feels this means in terms of who Americans have become: “There’s a strain of American self-mythology that says we’re a nation of joiners, of barn-raisers, of neighbors who show up for each other. Maybe that was true once; what’s clear now is that appeals to collective welfare don’t move people the way they might have a few decades ago. The food movement asked Americans to care about systems and communities and the common good. MAHA asked them to care about themselves. Only one of these worked.” I think her observations about Americans can be extrapolated to a large swath of the world. We have become a me-first generation, and the individual pursuit of self-betterment trumps all.

💡 Only On Green Queen

🧀 Exclusive: Bettani Farms CEO on Its Acquisitions & Plans to Stretch the Vegan Cheese Category
Nearly four months after making a string of acquisitions, Bettani Farms is looking to overhaul vegan cheese with ramped-up distribution and a “high-stretch” mozzarella alternative. CEO Sandeep Patel gives us the inside scoop.

🌽 Exclusive: Maïzly is Taking on Plant-Based Dairy with A One-Size-Fits-All Corn Milk
With a fibre-packed alternative promising to rival dairy in the coffee industry, Maïzly CEO Tim Leclercq explains why corn milk could be the next big non-dairy innovation.

🚀 Exclusive: Future Food-Tech San Francisco 2026: MAHA, Fermentation, AI & Regulation
Missed the action in San Francisco? Not to worry: Green Queen was on the ground and here’s our dispatch from this year’s Future Food-Tech conference, where the policy spotlight shone bright, with artificial intelligence set to play a big role in the sustainable food industry. Read our download.

🌱 Exclusive: Beyond (Meat) On Why It Rebranded & What’s Next For Plant Protein
Beyond Meat has rebranded to Beyond The Plant Protein Company as it expands into whole-food proteins and drinks – is the vegan pioneer having an identity crisis reflective of the times? We spoke to the embattled brand to find out.

✅ Must-Read Headlines

🇦🇺 Australian biomanufacturing specialist Cauldron Ferm raised $13.25 million in Series A2 funding to expand its “hyper-fermentation” platform with retrofitted facilities.
💡The expansion is designed to meet demand from both governments and corporations investing in biomanufacturing infrastructure, with planned facilities further backed by federal and state government grants.

🍫 Italy’s Foreverland secured €6 million ($7 million) to fuel the European expansion of its cocoa-free chocolate alternative, Choruba.
💡Foreverland claims it’s the only producer of organic cocoa-free chocolate at industrial scale, with several products already featuring on shelves in Italy and France. (Editor’s Note: Germany’s Planet A Foods also has multiple cocoa-free products on shelves in its home market.)

🇫🇮 Finnish startup Elea & Lili emerged from stealth with €2.5 million ($2.9 million) to launch its cellulose alternative to fossil-based superabsorbent polymers for the hygiene and agriculture industries.
💡Cellulose is the world’s most abundant polymer, and the alternative is designed as a scalable material platform, rather than a single product.

🍜 South Korean instant noodle pioneer Samyang Foods has opened a research facility in the Netherlands dedicated to plant-based foods, with protein and functional foods among its focus areas.
💡Wageningen, where the facility is based, is one of the world’s leading clusters of agrifood tech research, and the Netherlands’ government is supportive of research into sustainable proteins.

🇬🇧 The UK’s food security minister, Dame Angela Eagle, has confirmed that alternative proteins represent a “major opportunity” in the upcoming national food strategy.
💡She added: “We are backing the sector and working with the Food Standards Agency on novel food programmes to accelerate precision fermentation technology,” which is promising for the industry.

🥳 Celebrating Milestones

✅ New York-based Pureture has obtained self-affirmed GRAS status for its yeast-derived protein for use in food and beverage products in the US.
💡The yeast protein fits into consumers’ evolving nutritional needs, since it is non-GMO and free from the top nine allergens, and has a PDCAAS score of 1.0 – on par with dairy and egg proteins.

🤝🏼 Ingredient giant Ingredion has partnered with AI protein discovery platform Shiru to commercialise next-gen prebiotics for the GLP-1-fuelled era of gut health.
💡The partnership comes during a year when 37% of Americans have made gut health one of their top wellness priorities, marking a significant opportunity.

🧫 Czech startup Mewery has achieved one of the highest yield densities in the cultivated meat sector, and is now halfway through a €7 million ($8 million) fundraising effort.
💡The milestone reflects increased productivity per bioreactor and significantly improves the unit economics for these proteins.

📝 Finland’s Enifer has filed a GRAS notification to the US FDA for its Pekilo mycoprotein.
💡This marks a step towards large-scale partnerships for high-protein applications, including blended meat.

🚀 Everything Else In Future Food

☕️ Starbucks India has launched a new menu item centred on local startup GoodDot’s soy and pea protein mince, extending its plant-based bet to satiate the country’s hunger for protein.

💪🏼 Solar Foods unveiled Solein Protein Drink, a new concept product for its gas protein, which contains significantly less natural sugars than animal- or plant-based counterparts.

🥛 Singaporean plant-based milk leader Oatside unveiled a new brand, Nobo, featuring two high-protein soy milks that aim to give the Asian classic a modern makeover.

🌱🍔  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’ 404 Day party, Armored Fresh’s Piilk protein shakes, and Upside Foods’ cultivated meat lawsuit in Florida.

📆 Scene & Heard

🚀 Plan Ahead for Vitafoods Asia in September

🌏 Vitafoods Asia is the leading annual trade show in the Asia-Pacific region for the nutraceutical, functional food, and dietary supplement industries. It will bring together over 16,000+ professionals on 2nd-4th September; secure your spot here.

⭐️ Next Impact Europe has opened nominations for a new initiative spotlighting the next generation of diverse-led impact startups emerging across Europe. The initiative will publish a curated list of 50 companies to watch, with the 2026 cohort set to be revealed at VivaTech in June. Nominate a startup here.

🎓 The School of Moral Ambition is launching its 2026 fellowship program at The Fellowship Summit on 27th March, which will bring together current and former fellows, host organisations, and partners. Learn more here.