Every year, GFI evaluates the quantity and mainstream appeal of plant-based entrées on the menus of the top 100 U.S. restaurant chains in our Good Food Restaurant Scorecard. The latest data from 2019 indicates more restaurants now have at least one plant-based entrée option, increasing from 55 chains in 2018 to 58 at the end of 2019. Despite these promising …
Will Cultured Meat Soon Be A Common Sight In Supermarkets Across The Globe?
Up until now, plant-based food companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and Quorn have almost singlehandedly worked to lessen the impacts of industrial animal agriculture. Supermarket shelves and fast food restaurants across the US are serving up vegan burgers and meatballs and plant-based chicken nuggets are showing consumers there is an alternative to relying on animal-based protein. But a quiet …
Plantible is Turning Aquatic Plants into Next-Gen Plant-based Protein
Look at an ingredient list for plant-based meat or dairy products, and right up top you’ll probably see pea, soy, wheat, or maybe even mung bean. But San Diego-based startup Plantible is introducing a brand new player to the alternative protein landscape: lemna (commonly known as duckweed). Plantible’s co-founders, Tony Martens and Maurits van de Ven, stumbled upon lemna as …
Bayer Food Focus Project finds food packaging a top concern
Author: Bayer NZImage Credit: Bayer NZ A partnership between leading life science company Bayer and the NZ Nutrition Foundation (NZNF) has released the insights from its inaugural Bayer Food Focus Project, taking a look into Kiwis’ eating behaviours and food consumption. The project consisted of two key parts: the first Australasian pilot study conducted by Auckland University of Technology (AUT), …
Future Food Now: Asia-Pacific
Author: Michal KlarImage Credit: Right Treat and Impossible Foods Omnipork and Impossible Foods in mainland China Global and regional plant-based brands have been expanding to new markets in Asia-Pacific for past few years, but almost no-one entered the mainland China yet (with exception of the limited launch of JUST Egg). It is starting to change now. Green Monday Group, which …
GFI’s New Plant-Based Meat Manufacturing Guide is Here
The growing demand for plant-based meat, combined with the increased availability of alternative protein ingredient options, has created massive whitespace opportunities for food manufacturing companies. However, as a relatively young category, the production process for making plant-based meat is not widely understood and has often been the domain of specialized experts. Fortunately, a variety of well-understood and highly-related food processes …
Hooray for Sri Artham’s Plant-Based Bacon!
When Sri Artham began experimenting with crafting bacon by mixing plant ingredients in his San Francisco kitchen in last February, he didn’t expect to become a pioneer in the plant-based pork business in just a matter of months. He wasn’t even planning to become a food entrepreneur. But after a seasoned chef sampled Artham’s creation, everything changed. “When I started …
A new Aussie plant-based meat startup has launched, backed by the CSIRO and the founder of Hungry Jack’s
There’s a new plant-based meat alternative in town, backed by Hungry Jack’s founder Jack Cowin. Australian plant-based meat startup v2food launched in Sydney on Tuesday, a partnership between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Main Sequence Ventures and Jack Cowin’s, Competitive Foods Australia – the group behind Hungry Jack’s. The launch event was held at Bart Jr in …
Avant Meats, Hong Kong’s First Cell-Based Seafood Startup Looks To Tackle Demand For Prized Fish Maw & Sea Cucumber
Cell-based meat, also known as lab-grown meat or cultured-meat, is trending right now with headlines about cruelty-free chicken nuggets and shrimp wowing inaugural tasters and Hong Kong-born cell-based seafood startup Avant Meats is riding the wave. Grown in exacting and controlled conditions in a laboratory environment, cell-based meat and seafood is viewed by many as an important solution to our …
Eat Kind Awards
Gorilla Kitchen, Plant Blazed and Grater Goods take out annual Eat Kind Awards Animal rights organisation SAFE is celebrating World Vegan Day by recognising three of New Zealand’s best vegan eateries. SAFE’s annual EAT Kind Awards recognise eateries nationwide who are going above and beyond to offer up the most delicious and innovative plant-based dishes. Gorilla Kitchen in Auckland has …
One in three New Zealanders have cut down on meat consumption, new study shows
One in three New Zealanders, or 34 per cent, have cut down their meat consumption, new research has revealed. The findings – commissioned by not-for-profit think tank Food Frontier and Australasian vegetarian food manufacturer Life Health Foods, with help from polling agency Colmar Brunton – were published today. Of the 1107 New Zealanders surveyed, 31 per cent identified as “flexitarian”, defined as eating …
Sapien redefine Frucor Suntory shopper marketing strategy
Behavioural research specialists Sapien have pioneered new technology to measure shopper behaviour, in an innovative new study carried out to redefine Frucor Suntory’s shopper marketing strategy. Working in collaboration with a major NZ retailer, Sapien was enlisted by Frucor Suntory to better understand shopper behaviour in impulse areas of stores. After recognising that customer experience could be improved and sales …
Dutch food designer Carolien Niebling on why the future of food might not be fake meat or veganism, but sausages
The humble sausage is a 5000-year-old invention, and that is exactly the beauty of it, Dutch food designer Carolien Niebling says. After all, what better way to judge just how innovative a product is through its longevity and whether it stands the test of time? This is why Niebling has embarked on a journey to redesign the sausage to include …
Speaker Profile: Andrew Watene
Andrew Watene – A Maori perspective on Alternative Proteins, Agriculture and Innovation. As an associate director within performance consulting for KPMG he recently returned to New Zealand to join KPMG with over two decades experience in agribusiness and international markets having worked across the world while based in Singapore, Ireland and New Zealand. Andrew is of Tūhoe descent and specialises …
But what about boil up? How Māori are embracing veganism
Vegan, kaimanga, kapa kaiota, whekana – whatever you call it, a movement towards a harm free, plant-based lifestyle is being championed by Māori looking to protect Papatūānuku. Across Aotearoa, people are ditching dairy and moving away from meat in an effort to live healthier and more sustainable lives. Plant-based diets are becoming more popular, and although vegetarianism and veganism are …
Finnish startup makes alternative protein from carbon dioxide
An innovative startup company from Finland has piloted a new alternative protein product made out of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This meat alternative has the potential to address the environmental evils of both the agriculture industry and climate change. The startup is confident it will be able to get the product on grocery store shelves by 2021. The product, …
The Year of the Rise of Fresh Produce
TREND REPORT 2019: United Fresh (www.unitedfresh.co.nz) has over 27 years’ experience supporting and promoting the New Zealand fresh produce industry, working with the entire value chain, from seed producer and grower to consumer, providing leadership on pan produce issues. This is their inaugural Trend Report for New Zealand. Whether you’re growing it, selling it or just eating it, fresh produce …
Tyson announces animal-free products coming in 2019
On Tyson’s first-quarter earnings call, Tyson CEO Noel White announced that Tyson will be launching its own animal-free protein products before the end of the year. Yes, the largest meat producer in the United States—and second largest in the world—is developing “great tasting protein alternatives that are more accessible for everyone.” Tyson will announce more details in the coming weeks. …
The Green Revolution needs more colours
If you think there are a lot of products in the average grocery story, think again. It’s an illusion. We may have in the back of our minds that all the detergents, dish liquids, cleaners, shampoos come from just a handful of multi-national manufacturers. “75 percent of our world’s food comes from just 12 plants and five animal species.” But …
Would you be willing to give up your normal weekly bin collection?
Would you be willing to give up your normal weekly bin collection? A growing number of Australian councils believe this could be the way of the future to save money, reduce the piles of garbage rotting in landfill and cut back greenhouse emissions. At least three regional and outer suburban councils are picking up rubbish bins from the kerbside once …