Representatives from plant-based meat analogue supplier Meatless Farm, Mintel and the Good Food Institute (GFI) will discuss the latest plant-based food and drink trends at Food Manufacture s plant-based protein conference on 31 March.
Michael Hunter, managing director of Meatless Farm, Edward Bergen, global food and drink analyst at Mintel and Zak Weston, foodservice and supply chain manager at the Good Food Institute, will pinpoint emerging trends.
Hunter is the former vice president of global sales for Kellogg Company. During more than 20 years at Kellogg, Michael led the sales and strategy at the company’s frozen food division. He drives Meatless Farm s UK commercial business strategy, leading the sales, technical and marketing teams. He has helped steer its commercial growth despite the pandemic, with retail sales more than trebling.
Researchers propose standardised testing methods to crack sensory challenge of plant-based milk Despite rapidly growing consumer demand, the quality of plant-based milk products very often underwhelms. The solution? More consistent testing at R&D stage.
There has been a surge of interest recently on the development of plant‐based milk alternatives due to increasing consumer concerns about the ethics, sustainability, and healthiness of animal‐based milks.
Consequently, producers are having to quickly develop and test new formulations to meet rising consumer demand using a range of protein sources such as soy, oat, pea, almond, coconut and flaxseed.
But a lack of standardized analytical methods and protocols is stifling successful innovation in the area, and the more widespread adoption of plant milks is being held back by products lacking the sensory attributes, stability, and functional performance of real cow’s milk.
Oishii closes $50m Series A funding, sees itself as the ‘Tesla’ of strawberry vertical farming Oishii, a vertical farm growing Japanese omakase strawberries with 2-3x the sweetness of conventional US-grown strawberries, has closed $50m in Series A funding led by SPARX Group to scale its business for mass market consumption.
The $50m investment from SPARX Group’s Mirai Creation Fund II – a fund established by Toyota Motor Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and SPARX – will be put towards expanding Oishii’s proprietary vertical farming technology which can grow strawberries indoors at a commercial scale.
The company will also use the capital to grow and produce other fruits and vegetables.
‘Impact will come with scale…’ Ingredion, PURIS, ramp up plant protein capacity
Ingredion president and CEO Jim Zallie: We’re celebrating a pivotal moment in our company’s history. (picture: screengrab from Ingredion s March 3 virtual event) Market projections for meat and dairy alternatives vary wildly, with Impossible Foods’ CEO predicting animal agriculture could hit a ‘death spiral’ by 2035, while Wells Fargo reckons plant-based meat will account for a rather more modest 4% of the US meat market by 2029.
However, everyone agrees plant-based protein capacity needs to expand significantly to meet demand, says Ingredion, which has just opened a state-of-the-art facility in South Sioux City Nebraska producing pea protein isolates and starch; while PURIS - a key supplier of pea protein to Beyond Meat, with backing from Cargill – is gearing up to open a new facility in Dawson, MN this year, after significantly expanding production at
Health campaigners call for ‘honest’ labelling on so-called healthy snacks Researchers at Action on Salt are demanding a restriction on the use of what it calls misleading nutrition claims on HFSS products after its new data revealed seemingly ‘healthy’ snacks contain often higher salt levels than crisps and flavoured nuts.
The group analysed 118 snacks including dried/roasted pulses and processed pulse snacks such as lentil curls, chickpea chips and puffs,
which are often perceived as healthy alternatives to the usual snacking options such as crisps and flavoured nuts.
Despite these products being on average lower in fat, saturated fat and calories, and higher in fibre compared to standard crisps and nuts, over one in three (43%) contained more than 1.5g/100g of salt – often more than that in crisps and nuts. KP salted peanuts contain 1.3g/100g salt, while Walkers Ready Salted crisps contain 0.35g of salt in a 25g bag.