Sustainability

Alexandre Family Farm believes old farming practices are in need of new rewards and more support for the environmental ecosystems and rural communities they help sustain.

Glancing at the ingredient deck for plant-based proteins, you’re likely to find some familiar names, but there’s another ingredient that might soon be universal: konjac. The ancient root veggie found its way into alt-seafood despite not offering any protein content itself.

Cell-cultivated protein companies appear to be locked in a race to build commercial-scale production plants, even as the industry awaits full regulatory approval from both the FDA and the USDA, reflecting the long and complex road towards widespread commercialization and price-parity with conventional meat and seafood.

In this week’s roundup: PE firm Kainos Capital closes $1B fund; Nestle, Wholesome Crave and UMass Dining launch plant-based meal program; ADM faces labor union charges and Motif Foodworks expands by offering out bioprocessing capabilities.

The NOSH team discuss cereal and the wave of successful Asian-American Pacific Island CPG food products. Later, a panel of experts talk about some of the big conversations happening throughout the cell-cultivated protein industry.

Grillo’s is taking Wahlburgers to court over pickles, a data company unveils its cattle carbon credits at the CES Convention, Jenny Craig launches a ready-made, meal delivery platform and precision fermentation company Liberation Labs closes seed funding round.

A new generation of coffee alternative brands are pitching themselves as the solution to coffee’s sustainability problems. Food tech operations say their processes and products use less land, less water and have a lower carbon footprint but still produces a cup that looks, smells and tastes like the real thing.

New label certifications, calls for transparency of environmental impact and innovative products targeting sustainability-minded and health-conscious consumers showed how shoppers prioritized CPG food in 2022.

The vegan cheese market has aged; enough so that conventional dairy cheese makers are looking to the category as an opportunity to innovate. But can these products help solidify the category’s long term growth?

Backed by $70 million in new growth capital, plant-based food and beverage company NotCo is aiming to build a business-to-business food technology platform “that operates like Coca Cola.”