The food sector has witnessed a jump in demand for protein. But conflicting pressures mean this complex issue requires a nuanced response and leadership from the food industry.
The UK's two biggest retailers, Tesco and Sainsbury's, have launched private label vegan ranges after seeing demand for chilled vegetarian meals and meat alternatives jump by up to 25%.
Global demand for sesame seeds is set to explode thanks to two very different macro-trends – the rise of fast food in Asia and healthy food in the West. Agrifood giant Olam is doubling capacity in its plants to meet that demand.
UK protein e-commerce distributor Muscle Food plans to grow its business by rapidly ramping up its presence in Europe and extending its reach in conventional retail channels.
One of Europe’s biggest poultry producers, PHW, has strategically partnered with cultured meat start-up Supermeat on R&D and the distribution of its products in Europe.
Erbology is on a mission to bring “powerful plants” to a wider audience. FoodNavigator caught up with co-founder Irina Turcan to find out more about the company and its plans for the future.
Sales of meat substitutes are in rude health, but the arrival of the US plant-based patty could provide a further boost for innovation, says David Burrows.
In an effort to meet growing demand for meat-free options in the foodservice sector, Nordic food group Orkla is teaming-up with McDonald’s to launch a vegan burger.
With vegetarian, vegan and flexitarian diets trending across Europe, plant-based foods are now more popular than ever, according to ADM, which brings a number of meat analog concepts to FiE 2017.
Leader Foods is launching a new line of cricket-based Zircca protein snack bars in Finland and the company has been taken “by surprise” by the positive response in the country.
A “sea change” is occurring in the plant-based and cultured protein industry although which way the current is flowing is yet to be determined, a panel of experts conclude.
A shift to plant protein as a replacement for animal protein is “desperately needed” as the UK’s food system is “fundamentally broken”, according to the Vegan Society.
By Katia Merten-Lentz, partner at Keller and Heckman, and Oliver Hartmanm, legal consultant at Keller and Heckman
Pressure is rising for the development of a legal definition of ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’ food in Europe but national governments are moving ahead of the European Commission in this regard.
Denmark’s Aarhus University has opened its iFOOD Centre to support research into “science-based” solutions to the biggest challenges facing the food sector today.
Chr Hansen has developed cultures for lacto-fermented soy and coconut yoghurts with the taste, texture and healthiness of traditional dairy. ‘It’s still niche but we want to be the first innovators here,” the firm says.
Nestlé has said that it wants to deliver “industry leading volume growth” by leveraging key consumer trends. The company detailed exactly how it intends to achieve this at its investor summit in London yesterday (26 September).
Compared to crickets, grasshoppers and even meal worms, the fruit fly is minuscule, but according to the co-founders of Flying SpArk this tiniest of insects could prove to be a more bountiful, sustainable and efficient source of protein.
Good news for ento-entrepeneurs: Finland's food safety authority Evira will publish guidelines on using insects for food, ending a loophole that forced firms to sell products as 'ornaments'.
Consumption of soy-based foods could be used to help tackle the global obesity crisis thanks to its high protein and isoflavone content, new research suggests.
Students at the University of Udine in Italy have developed a product with the appearance and characteristics of a hard-boiled hen egg that is made entirely from plant-based ingredients.
Whey protein hydrolysates are superior to normal whey proteins for sports nutrition according to nearly two thirds of consumers, who cited improved muscle building and recovery amongst its purported benefits.
Love Taste Co. started as a smoothie stall in London’s Borough Market. Today, it generates retail sales approaching £40m a year. Founder Richard Canterbury talks growth, flavour trends and the “explosion” in demand for vegetable-based smoothies.
Insect company Protix is to add mealworm, cricket and locusts to its burgeoning portfolio with the acquisition of Fair Insects in a deal that follows a €45m round of funding in June this year.
Wessanen’s Whole Earth brand is extending its sports nutrition snack, Power Balls, beyond health channels and onto supermarket shelves as health-focused consumers become more “mainstream”.
Insect protein firm Flying SpArk are among ten start-ups invited to join IKEA’s first accelerator program as the food tech company look to develop products containing its fruit fly-derived protein.
Expensive and energy intensive methods to purify protein may not be necessary because 'impure' proteins can perform as well as, or even better than, pure ones for functionality, a two-year Wageningen-led project has found.
French food manufacturer Fleury Michon aims to strengthen its innovation processes and improve competitiveness through a reorganisation programme that it also hopes will boost profitability.
Plant proteins such as hemp, brown rice and pea have complex taste profiles that work best with tailor-made flavours. But it's not always obvious that sulphur pairs well with strawberry...which is why it helps to have a flavourist on board to explain.
Plant-based vegetarian diets, especially vegan diets are associated with lower total cholesterol (TC) and ‘bad’ cholesterol levels, finds a new meta-analysis published in Nutrition Reviews.
A series of trials to reduce the sodium content of plant-based, vegan and vegetarian meat alternatives has been completed successfully by Salt of the Earth.
Promises of 'clean' meat that negates the need to raise and kill animals continue to attract both headlines and investment, meaning progress towards getting affordable cultured meat on supermarket shelves has been swift.
Demand for alternative proteins – beyond traditional meat, fish and dairy sources – is expanding across Europe as consumers turn to products they view as healthier and more environmentally friendly and food makers work to drive excitement through innovation.
Quorn has been using a mix of R&D and marketing to ferment growth and capitalise on rising demand for meat-free products at home and overseas, CEO Kevin Brennan tells FoodNavigator.
The University of California, Berkeley, is establishing a new programme focusing on the alternative protein space as it seeks to deliver “actionable solutions” to address the “real problems” facing the sector.
Researchers claim that almost 150 million people (1.57% of the world’s population) may be placed at risk of protein deficiency by 2050 if levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continue to rise.
'Reducetarian' eaters are bringing plant-based foods from the niche to the mainstream. But is industry doing enough to tap into this trend, and does it have an interest in doing so? We caught up with the president and founder of the Reducetarian...
The dairy industry should stop patrolling supermarket shelves for crimes such as 'soy milk' or 'tofu butter' and focus on innovation in its own sector, according to Packaged Facts analyst David Sprinkle.
Will an acceleration in the meat reduction trend and the hunt for substitutes spell eventual doom for the feed sector and the livestock industry it serves? Yes, says Paul Cuatrecasas, CEO of Aquaa Partners. He claims there is increasing evidence that...
Could be the future of sustainable eating be plant and meat protein blends? We put the question to three experts at this year's IFT. "There’s an untapped market there," says one R&D scientist at DuPont Nutrition & Health.
Italbugs is preparing to market a high-protein flour derived from silkworms, a by-product of the textile industry, that is suitable for use in sports nutrition and bakery products.
A quartet of sports food industry associations are calling for clearer product labelling and clarification for the safe use of sport and nutrition products within the European Union.
