What kind of food will be on our plates tomorrow? Worms and crickets? And what will it take for the industry to pick up on this trend and make headway with it?
Alternative proteins are in high demand, but can consumers stomach the thought of eating insects whole? French start-up Jimini’s is on a mission to put crickets, worms and grasshoppers on our everyday menu.
Lacking inspiration for new product development (NPD)? Look no further than Ecotrophelia, where Europe’s brightest young minds pitch ideas for innovative and sustainable foods, and have commercialised over 40 products in Europe so far.
Sorghum is little known in the west but has all the makings of a superfood from the nutrient profile to its heritage tradition – can it join the ranks of quinoa and chia? One Mintel analyst certainly thinks so.
UK supermarket Sainsbury's will take part in a multi-million euro research project to promote sustainable foods such as vegetarian food, triggering accusations of "an anti-meat agenda" from British farmers.
French food agency ANSES has updated its nutrition guidelines, cutting the recommended intake for meat and encouraging more pulses and less sugar. But how does it compare to other national dietary advice?
Whey protein has become the unlikely source for producing artificial silk as researchers have perfected a method that uses nanostructures to form this high-demand material.
The Netherlands has global ambitions to make food safe, healthy and sustainable - and this is how it should be done, accoridng to the country's National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in a report published yesterday.
As Switzerland prepares to legalise three insect species for food, we talk to one Finnish researcher on the best ways to process mealworms and crickets to get the optimal flavour and texture profile.
Consuming a whey protein drink after exercise cuts later energy consumption and eating rate compared to consuming a carbohydrate drink among lean men, according to a study.
English Premier League club Everton has renewed its partnership with The Protein Works (TPW) - adding personalised nutritional bars to the existing deal.
Move over crickets and mealworms - Israeli start-up Flying Spark is farming and processing fruit fly powders and oils that are cheaper than other insect ingredients but with a similar nutritional and taste profile.
Following the success of I Sea Pasta, seaweed specialist Seamore, has launched a vegan bacon made entirely from seaweed and has further plans to expand its market.
Sofia-based healthy snack and ‘superfood’ producer Smart Organic has won a €2 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to aid expansion for the rising healthy snack and ‘superfood’ manufacturer.
Egg prices in Europe have risen 16% since November last year driven up by bird flu outbreaks and rising consumer demand, say global commodities analysts at Mintec.
Katana, a €1.2 million investment fund is calling for Europe’s brightest entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas and win funding for agrifood innovation, from functional foods to tech solutions for sustainable sourcing.
French player Roquette is a decade into protein – and its commitment is building having just announced a major pea-focused investment in North America. At Health Ingredients Europe (HiE) the firm told us of work it believes will transform the sector.
Germany’s agriculture minister Christian Schmidt has weighed in on the debate surrounding plant-based alternatives using meat names, calling them "completely misleading" - but the European Commission seems reluctant to act.
With 2017 just around the corner, it's time to start thinking about which future trends and burning topics will be making their mark on the food and drink industry next year. Here are some of our predictions.
This year there’s been a bit of a lab-meat love-in, but are consumers ready to buy into it? I’m not so sure, especially if they can’t divorce the concept from other more controversial technologies like genetic modification.
A pan-EU sustainable food project sees Israeli astaxanthin supplier Algatechnologies, champion of pea protein Roquette and Dutch nutrition giant DSM among its 50 partners that will invest close to €1.2bn over the next seven years.
Start-up Bio-marine Ingredients Ireland (BII) hopes to become a major new supplier of lipids, protein and calcium powders following an initial €15m investment in its plant.
The rise of alternative ingredients, technological innovations and new approaches to gastronomy all look to provide more sustainable sources of nutrition in the future. But as food is changing to keep up with the times, is there a limit to how much consumers...
Wessanen has consolidated its position in Europe's sustainable, organic food market with the acquisition of Spanish firm Biogran. Does this mean the Dutch firm itself is looking increasingly attractive to investors?
'Climate smart' pulses are essential to global food security by delivering high-nutrition protein to people and critical nutrients to soil, said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on World Soil Day.
The success of chia and quinoa has opened the door for other less-known ancient grains, but one South African company exporting teff is wary of a boom and bust effect.
Some foods have a bigger carbon footprint than others. Cue the need for a carbon label so consumers can choose accordingly? Perhaps not - as Tesco and PepsiCo have found out.
Combining high-intensity ultrasound with the enzymatic treatment of egg whites could produce new ‘added-value’ egg white protein hydrolysates that are attractive to the food and nutrition industry, say researchers.
Jaap Korteweg was a ninth generation Dutch meat farmer before becoming a vegetarian unable to banish his cravings for meat. The CEO of The Vegetarian Butcher shares his experience and gives advice for budding 'mock meat' entrepreneurs.
Insects come to the crease as cricket protein set for sustained innings
British start-up Next Step Foods was at FoodMattersLive showcasing its cricket protein energy bars alongside 11 other insect firms. Is this niche ingredient slowly seeping into the mainstream?
The battle over plant-based terminology has moved into the meat arena with two Italian MEPs calling for laws to prevent vegetarian alternatives from using names such as prosciutto and mortadella.
FoodConnects, a consortium of 50 industry and academic institutions from 13 different countries, has been selected by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) to tackle global food challenges through a €400m innovation partnership.
Portuguese supplier Allmicroalgae has taken calls to scale up production of microalgae to heart, with a project to combine big-volume fermentation with high-value photosynthesis methods now in swing.
One size does not fit all when marketing meat alternatives, say researchers. Manufacturers need to decide whether they should target price conscious consumers, healthy eaters, taste driven individuals, eco-friendly greens, organic shoppers or vegetarians.
Microalgae is often held up as the most promising sustainable protein that can feed a growing world population - but first production needs to be scaled up on industrial levels. "The costs of inaction are too steep to even contemplate,” writes the...
Health & Nutrition Week, 28 November-2 December 2016, Frankfurt, Germany
Pressured food supply chains are pushing new foods and nutrient sources into view like insects and algae that are challenging the status quo, says a UK-based food trend watcher.
Why do Finns give more importance to protein than Swedes? Are Germans more willing to eat an all vegetarian meal than Brits? And among the 13% of Europeans who have tried insects, how many would eat them again? Finland's ScenoProt survey is providing...
New commitments to tackle deforestation in commodity supply chains have almost doubled in the past 12 months, but pledges remain “piecemeal” with very few companies looking beyond palm oil, according to a recent analysis.
Why call something 'vegan cheese' when you could call it 'a plant-derived, oil-based dairy analog'? How about because it is vegan cheese. It's time for the dairy lobby to see plant-based alternatives as complementary rather than...
Entrepreneur Oliver Cookson has embarked on a new venture – a personalised protein-based nutrition service designed to “unravel the maze of protein by giving each consumer exactly what they need”.