As calls to lower sugar levels in food and beverages louden, formulators and brands centre their efforts on improving taste, testing and technology in sugar-reduced products.
AINIA, the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology, and Productos Lácteos Romar embark on a new project to turn citrus, watermelon and kaki waste into functional food items.
Germany’s The Cultivated B. has emerged from stealth mode and has bold plans to enable cellular agriculture at an industrial scale, FoodNavigator hears.
De Novo Dairy, Africa’s only precision fermentation specialist, is edging closer to releasing its debut product, which will feature cultivated dairy proteins.
FAIRR Initiative and the Good Food Institute (GFI) have developed a reporting framework they believe will help companies demonstrate the positive impact their alternative protein businesses are having – and increase investment in the space.
France’s Standing Ovation is hoping to accelerate the development of its animal-free casein and cheese substitute production process after closing a €12 million Series A financing round.
From pea protein substitutes to whole cut meat alternatives and pet food, the versatility of mycelium is helping to attract a growing number of start-ups to the space. How are entrepreneurs innovating to bring this sustainable ‘root-like’ structure to...
Packaging manufacturer Huhtamaki is investing in the sustainable packaging fund established by Emerald Technology Ventures. The hope is to uncover ‘next generation sustainable packaging solutions’.
BioBetter is a food tech start-up that aims to address one of the biggest bottlenecks facing the cultured meat sector: the high cost and low availability of growth factors. A fresh round of funding positions it to do just that.
Nestlé is dipping a toe into the increasingly crowded but still highly fragmented and nascent animal-free dairy category by teaming with startup Perfect Day to use synthetic biology to create a milk-like beverage from genetically engineered microflora...
Researchers at the VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology are accelerating gene discovery for crop breeding in the pursuit of a more resilient food system.
Swiss-based Cultivated Biosciences has secured fresh funding to develop its solution to the challenge of improving mouthfeel and texture in plant-based dairy.
The food-tech start-up’s proprietary combination of high-moisture extrusion and fermentation technology is central to addressing the challenges in the meat alternative sector, FoodNavigator hears.
With question marks about Europe's ability to produce enough fertiliser for its crops, Finland’s Tracegrow, which makes organic certified fertilizers from used batteries, hopes circular economy solutions can prove a vital tool.
Smallholder farmers are highly vulnerable to weather changes and water scarcity, leading Diageo to launch a fund for innovations which promise to lessen and monitor the impact of water and climate crises on such farms in Africa.
Scientists have identified the key chemicals found in vanilla bean extract and combined this with sensory data to understand what consumers want from vanilla flavours.
The potential for sunflower press cakes to be upcycled into vegan meat alternatives and blended hybrid products is being investigated by a new EIT-Food funded project.
Steakholder Foods, formerly MeaTech, has evolved its commercialisation strategy and rebranded in what it describes as the ‘next logical step’ to position itself as ‘primarily a food company’. “We wanted a name that would reflect the fact that ultimately,...
Israeli start-up Pigmentum is producing biomolecules for the food industry in transgenic plants. Co-founder Tal Lutzky explains how the technology works, which hurdles stand in the way of commercialisation, and whether consumers are willing to drink ‘lettuce...
Brother-sister duo Dr Maximilian and Dr Sara Marquart are working to ease the pressure on cocoa supply chains with an alternative developed via traditional and precision fermentation techniques. FoodNavigator catches up with one half of the ‘chocolate...
Olive oil brand Filippo Berio has teamed up with Italy’s National Research Council to investigate ways to make olive trees more resilient to pests such as the so-called olive leprosy as well as future-proof the industry.
By René Floris, Food Research Division Manager at NIZO
From providing new protein sources or health-boosting ingredients to improve the taste, texture, and safety of food products, Janneke Ouwerkerk, microbiome and fermentation expert at NIZO, explains how fermentation can add value to the food industry.
A survey in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland is asking the big questions: Are consumers willing to try cell-based meat? Have they heard of genetic modification? And are they reducing how much red meat, poultry, and fish are on their plates?
Vienna-based start-up Arkeon Biotechnologies is producing all 20 amino acids with just three inputs: a microorganism, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. FoodNavigator catches up with CEO Gregor Tegl to find out how.
Growth in the plant-based space has been fuelled by the development of products that mimic meat with increasing accuracy. But formulation challenges remain as the industry works to develop high quality analogues that are also clean label. Could a synergistic...
NoPalm Ingredients envisages a palm and coconut oil-free future. Instead, the Dutch start-up is fermenting yeast with side stream inputs to produce microbial-based alternatives for the food industry.
UK ag-tech startup Muddy Machines has secured €1.8 million in seed funding. The funds will help the company continue developing a robotic platform that is capable of deploying a variety of harvest tools in specialty field crops.
Sweden’s Green-On is developing a unique technology to produce food ingredients, especially fat for the food and feed industry, in a truly sustainable way.
For cell-based meat to reach its full potential in the UK, it must be a widely available, preferred choice among consumers. Boston Consulting Group and Ivy Farm Technologies share the challenges standing in the way.
Morrisons has become the first UK supermarket to launch its own line of carbon neutral eggs as part of its target to be directly supplied by ‘zero emission’ British farms by 2030.
British start-up Clean Food Group is developing a bio-equivalent cultivated alternative to palm oil. FoodNavigator hears from CEO Alex Neves to find out how.
Wary of long, unpronounceable ingredients lists in the plant-based category, the Madrid-based start-up is turning to well-known fruit, vegetables, and sauces.
In a bid to combat food waste, cross-Atlantic start-up Oli-Tec has developed temperature indicator labels that help consumers see when food is going off.
FlexFarming aims to help localise food production and is tackling one of the biggest challenges facing the sector – energy use – ‘head on’. FoodNavigator caught up with CEO Ahmad Mohseni to find out how.
Fine chemicals co DIC and San Diego-based startup Debut Biotech are developing a vibrant natural red color that is heat-stable, light-stable, and stable across a wide pH range, using a novel hybrid approach combining microbial fermentation and ‘cell-free’...
Israeli start-up Gavan Technologies has developed a novel continuous extraction method that utilises the entire plant. FoodNavigator caught up with CEO Itai Cohen to learn more.
E-FISHient Protein is developing raw material for fish cutlets, fish fingers, and fish balls, with plans to do the same for fish fillet, the start-up’s CEO Dana Levin tells FoodNavigator.
Children are more likely to prefer food they perceive as ‘natural’ over processed or lab-made alternatives, a new study from scientists in Scotland and the US has found.
Oxford start-up Deep Planet is leveraging AI and satellite imagery data to help wine growers and producers adapt to climate change. We catch up with COO Sushma Shankar to ask how VineSignal can impact wine pricing on-shelf.
Aliga Microalgae is a Danish food tech company that has developed a white Chlorella ingredient that, it says, packs the nutritional punch of algae with a neutral taste and white colour. FoodNavigator hears more.
CSM Ingredients has unveiled a 'novel' approach to sustainability in its ‘Thrive for Impact’ plan. The overall aim is to be what CEO Aldo Uva describes as ‘net positive’. But what does this mean? We caught up with the chief executive to ask...
Spanish beverage company Mahou San Miguel is launching an open innovation platform alongside food tech accelerator Eatable Adventures as it searches for the ‘drink of the future’. FoodNavigator learns more about the challenges and opportunities in beverage...
In Switzerland, a seed variety has been developed that appears to do it all: the edible Jatropha curcas seed produces vegetable oil and protein, captures CO2 from the atmosphere, and thrives on previously unproductive fallow land.
As Belgian startup Paleo ups the ante in the meat alternatives space with a suite of meaty-tasting heme proteins from multiple animal species it aims to commercialize in 2023, FoodNavigator-USA caught up with CEO Hermes Sanctorum to talk mammoth myoglobin,...
Stem claims to be the first start-up developing cell-cultured coffee for the masses. We catch up with its founders to ask how technology can help replace unsustainable practices and future-proof flavour.
