Demand for plant-based products is booming and many consumers identify the sector as being ‘natural’, ‘healthy’ and ‘artisan’, new research reveals. “There is an apparent disconnect between the consumer understanding of natural products and the reality...
Plant & Bean, a UK-based contract manufacturer, has opened Europe’s largest plant-based meat production facility. The investment is an important milestone on its strategic journey to establish what it says would be an ‘industry-first’: a global plant-based...
US plant-based seafood brand Good Catch is expanding in Europe, having secured listings in the Netherlands and Spain. “We have a passion for the culinary arts, for saving our oceans and for providing craveable plant-based products for consumers that believe...
Unilever’s Knorr brand is teaming up with Wageningen University to launch the Good Food Lab. “The Good Food Lab is an opportunity to build an engine room, driven by insights and founded in academic rigour,” April Redmond, Knorr Vice President, tells FoodNavigator.
What do European consumers really think of novel meat products that incorporate plant-based ingredients? An EIT-funded project led Dr Simona Grasso from the University of Reading has sought to find out.
Barry Callebaut is planning a global push for its La Morella Nuts business as it works to tap into growing demand for plant-based products and consumer interest in health and sustainability.
Marks and Spencer is launching the Innovation Hub, a new specialist team that will focus on ‘disruptive innovation’. As part of this initiative, the UK retailer is partnering with biotech start-up 3F BIO to develop a vegan range using ‘protein powerhouse’...
Plant-based ready meal company BOL Foods is joining the likes of Huel and Soylent in the meal replacement market with its newly launched Power Shakes. FoodNavigator catches up with founder Paul Brown to find out how his range sets itself apart in the...
Quorn Foods, a pioneer in the plant-based category, is expanding its culinary innovation team. Tim Ingmire, Head of Research, Development & Quality, tells FoodNavigator the investment will help ‘identify the next big product opportunities’.
VEAT – vending machines that exclusively distribute plant-based options – is a ‘positive example’ of the urgent, concrete actions that need to be taken to make the food system environmentally stable, said one of the investors of the startup’s recently...
Verso Food has secured a patent covering its fava bean processing technology for plant-based foods and meat analogues. FoodNavigator hears from the company's CEO Tomi Järvenpää about the product development opportunities it could unlock, the group’s...
Food manufacturers, supermarket retailers, and foodservice operators continue to step up their plant-based offerings. UK branch of animal welfare charity PETA highlights some of the most ‘exciting’ and ‘new’ vegan products in its 2020 Vegan Food Awards....
As the European Parliament prepares to cast its final vote on the use of names such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for vegetarian and vegan products, FoodNavigator hears from a plant-based campaigner, a meat market expert, and the British Meat Processors Association.
In a plausible scenario for the future of dairy, food majors worldwide source dairy ingredients from fermentation factories, say researchers from Lund University.
myAir has created a range of snack bars that contain proprietary botanical blends designed to deliver a specific stress-release effect depending on an individual’s cognitive response to stress.
French consumer watchdog Consommation Logement Cadre de Vie (CLCV) has put the nutritional composition of 95 vegetarian and vegan products on French shelves to the test. The result? ‘More water than vegetable protein’, the consumer group said.
FTW Ventures, an early-stage VC, has launched a new fund to support food and agri-tech start-ups that it believes can disrupt the sector. FoodNavigator speaks to founder and entrepreneur Brian Frank about the tech and trends he believes will come to the...
The argument that plant-based foods are healthier and more sustainable than animal-based products has become increasingly common. However, experts warn that the ‘unintended adverse consequences’ of any push to eliminate meat, dairy, eggs and fish from...
Solar Foods is preparing to build its first commercialisation factory for climate-friendly novel protein Solein, having closed a Series A financing round worth €18.5m.
According to the specialist in native and modified wheat starches, wheat proteins and wheat-based functional blends, consumers will increasingly demand sustainable, safe and uncomplicated products in the post-corona era.
French pulse and grains supplier Sabarot has joined the ranks of Danone and Atos by establishing itself as an entreprise à mission - a ‘company with a mission’ - under France’s Pacte Law, declaring its raison d'être through several social and environmental...
Big Idea Ventures is welcoming a second cohort of start-ups to its New Protein Fund accelerator. From cellular agriculture, to bio-fermentation and plant-based innovation, Managing Partner Andrew Ive shares his thoughts on building a more sustainable...
Glebe Farm, the maker of oat drink brand PureOaty, is developing its business-to-business model. Managing director Rebecca Rayner tells FoodNavigator the company expects to see a jump in demand, supported by category growth and Brexit disruption.
Danone believes that the cornonavirus pandemic will result in a polarization of the food sector, as consumers trade up to healthier products in some areas and trade-down to cut household expenditure in others. “There will be a polarization of the market....
Israeli start-up SavorEat has developed an automated, closed system that 3D prints and cooks plant-based meat alternatives for foodservice. “This robot can replace manufacturing practices,” CEO Racheli Vizman tells FoodNavigator.
Romanian food company Salconserv Food has invested €3m to grow its sustainable plant-based brand, Verdino, and the brand now has international ambitions. “The future of food is also produced in Romania,” CEO Eberhart Răducanu says.
Spanish food tech start-up Cubiq Foods has developed a vegan ‘smart fat’ that, it claims, behaves like animal fat within product formulations. Addressing some of the functional constraints of coconut oil, CEO and co-founder Andrés Montefeltro tells FoodNavigator...
Students in Demark aim to commercialise vegan alternatives to salmon and tuna in Europe, having developed 3D printing processes capable of printing plant proteins and binders in structured forms.
DuPont has launched Danisco Planit food and beverage range for plant-based product development in the industry, made with a ‘planet forward’ sustainable approach.
Redefine Meat today unveiled its trade-marked Alt-Steak, a plant-based 3D printed steak, with consumer testing to kick off in high-end restaurants this year. FoodNavigator speaks to co-founder and CEO Eshchar Ben-Shitrit to learn more about the path to...
Moving Mountains food tech company which launched the UK’s first plant-based ‘bleeding’ burger, is partnering with Ocado to offer a cook-at-home range of frozen products.
Demand for plant-based products is booming. However, meat- and dairy-free alternatives are facing something of a challenge as the nutritional content of products comes under the microscope. We suggest that the intersection between clean label and plant-based...
Consumer attitudes toward dairy alternatives are changing, as trendy dairy-free yogurts, ice creams and milks continue to gain shelf space. According to a recent report from Innova Market Insights on the global dairy alternatives space, the increased...
In this week's round-up of new product launches from around Europe, the low-sugar trend is in evidence in France and Germany as reduced sugar juice and ice cream hit the shelves. Elsewhere, innovation in the plant-protein space continues apace. Here...
Margarine major Upfield – owner of spread brands Flora, Lätta, and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter – is investing €50m in a new Food Science Centre in Wageningen, the Netherlands. The centre will focus on sustainability, health, and taste in plant-based,...
A new not-for-profit investment company aimed at funding early-stage businesses has launched in the plant-based food space. There is ‘huge opportunity’ to disrupt traditional food sectors, managing director and Veganuary co-founder Matthew Glover tells...
The German branch of animal welfare charity PETA has announced the winners of this year’s Vegan Food Awards, set up to ‘honour outstanding innovations’ in the plant-based space. Scroll through the gallery to see who took out this year's best chicken,...
Surging awareness about plant-based products has seen a proliferation of meat analogues hitting the market. But to truly appeal to ‘meat-lovers’, Redefine Meat CEO and founder Eshchar Ben-Shitrit says the sector needs to look beyond innovation at a product...
Swedish start-up Hooked is developing what it claims to be the ‘world’s first’ plant-based shredded salmon product. The aim? To meet the ‘rapidly increasing’ demand for seafood with healthy, tasty, and planet-friendly alternatives, the founders tell FoodNavigator.
Finnish processor HKScan and bakery Leivon Leipomo Oy are to set up a joint venture with the aim of promoting the development and growth of the plant-based Boltsi product range.
The coronavirus crisis is causing people to re-evaluate their diets because it has underlined the link between food and health, according to some pundits. However, habitual eating patterns are just that – habitual. To what extent has COVID-19 actually...
Danone has said it is looking at expanding its plant-based category in Europe as it looks to increase plant-based sales worldwide from around €2 billion in 2019 to around €5 billion by 2025.
