🥥 Edible MicroLasers from Coconut Oil

This week, Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn launched the largest blended protein range to date with 15 new meat and dairy products mixed with plant-based ingredients like beans and vegetables, aiming to offer sustainable, health-conscious options at no extra cost.

While it is not the destination, it remains a pathway to reducing animal protein consumption at scale.

As David Benzaquen points out: “Blended meat is not the end goal. It’s a transitional strategy, a bridge to help consumers, foodservice operators, and institutions reduce their reliance on conventional meat. In doing so, it opens the door for greater acceptance of fully plant-based alternatives over time.”

Blended products may not be the future, but they are shaping the road to it, especially as major retailers like Albert Heijn, Aldi and Lidl get on board.

This week in FoodTech:

🍄 Mycelium meat startup’s acquisition
🍨 Whipped cream prototype from carbon
🤔 How much Tech is too much in FoodTech

The Digest

💥 Cool: Researchers from Slovenia’s Jožef Stefan Institute and Greece’s Aristotle University of Thessaloniki have developed edible microlasers made from food-grade materials (think olive oil, coconut oil, and sugar-based droplets combined with natural colorants) that can be embedded in food to detect freshness, authenticity, and safety by emitting laser signals sensitive to environmental changes. Could these be a futuristic alternative to use-by labels?

🏭 The UK government launched its Digital & Technology Sector Plan, featuring a £184 million Engineering Biology Scale-up Infrastructure Programme and a broader £2.8 billion investment in advanced manufacturing and R&D. The plan will boost sustainable innovations like precision fermentation, cultivated meat, and plant protein breeding, while establishing regulatory frameworks and research networks to support engineering biology through 2035.

🧬 US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to streamline biotech regulations and accelerate innovation through his "Make American Biotech Accelerate" (MABA) initiative, aiming to uphold US biotech leadership despite rolling back a Biden-era biomanufacturing mandate. Why it matters.

👨‍⚖️ Texas has become the seventh US state to ban the sale of cultivated meat, with Governor Greg Abbott signing a two-year prohibition into law and ordering an investigation into ultra-processed foods, citing consumer protection and support for traditional agriculture.

🌈 The case against owning a brand colour and rise of the rainbow pack.

New in Funding

🦄 New Zealand-based agtech scaleup Halter reached unicorn status following a A$155 million Series D round led by US investor Bond, joined by NewView Capital and existing backers Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC, Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures, and Promus Ventures. It will use the funds to accelerate its expansion of its GPS-enabled virtual fencing technology for livestock (AKA cattle collars) across New Zealand, Australia, and the US.

💸 Canada has committed $4.3 million to a Protein Industries Canada-backed project led by NRGene Canada, Pulse Genetics, Hensall Co-op, and Yumasoy Foods to boost its specialty non-GMO soybean sector by developing high-protein, SCN-resistant varieties suited for northern climates.

🥛 UK-based agritech company Antler Bio secured $4.3 million in a funding round led by The First Thirty Ventures, with participation from Endgame Capital and Generation-RE, to scale its EpiHerd gene expression technology that helps dairy farmers across Europe boost herd health, milk yield, and profitability by interpreting how cows' genes respond to their environment.

🍤 Finish startup Hailia raised €1.75 million in a funding round led by new investors Holdix and Ikorni Invest, alongside existing and new backers, to advance its technology that transforms fish processing sidestreams into ready-to-eat seafood products.

🇨🇦 New Harvest Canada received a $500,000 investment from Alberta Innovates to support its $2.4 million Cellular Agriculture Prairie Ecosystem Project, designed to advance food biomanufacturing technologies and economic development in Alberta through the use of agricultural byproducts in cellular agriculture.

☕️ Belgian startup Koppie came out of stealth and announced a pre-seed round led by Nucleus Capital, with participation from Mudcake, Rockstart, and several angel investors, to scale its patent-pending fermentation and roasting technology that transforms pulses into alt-coffee beans for commercial use.

🌱 Hard truths. Is investing in regenerative agriculture lucrative?

New in Startups

🍄 Spanish mycelium meat startup Libre Foods has sold its brand, IP, and key assets to Swiss fermentation manufacturer Planetary to scale fungi-based protein production across Europe.

🤝 Alamance Foods, Savor, and neuroscience firm Thimus have partnered to develop a carbon-neutral, palm oil-free whipped cream prototype made from carbon, to target the $9 billion whipping cream market.

🔍 Researchers at US startup Wisecode have developed a new, more nuanced scoring system to classify ultra-processed foods, aiming to address limitations of the widely used Nova classification by better distinguishing between the nutritional quality of different processed products.

🇦🇺In a government-backed initiative, researchers at the University of Queensland have developed precision-fermented dairy proteins now being scaled up by Sydney-based startup All G, marking the first commercial tech transfer under FaBA’s Innovative Ingredients Program to accelerate cow-free milk product development.

🧈 French-German biotech company SMEY launched NOY, the world’s first digital databank of yeast fatty acid profiles, leveraging its library of over 1,000 strains and AI platform to create sustainable, tailored cultivated oils for food, cosmetics, and industrial use.

🧬 Danone acquired Belgian biotics firm The Akkermansia Company as part of its Renew strategy, advancing its focus on gut health with TAC’s clinically proven Akkermansia muciniphila MucT strain that supports intestinal health and addresses metabolic disorders.

Plant Based

🫛 Mumbai-based startup Prot debuted Prot Block, a shelf-stable, pea-based plant protein product designed as a versatile, allergen-free alternative to traditional options like tofu and paneer.

🛒 Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn launched the largest blended protein range to date with 15 new meat and dairy products mixed with plant-based ingredients like beans and vegetables, aiming to offer sustainable, health-conscious options at no extra cost.

🌻 Researchers from Brazil’s ITAL and UNICAMP, in collaboration with Germany’s Fraunhofer IVV, have developed nutrient-rich meat alternatives using sunflower flour and textured sunflower protein.

📲 V-Label LATAM launched a new app, Todo Vegan, to help Latin American consumers easily find certified vegan products by country, brand, or type.

💡 A new EU study recommends stricter labelling for seafood alternatives to clearly differentiate them from conventional products, as the plant-based seafood market grows with 228 products from 102 companies across 26 countries and increasingly enters mainstream retail.

From the Community

Get hired in FoodTech

• NoPalm Ingredients (NL) are hiring a Head of R&D

• Better Nature (UK) are looking for a Head of Marketing

• Cosaic (CH) are recruiting for multiple positions

• Ful Foods (NL) are looking for a Food Science Intern

🇵🇹 Take a look at what happened in the latest FoodHack Meetup in Lisbon.

🚀 The EU-backed EIT Food’s RisingFoodStars programme announced 16 agrifoodtech startups for its 2025 cohort, supporting innovations in alternative proteins, sustainable agriculture, and eco-friendly packaging.

📀 VC Opinion: How much Tech is too much in FoodTech?

🌾 How soil loses its memory and we can rebuild it.

🤫 The quiet power map of Agriculture.

🧊 Just for fun: Preparing for the Monday morning meeting.

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Until next time - Stay Hungry