🛒 Climate cost trial

Food prices are on the rise and the cost of living crisis is hitting home, but is a 94% increase a step too far? Penny doesn’t think so.

This week the German supermarket raised the cost of 9 products in 2,150 stores with price tags that more accurately reflect their impact on the environment.

If you knew, and paid for the true climate cost of your weekly shop, would it help you make more sustainable and healthier choices? TBC if other supermarkets will follow.

This Week in Food:

• $62.65B prediction for alt protein

• $9M for AI-powered coffee roaster

• 12 startup funding options, mapped

The Digest

📈 What’s up? A report from SNS Insider shows that the global alternative protein market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16% to $62.65 billion by 2030.

📉 What’s down? The UK government’s incoming Border Target Operating Model, a result of Brexit, will impose additional controls on products coming from the EU, meaning some Christmas foods may be under threat. Well, some may say that the turkeys voted for Christmas…

❎ US-based indoor farming company AppHarvest filed for bankruptcy this week, having once been valued at more than $1 billion. And two years after launching, Californian plant-based chicken startup Nowadays has ceased operations, citing difficulties raising funds.

🛍 Data from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reveals that the use of single-use supermarket plastic bags has dropped by 98% since retailers began charging for them eight years ago.

📖 Good Read: FoodDive’s timeline of the cultivated meat industry is worth a read.

📊 Check out this mind map of 12 startup funding options and a logo map of tools to make it happen.

New in Funding

🍣 Canadian plant-based seafood startup Konscious Foods secured $26 million seed funding to expand its retail and foodservice businesses, having launched earlier this year with a line of frozen sushi rolls, onigiri stuffed rice snacks and poke bowls made from such as konjac plant, pea fibre and organic red quinoa. Check out the trend report below for a deep dive on vegan sushi.

🇪🇺 The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization received €25 million from the European Union to extend and scale up its Sustainable Wildlife Management programme, designed to protect ecosystems and improve food nutrition in Africa.

☕️ Israeli startup Ansā Coffee secured $9 million, in a round led by Tel Aviv-based early-stage fund Jibe Ventures, to support the commercial roll-out of its AI-powered, fully-autonomous coffee micro-roaster across North America.

💸 US-based The Live Green Co., which uses AI to develop healthy plant-based foods, secured $1 million from Malaysian pharmaceutical giant Duopharma Biotech Berhad to co-develop plant-based pharmaceutical products and functional foods.

👀 Check out all the weekly funding news including a $10M bridge round for food waste-eating maggots and omega-3 “on tap” from whisky side streams.

Anti ageing drinks

🍹 Age No More unveiled its “anti-ageing” energy drink that combines caffeine with NAD+ (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide), a vital coenzyme responsible for cellular energy production, plus urolithin A, resveratrol, red reishi, cordyceps, Lion’s mane, and tremella mushrooms, which claim to have an impact on collagen production and skin health.

🧑‍🍳 YouTube star MrBeast is suing Virtual Dining Concepts, the company behind his ghost kitchen chain, MrBeast Burger, for allegedly damaging the MrBeast brand thanks to negative reviews.

🥬 US-based vertical farming company Fork Farms’ mobile cultivation technology can grow lettuce, greens, herbs, and a variety of other foods at less than $1 per pound.

🍿 Good Watch: Sorted Food and The Earthshot Prize put Prince William (yes, actual Prince William) in a food truck to serve up an “Earthshot Burger” to unsuspecting members of the Sorted Community.

🌽 ICYMI: Molecular farming startup IngredientWerks has genetically engineered corn crops to express high levels of bovine myoglobin, a heme-binding protein which imparts a meaty taste, colour and aroma to meat alternatives, in a process it claims to be able to scale at a “fraction of the cost” of precision fermentation.

Alt Protein

⛱ Singapore’s Next Gen Foods is rebranding to TiNDLE Foods and expanding into new categories. Alongside further development of its vegan chicken products, the company will bring its earlier acquisition, Mwah!, under the TiNDLE Foods umbrella, and will launch a range of plant-based sausages and dairy products.

6️⃣ LiveKindly Collective acquired frozen ready-to-eat plant-based food brand Alpha Foods, marking its sixth portfolio acquisition since 2020 and an expansion into the breakfast foods category.

🇹🇼 Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning to launch a startup to produce plant-based whole cuts using a novel texturising technology developed by the country’s Department of Industrial Technology.

🥩 US restaurant chain Charley’s Steak House is introducing whole-cut plant-based steaks from Chunk Foods, which are high in protein, low in salt, and low in fat.

⌛️ COP28, taking place in Dubai later this year, is going to prioritise plant-based menu options for the first time ever.

Big Food

🛒 German supermarket PENNY launched a “true cost” trial, increasing the price of nine of its products to reflect the real climate and health impact of consuming certain foods. For example, its Mühlenhof wiener sausages are going up from €3.19 to €6.01.

🤝 Oatly is partnering with Amazon to make plant-based milk more accessible to European consumers, meaning that the Swedish oat milk giant’s drinks will feature on Amazon’s marketplaces in countries including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, and Belgium.

💸 Is this greedflation? Coca-Cola’s income jumped up 34% in Q2. And Unilever’s profits for the first half of the year are higher since it raised its prices.

📦 The Kraft Heinz Co. has pledged to reduce its virgin plastic use in its global packaging portfolio by approximately 100 million lbs (or 20%) by 2030, starting with replacing virgin plastic with recycled content.

🍬 Candy producer Haribo has opened up its first production facility in North America, a 500,000-square-foot plant to produce Haribo Goldbears.

Trends: Vegan Sushi

We’re talking about more than an avocado roll here. Vegan sushi now uses plant-based ingredients like pea protein, seaweed, and tomatoes to create tuna, salmon, and crab that mimic the mouthfeel and flavour of raw fish. Serve it with sushi rice and some say you can barely tell the difference.

🔎 Discover in the full FoodHack+ Report:
- 2x case studies (Impact Food, Wicked Kitchen x Current Foods)
- The why, the challenges and the figures behind the space
- List of 21 companies making vegan sushi with alternative seafood

From the Community

🔥 Hiring? Add your role here.

• McCain Foods (Canada) are hiring for multiple roles including R&D Manager and Senior Scientist

• Project Eaden (Germany) are looking for a Senior Engineer and Business Development Intern

• Liven Proteins (Canada) are recruiting a Bioprocess Scientist

• Betta F!sh (Germany) are looking for a German Speaking intern

👋 Join us next in Cape Town (10th August) or Valais (21st August) at a FoodHack Meetup - always free to attend.

🚺 Share your views on gender entrepreneurship in this short survey.

5️⃣ For all you young entrepreneurs out there, here’s 5 tips to get noticed.

🌏 A list of 700 VCs and angels in SouthEast Asia.

🇮🇹 Is this Italy’s FoodTech renaissance? Check out these 10 startups to watch.

🎬 Just for fun: Yep, I’m even later to the Barbie Party than Heinz…

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Curated by Nicola and Laura 

Until next time - Stay Hungry