Facts & Figures

Mind Blown New Crab Cakes

©Mind Blown

Mind Blown Seafood Expands Plant-Based Crab Cakes and More into US Food Service

Mind Blown by the Plant-Based Seafood Co. announces the expansion of its products into US food service through several major distributors, including Sysco, US Foods, Fancy Foods Inc., and Webstaurant. The brand’s new crab cakes will now be available in new markets across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as to operators nationwide via Webstaurant.  According to Mind Blown, the expansion means the crab cakes will also be featured on more restaurant menus, such as All Surf No Turf in Clifton, NJ.  Strong growth Mind Blown debuted its plant-based Crab Cakes, Dusted Shrimp and Scallops at all Sprouts Farmers Markets locations in July. The rollout followed two years of strong growth for the brand, which has gained the backing of celebrity chefs like Spike …

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Squeaky Bean

© Squeaky Bean

Squeaky Bean Reaches Value of £10M, Becoming Category’s Seventh Largest Brand

British chilled meat alternatives brand Squeaky Bean is celebrating after growing by 24.5% to reach a value of £10 million. Just three years after its launch, Squeaky Bean is now the seventh largest brand in the chilled plant-based category, recently achieving 3% market share. One of the brand’s most popular products, NY Deli Pastrami Style Slices, has already hit over a million sales this year. In fact, Squeaky claims it is growing by a huge 33% within the sandwich slices category, with its products now available at most leading supermarket chains including Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Ocado. Continued innovation Squeaky Bean believes that rapid innovation is responsible for its growth, at a time when some plant-based meat brands are stagnating due to rising …

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Better Meat Fish

©Better Meat Co.

The Better Meat Co. Receives Fourth Patent for Mycelium-Based Rhiza Protein

The Better Meat Co. announces it has received a fourth patent for its proprietary mycelium fermentation technology. The company also recently submitted a GRAS notice to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Rhiza protein, an ingredient derived from a unique species of fungus.  To create Rhiza, Better Meat is working with Neurospora crass, a fast-growing species of fungus, whose mycelium root structure yields Rhiza mycoprotein. Though widely used in Indonesia to ferment staple foods like oncom (a tempeh-like dish), Better Meat says it is pioneering novel ways to use Neurospora as a meat enhancement and replacement.  As an ingredient, Better Meat states Neurospora offers numerous benefits to food manufacturing companies, as it is a versatile, nutritious and shelf-stable product that is simple to produce, …

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Southwest-Burger Planet Based Foods

©Planet Based Foods

Planet Based Partners with Cedarlane Foods to Bolster Hemp-Based Meat Production

Sustainable foods company Planet Based Foods (CSE: PBF) announces it has entered a new manufacturing partnership with Cedarlane Natural Foods, a leading producer of healthy frozen and fresh food products. The new partnership is expected to bolster Planet Based’s manufacturing capacity as it expands its line of hemp-based meat products.  According to Planet Based, which launched innovative hemp protein burgers and taquitos in early 2022, working with Cedarlane will create short- and long-term synergistic opportunities for both companies. 25 million taquitos Cedarlane’s strong manufacturing will enable Planet Based to expand the diversity and flavor profile of its range, with new products ranging from burritos to taquitos, as well as handheld, easy-to-prepare healthy foods. Planet expects its taquito production will increase up to 25 million taquitos …

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Mosa Meat New Facility

©Mosa Meat

Mosa Meat Expands to First Industrial-Scale Production of Cultivated Beef

Dutch food tech company Mosa Meat announces it has entered the next phase of scaling up cultivated beef by expanding its production facilities to a total of 77,000 sq. ft. The new space, together with existing operations and pilot facilities, will reportedly make Mosa the largest cultivated meat campus in the world.  Expected to launch in 2023, the latest development center will house industrial-size production lines and enable larger production quantities of beef. Simultaneously, the company has expanded its footprint at existing operation centers in Brightlands and a pilot facility in Maastricht. The company took the next steps toward commercializing production after demonstrating its beef cultivation process at pilot scale.  According to Mosa, its R&D capacity continues to grow rapidly, with over 160 employees, including 80 …

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Impossible Shop Foods Restaurant Burger Dog Haus

©Impossible Foods

Impossible Food’s Pat Brown Reveals Company is Now Working on Filet Mignon

Impossible Foods founder and ex-CEO Pat Brown says the company is currently working on developing plant-based filet mignon, and has already completed a number of successful prototypes. Though Brown couldn’t reveal a release date, he hinted the new steak is forthcoming during the MIT Technology Review’s ClimateTech conference on Oct. 12th.  According to Brown, he sampled multiple steak prototypes earlier this year. “I’ve tasted our filet mignon prototypes—and they’re pretty damn good,” Brown told MIT Technology Review editor James Temple. Noting the primary challenge was perfecting the texture, Brown said the company had to re-work its process for making ground beef to replicate the more difficult structure of steak. He also explained Impossible’s goal is to meet or exceed the taste of traditional animal foods, …

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Vegan Kraft Mac and Cheese Australia

©Kraft Heinz

Kraft Heinz Releases 2022 “Together at the Table” Report Highlighting the Company’s Plant-Based Progress

Kraft Heinz has released its 2022 Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Report, outlining the company’s progress toward ESG priorities during the 2021 calendar year. Titled “Together at the Table,” the report highlights Kraft Heinz’s increased investments in plant-based foods, including its recent launch of dairy-free Philadelphia Cream Cheese.  Since 2021, Kraft Heinz has continued to increase its number of plant-based offerings, ranging from three varieties of Heinz Beanz Burgerz and vegan mayonnaise to plant-based Heinz Salad Cream and Kraft Mac and Cheese.  This month, the company appears to have released a dairy-free version of its famed Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese in select markets in the US and UK, including Kroger and Tesco. Shoppers on social media have been posting sightings of the new cream cheese, which …

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Fenics

© Fenics

Fenics: Sustainable Vegan Sneakers Inspired by the Eighties

French company Fenics produces eighties-inspired vegan sneakers with half the carbon footprint of other brands on the market. The shoes also take half the amount of water and energy to produce compared to conventional sneakers. This is largely due to the sustainable materials used in their construction. The outer part of the shoes is made from apple fibres, while the inner lining is cotton and the insole is recycled polyurethane. The outsole contains a combination of natural and synthetic rubber. The shoes are made in an artisan workshop in Spain, which is powered by renewable energy. When worn out, they can be returned to Fenics and partially recycled in exchange for a €20 credit. To keep their carbon footprint low, the shoes are only available …

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Really Clever biomaterials

© Really Clever

Really Clever: Biodegradable Leather Alternatives Made From Mushrooms & Algae

UK-based startup Really Clever is developing fully biodegradable vegan leather made entirely from mushrooms and algae. Really Clever describes itself as a “fungal discovery platform”, examining the characteristics of various types of fungi and matching them to relevant applications. The company claims it can customise every aspect of its leather alternatives and iterate the material in just 72 hours. Despite only having launched this year, Really Clever is already attracting interest from both the fashion industry and investors. The startup closed a pre-seed funding round earlier in the year, with participation from Hoxton Ventures and various angel investors. In the near future, Really Clever plans to raise £7.2 million, which it will use to open a 28,000-square-foot facility. This will allow the brand to begin …

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Silk Product Range

©Silk/ Danone North America

Danone North America Plans to Reformulate 70% of Its Milk Alternatives to Be Healthier

Danone North America announced recently it will invest $22M in new health and wellness initiatives, including reformulating 70% of its plant-based milk alternatives with healthier ingredients.  Prioritizing nutrition The global dairy conglomerate revealed its pledge at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health held last week. In an effort to support the dietary health of 300 million Americans, Danone says it is committed to reducing added sugars across its children’s products, and will increase the nutrient density of most of its plant-based beverages. In 2020, the company partnered with bioscience startup BrightSeed to “usher in a new era of precision nutrition” for its plant-based products using artificial intelligence.   Danone, which owns dairy-free brands Silk, So Delicious and Alpro, also plans to allocate $15M …

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Great Foods Research & Advisory

©GTFO It's Vegan

GTFO It’s Vegan Launches GreatFoods Research & Advisory to Help Plant-Based Brands Compete in the Marketplace

Online retail platform GTFO It’s Vegan announces the launch of GreatFoods Research & Advisory Services to help companies in the plant-based market achieve greater levels of success. GreatFoods’ solutions, combined with a team of industry experts, are designed to help food and beverage companies navigate the complexities of developing, launching, and growing plant-based products and brands. Launched in 2020, GTFO has sold more than 500K items across 50K orders from tens of thousands of customers. The company says it now maintains one of the largest proprietary databases of plant-based sales data and consumer preferences; it also boasts thousands of product reviews and social media comments from 150K Instagram followers.  According to GTFO, it spent many months planning the launch of GreatFoods Research to provide advisory …

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Tcho Vegan Chocolate

©Tcho

TCHO Converts Entire Product Line to Dairy-Free Chocolate

Craft chocolate brand TCHO announces it has completed its transition to a fully plant-based product line, ceasing its last production of conventional milk chocolate in September. The company first revealed plans to make its entire range dairy-free by 2023 last year, and says it has now achieved that goal ahead of schedule. TCHO already released its first plant-based retail chocolate bars and home baking chocolates in late 2021. To reformulate its professional baking line without dairy, TCHO says it worked closely with a network of chefs and baking professionals to evaluate new formulas. Once the formulas satisfied expectations, TCHO released two new alternatives: Oat My Gawd 46%, an oat milk-based chocolate that replaces its dark milk chocolate, and Choco Blanco, the brand’s first white chocolate.  …

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© Barvecue

Barvecue and Arbiom Partner to ‘Dramatically Increase’ Consumer Acceptance of Plant-Based Meats

Plant BBQ brand Barvecue and protein innovator Arbiom announce a strategic partnership to improve the taste, texture and nutritional profile of clean-label plant-based meats.  The partnership seeks to “dramatically increase” public acceptance of plant-based meats by conducting product innovation, focus group research, and commercial trials.  Based in North Carolina, Barvecue produces an acclaimed line of wood-smoked pulled pork alternatives and carnitas. In 2021, the brand opened the world’s largest vegan smokehouse and has expanded its products to over 1,200 US stores, including Sprouts, Safeway and Harris Teeter. Since 2020, Barvecue has raised nearly $3M in investment funding.  “The world’s demand for protein is expected to double by 2050, and as a result, the need for high-quality alternative protein sources is going to increase dramatically,” said …

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© Müller’s Mühle

GoodMills to Take Over Sales and Application Activities of Müller’s Mühle Legume Flours

GoodMills Innovation is to begin running the sales, marketing, and application technology activities of legume flour producer Müller’s Mühle Business Solution. GoodMills says the flour range will complement its own cereal and legume-based offerings. The two companies are already under the same corporate umbrella, but it is hoped that the merger — which will create a division called Plant-Based Proteins — will take advantage of existing synergies. It will also combine the companies’ expertise in European sales, application technology, and product development. Following the merger on October 1, Müller’s Mühle will focus on sourcing, raw material supply, manufacturing, and quality management, while GoodMills Innovation will take over all aspects of B2B ingredient activities. GoodMills products Last year, GoodMills announced a collaboration with food tech company …

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Dr. Praeger's New Expansion

©Dr. Praeger's

Dr. Praeger’s Foods Opens New Headquarters in Saddlebrook, NJ to Accomodate Growth

Plant-based frozen brand Dr. Praeger’s Sensible Foods announces it has opened new headquarters in Saddle Brook, NJ to grow its team and business.  According to the company, the new space is designed to foster collaboration, creativity and connection, and comes equipped with state-of-the-art IT and a test kitchen. The new offices will accommodate larger teams as the brand seeks to meet current and future growth. The new headquarters follows the company’s appointment of CPG veteran Andy Reichgut as CEO in July.  New leadership Founded over 25 years ago, Dr. Praeger’s sells a wide range of frozen and chilled products such as veggie burgers, sausages, nuggets, and breakfast foods. This summer, the brand partnered with Texas-based fast-casual chain Genghis Grill to offer plant-based chick’n and sausage in the chain’s …

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