Coop alt milk made from apricot kernels

© Coop

Milk- and Dairy Alternatives

Coop Switzerland Partners With Kern Tec & Emmi to Offer Milk Made From Apricot Kernels

Swiss supermarket chain Coop has partnered with Austria’s Kern Tec and Swiss dairy manufacturer Emmi Group to develop a milk alternative made from apricot kernels. The Karma Kernel Apricot Drink is said to have a similar taste to almond milk, since apricots and almonds are related. It helps to prevent food waste and reduce carbon emissions by making use of European apricot pits produced as a byproduct of fruit processing. The drink is free of gluten and lactose, has no added sugar, and is enriched with calcium and vitamins. It is now available at Coop stores across Switzerland. Coop also offers whole apricot kernels as a snack food, along with a chocolate spread made from apricot kernels. Both products are sold under the chain’s Karma …

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Bauer Zum Gluck range

© Bauer

Milk- and Dairy Alternatives

EXCLUSIVE: Dairy Company Bauer & Kern Tec Launch ZUM GLÜCK! Alt Dairy Range Using Upcycled Apricot Kernels

German dairy group Bauer, founded in 1887, one of the leading dairy companies in Germany with a turnover of more than €600 million, announces to vegconomist it has partnered with Austria’s Kern Tec for the development of a range of dairy alternative products under the newly formed “ZUM GLÜCK!” brand, with an innovative flavour based on apricot kernels – an upcycled product from fruit cultivation. ZUM GLÜCK! (translating as “fortunately” or “luckily”) will launch in January 2024, offering a comprehensive range of plant-based indulgence products exclusively on the German market. “We are looking forward to launching our new plant-based Bauer brand “ZUM GLÜCK!”. With “ZUM GLÜCK!”, we are exclusively offering a top plant-based range with an innovative flavour based on upcycled apricot kernels. To this …

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Kern Tec raises funding for alt dairy made from upcycled fruit pits

Kern Tec founders. © Chris Landl

Investments & Acquisitions

Kern Tec Raises €12M to Scale Up Alt Dairy Products Made From Upcycled Fruit Pits

Austrian company Kern Tec, which uses upcycled fruit pits to produce sustainable plant-based foods, has raised €12 million in funding. Claimed to be the largest ever Series A raise for an Austrian food tech company, the capital will allow Kern Tec to further scale up the production and commercialisation of its plant-based milk alternatives and confectionery. The round was led by Telos Impact, with participation from the PeakBridge Growth 2 fund and the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. Kern Tec’s products are made by extracting oils from the seeds within upcycled apricot, plum, and cherry pits, of which 500,000 metric tonnes are currently sent to landfill each year. These oils can then be formed into a base compound for plant-based alternatives to dairy products such …

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Wholly-Veggie-cauliflower

© Wholly Veggie

Food & Beverage

The 8 Most Exciting Brands Saving Food Waste by Upcycling Ingredients

Here at vegconomist we applaud and support innovation in plant-based but especially those who are working on upcycling ingredients and helping to solve the horrific global issue of food waste whereby around a third of the food produced around the world is discarded. The issue is beyond imperative but it is not beyond solution, so we here celebrate some of the brands innovating for our planet, upcycling ingredients from spent grain, to cashew fruit, to cauliflower and carrots. Spent barley from the beer industry – Take Two Portland-based Take Two transforms barley grains leftover from beer brewing into nutritious, fiber-rich barley milk. A subsidiary of EverGrain, owned by beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, Take Two reuses over 500,000 pounds of discarded grain each year. Co-Founder & …

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NOKO founder with products

NOKO founder with products, image courtesy ProVeg

Startups, Accelerators & Incubators

The Innovative Startups Joining the 6th ProVeg Accelerator Are Revealed – From Mushroom Meat to Upcycled Fruit Pits

Nine pioneering companies from across Europe, Mexico, Chile, and India, comprise the sixth cohort of the ProVeg Incubator Programme – the world’s leading incubator of plant-based and cultured food startups, with the latest accelerator programme kicking off yesterday 7th April. This fresh round of innovators looking to make a difference in the future of food ranges from plant-based eggs, chicken, and pet food to mushroom-based meat and dairy made from discarded fruit pits.

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