Beef

BENEO unveils innovations in plant-based beef alternatives

Image courtesy of BENEO
Ingredients

BENEO Unveils New Range of Semi-Finished Plant-Based Products for Beef Alternatives

German ingredients manufacturer BENEO has unveiled two new semi-finished plant-based products for beef alternatives: Beef Bites and Minced Meat. The semi-finished products, which are easy-to-process inputs that have undergone some processing, offer manufacturers an easy solution to create “juicy and meaty” alternatives to beef. They have been developed with a blend of pea and mycoprotein by Meatless BV, a Dutch producer of texturized plant proteins that was acquired by BENEO in 2022. The new range will launch at the beginning of 2024; however, the company is offering Fi Europe  2023(currently ongoing) participants the opportunity to taste the products in plant-based dishes prepared by Culinary Chef Jelbrich Hendrickx from the BENEO-Technology Center. Niels E. Hower of BENEO’s Executive Board shared: “Due to the high consumer interest, we made the decision …

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Biotech SeaWith and Icelandic molecular farming company ORF Genetics are partnering to accelerate SeaWith's production of cultivated meat.

© ORF Genetics
Company News

SeaWith Partners with ORF Genetics to Produce Han-Woo Cultivated Beef with Plant-Based Growth Factors

South Korean biotech SeaWith and Icelandic molecular farming company ORF Genetics are partnering to accelerate the production of cultivated meat with plant-based growth factors. SeaWith is preparing to scale its cultivated meat platform to introduce Han-Woo cultivated beef products (a breed of small cattle native to Korea) under the “Welldone” brand to the market by 2025.  The collaboration, outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), will secure SeaWith a stable supply of ORF Genetics’s animal-free growth factors to develop sustainable meat at lower costs. The MoU also highlights plans for further joint R&D initiatives of growth factors for cultivated meat production. Growth factors made from barley ORF Genetics, which produces animal-free growth factors with proteins grown in barley using molecular farming, aims to reinforce the company’s position in the rapidly …

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Cultivated meatballs

Image credit: Omeat

Cultivated Meat

Omeat Develops Slaughter-Free FBS Alternative From Bovine-Plasma

Omeat is a cultivated meat company established in Los Angeles, California, founded by world-renowned tissue engineer and former MIT and Harvard professor Dr. Ali Khademhosseini. The company aims to grow “delicious real meat” from animal cells but without the environmental impact of traditional farming. After years of working behind the scenes, Omeat revealed an alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS) made with the bovine plasma of healthy cows. FBS is an ethically controversial and expensive cell nutrient media used by multiple industries.  In 2022, Omeat’s approach gained the interest of investors, raising $40 million from S2G Ventures, Google Ventures (GV), Bold Capital Partners, Tyson Ventures (the venture capital arm of Tyson Foods, Inc.), Rethink Food, Trailhead Capital, and Cavallo Ventures.  Currently, Omeat is focused on cultivating beef. The company …

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StrEATS Kitchens Plant-Based Beef Taco with Waygu

©StrEATS Kitchen

Food Service

Wamame’s Waygu Plant-Based Beef Now Available at All StrEATS Kitchens in Canada

Wamame Foods announces it is partnering with Canadian fast-casual chain StrEATS Kitchens to launch plant-based Waygu beef strips at all locations. Customers across British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan can now order Wamame’s premium plant-based beef in any dish, including tacos, burritos, bowls and sandwiches. Operating 21 locations across Western Canada, StrEATS Kitchens serves a diverse menu of globally inspired street cuisine that focuses on healthy ingredients. The chain is known for its innovative options and regularly rotates its menu based on current street food trends. The collaboration is the latest restaurant partnership for Wamame, which also recently launched Waygu beef at one of Canada’s largest pizza chains, Panago Pizza. At Panago, the beef strips are featured on two specialty pizzas – the Kansas BBQ Pizza …

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Impossible Indulgent Plant-Based Patties

©Impossible Foods
Products & Launches

Impossible Foods Launches the Indulgent Burger as Its Boldest, Most Decadent Patty Yet

Impossible Foods is expanding its portfolio with the brand’s “boldest” burger yet – the Impossible Indulgent Burger. Created as a premium version of the original Impossible burger patty, Impossible states that the Indulgent Burger is thicker and offers a more gourmet flavor. The burger will launch this summer at select US restaurants, including Bareburger and Monty’s Good Burger, followed by select retailers.  According to Impossible Foods, the Indulgent Burger was developed using a taste-first approach. Each third-pound, restaurant-style patty offers a more beefy flavor with “maximum flavor and juiciness” that can be cooked on the stovetop or grill. In a blind taste test, the company reports 82% of consumers said the product tasted as good as or better than ground beef from cows. Innovating beef …

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Chopstix Noodle Bar

© Chopstix Noodle Bar
Food Service

Chopstix Noodle Bar Launches Vegan Beef Stir Fry in Partnership With Miami Foods

UK chain Chopstix Noodle Bar has launched a new topping, Plant Based ‘Beef’ Stir-Fry, at selected stores. The menu option consists of plant-based beef strips, peppers, onions, chillies, garlic, and Chopstix’s Top Secret Stir Fry Sauce. It can be paired with a starchy base such as noodles, or another vegetable-based dish. Initially, the topping will be available at six Chopstix locations — Manchester, Trafford, Peterborough Extra Services, and three London restaurants (Westfield, Lewisham, and Oxford Street). It will roll out nationwide over the coming months. Chopstix Noodle Bar first launched at London’s Camden Market 20 years ago, and now has over 90 stores nationwide. The chain introduced its first vegan option, Green Thai Tofu Curry, in 2019 following significant consumer demand. Miami Foods The plant-based …

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APPETEX Plant-Based Burger Texture

©Motif FoodWorks
Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Motif FoodWorks Announces First Consumer Launch of Motif BeefWorks™ Burger Patties Featuring APPETEX

Boston-based Motif FoodWorks announces it has launched its second food technology ingredient, APPETEX™, for large-scale commercial distribution. Described as a “breakthrough” ingredient, APPETEX is said to enhance the texture of plant-based foods by providing the unique springy and juicy chew found in animal meat products.  To enable consumers to taste the benefits of APPETEX, Motif will offer its first finished products, Motif BeefWorks™ Plant-Based Burger Patties, to consumers beginning in April.  According to Motif, APPETEX (a combination of “appetite” and “texture”) is an edible plant-based  hydrogel that is capable of recreating the bite associated with animal connective tissue. While plant-based proteins like texturized soy or pea protein can mimic the fibrous structure of meat, Motif says, these ingredients fall short in creating the springy “chewdown” …

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Impossible Beef Lite

© Impossible Foods
Products & Launches

Impossible Foods Launches Beef Lite With 45% Less Fat Than Lean Animal Beef

Impossible Foods has introduced Beef Lite, a leaner version of its plant-based beef alternative that is designed to be “better than lean ground animal beef”. Containing 21 grams of protein, Beef Lite has 75% less saturated fat and 45% less total fat than 90/10 lean beef from cows. It is a good source of fibre and is free of cholesterol and trans fats. According to Impossible, the beef alternative cooks and tastes like ground animal beef and is ideal for use in dishes such as tacos, chilis, stir-fries, and lasagna. The product is already rolling out in the fresh meat aisle at selected retailers. Competing with beef Impossible’s original plant-based beef is now the best-selling product in the entire US plant-based meat category. The company …

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List of the best plant-based steak products in North America

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Food & Beverage

The 9 Most Incredible Brands Disrupting Steak with Plants (North America)

While plant-based burgers, sausages and meatballs have long dominated the alt-meat landscape, creating realistic steak from plants has always represented the highest, if seemingly unattainable goal, for many brands. But thanks to fearless and relentless innovation, a host of shockingly meaty and juicy plant-based steaks have arrived on the US and Canadian market, and are rapidly coming to the fore. Here, vegconomist takes a look at the most noteworthy names bringing animal-free steak to mainstream consumers.  1. Beyond Meat  While not a fully structured filet, Beyond’s “revolutionary” plant-based steak tips marked a major milestone for the company, which previously only offered ground-textured products like burgers and sausages. According to CEO Ethan Brown, Beyond Steak took five years of extensive R&D to develop. The product can …

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Impossible Burger at Applebee's

© Impossible Foods
Company News

Impossible Foods to Cut 20% of Staff, Plans to Launch Major Marketing Campaign in ’23

Impossible Foods is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by one-fifth as the company contends with a difficult economic environment, as well as an overall slowdown of the plant-based category.  According to Bloomberg, the California-based company employs about 700 workers, which could lead to the layoff of over 130 employees. A source also revealed the company offered employees “voluntary separation payments and benefits” at the end of 2022.  Last fall, Impossible cut 6% of its workforce (about 50 employees) – at the time, CEO Peter McGuinness said the cuts were necessary to help the company re-organize in order to focus on future growth. With the latest round of layoffs, Impossible joins a growing list of companies, along with Beyond Meat, that have been forced to reduce …

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7-Eleven Waygu Steak Wrap

Southwestern Plant-Based Steak Wrap ©7-Eleven Canada
Products & Launches

Wamame’s ‘Waygu’ Beef Launches in 7-Eleven Canada Plant-Based Steak Wraps

Canada’s Wamame Foods announces it is launching its ultra-premium Waygu™ plant-based meat strips in 7-Eleven Canada locations nationwide. Now available for a limited time, Waygu is featured in several items on the chain’s “ready-to-serve” menu, including the Southwestern Plant-Based Steak Wrap and Mexican Plant-Based Steak Wrap. According to Wamame, its products were chosen as 7-Eleven Canada’s top choice to help drive the chain’s mandate to offer more “ready-to-serve” vegan and sustainable options. Wamame states it worked directly with 7-Eleven Canada for six months to develop the new offerings.  Every 7-Eleven across Canada “We are excited that Wamame products are now available in every 7-Eleven location across Canada,” says Mr. Jarrett Malnarich, CEO of Wamame Foods Inc. “Being able to develop, launch and support 7-Eleven Canada’s …

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Sherene Jagla

©Impossible Foods
Company News

Impossible Foods Appoints Sherene Jagla as Chief Demand Officer, Reports 50% Retail Growth in 2022

Impossible Foods announces it has hired CPG industry leader Sherene Jagla as its first-ever Chief Demand Officer. In her new role, Jagla will integrate Impossible’s sales, marketing, insights and product development teams as the company prepares for its next phase of growth.  In addition, Impossible reports it achieved record growth in 2022, and continues to rank as the fastest-growing plant-based meat brand in US retail. Jagla joins Impossible with over 25 years of sales, marketing, and management experience at Fortune 500 companies in the CPG and food and beverage industries. Most recently, Jagla served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager at Newell Brands, where she oversaw a $2 billion business across 50 brands in 18 categories.  Previously, Jagla has also held senior leadership …

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Beyond Steak plant-based steak

©Beyond Meat

Products & Launches

Beyond Meat Expands Beyond Steak and Popcorn Chicken to Costco and Sam’s Club

Beyond Meat announces its popular Beyond Steak and Popcorn Chicken are expanding to wholesale retailers Costco and Sam’s Club.  As of January 4th, Beyond Steak can be found at over 50 Costco locations in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and Southern California, while the Popcorn Chicken is now available at all US Sam’s Club stores. The launch means consumers can now purchase both products in bulk quantities, with Beyond Steak and Popcorn Chicken offered in 28 oz. and 30 oz. packages, respectively.  “Better-for-you” proteins Beyond Steak, which debuted in October, features chopped plant-based tips that caramelize and crisp when seared. Each serving offers 21 grams of plant protein, is low in saturated fat and contains zero cholesterol.  In 2022, TIME Magazine recognized Beyond Steak as …

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mosa meat logo world burger

© Mosa Meat
Cultivated Meat

Mosa Meat Whitepaper Urges Governments & Food Industry to Invest in Cultivated Meat

Cultivated beef pioneer Mosa Meat has released a whitepaper calling on governments and the food industry to collaborate to mitigate the climate impact of industrial beef production by investing in the advancement of the cellular agriculture industry. “Beef needs a solution. Industrial meat production continues to accelerate the climate crisis, while the world’s demand for beef is steadily growing. We are creating an alternative approach to producing real beef. I am very excited for what lies ahead as we help reshape the global food system,” says Maarten Bosch, Mosa Meat’s CEO. “Swapping meat with meat” Mosa Meat believes that only “swapping meat with meat” has the potential for the mass consumer adoption needed to solve the sustainability issues currently associated with our food system. But to …

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Krijn de Nood en Daan Luining, oprichters van Meatable.

© Meatable
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Meatable Jointly Secures €1M for Cultivated Meat Scaffolding R&D

A Dutch consortium of businesses and academia, including cultivated meat pioneer Meatable, DSM, VIVOLTA, and TU Delft, has been awarded the Open Technology Programme by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).   The programme will grant the consortium €1 million to fund a five-year research project using protein-based biopolymers such as elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) for food and healthcare applications, including soft tissue repair. According to Meatable, ELPs have the potential to create the scaffolds necessary for developing cultivated meat products, including whole cuts.  Creating synthetic biopolymer prototypes TU Delft’s professors, Dr. Gijsje Koenderink and Dr. Jean-Marc Daran, will lead the research project to study the scalability and cost-effectiveness of ELPs and non-animal-derived collagen.  Participants companies DSM and VIVOLTA will add their “world-class biotechnology competence,” which is critical …

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a grilled plant-based salmon fillet on a plate served with lemon wedges made by the dutch company plnt

© PLNT
Products & Launches

PLNT Introduces 100% Plant-Based Salmon, Launches Two New Chicken Products

Dutch plant-based meat and fish producer PLNT announces the launch of three products — Salmon Fillets, Chicken Nuggets, and Chicken Tenders. The company says the new plant-based salmon and chicken developments are part of its ongoing effort to respond to the most critical trends in food: a healthier life and a healthier planet. PLNT’s plant-based salmon is made with pea proteins and is allergen-free, while the new chicken items contain 39 % wheat protein. The brand claims its meats are nutritious — high in proteins and containing vitamins and minerals — and better for the environment. “We source our ingredients as close to home as possible, with wheat from Denmark and the Netherlands and soy from Austria, which are just two examples,” Marleen Kolijn, senior brand …

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SCiFi Foods Cultured Beef Burger

©SCiFi Foods
Sustainability / Environment

SCiFi Foods Says First Sustainability Study of Cultivated Beef Proves Climate Benefits

Cultivated beef startup SCiFi Foods announces it has conducted the first-ever Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of cultivated beef products. According to SCiFi, the study, which was conducted by Ohio State University, substantially proves that cultivated beef benefits the climate more than traditional beef. The study has been published in Sustainability, a peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal. For the LCA environmental impact study, researchers looked at a SCiFi burger consisting of cultivated beef cells and plant-based ingredients (such as water, soy protein isolate, etc.) and compared it to traditional animal-based beef. In all areas of consumption, including GHG emissions, energy, land and water usage, SCiFi says its burger emerged as a more sustainable product compared to a traditional beef patty.    Unit SciFi Burger Beef patty % …

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Waygu Beef

©Top Tier Foods
Company News

Wamame Foods Welcomes New Partners to Expand Plant-Based Waygu Beef Across Canada and US

Canada’s Wamame Foods, which produces the world’s first plant-based wagyu beef, welcomes Teja Foods and Sierra Meat and Seafood as new consortium partners.  Along with innovation partners Merit Functional Foods, Wismettac Asian Foods and Crush Dynamics, and a co-investment from Protein Industries Canada, the plant-based consortium seeks to develop and distribute Wamame’s plant-based alternatives to wagyu beef. The companies’ efforts will build on the early success of Wamame’s Waygu brand by investing in research and development through partnerships with the University of British Columbia and the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre.  According to Wamame, the research process will help create a suite of products that can compete against the best beef brands in the world. These offerings would be sold under both the Waygu brand and …

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Orbillion cultivated beef

©Orbillion
Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Orbillion Bio Partners with Solar Biotech to Scale Cultivated Wagyu Beef for US Market

Cultivated meat startup Orbillion Bio announces it is partnering with Solar Biotech, a leader in SynBio bioprocessing, to further develop and scale production of premium cultivated Wagyu beef for US consumers. The partners plan to scale to 20,000L bioreactors, which will be capable of producing over 4 million pounds of meat every year. According to Orbillion, the strategic partnership reinforces their commitment to achieve price parity with conventional meat by 2026 and commodity pricing for beef by 2030. Through the collaboration, Orbillion states it now has a clear path to US commercialization of its first product, cultivated Wagyu beef. The effort will combine Orbillion’s proprietary cell culture platform with Solar Biotech’s scale-up bioprocess development capabilities and infrastructure, proprietary AI-driven bioprocess software, biosensing technologies, and vertically …

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Supermeat Cultivated Chicken Sandwich

© SuperMeat
Society

SuperMeat Survey Reveals Nearly 90% of US Chefs Would Serve Cultivated Meat

A new survey conducted by food tech company SuperMeat discovered that 86% of American chefs are interested in serving cultivated meats, poultry or seafood to customers.  Conducted with market research consultancy Censuswide, the survey polled opinions from 251 US chefs and food professionals. The results found:  86% of chefs are interested in serving cultivated meat or poultry, with 22% of those saying they are “very interested” 84% would consider replacing conventional meat with cultivated meat on their menus if pricing were similar 77% would be willing to pay a premium for cultivated meats, with two-thirds willing to pay 11-15% more Those surveyed indicated food safety, concerns for the environment and customer demand were top motivators for adding cultivated meat to their menus.  Chicken is top …

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