© Mosa Meat

Approvals

Mosa Meat Files for Novel Food Approval in Switzerland

Just weeks after filing the EU’s first cultivated beef dossier, Mosa Meat has taken a similar step in Switzerland, seeking novel food approval with backing from Bell Switzerland. This application specifically covers cultivated fat, an ingredient designed to enhance plant-based products by adding rich, authentic beef flavor to items such as burgers and meatballs. The Dutch company states that cultivated fat can enhance plant-based foods by improving taste and texture. “Thousands of hours of work by our employees and analyses by six independent laboratories have gone into this dossier, and we have the utmost confidence that Swiss regulators will find our product exceeds the robust safety standards of their novel foods law,” said Maarten Bosch, CEO of Mosa Meat. Mosa Meat sees cultivated fat as …

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Fermented fats

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Fermentation

Melt&Marble Partners With Valio to Develop Plant-Based Foods Containing Fermented Fats

Melt&Marble, a Swedish startup producing fat ingredients using precision fermentation, has partnered with major Finnish food company Valio to develop plant-based foods made with fermented fats. The long-term research collaboration will involve studying the properties of new types of fat produced by Melt&Marble, before commercializing plant-based foods containing the fats. These should have improved mouthfeel, structure, and succulence compared to existing plant-based alternatives. The fermented fats will need to gain novel foods approval to be sold on the European market, meaning it will take several years for the products to arrive on supermarket shelves. In the US, Melt&Marble’s products will undergo the FDA’s Generally Recognized as Safe notification process, which should allow for faster approval. Consequently, commercialization may begin in the US by the end …

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Mosa Meat

© Mosa Meat

Approvals

Mosa Meat Requests First EU Market Authorisation for Cultivated Fat

Netherlands-based cultivated beef producer Mosa Meat has submitted its first request for Novel Foods market approval in the EU, seeking authorisation for its cultivated fat ingredient. The fat is designed to be blended with plant-based ingredients to create beef-style products such as hamburgers, meatballs, and bolognese. Following the regulatory submission, the cultivated fat will be evaluated by The European Commission (EC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The submission is an important step towards introducing cultivated meat products to the European market; EU laws do not allow cultivated products to be assessed as a whole, but instead require cultivated ingredients to be submitted individually. This is only the second time a cultivated product has entered the EU’s Novel Foods process — the first was …

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Orbillion

© Orbillion

Cultivated Meat

Orbillion Achieves Multicontinental Production Milestone for Cultivated Beef

Orbillion has achieved a notable step in the cultivated meat sector, announcing the production of its beef muscle cells at manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia. The expansion marks a key development in scaling cultivated meat for global markets while addressing the challenges of cost and large-scale production. As part of its efforts to accelerate commercialization, Orbillion has appointed Dr. Thomas Beck to its Board of Directors. Dr. Beck brings over 30 years of expertise in food technology, having held prominent roles at Nestlé and DSM Nutritional Products. His experience is expected to guide Orbillion as it transitions to broader market readiness. Dr. Patricia Bubner, CEO of Orbillion, explained, “This achievement is more than just another milestone—it’s proof of our vision to make …

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Israel's Gavan Technologies has raised $8 million in an A funding round to commercialize Fatrix, a plant protein-based fat that replaces butter.

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Investments & Finance

Gavan Raises $8M to Introduce Clean Label “One-to-One” Butter Alternative in Europe

Israel’s Gavan, a food tech company focused on replacing animal fat with sustainable alternatives, announces it has raised $8 million in a Series A funding round. The funds will be used to establish a new European pilot production facility for its flagship ingredient, Fatrix, a plant protein-based fat that replaces butter “one-to-one” in bakery and dairy alternatives. The site is scheduled to commence operations in April 2025, aiming to debut its “cutting-edge” fat solution in the European food market. The round was led by MoreVC, with participation from Lever VC, EIT Food, and DarkBoot Group, a private equity firm involved in Gavan’s incubation. Co-founder and CEO Itai Cohen, shares, “This funding round opens the door for Gavan to enter the European food market, where we …

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MicroLub, a deep-tech spinout from the University of Leeds that produces a fat replacement for lower-calorie yet delicious plant-based foods, has announced that it has successfully closed a £3.5 million seed investment round led by Northern Gritstone.

Image courtesy of MicroLub

Investments & Finance

MicroLub Secures £3.5M to Commercialise Fat Replacement Tech for Low-Calorie Yet Delicious Plant-Based Foods

MicroLub, a deep-tech spinoff from the University of Leeds that produces a fat replacement for lower-calorie plant-based foods, has announced that it has successfully closed a £3.5 million seed investment round led by Northern Gritstone. Praetura Ventures and LIFTT also participated. Known as advanced protein technology, MicroLub’s innovation aims to address the demand for healthier products, as millions of people worldwide are at risk of becoming overweight or living with obesity. It also fuels interest in sustainable food options by helping plant-based foods become tastier, less astringent, and healthier. The new capital will support the technology scaling, product development in collaboration with partners, and team expansion. CEO David Peters (former head of Oatly UK) shares, “Our advanced protein technology is a real game-changer when it …

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Hand arranging sugar cubes as a metaphor for increasing sugar consumption or dietary control.

© Irina Ukrainets - stock.adobe.com

Science

NUS Researchers Use Sugar Cubes for Cheap, Scalable Production of Rye Scaffolds for Cultivated Meat

Large-scale production of edible scaffolds and effective culturing methods for fat tissues — both crucial for replicating the texture, flavor, and nutritional value of meat — remain a technical challenge for the commercialization of cultivated meat. Scaffolds provide structural support for cells to multiply and develop into tissues. But they are typically made from synthetic or animal-based materials, which are expensive and inedible. But a research team led by Professor Huang Dejian from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has successfully cultured pork fat using a new kind of plant protein scaffold. The scientists identified secalin, a protein extracted from rye and barley, both common crops, as a suitable source to create edible scaffolds. They then developed a template-leaching method for creating sponge-like scaffolds using …

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Maria Angelica Mashali © Alianza Team

Interviews

Alianza Team: “We Believe Mirror Tissue Has the Potential to Revolutionize the Plant-Based Meat Market”

Alianza Team specializes in developing and producing innovative lipid solutions for the food, beverage, cosmetics, and nutraceutical industries. They’re dedicated to crafting tailored fats and oils that enhance product quality, functionality, and sustainability. With a team of over 2.000 employees globally, the headquarters are located in Bogotá, Colombia, where Alianza Team runs multiple production facilities and a global presence with operations in Mexico and Chile, reaching the Latin American market, the USA, and a growing presence in Europe. In addition to Colombia, Alianza Team has operations in Chile (two plants) and Mexico, and a growing presence in Europe. We spoke with Maria Angelica Mashali, Chief Growth Officer at Alianza Team, to learn about their latest innovation and business objectives. Could you introduce your newest advancement, …

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Precision fermentation startup Melt&Marble has achieved a milestone in biomanufacturing with the demo-scale production of over ten thousand liters of fermented fats.

Image courtesy of Melt&Marble

Fermentation

Fermented Fats Designer Melt&Marble Achieves 10,000-Liter Production Milestone

Precision fermentation startup Melt&Marble has achieved a milestone in biomanufacturing with the demo-scale production of over ten thousand liters of fermentation for fats. According to the Swedish startup, the target bioprocess performance was maintained throughout the scale-up, achieving a 10-fold increase in bioreactor volume while sustaining comparable strain and performance metrics. This achievement builds on a previous bioreactor trial and demonstrates the platform’s scalability and robustness, explains Melt&Marble. CEO Anastasia Krivoruchko shares, “Scale-up of fermentation processes can be tricky, and we’re extremely proud of what our scientific team has managed to achieve in such a short amount of time.” Better alternatives for tasty food The large amount of fat produced from this demo will enable the company to conduct application pilots to fine-tune the fat’s use …

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ProVeg fat in plant-based products

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Ingredients

Why Fat is Key in Plant-Based Products

Back in April of this year, Cultimate raised a substantial 2.3 million euros in seed funding. Four months later, the cultivated fat brand is well on its way to becoming a significant player in the alternative protein industry. In its latest New Food Hub interview, ProVeg International sat down with Cultimate’s co-founder and CEO, George Zhelezyni, to learn more about the potential of cultivated fat. Not only does Zhelezyni share expert insights about the innovative cultivated fat market, but he also gives some honest advice for founders and start-ups looking to thrive in the alternative protein space. The low-down on fat In today’s market for plant-based foods, it’s meat-eaters that need unlocking. According to Zhelezyni, fat will be the key ingredient to achieving this. “We’ve …

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California's Mission Barns has redesigned single-cell suspension bioreactors to make them fit for cultivating meat at scale.

© Mission Barns

Cultivated, Cell-Cultured & Biotechnology

Mission Barns Revamps Single-Cell Suspension Pharma Bioreactors to Scale Cultivated Meat Production

Cultivated fat startup Mission Barns has engineered a new bioreactor to optimize cultivated meat production, aiming to replace the single-cell suspension bioreactors traditionally used in the pharmaceutical industry. “We’ve invented a novel bioreactor that allows us to scale the production of cultivated meat, whether it’s pork, beef, chicken, fat, or muscle,” Mission Barns explains in conversation with Cultivated X. Founded in Berkeley by Eitan Fischer, former director of cellular agriculture at fellow US food tech company Eat Just, Mission Barns’ first product is a cultivated pork fat called Mission Fat, set to transform analogs with new heights of taste and texture. To produce it, the company has developed a technology platform that starts from non-GMO adherent cells and grows them using an animal-free cell culture medium. The “right …

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Optimized Foods caviar

© Optimized Foods

Fungi, Mushrooms & Mycelium

Optimized Foods Leverages Mycelium Technology to Advance Cultivated Caviar and Plant-Based Fats

California-based Optimized Foods, a food technology company specializing in mycelium-based products, is leveraging its proprietary MycoCarrier™ platform to create sustainable and nutritious alternatives to conventionally animal-based foods. The company’s innovations include Cultivated Caviar, a fish-free substitute for traditional caviar, produced through advanced biomanufacturing techniques. Mycelium, the root structure of fungi, is at the core of Optimized Foods’ approach. The MycoCarrier™ platform uses spherical mycelium to convert agricultural byproducts into high-value food products. This process aims to enhance the taste, texture, and nutritional value of these products while also addressing significant challenges in the food industry, such as the need for sustainable fat replacements and nutrient bioavailability. Fish-free caviar One of the company’s inaugural products is branded as Cultivated Caviar. Traditionally, caviar is harvested from wild …

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Cargill to compete with plant-based companies

© Cargill

Protein

Cargill Seeks Profitability with Business Split and Alternative Protein Focus

US agribusiness giant Cargill reportedly plans to split its business into three operating units instead of the current five: Food, Ag & Trading, and a Specialised Portfolio focused on animal nutrition and health. According to Reuters, Cargill and other agricultural merchants are facing financial and operational difficulties due to commodity crop prices approaching four-year lows, resulting in fallen crop processing margins and squeezing Cargill’s profit margins. Alternative protein focus Cargill, the world’s third-largest meat producer, has been active in the plant-based and alternative protein space for several years. In addition to offering a portfolio of plant-based protein ingredients, fibers, texturizers, plant-based oils, and fats, the company invests in companies developing sustainable food solutions. Over the past few years, the Minnesota-based firm has invested in various …

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Three cubes of animal-free fats on a wooden board-

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Company News

Melt&Marble Lands €2.76M in EU Grants for Market Launch of “Designer” Fats in 2025

Sweden’s Melt&Marble has been selected as one of 68 European deep tech startups chosen from 969 applicants to receive a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator. The company also announces that it has secured an additional €260,000 grant from the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. Melt&Marble uses precision fermentation and microbial engineering to create sustainable and resource-efficient alternatives to animal fats, cocoa butter, palm oil, and other agriculturally derived lipids. With the new funding, the female-led company will reduce production costs and accelerate the pre-commercialization of its first products: MeatyMarble and DairyMarble. Co-founder & CEO Anastasia Krivoruchko shares, “The EU’s commitment to supporting innovative food production technologies is truly encouraging. This funding will help bring us a step closer to offering delicious and …

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NoPalm Ingredients, a Dutch biotechnology company producing yeast-derived oils, has successfully closed a €5 million seed funding round touted as largest funding ever for an alternative to palm oil in Europe.

Image courtesy of NoPalm Ingredients

Fermentation

NoPalm Ingredients Secures €5M for Superior Fermented Oils Validated by Industry Giants

NoPalm Ingredients, a Dutch biotechnology company producing yeast-derived oils, has successfully closed a €5 million seed funding round touted as the largest funding ever for an alternative to palm oil in Europe. The round was led by Rubio Impact Ventures and co-led by Oost NL, Fairtree Elevant Ventures, and Willow Capital Investments, with participation from The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and other private investors. The new capital will help the company to scale and deliver, at price parity, a sustainable alternative to traditional palm oil, which is astonishingly found in 60% of supermarket products. With proven oil quality by industry giants such as Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, and Zeelandia, NoPalm Ingredients’ innovation, is set to transform the food and personal care industries. “Often, the answer isn’t to prohibit …

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German ingredients specialist Loryma offers plant-based alternatives that are said to replicate the texture and processing properties of animal fats.

@ Crespel & Deiters Group

Ingredients

Loryma Unveils New Plant-Based Fat Solutions for Juicy Meat Analogs with Low-Calorie Bonus

Plant-based fats often differ from their animal counterparts in behavior during production and preparation, presenting challenges for manufacturers. To address this problem, German ingredients specialist Loryma has developed three wheat-based specific solutions — “all with a low-calorie content” — for fat reproduction that provide both processing and nutritional benefits, including reducing fat content in meat analogs while mimicking texture. These new solutions cater to specific fat applications and product requirements in meat analogs, including tender melts, firm sliceable textures, and visually appealing “visible fat” content. Norbert Klein, Head of Research and Development at Loryma, comments, “Our compounds and blends offer advantages not only in terms of product quality and nutritional value but also for the efficient and targeted creation of new trend products.” Clean label & low-calorie …

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A bowl with algae oil

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Health

Study Finds Switching From Animal Fats to Plant-based Fats Reduces Risk of Disease

Switching from a diet high in saturated animal fats to a diet rich in plant-based unsaturated fats influences the fat composition in the blood. This in turn influences the long-term risk of disease, finds a recent study. The study, published in Nature Medicine, conducted by a team of researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke (DIfE), Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and several other universities, shows that it is possible to accurately measure diet-related fat changes in the blood. These can then be directly linked to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. “Our study confirms with even greater certainty than before the health benefits of a diet with a high proportion of unsaturated vegetable fats, such as those …

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California’s Savor, a startup revolutionizing fat production with agriculture and animal-free solutions, has developed a butter prototype made from CO2 and hydrogen

© Savor

Ingredients

Savor Successfully Develops Dairy & Plant-Free Butter From CO2 and Hydrogen

California’s Savor, a startup revolutionizing the production of fat with agriculture and animal-free solutions, has developed a butter prototype made from CO2 and hydrogen, that is said to offer the taste and functional properties of dairy butter. Henrik Bennetsen (CEO), Kathleen Alexander (CTO), and Ian McKay (CSO) founded the startup in San Jose in 2022 to offer a solution to industrial fats that could significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Animal fats have a well-known negative impact on the climate; meanwhile, many plant-based alternatives currently on the market are made from canola, sunflower, coconut, and palm crops that contribute significantly to GHG emissions and fuel deforestation and biodiversity loss. Other methods, such as precision fermentation and cultivated fats …

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Cultimate Foods showcased its CultiFat at a tasted event held at ProVeg Incubator in Germany

© ProVeg International

Cultivated Meat

Cultimate Foods Secures €2.3M to “Deliver the Meaty Flavors Consumers Crave” Via Cultivated Fats

Despite the difficult fundraising environment, German startup Cultimate Foods, a B2B cultivated fat supplier for the alt protein industry, has secured €2.3 million in seed funding to scale the production of its functional ingredient, CultiFat, and expand its operations and commercial collaborations. High-Tech Gründerfonds, one of Europe’s leading seed investors, led the round, which also included participation from the Life Science Valley Wachstumsfonds, b.value AG, and Kale United. Food tech investor Big Idea Ventures also joined the round. Made from beef and pork fat cells using cell ag technology, CultiFat contains the essential fatty acids responsible for the distinctive flavor and aroma of meat. According to Cultimate Foods, its fat is a game-changing ingredient that elevates the taste and texture of plant-based meat. The German startup has developed two …

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The Live Green Co. unveils two new functional ingredients from its precision fermentation division: GreenTAGs Human Milk Lipids for infant nutrition and GutRevyv Postbiotics for gut health.

Image courtesy of The Live Green Co.

Fermentation

The Live Green Co. Unveils Yeast-Derived Breast Milk Fat and Gut Health Postbiotic

The Live Green Co. (TLGC), a US food tech company headquartered in Boston since 2022, unveils two active functional ingredients developed with precision fermentation: GreenTAGs —  an analog of human breast milk fat known as OPO — and GutRevyv, a postbiotic for gut health. Human milk fat, mainly containing Triacylglycerols or OPO, plays a crucial role in infant development and health: It benefits nutrient absorption, supports neurodevelopment, boosts immunity, favors gut health, and promotes infant well-being. Yeast-derived, GreenTAGs is said to closely mimic the nutritional profile of this human milk fat providing essential nutrients for infants. The functional ingredient is described as a game-changing alternative to the commonly used vegetable oils in infant formulas, capable of bridging the nutritional gap between breast milk and formula feeding. CEO …

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