child of color, school cafeteria, food security, social justice, impossible foods, Colin Kaepernick, Know Your Rights Camp

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Health

New USDA Rules Expand Vegan Options in School Meals

USDA’s new school meal standards will give greater access to nutritious foods for vegetarian and vegan children and those with dietary restrictions. This is an important step, as research indicates that school meals are American schoolchildren’s most important food source. The new rules, which took effect on July 1, 2024, were released by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They aim to improve the nutritional quality of school meals and other USDA Child Nutrition Programs. Beans, peas, and lentils Under the new rules, schools can combine grains, meats, and meat alternatives as meal components. Beans, peas, and lentils can replace meat at lunch, and cafeterias can offer dishes such as black bean burgers stir-fried with tofu, falafel …

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Ingredients from pumpkin offered by FLANQUART

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Ingredients

Flanquart Supports the Food Industry with Natural & Nutritious Solutions from Seeds

Flanquart, a French expert in seed processing, says it is “helping the food industry go green” by providing natural solutions created with seeds. According to Flanquart, over the past 10 years, the number of flexitarians in France has increased significantly: 49% of French households have switched to a flexitarian diet, compared with 25% in 2012*. Flanquart states that its solutions help to cater for this rising consumer demand. Based in Annezin, Flanquart will this year celebrate 30 years of developing expertise around the nutritional benefits of seeds as an asset for the agrifood industry. The company offers a wide range of natural ingredients with technical and organoleptic qualities, in both conventional and organic versions, and has established production networks with farmers in France and Europe. …

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Plant-based Pepita Egg

©Spero Foods

Products & Launches

Spero Foods Launches Pourable Pepita Egg into US Sprouts Markets

Plant-based dairy brand Spero announces it is launching The Pepita Egg egg alternative into Sprouts Farmers Markets across the US. Made with just seven ingredients, The Pepita Egg is described as the “first and only” clean-label, pourable egg alternative.  Sold as a bottled, liquid product, Pepita Egg’s star ingredient is pepitas, or pumpkin seeds, which offer a good source of plant-based zinc, iron, and magnesium, and contain a similar amount of protein per serving as chicken eggs. Pepita Egg can be used for scrambles, omelets or baking, and unlike traditional eggs, is allergy-friendly and free from cholesterol.  Fewer ingredients According to the brand, most plant-based eggs on the market contain an average of 13-30 different ingredients, including lecithins, pyrophosphates, citrates, sugars, synthetic vitamins and transglutaminase. Pepita …

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More Foods alt meat

©More Foods

Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Israel’s More Foods Develops Next-Gen Alt Meat from Upcycled Seeds

Israeli start-up More Foods is set to launch an innovative new alt meat product made from upcycled pumpkin and sunflower seeds. More Foods claims its textured products provide a similar mouth feel to that associated with dark meats. Founded two years ago by CEO Leonardo Marcovitz, More Foods’ patent-pending technology allows it to use cast-away fragments of “superfood” seeds produced while making pumpkin seed oil and sunflower seed oil. The Tel Aviv-based company actively works on incorporating other under-utilized ingredients from the food industry to make alternative protein foods.  Working with chefs to assist the direction of development for the company’s products, More Foods focuses on an understandable and short ingredients list, high in protein and fiber, as well as containing no major allergens. The …

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actual veggies vegan breakfast burger

© Andrew D Ive - LinkedIn

Products & Launches

Actual Veggies Develops Vegan Breakfast Burger With Banana, Blueberries, and Acai

US company Actual Veggies produces plant-based burgers made with vegetables instead of processed ingredients. Now, the brand has created a sweet vegan breakfast burger, offering consumers a healthier way to start the day. The new Morning Burger is made with blueberries, banana, acai, cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, dates, and blue spirulina. It is free from nuts, gluten, preservatives, soy, and added oils and sugars, while also being certified kosher and non-GMO. The vegan breakfast burger will be sold frozen in packs of four. It can be served pan-fried, or blended up and added to a smoothie. Actual Veggies recently showcased the burger at Plant Based World Expo, an event that is not open to the public. The product has not yet been officially launched, and the …

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A range of different legumes

© Equinom

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Equinom Takes Lessons From Great Irish Famine of 1845, Asserts That Biodiversity is Key to Food Security

Seed breeding specialist Equinom Ltd. is leveraging advanced breeding techniques to promote agricultural biodiversity. The company is inducing better crop resilience and increased yield and asserts that stimulating natural genetic seed variability must be recognized as vital to ensuring a continuous supply of food for the planet.

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