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News from
the frontier
February 2022
Dear friends,
Welcome to Food Frontier’s first newsletter of 2023.
Since we last spoke the alternative proteins industry has continued its momentum, with a number of new production facilities in Australia and internationally, exciting partnerships in New Zealand, in Singapore, GOOD Meat sold cultivated chicken in a butchery for the first time and received approval for its serum-free growth media; while precision fermentation company Perfect Day's animal-free dairy proteins were debuted in products in multiple countries.
Read on for more in alternative proteins below.
Food Frontier Updates
We reflected on an exciting year of growth for Food Frontier alongside the Australian and New Zealand alternative proteins sector in our 2022 Year in Review.
Head of Industry Engagement Susie O’Neill confirmed she will be co-chairing the ‘Tasty – Ingredients vs Grains’ session with Dr. Cassandra Walker at the Australian Pulse Conference coming up this March.
Food Frontier was acknowledged by Pause Awards as a winner in the Wildfire Growth category for conquering a marketplace and driving innovative change.
Our new website designed by Rock Agency won two awards, recognised by both C2A Creative Communication Award and Web Excellence Awards.
Developments Down Under
The NSW Government has granted $2.2M to the University of Sydney’s Alternative Protein Application Centre to support research and development into manufacturing and processing.
B2B company Harvest B
has opened Australia’s first plant-based meat ingredient facility in Western Sydney.
NewFish and Cawthron Institute have partnered to develop specialised proteins from New Zealand microalgae.
Australian owned plant- based seafood brand Boldy has launched in the United States, previewing its products at SEED Food & Wine Festival in Miami in late January.
Law firm Dentons released a tracker that profiles the current market entry, product designation and labelling laws for alternative proteins in multiple countries.
Global Developments
Israel-based Believer Meats (formerly Future Meat Technologies) has commenced construction in the US on what will be the largest cultivated meat facility in the world, with a projected production capacity of at least 10,000 tonnes annually.
US-based mycelium company Meati Foods has opened its new production facility in Colorado. Dubbed the 'Mega Ranch', it will have an eventual production capacity of 20,000 tonnes annually.
GOOD Meat has
received regulatory approval from the Singapore Food Agency for a serum-free growth media for cultivated meat. The company also teamed up with Huber’s Butchery in Singapore to be the world’s first butchery to sell and serve cultivated chicken.
Precision fermentation dairy proteins made by Perfect Day are now available for purchase in animal-free dairy products in Singapore
under the brand name Very Dairy and in San Francisco as part of a trial with Nestlé under the brand name Cowabunga.
Major quick-service chain Lotteria launched plant- based burgers in over 1,300 locations in South Korea in response to rising consumer demand for plant-based options.
Chilean plant-based company NotCo has raised US$70M and created a B2B platform allowing manufacturers access to its AI-powered flavour compound platform.
Government Funding Opportunities
There are a number of government funding opportunities currently available to industry:
Federal
- Round 14 of the Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) program has opened for short-term, industry led research collaborations. This round closes on Thursday 2 March 2023 and is separate to the dedicated Alt Protein CRC bid.
NSW Government
- The Infrastructure Build Out Program’s General Funding Stream has opened Expressions of Interest for NSW-based projects that support new or existing shared infrastructure, including pilot or scale-up facilities. EOIs close Wednesday 15 February 2023.
- Round 1 of the NSW Biosciences Fund has opened to NSW-based companies for proposals to develop or commercialise innovative technologies, devices and systems. The round closes Monday 20 March 2023.
Who's hiring?
The employment opportunities continue to grow in the alternative proteins sector across Australia and New Zealand - check out the roles from:
Please share with your networks in case you know anyone suitable for these roles.
Why alternative proteins?
A recently published study comparing the nutritional profile of plant- based meat alternatives available for sale in Australia with their animal meat counterparts has concluded that overall, plant based alternatives have a “healthier nutritional profile.”
The analysis echoes the findings of Food Frontier’s nutrition research in recent years, that on average, plant- based meat alternatives have higher fibre and Health Star Ratings as well as comparable protein content.
Of particular importance, both Food Frontier and The George Institute found that plant-based meat alternatives contain lower saturated fat (50% less) and sodium (22% less) than animal meat equivalents – nutrients that health professionals recommend limiting due to their links to common chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease.
The study also compared levels of processing, concluding that according to the NOVA scale, like-for-like plant and animal based products across the board were processed to very similar degrees.
We thank you for your continued support and welcome your ideas, questions and feedback.
Want to discover more of the latest on alternative proteins? Visit our News page and follow us on LinkedIn
– The Food Frontier Team
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