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News from
the frontier
July 2023
Dear friends,
In a major step forward for the cultivated meat sector, in late June, the United States Department of Agriculture approved the sale of cultivated meat from GOOD Meat and Upside Foods, making it only the second country in the world, after Singapore, to do so.
Food Frontier’s Executive Director, Simon Eassom, says the US approval will boost the morale of Australia and New Zealand’s cellular agriculture sector and other food innovators working to introduce greater protein diversity.
Food Frontier updates
GOOD Meat to speak at AltProteins 23
As the first company to reach the significant milestone of approval for cultivated meat sales in both Singapore and the US, Food Frontier is pleased to announce that Andrew Noyes, VP and Head of Global Communications and Public Affairs at Eat JUST (parent company of GOOD Meat), along with Aaron Yeo, Head of GOOD Meat Asia, will be taking the stage at the upcoming AltProteins 23 conference, sharing invaluable insights on consumer acceptance and education, and public-private partnerships. To hear from these pioneers of the industry, book your ticket today.
Food Frontier commentary
- Research Manager, Klara Kalocsay, featured in the June edition of Retail World to discuss trends in consumption and retailing of plant-based meat, and the growing plant-based meat sector.
- CSIRO released its Reshaping Australian Food Systems report, which stresses the need for a comprehensive and systematic change in how Australia approaches its food production and consumption. The report highlights the potential of alternative proteins, including plant-based, precision fermentation and cell-cultivation, to enable this transformation.
- Responding to Rabobank’s latest report, ‘Disruptive Food Products Prove To Be More Hype Than Bite’, Simon Eassom says its findings are not representative of the state of the alternative protein landscape in Australia and that the future of the sector is bigger than the current economic and investment climate.
- Executive Director, Simon Eassom spoke to Inside FMCG and Retail World about the US approval of cultivated meat from GOOD Meat and Upside Foods, sharing insights about the Australian cultivated meat sector.
Speaking engagements
Founder and Chair, Thomas King, is currently in the US, where he moderated a session on transforming food systems with new technologies at Nexus Global, and attended the Future Food Tech Summit.
Simon Eassom, will speak at the Futures Conference on 10-11 July. He will appear in the panel sessions: Future of Food - Innovation Provenance; and Moonshots, Earthshots, and Metaverseshots, to discuss all things alternative proteins.
Developments down under
Plant-based meat and precision fermentation company All G Foods is aiming to launch its first precision fermentation dairy product into Singapore next year, and is eyeing expansion into the rest of Asia-Pacific, as well as the Middle East, and US market in the near future.
Plant-based meat companies Off-Piste and Big Owl Foods have been selected to join Seedlab Australia's Cultivate accelerator program, granting them the resources for nationwide growth and the chance to showcase their brand and products to Woolworths Category Managers.
NZ-based company Plan*t’s spicy chorizo has been awarded Aotearoa's top plant-based sausage for the second year in a row.
Singaporean plant-based company Shandi Global launched its plant-based ready-to-eat chicken products in retail stores across Australia.
The Grains and Legumes Nutrition Council has released an audit of plant-based foods on sale in Australia, noting that supermarkets have experienced an almost 30 per cent increase in the sales of plant-based meat and dairy substitutes since 2018-19.
Global developments
After gaining approval from the USDA in June, UPSIDE Foods made its debut public appearance on the menu of a Michelin starred restaurant in California.
UK-based cultivated meat manufacturing supplier Extracellular has launched low-cost licence-free cell banks to support cultivated meat research.
UK-based Quorn Foods has partnered with US-based plant-based meat company Prime Roots to create mycelium-based products.
- Shanghai plant-based meat brand Youkai has signed a major distribution deal with Usource, a distributor specialising in meat and plant-based foods in Northern
China, explaining that the brand is still focused on foodservice channels only, rather than B2C sales.
- The Asia-Pacific Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA) and the Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA) have established a partnership through an MOU to boost industry growth across Japan and the Asia-Pacific area.
In its latest report, nutrition company ADM identified four factors driving the expansion of the alternative protein ecosystem: anticipating the next wave of advancements, championing consumer adoption, bridging the gap to better nutrition, and solving accessibility with a tailored approach.
Bühler has begun work on its new Grains Innovation Centre in Switzerland, which will be used to develop, test and scale sustainable and efficient solutions for a wide range of cereals and pulses.
- UK plant-based meat brand VFC has acquired UK company Meatless Farm, after they entered administration earlier in the month.
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 new study from the University of Michigan has demonstrated that food service settings such as higher education institutes can contribute to climate change mitigation through reductions in food-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, finding that reducing the availability of red meat in campus dining halls by an average of 81% on one day a week, reduced the dining hall's GHG emissions by an average of 31%.
The study analysed the impact of the University's optional "Sustainable Monday's" program across its nine residential dining halls and numerous on-campus cafés.
Dining halls observing the greatest reduction in GHG emissions (40 to 43%) were also those that reduced red meat availability by 98 to 100% on Mondays.
Want to discover more of the latest on alternative proteins? Visit our News page and follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram.
– The Food Frontier Team
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