From vegoutmag.com
By Anay Mridul
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Grubby’s vegan Christmas meals, ImpacFat’s cultivated egg yolk, and India’s most vegan-friendly city
New products and launches
UK vegan meal kit start-up Grubby has launched a limited-edition Christmas menu, featuring nine recipes that cost under £3.50 each with a subscription. These include Christmas Dinner and Trimmings, Miso Mushroom Wellington, and an Ultimate Christmas Sausage Roll.
Swedish packaging giant Tetra Pak has launched a powdered sunflower protein for plant-based food and drink manufacturers, which boasts 53g of protein per 100g and a high digestibility score.
In Denmark, plant-based meat start-up Tempty Foods has gained a listing for its Spicy Korean Stick in 57 7-Eleven stores nationwide.
Pacific Foods, which supplies plant-based products for the foodservice sector, has expanded its Barista Series line-up with a pistachio milk that can be used in both hot and cold coffee drinks.
Another plant-based milk company, Mooala, has refreshed its packaging to provide more transparent information about its ingredient sourcing, organic certification, and simple formulations.
To clear up the confusion about ultra-processed foods, plant-based products, and their impact on health, renowned physician and NutritionFacts.org founder Dr Michael Greger has announced a new book, Ultra-Processed Foods: Concerns, Controversies, and Exceptions. It is available to pre-order for $15, and will ship on January 21.
Mr Charlie’s Told Me So, a fast-food chain dubbed the “vegan McDonald’s”, is opening two new locations in San Diego’s Pacific Beach and Hillcrest neighbourhoods, in parallel with a rapid expansion drive in Arizona.
Plant-based oil supplier AAK has expanded its partnership with chemicals distributor Nordmann, which will manage the former’s marketing and distribution across Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Austria.
Company and finance developments
Singaporean start-up ImpacFat has showcased a chicken-free egg yolk with cultivated omega-3 fat in tastings held in partnership with Fuji Oil.
Californian start-up Calysta, which makes proteins from gas fermentation, has closed its R&D labs and pilot facilities in the US and the UK after establishing its production process at commercial scale in China.
In some packaging news, Korean Air has announced that it will phase out its plastic meal containers in favour of plant-based versions made from waste materials like straw, sugarcane and bamboo. The transition is set to fully take effect by the end of 2026.
South African start-up Immobazyme has secured R25M ($1.46M) to accelerate the expansion of its precision-fermentation-based biologics platform and therapeutics programme, as well as set up a 1,800 sq m facility in Cape Town.
Dutch firm Time-Travelling Milkman, which uses sunflower seeds to replace animal fats, has received funding from the EU and EFRO Oost for a project to develop plant-based fats for dairy and meat alternatives, and a natural texturiser, in partnership with NIZO Food Research and Duynie.
Kirk Haworth, chef-owner of Plates, the UK’s first vegan restaurant to receive a Michelin star, has revealed that 95% of its diners are not vegan.
At Finnish gas protein firm Solar Foods, co-founder and former CEO Pasi Vainikka has joined the board as vice chair, replacing Jari Tuovinen, who has left for personal reasons.
Research, policy and awards
Already a leader in the retail sector’s food sustainability transition, Lidl has urged the UK government to set ‘protein split’ sales targets for all supermarkets, which would create a level playing field for plant-based foods.
Also in the UK, a majority of consumers are waving goodbye to turkey for Christmas dinner, and 7% are planning a plant-based main instead, according to a survey by Gousto.
Speaking of holiday meals, a poll by Morning Consult and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine shows that 59% of Americans would consider a vegan main if they had a convincing reason to do so, like knowing that it would taste good (28%), trying something new (22%), having something healthier, or accommodating family and friends (both 21%).
Nearly one in 10 Germans say they’re vegan or vegetarian, while 37% follow a flexitarian diet, according to a new report by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Meanwhile, 34% of consumers buy milk or meat alternatives, 77% say eating less meat is important for the climate, and 56% are in favour of carbon taxes on food.
Swedish oat milk pioneer Oatly has been recognised as the Plant-Based Supplier of the Year at the 2025 European Coffee Symposium + COHO Expo awards.
In more awards news, Boele de Jong, CFO of JBS-owned The Vegetarian Butcher Collective, has been named Changemaker of the Year Award 2025 by Change Inc.
Meanwhile, UK start-up Grow with Iris, which makes free-from plant-based milk for toddlers, has been granted an Ethical Accreditation from The Good Shopping Guide, securing a 98% score on its criteria.
Regulatory and scientific experts from Singapore and South Korea have called for greater international cooperation on food safety regulation for novel foods like cultivated meat and precision-fermented ingredients, with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization participating in the events.
Researchers from China have authored a new study outlining how gene-editing tool CRISPR can enhance the properties of Fusarium venenatum, a fungal strain with meat-like characteristics. It’s the same microbe used to produce Quorn’s mycoprotein.
Finally, Peta India has crowned Kolkata as the country’s most vegan-friendly city for 2025, ahead of seemingly more obvious candidates like Mumbai, Bangalore or New Delhi. It presented the award to Mayor Firhad Hakim.
https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/future-food-quick-bites-vegan-christmas-cultivated-egg-michelin-star/
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