Fats & oils

FIE Innovation Award winners on solutions in plant-based fat: ‘We'll help advance the whole food sector'

21-Dec-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

At Food Ingredients Europe this year, the ‘Plant-based Innovation Award’ went to MirrorTissue, a plant-based ‘fatty lipid solution’. Here the producers discuss their triumph

Lower-impact protein and dietary swaps benefit climate change and health

18-Dec-2023 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

Making simple substitutions by swapping animal-based products for plant-based alternatives and opting for lower-impact protein supports climate change efforts and personal health goals, a new study reveals.

Biggest threat to additives development? Quality data, says food industry

13-Dec-2023 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

As the World Health Organization (WHO) publishes its latest information on additives, the food industry details how insufficient quality data is the biggest threat to their growth and management.

5 start-ups that caught our eye in 2023

08-Dec-2023 By Flora Southey

From upcycling ‘spent hens’ into flavour enhancers to recreating breast milk in a lab, we round-up five of the most innovate start-ups we interviewed in 2023.

Butter’s time to shine? The innovations churning up traditional spreads

06-Dec-2023 By Flora Southey

After decades of ‘very little’ innovation by heritage brands, is butter (and its plant-based counterparts) having a moment? FoodNavigator investigates.

Domino’s innovation lead talks trends, nutrition and sustainability in pizza: ‘You couldn’t do this job if you didn’t love food’

05-Dec-2023 By Flora Southey

Innovation director at Domino’s Pizza Group, Louise Pilkington, talks us through the process of rethinking pizzas, sides and desserts for today’s consumer.

Nourish Ingredients releases animal-free fat to accelerate future food systems

30-Nov-2023 By Natasha Spencer-Joilliffe

Food tech company Nourish Ingredients launches its animal-free fat, Tastilux, calling it a “world-first” and “breakthrough” new product development designed to enhance global food security.

Stacking plant-based meat up against the real thing: ‘Often it has a slightly better nutritional composition’

29-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

A report finds that plant-based burgers, meatballs and bacon alternatives are healthier than their meaty counterparts, but animal meat scores better for chicken chunks, chicken fillet, and schnitzel.

How Mars is rethinking reformulation on its path to net zero

29-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

As part of Mars Inc.’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the confectionery major is optimising product recipes to include more environmentally friendly ingredients.

Cell-based breast milk in development to replace ‘suboptimal’ bovine infant formula

27-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

Can the complexities of breast milk be replicated by cows? France-based Nūmi doesn’t think so. The start-up is turning to cell culture to develop the ‘closest thing possible’ to breast milk.

Addressing unsustainable practices in the coconut supply chain: ‘Farmers are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty’

22-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

The Sustainable Coconut Partnership, founded by FMCG and ingredients heavyweights, was set up to establish best practice, impact programmes, and harmonise industry requirements for coconut supply chain players. Now a revised charter is bringing an assurance...

Plant-based kids formula: Danone mulls ‘multi-stage collaboration’ with vegan start-up

21-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

The Aptamil owner has signed a letter of intent with Else Nutrition, a start-up making formula for babies and kids from almonds, buckwheat and tapioca.

Why Unilever wants its ice cream competitors to reformulate

15-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

The Magnum, Wall’s, and Ben & Jerry’s owner is reformulating its ice creams to withstand warmer temperatures, and wants others to do the same.

EU project pushes for adoption of Mediterranean diet as road to ‘healthy, active lifestyle’

15-Nov-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

The EU is funding a project aimed at promoting the Mediterranean diet as a route to a ‘healthy, active lifestyle.’ Coined MEDIET4ALL, the project will work with ten partners across eight countries, brings together expert knowledge from Europe and Africa...

The ‘world’s first’ alt seafood association wants to close the protein, omega gap

13-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

The Future Ocean Foods association has several activities on the agenda, including improving the nutritional profile of alternative seafood, with a particular focus on protein and omegas.

‘Buying deforestation-free should not be a choice’: Ferrero ‘well placed’ to comply with EUDR, but sector challenges remain

08-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

Ferrero Group considers itself well prepared for the EU Deforestation Regulation, which will apply to its palm oil and cocoa supply chains. But potential challenges and unintended consequences could threaten its effectiveness, suggests Francesco Tramontin,...

WATCH – Down on the cultured meat farm with Ivy Farm Technologies

06-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

Ivy Farm Technologies invites FoodNavigator to its pilot plant in Oxford, UK, to talk cultivated meat production, sustainability credentials, and plans for regulatory approval.

Unilever unearths regen ag findings for Knorr and Hellmann’s: ‘The time for pilots is over. It’s time to go big’

02-Nov-2023 By Flora Southey

The environmental impact results from Unilever’s first set of regenerative agriculture projects in Spain, Italy, and the US have been dug up, with findings suggesting boons for food resilience and environmental sustainability.

‘A defining feature of stem cells is that they can become other cells’: Strategies for the use of stem cells in cultivated meat production

30-Oct-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

The production of cultivated meat will need stable cell lines from multiple different species to be successful. It is produced from stem cells, which are highly flexible and can create yields with the potential to be far greater in volume than the meat...

GUEST ARTICLE

Industry Insights from NIZO: Great flavour without compromise for plant-based food

26-Oct-2023 By René Floris, NIZO Food Research Division Manager

To successfully launch a plant-based product onto the market today, businesses have to go above and beyond in flavour to stand out. How can a new, more holistic flavour approach put an end to organoleptic compromise?

‘It is crucial for consumer acceptance’: Replacing animal fats in plant-based food

18-Oct-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

While with any food, ‘taste is king,’ texture is also extremely important, especially in products aiming to mimic meat. For optimal texture, many manufacturers argue, animal fats, which contribute significantly to the texture of real meat, must be replicated...

‘It’s imperative to recognise that not all CBD is created the same’: CBD players digest potential ‘dagger-blow to the UK industry’

12-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

In a move that has potentially far-reaching implications for the CBD industry in the UK, the Food Standards Agency has issued new precautionary advice, recommending healthy adults should limit their consumption of CBD from food to 10mg per day, down from...

Identifying some foods as addictive could bring health benefits, scientists say

12-Oct-2023 By Oliver Morrison

An international team of researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, have called for a global rethink of food choices.

Consumers prefer ‘free-from’ palm oil to ‘sustainably produced’ palm oil claim, study finds

29-Sep-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Palm oil is often linked to deforestation. A recent study found that German consumers are far more comfortable with ‘free from’ palm oil claims on products than ‘sustainably produced’ claims. This, according to the study, belies the complexity of the...

‘More than mylk’: Alternatives to coffee, cocoa, salt and sugar on the table at Mylkcubator 3.0

27-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

The Mylkcubator programme has largely focused on next-gen dairy innovation to date. But for the incubator’s third edition, dairy-major Pascual wants to expand its focus to alt coffee, cocoa, salt, sugar and more.

Fruit seed-based alt dairy to quadruple production capacity, ‘double down’ on NPD

25-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

Kern Tec, which makes dairy alternative ingredients from stone fruit seeds, has closed a €12m Series A funding round. Co-founder Luca Fichtinger tells FoodNavigator the investment will help the team ‘double down’ efforts on NPD.

‘The only barrier now is regulation’: UK cultivated meat company urges urgent approvals overhaul to allow industry to flourish

22-Sep-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Ivy Farm Technologies sounded the warning it will look to open its first production facility in another country, likely the US, if the Food Standards Authority drags its feet on giving regulatory approval to this fledgling industry.

‘We’re not trying to mimic milk’: Rude Health backs nutrition-forward strategy amid plant-based ‘shakedown’

21-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

The breakfast brand’s commitment to clean label – or as clean label as functionality allows – will see it through the current plant-based ‘shakedown’, co-founder and brand director Camilla Barnard tells FoodNavigator.

News

Food biotech firm opens central London cultivated fat research facility

21-Sep-2023 By William Dodds

Hoxton Farms has moved into a cultivated animal fat pilot facility on Old Street in London.

‘The risk we have here is enough to manage’: Athlete turned entrepreneur Floyd Landis discusses how regulatory uncertainty threatens the global CBD industry

15-Sep-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Regulatory bottlenecks are threatening to hinder CBD innovation on both sides of the Atlantic, the former professional road racing cyclist Floyd Landis tells FoodNavigator.

Unilever R&D tie-up develops vegan döner kebab that cooks vertically, mimics ‘shaving and grilling behaviour’

15-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

Unilever-owned The Vegetarian Butcher has partnered with döner producer The Düzgün Group to reinvent the traditional döner kebab with plant-based ingredients.

Ultra-processing and pregnancy: Emulsifier consumption could be linked to ‘minor health risks’ in offspring, warn researchers

12-Sep-2023 By Flora Southey

New research out of Spain shows that when pregnant mice were fed emulsifiers, metabolic impairments, cognition deficits and anxiety-like traits were observed in their offspring. “Our data call for nutritional advice during gestation,” note the study authors.

Adding ‘complex component’ of milk to infant formula confers long-term cognitive benefits

04-Sep-2023 By Oliver Morrison

New research into milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) suggests early exposure to these nutritional components contribute to the long-term structure and function of the brain.

Extreme diets for carbs and fats linked with higher risk of mortality

04-Sep-2023 By Oliver Morrison

In findings that suggest that people should pursue a balanced long-term diet rather than heavily restricting their carbohydrate or fat intake, researchers in Japan found that a low carbohydrate intake in men and a high carbohydrate intake in women are...

The ‘world’s first’ edible vegan bones developed from plant protein

18-Aug-2023 By Flora Southey

Plant-based meat maker Juicy Marbles is preparing to launch an early prototype of its ‘edible vegan bones’, made predominantly from plant protein, in EU, UK, and US markets.

Food-tech firm announces new funding to develop sustainable oils and fats technology

16-Aug-2023 By Oliver Morrison

UK-based bio-tech business Clean Food Group has announced a further £2.3 million in funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its sustainable oils and fats technology

‘The key ingredient is water’: Plant proteins transformed to provide juicier texture

14-Aug-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

One of the barriers to consumer acceptance of plant-based proteins is often considered to be texture – a dry, non-juicy texture that doesn’t accurately replicate the succulent nature of meat. A new study has found that plant proteins can be given more...

From taste to texture and nutrition: How can plant-based meat reboot category growth?

10-Aug-2023 By Flora Southey

Faced with a global market slowdown, plant-based meat players are looking is renew demand and encourage repeat purchases of their vegan beef, pork, and seafood alternatives. Pulling levers from taste to texture and nutrition, how can plant-based meat...

Olive oil crisis: could GM crops pose a solution?

28-Jul-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Might extreme weather in Europe pave the way for an extreme solution?

Plant-based milk less nutritious than cow’s milk, finds research

26-Jul-2023 By Flora Southey

Just 12% of the milk alternatives studied had a comparable or greater amount of nutrients calcium, vitamin D, and protein, compared to that found in cow’s milk.

Redefine Meat ‘bullish’ in face of consolidation of plant-based brands

14-Jul-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Redefine Meat is accelerating its UK distribution to meet demand with eight wholesaler partners. Its UK wholesalers now span national and regional brands including Albion Fine Foods, Braehead Foods, Brakes, Classic Fine Foods, Elite Fine Foods, Food Republic,...

Scientists stress ‘uncertainties’ in links between ultra-processed food and health problems

12-Jul-2023 By Flora Southey

In the UK, government scientists have pointed to ‘uncertainties’ surrounding the quality of evidence linking consumption of ultra-processed foods with adverse health outcomes.

When ‘low fat’ labels do more harm than good

28-Jun-2023 By Oliver Morrison

Manufactures should re-think the practice of putting ‘low fat’ nutrition claims on foods with a high sugar content, according to a study.

'The need is much greater': How might the delay for buy-one get-one-free ban impact UK consumers?

19-Jun-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Plans by the UK government to ban buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) deals on foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) has been pushed back to 2025. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stressed the importance of consumer choice during a time of rising food prices. But...

A first for photosynthesis- and agriculture-free food: Protein ‘made from air’ officially on the menu

19-Jun-2023 By Flora Southey

Finnish start-up Solar Foods is marketing its novel microbial protein Solein for the first time. In partnership with Singapore-based restaurant Fico, the duo has developed a dessert made with ingredients ‘derived out of thin air’.

'Something in the issue of obesity that captures the imagination in a negative way': Obesity in the body and the public mind

16-Jun-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Despite some recent changes in attitude, obesity, many would argue, still exists in much of the public mind as a personal flaw, a choice. However, some science suggests that the causes are far more physiological in nature than this idea suggests. At the...

Making chocolate without cocoa: Inside the R&D lab

14-Jun-2023 By Flora Southey

WNWN Food Labs is rethinking chocolate, without cocoa. FoodNavigator visits the start-up’s R&D lab to see how its dark and ‘milk’ chocolate alternatives are made.

Unilever boosts fat release in vegan bacon with new plant tech

12-Jun-2023 By Flora Southey

Unilever’s plant-based meat brand The Vegetarian Butcher has updated its vegan bacon alternative to better mimic its conventional counterpart.

Plant-based fat mimics the texture of animal fat in bakery products

07-Jun-2023 By Augustus Bambridge-Sutton

Some products, such as croissants, need a bit of butter to get their unique texture. Israeli startup Gaven Technologies hopes to provide a vegan replacement of butter and other animal fats in bakery products, with its new plant-based fat FaTRIX.

Upfield prepares for dairy parity with plant-based butter, cream and cheese: ‘Only technology will close the gap in taste and texture’

05-Jun-2023 By Flora Southey

The company says its plant-based butter is already as good as its conventional counterpart, and plans to close any taste and texture gaps in dairy-free creams and cheeses within the next three years.