BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — New Hope Network has announced the winners of the 2020 Natural Products Expo Spark Change NEXTY Awards, the leading awards program which recognizes outstanding products in the natural products industry that inspire a healthy and sustainable future for people and the planet. The winners were announced during the organization’s virtual Modern Health event, which is the third event in the Spark Change journey, concluding in November.

The NEXTY Awards are a twice-annual awards program connected to New Hope Network’s Natural Products Expos and digital events. They were created to recognize the pinnacle of excellence in the natural products industry, elevating impactful CPG brands and products.

In the Flagship NEXTY Awards program, winners are determined through a two-tier judging process involving New Hope Network content experts and invited industry judges. During the first phase, more than 725 entries were whittled down to 72 finalists in 23 categories. In the final judging round, a single winner was selected in each category through intense deliberation. The 2020 Natural Products Expo Spark Change NEXTY Award winners include the following:

• Best New Mission-Based Product: Atlantic Sea Farms Ready-Cut Kelp
• Best New Natural Living Product: Fontana Candle Company Essential Oil Candles
• Best New Meat, Dairy or Animal-Based Product: Seemore Meats & Veggies La Dolce Beet-a Sausages
• Best Condition-Specific Supplement: Natural Stacks Serotonin Brain Food
• Best New Condiment: Atlantic Sea Farms Fermented Seaweed Salad
• Best New Personal Care Product: The Human Beauty Movement Herban Wisdom Facial Oil
• Best New Natural Kids Product: Country Life Vitamins Gut Connection Kids
• Best New Organic Beverage: Uncle Matt’s Organic Ultimate Immune Orange Juice
• Best Environmentally Responsible Packaging: Earthseed The Complete Multivitamin for Vegans
• Best New Product Supporting a Healthy Microbiome: Uplifting Results Labs Muniq
• Best New Savory or Salty Snack: Healthy Oceans Seafood Company Pescavore Ahi Tuna Jerky Strips
• Best New Meat Alternative or Dairy Alternative: Good Catch Foods Plant-Based Crab Cakes
• Best New Frozen Product: AYO Foods Frozen West African Meals
• Best New Organic Food: Dahlicious DAH! Organic Alphonso Mango Almond Yogurt
• Best New Supplement: Quicksilver Scientific Immune Charge+
• Best New Hemp-CBD Product: Winged Women’s Relaxation Chocolates
• Best New Sweet Snack: Patagonia Provisions Organic Chile Mango
• Best New Sweet or Dessert: Revolution Gelato Mini Gelato Pie
• Best New Tea or Coffee: Minna Cherry Cacao Green Tea
• Best New Ready to Drink Beverage: Sunwink Hibiscus Mint Unwind
• Best New Pantry Food: Carrington Farms Ground Lupin Bean
• Best New Special Diet Food: Partake Foods Soft Baked Cookie Butter Cookies
• Best New Sports Nutrition or Active Lifestyle Product: Apres Sea Salt Chocolate Plant-Based Protein Replenishment

Additionally, New Hope Network partners with technology company Sampler for the twice-annual NEXTY Consumer Choice Awards, a branch of the NEXTY Awards program that allows brands to have their product sampled with 1,000 targeted health-conscious consumers and in turn receive valuable product ratings and feedback. The consumers who receive the product collectively select the finalists and winners via their product ratings. Winners of the 2020 Natural Products Expo Spark Change NEXTY Consumer Choice Awards include:

• Food or Beverage: Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce
• Supplement, Personal Care or Natural Living: Flora Elderberry+ Immune Booster

“Despite the challenges in 2020 for the industry as a whole, the caliber of Spark Change NEXTY Award submissions was impressive and inspiring,” said Chris McGurrin, manager of the NEXTY Awards program at New Hope Network. “Product innovation and progressive thinking has not slowed down, and the NEXTY winners have set a high benchmark for consumer packaged goods in the industry going forward, with incredible thoughtfulness in product innovation across numerous categories.”

With the cancellation of Natural Products Expo East 2020 because of the global COVID-19 crisis, the winners in each category were awarded by New Hope Network on October 7, 2020 through the virtual Spark Change event. The video is archived for viewing online, and winners can be found in the online gallery.

Learn more about the NEXTY awards at nextyawards.com.

About New Hope Network
New Hope Network is at the forefront of the healthy lifestyle products industry. With solutions for the complete supply chain from manufacturers, retailers/distributors, service providers and ingredient suppliers, the network offers a robust portfolio of content, events, data, research and consultative services. Through its mission of growing healthy markets to bring more health to more people, New Hope Network helps businesses identify the people, products, partnerships and trends that create better opportunities and connections. For more information visit www.newhope.com.

About Informa Markets
Informa Markets creates platforms for industries and specialist markets to trade, innovate and grow. We provide marketplace participants around the globe with opportunities to engage, experience and do business through face-to-face exhibitions, targeted digital services and actionable data solutions. We connect buyers and sellers across more than a dozen global verticals, including Pharmaceuticals, Food, Medical Technology and Infrastructure. As the world’s leading market-making company, we bring a diverse range of specialist markets to life, unlocking opportunities and helping them to thrive 365 days of the year. For more information, please visit www.informamarkets.com.

Contact:
Courtney Curzi
New Hope Network
Public Relations
pr@newhope.com

Giving a boost to the growing alternative protein sector, global investor Big Idea Ventures (BIV), Kolkata-based financial services firm Ashika Group, and non-profit Good Food Institute India (GFI India) have joined hands to launch India Alternative Protein Fund and Accelerator.

According to the official statement, the BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund will launch an accelerator in 2021, which will support startups involved in innovative plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated protein industries, with investments and mentorship to help them grow across the Indian and international market.

“The alternative protein or ‘smart protein’ sector is soaring globally, with rapidly growing global consumption and billions of dollars in investments in companies such as plant-based meat and egg pioneers Beyond Meat and Eat Just, Inc. GFI India has undertaken research which underscores Indian consumers are primed to eat these foods in line with their global counterparts, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic brings increased attention on the risk of zoonotic disease and climate change,” the statement noted.

A recent report by Meticulous Market Research revealed that the global alternative protein market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.5 percent from 2019 to become a $17.9 billion market by 2025.

New opportunities for entrepreneurs

The fund and accelerator will support startups that are focusing on developing innovative plant-based, fermentation-derived, cultivated meat, seafood, egg, dairy foods, and are also environment friendly by using less land and water.

“Alternative protein is a key lever in our fight against climate change, malnutrition, food insecurity, and public health risks. It’s also a huge opportunity for business and job growth, with participation across the board from governments, large food and animal meat companies, and entrepreneurs,” said Varun Deshpande, Managing Director at the Good Food Institute India in a statement.

He said that the Indian ecosystem is expected to grow over the next few years by leveraging the country’s talent and agricultural biodiversity, and this fund will be a big step forward towards achieving the growth.

The firms announced that they have already started raising a $25 million fund for India and might start accepting applications for the Mumbai-based accelerator next year onwards. The selected startups will receive funding, hand holding, mentorship, and access to Indian and international network of corporate partners, restaurateurs, retailers, and other investors as part of the accelerator programme.

“Alternative protein is a major opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs and corporate players to get involved in the future of food. We’re looking forward to supporting Indian entrepreneurs through the BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund, and bringing our expertise in fundraising and scaling F&B businesses to their journey,” said Chirag Jain, CEO, Ashika Group.

BIV has already been operating a $50 million international fund and two accelerators across New York and Singapore, and has already invested in more than 20 ventures across the globe, including Mumbai-based foodtech startup, Evo Foods. The VC firm claims to have been working with alternative protein think tank GFI India for over a year to understand the market opportunity in India.

It has now joined hands with Ashika Group to manage the investment fund as the company has experience in helping several Indian companies in the food & beverage sector raise funding and scale operations.

New York and Singapore-based venture capital firm Big Idea Ventures (BIV) and Ashika Group, one of India’s leading retail financial services companies, have partnered together to launch a new investment fund and accelerator focused on supporting India’s alternative protein ecosystem. The new venture will begin running next year and will be supported by the Good Food Institute India (GFI India), a nonprofit organisation supporting plant-based, cultivated and fermented alternative protein innovation.

Announced on Thursday (October 8), a new focused investment fund and accelerator program has been launched by BIV and Ashika Group, with support from GFI India. It will be backing and supporting startups working on plant-based, fermentation-derived and cultivated meat, seafood, egg and dairy alternatives. Alternatives to animal-derived products are crucial if we are to sustain a planet of 10 billion people healthily and sustainability alongside the inevitable challenges that climate change will bring to food production.

“Alternative protein is a key lever in our fight against climate change, malnutrition and food insecurity, and public health risks,” said Varun Deshpande, managing director at GFI India. “It’s also a huge opportunity for business and job growth, with participation across the board from governments, large food and animal meat companies, and entrepreneurs.”

Currently, BIV already operates a US$50 million international fund and two accelerators across New York and Singapore, with prior investments in over 20 companies including India’s Evo Foods, a Mumbai-based food tech creating a 100% plant-based egg substitute that is set to launch within this year. Now joining with Ashika Group, the partnership with support from GFI India hopes to help numerous startups in India’s alternative protein sector raise funding and scale-up their innovations.

Alternative protein is a key lever in our fight against climate change, malnutrition and food insecurity, and public health risks. It’s also a huge opportunity for business and job growth, with participation across the board from governments, large food and animal meat companies, and entrepreneurs.

Varun Deshpande, Managing Director at GFI India

Ashika and BIV have begun raising investment for the new fund, with US$25 million as its target, and plan to begin opening up applications for their Mumbai-based accelerator in 2021. The accelerator, the first of its kind in the country, will provide Indian entrepreneurs with mentorship, funding and access to their local and global network across the supply chain, while GFI India will offer its expertise and advice.

“We’re looking forward to supporting Indian entrepreneurs through the BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund, and bringing our expertise in fundraising and scaling F&B businesses to their journey,” said Chirag Jain, CEO of Ashika Group.

The news comes as consumer and investor awareness about the dangers and vulnerabilities of the meat supply chain has grown significantly amid the coronavirus pandemic. A recent study has revealed that Indian consumers, in line with global trends, are now willing to pay for plant-based meats and cell-based meats even at a premium over conventional animal meats, signalling strong demand for sustainable, safe and healthy alternatives that will help prevent the risk of future zoonotic diseases.

The alternative protein sector is in a phase of rapid global growth, and India is one of the most promising markets for an ecosystem of world-class startups to emerge.

Andrew D. Ive, Founder & Managing General Partner at BIV

But even prior to the pandemic, Indian consumers have indicated strong openness to try more plant-based products for health and environmental reasons. In a Frontiers study published last year, Indian and Chinese consumers demonstrated far higher interest in trying alternative proteins than their American counterparts.

“The alternative protein sector is in a phase of rapid global growth, and India is one of the most promising markets for an ecosystem of world-class startups to emerge,” said Andrew D. Ive, founder and managing general partner at BIV.

“We believe we can help dozens more entrepreneurs in India to launch their alternative protein dream and build a thriving plant based global industry. I am delighted to work with Ashika Group and GFI India to launch the BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund and begin supporting great Indian entrepreneurs in 2021.

Lead image courtesy of Good Do.

The fledgling alternative protein ecosystem in India is gaining traction, with a new focused investment fund from US based Big Idea Ventures (BIV), Kolkata based financial services firm Ashika Group, and supported by the Good Food Institute India (GFI India) in Mumbai.

The India Alternative Protein Fund will launch and run an accelerator in 2021, and will also support promising companies with further investments for growth in the Indian and international markets. These companies will focus on bringing to market innovative plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated meat, seafood, egg, and dairy foods – upgraded versions of their animal-derived counterparts, but with a tiny fraction of the land use, water use, and climate change challenges, and without the risk of pandemics and zoonotic disease.

The alternative protein or ‘smart protein’ sector is soaring globally, with rapidly growing global consumption and billions of dollars in investments in companies such as plant-based meat and egg pioneers Beyond Meat and Eat Just, Inc, and corporate rollouts from the likes of big meat and food companies who are seeking to diversify their portfolio to include these sustainable proteins, such as Tyson Foods, PHW, and Maple Leaf Foods. GFI India has undertaken research which underscores Indian consumers are primed to eat these foods in line with their global counterparts, particularly as the Covid-19 pandemic brings increased attention on the risk of zoonotic disease and climate change.

Big Idea Ventures (BIV) already operates a $50 million international fund and two accelerators across New York and Singapore, with prior investments in over 20 companies including India’s Evo Foods. They worked with alternative protein expert think tank and ecosystem builder GFI India for over a year to evaluate the India opportunity and build an investment thesis focused on building the Indian ecosystem, and joined with leading financial services firm Ashika Group to manage the investment fund. Ashika Group runs businesses including brokerage, lending, wealth management, investment management, as well as an investment bank, and has helped numerous Indian companies in the food & beverage sector raise funding and scale their operations.

The two firms have begun raising the $25m fund for India, and expect to begin accepting applications for the Mumbai-based accelerator in 2021. They will provide entrepreneurs with funding, critical handholding and mentorship, and access to an Indian and international network of corporate partners, restaurateurs, retailers, and other investors. GFI India will continue to provide support in the form of expert advisory and network building.

Andrew D. Ive, Founder and Managing General Partner, Big Idea Ventures said, “The alternative protein sector is in a phase of rapid global growth, and India is one of the most promising markets for an ecosystem of world-class startups to emerge. Big Idea Ventures has always backed audacious entrepreneurs tackling big problems at every step of their journey. We believe we can help dozens more entrepreneurs in India to launch their alternative protein dream and build a thriving plant based global industry. I am delighted to work with Ashika Group and GFI India to launch the BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund and begin supporting great Indian entrepreneurs in 2021.”

Chirag Jain, CEO, Ashika Group said, “Ashika Group has worked with organizations across the spectrum of the food & beverage industry and the technology sector for many years, and has stayed abreast of emerging innovations within this landscape. Alternative protein is a major opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs and corporate players to get involved in the future of food. We’re looking forward to supporting Indian entrepreneurs through the BIV-Ashika India Alternative Protein Fund, and bringing our expertise in fundraising and scaling F&B businesses to their journey.”

Varun Deshpande, Managing Director at the Good Food Institute India, said, “Alternative protein is a key lever in our fight against climate change, malnutrition and food insecurity, and public health risks. It’s also a huge opportunity for business and job growth, with participation across the board from governments, large food and animal meat companies, and entrepreneurs. The Indian ecosystem is poised for growth over the next few years, leveraging our talent and agricultural biodiversity. This fund is a big step forward in that momentum, and we are glad to support Big Idea Ventures and Ashika Group towards our shared goal of a more healthy, sustainable, and just food system.”

Evo Foods, India’s first plant-based egg startup, has revealed that it will be launching its first liquid egg alternative in India this year through its direct-to-consumer website and restaurants across the country. Once it establishes a foothold in India, the food tech has ambitious plans to launch in the U.S. through foodservice by April next year.

In a recent interview with FoodNavigator, co-founders of Evo Foods Kartik Dixit and Shraddha Bhansali announced that they plan to begin selling their first product, a legume-based liquid egg alternative, through its online website this year with the cost to rivalling conventional organic eggs in India. The Mumbai-based food tech will also be partnering with restaurants in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore to bring its vegan-friendly egg to Indian consumers.

Founded in 2019, Evo Foods has previously told Green Queen that it uses biotechnology to harness plant proteins derived from lentils to create a 100% vegan liquid egg product that is more sustainable compared to conventional eggs, contains no cholesterol, no antibiotics and is animal cruelty-free.

India has so much crop biodiversity and we want to explore these, and use these proteins readily available to produce affordable and high quality products for the rest of the world​.

Shraddha Bhansali, Co-Founder of Evo Foods

“Our product contains micronutrients, is significantly lower in fat, contains zero cholesterol and is high in protein​,” explained Dixit in the interview with FoodNavigator.

Bhansali added that the startup has ambitions beyond India, and hopes to establish a presence internationally. “India has so much crop biodiversity and we want to explore these, and use these proteins readily available to produce affordable and high quality products for the rest of the world​,” she told the publication.

To that end, the first overseas market that Evo Foods has set its sights on is the U.S., where it plans to enter the market via foodservice by April 2021. According to the report, the startup is already in talks with restaurants in New York City to launch pilot trials of its product.

Our product contains micronutrients, is significantly lower in fat, contains zero cholesterol and is high in protein.

Kartik Dixit, Co-Founder of Evo Foods

While the firm’s current liquid egg product requires refrigeration and boasts a shelf-life of six months, they plan to continue product development to improve not just the the taste and texture of the product, but to also tick the boxes for shelf stability – a major opportunity to close the gap in the market for millions, particularly in developing countries in Asia, who lack access to electricity to power cooling systems such as refrigerators.

Having raised funding from angel investors including veteran vegan investor Ryan Bethencourt and Sandhya Sriram, the founder of Singapore’s cell-based seafood startup Shiok Meats, as well as from venture capitalists like VegInvest, the startup will gear much of the capital towards accelerating its growth timeline.

Speaking to Green Queen at the time, Bhansali said: “We are proud that Evo has been garnering all the right attention from mission aligned mentors and investors. We’re so excited for more things to come.”

Lead image courtesy of Freepik.

SINGAPORE — 

In an industrial corner of Singapore, multiplying steadily in bioreactors heated precisely to 82 degrees, real shrimp meat is being grown from samples of the crustacean’s microscopic cells.

Fed a nutrient-rich soup meant to mimic its diet in the wild, a single cell can reproduce over a trillion times into a mound of gray translucent flesh. Think of it as meat growing without all the other parts of the animal, including that chalky black vein.

The venture is being led by Sandhya Sriram and a team of scientists, who are attempting to upend one of the cornerstones of dim sum. Sriram’s company, Shiok Meats, is named after Singaporean slang used to declare something delicious.

Similar work is being done across the world at other startups and research labs to grow beef, pork, chicken and high-end specialty products such as bluefin tuna and foie gras, but Sriram’s company is the only one known to be focused on re-creating shrimp, a staple in many Asian dishes.

Shiok’s finished product — this reporter was unable to try it because no outsiders are allowed to visit its headquarters during the pandemic — possesses the texture of ground shrimp and has already been tested to make shumai, the Cantonese dim sum mainstay with the yellow dumpling wrapper. But its applications are potentially manifold in Chinese-centric cuisine.

Shrimp shumai made with lab-grown shrimp from Shiok Meats.

(Shiok Meats)

You could layer a dollop of it over a raft of tofu, steam it and douse it with a slightly sweeter soy sauce. It could be squeezed out of a piping bag into a simmering hot pot broth. And it might be the kind of thing you’d want to roll into balls, bread and deep-fry.

Eventually Sriram, who cofounded the company two years ago, would like to move beyond ground shrimp meat to produce crab, lobster and a structured deshelled shrimp, one convincing enough to hang off the edge of a glass filled with cocktail sauce.

“We can 3-D print the tail if you want,” she said.

Singapore has emerged as a leading player in the budding technology once derided as “Frankenmeat” after Dutch researcher Mark Post unveiled the first “test-tube burger” to a panel of food critics at a news conference in London seven years ago.

Researchers have been able to drive down the price of the meat, which is called cell cultured meat or clean meat, from the nearly $300,000 it cost to produce Post’s debut patty — though not enough to actually sell it to the public yet. Shiok’s shumai, for example, cost $300 apiece.

In what’s been described as an “edible space race,” at least 55 companies worldwide are now involved in developing some variety of cell cultured meat, according to the Good Food Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit advocating alternatives to animal agriculture.

That includes one in Hong Kong that re-creates fish maw or bladder, a delicacy often used in soups; an Australian startup that’s growing kangaroo meat; and a company in China that’s looking to re-create pork in a country where rising demand for meat will test the limits of the world’s supply. Last year, an Israeli startup successfully grew cow muscle tissue on the International Space Station.

The science’s emergence has provoked existential questions about the provenance of meat, prompting vegans to contemplate whether the technology represents a sort of loophole if it doesn’t harm animals, and Jewish and Muslim religious leaders to ponder if the lab-grown pork could be deemed kosher or halal.

Eventually, the technology could allow for novel kinds of meat to be made, presenting chefs with unusual possibilities.

“Imagine when you can tailor the taste of any piece of meat,” said Ryan Bethencourt, the San Francisco-based cofounder of biotech accelerator IndieBio, who provided Shiok with its initial seed funding. “What does pork with salmon fat taste like? What does a mix between Wagyu beef and other heritage beef steak lines taste like? What about meat that tastes both sweet and sour?”

Inside the lab at Singapore-based Shiok Meats, where they’re growing shrimp.

(Shiok Meats)

Investors are pouring hundreds of millions into the industry, inspired by the success of plant-based meat companies Beyond Meat and Impossible, which helped demystify alternatives to eating farm animals for a far wider audience than previously thought possible.

Financial backers in the burgeoning field also include giants in the conventional meat industry such as Tyson, Cargill and Bell Food Group. Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Li Ka-shing, one of Hong Kong’s richest tycoons, are betting on the meat’s success — as are massive investment funds such as SoftBank and the Singapore government’s Temasak.

Cell cultured burgers, chicken tenders and other breakthroughs are still a year or more away from landing in restaurants and grocery stores, experts say, but current events have heightened the urgency to develop more choices for meat.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed flaws in the conventional meat industry after workers at processing plants in the U.S. and Europe suffered massive outbreaks of the disease and the industry’s supply chain buckled under the crisis, leading to shortages, price hikes and purchasing limits.

Critics of conventional meat say the virus provides one more reason to turn away from an industry that has wreaked havoc on the natural environment, served as a vector for infectious diseases like salmonella and E. coli and, through its rampant use of antibiotics on crowded and inhumane factory farms, undermined human health.

But it’s not entirely clear whether cell cultured meat is safer and healthier. Companies are loathe to share data, choosing instead to operate in secretive silos to protect their intellectual property. Shiok denied a request to view or taste-test its raw product for this story, citing a pending patent. Bethencourt later provided The Times with video of the company’s lab-grown shrimp cells under a microscope.

“They’ve achieved their objective of making scalable cell-based shrimp,” he said.

The environmental benefits of clean meat could be significant. The Good Food Institute estimates cell cultured beef will cut the amount of land used by cattle to produce regular beef by 95% and the amount of emissions by at least 74%.

That could certainly win converts, but it’s how the meat tastes and feels that will ultimately determine the industry’s success.

“Not all companies who make this are created equal,” said Chase Purdy, an expert on cultured meat and author of “Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech’s Race for the Future of Food.”

Purdy tasted lab-grown foie gras, duck chorizo and ground beef but nothing impressed him more than a chicken tender made by Berkeley’s Memphis Meats, with strands of muscle that peeled apart with startling authenticity.

“It’s really hard to get cells to grow in that linear, structured way,” Purdy said.

That might be the exception. Anyone hoping for a facsimile of a dry-aged Porterhouse steak or a loin of Berkshire pork crowned with a sheet of crackling might have to make do with ground meat — much easier to replicate — for tacos, pasta sauces and burgers for some time.

Re-creating recognizable butcher cuts with complex layers of muscles and fat (think of the patchwork of beef chuck or the mosaic of fat and muscle on the rim of a rib-eye) remains the elusive grail for the industry — one that’s being tackled by several companies.

“We’re still at the prototype stage, showing proof of concept and proof of value,” said William Chen, the Michael Fam Chair professor and director of food science and technology at Nanyang Technological University Singapore, which is working on growing steak. “Think of it as a car. We’re able to make a basic sedan. But to make beef steak, we need to build a racing car.”

The simplicity of shrimp is what drew Sriram, 35, to the crustacean, which unlike beef, pork or chicken comprises one uniform muscle.

From left, Shiok Meats CTO Ka Yi Ling and CEO Sandhya Sriram.

(Shiok Meats)

Being in Asia was also a plus. Shiok’s own surveys, and at least one study, suggest Asians are more willing to try novel foods like clean meat than people in the West.

A stem-cell biologist born in India and raised in the Middle East before moving to Singapore, Sriram was thrilled when she realized cell cultured shellfish was an open field.

Asia consumes three-quarters of the world’s supply of shrimp. And the industry’s notorious practices, which include slave labor, pollution and the overuse of antibiotics, convinced Sriram there would be a market for an alternative.

Shiok was founded by Sriram and fellow scientist Ka Yi Ling, 32. The pair initially struggled to find private lab space to rent, settling briefly at a marine institute on a mostly secluded island that required careful adherence to a ferry schedule, lest they wanted to stay a night alone on the eerie redoubt.

By 2019, the pair had moved out and developed a prototype that required Sriram, a vegetarian, to eat shrimp for the first time so that she could compare the two.

“I could definitely smell and taste the ocean,” she said of the creation.

Driving down costs remains the biggest hurdle. Shiok’s proto-shrimp costs $5,000 a kilogram, which is about $2,268 a pound, mostly due to the price of the nutrient fluids needed to feed the cells. Access to more affordable nutrients has reduced the cost of Shiok’s meat to $3,500 a kilogram, or about $1,588 a pound. The goal is to make Shiok’s shrimp 100 times cheaper by the first half of next year.

Unlike the U.S., Singapore has developed regulations for the sale of cultured meat.

The tiny Southeast Asian country, whose entire width is the distance between Burbank and El Segundo, has supported the technology with tax breaks and grants to bolster a government campaign to break the country’s near-total reliance on imported food by 2030.

“Singapore is doing more of its own investing and is the most receptive from a regulatory angle to greenlighting this to go to market first,” Purdy said. “It will likely be a restaurant in Singapore that serves this up to consumers for the first time in history.”

A Singapore-based team has developed two high protein spreads, inspired by hummus, for the elderly population.

…

Big Idea Ventures (BIV), Indian financial services firm Ashika Group and the Good Food Institute India (GFI India) announced today that they are teaming up to create a new investment fund and accelerator focused on alternative proteins in India.

Dubbed, appropriately enough, The India Alternative Protein Fund, the new accelerator will launch in 2021 to fund and support companies focused on “bringing to market innovative plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated meat, seafood, egg, and dairy foods,” according to the press announcement.

Big Ideas Ventures already runs a $50 million international fund and two accelerators in New York and Singapore. BIV worked with GFI India for more than a year to assess investment opportunities in that country, and Ashika Group will manage the investment fund. BIV and Ashika Group have started raising a $25 million fund specifically for India, and the Mumbai-based accelerator will begin accepting applications in 2021.

This new accelerator is certainly striking while the alternative protein iron is hot. In March, the Good Food Institute in America released retail data from SPINS that showed “grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products have grown 29% in the past two years to $5 billion.” Even those numbers might need to be adjusted, given that the pandemic caused a boom in sales of plant-based meat, plus the fact that more plant-based products like sausage, eggs and dairy alternatives continue to come out.

Additonally, we’ve also seen continued investment around the world in the alternative foods space with players such as GOOD PLANeT, Outstanding Foods, Better Meat Co., Veggie Victory, NotCo, and Green Monday all receiving funding since the end of May.

Those accepted into The India Alternative Protein Fund will receive funding, mentorship, as well as access to a network of Indian and international corporate partners, restauranteurs, retailers and more.

The global honey market is estimated to be a 9.79 billion dollar industry, and it is predicted to grow to over 14 billion by the year 2025. Contrary to popular opinion, this golden elixir is not just slipped into tea on a cold winter’s day. It is used as an ingredient in a variety of food, body wash, makeup, chapstick, lotion, soap, and more. But what about the bees? We know that the extraction of honey can lead to the death of bees, the stealing of their food or the destruction of their homes. So most vegans stay away from honey and products that contain it. But what if you could create honey and not need to use a bee, or harm any of these amazing creatures? That’s the goal of several innovative companies that are working to be able to create honey, in the lab.

Those who stand behind the use of honey, point to its antioxidant, antihistamine, and natural immune-boosting properties and the fact that there are ways to extract it and not harm bees, although most industrial honey is not harvested in this careful manner. For more on how to tell the difference and buy honey that is ethical and sustainable, The Beet has covered this important consumer concern.

Meanwhile, there are always going to be consumers who stay away from honey, even that which is extracted in a sustainable manner, since at its core, it requires bees to work in the service of another species, meaning humans, and therefore is a case of exploitation. To make matters even worse, the way honey is mostly extracted now is cruel and leads to the destruction of the bee population and the environment as a whole.

New Innovative Companies Are Seeking Ways to Create Honey and Not Harm Bees

“A healthy environment needs bees — but not honeybees,” says Jonas Geldmann, at the University of Cambridge, The way that we ‘farm’ and extract honey today is unnatural, he adds. It creates competition among wild bee species, which leads to an imbalance in the natural environment. To protect the bees–as well as the planet– people need to become creative, he adds. We need an alternative to harming bees.

Impossible makes meatless meat and now Brave Robot is marketing dairy created without a cow, so consumers are one step closer to being open-minded to honey without the bees. Innovators in the agriculture industry have shown consumers, as well as lawmakers and lobbyists, that we can combat climate change and lower our carbon footprint by switching to plant-based alternatives. In the case of honey, however, the product is already plant-based but made by living insects. The big change needed is to create honey without exploiting and endangering bees.

In an exclusive interview with The Beet, Darko Mandich, CEO of MeliBio said that it is important to “rethink the food supply chain in a brave and open-minded way.”

“The future of honey is beeless,” he adds. Mandich and his co-founder Aaron Schaller say they have the science to back it up. “At MeliBio, we aren’t making ‘fake honey’ Mandich says. “We are using the latest innovations in microbiology to create a special technology that will allow us to get honey directly from plants. It’s better for the bees, and it’s essential for humanity.”

“Our goal is to have our final product to be indistinguishable from bee-made honey” in taste and health benefits. When asked when consumers will be able to buy this bee-less honey Darko said that he is interested in more than putting jars of honey on the grocery store shelves. He and Schaller are hoping to supply honey to all outlets: replacing honey as an ingredient in cosmetics, foods, and personal care items. Beeless honey is expected to be available in the Fall of 2021. This will certainly be a gamechanger, and we are not the only ones who think so!

If you want to hear Mandich and Schaller explain how MeliBio plans to save the bees and lower our global carbon footprint, all the while providing deliciously vegan bee-less honey for more on how they plan to roll out the beeless honey, check out their YouTube Seminar, on Friday, October 9th at 11am ET.