Veggie Digest #12
Cell-based chocolate, urban farming, beehive monitors, and much more!
Welcome to the latest installment of the Veggie Digest, the newsletter that keeps you on top of the latest in sustainable food innovations.
Headlines and Trends
A curated roundup of interesting food tech news from the past week.
📰 8 Asian Food Tech Startups Innovating the Future of Food (Green Queen)
Here are 8 Asian startups that are driving serious change to fight for a healthier and sustainable food system:
OmniFood (Based in Singapore): Its star product is Omnipork, a vegan alternative to mince that is made from pea protein, non-GMO soy, shiitake mushrooms, and rice. The product is Buddhist-friendly and is free of cholesterol, antibiotics, and hormones.
TurtleTree Labs: A startup based in Singapore producing lab-grown dairy milk. They use biotechnology to produce the same composition, functionality, and taste of cow’s milk, without the large carbon footprint. The cell-based cow’s milk can be used to make other dairy products as well.
Avant Meats (Based in Hong Kong): Using cellular biotechnology to develop a sustainable cell-based fish maw and sea cucumber.
Shiok Meats (Based in Singapore): Uses cellular technology to harvest sustainable lab-grown seafood. They are currently focused on their cultivated shrimp product.
Karana (Based in Singapore): This company employs jackfruit to create a meat alternative that works well with Asian cuisine. The stringy texture is similar to pulled pork or chicken and is naturally high in fiber, vitamins, and potassium.
LIFE3 Biotech (Based in Singapore): Their flagship product is a vegan chicken replica called Veego, made from legumes, grains, non-GMO soybeans, and lentils. A serving of Veego contains 18 grams of protein, is high in fiber, and is gluten-free.
Zhenmeat (Based in Beijing, China): Created plant-based meat substitutes that are catered to suit traditional Chinese cuisine dishes.
Phuture Foods (Based in Malaysia): Created a Halal-friendly and Buddhist-friendly, vegan mince pork substitute made out of wheat, mung beans, and shiitake mushrooms. Their plant-based pork mince contains 9 essential amino acids, vitamin B12, and iron.
📰 How Fermentation Can Help Solve the Protein Crisis (Food Navigator)
The dairy industry has a huge impact on climate change due to its greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, dairy farms use considerable land and water resources, as two-thirds of the world’s agricultural land is used to maintain crops. Fermentation offers a more efficient future for dairy protein production. Fermentation technology could allow people to make proteins that are “even more functional than their conventional counterparts.”
📰 Urban Farming Brings Feast to Famine and Reduces Environmental Impact (IOT for All)
With the population explosion in urban areas, people are living farther than ever from the source of their food. This, plus the fact that demand for agricultural products has never been higher, compounds many problems associated with climate change such as increased deforestation and higher emissions from transport. Indoor farms, community gardens, and rooftop urban farming make it easier to avoid creating a monoculture that threatens ecosystem biodiversity.
📰 Move Over Smartphones, Smart Hives Are Here (Modern Farmer)
The California-based startup BeeHero has developed The Smart Hives, devices that consist of tiny sensors that clip onto the inside of the hive and tap into the genius of data analytics and artificial intelligence. It allows beekeepers to keep tabs on colony health by monitoring sound, temperature, humidity, and the condition of the queen bee. This device could help save our helpful pollinators as widespread monoculture, pesticide use, and climate change have caused a 40% decline in honeybee colonies.
📰 What Is Cell-Based Chocolate? (The Beet)
Cocoa production is often linked to deforestation and child labor issues. The food tech company California Cultured launched its cell-cultured chocolate to produce a sustainable product that replicates cocoa products without the associated consequences. The company plans on doing this by only producing ethically sourced and environmentally conscious chocolate products.
Food Lingo: “Agrivoltaics”
There’s a lot of jargon in the food technology and sustainability space. Each week I highlight an important concept to improve your food lingo literacy.
Agrivoltaics is the perfect coexistence of solar panels and plants on farmland so that solar panels and crops share light for both types of production. It involves combining crops with photovoltaic panels, installed high enough to allow farm machinery to pass underneath.
📰 Growing Crops Under Solar Panels? Now There’s a Bright Idea (Wired)
What are “agrivoltaics”? It’s the practice of increasing land productivity by farming crops and farming solar energy simultaneously. While plants need sunlight, they only need so much of it. For crops stressed out by too much light, solar panels provide much-needed shade and reduce water requirements by mitigating evaporation. One scientist describes this new innovation as a rare “win-win.”
Sustainability Beyond Food
A handful of non-food-specific pieces to keep you abreast of other environmental items of interest.
📰 COP26: What Is the Glasgow Climate Conference and Why Is It Important? (BBC)
COP26 is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference where most countries share their plans to reduce emissions. During these two weeks, we can expect many new announcements such as making switches to electric cars, quickening the phasing out of coal power, reducing deforestation, and protecting more people from the impacts of climate change. Up to 25,000 people are expected at COP26, including world leaders, negotiators, and journalists. Hopefully, all countries will have a strong statement that recommits to net zero emissions by 2050 and big reductions by 2030.
New Budget Deal Marks the Biggest Climate Investment in U.S. History (Washington Post)
Last week the Biden administration unveiled its “Build Back Better” plan. The plan includes $555 billion of tax credits, grants, and policies earmarked for combating climate change. Among the key provisions: halving U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, aiding consumer adoption of electric vehicles, and reducing the cost of residential solar installation. While some climate advocates had hoped for far more, it remains to be seen if even Biden’s plan can get the necessary Congressional votes.
📰 The Next 1000 Billion-Dollar Start-Ups Will Be in Climate Tech (CNBC)
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink thinks the next 1,000 unicorns (start-ups worth at least $1 billion), will be involved in climate technology. He says that Climate change is a business opportunity because addressing it will mean that basically every segment of industry, from the process of creating fuel to food, will have to be reinvented.
———
Thank you for reading the Veggie Digest newsletter. If you’re enjoying it, be sure to share it with your friends and colleagues.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you, visit this link to subscribe.
You can reach me by replying directly to this email or by adding a comment on Substack.