Author

Anay Mridul 2876 posts 0 comments

Anay is Green Queen's resident news reporter. Originally from India, he worked as a vegan food writer and editor in London, and is now travelling and reporting from across Asia. He's passionate about coffee, plant-based milk, cooking, eating, veganism, food tech, writing about all that, profiling people, and the Oxford comma.

Alt Protein

Plant-Based Struggles: Unilever, Nestlé & Monde Nissin Reassess Meat-Free Ambitions

Anay Mridul Feb 27, 2025

Unilever's struggle to sell The Vegetarian Butcher and Nestlé and Monde Nissin's slowing meat alternative sales are bad news for the plant-based market. In the span of seven months, the CEOs of Nestlé, Monde Nissin, and Unilever have…
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Funding News

5 Minutes with A Future Food VC: PeakBridge’s Nadav Berger

Anay Mridul Feb 27, 2025

In our new interview series, we quiz future food investors about the solutions that excite them the most, their favourite climate-forward restaurant, and what they look for in successful founders. Nadav Berger is a Founding General…
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Alt Protein

Beyond Meat to Suspend China Operations, Cut 9% of Its Workforce As Q4 Earnings Improve

Anay Mridul Feb 27, 2025

Beyond Meat is making cutbacks and suspending its China business after revenues jumped in Q4, with the plant-based leader taking aim at regenerative agriculture. Californian plant-based pioneer Beyond Meat will lay off 9% of its global…
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Green Business

Rewe Group Unveils Plant Protein Strategy, Calls for Policy Reform

Anay Mridul Feb 27, 2025

German retailer Rewe Group has developed a protein strategy to increase its share of plant-based sales and has called for a shift in policies to encourage investment in the sector. While investors and Big Food are turning their backs on…
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Alt Protein

Explainer: Why Climate Change Experts Are Asking the UK Govt to Replace Meat with Plant-Based Alternatives

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2025

Brits need to drastically reduce their meat and dairy consumption to help the country meet its climate goals, and experts say plant-based and alternative proteins are the key to this shift. Sunday roasts will need a major makeover if…
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Future Foods

Future Food Quick Bites: Vegan Magnum, Airline Ramen & Dairy-Free Popcorn

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2025

Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Magnum's revamped vegan recipe, Heura's new Tex-Mex Chunks, and a cultivated seafood tasting in Japan. New products and…
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Climate Change

Could Replacing Palm Oil Make Deforestation Worse?

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2025

A new study suggests that replacing palm oil with conventional vegetable oils could have unintended climate consequences. So what's the ultimate sustainable fat solution? Tasteless, odourless, inexpensive, and present in half of all…
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Alt Protein

Cautious, Excited: US Future Food Leaders React to RFK Jr Confirmation as Health Secretary

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2025

With Robert F Kennedy Jr becoming the new Health and Human Services Secretary, alternative protein leaders exhibit optimism, as well as caution. Stakeholders in the alternative protein ecosystem are largely optimistic about the…
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Food & Nutrition

With UPFs Under Fire, Investors Bet $7M on Actual Veggies After Revenues Double

Anay Mridul Feb 25, 2025

Can Actual Veggies be the antidote to ultra-processed foods? It's what investors are hoping for, pumping $7M in funding for the New York startup. New York-based CPG firm Actual Veggies has gained $7M in a Series A funding round after…
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Cell-Based News

Aleph Farms: Cultivated Meat Startup Hits Funding Woes, Adjusts Valuation to ‘Reflect Market Conditions’

Anay Mridul Feb 25, 2025

Israel's Aleph Farms, a pioneer of cultivated meat, has lowered its valuation by 73% in its upcoming funding round; the firm says adapting to "changing market conditions" is necessary. As food tech companies feel the pinch,…
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Alt Dairy

Vivici: Big Dairy-Backed Startup Raises $34M for Animal-Free Whey Proteins

Anay Mridul Feb 25, 2025

Dutch precision fermentation startup Vivici has closed a €32.5M ($33.7M) funding round to scale production and introduce new animal-free dairy proteins. A year after obtaining regulatory clearance in the US, Dutch animal-free dairy…
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Cell-Based News

Study From Beef-Loving Brazil Suggests Regional Disparities Shape Cultivated Meat Consumer Attitudes

Anay Mridul Feb 25, 2025

How do regional differences and economic disparities affect interest in cultivated meat in the world's largest beef exporter? Brazil is the world's largest beef exporter, second-largest meat producer, and third-largest consumer of beef…
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Alt Dairy

PKN: As Americans Sour on Plant-Based Milk, This Brand is Turning to the Country’s Only Native Nut

Anay Mridul Feb 24, 2025

Dairy is making a comeback in the US, with sales of whole milk outpacing plant-based alternatives. Can pecans turn things around? The almond may be America's favourite nut – especially when it comes to milking it – but its…
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Vegan Dining

Plants on the Map: The 5 Vegan Michelin Star Restaurants Around the World

Anay Mridul Feb 24, 2025

From London to New York City, five vegan restaurants possess Michelin stars – here's what you need to know. Who says high-end can't be climate-conscious and ethical? Across the world, more and more restaurants are greenifying their…
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Vegan

Protein Politics: An ‘Anti-Vegan Backlash’ Is Brewing. Why?

Anay Mridul Feb 24, 2025

Some headline writers and critics suggest an "anti-vegan backlash" is growing – protein and politics are key factors, but these narratives are missing the point. Veganism is dead, long live veganism! This month, the Daily Telegraph…
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Cell-Based News

In Some US States, Efforts to Ban Lab-Grown Meat Hit A Snag

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2025

As anti-cultivated-meat legislation heats up in the US, Nebraska and South Dakota's efforts to ban these proteins are facing opposition from some policymakers – and farmers. For Americans in government office, it's almost become…
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Alt Dairy

Rice-Based Casein? This Japanese Startup Says It’s Cracked the Grain

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2025

Tokyo-based food tech startup Kinish has raised ¥120M ($800,000) to grow "real deal" milk protein in rice grains through molecular farming. Japanese rice may be best known for its sushi, but one local startup wants to use the ingredient…
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Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Can Yeast Protein Solve The Egg Crisis? This Startup Is Betting On It

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2025

Dutch food tech startup Revyve is tripling its capacity to keep up with growing demand for its upcycled yeast protein, which can replace eggs in various applications. As the food industry scrambles to find a solution to the egg crisis –…
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Policy & Regulation

EU Directs Member States to Cut Food by 30%, But Climate Experts Lament ‘Weak Ambition’

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2025

The EU has set legally binding targets for all countries to reduce food waste by up to 30% in a revision of the waste framework directive, but climate groups say the target is not enough. Lawmakers in the EU reached a provisional…
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Alt Dairy

Dotsie Bausch is Changing the World – Or At Least the Price of Your Oat Milk Latte

Anay Mridul Feb 20, 2025

Plant-powered Olympian Dotsie Bausch has been fiercely advocating for coffee companies to remove the non-dairy milk surcharge – now, Tim Hortons and Dunkin' have become the latest chains to drop the levy. It was a one-on-one meeting…
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Policy & Regulation

Explainer: ‘Death of Farm to Fork’ – What Does EU Agrifood Vision Meant For Plant-Based Proteins?

Anay Mridul Feb 20, 2025

The EU has published its much-anticipated food and farming vision, raising alarm bells among climate experts and ignoring calls for a shift to plant-based proteins. "A near-total failure." "Very timid." "Tunnel vision." "The death of…
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