Future Food Quick Bites: Fermented SBB Meals, Gut Health Bars & Toblerone Lawsuit
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Yumame Foods’s partnership with SBB, Zoe’s gut health bars, and Mondelēz International’s vegan chocolate lawsuit.
New products and launches
Swiss firm Yumame Foods, which makes a range of fermented, whole-food plant-based protein centrepieces, has debuted its first ready meal, a lentil, mushroom and grain bolognese served with penne pasta. It’s available in the dining cars of SBB trains on the autumn menu of its on-board catering service, Elvetino.
After announcing its partnership with Apulia Distribuzione last month, Italian cocoa-free chocolate startup Foreverland has rolled out three snacks made with its Choruba ingredient. The Party Peanuts, Sweet Almond, and Berry Cloud bites are available at Rossotono markets.
Zoe, the personalised nutrition startup co-founded by epidemiologist Tim Spector, has entered the snacking space with the launch of plant-based gut health bars in the UK. They feature 12 plant points, are available in dark chocolate-sea salt and raspberry-goji berry flavours, and deliver 8g of fibre and 7g of protein.
And Lancashire-based oat milk startup Oato has secured a new listing for its chocolate oat shake, which is now being stocked on the shelves of Scottish retailer Booths.
Company and finance updates
Russian food giant Logika Moloka has acquired Velle Holding, a plant-based food manufacturer specialising in non-dairy yoghurts, cream, sour cream, coffee drinks, and cereals.
Shortly after raising $9.5M, US climate-smart rice farming startup Mitti Labs has signed a five-year agreement to sell 500,000 high-integrity methane reduction credits to Salesforce by 2030.
Californian firm Milkish, which makes a line of watermelon seed milks, has been accepted into UNFI‘s UpNext Program, a recognition for emerging and disruptive brands that have a real path to national distribution.
German food tech startup Formo‘s precision-fermented Enhanced Casein protein won the Ingredient Idol award in the GLP-1 Nutrition category at SupplySide Global, where it was showcased in a high-protein cold foam and clear protein beverage. It comes just as the firm secured a ‘no questions’ letter from the Food and Drug Administration to sell its ingredient in the US.
Finnish oat-based cheese maker Mö Foods has recorded its strongest year yet, with revenue up by 144% in the first nine months of the year. Exports were a significant growth channel, and domestic performance also surged by 27%.
German cocoa-free chocolate leader Planet A Foods has appointed Charlene Russ as its new CFO. She previously held senior roles at Air Up and Seven.One Entertainment Group.
Research and policy developments
Confectionery giant Mondelēz International has filed a lawsuit against British independent chocolate company Catherine’s Originals over the length and shape of the latter’s plant-based O’bar, accusing it of infringing the trademark on its famous Toblerone bar.
The European Commission has released its Special Eurobarometer report, featuring interviews with over 26,000 people across its 27 member states. Only 42% say they’d buy fermentation-derived microbial foods (and 54% are unwilling), among whom 87% would only do so if they match or undercut the price of animal proteins.
Finally, the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein at the National University of Singapore has opened the Bezos Co-Create Space, designed as a collaborative co-working environment bringing together researchers, partners, and collaborators to connect, ideate, and build future foods.
Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.