Future Food Quick Bites: Kiki 4 Kids at Walmart, Cell4Food x AlgoCell & UK Veganuary Record
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers organic plant-based kids’ milk at Walmart, cellular aquaculture AI partnerships, a UK Veganuary record, and US foodservice welcomes new plant-based shrimp.
New products and launches
PlantBaby announced Kiki Milk, its clean-label, organic plant-based kids’ milk, is now available nationwide on Walmart.com, building momentum for 2026 accessibility after expansions at Sprouts and Target
French plant-based pioneer La Vie began a UK billboard ad campaign for its latest product: pepperami-style vegan salami sticks, now on sale at Waitrose & Partners and Ocado Retail.
Califia Farms debuted Simple & Organic Soymilk crafted from just organic soybeans, water, and sea salt for 8g protein per serving, alongside reformulated gum-free creamers and new almond milk cold brews and matcha in 32oz and 48oz formats.
Bayou Best Foods expanded its pea protein-powered plant-based shrimp into US foodservice channels through major distributors Performance Food Group, US Foods, and Sysco, offering restaurants a sustainable swap amid tightening wild-caught seafood supplies.
Company and finance updates
Portuguese cellular aquaculture firm Cell4Food partnered with Algocell to fuse its BlueCell™ tech for fish, mollusc, and crustacean cells with AI-powered digital twins, aiming to cut trial-and-error by 80%, accelerate media/feed/gas optimisation, and de-risk scale-up to commercial yields.
Finland’s University of Turku announced the MetaFerm project with €1.5M from Business Finland under Valio’s Food 2.0 program, developing fermented foods from peas, faba beans, oats, lupine, and hemp—led by professors Kati Hanhineva and Kaisa Linderborg with partners like HKFoods Finland Oy and Saarioinen Oy—to boost protein digestibility, nutrition, taste, and gut-friendliness.
Oshi Seafood announced its new scale-up machine to ramp plant-based salmon production, enhancing capacity for precision-fermented alternatives that mimic ocean-raised texture and taste.
Cultivated meat platform CellBase onboarded four additional suppliers, expanding its network to connect innovators with scalable bioprocessing solutions for faster market entry.
Buffalo startup FoodNerd closed a $7.5M Series Seed round led by Selva Ventures to propel its nutrient-dense plant-based toddler snacks like Mega Puffs into over 800 grocery stores nationwide.
“New Brand Who Dis”: Israeli foodtech startup Day 8, which upcycles leftover crop leaves into Rubisco protein, has announced a new website and brand refresh.
Biotech Hoxton Farms clinched the #12 spot on the Startups 100 2026 index for its stem cell-derived animal fats, partnering with food makers to deliver crave-worthy flavour and juiciness in alt-meat reformulations.
Vegan travel operator Veggies Abroad released its inaugural impact report, tracking 80 travelers across 15 countries in 2025 with 13% repeat bookings and over 26 tons of CO₂ offset through ethical itineraries.
Quorn Foods appointed Phil Thornborrow as US President and Damian McLoughlin as Global Foodservice Director to drive mycoprotein expansion into American restaurant channels and beyond.
Policy and awards
Pakistan’s PARI (Pakistan Animal Rights Initiative) was established as the country’s first fully vegan-led educational platform on veganism and antispeciesism, founded by ethical vegans including Ailya Khan, Muhammad Athar Ali Khan, Amna Shahid, Saba, and Sawera to amplify local voices without external dilution
University of Bonn launched an on-campus lab supermarket equipped with anonymized cameras to study healthy impulse buys, packaging influence, and shopper behaviour for better nutrition design.
Frozen food leader Amy’s Kitchen joined the Non-UPF Verified program by the Non-GMO Project, certifying its products steer clear of ultra-processing markers for enhanced transparency on ingredients and methods.
Mondelēz International, the company behind Oreos, updated its policy effective January 2026 to phase out animal testing except where legally mandated, while championing non-animal alternatives aligned with 3Rs principles.
The Grocer revealed nearly a fifth of Brits are participating in Veganuary 2026, reflecting surging plant-based trial rates compared to previous years amid growing accessibility.
Malta launches Eat for Impact in February via Friends of the Earth Malta and Planted Society, with seven restaurants, Palazzo Castelletti, The Harbour Club, Ġenna ta’ L-Art, Heirloom Streatery, Vincent Eco Estate, Pink Garlic Malta, and The Flying Saucer, offering new plant-based specials to cut environmental footprints, trackable via an end-of-month GHG report.
Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.