Future Food Quick Bites: This Isn’t Steak, MorningStar Burger & NIQ Million Club
Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers This’s whole-cut steak fillet, Planet A Foods’s cocoa-free Easter eggs, and Morningstar Farms’s veggie burger.
New products and launches
UK plant-based meat startup This has introduced a whole-muscle steak fillet marinated with black peppercorns. Each pack contains two 110g cuts with 31g of soy and wheat protein, and will be available at Tesco, Asda and Waitrose this month, and Sainsbury’s in early May, for £7.
German cocoa-free chocolate producer Planet A Foods has launched Easter eggs featuring its Choviva ingredient in the UK, France, and Australia.
Irish plant-based company Fiid has debuted a new brand identity and overhauled its business, with a new CEO in Julia Kessler and new recipes for its ready meals, which now contain lower fat, sugar and salt, and more lentils and beans. They’re available at Booths, Amazon and independent stores for £2.95.
Across the Atlantic, Oatly has expanded its presence at US bulk retailer Costco with a regional rollout across its Northeast stores, and is offering $3 off a three-pack of its 64oz original oat milk cartons until the end of April.
Morningstar Farms, one of the leading plant-based brands in the US (a subsidiary of Mars), has launched its Royal Thai Curry Patties in the foodservice and away-from-home channels. The veggie burgers comprise nine vegetables, and build on data showing that veg-led products are outpacing meat analogues.
And global plant-based ingredient producer Primient has created a new Biosolutions business unit to accelerate the commercialisation of high-value bio-based solutions.
Company and finance updates
Finnish startup Enifer has completed a four-metric-tonne production of its Pekilo Pet mycoprotein, marking the first time the ingredient is available in meaningful quantities for manufacturer formulation trials.
Singaporean food tech startup Prefer, known for its bean-free coffee and chocolate, has completed the move of its headquarters to A*StartCentral.
Canadian algal omega-3 producer Mara Renewables has named Honsea Sunshine as the exclusive distributor of its fermentation-derived DHA in China.
The European Alliance for Plant-Based Foods has hired Thomas Schobesberger, a former political advisor to the Austrian health ministry, as its new secretary-general. He takes over from Siska Pottie.
Jason Ng Chin Aik, founder of Malaysian cultivated meat contract manufacturer Cell AgriTech, has been appointed president of the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture for the 2026-27 financial year.
In the UK, plant-based startups Tiba Tempeh, One Planet Pizza and Bosh! have all joined NielsenIQ‘s Million Club, which recognises brands that have hit £1M in retail sales.
Scientists at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University have secured funding from UK Research and Innovation to produce healthier vegan cheese without saturated tropical fats like coconut or palm oil. They’re using oleogelation to turn liquid vegetable oils into melty cheese alternatives.
Research, policy and awards
A new study explores co-culture systems and the integration of organ functionalities to improve cultivated meat products and get them closer to parity with conventional animal proteins.
Researchers at the Faculty of Food Engineering of Unicamp in Brazil have worked with the National Institute of Amazonian Research and the Good Food Institute to develop a fungi fermentation process that uses agricultural waste to produce plant-based flours that naturally carry the aroma of meat.
Finally, US celebrity-backed vegan pet food startup Bramble has won first prize at the Global Pet Expo’s Best In Show’s dog food and treats category.
Check out last week’s Future Food Quick Bites.