One week in a post #19: Bee-less Honey, Bambara Groundnut, Cell-Cultured Dairy, and Seaweed Pasta.

Now that climate beneficial eating is becoming more popular, and a number of individuals and organizations are getting into the space, I feel called to share with a broader audience what I encounter every single day through my work at Future Food and Food for Climate League. Weekly, I share startups I read about, products I tasted, founders I met (and a bit of personal life!). Every single concept I mention will be tracked on a public database we’re populating. The overarching goal is to increase the general interest in this topic, acknowledging that the challenge is too big not to work cooperatively.

This initiative is possible thanks to our amazing Future Food Ecosystem, where our team is working head-down every single day to research, design, create, and commercialize new food solutions to help our planet.

My word of the week

Coconut. NOUN / fruit of the coconut palm. It's used for its water, milk, oil, and tasty meat. Coconuts have been grown in tropical regions for more than 4,500 years.

Food, Climate and Innovation: three highlights of the week

1/ Honey without the Bees?

Did you know, Pollinators (most often honey bees) are responsible for one in every three bites of food we take, and increase our nation’s crop values each year by more than $15 billion?

Yet, honey bees have been in serious decline for more than three decades in the United States. According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2017, the United States had 2.88 million honey bee colonies, down 12% from the record high 3.28 million colonies in 2012.

Bee colony death continues to increase: The Bee Informed Partnership’s latest survey, recently revealed that U.S. beekeepers lost nearly 40% of their honeybee colonies last winter — the greatest reported winter hive loss since the partnership started its surveys 13 years ago.

MeliBio is pioneering a proprietary technology based on plant biology, precision fermentation and food science that replaces honeybees with microorganisms as a medium for honey production. They are working towards creating a non-animal honey that not only mimics the characteristics of honey but also contains the same health benefits matching the nutrient composition. Last week they had the first live tasting in Berkley — exciting!

2/ Investing in Planet Friendly Spuds

Classic French fries, mashed potatoes, shepherds pie, bangers&mash, poutine, potato soup… the list goes on. Over a billion people worldwide eat potatoes. Potatoes are the third most important food crop in the world after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption.

There are more than 4,000 varieties of native potatoes. Global total crop production exceeds 300 million metric tons. Who new we could have so many varieties of french fries?

While the number of varieties is impressive, it really is the ability of the spud to withstand climate changes that is what we’d like to highlight.

Recently, much attention has been drawn to the Solanum tubersuom, nicknamed, “four corners potato” as researchers are fascinated by its disease-resistant and drought-resistant genes. According to Lisbeth Louderback, assistant professor of anthropology and curator of archaeology at the Natural History Museum of Utah, “This potato could be just as important as those we eat today not only in terms of a food plant from the past but as a potential food source for the future.”

On the other hand, Puffin Produce recently launched the UK’s First Carbon Neutral Potato, Root Zero. Why are these potatoes so special? Root Zero potatoes are certified carbon neutral and grown using sustainable farming practices to remove carbon dioxide, create healthy soil and increase local biodiversity. The planet-friendly potatoes are packed in 100% plastic-free paper bags which, the company has calculated, will prevent more than five and a half tonnes of plastic arriving on supermarket shelves.

Spuds play a role in the future of more climate-friendly consumption. Do you see yourself implementing them more into your diet or are they already a staple?

3/ Cell-Cultured Dairy

Just recently, the animal-free dairy company Perfect Day has announced raising $350 million in a Series D round, bringing its total funding to $750 million. Partnered with its CPG company, Urgent Company, they will be launching Modern Kitchen Cream Cheese showcasing the Perfect Day animal-free milk protein. The protein is made through precision fermentation, a process that involves encoding microbes with information to engineer a protein typically produced by an animal, and producing the protein in a fermentation tank.

If you are interested in trying, the flavors, Strawberry, Spring Onion + Chive, and Harissa Pepper, will debut at Brooklyn Bagelfest and gradually be implemented into retail locations.

Another brand expanding is TurtleTree, a Singapore-based startup, which has opened a new R&D facility in Sacramento California in order to take a bigger step towards the development of their precision fermentation technology which is currently used to produce milk ingredients like lactoferrin. While soy, almond, oat, hemp, and other plant options may seem like a “good enough” alternative to milk, the milk produced by TTL’s proposed approach has the ability to match nutritional content, taste, and quality of milk obtained traditionally. It’s the substitute that literally mimics.

Cell-cultured milks and meats aim to go beyond the “nicotine patch” value proposition, and build a long-lasting alternative able to fully revolutionize the way we define animal proteins.

Climate Friendly products of the week

1/ QOA

QOA makes cocoa-free chocolate using “precision fermentation” of other ingredients. Why am I SO excited about it? (because I am SO excited!)

• Novelty / It’s my first time looking at a cocoa-free chocolate!!
• Market / The global chocolate market is expected to grow from USD 138.5 billion in 2020 and reach USD 200.4 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 4.8% period 2021–2028.
• Sustainability / QOA can shrink the carbon footprint of chocolate; produced at scale, the cocoa replacement can also be less expensive that the real thing. And (crucially important), the commoditization of chocolate put cocoa workers under an insane pressure — solutions like QOA can help relive part of it.

2/ WhatIF Foods

WhatIF incorporates “Future Fit crops”, crops that are nutritionally dense, climate resilient, and resource efficient, into foods that are familiar comfort foods, like instant noodles, enhancing their nutritional profile, while ensuring they taste as yummy as ever. What I like about them:

• Sustainable Ingredient / The Bambara groundnut, utilized in many of WhatIF Food products, has the ability to grow on arid land with minimal water, while also restoring the land on which it is grown by boosting nitrogen in the soil. According to WhatIF Foods, the carbon footprint of its 100% vegan BamNut Milk is just one quarter of that of cow’s milk from New Zealand that has been shipped to Singapore.
• Nutrition / One serving of Bamnut Milk contains 7g of complete plant protein, 500mg of calcium, 2.5mcg of Vitamin D2 and 1.25mcg Vitamin B12. Bamnut M?LK is also a source of fibre and it is lactose-free.
• Market / The plant milk market size exceeded USD 12 Billion in 2019 and is estimated to achieve over 11% CAGR between 2020 and 2026.

3/ Blue Evolution

Blue Evolution is one of the largest growers of regenerative seaweed crops in North America; utilizing the seaweed they cultivate in the Pacific Ocean they have developed their own line of sea-weed based products. What’s interesting about them:

• Market / The Global Seaweed Snacks Market size is expected to reach $3 billion by 2026, rising at a market growth of 13.2% CAGR during the forecast period.
• Local Ingredients / Blue Evolution currently farms two seaweed varieties local to the Alaskan waters: Ribbon Kelp (wakame) and Sugar Kelp (kombu), which are blanched and frozen within hours of harvest to preserve color, taste, and nutritional value.
• Community Focus / Blue Evolution grows their seaweeds in partnership with local, family-owned farms. This provides sustainable income for future generations in these remote and struggling coastal fishing populations.

The Future Food Institute believes climate change is at the end of your fork. By harnessing the power of our global ecosystem of partners, innovators, researchers, educators, and entrepreneurs, FFI aims to sustainably improve life on Earth through the transformation of global food systems.

Learn more at www.futurefoodinsitute.org, or join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

Or attend a program through the FutureFood.Academy!

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👉👉 Thank you Natalie Brandenburg for the priceless help putting this article together!