Industry & News

MOA Foodtech has teamed up with Spanish cereal innovation centre Espiga I+D in a 'Bakery Innovation Alliance' to validate its MOA Q5 egg replacer on pilot and semi-industrial equipment, including lines with lamination and rounding. Q5 is a single-ingredient biomass-fermentation product made from starch-rich industrial by-products, declared as 'yeast' on the label, non-GMO and not requiring Novel Food authorization. It has been validated in bakery, pastry and pasta, and manufacturers can access samples and support to cut egg and the E-471 emulsifier.

UK food-tech MicroLub, a University of Leeds spinout, closed a £7.5M ($10M) round led by Northern Gritstone to scale its microgel technology, which coats protein scaffolds with polysaccharides so they release water on chewing and mimic the creamy mouthfeel of fat. The company says the approach cuts fat and calories in foods like cheese, yogurt and baked goods by up to 75% while cutting molecular friction 20-fold versus water and 10-fold versus rival fat replacers.

Japanese retailer Aeon is launching three new snacks — a pistachio bar, caramelized almond balls, and cranberry-feuilletine bites — coated in Fuji Oil's cocoa-free Anoza M, a blend of pea protein, carob and chocolate-grade fats, across roughly 3,500 Aeon, Aeon Style and MaxValu stores. The pea component supplies richness and smoothness while carob delivers a cocoa-like aroma, complementing Aeon's existing sunflower-based ChoViva line from Planet A Foods.

Finnish precision-fermentation startup Onego Bio will supply Brooklyn's Zen Waffles with Bioalbumen, a recombinant ovalbumin grown in Trichoderma reesei that matches chicken egg white's amino acid sequence and scores a perfect 1.0 PDCAAS. The shelf-stable powder is claimed to provide structure for a tender interior and support browning for a crisp exterior in the waffles.

London startup Feisty, founded by ex-Louis Vuitton designer Vy Cutting and scientist Hong Huynh, raised £500,000 ($677,000) led by BTomorrow Ventures after three and a half years of formulation work. Using hydrolyzed pea and rice protein with filtered fat and carbs and smaller particle sizes, each 330ml carbonated can delivers 10g complete protein at 62-67 kcal with no added sugar or major allergens.

Superbrewed Food has launched Thryvia, a postbiotic made from heat-killed Clostridium tyrobutyricum biomass that works at doses as low as 200mg per serving, formulated for capsules, powders, gummies, bars, foods and beverages. Because the bacteria are non-viable, the ingredient is shelf-stable at room temperature and can survive UHT processing — conditions that would kill a live probiotic.

dsm-firmenich is taking its Protopia single-cell protein — made from an optimized torula yeast strain — to a 120,000-liter fermentation run in 2026, with a new Eastern European facility targeting 2,000-10,000 tons a year by 2027. The strain runs on almost any feedstock (ethanol, methanol, acetate, sugar or molasses), yields around 70% protein content, and hits a PDCAAS digestibility score of 0.94-0.96, comparable to animal protein.

Offbeast, formerly Mooji Meats, has engineered a whole-cut blended beef product that's half conventional meat and half plant-based binder, using a fiber-alignment process adapted from its earlier 3D-printing work. In blind trials, 16 of 20 tasters rated the 23g-protein-per-100g product as indistinguishable from conventional meat, and the company says the process can lift beef margins 200-400% for processors.

As whey prices have surged 108% in two years amid a cheese-driven supply crunch, NNB Nutrition and Axiom Foods have launched PeptiClear, a line of hydrolysed, neutral-tasting plant proteins with the solubility and transparency needed for clear beverages. The line includes DL-185, a leucine dipeptide the companies say boosts muscle protein synthesis about 60% more effectively than standalone leucine.

Vancouver's Cultivated Food Labs (a Gathered Foods venture) uses yeast fermentation and enzymatic treatment to convert faba bean hulls into a cocoa alternative that can replace up to half of conventional or Dutch-processed cocoa without a sensory drop-off. The company says its unit economics hold even if cocoa prices swing 10x, and it's moving from TRL 6.5 toward a commercial-scale production trial later in 2026.

South Korea's CJ CheilJedang unveiled two new soy milks — almond and faro flavors — under its Altive brand, each carrying just 1g of sugar per 190ml pack while relying on the natural sweetness of soybeans and grains. The launch comes alongside a reformulation of Altive's protein shakes, now delivering 21g of plant protein per 250ml bottle with improved flavor, as the brand refreshes its packaging to chase younger consumers in Korea's growing non-dairy milk market.

C16 Biosciences has launched a precision-fermented cocoa butter equivalent under its Palmless brand, grown from naturally occurring microorganisms via aerobic fermentation and built on the same Torula Oil platform the company already sells as a palm-oil substitute in beauty products. CEO Shara Ticku says the ingredient is designed to shield chocolate makers from the variable performance, supply shocks and volatile pricing that plague conventional cocoa butter.

All G's LFX apo-lactoferrin is a bovine-equivalent lactoferrin made via precision fermentation with under 5% iron saturation achieved during fermentation rather than costly downstream processing. In its apo state the protein binds free iron and starves harmful bacteria, and All G — producing at 60,000-litre scale with partners Armor Protéines, Döhler and Savencia — is targeting supplements, infant formula and sports nutrition, categories long constrained by dairy-derived lactoferrin's ~$650/kg price.

New Culture has been granted US Patent No. 12,635,703 for its animal-free mozzarella, which combines precision-fermented alpha-s1 casein with plant oils, salts, sugars and minerals to hit specific stretch and texture thresholds. The company is targeting foodservice first, especially the $9 billion US pizzeria mozzarella segment, betting seven years of casein optimization work will let it eventually undercut conventional dairy on cost.

MALK Organics and Coconut Cult have made their limited-edition Vanilla MALK Shake a permanent fixture at Whole Foods Market nationwide, blending Coconut Cult's fermented coconut yogurt with MALK's organic coconut milk. The product packs 16 live probiotic strains and hundreds of billions of CFU, with no gums, fillers, or artificial ingredients.

Nestlé's new PCT filing describes a completely clear, neutral-pH beverage carrying over 1% whey protein isolate that stays invisible in water or tea, then self-gels into a soft layer the instant it meets something acidic like coffee or juice — solving whey's decades-old "gritty, sour" image problem.

That's It Nutrition patented a two-stage dehydration process — finishing with a microwave drying step — that turns apples, sweet potatoes, and carrots into a shelf-stable, crunchy, grain-free cereal, with seasoning driven deep into the fruit tissue rather than dusted on top.

Mars, Incorporated has filed a patent for a vegan ice cream formulated with urad beans (black gram lentils), whose proteins and carbohydrates form stable structures that slow melting and improve texture and mouthfeel. The company says the formulation keeps its shape for up to two hours at room temperature, aimed primarily at improving cold-chain and retail-display stability rather than a specific product launch.

Givaudan patented an encapsulation method using only food-grade proteins and sugars (no synthetic polymers) to protect fragile natural oil-soluble colors — like paprika, annatto, and turmeric — from light, heat, and oxidation-driven off-flavors in snacks.

Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG and Savanna Ingredients GmbH jointly patented "Chocolate Comprising Allulose," a low-calorie, sugar-reduced chocolate composition aimed at keeping traditional taste and mouthfeel while cutting sugar content.

Nanomik, founded by Buse Berber Örçen and Arda Örçen, uses a patented microencapsulation process (Turkish patent TR201905122T4) to stabilize plant- and microorganism-derived natural molecules so they perform as effectively as chemical preservatives — offered as a 'Microencapsulation as a Service' model to food, agriculture and construction customers. The company closed a €1M pre-Series A bridge round led by Arya VC, with field trials already run in 8 countries.

Jiangnan University's patented process uses decalcified milk protein concentrate to raise yogurt's protein content while avoiding the acidic-whey byproduct and nutrient loss that plague conventional high-protein yogurt methods.