Author

Anay Mridul 1290 posts 0 comments

Anay is Green Queen's resident news reporter. Originally from India, he worked as a vegan food writer and editor in London, and is now travelling and reporting from across Asia. He's passionate about coffee, plant-based milk, cooking, eating, veganism, food tech, writing about all that, profiling people, and the Oxford comma.

Alt Protein

Price Parity: 6 Steps to Make Plant-Based Meats Cheaper Than Conventional Meat

Anay Mridul Feb 27, 2024

With even the cheapest plant-based meat products usually more expensive than conventional protein, cost remains a key consumption barrier for vegan alternatives – a new report shows how these can reach price parity. Plant-based meat has…
Read More...

Food & Nutrition

Two-Thirds of the UK’s Biggest Food Companies Make Money from Unhealthy Products Marketed to Children

Anay Mridul Feb 27, 2024

Seven of the 10 largest food companies are reliant on unhealthy products for a majority of their sales in the UK, with each of these using influential child-appealing packaging, finds a new report. In the UK, one in three children are…
Read More...

Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Precision Fermentation: Industry Stakeholders Release Refined Definition as Alt-Protein Sector Heats Up

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2024

The Precision Fermentation Alliance (PFA) and Food Fermentation Europe (FFE) have together announced a refined definition of precision fermentation to provide clarity and distinction from other food technologies, in the face of rapid…
Read More...

Alt Dairy

Not ‘Mylk’: Plant-Based Industry to Fight New UK Proposal That Could Force Alt-Dairy Products to Change Their Labels

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2024

A British trade standards group is pushing for guidance that would ban the use of alternative descriptors like 'mylk', 'cheeze', or 'yoghurt-style' on plant-based dairy packaging. The UK could soon issue new guidance prohibiting…
Read More...

Food & Nutrition

5 Ways Weight-Loss Drugs Like Ozempic & Wegovy Will Change the Food Industry

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2024

Semaglutide drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are making headlines daily as more and more people get prescriptions; here's how these drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy could change the food industry. With a third of Americans clinically obese,…
Read More...

Food & Nutrition

While French Ministers Fight Alternative Protein, Health & Climate Experts Call for Dietary Guidelines to Reduce Meat

Anay Mridul Feb 26, 2024

As France restricts plant-based meat labels, pushes to ban cultivated meat, and encourages factory farming, nutrition experts and climate activists are urging the national dietary guidelines to recommend a reduction in meat consumption. …
Read More...

Policy & Regulation

Italy Rethinking Its Plant-Based Meat Labelling Ban to Avoid ‘Conflict with Italian Companies’

Anay Mridul Feb 23, 2024

Despite its hard-line stance on alternative protein in the last few months, Italy is reconsidering its ban on using meat-like terms on plant-based product labels, with Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida indicating that he doesn't…
Read More...

Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Unilever to Launch Breyers Ice Cream with Perfect Day’s Precision-Fermented Whey

Anay Mridul Feb 23, 2024

CPG giant Unilever has teamed up with precision fermentation pioneer Perfect Day for a new SKU, a lactose-free ice cream under the Breyers brand, to bolster its climate strategy and net-zero plans. As it seeks to cut supply chain…
Read More...

Cell-Based News

South Korea Establishes Framework for Regulatory Approval of Cultivated Meat, With Applications Expected Soon

Anay Mridul Feb 23, 2024

South Korea has opened up the regulatory approval process for cultivated meat, after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety established the framework for these applications. During the launch of the APAC Regulatory Coordination…
Read More...

Alt Protein

70/30 Food Tech Closes $700K Seed Extension & Launches Research Lab for Mycelium Protein

Anay Mridul Feb 22, 2024

Singapore-based 70/30 Food Tech has closed a $700,000 seed extension round, which has helped it launch a research lab to develop mycelium-based protein products, starting with shredded chicken. 70/30 Food Tech's latest fundraiser saw…
Read More...

Animal Rights

Cage-Free Policy: New Zealand & Israel Lead APAC’s Animal Welfare Standards, While SE Asia Lags

Anay Mridul Feb 22, 2024

New Zealand has the most robust cage-free policy framework across Asia-Pacific, while Bangladesh, Malaysia and Vietnam have the joint worst, according to a new 17-country report. With consumer unease over animal welfare increasing – a…
Read More...

Coffee

Prefer Brews Up $2M in Seed Funding to Make Beanless Coffee from Surplus Bread, Soy Pulp & Spent Grain

Anay Mridul Feb 22, 2024

Singaporean food tech startup Prefer, which makes beanless coffee from food industry sidestream ingredients, has raised $2M to fund a larger production facility and its Asia expansion. How do you Prefer your coffee? If you ask Jake…
Read More...

Alt Protein

Beyond Meat IV: Meatier, Healthier & Costlier Plant-Based Burgers

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2024

Californian plant-based giant Beyond Meat has unveiled its first beef product reformulation in three years, with the Beyond IV burger and mince now featuring avocado oil, fava beans and lentils. It's a more nutritious product, but it's…
Read More...

Alt Protein

10,000 Locations by Year-End: Meati Appoints New CEO, Lays Off 13% Staff in Bid for Profitability

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2024

US mycelium meat maker Meati has appointed a new CEO and cut 13% of its workforce in a right-sizing move aimed at reaching profitability. Meati has switched up its C-suite by making Phil Graves its new CEO. The former Patagonia…
Read More...

Cell-Based News

Israel’s Aleph Farms Partners with Thailand’s First Cultivated Meat Manufacturing Facility

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2024

Israeli cultivated meat leader Aleph Farms is advancing its Southeast Asia strategy with an "asset-light" approach through a deal that will involve the first production facility dedicated to cultured meat in Thailand. Aleph Farms has…
Read More...

Future Foods

Future Food Quick Bites: Million-Dollar Whoppers, Korean Vegan Tours & Plant-Based Cordon Bleu

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2024

In our weekly column, we round up the latest news and developments in the alternative protein and sustainable food industry. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers South Korea's vegan tourism drive, a new hybrid cultivated beef rice,…
Read More...

Alt Protein

‘World’s Most Abundant Protein’ Cheap Enough to Replace Soy: Upcycled Rubisco Protein Startup Day 8 Nabs $750K Pre-Seed

Anay Mridul Feb 21, 2024

Israeli startup Day 8, which produces upcycled plant-based proteins from Rubisco, has secured a pre-seed investment of $750,000 from food tech incubator and investor The Kitchen Hub. Day 8 has closed a $750,000 pre-seed financing round…
Read More...

Beauty

The Body Shop: How the Ethical Beauty Pioneer’s Fortunes Soured, and What Happens Next

Anay Mridul Feb 20, 2024

The Body Shop has announced that its UK and German operations have gone into administration, with its business in other countries also in jeopardy. How did it get here, and what's next? A pioneer of cruelty-free beauty and a beloved…
Read More...

Alt Protein

Inside Meat the Mushroom’s Vegan Bacon Pitch on Shark Tank

Anay Mridul Feb 20, 2024

Black-owned plant-based meat company Meat the Mushroom secured investment from two Sharks in the ongoing season on Shark Tank – here's the inside story on how it all went down. "In Shark Tank, we have so many plant-based products – they…
Read More...

Cell-Based News

Alabama Senate Passes Bill to Ban Cultivated Meat, as Legislative Opposition Heats Up in Election Year

Anay Mridul Feb 20, 2024

Alabama has become the latest US state to take legislative action against cultivated meat, with the Senate passing a bill to ban these proteins. The bill will now move to the House of Representatives, where it could become law. It's…
Read More...

Seafood

With a $3.3M Pre-Seed Round, Pacifico Biolabs Bets on Fermentation to Perk Up Alternative Seafood Sector

Anay Mridul Feb 20, 2024

German startup Pacifico Foodlabs, which makes alternative proteins from biomass fermentation, has emerged from stealth with $3.3M in pre-seed financing. It is starting with seafood analogues. Founded in November 2022 by Washington…
Read More...

Load More Posts