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.

Food & Nutrition

The Food System Costs Us $15T Every Year – Here’s How to Fix It

Anay Mridul Feb 2, 2024

The unaccounted costs of the global food system on human and planetary health amounts to $15T a year, according to a new report, which predicts contrasting futures based on current trends and transformation pathways, and suggests the best…
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Climate Change

With Investigations and Regulations Against the Market, Are Carbon Offsets in Trouble?

Anay Mridul Feb 1, 2024

From one greenwashing scandal to the next, carbon offsets have developed a notorious reputation over the last few years. As more investigations call out their inflated claims and regulations clamp down on the sector, could the voluntary…
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Chocolate

Planet A Foods Raises $15.4M in Series A Funding, As It Nears UK Launch for Cocoa-Free Chocolate

Anay Mridul Feb 1, 2024

German fermentation tech startup Planet A Foods, the parent company of cocoa-free chocolate brand ChoViva, has secured $15.4M in a Series A funding round. On the heels of partnerships with industry giants, It plans to introduce its product…
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Pets

Wild Earth’s Ryan Bethencourt: ‘Our Mission is to Make Killer Food, Without the Killing’

Anay Mridul Feb 1, 2024

In an exclusive interview with Green Queen, Wild Earth co-founder and alt-protein investor Ryan Bethencourt talks the death threats he's received, his experience with Shark Tank and Mark Cuban, his investment criteria, learning from Tesla,…
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Alt Protein

Disassociating From the Beginning: US Senators Propose a Ban on Cultivated Meat in School Meals

Anay Mridul Feb 1, 2024

Amid a flurry of proposed bans on cultivated meat in the US and around the world, two senators have now introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of cultured meat in school meals. Just as American schoolchildren are having to fight…
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Vegan

Breaking the Jell-O Mould: Oddball’s Sophia Cheng Wants to Make Plant-Based Jelly a Superfood Snack

Anay Mridul Jan 31, 2024

Oddball is hoping to reinvent jelly from the "almost scientific product" to a vegan, clean-label, superfood snack that takes inspiration from her childhood growing up in Asia and hopes to take back control from the big corps. Will it take…
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Vegan

‘A Religious Obsession’: Eat Just Responds to Consumer Demand by Bringing Back Vegan Mayo & Ranch

Anay Mridul Jan 31, 2024

Eat Just has relaunched its vegan mayonnaise and ranch lines, citing years of requests from consumers to bring back the products. The return of the SKUs, which were discontinued after major controversy and to focus on the Just Egg rollout,…
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Future Foods

Future Food Quick Bites: Dupe Cheese, Squeezy Sour Cream & TikTok Butter

Anay Mridul Jan 31, 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 a ton of alt-dairy developments, more discussions around banning…
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Cell-Based News

‘Immense Potential’: Indian Government Body to Develop Cultivated Fish in Partnership with Neat Meatt

Anay Mridul Jan 30, 2024

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, the Indian government is embarking on a project to create cell-cultured seafood with cultivated meat startup Neat Meatt Biotech. The ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has…
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Vegan

Nearly 5% of Brits are Vegan, Following a Steep Rise in 2023 – But Climate Language Remains Unclear

Anay Mridul Jan 30, 2024

The number of vegans in the UK has grown by 78%, reaching 2.5 million, according to an annual survey by Finder. This means 4.7% of adult Brits follow a plant-based diet – but separate research shows little understanding of climate language…
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Coffee

Israeli Startup Pluri Launches Cell-Based Coffee Business with Industrial Production Capacity

Anay Mridul Jan 30, 2024

Israeli cellular agriculture firm Pluri has launched a cell-based coffee business, which will be spun out into a new subsidiary focused on industrial-scale production to combat the crop's climate challenges. As arable land shrinks by…
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Alt Protein

SciFi Foods Completes Commercial-Scale Production to Bring Hybrid Beef One Step Closer to Your Plate

Anay Mridul Jan 30, 2024

San Francisco-based SciFi Foods has announced the successful completion of its first 500-litre bioreactor run in its recently opened facility in San Leandro. The startup now aims to complete regulatory approval and enter US foodservice by…
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Chocolate

Voyage Foods Secures $22M in Funding, as LCA Claims It Makes the ‘Most Sustainable Chocolates Ever’

Anay Mridul Jan 29, 2024

Californian CPG startup Voyage Foods, which makes ethical and eco-friendly pantry staples, has raised $22M in funding, and released the results of a life-cycle assessment that shows its cocoa-free chocolate produces up to 88% fewer GHG…
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Climate Change

Cool Food: Robert Downey Jr Says New Book Shows You How Your Diet Can Fix the Climate

Anay Mridul Jan 29, 2024

In Cool Food, Robert Downey Jr and climate author Thomas Kostigen unveil a new category of food: one that's better for you and the planet. There's talk about ancient grains, future foods, meal kits, shopping lists, recipes, and the Iron…
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Alt Dairy

Super Bowl LVIII: Silk Taps Avenger Jeremy Renner for New Plant-Based Milk Commercial

Anay Mridul Jan 29, 2024

Plant-based milk brand Silk will air its first Super Bowl commercial at this year's championship game next month, featuring MCU star Jeremy Renner on his return from a freak accident last year. But will it work? Silk had made it to the…
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Vegan

Baltimore Becomes First US City to Proclaim January as Official Veganuary Month

Anay Mridul Jan 28, 2024

Baltimore has become the first-ever US city to declare January as the official month of Veganuary, with Mayor Brandon Scott highlighting the planetary, animal welfare and health benefits of plant-based diets in his proclamation. …
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Women & Gender Rights

Kelpon: German Female Founding Duo Raises 7-Figure Seed for World’s First Seaweed Tampon with Self-Created Financial Instrument

Anay Mridul Jan 27, 2024

Vyld, the female-founded Berlin startup making sustainable period products from algae, has secured a seven-figure sum in seed funding that includes a financing instrument they created themselves. Three years after launch, Vyld has…
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Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Whole Cut Maker Chunk Foods Adds $7.5M to Seed, Enters Mexican Market with Better Balance Partnership

Anay Mridul Jan 26, 2024

US plant-based whole-cut meat producer Chunk Foods has raised $7.5M in an additional seed funding round and inked a partnership with plant protein company Better Balance to expand into Latin America. Chunk Foods has added to its seed…
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Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Mushrooms Galore: Mycelium Startup Infinite Roots Bags Record $58M Series B Funding

Anay Mridul Jan 26, 2024

German biotech startup Infinite Roots has secured $58M in Series B funding, which it claims is the largest investment in mycelium in Europe. Hamburg-based Infinite Roots has closed a $58M Series B financing round, described as Europe's…
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Alt Protein

Here’s What Went Down at the EU Agrifish Council Meeting on Cultivated Meat

Anay Mridul Jan 26, 2024

Ministers from 13 nations are pushing back strongly against the EU's cultivated meat policy and asking the bloc to rethink its novel foods regulatory process in the interest of safety. Some countries are resisting the move, but the EU…
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Seafood

Steakholder Foods: Israeli Startup Expands Seafood Range with 3D-Printed Shrimp

Anay Mridul Jan 26, 2024

Israeli startup Steakholder Foods has added a 3D-printed shrimp prototype to an expanding roster of alternative seafood products. The company plans to also introduce a hybrid version if costs allow. A month after unveiling the world's…
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