Author

Anay Mridul 1380 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.

Climate Change

UK Food Industry Leaders Draw Up Plan Suggesting a 20% Reduction in Meat & Dairy Consumption Needed to Achieve Net Zero

Anay Mridul Nov 11, 2024

Reaching the UK food system's climate goals isn't possible without a reduction in red meat and dairy consumption, industry leaders say in a new report. Food sector leaders in the UK have come together to produce a net-zero transition…
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Vegan Grocery Shopping

5 Takeaways From the First Six Months of Rewe’s Fully Plant-Based Supermarket in Germany

Anay Mridul Nov 8, 2024

It's been six months since German retailer Rewe opened Voll Pflanzlich, a fully vegan supermarket in Berlin. Here are the company's major learnings. There have been a number of progress markers for Rewe, the German retail giant, and its…
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Alt Protein

Price Hikes Work as Beyond Meat Returns to Revenue Growth for the First Time Since 2022

Anay Mridul Nov 7, 2024

Beyond Meat posted revenue growth for the first time in two years in Q3, buoyed by higher prices and a strong performance in Germany. It also teased its new mycelium steak. After losing year-on-year revenue for nine quarters in a row,…
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Policy & Regulation

Incoming EU Ag Chief Admits Plant Proteins Need Ramping Up – But for Livestock Feed

Anay Mridul Nov 7, 2024

Soon to be the EU's farming commissioner, Cristophe Hansen has called meat "part of a balanced diet", but admitted that we're "massively underproducing" plant proteins – not in the way you think, though. In three weeks, Cristophe Hansen…
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Green Finance

Billionaires Are the ‘Ultimate Beneficiaries’ of the EU’s Planet-Harming Farm Subsidies, Research Finds

Anay Mridul Nov 7, 2024

Some of Europe's richest are the "ultimate beneficiaries" linked to €3.3B of the EU's farm subsidies, a new investigation shows. What do the inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, the owner of the Wolverhampton Wanderers, a former prime…
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Plastic Pollution

What Donald Trump’s Election Victory Means for Food Tech in the US

Anay Mridul Nov 6, 2024

Donald J. Trump is president-elect again. Based on his track record and policy proposals, his election promises a rocky period for the US food tech sector. America has just elected a climate change denier as president. In his first…
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Vegan

UK Must Halve Meat & Dairy Consumption to Meet 2050 Net-Zero Target, Says Climate Change Committee

Anay Mridul Nov 6, 2024

The UK's Climate Change Committee is calling on the country to cut back on meat and dairy in an effort to meet its net-zero emissions goal. Ahead of COP29, the UN's annual climate summit, the UK's energy secretary is facing calls to…
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Future Foods

Future Food Quick Bites: Lighter Oatly, Vegan Shortening & Plant-Forward National Trust

Anay Mridul Nov 6, 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 Oatly's new barista milk for light-roasted coffee, European…
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Alt Dairy

As UK Embraces Gut Health, A New Oat Milk Brand Targets High-Fibre Nutrition for Kids

Anay Mridul Nov 6, 2024

Amid the rise of gut health and GLP-1 drugs in the UK, Potina is making high-fibre banana oat milks for improved children's nutrition. As the UK pushes back against junk food advertising and begins embracing GLP-1 drugs to combat the…
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Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Nordic Upcycled Mycelium Startup Enters Japan’s Increasingly Attractive Alternative Protein Market

Anay Mridul Nov 5, 2024

Oslo startup Norwegian Mycelium has set up a subsidiary in Japan and launched an upcycling service to turn food industry sidestreams into sustainable proteins. In another sign of Japan's growing appetite for alternative proteins,…
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Alt Protein

Halving Meat Consumption Can Cut Thailand’s Emissions by 80% & Add $37B to the Economy

Anay Mridul Nov 5, 2024

By replacing 50% of meat with plant-based proteins, Thailand could lower emissions by nearly 80%, while adding over a million jobs and boosting food security in the process. Thailand could become a "kitchen of the future" with an…
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Green Finance

World Bank, UN Climate Fund Among Public Banks That Invested $3.3B in Factory Farming in 2023

Anay Mridul Nov 5, 2024

Over a dozen development banks including the World Bank and the UN Green Climate Fund poured billions into animal agriculture last year, going against their own recommendations. The UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF), the World Bank Group,…
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Seafood

Four Seasons Hotel Reels In Vegan Seafood at San Francisco Restaurant

Anay Mridul Nov 4, 2024

Luxury hotel group Four Seasons has teamed up with Israel's Oshi to put its plant-based whole-cut salmon on the menu at MKT Restaurant and Bar in San Francisco. Showcasing the potential of plant-based seafood to adorn high-end…
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Vegan

The Nutritarian Diet: Could Plant-Rich Eating Slow Biological Ageing in Women?

Anay Mridul Nov 4, 2024

A new study shows a range of health benefits for women who follow a plant-rich "nutritarian" diet, including significantly slower biological ageing. In yet more evidence of the positive effects of plant-based eating on human health, a…
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Future Foods

Six Future Food Companies Gain Backing from EU Food Accelerator

Anay Mridul Nov 1, 2024

At EIT Food's new flagship event, Next Bite, six startups working in the future food space gained funding to test their technologies and accelerate their path to market. From cultivated meat and mycelium protein to cell-based chocolate,…
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Future Foods

Cultivated Meat, Lab-Grown Cotton Make It to Time’s Best Inventions of 2024 List

Anay Mridul Nov 1, 2024

Time Magazine has recognised a cultivated meat technology as one of the year's best inventions, alongside lab-grown cotton and an AI platform for functional plant-based ingredients. As further proof of the technology's potential for…
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Food & Nutrition

Smoothie King Responds to Ozempic Users’ Demand with GLP-1 Support Menu, But Misses One Key Trend

Anay Mridul Nov 1, 2024

Popular chain Smoothie King has introduced a GLP-1 Support Menu for customers on drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, but the lack of plant-based options is a big miss. As Ozempic continues to reshape the food industry, Smoothie King is…
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Alt Protein

European Research Funding for Alt-Protein Reached A Record High in 2023

Anay Mridul Nov 1, 2024

Research efforts for alternative proteins like plant-based and cultivated meat received €290M in funding last year, just as the number of studies on the topic proliferated. The only way for alternative proteins to reach the mainstream…
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Climate Change

Leading By Example: Brits Willing to Take Climate Action If Politicians & Celebrities Do So First

Anay Mridul Oct 31, 2024

A new study has revealed that UK consumers are more likely to curb their carbon footprint if they see their leaders take climate action. Politicians, business leaders and celebrities could be the "missing link" to public climate action,…
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Fermentation-Based Alt Protein

Enifer Eyes Novel Food Approval for Mycoprotein in EU, Singapore & Other Markets

Anay Mridul Oct 31, 2024

Finnish startup Enifer has filed for novel food approval in the EU for its Pekilo mycoprotein, and is planning applications in Singapore, the US, and the UK. Months after closing a Series B funding round and securing loans for a new…
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Alt Dairy

At Long Last, Non-Dairy Milk is Free at Starbucks As New CEO Looks to Turn A New Leaf

Anay Mridul Oct 31, 2024

Coinciding with the holiday season, Starbucks has permanently scrapped its surcharge for dairy-free milks like oat and almond in the US and Canada. Starbucks has announced that it is removing the infamous non-dairy surcharge from its…
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