The Week In Food Tech: Boring Oat Milk, Beyond vs. Impossible, Fake Blood At UC Berkeley

Just a few short years ago, it was unusual to get more than a handful of stories each week about meat analogues, dairy alternatives, and other alt foods. Nowadays, the opposite is true. In fact, there are so many developments in the alt-protein and food tech space we decided to create a weekly column that gathers all the various bits of news out there into one single place for easy reading. This week, New Zealand unveils a new oat milk, students protest factory farming with fake blood, and consumers unveil their preferences around plant-based meat.

Beyond vs. Impossible: New data shows US consumer preferences by state

A new map from vegan recipe site Vegan in the Freezer displays which of the big two alt-meat companies — Beyond and Impossible — each US state prefers. The map is based on geotagged data from Twitter. It shows that while Beyond is more popular overall, certain regions, such as the South and Midwest, largely prefer Impossible Foods.

UC Berkeley students use fake blood to protest factory farming

Students and the University of California, Berkeley, covered the steps of Sproul Hall with fake blood recently to protest the school’s buying meat from factory farms. The protest follows an investigation into UC Berkeley supplier Tyson Foods that found chickens starving to death and unable to walk or stand to reach food and water. Students want the university to stop supplying from factory farms, including those owned by Hormel, Tyson, and Harris Ranch.

New Zealand’s Boring Oat Milk unveil’s plant-based alt-milk product

The plant-based milk category got a new entrant recently with the introduction of Boring Oat Milk. The New Zealand-based company will launch a couple different varieties of its product (also called Boring Oat Milk): an original and a barista-grade milk. Both products are made with New Zealand oats from the South Island, are vegan friendly, and contain no added sugars.

ADM and NTU Singapore launch a challenge to encourage alt-protein innovation

ADM and NTUitive, the innovation and enterprise company of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, launched the Plant-based Perfection Challenge, according to a press release sent to Green Queen. Through it, aspiring chefs and students are encouraged to create the best dishes for the Asian market using plant-based ingredients. Cvrry, which makes vegan chicken curry puffs (see above) won the competition and was awarded $3,000 plus opportunities with ADM.

India’s WhiteCub launches a vegan butter

Dairy-free brand WhiteCub recently announced its first-ever vegan butter, which the company says is completely plant-based and includes vitamins B12 and D. The company, which serves markets across India, plans to continue adding to its lineup of dairy alternatives, which also currently includes more than 20 different ice cream flavors.

Mod Pizza launches a plant-based Italian sausage

US-based fast-casual pizza chain Mod Pizza announced a new plant-based topping, a non-GMO “sausage” made from pea protein that was developed exclusively with Plantly. The ingredient will now be a permanent fixture on the Mod Pizza menu, and marks the first time the company has added a plant-based meat option as a topping.

Survey: 1 in 5 children don’t know steak, sausages, and ham are meat

According to a new survey from alt-protein company Meatless Farm, one in five children “have no idea” that steak, sausages, and ham are real meat. One-third of 4- 16-year-olds surveyed do not know that a pepperoni contains meat, while one-fifth believe sausage rolls and nuggets contain no meat.

Lead image courtesy of Impossible Foods.