The Week In Food Tech: Choc Affair’s Plant-Based Chocolate Bars, Vegan Whipped Cream From Starbucks

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: the UK’s Choc Affair launches a vegan chocolate bar, Starbucks unveils vegan whipped cream in the US, and an ingredients company invests in more R&D in Europe.

Choc Affair launches the UK’s first vegan-registered chocolate bars

The British confectionary company has launched a range of oat milk chocolate bars registered with The Vegan Society’s Vegan trademark. The company says the launch is in response to a growing demand for more sustainable chocolate options. Choc Affair’s new plant-based flavors will include classic milk, salted caramel, lemon and raspberry, and orange and rhubarb.

Roquette invests $13M in R&D center for plant protein

France-based ingredients company Roquette has opened a R&D facility in Vic-Sur-Aisne to develop new pea and wheat proteins. The new center, which will create more than 130 job, will also serve as a testing ground for new protein ingredients. 

Starbucks tests vegan whipped cream

US-based coffee giant Starbucks is testing a new lentil-based whipped cream at two of its locations in the Seattle area, where the company is headquartered. If successful at these test stores, the whipped cream will become available nationwide across the US. The addition follows Starbucks’ recent move to add Oatly oat milk and other vegan options to its menus in various regions.

1 in 3 Brits drink plant-based milk

Recent research from Mintel found that one in three Britons now drink plant-based milk. UK shoppers spent £100 million more on alternative milk in 2020, including those made from oats, almonds, or soy. Oat milk has overtaken almond milk as the drink of choice.

New Quorn fund to award UK and Irish filmmakers 

British alt-meat company Quorn has launched the Pioneers Film Fund, which calls on UK and Irish filmmakers to creatively answer the question, What is the future of our food? Filmmakers interested in applying should make an 8- to 12-minute documentary about the topic. The fund will award three filmmakers and their teams £15,000 each. Apply here.

Hershey trialing a plant-based chocolate bar

Hershey is testing a plant-based chocolate bar, dubbed Oat Made, in select markets in the US. The new bar comes in several flavors: Extra Creamy Almond and Sea Salt, and Classic Dark Chocolate. Both will be available through June 2022.

Lead image courtesy of Choc Affair.