Phytolon, a biotechnology company that offers natural food colors via fermentation-based technologies, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced the successful completion of the first development milestone of their multi-product collaboration to produce natural food colors and the resulting distribution of an equity milestone to Ginkgo.

Scientists in the field have found that the microbial community, or microbiome of the gut, affects not only gastrointestinal health, but has links to the brain, immune system and even our circadian clocks. 

Titled "PAT to Optimize the Cost, Consistency, and Yield of Cultivated Meat Production," the paper explores groundbreaking solutions to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of cultivated meat production processes through applied advanced sensor technology.

Food and beverage product developers continue to find new approaches to plant based product development. New technologies, consumer insights and increased scope of distribution have led momentum in the plant based segment. 

EQUII unveiled its latest triumph in nutritional innovation – the introduction of its new EQUII Complete Protein and Added Fiber breads, which are available in both Premium Classic Wheat + Fiber and Premium Multi-Grain + Fiber.

In the plant-based meat alternative category, high moisture texturates offer great potential due to their authentic, meat-like structure.

Ingredient innovator EVERY debuted its flagship EVERY Egg – a liquid egg made without the hen – at an exclusive dinner at the restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York City. Made by yeast fermentation, 

WNWN Food Labs, maker of cocoa-free chocolate, announced it has successfully completed the CoLab Tech accelerator with Mondelēz International, Inc., and will showcase its cocoa-free chocolate bars, truffles and coated biscuits at Mondelēz International’s North American headquarters.  

Although plant-based has become a popular term in the dairy- and meat-free categories, it does not accurately describe all developments in this fast-moving field. There are technologies that generate “animal-free,” bioidentical ingredients such as dairy whey and dairy casein. Even so, “plant-based” continues to grow in use, with indexed average annual growth of +42% between 2017 and 2022.

The past decade has seen the rise of natural, botanical sweeteners of all types and abilities flooding the market. These plant-derived sweeteners range from zero-calorie HIS products such as stevia and monkfruit to monosaccharides like unrefined plant sugars which offer only a slight reduction in calories but bring other advantages to the table. The challenge for product formulators is to meet the demand for products with less sugar but make them as indistinguishable as possible from their full-sugar counterparts.