• 📺 Watch: How ZenB Has Built Around A Simple Pea Ingredient
• 🧑‍⚖️ Will Kroger’s Modified Merger Plan Resolve Antitrust Issue?
• 🆕 Gallery: Peep The Rebrands And Packaging Refreshes At Expo West
• 🐟 Gingko Bioworks Helps To Scale Alt-Seafood
• ⛰️ Patagonia’s CEO Shares The Playbook On Preservation & Provisions

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the cell-cultured (or “lab-grown”) meat sphere so that means it's likely a good time to check in on the good, the bad and the thought-provoking developments making headlines.

The Good Food Institute (GFI) shared survey results last month that gauged consumer’s appetite for cultured meat and said that education is one of the main barriers to making the innovation palatable (metaphorically speaking). Yet, with all the news that is about to follow, it seems the nascent food tech industry needs more than better storytelling. Let’s take a trip around the world to see what’s cooking:

In Singapore, one of the most hearty supporters of cell-cultured meat, two companies have combined to further cultured seafood production. Umami Bioworks acquired Shiok Meats about a week ago in a share-for-share transaction that will bring Shiok’s research and IP of crustacean-based cell culture under Umami’s R&D umbrella less than a year after the former announced it had paused research in the segment as funding dried.

The GOOD Meat Company is also pressing the ⏸️ button in Singapore. Eat JUST’s cultured meat division announced recently it had “temporarily paused” production and service to customers in the island nation. The company’s partnership with restaurant China Chilcano in Washington D.C. has also reportedly paused reservations for its cultured chicken dining experience.

🏭 Production seems to be a common denominator with UPSIDE Foods also tabling its plan to move into a 187,000 commercial facility in Illinois…at least for now. The company’s cell-cultured chicken is also no longer available in fine dining with San Francisco’s Bar Crenn putting the brakes on its special tasting menu last month. 

🐊 Whether it's GOOD or UPSIDE, don’t expect to see lab-grown alligator meat anytime soon in Florida (not that either company had hinted at plans to produce it). The Sunshine State is poised to be the first to ban the production, sale or distribution of cultivated meat in an attempt to protect the state’s livestock industry. Arizona is also weighing similar legislation with Kentucky, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Alabama possibly following suit.

💸 It's not all disappointing news though. Money continues to flow. Berkeley, California-based cultured beef maker Orbillion landed fresh funding to the tune of $15 million to scale its production.

The USDA’s National Institute of Cellular Agriculture (NICA) located at Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture announced it had opened applications for its Seed Grant Program. The program will award $25,000 or $50,000 grants to researchers working in cell-cultured protein as well as precision fermentation and alternative proteins.

What does it all mean? Well, tuck your steak knives away for now as it seems like there’s a long road ahead before cell-cultured meat graces any retail grocery store shelves… let alone is served up on a sampling menu.

Pantry staple brand ZenB exhibited an expanded lineup of pastas, sides and snacks at Expo West. Owned by Japanese Mizkan Group, which also owns Ragu and Bertolli, the brand has quickly innovated and entered new categories with a single legume as its North Star – the yellow pea – but how does it decide what comes next?

At Natural Products Expo West reporter Adrianne DeLuca spoke with ZenB CMO Hugo Perez about how the company has worked to expose U.S. consumers to the ingredient, how it assesses new innovations and what role its legacy parent company plays as products move down the pipeline.

Check out the full interview on Nosh

Expo West is not just a place for brands to show off new product innovations, line extensions and additional flavor varieties. Many brands come to the event to unveil new looks ranging from rebrands to packaging adjustments. Check out our recap of new designs spotted at this year’s show:

🤔 Some brands reinvented themselves with whole new identities like Twangerz, Paul’s Table and Suckerz, who all adjusted their names to draw in more potential consumers.

🧈 Churn and Solely made a subtle change to its packaging to tell a more complete brand story, whereas Mighty Yum and Beyond Good brought a whole new look.

For the full gallery, check out Nosh

An attorney for Kroger Co. told a Colorado state judge Monday that the supermarket company has plans to modify its $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons to assuage antitrust concerns, according to Law360. 

🤝 Per the attorney, Kroger and Albertsons have reached a “handshake deal” with C&S Wholesale Grocers LLC for a new divestiture proposal that they believe will satisfy federal and state regulators. The grocers’ earlier plan to sell 417 stores to C&S was deemed “inadequate” by the FTC and state enforcers.

😰 Kroger’s proposed acquisition of Albertsons, which would create a combined company operating 5,000 stores with nearly 700,000 employees across 48 states, has faced a series of federal and state court challenges since it was announced in 2022.

⛔ Last month, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal. Colorado’s attorney general filed a separate suit. Details of the new plan were not provided to the state court, but Kroger’s attorney said the grocers hoped to share it “in the coming days.”

Hungry for more alternative protein news? Let’s shift the gaze towards the great blue ocean, or in this case the great silver fermentation tank. Alt-seafood food tech company AQUA Cultured Foods announced today that it has partnered with major biotech player Gingko Bioworks to help scale fishless seafood production using microbial fermentation.

🥼 The partnership will leverage Ginkgo's microbial tech and analytics with AQUA's proprietary tech and aquatic cell-line strains to increase production and efficiency of alt-seafood.

⬆️ The deal expects to increase throughput on the microbial fermentation production while also opening doors with flavor, texture and new product lines.

🧐 Founded in 2020, Chicago-based AQUA Cultured Foods has raised about $7.8 million, according to Crunchbase, in its effort to produce fish-free tuna and scallops though it remains years away from commercialization of its products after scales its pilot program.

It’s not everyday that you get an opportunity to sit down with the CEO of one of the most influential companies in the world, so when given the chance to speak with Ryan Gellert, who has helmed pioneering outdoor apparel and gear company Patagonia since 2020, we jumped at it.

In this episode, the Patagonia and Patagonia Provisions team explain how food fits into the company’s present and future, why an esoteric ingredient is at the foundation of its innovation strategy and how leaders of early-stage and emerging brands can actively incorporate sustainability and environmental responsibility into their business strategies.

Listen to the full episode now.