TRENDS

‘True innovation is a collaborative effort’

The innovation climate in the Netherlands is under pressure. This is the main conclusion of the Dutch Innovation Monitor 2023 and the headline of a recent urgent appeal sent to the House of Representatives by FME, with s..

Mini-organs reduce the need for animal testing

26 April 2021

Science and industry are constantly striving to end the use of animal testing in toxicological research. As part of these efforts, researchers at Wageningen have worked with Unilever to develop tiny, three-dimensional or...

Alpro inspires to help save the planet through food

22 April 2021

On Earth Day (22 April 2021), Alpro will launch its new "Help the planet while you eat" campaign. The goal is to inspire as many people as possible to choose vegetable products more often, because this is good for them a...

JBS S.A. acquires European company Vivera

20 April 2021

JBS, the world’s largest protein company and second-largest food producer, has entered into an agreement to purchase Vivera, Europe’s third-largest plant-based food company, for an enterprise value of €341 million. Viver...

9 startups are ready to rock the food industry

16 April 2021

Nine pioneering companies from Mexico, Chile, India, and across Europe comprise the sixth cohort of the world’s leading incubator of plant-based and cultured food startups. This latest round of the accelerator program...

More protein choice in product development

12 April 2021

The popularity of plant proteins increases. The demand for meat replacers is growing, and also other products like dairy or sport drinks are more often produced plant-based. Yoghurt based on soy, a shake from peas and al...

Food additives and their functionality

12 April 2021

Food products have a structure, colour, taste, smell and a certain shelf life. To make and/or improve these aspects, functional additives such as emulsifiers, stabilizers, thickeners and modified starches are used. Howev...

ME-AT focuses on home-grown plant-based proteins

06 April 2021

Vegetable meat replacements have a sustainable image. But the ingredients, such as soya, often come from outside Europe. This can also be done differently. ME-AT, Herba Ingredients, Agrifirm and ZLTO are working together...

Increasingly positive interest in cultured meat

06 April 2021

Cultured meat is in full swing and receiving positive attention from consumers, according to research by ABN AMRO. However, there are still major obstacles to be overcome before cultured meat really finds its way to the ...

VanDrie Group opens research centre

01 April 2021

The VanDrie Group is expanding its innovation capacity with a brand new 'Drieveld' research centre in Uddel, Gelderland. The purpose of this research centre is to help the VanDrie Group's Research & Development (R&am...

Accreditation of organic acids Normec

31 March 2021

Normec Foodcontrol in Belgium, part of Normec Foodcare, is one of the first laboratories in the Benelux accredited for the enzymatic determination of the three main food acids that are active against Listeria monocytogen...

The contamination risks of plant-based ingredients

30 March 2021

The market for plant-based ingredients and dairy alternatives is growing at a fast pace. But little is known about the potential microbial contamination risks of plant-based proteins, compared to more familiar dairy prod...

NIZO predicts Listeria growth in cheese

24 March 2021

To safely market and export cheese, you need to comply with food safety criteria and determine the risk of L. monocytogenes growth. For some products, this is easy: for instance, if the pH is below 4.4 or the water activ...

Half of the Dutch find eating meat every day unnecessary

23 March 2021

94% of the Dutch population is familiar with the term meat substitutes. Furthermore, 48% of the Dutch population believes that eating meat every day is a thing of the past, according to research by Markteffect among 1,04...

Plant-based food sector grows by 49% in 2 years

19 March 2021

Over the last few years, supermarkets and discounters in Europe have been offering more and more plant-based options. From meat alternatives to plant-based milk, supermarkets and discounters continue to increase their sh...

A science base for better meat analogues