Our weekly column rounds up the latest sustainable food innovation news. This week, Future Food Quick Bites covers Kevin Bacon’s Beansday campaign, Devious Foods’s protein seasonings, and The Vegetarian Butcher Collective’s new CEO.
New products and launches
American actor Kevin Bacon has changed his surname. Well, not really – but he has partnered with Humane World for Animals for its Beansday campaign, encouraging people to swap meat for beans every Wednesday in a PSA where he has temporarily renamed himself to Kevin Bean.
Jumping on the protein trend, US brand Devious Foods has gained a listing at over 600 Target stores for three seasonings packed with sunflower seed protein. They’re available in cashew parmesan, pink salt and pepper, and Italian herb flavours, with each 22g serving delivering 10g of protein and 4g of fibre.
In Scotland, Hendersons, a meat-free Michelin Guide restaurant from Edinburgh, is opening a second location in Glasgow’s Southside area.
Danish startup Matr Foods is rolling out its mycelium meat products in Kvickly and SuperBrugsen stores (both operated by Coop) nationwide.
Fellow Danish mycelium protein firm Tempty Foods has expanded overseas, bringing its Spicy Korean Sticks to Ärrä, a concept store opened this month by Reitan Convenience in Finland.
French vegan seafood maker Ocean Kiss has introduced steak de la mer, a ready-to-heat alternative made from pea protein, seaweed, konjac flour, and algal omega-3.
British plant-based meat maker Meatless Farm has expanded its partnership with foodservice distributor Bidfood by making its full range available to the latter’s network, which has enabled its sausages to enter 950 schools through catering provider Caterlink.
And Polish startup Vegg White, which makes a plant-based alternative to egg whites for cocktail foams, has teamed up with brand strategist Nimbility to expand across Greater China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.
Company, finance, policy and research
German biotech startup AmSilk, which produces recombinant spider silk proteins, has named Christian Wichert as its new CEO, succeeding Ulrich Scherbel, who is taking on the role of COO for the company’s Premium Filaments division.
Now owned by JBS, meat-free giant The Vegetarian Butcher Collective has appointed Rutger Rozendaal as its new CEO. He was previously the chief of The Vegetarian Butcher and will take over from Willem van Weede, who led the newly formed entity through a transition period that saw The Vegetarian Butcher and Vivera come under one umbrella.
Protein Industries Canada has added two startups to the latest cohort of its Strengthening the Canadian Supply Chain. Ontario-based Farm Girl will receive C$150,000 ($105,700) from the national fund to add Canadian fava and pea protein to its granola, and Vancouver’s Body Energy Club ($105,000) will secure C$149,000 to reformulate its plant-based protein powders with locally sourced pea protein.
Also in Canada, plant protein corporation Burcon Nutrascience has achieved a new production record with manufacturing partner Re ProMan, exceeding its Q1 daily average by 60% in the first two weeks of June. It’s now on track to register a 50% growth in sales in Q2.
Finnish oat milk cheese maker Mö Foods has seen its year-on-year revenue grow by 124% in the first half of 2026, building on momentum from both its domestic market and exports.
Dutch property developer Schipper Bosch has acquired the real estate and further development rights to contract manufacturer Nizo Food Research‘s Food Innovation park in Ede.
Trade association the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture has been granted Observer Status with the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the international food standards body established by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.
US startup Savor, which produces butter and palm oil alternatives by feeding microbes on carbon dioxide, has signed a supply deal with California’s Round River Provisions.
Finally, despite efforts to shift the balance of proteins towards 60% plant-based sources by 2030, purchases of animal-free proteins fell from 42.8% to 41.8% at the five leading national catering companies in the Netherlands.
