CORPORATIONS

NATHANIAL BULLARD: Global consumption of animal proteins has been rising, apparently inexorably, for the past six decades. The coronavirus pandemic has finally changed that trajectory. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that meat production—a decent proxy for consumption—dropped in 2019, and it forecasts a decline again this year. Last year was only the second since 1961 in which production fell; two consecutive years of decline is unprecedented and could be the start of something durable. We’re already at peak pasture as far as demand is concerned, and it…

JASMINE REIMER: The pandemic has exposed what Chase Purdy called the "Achilles heel of the modern US meat system". Purdy's article claims that just a single meat processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is responsible for 5% of US pork production. In April 2020 that plant and a few adjacent others shut down due to coronavirus, resulting in a thirty-six percent decrease in the slaughter of cows and thirty-seven percent decrease in pigs, as reported by the US Department of Agriculture data. In addition, the traditional meat supply chain is crowded with middlemen and connecting links…

FMCG NEWS GLOBAL: Forty percent of "leading" food firms, including Kroger, Tesco, Nestle and Unilever, now have dedicated teams focused on plant-based products, according to new research from collaborative investor network the FAIRR Initiative... FAIRR's research found that two in five global food giants with combined annual revenues of $459bn now have dedicated teams to develop and sell plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy, with Tesco and Unilever ranked top... The figures were published following a four-year investor engagement programme between the FAIRR Initiative and 25 large…

COLIN DRURY: The farm at the centre of a horrific goat cruelty scandal... may have to be shut down, its owner has said. Animals were secretly filmed being punched, kicked and slammed on their back at Far Marsh Farm, near Hull in East Yorkshire. Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer all said they would immediately drop St Helen’s Farm dairy products – which are made using milk produced at Far Marsh – after being alerted to the brutality on Monday. On Tuesday, Ocado did likewise... But Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose were continuing to sell the brand’s milk, cheese and butter in…

RHIAN HUNT: Another brand of plant-based burgers is coming to the shelves of Walmart on a large scale, according to a press release from Impossible Foods, a leading maker of meat substitutes in the USA and elsewhere. Packages of Impossible Burger, which the company describes as its "flagship product," will soon be on offer in the retail giant's meat section, and will also be available for delivery or for pickup at Walmart store locations. Impossible Foods notes stocking of its 12-ounce Impossible Burger packages in over 2,000 Walmart stores and super-centers will boost the number of…

KENDRA COULTER: Corporate animal agriculture is in crisis, and its days are numbered. Factory farming and industrialized animal slaughtering are being recognized as dangerous for workers’ health, as potential causes of the next pandemic and as both ethically and environmentally unsustainable. Early numbers suggest noteworthy increases in the purchase of plant-based foods during the pandemic. New vegan products are being brought to market almost weekly. And advancements in cultured “clean” meat may soon result in mass production. These technological innovations mean that meat can be created…

JADE SCIPIONI: What does the founder and CEO of Impossible Foods have to say to critics who say his and other plant-based burgers are really just vegan junk food? “It’s bulls----,” Pat Brown tells CNBC Make It. Impossible Foods, along with Beyond Meat and other plant-based meat competitors, tout their products as healthy alternatives to animal protein. And people are eating it up, literally — according to new data from Nielsen, sales of plant-based meat alternatives have grown nearly 25% from July 11, 2019 to July 11, 2020, bringing in roughly $601.4 million in sales during that period. But…

JANE DALTON: Animals were subjected to a string of brutal attacks at a farm that sells goats’ milk to Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and other supermarkets, footage from hidden cameras has revealed. Goats were seen on video being punched, kicked, hit with a pole and slammed onto their backs at a plant that supplies St Helen’s Farm, in east Yorkshire. The animals were also filmed crying in pain as they were held by their necks, had their ears tagged or their tails twisted... About an hour’s worth of video was passed to the Surge animal rights group, which then showed it to a vet and to lawyers…

FLORA SOUTHEY: KFC is collaborating with biotech research lab 3D Bioprinting Solutions in Moscow to bring hybrid nuggets to the Russian market. The project aims to create the world’s first laboratory-produced chicken nugget, designed to mimic the taste and texture of Yum! Brands-owned KFC’s conventional counterpart. According to the partnership, bioprinted meat, or ‘biomeat’, has ‘several advantages’. Firstly, biomeat has exactly the same microelements as the original product, minus the ‘various additives’ used in traditional livestock farming. Lab-grown meat is also considered to be more…

AVI NATAN: Beyond Meat has announced a new veggie burger which will be produced locally in Canada. Made with simple, plant-based ingredients without GMOs, the Beyond Burger is designed to meet, if not exceed, the nutritional profile of its animal protein equivalent- and boasts 35% less saturated fat. The California-based vegan brand says that its newest burger offers 20g of protein derived from “simple, plant-based ingredients like peas, mung beans, and rice, and features marbling made from cocoa butter that is designed to melt and tenderize like beef"... Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said,…