Beyond The Headlines: Scaling cultivated pork, tackling antimicrobial resistance

17 Nov 2023 --- In industry news this week, Tate & Lyle research highlights young people are driving growth in the bakery across Europe. Meatable opened a facility to further scale up cultivated pork development. Meanwhile, the Cerrado Coffee Growers Cooperative received the regenerative certification label.

Business highlights
Tate & Lyle has published its new consumer insights report, which reveals significant growth opportunities in the bakery sector in Europe. Almost half of young people (45%) in Europe are buying bakery products every day as it becomes an increasingly important part of their diets. The research shows one-third of people over 34 in Europe are also buying baked goods on a daily basis. Meanwhile, a third of consumers aged 34 and above are also doing the same.

Meatable opened a facility at the Bio Science Park in Leiden, the Netherlands, to further scale up cultivated pork development. The new pilot facility is double the size of Meatable’s previous office and lab space, enabling it to increase its bioreactor capacity from 50L to 200L and later to 500L and ensure the company has more space to test and produce large volumes of its cultivated pork products.

Royal Euroma has announced that Marubeni Corporation has reached an agreement to acquire the remaining stake in Euroma Holding BV (Royal Euroma’s 100% parent company) to become a 100% shareholder after having acquired a significant minority stake in June 2021. This will facilitate Euroma’s further growth to deliver the most innovative products based on herbs and spices to leading international food partners. The transaction is subject to approval by the competition authority.

Sustainability in focus
With 5,500 hectares of regenerative coffee, the Cerrado Coffee Growers Cooperative (Expocacer) has become the first in the world to receive the regenerative certification label. The audit was conducted by Regenagri, a global entity dedicated to ensuring soil health and preservation, with certification from the British organization Control Union. This label verifies the origin and quality of coffee produced using regenerative practices that are received in the warehouses. To acquire the certification, Expocacer's environmental, social, and governance responsibility was evaluated.

The research revealed that compostable capsules contribute to a sustainable cycle by keeping both the coffee grounds and capsule materials within the loop through organics recycling.FreshPure Waters is reaffirming its position as a leading national brand with the strategic acquisition of Pure Water Technologies, operating as Arctic Mountain, a prominent water vending solutions provider based in Salt Lake City, Utah, US. 

A new study reveals that coffee capsules made with Ingeo PLA biopolymer from NatureWorks outperform aluminum, conventional plastics, and other compostable capsules when it comes to sustainability performance. The independent study conducted by Netherlands-based Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, a part of Wageningen University & Research, assessed the environmental impact and circularity of single-use coffee capsules made from compostable biobased materials, aluminum, and conventional plastics through multiple end-of-life scenarios including industrial composting, recycling, incineration, and landfill. The study also accounted for the fate of the spent coffee grounds within these capsules, finding that compostable capsules keep both the coffee grounds and capsule materials in the loop via organics recycling, making them the most sustainable option. The thermoformed Ingeo-based capsules used in the study were produced by NatureWorks’ partner and food packaging producer, Flo SpA.

Agricultural projects 
FarmByte, a digital-first agro-food company within the Johor Corporation Group, has signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) with Archisen, an agri-tech company based in Singapore. Both companies exchanged the signed HOA, proposing a FarmByte investment of ~MYR 8.2 million (SGD 2.4 million) into Archisen and the establishment of an automated vertical indoor farm through a joint venture in Johor, Malaysia. The joint venture will develop vertical farms that will supply produce to Malaysia and Singapore.Excessive use of antibiotics for poultry production is the leading cause of resistance development in bacteria. 

Antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections can contribute to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that spreads among human, animal, and plant populations. The Transformational Farm Output Risk Mitigation project aims to tackle AMR at the farm level. As part of the project, the International Poultry Council is driving global change within animal agriculture by uniting poultry industry associations and private sector organizations to support antimicrobial use stewardship principles that guide actions to avoid the need to use, but when needed, ensure proper use of antimicrobials. This week, several organizations and companies announced their commitment to antimicrobial use stewardship principles that reduce the need to use antimicrobials at the farm level. These included the Animal Husbandry Association of Vietnam, the British Poultry Council, Canadian Poultry & Egg Processors, Cargill, McDonald’s and Tyson Foods. 

By Gaynor Selby