Israeli Startup Awarded for In-Doors Mini-Farm Technology

25 Feb 2015 --- The @FoodTech startups competition event took place during "So French, So Food" week, organized by the Embassy of France, Israel-France Chamber of Commerce and Challengy Innovation Agency in Tel Aviv. Ten Israeli startup companies were chosen as finalists and presented their innovative products at the event. GreenOnyx, a new vegetarian protein company, won first place.

GreenOnyx, the award winner, is developing an in-doors mini-farm technology that could be as compact as a counter-top kitchen appliance and still provide over 2 pounds of fresh produce daily. It enables you to grow automatically and safely, an aquatic super-vegetable called khai-Nam, with an appearance best described as “Green Caviar”. Khai-Nam has a nutritional profile similar to a combined mix of kale, Spinach and Broccoli, is extremely palatable and it seamlessly blends in high portions into almost any dish.

Benny Shoham, GreenOnyx CEO, told FoodIngredientsFirst: “It’s the first time ever, that a just picked fresh super-vegtable so palatable, can be supplied to every urban kitchen in the world, at impactful RDA quantities (for a whole family), every day, 365 days a year, safely and affordably. This could be the solution that finally enables Healthy to really meet Tasty.” At this point, based on the company’s first regulation milestone, the USDA GRAS status, the concept will be launched in the US. “Other regions from 2017, mostly based on market pull and regulation timelines (EU, China, Japan),” he confirmed.

Keep an eye on these startup companies that leverage innovation and unique technologies:

Pimi Agro – The company vision is to help eliminate fresh produce waste by 25%. Pimi Agro has developed an efficient, sustainable, environmentally friendly solution for dramatically extending the shelf-life of post-harvest fruits and vegetables. The product combats pathogens effectively, is EPA approved and is backed by research.

Valiber Swizzle 1.0 is a sweetness measuring tool. The Val Scale tells you how sweet your drink is. The Val Sweetness Scale was created to measure sweetness, and indicates sweetener concentration using a numeric unit.

ProtyPlus is an innovative protein- and iron-rich meat-based snack that melts in your mouth. Breakthrough technology controls the snack’s airy texture. ProtyPlus has an unmatched source of iron and protein, five times more than a vegetarian snack. The freeze-drying technology maintains most of the meat’s nutritional value and allows it to deliver almost all additional nutrients: vitamins, minerals, fiber and more.

BitBite helps people eat healthier and lose weight. BitBite monitors eating patterns by analyzing chewing sounds via microphones available in off-the-shelf headset devices. BitBite knows when, where, what and how the user is eating. Analysis of this data allows BitBite to send its user real-time dietary advice on how to eat healthier.

InnoBev – Introducing a revolutionary new product category, the WakeUp Post-lunch Waker is an all-natural beverage scientifically proven to help you overcome the fatigue experienced after lunch (known as “post-lunch dip syndrome”), which is embedded into everyone’s biological clock.

by Liat Simha