{"id":96738,"date":"2022-08-06T17:05:49","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T15:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=96738"},"modified":"2022-07-30T08:11:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-30T06:11:33","slug":"22-05-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=96738","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Beyond Burger"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Beyond the Beyond Burger<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n


\nJOEL  HABER<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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TABLET MAGAZINE<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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With more people reducing their consumption of meat<\/a> and other animal products<\/a>, plant-based substitutes have proliferated<\/a> in supermarkets around the world. Consumers\u2014including those who keep kosher\u2014can now pour a glass of oat, cashew, or even hemp milk to wash down an Impossible or Beyond Burger.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Israeli startups have carved out a leading place in developing these new alternative proteins. Startups from Israel placed No. 2 worldwide in terms of money invested last year, trailing only the United States. According to Good Food Institute Israel<\/a>, a nonprofit that advances research and promotes government support for alternative proteins, they garnered greater investments than companies from the entire European Union combined. Beyond creating vegan versions of burgers, chicken, and milk, they use numerous techniques to also replace traditionally sourced fish, eggs, and dairy products.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Some of Israel\u2019s earliest alt-protein companies manufacture next-generation meat substitutes beyond ground beef and burgers. Redefine Meat<\/a>, based in Rehovot, creates plant-based beef analogs by using vegetarian ingredients and 3D-printing techniques to mimic \u201cbeef flank cuts\u201d and sausages. Even more impressive, companies like Aleph Farms<\/a> (which counts Leonardo DiCaprio among its advisory board members) and Future Meat Technologies<\/a>, built around technology developed at Jerusalem\u2019s Hebrew University, are advancing the field of cultured meat<\/a>.<\/span><\/div>\n
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This nascent technology extracts animal cells and grows them, inside a nourishing liquid, into whole tissues. (These latter companies, and many more, are also based in Rehovot, a burgeoning food-tech hub.)<\/span><\/div>\n
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These two core techniques\u2014vegetarian substitutes and cultivating cells\u2014mitigate some of the more urgent and existential problems facing our conventional food system, particularly around environmental impact, consumer health, and animal welfare.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the plant-based side of the industry, Plantish<\/a>, also Rehovot-based, does for fish what Redefine has done for meat. Founded in 2021, the company has already developed its first product, and is close to launching commercially. With a proprietary ingredient blend drawn from legumes and algae, the company uses \u201cadditive manufacturing\u201d (the term they prefer to 3D-printing, due to its more advanced process) to create a convincing salmon replacement. While other faux seafood manufacturers are making fish fingers or burgers, director of marketing Taire Brown says that Plantish delivers a \u201ccooked, plant-based, whole-cut fillet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With a team of chefs as advisers, Plantish has worked to make its alt-salmon comparable to the real thing. \u201cIt is not a raw salmon,\u201d said Brown. \u201cThe way you would eat cooked salmon\u2014whether with barbecue sauce, teriyaki, grilled, smoked, poached, whatever it might be\u2014that\u2019s how you can prepare our salmon.\u201d And while it is nutritionally similar to real salmon (including omega-3s derived from the algae), it is an even healthier alternative, containing no mercury or hormones.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Even more impressive is the vegan egg developed by Yo! Egg<\/a>, named in part for co-founder Yosefa Ben Cohen. Many companies already produce replacement eggs for omelets or baking, but this Pardes Hanna-based company has created the world\u2019s first sunny-side-up imitation. Delivered in two parts that are combined on the griddle\u2014a liquid \u201cegg white\u201d and a preformed sphere for the yolk\u2014the company\u2019s creation accurately mimics the flavor and texture of a fried egg.<\/span><\/div>\n
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CEO Eran Groner explains the complexity of recreating the \u201cwhole egg experience,\u201d which required two unique flavors, textures, and functionalities. \u201cI\u2019m pretty confident,\u201d he said, \u201cthat we\u2019ve been able to deliver on all of those fronts.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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The company has soft-launched in some Israeli restaurants, and will soon release a poached egg that will only need heating before serving. While the fried egg is as simple to make as a real one, the poached will be easier<\/em> than the original, which few home cooks prepare.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Yo! Egg intends to reach international markets by the end of this year, with Plantish hoping its salmon hits restaurants in the U.S. next year. This puts them ahead of their cultured-protein colleagues. In part, this derives from an easier regulatory atmosphere for plant-based products because the ingredients<\/em> are not novel; they are just being processed in unique ways. Cultured-protein companies, in contrast, must push for regulatory permissions around their ingredients and manufacturing processes while simultaneously developing their products.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Wanda Fish Technologies<\/a>, a newer arrival to the Israel food-tech scene, is to Plantish what Aleph is to Redefine. The company, based in Nes Ziona\u2014another Israeli food-tech hub\u2014is developing a cultured, whole fish fillet. CEO Daphna Heffetz, with over 20 years of biotech experience, founded the company with an ambitious goal. \u201cSome companies are doing hybrid,\u201d she said, meaning combination fish- and plant-based products. Wanda Fish plans to use almost purely fish cells. They culture both fish muscle and fat cells, combining them into fillets. To achieve the proper thickness and structure, Wanda Fish will build a plant-based \u201cscaffold\u201d (the only part that is not fish-derived) that will be thin enough to not affect taste. Functionally, it will also deliver oxygen and nutrients to the developing cells. \u201cSince we won\u2019t be first to market,\u201d Heffetz said, \u201cwe are looking at being one of the best.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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Competing on price is one of the key obstacles for alternative proteins. According to Miriam Kalman, business analyst at GFI Israel, \u201cCommercialization and scale-up definitely provide new challenges, in terms of the creation of that infrastructure\u2026 as well as scalability.\u201d However, she also sees Israel\u2019s solid foundation of research and \u201cwell-established commercialization procedures for that research.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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This challenge may be less significant for companies like Plantish and Wanda Fish. As Heffetz pointed out, \u201cOne advantage we have in comparison to meat is that fish [has]\u2026 an already higher starting price.\u201d But technological innovations can also help reduce production costs. For example, Future Meat recycles the cultured cell growth medium between production cycles. This helped the company raise $347 million last year, the largest investment in cultured meat history.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Similarly, the first publicly traded cultured milk company, Wilk Technologies<\/a> claims its edge lies in its patented procedure to culture mammary epithelial cells that will produce real milk. Since about 90% of whole milk is water, the Rehovot-based company only produces the other components (fats, proteins, and sugars) for customers to use however they choose.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wilk\u2019s vice president of marketing and corporate affairs, Rachelle Neumann, explains some markets they can reach. While vegans don\u2019t consume milk products, she has told many vegans, \u201cYou\u2019re going to be able to enjoy a wonderful cheese, yogurt, or butter, with real milk fat, but there were no animals harmed in producing it. The animal is there, and we just produced this in a laboratory.\u201d While each vegan consumer will undoubtedly have a different opinion of this product, Neumann says that for those she has spoken to, \u201cIt is like honey to their ears.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More significantly, Wilk has also extracted human cells to produce breast milk. A high number of pre-term babies born every year can\u2019t digest infant formula. By adding Wilk\u2019s real human breast milk components to formulas, Neumann sees \u201ca complete game changer with true life-saving potential.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A different Rehovot-based start-up, Remilk<\/a>, works within a third alternative protein segment. They use \u201cprecision fermenting\u201d to produce milk proteins using modified yeast cells. As a single-celled organism that excels at performing focused tasks, yeast may easily be \u201creprogrammed\u201d to convert sugar into protein rather than alcohol. Remilk does this by inserting part of a cow\u2019s DNA in place of the yeast\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Remilk\u2019s head of business development Jason Rosenberg explains that such a process \u201chas been used for over 60 years in industry, initially for insulin production.\u201d Despite investments from such companies as Israeli food giant Tnuva, the challenge for Remilk has been in reaching commercial levels (which they intend to achieve later this year). Insulin, Rosenberg indicates, is \u201ca high-value low-volume product\u201d while milk is the exact opposite. Remilk thus contracts with production facilities, rather than building their own.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rosenberg cites the process\u2019 long history in addressing consumer fears of genetically modified organisms. \u201cOur process uses a genetically modified yeast, but the protein at the end of the day is not modified.\u201d By removing the waste, their protein is \u201cidentical to what the cow produces, with no trace of the GMO.\u201d He differentiates between a modified product, and the modified process<\/em> that they use.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

How likely is it that these products will end up on your plate within a few years? With their head start on next-gen techniques, at least some should succeed. Israel\u2019s cultured protein companies seem the ones most likely to cross the Atlantic. Last year, they received 36% of worldwide investments in the sector. Kalman of GFI Israel believes this is because it \u201crequires the most technological know-how. That is an edge that the Israeli ecosystem has.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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All these companies, however, are helping change the world\u2019s food system. Without enough supply to feed a global population expected to reach 10 billion in around 25 years, that system has no choice but to change. All these companies are explicitly mission-driven, aiming to save the world while also<\/em> turning a profit.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Israelis \u201cunderstand that we are really part of something bigger,\u201d said Wilk\u2019s Neumann.\u201cWe need to leave a footprint in the world by doing good. It is in our DNA. How can we help the world and make it a better place?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Joel Haber<\/strong> researches and lectures about Jewish and Israeli food history and culture, and writes about it on his blog<\/a> and for various publications.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Beyond the Beyond Burger JOEL  HABER TABLET MAGAZINE With more people reducing their consumption of meat and other animal products, plant-based substitutes have proliferated in supermarkets around the world. Consumers\u2014including those who keep kosher\u2014can now pour a glass of oat, cashew, or even hemp milk to wash down an Impossible or Beyond Burger. Israeli startups have carved out a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96738"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96973,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96738\/revisions\/96973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}