Protein News covers the production, processing, and distribution of protein-rich foods derived from animals, including meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and dairy. This section explores the entire supply chain, from farming practices and animal nutrition to processing methods and market trends. It also delves into sustainability, animal welfare, and innovations in protein sources, including alternative options like plant-based, insect, and lab-grown proteins. The Protein category is essential for understanding the role of all protein types in global nutrition, economic impacts, and evolving consumer preferences.
MINONG, WIS. – Two classic brands partnered on one-of-a-kind meat snacks with the release of Jack Link’s WILD Dr Pepper-inspired flavored meat stick and Jack Link’s Dr Pepper-inspired flavored beef jerky.
“Pairing two flavor icons like Jack Link’s and Dr Pepper is sure to provide a delicious treat that snack fans are going to love,” said Holly LaVallie, senior vice president of marketing at Jack Link’s. “For loyal consumers of Jack Link’s jerky and meat sticks products who are looking for a completely new flavor in the meat snack aisle, this one is for you. I am incredibly excited to get this in the hands of our consumers to deliver a new sweet and savory snack taste.”
Jack Link’s WILD Dr Pepper-inspired flavored meat sticks debuted on retailer shelves during January 2024 at Circle K Convenience, gas stations and Amazon.com. Jack Link’s Dr Pepper-inspired flavored beef jerky will hit retailers’ shelves sometime in June 2024.
“We are excited to team up with Jack Link’s to create a one-of-a-kind flavor and craveable snack,” shared John Alvarado, senior vice president of Dr Pepper Brand Marketing. “We can’t wait for our fans to see this on shelves and have another way to enjoy Dr Pepper’s flavor.”
BOULDER, COLO. — Meati, a maker of mycelium-based cutlets and steaks, has named John Bortells as its chief commercial officer. Bortells will help drive revenue and expand Meati’s market as well as oversee sales, marketing and customer experience, according to the company.
Prior to joining Meati, Bortells was chief customer officer at The a2 Milk Co. He joined The a2 Milk Co. in May 2017 as senior vice president, US sales. Earlier, he was vice president sales and marketing at Clover Sonoma.
He also has held several leadership sales roles at such companies as Mighty Leaf Tea Co. and at PepsiCo in its Pepsi Cola North America unit.
“John is a fantastic addition to Meati and the mycelium category overall,” said Phil Graves, chief executive officer of Meati. “He’s a demand generation savant with extensive experience. What impressed us most about John is his track record of scaling ambitious, mission-driven brands to national prominence. When many doubted dairy due to lactose allergies, John and his team successfully introduced a2 milk as a safe and enjoyable option. His deep understanding of food, nature and innovation in culinary experiences is unparalleled.”
RIDGELAND, MISS. – Cal-Maine Foods Inc. announced that Sherman L. Miller would become the egg producer’s president and chief executive officer effective Sept. 30.
Miller will take over for Dolph Baker who remains on at Cal-Maine as chairman for the board of directors. The company said Baker will remain actively involved, focusing on strategy, capital allocation, and advising senior management.
“Sherman has dedicated his entire career to Cal-Maine Foods and is extremely well qualified for this leadership position, having the right complement of operational experience and strategic vision,” Baker said. “He has been a proven leader in managing our operations through the various market cycles that are characteristic of our industry. Under his leadership, the company has achieved tremendous growth, and he has the full confidence of the board that he is the right person to lead the company forward.”
Miller started with Cal-Maine in 1996 and served in various management positions at the company’s Chase, Kan., Delta, Utah and Edwards, Miss., processing plants.
He previously served as vice president of operations in 2007. By 2018, Miller was named president and has served as chief operating officer since 2011. He has served as a board of directors member for a decade.
Miller will retain the role of COO until a successor is hired.
“I am proud and honored to assume this role with Cal-Maine Foods,” Miller said. “Dolph has been a tremendous leader and mentor, and we will continue to benefit from his valuable insight and deep knowledge of the company. He has established Cal-Maine Foods as a leader in our industry, and we will continue to work together and build upon this proud legacy and history of success.”
Along with his work at Cal Maine, Miller serves as a director of the US Poultry and Egg Association and United Egg Producers, and past director of the American Feed Industry Association.
He graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in poultry science.
SÃO PAULO — Marfrig Global Foods S.A. is now
the majority shareholder of BRF S.A. after it increased its equity interest in the company.
According to the securities filing dated Dec. 28 from BRF, Marfrig holds 842,165,702 common shares and American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), representing 50.06% of the total issued and outstanding capital of BRF.
Marfrig said it does not look to change the current shareholding composition nor the administrative structure of BRF with this acquisition. Marfrig has not executed any contracts to regulate the exercise of voting rights or the purchase and sale of BRF’s securities.
Before reaching majority ownership, Marfrig consistently added to its stake in BRF.
SEATTLE — Over 400,000 Washington households are set to receive financial restitution totaling $40.6 million following the settlement of Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s antitrust lawsuit against tuna and chicken producers for price fixing.
According to a press release from Ferguson’s office, 15% of the state of Washington — the equivalent of 1.2 million Washingtonians — will receive checks in the mail. Checks will be dispersed to households whose income is at or below 175% of the federal poverty level, with single-person households receiving $50 and multiple-person households receiving $120.
“Washington families were cheated by corporate price-fixing conspiracies they knew nothing about — and now those who felt this gouging most severely are receiving checks from my office,” Ferguson said.
Through a 2021 price fixing lawsuit, Ferguson’s office received $35.5 million as a result of resolutions with 15 of 19 broiler chicken producers named in the case. The 19 producers represent 95% of the US broiler chicken market.
According to the allegations against the companies, the producers drove up the price of chicken since 2008 through a conspiracy to inflate and manipulate the market.
A trial against the three remaining producers — Foster Farms, Wayne-Sanderson Farms and House of Raeford Farms — is scheduled for October 2024.
Funds for the restitution checks also come from cases against major tuna companies, contributing over $5.1 million. The cases include a $4.1 million resolution with StarKist, a $500,000 resolution with Chicken of the Sea, a $100,000 resolution with former Bumble Bee Tuna chief executive officer Christopher Lischewski and $450,000 in sanctions against Dongwon, the parent company of StarKist.
According to Feguson’s allegations, the companies exchanged internal company policies and data.
“Lischewski complained to other tuna executives before they began the price-fixing scheme that canned tuna was ‘too cheap’ and he wanted the price artificially increased on consumers,” according to the press release from the Washington’s Attorney General Office. “Two of Lischewski’s subordinates testified that he gave ‘a very clear, direct’ order to fix canned tuna prices.”
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Impossible Foods has added manufacturing capacity to process the Impossible Burger by entering into a co-manufacturing agreement with OSI Industries. The access to additional processing capacity comes as Impossible Foods plans to introduce the Impossible Burger in retail outlets later this year.
“We conducted an exhaustive due diligence process to determine how to scale our manufacturing, both in the short term and over the next several years, and we were thoroughly impressed with OSI’s commitment to quality and responsiveness,” said Sheetal Shah, senior vice president of product and operations, Impossible Foods. “OSI has already installed equipment to make the Impossible Burger, and we’ll start seeing new capacity every week.”
Impossible Foods has tripled its weekly production at its manufacturing plant in Oakland, California, according to the company. OSI Group, Aurora, Illinois, has more than 65 plants in 17 countries and supplies value-added protein products to customers around the world.
“Expanding into alternative proteins is an addition to our company’s product offering, not a replacement,” said David McDonald. OSI’s president and chief operating officer ” OSI is committed to supporting sustainable farming and agriculture, and will continue to put sustainability for all our supply chains and operations at the forefront of our mission.”
OSI plans to begin producing the Impossible Burger at multiple plants starting next month .
“We look forward to lending our expertise to Impossible Foods as it embarks on one of the most ambitious start-ups in the food industry,” said Kevin Scott, senior executive vice president of OSI North America. “At the same time, Impossible Foods will help fulfill the OSI Group’s commitment to sustainable food production – one of the core prisms through which OSI management makes operational decisions.”
RANDERS, DENMARK — Danish Crown announced on June 3 that current chief executive officer Jais Valeur is stepping down. Meanwhile, the company is expediting its search for new leadership.
Valeur has served as CEO for Danish Crown for nearly nine years. He agreed to continue to lead the company until a replacement can be found.
“Earlier in the year, I informed Danish Crown that I do not see myself as CEO of the company in the longer term,” Valeur said. “I can therefore appreciate why the board of directors wants to accelerate this process and look further ahead to ensure that the company can embrace its new strategy with a new executive board in place for the longer term. Danish Crown has come a long way while I’ve been at the helm, but there is still a huge and also highly exciting task facing the company in the coming years. It will call for a massive and persistent effort by the executive board. I will now focus on steering Danish Crown through the coming period to create the best possible conditions for my replacement.”
In May, the Danish Crown board of directors began to form a new group strategy, which the company expects to be ready for presentation in the fall.
Danish Crown also hinted that an announcement that a new group chief financial officer will soon be released. The new team member will take over on Dec. 1 for Thomas Ahle, who is leaving the company to join STARK Group.
KANSAS CITY, MO. — Economies of scale benefit both customers and consumers alike with improved efficiencies and lower prices. But the benefits may be corrupted, and recent convictions for price fixing in the packaged seafood industry and allegations of the practice in the US chicken industry undermine the benefits earned through strategic and operational superiority.
The cases shine a spotlight on corruption that goes to the highest levels of some businesses or is embedded within organizations beyond detection with established internal controls. In the packaged seafood category, the corruption brought down Bumble Bee Foods and damaged the reputation of StarKist Co., the category’s two largest competitors.
In 2017, Bumble Bee Foods LLC pleaded guilty to its role in fixing the prices of shelf-stable tuna and agreed to pay a $25 million criminal fine. The case led to the conviction of the company’s president and chief executive officer. Bumble Bee declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019, citing the debt burden it incurred because of the price fixing case and the class-action lawsuits that followed.
Competitor StarKist Co. was ordered to pay a $100 million fine for its role in the price fixing case. The company tried to have the fine reduced, saying it did not have the financial resources to pay, but a US District Court judge rejected the plea.
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation said at the time, “The consequences for greedy companies who cheat the marketplace and American consumers are significant and clear.”
Now, US chicken processors are facing similar allegations. In early June, four executives at two leading chicken processors were indicted for a conspiracy to fix prices for broiler chickens. The two companies named in the indictment were Claxton Poultry and Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. The CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride was one of the executives indicted.
The story took a dramatic turn a few days later when Tyson Foods Inc. said it was cooperating with the investigation. After receiving a grand jury subpoena in April 2019, Tyson uncovered troubling information about its operations related to the investigation and self-reported it to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Company management is hoping to escape punishment under the DOJ Antitrust Division’s leniency program.
These are two recent examples of price fixing in the food industry, but they are, sadly, not isolated incidents. US beef packers are under investigation by the DOJ for anticompetitive activity to depress the prices paid to cattle producers, and a group of mushroom farmers in Pennsylvania is being sued for conspiring to raise prices.
Additional cases during the past decade that have resulted in guilty pleas or settlements involved Canadian packaged bread, US potato processors and US dairy producers. Remarkably, the Canadian bread scheme spanned 14 years, and the Competition Bureau of Canada alleged in 2018 that seven Canadian bread companies had committed indictable offenses. One of those companies, George Weston Ltd., admitted its role in the scheme in 2017.
Each incident of price fixing may be isolated, but they are the consequences of poor leadership or lax internal controls. Consumer trust in the quality of food products manufactured by the industry’s largest companies has been eroding for decades. Continued allegations of market manipulation will only affirm what too many already believe.
Singapore — a small island nation — and Dubai — a rapidly growing emirate in the desert where sandstorms and daytime temperatures as high as 120°F restrict agriculture production — import more than 90% of their food. This is not sustainable. These are the regions that will benefit from scientific advancements in food production, including cultured meat, a product officially banned in Alabama and Florida.
Understanding cellular agriculture
Precision fermentation technology has been around for a little more than 30 years. Today it is on an accelerated pathway to commercialization in many developing countries, as it is recognized for its potential in feeding the growing population and saving the planet by producing food and food ingredients in more earth-friendly manners. It’s already used to make a number of food ingredients, including natural flavors, rennet, vitamins and stevia. But it is recent advancements in cellular agriculture — the process of using precision fermentation to produce genuine animal proteins without slaughter — that is fueling interest and innovation.
“There is a direct line between food production, climate, socioeconomic opportunities and equity. How we make our food is one of the foundational ways to change the world around us,” said Nicki Briggs, vice president of corporate communications, Perfect Day, Berkely, Calif., and chair of the Precision Fermentation Alliance (PFA). Founded one year ago, the PFA serves as an industry voice and global convener for this emerging industry.
“Precision fermentation is the newest chapter in the history of making food without animals,” said Maija Itkonen, co-founder and chief executive officer, Onego Bio, a US-Finnish food ingredient company. “It allows us to provide people with food that is sustainable, tasty and healthy, without cutting any corners or making any compromises.”
Fermentation without the “precision” has been around forever. That’s how grapes turn into wine, bread rises and kombucha becomes effervescent and probiotic. Precision fermentation is, as the name suggests, more precise. It’s calculated technology.
In precision fermentation, bioengineering techniques are used to program microorganisms by giving them a specific genetic code to produce a compound of interest when fermented under precise conditions. The genetic code is the exact copy of the DNA sequence found in a digitized database of animal or plant DNA sequences; however, it requires no animal or plant involvement. The result is the molecularly identical ingredient made by microorganisms.
This may sound a little scary to some, especially ranchers who make their livelihood from raising livestock. But in countries where locally raised meat and poultry is scarce, it’s the difference between being able to put burgers on the grill for a family barbecue or serving stone soup.
The PFA hopes to change consumers’ perception of cultured meat. In the States, it apparently is not working.
SCiFi Foods, San Leandro, Calif., a cultured hamburger startup, shut down in early June. The company started out as Artemys Foods in 2019 and raised about $40 million from a number of venture capital funds and even British rock band Coldplay. This was not enough to keep the business going. Besides having regulatory hurdles to bring the product to market, there were likely issues with scale up to improve the economics of production.
“Given challenges in the fundraising market, we’ve appointed an advisory firm to run a sale process,” Joshua March, co-founder and CEO, said to AgFunderNews.com, which first reported the closing.
Another challenge, as mentioned, is consumer perception. This is being fueled by a number of states already banning or discussing the ban of the sale of cultured meat. If consumers are reluctant or prohibited from purchasing, it’s impossible to be profitable.
Two companies have approval in the United States to sell cultivated meat. Both Eat Just Inc., San Francisco, and Upside Foods, Berkeley, Calif., developed slaughter-free chicken made using precision fermentation.
In December 2020, Singapore became the first country to sell cultured meat when Eat Just’s Good Meat Cultured Chicken was served at 1880, a contemporary restaurant founded to inspire conversations that change the world. Since, it’s been served at other restaurants and now a hybrid version is available packaged for sale at Singapore-based Huber’s Butchery and Bistro.
The hybrid recipe features a mere 3% of cultivated animal cells. The rest is plant proteins. The product is sold frozen, which helps with shelf life.
This new product, Good Meat 3, was developed to meet strong consumer demand for cultivated meat in Singapore, and to create opportunities for people to try it in the comfort of their own homes. Using a smaller percentage of cultivated chicken in combination with plant proteins, which have always been used in Good Meat’s cultivated chicken products, also helps reduce costs associated with the production of cultivated meat, one of the main challenges that exist to scaling this developing industry.
“Before today (May 15, 2024), cultivated meat had never been available in retail stores for regular people to buy, and now it is,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and CEO of Eat Just. “This year, we will sell more servings of cultivated chicken than have been sold in any year prior. At the same time, we know there is much more work to be done to prove that cultivated meat can be made at large scale, and we remain focused on that objective.”
This milestone came on the heels of efforts in the United States to restrict or outright ban cultivated meat production and sales. In early May, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, signed a bill into law criminalizing the sale of cultivated meat in that state. This came a few days after South Korea created a “Regulation-Free Special Zone” designated for cultivated food and other bio-tech companies. These areas have specific regulatory exemptions intended to foster innovation and embrace novel food technologies that have the potential to help address problems like climate change, food security and animal suffering.
Communicating benefits
As of now, while consumers say they are interested in supporting sustainable food systems, many have questions and concerns. Further, sustainability cannot be the number-one selling point, according to Jack Bobo, director of the University of Nottingham’s Food Systems Institute in the United Kingdom. First comes taste, nutrition and price.
“Consumers don’t change their eating habits to save their lives, why would they do so to save the planet?” Bobo said.
Despite the excitement around alternative proteins, there is often confusion and skepticism, according to PFA. The PFA’s mission is to change that narrative, highlighting the safety and effectiveness of the technology.
One of the biggest hurdles is communicating that while precision fermentation uses genetic engineering techniques, it is different from genetically modified crops. The technology uses genetically engineered microorganisms in the fermentation process, but the modified organisms are filtered out after fermentation, leaving only the specific compounds or ingredients that they have been designed to create. If the end product does not contain any genetically modified material, it is not considered a GMO or required to be labeled as “bioengineered” by current US regulatory standards.
Even with consumer buy-in, there’s still the extreme costs involved with commercialization. That’s where the new Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at North Carolina State University enters the picture. On May 31, 2024, The Bezos Earth Fund awarded North Carolina State $30 million over five years to lead a center of excellence to create a biomanufacturing hub for dietary proteins that are environmentally friendly, healthy, tasty and affordable. The Earth Fund has committed $100 million to establish a network of open-access research and development centers focused on sustainable protein alternatives.
“Food production is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s critical we find ways to feed a growing population without degrading the planet,” said Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the Earth Fund. “Sustainable protein has tremendous potential, but more research is needed to reduce the price and boost the flavor and texture to ensure nutritious, affordable products are available. It’s about choice.”
Diners expressed a strong willingness to eat cultivated meat again and to recommend it to friends or family when presented in a familiar meal in a familiar social setting. (Source: Steakholder Foods Ltd.)
Choosing cultured meat
Good Meat cultivated chicken dishes were tested in a consumer study at Huber’s Butchery and Bistro in Singapore. The results were published this past March in Future Foods, a peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to sustainability in food science. Researchers from Singapore Management University found that buying and eating cultivated meat “significantly boosted” diners’ acceptance of this novel food. The study also found that after trying cultivated chicken, diners expressed a strong willingness to eat it again, and to recommend it to friends or family.
“This report is significant, as it’s the first-ever study of actual paying consumers of cultivated meat. The findings are clear: when consumers are free to buy cultivated meat, they are much more likely to accept it and suggest it to their friends and family,” Tetrick said.
In surveying more than 100 people who sat down to a meal at Huber’s in 2023, the researchers used a real-life setting to determine whether “presenting cultivated meat in the context of a familiar meal in a familiar social setting” would predict diners’ willingness to try it again and recommend it to others. The study’s findings reinforced Good Meat’s “strategy of socializing cultivated chicken to consumers through curated food trials at restaurants: eating is believing.”
Taste was another important factor in the study, showing that “tastiness” of the cultivated chicken itself was more important to diners than whether the chicken was presented in a “familiar meal or dish.” Survey participants gave cultivated meat a score of 4.2 out of 5 on taste, and 4.45 out of 5 on willingness to recommend to others.
“Singaporean diners are renowned for their discerning taste in food, so while environmental and public health benefits can be additional motivators, the product has to hit the mark on flavor,” said Mirte Gosker, managing director-Asia Pacific, The Good Food Institute. “This data shows that cultivated meat can pass that high bar and turn skeptics into enthusiasts, so now we need costs to come down enough to enable such products to reach the masses.
“That’s going to require greater global collaboration, market access and investment, but Singapore has made clear that it’s open for business and ready to meet this moment,” Gosker added.
Eat Just is ready to deliver. The company’s Singapore production facility has the capacity to produce tens of thousands of pounds of meat from cells, without the need to slaughter a single animal. It houses the single-largest bioreactor in the cultivated meat industry to date.
For now, animal slaughter-free meat and poultry will likely remain a Southeast Asian thing. A recent YouGov poll showed that 31% of Americans support a ban on making and selling lab-grown meat in their state, while 36% oppose such a ban and 32% are unsure. Only 10% of Americans would definitely consider trying lab-grown meat, with an additional 18% saying they probably would. Conversely, 40% said they would definitely not try it, and 20% probably would not, leaving 12% of respondents unsure.
In a hypothetical future where lab-grown meat is indistinguishable from animal meat in taste, nutrition and cost, 50% of Americans would still prefer conventional animal meat. Only 13% of respondents said they would choose lab-grown meat, while 14% would opt for neither and 22% remain unsure.These findings highlight a mix of curiosity, skepticism and preferences that will likely shape the future of lab-grown meat in the United States.