Breakingbread.media (2024)

07/02/2022

One of the most demonized ingredients

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) or “Chinese salt”, recently became the most popular yet the most controversial food ingredient. Debates over this food enhancer today have involved consumers, scientists, physicians and government officials, however, even after FDA approval people keep linking it with Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.

🧂 What is MSG?

MSG belongs to a larger group of chemicals that is named “glutamate”. Glutamate is one of many different amino acids which are considered to be the building blocks of proteins.

Glutamate is the one which determines the taste of these products, however it works only when glutamate is in “free” form, not bonding with other amino acids in proteins.

Glutamate is produced by brain assist and works as a neurotransmitter. Dietary glutamate, including one from MSG, also helps the digestive system giving intestines the energy.

MSG is the sodium salt of the amino acid, glutamic acid, and a form of glutamate. Added to the food it enhances the flavours the same way that glutamate does.

According to one of the Harvard Law School students' papers, Americans consume around 11 grams of glutamate from natural protein sources and less than 1 gram of glutamate from MSG per day. While Asians consume three times more: for instance, Taiwanese consume 3 grams of glutamate from MSG per day.

❓ A threat to public health?

Extreme examples of negative effects attributed to MSG concerns CNS disorder, obesity, disruptions in adipose tissue physiology, hepatic damage, reproductive malfunctions and asthma. A connection between toxic effects and the consumption of MSG could however never be convincingly proven.

Researchers haven't backed up claims that physical symptoms develop after eating MSG. There were studies that did find some correlation between MSG consumption and physical effects yet the evidence was too weak.

⬆️ Click link in bio to read more about researches that bust the myths about MSG

02/02/2022

Probably, the coolest food guidelines

While the traditional mediterranean diet is based on food guidelines in the form of a pyramid, China decided to present national dietary guidelines in a more traditional form of pagoda. The Chinese Food Guide Pagoda serves as a general visual representation of an ideal, balanced diet for an adult, illustrating both the amounts and varieties of foods that should be consumed in one day.

Food Pagoda is based on the following 5 food groups: (1) whole grains, (2) vegetables and fruits; (3) meat and poultry, fish and shrimps, and eggs; (4) dairy products, beans, and bean products; and (5) fats and oils and salt.

➡️ Swipe to learn more about each group’s recommendations

31/01/2022

The cost of fight

China’s remarkable social and economic development over the past two decades led to a large increase in demand for food, especially for livestock products. Import of soybeans and meat is skyrocketing and with growing numbers our worries about sustainability of international trade are rising as well. For example, 43% of deforestation emissions due to soybean cultivation in Brazil is attributed to China’s soybean imports in 2017.

🟢 China & the environment

According to the study published in October 2021 in Nature Sustainability, the increasing food demand, especially for livestock products will require in the nearest future up to 12 Mha of additional pasture, followed by growth in GHG emissions and might become a challenge to sustainable domestic agricultural development.

The reliance on agricultural imports has implications for the global environment. According to a study, by 2050 twice as much additional agricultural land will be “imported” to China in the form of agricultural products from abroad, than what would be produced domestically.

Moreover, the study found that 48% of agricultural land and 33% of greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector in New Zealand, 16% of nitrogen use from Canada, and 11% of irrigation water from the United States will be attributed to products exported to China by 2050.

🟢 China & agriculture

Today the use of nitrogen fertilizer in China accounts for 32% of global fertilizer use. The overapplication of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides resulted in soil contamination, algae blooms, and increased greenhouse gas emissions. These chemical residues in food and nitrogen infiltration into groundwater led to health problems of farmers and farm workers as well as Chinese customers.

⬆️ Click link in bio to read how WeChat app helps farmers to use fertilizer selectively, avoiding over-fertilisation and soil degradation

28/01/2022

Gene-edited crops are pushing Chinese food security

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs published new guidelines for the approval of gene-edited plants. Such measures are aimed for faster improvements to crops and overhauling China's seed industry, seen as a weak link in efforts to ensure it can feed the world's biggest population.

Beijing has also recently passed new regulations that set out a clear path for approval for genetically modified (GM) crops. But gene editing — or altering the genes of a plant, not transferring a foreign one, to change or improve its performance — is viewed by some scientists as a less risky and more promising method.

The guidelines stipulate skipping the lengthy field trials required for the approval of a GM plant, so it could take only 1-2 years to get approval for a gene-edited plant, compared with around 6 years for GM ones.

In late 2020, China's leadership said the country needed to use science and technology for an urgent "turnaround" of its seed industry, which has long struggled with overcapacity and little innovation. As for now, China's research institutes have already published more research on market-oriented gene-edited crops than any other country.

26/01/2022

Biggest investments into food future of China

The flow of investments in the Chinese Agri-FoodTech sector became possible due to the long-awaited policy that put a high priority for tech in agriculture. The market is receiving an increasing number of startups, and the industry is gradually opening up to technology adoption.

We chose 4 companies that got one of the biggest investments based on AgFunder’s “China AgriFood Investment Report 2021”.

🔴 With the growing popularity of new ready-to-eat products, the company Zihaiguo received great success. It’s a self heating hotpot brand that, in just under 10 months, raised three equity rounds and is now valued at $500 million.

🔴 Farm Robotics, Mechanization & Equipment is a fast-growing sector of investments which was very successful in the previous year. The largest agriculture-first drone company in China is serving close to 9 million farmers with precision input devices and software. The company raised a Series C extension of $174 million — the biggest deal ever in digital farming in China.

🔴 Chinese AgTech policy promotes use of science in the agricultural sector for tightening environmental protections and to flatten agrochemical use. Leader of BioTech deals is a life sciences company CapitalBioTechnology, which develops food safety and molecular breeding solutions, raised $116 million.

🔴 Alternative proteins gathered significant pace in China in 2020, together with the rest of the world. Although the majority of Chinese Innovative Food companies are in the early-stage, top fundraiser Green Monday received $70 million funding. is a platform encompassing not just plant based food product sales, but also vegetarianism ventures, food services, and groceries.

24/01/2022

Population increases, insecurity decreases

Since COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt food supply chains and logistics across the globe, the market and the public are spawning misconceptions about food security in the world's most populous country. But there are zero chances that China can be an immediate or long-term threat of food shortages.

Food & population

As a country that has the largest population in the world, China made remarkable progress reducing the number of people suffering from hunger and fighting poverty. China is one of just 29 countries that managed to reach United Nations targets aimed at cutting world hunger rates in half by 2015 by covering two-thirds of the total reduction in undernourished people among Asian countries from 2010 to 2017.

However, the Government recognizes that almost 150.8 million people remain undernourished. Those who are undernourished are suffering from stunting (9.4 %), anaemia (19.6 😵 and being overweight (25%). Those rates are a national and global burden.

Imports

The fact that China has become increasingly reliant on imports due to changing consumption habits led to rapid imports growing from just $14 billion to $104.6 billion between 2003 and 2017. Food exports nearly tripled from $20.2 billion to $59.6 billion over the same period.

China’s grain imports are rapidly rising. During the first 9 months of 2021 it imported 128.27 million tonnes of grain, up 29.3% from a year earlier. China imported 3.53 million tonnes of corn in September, up 226.9% from a year ago, while the purchase of foreign wheat dropped 40.4% to 640,000 tonnes in September. The main reason for this growth is the increase in demand for livestock feed resulting from increased meat consumption.

More likely that China will increase its food and feed imports like soybean, maize, sugar, and dairy products in the coming decade. But global food security is out of danger.

⬆️ Click link in bio to read how else China fights food insecurity — with grain production and agriculture policy

19/01/2022

When Enough is not enough

British food-tech company has broken new ground on the construction of its mycoprotein factory, targeted as the world’s largest non-animal protein farm to be built in 2022. Their mycoprotein called ABUNDA is produced by fermenting fungi using renewable feedstocks.

To provide needed feedstocks, the company’s 15,000 square meter facility will be co-located alongside the Cargill facility in Sas van Gent in the Netherlands. The location and collaboration with Cargill will ensure the most efficient feed source, as well as supporting zero-waste advantages of Enough’s product. The flagship facility has already received €16.9 million (US$19.8 million) funding.

The factory will have an initial capacity to produce 10,000 metric tons of mycoprotein per annum, the equivalent of more than five cow’s worth of protein every hour. With the received funding there are plans to extend beyond Europe with growth over 1 million metric tons by 2032.

17/01/2022

Mushrooms substituting meat in action

In the mid-1960s, a British flour baron J. Arthur Rank was looking for a way to turn all his excess wheat into protein for human consumption. Rank’s scientists analysed more than 3000 different fungi, but on April 1, 1968 they found what they were looking for in a simple compost heap. The fungus – later identified as Fusarium Venenatum – grew easily in fermenters, turning into a relatively flavourless hunk of high-protein food called mycoprotein.

Since then many companies are searching for new fungi for mycoprotein and new technologies to produce it.

The company ferments fungi with natural sugars from grains to make its proprietary mycoprotein. Their mycoprotein ABUNDA has a fibrous nature and is rich in protein and fiber, as well as naturally fortified in B12, zinc, and iron.

La Révolution Champignon

This French startup uses oyster mushrooms in its plant-based food alternatives. They use the mushroom foot as the main ingredient to produce recyclable by-products for the mushroom farm.

A Hong Kong-based startup combines fungal and nutritional science to grow nutrient-rich species of mushrooms for human consumption. The startup provides mushroom-based biomaterials for construction, furniture, and packaging applications.

A German startup steps forward in sustainable meat alternative production by using mushrooms not only to create raw ingredients, but also to decompose waste products of other agro- and food industries.

A UK-based startup PLANETARIANS developed a technology that uses fermentation to convert the carbohydrates in the plants into additional protein without extraction. Then the entire biomass is converted into alternative meat.

Mycoprotein by The Better Meat Co called Rhiza, and it has a meaty texture, but a very neutral flavour. Thus, it can be used not only for meat alternative food, but also for seafood and fish substitute.

14/01/2022

Forget meat — mycoprotein is stonger than ever

Mycoprotein is a type of plant protein made of Usarium venenatum, a naturally occurring fungus. It was discovered in the UK during the “green revolution” – a fifty-year long quest to find a new, sustainable protein source that could convert starch into protein via fermentation.

After testing over 3000 soil organisms, scientists were able to identify a filamentous microfungus that yielded a valuable food-grade protein. Further research and development have led to commercial scale production in a multi-step industrial fermentation process, in which glucose from roasted barley malt and nitrogen from ammonia are used as nutrients for fungal growth.

🍄 Mycoprotein vs meat

Meat-like chewy and porous texture and high protein amount (11g/100g) make mycoprotein a good option for the first month of “meatless living”.

The “quality” of mycoprotein is also remarkable: the total protein contains 41% essential amino acids (the ones that the human body is incapable of generating from other metabolites), which is higher than those of most other commonly consumed plant-based proteins. Mycoprotein also showed great anabolic potential in a dose-response study, indicating that it may be a favourable source of dietary protein to stimulate muscle growth.

In addition to scoring high for macronutrients like protein and dietary fiber, mycoprotein is also low in saturated fat (important for keeping blood cholesterol in check), and rich in essential microelements like zinc and selenium.

🍄 Mycoprotein vs malnutrition

Researchers at the University of Cambridge say our future global food supply cannot be safeguarded by traditional approaches to improving food production, thus, global malnutrition could be eradicated by farming foods including mycoprotein.

By dry weight, mycoprotein constitutes approximately 45% protein and 25% fiber. In the US, where less than 5% of the population is meeting the adequate dietary fiber intake requirements, plant foods like mycoprotein are becoming even a more important source of this macronutrient.

11/01/2022

In 1998, scientists determined that the largest organism on Earth, at least by area covered, was a fungus in Oregon’s Blue Mountains whose mycelium spanned over 2,000 acres underground.

We love mushrooms not only for their taste or medical benefits, but also for mycoremediation and being a base for sustainable alternatives to leather, foams, paper, etc.

➡️ Swipe to read about the most intriguing spheres where fungi are used

07/01/2022

More health benefits from fungi
A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders came up with a finding that eating mushrooms could lower the risk of depression. The Penn State team based their research on the fact that mushrooms contain numerous bioactive compounds that may be associated with reduced anxiety — vitamin B12, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory agents.

Data were collected from more than 24,000 U.S. adults from 2005 to 2016. Researchers looked at two days of dietary recall to assess how often participants were consuming mushrooms.

It turned out that those participants who reported eating moderate-to-high levels of mushrooms (median intake from 4.9 g/d to 19.6 g/d) over the course of the two days had lower odds of depression, as compared to those who ate low or no amounts of mushrooms.

One of the limitations of the study is that there is no information on specific types of mushrooms consumed by participants. But it seems like any edible mushroom — around 4% of all mushrooms — will be good to fight mental illness.

04/01/2022

Start Vegnuary off with mushrooms

As Vegnuary, the initiative to promote plant-based diet, is ongoing, it's a good time to remember mushrooms and their health benefits. Although mushrooms are considered vegetables, they are technically not plants: they are a type of fungus that contains ergosterol, a substance similar in structure to cholesterol in animals.

There are 10,000 known types of mushrooms each of them having their health benefits. But we will discuss general ones: mushrooms do contain components that may exert antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer effects, but the exact mechanism is an area of active research. Here are some of the already known benefits:

🍄 Mushrooms contain polysaccharides that act as a prebiotic. Studies show that they lead to the growth and survival of beneficial strains like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

🍄 Such bioactive molecules that mushrooms contain like polysaccharides, terpenoids, proteins and polyphenols which enhance the immune strength, lower and prevent risks of cancers, protect the nervous system from the damage of aging etc.

🍄 According to research, men who consumed mushrooms once or twice a week — an average of about 3 ounces per serving — had an 8% lower risk of prostate cancer compared with those who ate no mushrooms. And among men who ate mushrooms 3+ times per week, risk was 17% lower. What is more, this link is traced regardless of the men's intake of other vegetables and fruit or how much meat and dairy they consumed.

🍄 One study shows that there is a link between eating more than 300 grams of mushrooms weekly and reduced risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, or MCI (a condition characterized by poor memory and language difficulties that aren’t yet impairing daily functioning).

⬆️ Click link in bio to learn more what nutrients mushrooms contain and how vitamin D is increased in them

26/12/2021

Don’t throw food away, reprint it

It is clear that, for a long time food waste has become a clear global problem. In fact, every year around 1.3 billion tonnes of it gets thrown away or goes uneaten. But this does not have to be the new reality. One of the solutions is 3D food printing company Upprinting Food (The Netherlands).

🖨️

With their company Upprinting Food, the industrial design students at the Eindhoven University of Technology reuse food which is normally thrown away and use a 3D printer to make edible decorations for meals. They use old bread and root vegetables or fruit that don’t look good any more as a basis for their pulp that later printed into edible shapes.

First food is dried and then crashed into a powder. The pulp is fed into a syringe in the 3D printer. The machine builds up a shape layer by layer using a small needle. This means that the pulp should not be too thick or too thin. Once the oven trays have been printed, this is then baked and dried. That way they have a longer shelf life.

25/12/2021

Save them for a little longer

Fruit and vegetables are one of the best options you can eat today. And 5 fruit and vegetables are the optimum amount, according to WHO recommendations. There is only downside about them – they are perishable. Apeel Sciences (USA) and Sufresca (Israel) are fighting this nature’s weakness with their innovative coating for fruit and vegetables.

Apeel’s plant-based coating basically is a second fruit skin that slows down oxidation and keeps moisture out, thus extending produce’s natural shelf life by two to three times!

The coating is sold as a powder, which is mixed with water and applied to produce by spray, dip or brush. Is it safe to eat? Yes, because Apeel uses food grade ingredients made from materials that exist in the peels, seeds and pulp of all the fruits and vegetables we already eat.

According to Crunchbase, the company’s overall founding amount is over $640 millions. Among Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, DBL Partners, Upfront Ventures, S2G Ventures, Viking Global Investors, PowerPlant Partners, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GIC, and The Rockefeller Foundation.

🥒 Sufresca

Israeli Agtech start-up Sufresca is among the few to offer a solution for salad vegetables. Their ‘breathable’ coating made from ultra-thin, edible materials is used to protect cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic and peppers, resulting in shelf lives that are up to several weeks longer.

The coating is tasteless, odorless, and virtually undetectable by sensory evaluation, providing natural appearance and long lasting freshness as if just harvested.

23/12/2021

If 2020 is plant-based, 2021 is lab-grown

This year Singapore had become the first country in the world to approve the sale of lab-grown meat — which drew the dividing line for the future of food.

Nowadays more than 20 firms globally are testing lab-grown fish, beef and chicken, hoping to break into a still small segment of the alternative meat market, which on various estimates could be worth $140 billion by 2029.

We picked three of them for the Advent calendar — Eat Just (USA), Vow (Australia) and Because, Animals (USA).

🔴 Eat Just

American start-up Eat Just after thorough review of process, manufacturing control and safety testing received the greenlight from the Singapore Food Agency to sell its lab-grown chicken meat as nuggets in the very near term.

Cultivated meat, which is grown from animal muscle cells in a lab, is still given high production costs, so the price of Eat Just nuggets will be as high as premium chicken meat.

🔴

Vow became the world’s first company to make a food product from the cells of an undomesticated animal, instead of the animal itself. Back in 2019 Vow presented a Kangaroo dumpling, and since then the company has grown its library to 11 different animals including exotic fare like zebra, alpaca, and water buffalo.

This year the Australian company has received US $6 million of fresh funding for cultured meat production.

🔴

Because Animals Inc., a bioscience startup making pet food without animal meat, was first launched in December 2016 by Dr. Shannon Falconer and Joshua Errett, MBA.

In 2021 Because, Animals had successfully completed the world’s first cultured meat product for pets. This achievement marks the world’s first CPG product made with cultured meat as well as the first cookie for cats that includes mouse meat – the species-appropriate, ancestral diet of the cat.

20/12/2021

Recycling may not be an answer, but reusing may

According to recently published EPA 2018 estimate, the US is put at a recycling rate of 32% with only 8.7% plastic waste being recycled each year. That means that alternatives to recycling such as a global reuse platform Loop (USA) are in focus.

♻️

Loop initially will be an e-commerce play, where consumers will have to, first, make an account and then start filling up their baskets online. They will then be allowed to order goods from the Loop website, or that of a partner, and have them delivered like traditional products ordered online.

But here’s the twist: instead of using a product, such as a facial cream, and discarding it the consumer will need to give their bottle, container, or package back see it be refilled.

Unlike traditional recyclables, the packages don’t need to be washed. At the end of the cycle, a UPS driver picks up a tote bag with all the empty containers to be refilled. Customers can keep repeating the cycle or opt out and recover their deposit that initially must have paid. Even banged up packages earn back the deposit — customers only lose that money if they fail to make a return. When the packages are no longer suitable for use, TerraCycle recycles them.

Such brands as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Danone, Mars Petcare, Mondelēz International are currently working together with Loop.

19/12/2021

There is no food without farming technologies

One of the goals of nowadays agriculture is to produce more from less: less land area, less input of chemicals, less use of water, less emission of greenhouse gases, less risk of soil degradation, and less use of energy-based inputs.

The knowledge-based regenerative agriculture could be the answer to these challenges by using modern science, managerial skills, and technologies.

We chose 5 companies around the world that work on technologies: (USA) study microbial fingerprintand, SMART Seeder (Canada) work on accurate seeding and chemical usage, (USA) has recently announced their new robot Phil, (USA) closed the largest vertical farming deal so far and (Australia) specialized in blockchain technologies.

➡️ Swipe to learn about each of them

17/12/2021

Nothing is more progressive than food out of air

Probably the most revolutionizing technology of 2021 is innovative protein — a meat alternative out of elements in the air by Air Protein (USA) and flour made out of carbon dioxide from air, electricity, water, microbes and nutrients by Solar Foods (Finland).

💨

The company uses elements found in the air combined with water and mineral nutrients. It uses probiotic production process and renewable energy to convert the elements into a nutrient-rich protein with the same amino acid profile as an animal protein and packed with crucial B vitamins, which are often deficient in a vegan diet.

This year Air Protein received $32 million funds from ADM Ventures, Barclays and GV.

💨 Solar Foods

A Finnish tech startup, says it has found a way to make food far more sustainable with their food innovation. They produce a yellow flour-type ingredient containing some 65% protein. The flour is ground from a liquid microorganism that is made out of carbon dioxide from air, electricity, water, microbes and nutrients.

The company already has received nearly 25 million euros ($30 million) in government and private funding to commercialise Solein. Recently Solar Foods was announced to become one of the winners of Phase 1 of the Deep Space Food Challenge launched by and Canadian CSA.

15/12/2021

Things that go together: cultivated fat for cultivated meat

With the growing popularity of lab-grown meat, there are more innovations to create meat alternatives that look, cook and taste just as good as the real thing.

Coconut oil which is typically added to plant and lab grown proteins to add mouthfeel and meatiness differs in texture, has a tendency to leak out during cooking and imparts a coconutty smell.

Cubiq Foods (Spain) and Mission Barns (USA) make cultivated meat even more similar to animal meat.

🔴 Cubiq Foods

A Spanish cultured fat startup Cubiq Foods presents a technology that converts liquid oils such as sunflower or olive oil into solid or semi-solid fats.

A new "smart fat" is produced by adding water and clean-label ingredients and putting the fat through a mechanical process. That could help food manufacturers to improve the taste and nutritional value of plant-based products.

In 2020 the technology was backed up by €5m in funding from Blue Horizon Venture.

🔴

A Silicon Valley-based cellular agriculture company Mission Barns has developed products incorporating its Mission Fat in various categories both on its own and through collaboration with meat companies and plant protein partners.

Applications include bacon, breakfast patties, nuggets, dumplings, hot dogs, poultry sausages, meatballs and more. The latest partneships of the company are with Californian — to create a plant protein sausage — and with China-based — to jointly develop hybrid plant- and cultivated meat products for China.

This year the company raised $24 million in funding to scale up its technology and build a pilot manufacturing plant in the San Francisco Bay area.

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