Foodtech start-up Plantish is giving consumers a first look at its flagship product, a 100% plant-based whole-cut salmon fillet, which the company says mimics cooked salmon in texture, taste, appearance, and structure.

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Co-founder and CEO Ofek Ron says that the Plantish team keeps its mission close to its heart – "to save the oceans and eliminate the need to consume marine animals by providing more sustainable, more nutritious, and more delicious fish options."

According to market research firm IMARC Group, the seafood market today is worth $586 billion, and salmon accounts for $50 billion of that. Approximately 80% of fish is consumed whole or in fillet form. But the alternative seafood sector offers mainly minced fish options because of the complexities of producing whole "cuts."

The technical difficulties come not only in creating a facsimile of the taste, texture, and mouthfeel of fish from the ocean, but also its structure and scalability. Producers need to find the right plant proteins to achieve fibrous stands that will stand in for fish flesh.

The first product Plantish is launching is Plantish Salmon, which the company describes as a fully structured, boneless plant-based salmon fillet. The startup says Plantish Salmon has the same nutritional value as conventional salmon, and is high in protein, Omega-3s, Omega-6s, and B vitamins. And as an added bonus, unlike fish from the ocean or aquaculture, their product is reportedly free of mercury, antibiotics, hormones, microplastics, and toxins.

"Our vision is to be the world's leading seafood brand," says Ron, "all without hurting a single fish."

Plantish's current prototype can be cooked in all the ways that conventional salmon is prepared. The company plans to introduce its salmon fillets at select pop-up locations by the end of 2022, and officially roll it out in 2024.

Plantish joined the burgeoning alternative protein start-up scene in early 2021 and shortly thereafter after raised a pre-seed round of $2 million from TechAviv Founder Partners, and angel investors that include Michelin-starred chef José Andrés and Nuseir Yassin of the Nas Daily vlog.

The founders of Plantish are a mix of serial entrepreneurs, bioengineering and chemistry PhDs, and foodtech executives.

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Israeli foodtech startup SavorEat on Tuesday launched a plant-based burger system personalized to each customer, one of the first companies to use 3D printing technology to cook food.

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Typically, vegan burgers from companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat are frozen and later cooked on a grill.

SavorEat's technology, however, are made on site by a self-contained 3D printer with three cartridges containing oils and other ingredients. Customers can choose how much fat and protein they want in each burger, which takes about six minutes to cook.

"It's a mix of innovation of meat alternative and digital manufacturing where we can also cook the product," Racheli Vizman, SavorEat's chief executive, told Reuters.

She said the firm's burgers are made with a combination of potato and chickpea and pea protein.

Demand for meat alternatives by health and environmentally conscious consumers has jumped in recent years, while alternative protein startups raised more than $3 billion in 2020.

Another Israeli company, Redefine Meat, last month started to deploy meatless whole cuts in European restaurants.

SavorEat, funded mainly by Israeli institutions and whose Tel Aviv-listed shares rose 11% on Tuesday, said its products would initially be served at a local burger chain.

The company is also collaborating with food service firm Yarzin Sela that supplies Israeli high-tech companies and forged a deal with Sodexo to serve its vegan burgers to US universities.

"There is a growing segment of people called 'flexiterian' – people who are actively trying to look for meat alternatives to reduce their meat consumption," Vizman said, citing about one-third of the US population.

Oded Shoseyov, chairman and chief scientist of SavorEat, said the firm is also working on a plant-based version of a pork breakfast sausage for the US market.

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A new initiative aims to provide special mentoring for Slovenian startup companies looking to gain a foothold in Israel.

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Last week, the Slovenian Embassy in Israel, together with public business development organization Spirit Slovenia and the Slovene Enterprise Fund, announced the launch of a new accelerator in Israel, to be managed by Arieli Capital's ETC.

The program seeks to connect selected Slovenian startups with Israeli high-tech companies, leading industry organizations, international corporations, investors, and academic institutions.

The accelerator program, which is funded by the Slovenian government, is scheduled to run in Tel Aviv from Feb. 13-April 11, and an open call for Slovenian startups is already underway, with applications accepted until mid-January, 2022.

Slovenian startups from a variety of sectors, including healthcare, fintech, foodtech, and more, are expected to take part.

"We are excited to launch the Slovenia-Israel accelerator, which will reinforce the economic and social collaboration between the growing ecosystems of both countries. The accelerator offers Slovenian startups a unique opportunity to work in the heart of one of the world's primary high-tech hubs, the startup nation of Israel," said Or Haviv, partner and head of global innovation at Arieli Capital.

"We are confident that this strategic partnership will help to advance the Slovenian startups to the forefront of the global high-tech scene," he added.

Haviv said that many countries were increasingly interested in becoming part of Israel's startup scene. "Israel became a compelling example of a tech ecosystem producing world leading innovation. Many countries would like to learn how to build a similar model," he stressed.

Slovenian Ambassador to Israel Andreja Purkart Martinez said, "Israel and Slovenia share a lot in common."

According to Martinez, "The Slovenian economy is growing fast thanks to excellent human capital, government backed investments and cutting edge research and academic institutions. We are certain that collaborating with Israel will help Slovenia's entrepreneurial and startup industry thrive and help our talented startups expand to international markets."

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Rehovot-based foodtech start-up Better Juice, which has made it a mission to reduce the sugar content of natural fruit juice while preserving flavor and nutritional content, has sealed a deal to bring its reduced-sugar juices to supermarket aisles.

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Better Juice has inked an agreement with a major US fruit juice manufacturer for commercial installment of its sugar-reduction technology – the first official commercial venture in the company's collaboration with Germany's GEA Group.

Better Juice's patented enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose sugars into prebiotic and other non-digestible fibers. The juice passes through a continuous flow bio-reactor housing non-GMO microorganism that transform the unwanted sugars into beneficial, non-digestible molecules.

The company says its system can reduce sugar loads by up to 80%, while preserving the fruits' vitamins and nutrients.

Is the taste affected? According to Better Juice, the process mitigates sweetness while boosting the fruit flavor.

Better Juice has been granted a patent for its sugar-reduction enzymatic process in Europe. Armed with recent self-affirmed GRAS status from the US Food and Drug Administration, the company is out to market its system.

"These achievements, together with GEA's knowhow and cutting-edge technology, will open doors to work more closely with food and beverage companies," explains Eran Blachinsky, PhD, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice.

Under the terms of the collaboration with GEA, the German group will design, manufacture, and install the bioreactor that reduces sugars and offer follow-up technical support. Better Juice will produce the microorganisms for the enzymatic process. The US commercial order stipulates that Better Juice will produce natural juices with a minimum sugar reduction of 30%, and the product is expected to arrive in US supermarkets by the spring of 2022.

"This new agreement marks an exciting milestone in our mission to get our sugar-reduction technology off the ground, to penetrate the US market, and to expand our global footprint," enthuses Blachinsky. "We've officially launched our drive to help consumers enjoy reduce sugar in their favorite fruit juice."

"Scaling up is always a challenge," confesses Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice. "But when your partner is GEA, with its vast industrial food processing capabilities and global presence, the acceleration of the Better Juice commercialization is much faster and brings added value to the supply chain. Imagine – in just a few months, affordable, reduced-sugar fruit juice will be a ready option for American consumers."

"Better Juice has incredible potential to transform the global juice industry," notes Colm O'Gorman, Head of Sales Management for GEA's Global Technology Center for Non-Alcoholic Beverages. "As consumer demand for lowered-sugar beverages continues to surge, we are eager to join Better Juice on this momentous journey. We look forward to delivering products that address one of the top consumer needs of reducing their sugar intake, especially in daily beverages."

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Foodtech startup MeaTech 3D has successfully bioprinted a 3.67 oz (104-gram) cultivated steak, primarily composed of cultivated real fat and muscle cells, the Ness Ziona-based company announced Tuesday.

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MeaTech believes this to be the largest cultured steak produced to date.

"Today's breakthrough is the culmination of over one year's efforts in our cellular biology and high-throughput tissue engineering processes, as well as our precision bioprinting technology," said MeaTech CEO and CTO Sharon Fima.

"By bioprinting a 3.67 oz steak comprised of living tissue, we believe we have both validated our core technologies and placed ourselves at the forefront of the race to develop high-end, real cell-based cultivated premium meat products," Fima said.

The cells used to make the steak were produced using a proprietary process that isolates bovine stem cells from tissue samples and multiplies. Upon reaching sufficient cellular mass, stem cells were formulated into bio-inks compatible with MeaTech's proprietary 3D bio-printer. The bio-inks were printed from a digital design file of a steak structure. The printed product was placed in an incubator to mature, where the printed stem cells were differentiated into fat and muscle cells that develop into fat and muscle tissue, respectively, to form the MeaTech steak.

MeaTech's goal is to develop a true replacement for conventional steak that maximizes cell-based content rather than non-meat ingredients. The cultivated does not contain any soy or pea protein, substitutes typically used in plant-based meat alternatives.

The company intends to continue improving upon its bioprinting and cultivation technologies to produce cultivated meat that better mirrors the key characteristics of farm-raised, premium steak.

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Israel is rapidly positioning itself at the vanguard of alternative meat and dairy development, with numerous startups working on either eliminating the animal element from the food we consume or finding a way to skirt slaughter and/or dairy farming through cultured meat and dairy products.

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One of the newer players on the scene is Imagindairy Ltd, a foodtech startup that creates milk proteins it says is identical to those in cow's milk.

Imagindairy's proprietary technology allows manufacturers to offer cow-free, sustainable milk and dairy products.

The technology in use at Imagindairy is based on 15 years of research led by company co-founder and CSO Professor Tamir Tuller of Tel Aviv University. It feeds microorganisms instead of cows, and the select microorganisms the company employs are up to 20 times more efficient than cows at converting feed into food, resulting in highly functional milk proteins that boast the same texture, flavor, and nutritional value as milk from cows.

"We are excited to share this news with our partners and colleagues," Imagindairy co-founder and CEO Dr. Eyal Afergan explains.

"The market is eager to develop new dairy analogs based on our animal-free proteins. Once we reach commercialization, more consumers will be able to enjoy eating animal-free dairy products. It's hard for people to make big changes, especially when it comes to the foods they enjoy, but when there's an alternative with the same flavor and experience that is more aligned to their values, it becomes easy," Afergan adds.

Earlier this month, Imagindairy completed a $13 million seed round led by MoreVC, a leading seed stage investor in Israel that manags $275 million across three funds. Other participants included Strauss Group, Entrée Capital, S2G Ventures; Collaborative Fund, New Climate Ventures, Green Circle Foodtech Ventures; Emerald Technology Ventures and Pierre Besnainou.

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The company will invest the funds raised in expanding its facilities, increasing its professional team, and boosting research and development capacity to meet the demands of its partners.

Imagindairy is currently collaborating with leading dairy companies, offering a complete range of dairy-free proteins.

Strauss Group CTO Eyal Shimoni said, "Imagindairy ticks all the right boxes. This is innovative technology that can help solve world hunger in our growing population; it's a solution that is green and animal-free. We at Strauss group, one of the leading dairy companies in Israel, identified the potential in this start-up in the early stages and have confidence in its managers to help lead the alt-protein revolution toward a better, more sustainable future."

"Imagindairy's innovative technology allows dairy companies to develop new products or reformulate existing products, without involving animals and with a dramatic reduction in carbon-footprint," says Glen Schwaber, a partner at MoreVC.

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Israeli foodtech start-up CarobWay has partnered with the Jewish National Fund-KKL on a nationwide carob tree research initiative, the company announced this week.

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The venture has already begun extensive field research to attain a full analysis of domestic trees and identify the most fruitful carob varieties, as well as optimum growing conditions.

Researchers have mapped the country using a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data collection format that assigns trees to the closest meteorological station, allowing researchers to accrue location-based data on such key parameters as rain volumes and humidity levels to help identify the most best areas for growing carob trees.

"There are five species of carob trees that grow throughout Israel," explains Sohel Zedan, Chief Forest Officer for the JNF and a leading global expert in carob cultivation and agriculture.

"Some have been growing wild in forests for thousands of years and are well acclimatized, so have proven resilience to extreme weather conditions and other environmental changes. Most were planted in the 1950's as part of a major afforestation campaign initiated by the JNF. Many of these deep-rooted perennial trees have long life spans, with the potential to live decades or even centuries. This makes them a highly sustainable, yet low-maintenance crop – traits we look for when selecting the best species to develop."

CarobWay currently harvests carob from key carob groves owned by the JNF in several parts of Israel and has established its own first 70-hectare (17- acre) modern carob grove in the Upper Galilee region.

CarobWay has also sealed agreements with R&D farms and local farming communities to optimize carob cultivation to develop innovative carob-derived products.

The team is conducting broadscale screening of native carob species, which is expected to allow the company to develop carob-based products that are in line with food industry needs.

"We applied several analytical methods to attain a deeper understanding of various carob species and their unique characteristics specifically so that we can tailor our offerings more adroitly to our clients," says CarobWay co-founder and CEO Udi Alroy.

"For example, some carob species grow fruit with higher sugar content, albeit with a naturally low glycemic index. These can serve the needs of food and beverage companies seeking viable sugar alternatives. Other trees bear more seeds and so are more suited to the locust bean gum industry," Alroy points out.

Research farm Hulata operates a model grove dedicated to R&D, where it analyzes local carob varieties and their cultivation methods from irrigation through to pollination technologies. The orchard is fully automated and computerized.

CarobWay also reports headway in creating innovative carob-centered food products in its private lab. "Carob is a highly nutritious and flavorful fruit, yet its true potential has yet to be realized," adds Alroy. "We are continually striving to bring the best of this super crop back to the table and to boost the carob value chain.

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Israeli food-tech startup ChickP Protein has begun full commercial production of its 90% chickpea isolate protein, the company announced Tuesday.

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ChickP was founded in 2016 by Ram Reifen, a pediatric gastroenterologist and professor of human nutrition, based a patented technology developed after two years of research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In a press release, ChickP said it is now producing its allergen-free protein isolate at a stable rate of 20 metric tons per day.

ChickP said its ingredient is designed to provide protein-infused functionality and a nutritional boost to an array of food and supplements, including dairy alternatives, baked products, and gluten-free foods. The company also is actively seeking new opportunities in the plant-based alternatives industry.

CEO of ChickP Ron Klein said, "We have established a modern, BRC certified food facility, where we have applied proprietary technology for the production of high-value, clean-label chickpea protein."

"We've already attracted considerable interest from major food brands, and this month alone welcomed a number of production commitments from several new customers," Klein added.

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ChickP, based in Rehovot, is also expanding its global activities, having signed a joint market development agreement with Socius Ingredients, Inc.

Klein noted that ChickP was partnering with several food companies on specialized projects to develop the North American market for plant-based innovations.

"Socius has exemplary protein application expertise and, with a state-of-the-art technical center in Chicago, boasts strong connections to manufacturers of plant-based products," he explained.  "We're strategizing with Socius to explore the many creative possibilities for producing chickpea protein-based prototypes," he said.

Conor Buckley, vice president of Socius, called ChickP's product "a new standard for pure protein solutions through multiple beneficial attributes, including a dense nutritional profile, neutral flavor, and distinguished functional properties."

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An Israeli foodtech startup that produces lab-grown chicken breast has managed to reduce the production cost of its offering to $7.50 per one quarter pound, beating market expectations.

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Future Meat Technologies, based in Rehovot, announced this week that it has also raised another $26.75 in funding, allowing it to scale up production and accelerate research and development.

The company is backed by the leading forces in the food and agriculture industries including Tyson Foods, ADM, Müller Group and Rich's Products Corporation, alongside leading venture capital investors such as S2G Ventures, ADM Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, Manta Ray Ventures and Bits x Bites.

Future Meat Technologies advertises it cultured chicken as providing the same texture and distinct aroma of farm-raised chicken meat. The company plans to market its chicken products to consumers and restaurants within 18 months, and is also developing cultured lamb kebabs and beef burgers.

"Cultured meat technology is the Apollo program of the 21st century," said Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, founder and chief scientific officer of Future Meat Technologies.

"It required massive efforts of biologists, chemists, engineers and food experts to reduce the cost of cultured meat by over 1,000-fold in just a few years. We are proud to be within reach of cost parity with traditional agriculture without any need to resort to genetic engineering, ensuring the supply of safe, delicious food for coming generations," Nahmias explained.

According to "Cost-efficient production has been a critical focus area for the cultured meat industry. This development is a major step forward in Future Meat Technologies' ability to provide affordable, scalable and sustainable products that can meet the growing demand for meat," said Rom Kshuk, CEO of Future Meat Technologies.

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Even all-natural fruit juice contains a hefty dose of sugar, a problem that Israeli foodtech startup Better Juice hopes to tackle through a new partnership with the German food processing company GEA TDS.

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Better Juice has developed an enzymatic technology that uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose in orange juice into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules. The company says its process can reduce the sugar content of orange juice by up to 80%, targeting the sugar composition of orange juice to create a low-calorie product with a delicate natural sweetness, with no need for any other sweeteners or additives.

Better Juice and GEA have agreed to collaboratively construct and install Better Juice's sugar reduction solution, which reduces all types of sugars in orange juice, and market the system globally.

Under this strategic partnership, GEA will engineer, design, manufacture, and install the bioreactor that reduces sugars via Better Juice's proprietary enzymatic process. Better Juice will produce the immobilized microorganisms for the enzymatic process.

The agreement contributes to Better Juice's goals of broadening its outreach and support to the global juice industry. The company's breakthrough technology effectively solves the sugar-reduction conundrum without negatively impacting the natural nutritional values and prebiotic benefits of fresh orange juice, one of the major hurdles.

"This exciting collaboration marks a major milestone in Better Juice's scale-up plans and advances the commercialization of our technology," explained Dr. Eran Blachinsky, founder and CEO of Better Juice.

"GEA possesses a sterling reputation in the field of process technology and will be a strong engineering partner. This collaboration will allow for smooth integration of our enzymatic technology into juice production companies seeking to meet the sugar-reduction trend. It will undoubtedly open doors for us and accelerate sales growth internationally," Blachinsky added.

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Colm O'Gorman, head of sales management for GEA's Global Technology Center for Non-Alcoholic Beverages, said that GEA was constantly on the lookout for companies developing innovative solutions and technologies that benefit consumers' nutrition and lifestyles.

"Better Juice is an excellent fit, and we are eager to help them develop the market for sugar-reduced juices," O'Gorman said.

As part of the joint venture, GEA will design three instruments with small, medium, large production capacities within several months to address various requirements of juice companies. The 200-liter device will launch within a few months. Each device will be customized to the manufacturer's needs and limitations, with Better Juice & GEA providing full-service support.

"This means that Better Juice can become a global player in the sugar-reduction market, with local support and service teams in each country," explained Better Juice co-founder and COO Gali Yarom.

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