News
The number of news found: 13.
04/30/2018 BEYONCÉ DEBUTS NEW VEGAN MEAL-PLANNING APP
Vegan meal-delivery service 22 Days Nutrition—co-owned by award-winning singer Beyoncé and vegan nutritionist Marco Borges—recently debuted a new meal-planning feature to promote plant-based eating. The feature relies on artificial intelligence to connect users to plant-based meals created by nutritionists and customized to amount of cooking time, availability of cooking appliances, and whether or not users are cooking for others. "We want to challenge you as we challenge ourselves to move towards a more plant-based lifestyle," a statement from Beyoncé and her husband/rapper Jay-Z reads, "and acknowledge you for standing up for your health and the health of the planet." The 22 Days platform is now integrated with shopping services Instacart and Peapod (with a connection to Amazon Fresh coming soon) to allow users to order customized groceries to make the plant-based recipes they source from the website. (vegnews.com)
04/27/2018 NETHERLANDS AIMS TO SHIFT TO 60 PERCENT PLANT-BASED
Dutch independent advisory board Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) presented a 98-page report this month urging citizens in the Netherlands to choose a sustainable, plant-based diet. Citing objectives from policies such as the Paris Agreement, United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development, and Dutch Dietary Guidelines, Rli expressed the need to change the country's food policy in order to counteract climate change and increased industrialization. The Rli recommends moving toward a national diet of 60 percent plant-based protein by 2030. "A sustainable and healthy diet means that more vegetable and less animal proteins are eaten," the advisory report stated. The Netherlands aims to become a global leader for healthy and sustainable food within the next five to 10 years. In 2016, the Dutch government slashed the amount of meat it recommended to its citizens, and Dutch minister Martijn van Dam toured plant-based California food startups to strengthen cross-global collaborations. (vegnews.com)
04/25/2018 100,000-SQUARE-FOOT VEGAN BLOCK PARTY HIST LA
New festival Vegan Playground will occupy one square block of downtown Los Angeles on June 16. Event organizers Vegan Hard aim to unite the LA community with plant-based food, music, and art. The festival features more than 60 vegan vendors, an "inner-beauty" pageant, and various art installations in Pershing Square park. "[The park] was perfect with a playground and a roller skating rink," Vegan Hard co-founder Jane David told VegNews. "There's even a giant chess board. You'll really get to feel like a kid again." LA-based actress Jillian Rose Reed and rapper Jallal will appear at the event, along with vegan speakers, social media influencers, and performers. Festival tickets range from $22 for general admission to $44 for VIP. The vegan festival scene in Los Angeles will expand further this year when Miami-based SEED Food & Wine Festival and LA-based festival Eat Drink Vegan collaborate on a week-long event that debuts at the end of May. (vegnews.com)
04/23/2018 Beyond Sausage Debuts at All Whole Foods Nationwide
Beyond Meat announced today that its Beyond Sausage—which were previously available only at select restaurants—will be stocked in the meat department at Whole Foods Market locations nationwide. Beyond Sausage is available in three flavors (Original Bratwurst, Hot Italian, and Sweet Italian) and comes in a package of four links for $8.99. “It is my hope that Beyond Sausage represents another step forward on our path to perfectly building meat from plants,” Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown told VegNews. “I am pleased with the performance of the Beyond Burger but more importantly, I am gratified that a growing number of consumers are joining us in this journey as we continue to improve and advance the state of the art.” The company first debuted the Beyond Sausage last year at one Whole Foods Market in Colorado, a similar distribution route to its now-popular Beyond Burger. “As a category leader in plant-based meats, Beyond Meat has revolutionized how consumers enjoy meat with groundbreaking products that match their animal counterparts,” Parker Brody, global grocery category manager for Whole Foods Market, said. (vegnews.com)
04/20/2018 STUDENTS DEVELOP PLANT-BASED BURGER THAT MIMICS SALMON
New food-technology startup Terramino Foods recently developed a vegan salmon burger that mimics the taste and nutritional profile of its animal-based counterpart. Founders Kimberlie Le and Joshua Nixon began working on the concept while attending the "Plant-Based Seafood Collider" course at the University of California, Berkeley and perfected the product during Indiebio's four-month incubator program. Terramino creates the cruelty-free salmon by using plant-based ingredients (primarily koji fungus and algae) and a growth medium to mimic the muscle fibers of animals, but without animal cells. Media outlet Fast Company compared Terramino's burger to a salmon-based version it sourced from Whole Foods Market and found the two to be indistinguishable. Terramino plans to debut its first vegan products, a filet and a burger, by the end of the year. In 2019, the team hopes to increase production to sell its products—which will include other vegan seafood alternatives and fungi-based meat replacements—at cost parity, and, eventually, for a lower price than animal-based foods. (vegnews.com)
04/19/2018 UNIVERSITY DEVELOPS VIRTUAL RATS TO END ANIMAL TESTING
United Kingdom-based National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) recently awarded researchers at the University of Oxford $30,000 to continue their work to end animal testing. The researchers developed "Virtual Assay" software that simulates human cardiac cells and can predict how 62 drugs affect the cells. After conducting thousands of trials, researchers found that their software could accurately predict the effect of a drug on arrhythmia 89 percent of the time—a figure that yields a 75-percent accuracy rate in similar tests conducted on rabbits. Researchers will use funds provided by NC3Rs to perfect the software, promote its usage within the medical field, and apply it to new fields of study such as researching type 2 diabetes. The software would also be a useful tool in the cosmetics industry—where consumers continue to use their spending power to support brands that do not test beauty products on animals. (vegnews.com)
04/16/2018 MORE THAN HALF OF CANADIANS EAT MEAT ALTERNATIVES
A new report compiled by market research firm Mintel found that 53 percent of Canadians consume meat alternatives. Analysts found that 18 percent of Canadians consume animal-free meats several times per week, 21 percent believe that these alternatives are healthier than meat, and 16 percent believe plant-based alternatives are comparable in taste to their animal-derived counterparts. Joel Gregoire, Associate Director, Canada Food and Drink Reports at Mintel, said the data shows that the meat-alternatives industry poses opportunities and reveals marketing strategies for enterprising brands looking to enter the sector. “Meat alternatives' growing popularity is giving rise to innovation, and while new product development is currently low in Canada, the increase in global launch activity suggests there is opportunity to expand the category in the region given the fact that roughly half of Canadians claim to eat meat-alternative products,” Gregoire said. (vegnews.com)
04/13/2018 ISRAELI SUPERMARKETS TO OPEN VEGAN DEPARTMENTS
Israel-based Victory Supermarket Chain, Ltd., will open vegan departments across 60 to 70 percent of its store locations. The departments will feature an assortment of vegan products organized in a way to attract younger shoppers, who CEO Eyal Ravid said are responsible for the rising demand for vegan food at the supermarket. "The vegan trend is spearheaded by young people, and this is bringing new customers," Ravid told local media outlet Globes. The market first introduced a vegan department pilot program to 10 of its locations and found that sales of its vegan products increased by 49 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from the same time period in 2017. Victory also launched a loyalty program specifically directed at vegan customers and has thus far attracted 4,000 members. (vegnews.com)
04/11/2018 VEGAN PRINCE BRINGS FISH-FREE AQUARIUM TO SAUDI ARABIA
Animal-free aquarium experience National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey will expand to 10 regions in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, by 2019 thanks to a partnership between National Geographic, the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, and KBW Ventures (an investment firm founded by vegan Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal). The experience—which debuted last year in New York City's Time Square—takes visitors on an immersive visual journey from the depths of the South Pacific to the coast of California, is filled with digitally created 3D reefs, 20-foot sharks, playful seals, and humpback whales, and is punctuated by an educational section that focuses on ocean conservation. The project is a collaboration with computer-generated imagery (CGI) artists at SPE Partners (and its subsidiary Peterson Companies), whose previous projects included creating graphics for Game of Thrones. The prince promoted his new venture on his social media channels by stating, "Virtual zoos enrich, entertain, educate, and, most importantly, respect animal life." (vegnews.com)
04/09/2018 INDIA BANS SEAL FUR AND SKINS JUST AS CANADA STARTS BRUTAL HUNTS
As Canada begins their annual brutal seal hunt, India has banned the import of seal fur and skins! This much-welcomed announcement comes after years-long work from Humane Society International (HSI) and People for Animals to help put a stop to the shameful trade. The U.S., Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, and 28 member nations of the European Union have already banned the trade of seal skins and other products. Canada's annual seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world. Two million seals were slaughtered in ten years in Canada, with a staggering 98 percent of them being under three months old. Hunters typically bludgeon these innocent animals to death with "hakapiks" in an effort to keep the skin intact for sale. The fashion industry buys the skins of these precious babies, but it is a market that is dwindling quickly. Despite these promising stats, these hunts are still going on with an increased number of seals set to be killed this year. (onegreenplanet.org)
04/06/2018 FASHION ICON JOHN GALLIANO DITCHES FUR AND MEAT
Fashion icon and luxury brand Maison Margiela's designer John Galliano will no longer use fur in his designs. After a chance encounter with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' Vice President Dan Mathews in Saint-Tropez, France, Galliano began to explore the newest alternative fabrics to fur. "You can be outrageous and fun without fur," Galliano told Elle France. "Today, we don't want a product ... we want ethics." Recently, Galliano has taken steps to lead a more balanced life, citing his dog, Gipsy, for helping him through therapy. "The idea is to take care of someone else, to get out of my egocentrism," Galliano said. Galliano is also following a vegetarian diet to stay in shape, as well as meditating to deal with the pressures in the fashion industry. Galliano is the latest designer in the fashion industry to ban fur, following Tom Ford, Donna Karan, Versace, Gucci, and Michael Kors. (vegnews.com)
04/05/2018 SOCCER STAR HECTOR BELLERIN GOES VEGAN
Professional soccer player Hector Bellerin—who plays for English club Arsenal and the Spanish national team—revealed last week that he has adopted a plant-based diet this current season. "At the beginning, I wanted to try for a couple of weeks to detox my body, but I just felt so great after it that I have kept going for more than six months," Bellerin told Players Tribune in a recent video. "The most noticeable thing is the inflammation in my body after games and in the speed that my body recovers, compared to before." Bellerin explained that while his teammates are skeptical of his dietary shift, he is enjoying an increased level of energy and ability to recover and hopes to set an example for other athletes looking to transition to a plant-based diet. "If this is a way for people to see you can be an athlete and a vegan, and that opens doors for other people," Bellerin said, "then of course I would love to help." (vegnews.com)
04/03/2018 ANIMAL AGRICULTURE IS KILLING JAGUARS IN SOUTH AMERICA
A new report released by environmental organizations Mighty Earth, Rainforest Foundation Norway, and Fern connected the meat and dairy industries to mass deforestation in South America. "The Avoidable Crisis" report was compiled from an investigation using drone footage led by the organizations in the Gran Chaco region in South America (home to wild animals such as jaguars, screaming hairy armadillo, and giant anteater), which is currently being cleared extensively for use as soy farmland by companies Cargill and Bunge—suppliers of animal feed to fast-food chains such as Burger King, McDonald's, and Walmart. "The level of destruction was astounding. We documented bulldozers in action clearing large areas of intact forests and grasslands, as well as huge fires billowing smoke into the air," Mighty Earth Policy Director Anahita Yousefi said. "While the Gran Chaco has traditionally received less attention than other biomes like the Brazilian Amazon, it’s a vitally important ecosystem, and there’s no reason to destroy it." (vegnews.com)
The number of news found: 13.
