Redefining the Value Meal, Using Distribution Infrastructure to Make Sustainable Food Mainstream + More

Every week we curate and deliver the latest food tech news, trends and startup resources to our readers’ inboxes. Tracking the top technology and innovation happenings across agriculture, CPG, retail, restaurants, cooking and health, our newsletter is the absolute easiest way to stay on top of the emerging sector.

From on-demand startup Sprig raising a whopping $45M, to inside look at how one food distributor in making local food distribution more efficient while reducing waste, these are last week’s top stories. Like what you read? Feast your eyes on the full roundup here. Or better yet, sign up for Food+Tech Bytes and get the latest and greatest in food tech delivered to your inbox every week.

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1. Making Healthful, Sustainable Food the 21st Century Value Meal

Lawrence Williams of REAL Certified explores what it would look like if the “value meal” became associated with health instead of quantity and palatability.

2. Harnessing Existing Distribution Infrastructure to Make Sustainable Food Mainstream

Baldor CEO TJ Murphy on leveraging operational expertise and industry-tested best practices to bring new levels of efficiency to the sustainable food movement.

3. Food Supply Chain Transparency Is Key to a Healthy Future

Peretz Partensky of Sourcery on how new tech and decentralized business models are tackling the least transparent part of our food system: the supply chain.

4. Join Us for a Food+Tech Meetup/Fundraiser for Jimmy’s No.43

Come on down to Jimmy’s on 4.29 for celebration of food hero Jimmy Carbone. There will be networking and local snacks and drinks, and 100% OF THE PROCEEDS will go to Jimmy’s to help rebuild after the recent East Village explosion.

5. The Next Billion-Dollar Startups – Forbes

Forbes looks at young companies with enough momentum to reach the upper echelon and become next generation of unicorns.

6. Flipkart Enters Super-Hot Online Grocery Vertical To Counter Amazon, Snapdeal & Others – Trak.in

India’s biggest ecommerce portal has decided to jump into the grocery market.

7. On-Demand Food Delivery Service Sprig Has Raised $45 Million –TechCrunch

The round was led by Social+Capital and Greylock Partners, and the startup plans to expand to the rest of the Bay Area and Chicago.

8. Meet The Startup That Wants To Make Vertical Farming Mainstream – Fast Company

Newark, New Jersey is about to get a giant vertical farm that produces millions of pounds of greens for local customers.

9. Maybe Crickets Aren’t the Food of the Future, After All – Fusion

The Cricket Theory of Food Futures might rest on rather shaky ground, according to a new study in the scientific journal PLoS One