Image source: Washington Post

Every week we track the business, tech and investment trends in CPG, retail, restaurants, agriculture, cooking and health, so you don’t have to. Here are some of this week’s top headlines.

The Good Food Institute’s latest report which looks at the entire alternative seafood category across plant-based, cell-cultured, and fermentation-based products, said 2021 investment brought the total invested in the category to $313 million from 2013 through 2021. Investment in alternative seafood companies totaled $175 million in 2021, a 92% jump over 2020.

In other news, for more than three weeks, China’s most populous city, Shanghai, has been under strict lockdown orders in an effort to control a coronavirus outbreak, leaving its 25 million residents trapped at home, struggling to feed themselves or get medical help for sick family members.

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Check out our weekly round-up of last week’s top food startup, tech and innovation news below or peruse the full newsletter here.

1. Investment in Alternative Seafood Startups Totaled $175M in 2021, Up 92% From Previous Year – The Spoon

GFI’s new report found that 2021 investment brought the total invested in the category to $313m from 2013 through 2021. Cultivated seafood startups commanded two-thirds of all investment in alt-seafood last year at $115m.

2. Shanghai’s Covid Siege: Food Shortages, Talking Robots, Starving Animals – Washington Post

For more than three weeks, China’s most populous city, Shanghai, has been under strict lockdown orders in an effort to control a coronavirus outbreak, leaving its 25m residents trapped at home, struggling to feed themselves or get medical help for sick family members.

3. The Netherlands: Dutch Government Awards €60M to Domestic Cellular Agriculture Ecosystem – Green Queen

The amount represents the largest ever single investment into cellular agriculture by a government globally.

4. Germany: Choco Gets Its Horn Amid Mission to Remove Food Waste from Supply Chain – TechCrunch

The company has raised $111m to expand the reach of its software that digitizes ordering, supply chain and communications for suppliers and restaurants.

5. Starbucks Prepares to Expand Worker Benefits That Might Exclude Unionized Staff – Wall Street Journal

Starbucks chief Howard Schultz is pushing the company’s campaign against unionization, warning that expanded benefits can’t automatically go to unionized workers.

6. The Future of the Grocery Industry — Will Walmart, Kroger & Amazon Remain Leaders? – Forbes

No one knows if traditional supermarkets can evolve to survive in what the industry will become.

7. PFAS: The ‘Forever Chemicals’ You Couldn’t Escape If You Tried – New York Times

Virtually indestructible, these artificial compounds are used in fast-food packaging and countless household items, but they have been found as far away as virgin forests.

8. John Kempf’s Innovation-Forward Regenerative Agriculture Business Advancing Eco Agriculture Raises $4.7M – AFN

Kempf counts some of the world’s leading agrifood companies as clients in a footprint of over 4m acres across North America. His business, Advancing Eco Agriculture, is on a mission to transition 80% of the world’s farms by 2040.

9. Palestinians Could Run Out of Wheat Reserves in Three Weeks in Ripple Effect of Ukraine War – Forbes

Gazans will be the first to experience hunger related to shortages and price hikes due to Russia’s unprovoked attack.

10. Baby Formula Shortage Strains Families, Forces Stores to Ration – Washington Post

Target, Walgreens, Kroger, CVS and others are limiting purchases as baby formula supplies run thin across the country.

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