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18 Dec 2023
Also featured: a next-gen coffee pod alternative and laser labelling. Discover the ten food and beverage innovations that caught our eye the most.
Occo Spices from the US was awarded a 1st Prize Dieline Award under the Sustainable Food category this year. The unique spice supplier provides single-portioned spices in Aluminium pods, pairing different spices into recipe kits that pertain to dishes, such as the activated herbs and garlic required to make a garlic butter. The kits are packaged in paperboard, and all packaging can be recycled in kerbside recycling systems. The perfectly portioned spices are designed to reduce food waste by allowing consumers to buy only what they need, compared to a jar of spice that is unlikely to be used before it reaches its best before date. Recipe kits retail for USD 5.
The Bottlecup is a two-in-one drinking vessel designed by London studio Seymourpowell. Designed to encourage the use of reusable coffee cups, the product features a stainless Steel vacuum-insulated bottle that slots inside a cup and twists to lock in place, making carrying both items easier. The cup can be released with a simple twist, and features a silicone lid in its base to facilitate drinking on-the-go. A food-grade silicone waist makes holding and removing the cup easier, while a coloured silicone band prevents liquid from leaking out when the two products are joined together.
CoffeeB is a capsule-free coffee system that uses compostable coffee balls wrapped in a plant-based film, helping to eliminate the 100,000 tonnes of plastic and Aluminium capsule waste generated by the capsule coffee industry every year. Developed by Swiss retailer Migros, the zero-waste system replaces coffee machine capsules with pressed coffee balls, which are encased in a thin, oxygen barrier film made entirely from raw materials of plant and mineral origin, ensuring flavour retention and stability. The machine's modular design facilitates repairs, while the balls come packaged in FSC-certified Moulded Fibre packaging.
Bar To Cook from Montreal offers a range of meltable, solid cooking bars in five flavour profiles that quickly and easily transform any dish. The concentrated sauces are made from a cocoa butter base and a range of spices and organic vegetable powders, and all are vegan, gluten, lactose and preservative free. One bar provides enough flavour for four people and has a shelf-life of two years. To use, the bar is simply melted into ingredients before a liquid component such as water or coconut milk is added. Flavours are inspired by global cuisines, including Indian, Spanish, Mediterranean, Moroccan and Tex Mex bars, and come packaged in a cardboard box.
A Boston-based food tech startup developed an innovative technology platform to create self-contained snacks with zero packaging. Mimicking botanical fruits, which grow protective fibre and mineral coatings, Foodberry developed a "patented library of fruit skin barriers". Its new class of edible barrier materials offers on-the-go consumption of food items such as hummus wrapped in a red pepper skin, yoghurt wrapped in a blueberry coating, and an ice cream sundae designed as a "handheld treat".
Portland-based ice cream brand Salt & Straw, renowned for its unusual flavour combinations, launched The Upcycled Food Series this year, a range of five flavours all created by upcycling foods from bread to barley. Certified upcycled by the Upcycled Food Association, the flavours have been created in partnership with several companies that specialise in food waste, including Urban Gleaners, who sourced bread from local grocers and restaurants for the Day-Old Bread Pudding & Chocolate Ganache ice cream. The range saved 38,000 pounds of food from going to waste.
US bar-quality beverage start-up Frazy has launched Frazy Bottles, a range of concentrated coffee drinks packaged in aluminium bottles that can be added to water at home for a barista level drink. The shot-sized concentrates come in either packs of six or twelve, and simplify the process of making specialty drinks in the home. Available coffees include Vanilla Latte, Caramel Macchiato, Vietnamese Coffee and Lavender Vanilla Latte, and each batch is handmade to the customer’s specific taste. Each bottle makes one eight ounce coffee, and users can select from a range of cow-based and dairy-free milk options. One bottle retails for USD 4.99.
US-based vegan brand JOI set its sights on tackling excess food and packaging waste, creating a range of plant-based concentrates that transform into homemade alt-milks by simply adding water. Inspired by its motto – "less waste, more paste" – the brand claims to have saved over 2.5 million non-recyclable milk cartons from landfill to date. The brand offers almond and cashew milk bases, as well as a hazelnut creamer base, all of which come as a paste. The pantry staples are made using a patent-pending cold milling process, and one jar yields 27 servings, saving 85% of packaging waste.
German specialist machine manufacturer EcoMark developed an ink-free laser machine that can be used for natural branding on a range of fresh produce, eliminating the need for plastic wrappers and stickers. The modular EcoMark Natural Branding Machine engraves each item according to pre-set criteria, removing only a micrometre-deep layer from the outer skin or peel. The labelling can take a number of forms, such as QR codes, barcodes, shapes, numbers, and text. The machine can be used for a variety of food items, including bread, eggs, cheese, meat products, and fruit and veg.
Circular biomanufacturing startup Hyfé Foods found a novel way to repurpose food supply chain wastewater into "competitive and climate positive essential goods". The Chicago-based foodtech company captures and converts nutrients found in commercial food production wastewater into a feedstock for fermentation. The dissolved nutrients are then upcycled using a fermentation process. The first product that Hyfé Foods has produced using its patent-pending technology is a protein-rich Mycelium flour alternative made using wasted sugar water from the beverage industry. In May 2022, the company raised USD 2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round.