Canada's food billions skip plant protein; Keel Labs files Chapter 11

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 10-year National Food Security Strategy backed by CAD $3 billion (USD $2.1 billion). The strategy aims to lower food costs, boost domestic production, cut regulatory friction, and increase grocery competition. It includes plans for expanded animal farming and seafood production. World Animal Protection Canada stated that the country "is already a global leader in producing plant-based proteins like lentils, beans and peas" but is "missing the chance" to build on that position. Plant Based News reports the strategy does not mention plant-based or alternative proteins anywhere in its text, making it the first major national food strategy of its kind in Canada [26]. The October 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission report, a major multi-author scientific assessment, found that widespread adoption of a plant-forward diet could prevent more than 40,000 early deaths per day and save $5 trillion annually through improved climate resilience and health outcomes. (EAT-Lancet 2025)

Keel Labs, a North Carolina startup that developed Kelsun yarn from seaweed-derived biopolymers as an animal-free, petroleum-free alternative to wool and synthetic fibers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 5, 2026. The filing, reported by AgFunderNews [10], listed assets of nearly $1.4 million and debts of just under $337,000, with $323,000 of that in past-due rent. Revenue fell from approximately $139,000 in 2024 to under $17,000 in 2025 and was essentially zero heading into the filing. The company was founded in 2017 and had secured partnerships with H&M Group and Stella McCartney to develop seaweed-based textiles for mainstream fashion.

The cultivated meat industry is operating under sustained financial pressure after investment peaked in 2021 and declined sharply. Several prominent companies have closed or suspended large-scale production facilities. Cultivated Meat News reports that survivors are pivoting toward smaller bioreactors, integrated manufacturing platforms, and narrower commercial targets: high-value niche markets or functional ingredients for processed foods rather than direct meat replacement at scale [11]. In the AgFunderNews June 28 roundup, Vow, an Australian cultivated meat startup, announced a CEO change amid a company restructuring; Liberation Bioindustries paused construction at its US biomanufacturing site for the second time as it seeks additional funding [10].

Researchers at City of Hope, with collaborators at UCLA, published findings in Science identifying a newly described stem cell population called committed preadipocytes, age-specific (CP-As), as a key driver of age-related belly fat accumulation (DOI: 10.1126/science.adj0430). Using single-cell RNA sequencing in mouse experiments, the team showed that as mice reach middle age, a subset of adipocyte progenitor cells transform into CP-As that are far more active at producing new fat cells than young-mouse counterparts. The leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) signaling pathway emerged as the key switch: young mice don't require LIFR to make fat, older mice do. Blocking LIFR prevented visceral fat expansion. Human tissue samples from middle-aged individuals contained cells closely resembling CP-As, suggesting the mechanism extends beyond rodents [1][2].

A study published in Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aee6998), co-authored by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, found that drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs), GPS-equipped floating rafts used by commercial tuna fleets to locate fish, have drifted through more than half of the world's marine protected areas by total area. Researchers documented at least 6,300 strandings of these devices in 174 protected areas across 53 maritime jurisdictions. When FADs beach or snag on reefs, they damage coral, contribute to plastic pollution, and entangle sea turtles, sharks, and other marine animals. The study identified nearly 500 at-risk species living within FAD-affected protected areas. Researchers noted that the burden of removing stranded devices frequently falls on small island nation communities that gain nothing economically from the tuna fisheries responsible [23].