Orbem's MRI-based egg-sexing tech is now running in US hatcheries, aiming to end the killing of male chicks before they hatch [96]
02
A Cornell and NYU study finds cow leather's true climate footprint is 70% higher than previously estimated, 12.5 times that of vegan leather [111]
03
Plant-based meat maker No Meat Factory closed its two-year-old Washington plant, laying off 123 workers as alt-protein investment keeps shrinking [112]
04
California earmarked $500 million more for schools to buy plant-based meals and milk [149]
05
OHSU's board voted to shrink primate experiments and shift its research center toward nonanimal, human-based methods [36]
06
Mycelium bacon brand MyBacon landed at Wegmans after posting 74.8% growth, now leading its plant-based breakfast category [115]
The Stories: the day’s biggest developments, in the sources’ own words
01▲Activism & AnimalsStory
Orbem begins US rollout of MRI egg-sexing tech that ends male chick culling
Photo: AgFunderNews
“By combining MRI with artificial intelligence, we can drastically reduce the cost so the speed of acquiring an image is reduced from 15 minutes to a split second and analysis of the image is completely automated by AI.”
Jennifer Volz, Orbem head of global business development · [96]
By the numbers
99.5%accuracy Orbem claims for its AI-read MRI scans identifying a chick embryo's sex inside the egg [96]
12 to 15large US layer hatcheries would need the system to cover a substantial share of the country's egg production, Orbem estimates [96]
Company claim"99.5% accuracy" (Orbem) [96]. The figure is the company's own, not independently audited; Volz says all three commercialized in-ovo sexing methods now cut hatched male chicks below 1%, roughly matching manual post-hatch sexing.
WatchOrbem expects a second US installation live by mid-August and a third US project in 2027 [96].
FromAgFunderNews
02▲InnovationStory
Cornell and NYU study finds leather emits 70% more than estimated, 12.5x vegan leather
Photo: green queen
“Because bio-based leather alternatives have comparatively low emissions, this draws into question animal leather's reputation as a 'natural' alternative to fossil-based textiles.”
Matthew Hayek, study co-author, New York University · [111]
By the numbers
187kgof CO2e per kg of finished conventional leather, the study's revised estimate [111]
15kgof CO2e per kg for vegan leather alternatives, putting cow leather's footprint 12.5 times higher [111]
56%share of leather's total climate impact that comes from the farming phase alone [111]
Solid"the true climate impact of cow-derived leather is 70% higher than previously estimated" (Cornell/NYU researchers) [111]. Peer-reviewed in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering using a top-down life-cycle approach built on UN FAO data, with documented regional variation in the underlying estimates.
No Meat Factory shutters $19M Washington plant, laying off 123 workers
Photo: green queen
“The company will provide affected employees with information regarding available benefits, final pay, continuation of health coverage, unemployment insurance, and available workforce transition resources.”
Make this weekend: Cashew Mac and Cheese With Lobster Mushrooms, a roasted-garlic cashew cheese sauce paired with soaked lobster mushrooms standing in for seafood [89]
13 airlines, including Emirates and Singapore Airlines, now routinely serve full vegan meals rather than the "cucumber on bread" travelers got a decade ago [86]
Wins & Culture
The UK's Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland published four new guidance documents easing the path to market for cultivated meat businesses [148]
Activism & Animals
Nueva Pescanova's octopus farm collapse followed more than 200,000 PETA-supporter emails and 42,000 more organized by Viva! to Gran Canaria port officials, who are now pushing for an EU-wide ban [138]
Federal inspection records show Raising Cane's chicken supplier Bachoco OK Foods left live birds in a dumpster, drowned 19 in a stalled scalding tank, and abandoned a truckload without food or water for 37 hours [136]
A Kuwait survey found 88.5% support legal welfare protections for farmed animals even though only about 9% of respondents eat plant-based, reducetarian, pescatarian, or vegan [133]
Innovation
Danone's Kate Farms expanded its plant-based high-protein shakes to more than 6,800 Walmart and CVS locations, riding GLP-1-driven protein demand [110]
Hawaii's Kuehnle AgroSystems raised a Series B to scale fermentation-derived astaxanthin, an antioxidant conventionally sourced from salmon and algae [113]
Saku Biosciences closed a $940K friends-and-family round for its PicoShells platform, which screens fermentation strains under real bioreactor conditions [116]
Portugal's four-year, €60 million BioShoes4All project wrapped with more than 200 innovations for lower-impact footwear, many now ready for industrial use [100]
South Korean researchers found a soil-fungus compound that keeps bovine muscle stem cells dividing longer in culture, a potential cost-cutter for cultivated beef [118]
US grocery unit sales fell for a fifth straight month in June, with Bain noting GLP-1 users among those actively buying less food [106]
One Good Thing
Tammy and Rand Faaborg raised pigs on their Radcliffe, Iowa land for 30 years, up to 2,200 at a time under contract to an integrator. Working with Mercy For Animals' Transfarmation Project, they gutted one of their hog barns themselves and turned it into a mushroom farm, then built out mushroom jerky, tinctures, and coffee blends alongside it. A New York Times feature on the family drove close to 1,000 orders in a matter of days, and their farm is now Transfarmation's second demonstration hub, proof that a multi-decade hog operation can become something else entirely without anyone pretending the switch was easy [117].
This vegan Strawberry Matcha Cake is like a strawberry matcha latte in cake form! The moist and fluffy cake is topped with strawberry buttercream frosting, making it the perfect…
18 servings14 ingredients
See the ingredients
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 3/4 cups cake flour (or all-purpose)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons matcha powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
8 medium strawberries (fresh or frozen, plus more for decorating)
3/4 cup vegan butter (softened to room temperature)
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3-4 drops red or pink food coloring (vegan friendly, optional)
