French microalgae startup Edonia raised €15M ($16.8M) to build a spirulina-protein plant, with €30M in pre-orders by the company's own count [72].
02
A UK survey found nearly all Brits know plant-based sausages and chicken contain no meat, just as the EU weighs widening its meat-word ban [75].
03
Plant-based salmon maker Oshi launched in 123 Hy-Vee stores across the Midwest [84].
04
An MIT mouse study in Nature found a ketogenic diet raised small-intestinal tumors, and the cause was dietary fat, not ketones [1].
05
French agriculture ministry advisers rated precision fermentation ahead of cultivated meat and told Paris to pick a position before the first EU vote [85].
Edonia raises €15M to build a spirulina protein plant in Brittany
Photo: green queen
French microalgae startup Edonia closed a €15M ($16.8M) round led by Swen Blue Ocean 2, Asterion Ventures and EIT Food, with Bpifrance public funding and bank loans on top [72]. The money builds a plant in Brittany, due to open within a year, to make Edo, a mince of spirulina and oil [72]. Edonia says about 20 customers have signed €30M in pre-orders, a figure that comes from the company itself [81].
“We’ve proven that a whole food protein can outperform the animal on nutrition and compete on price, at real volume, with real clients.”
UK survey finds almost no one mistakes plant-based sausages for meat
Photo: green queen
A Bryant Research survey of more than 1,000 Brits found almost all can tell that Quorn's mycoprotein sausages and This's vegan chicken contain no meat [75]. The EU has already barred "meat" and 31 related terms from plant-based labels, sparing burger and sausage, and MEPs from three right-leaning groups have filed amendments to widen the list [75]. The UK could end up bound by the same rules through a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement due to take effect in mid-2027 [75].
"This is strong evidence against the claim that consumers are confused by" plant-based products using the words sausage and chicken in their names (Chris Bryant, founder and director of Bryant Research) [75]
By the numbers
96%said Quorn's sausages contain no meat; 2% thought they do [75]
94%said This's vegan chicken is meat-free; 2% thought it contains meat [75]
92%of Brits told YouGov in late 2025 they have never bought, or cannot recall buying, a plant-based sausage or burger thinking it contained meat [75]
WatchThe European Parliament's agriculture committee votes in December, and the final plenary vote comes in 2027 [75].
Oshi's plant-based salmon launches in 123 Hy-Vee stores
Photo: vegconomist
Plant-based seafood company Oshi announced a listing in 123 stores run by Hy-Vee, the supermarket chain based in West Des Moines, Iowa [84]. The company did not say which products the chain will carry or who distributed them [84]. Oshi's range includes a whole-cut plant-based salmon fillet and a whitefish line launched in May [84]. Midwest shoppers can check Oshi's updated store locator on its website, and the source gives no price [84].
By the numbers
123Hy-Vee stores, more than Oshi's entire US retail footprint in late August, when it said it was in over 100 locations [84]
Decemberis when the next confirmed retailer, Whole Foods Market, begins its rollout [84]
Fromvegconomist the vegan business magazine
04▬Research & NutritionStory
MIT mouse study finds keto raises small-intestinal tumors through fat, not ketones
Photo: sciencedaily
MIT researchers report in Nature that cancer-prone mice on a ketogenic diet developed small-intestinal tumors more often than mice on a control diet, while tumors in the colon fell [1]. The effect traced to fatty acid oxidation in intestinal stem cells, not to ketone bodies [20]. It is mouse work, and the paper names people with familial adenomatous polyposis, who face a high risk of small-intestinal tumours, as the group where the question is particularly relevant [20].
“our experiments in genetically engineered mice revealed that these molecules are essentially metabolic bystanders”
“we need to be very careful in generalizing the effects that these diets can have, because what might be beneficial for one tissue may be detrimental for another tissue”
FromDiet and Weight Loss News -- ScienceDailyPrimary Sources
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Pamela Anderson's cast-iron vegan cinnamon rolls use a spelt-and-all-purpose dough, a brown sugar filling and a maple glaze, and the recipe is free to cook this weekend [49].
Innovation
Verley says it is scaling its fermentation-made beta-lactoglobulin protein toward 200,000-liter tanks at a co-manufacturer, with commercial sales next year and a price its CEO puts at parity with Arla's, over $40 per kg [57].
BMC Ingredients found 60.4mg of ergothioneine and 20.3mg of spermidine per 100g in one lot of its Rhiza mycoprotein, and its CEO says that establishes no health benefit [74].
Activism & Animals
PETA sued UMass Amherst and UMass Chan Medical School for refusing to release the names of the people on their animal-experiment oversight committees [103].
A study of more than 1.7 million cafeteria orders at three German universities found climate, health and animal welfare menu labels did not raise orders for the labeled dishes [104].
Research & Nutrition
The Physicians Committee asked the American College of Physicians to put diet first for menopausal hot flashes, citing its own 2022 trial of 84 women in which a low-fat vegan diet with soybeans cut moderate to severe hot flashes by 88% [18].
One Good Thing
Hong Kong has a housing crisis for yellow-crested cockatoos too: biologist Astrid Andersson estimates more than 60% of the city's natural tree hollows are gone [96]. So she and arborist Harry Wong began fitting camera-equipped nest boxes in parks and school grounds, 15 so far [96]. In May a pair moved into one on a tree outside the visual arts classroom at St. Louis School and has stayed [96]. The city holds roughly 200 of these critically endangered birds, about 10% of the wild total [96].
Treat yourself to a slice of this comforting vegan pecan pie, featuring a chewy, caramelised filling in a perfectly crisp, melt-in-the-mouth pastry shell.
vegconomist the vegan business magazine
