Blue Bottle Coffee made cow's milk the default again, with baristas now asking "Whole or oat?", a step back from the oat default it set in 2021 [43].
02
Israeli startup Brevel and India's Wave Group will build a 300,000-liter illuminated fermentation plant for microalgae and plant cell culture ingredients, funded by Wave [53].
03
Fleury Michon is buying the Allplants brand, one more consolidation deal in a sector where Green Queen counts 90-plus firms bought, merged, failed or closed since September 2024 [64].
04
A cohort of 461,682 US adults found no association between total ultra-processed food and colorectal cancer, while meat from ultra-processed sources was associated with higher incidence [17].
05
Six of the 30 belugas moved out of Marineland have died in two months, four of them at Shedd Aquarium [81].
The Stories: the day’s biggest developments, in the sources’ own words
01▼Food & RecipesStory
Blue Bottle Coffee makes cow's milk the default again after five years of oat
Photo: vegnews
Blue Bottle Coffee has restored cow's milk as the default: app lattes now default to dairy, and in stores baristas ask whether you want whole or oat [43]. The chain says guest preferences have evolved and that this changes how it confirms orders, not its sustainability approach [43]. Oat milk stays available at no extra cost [43].
“Guest preferences have evolved since we first introduced oat milk as our default, and today we see strong demand for both dairy and plant-based options.”
75 percentof Blue Bottle's milk-based drinks used plant milk five months after the 2021 oat default [43]
2 percentof US greenhouse gas emissions come from the US dairy industry [43]
FromVegNews.com
02▲InnovationStory
Brevel and The Wave Group plan a 300,000-liter illuminated fermentation plant in India
Photo: AgFunderNews
Brevel and The Wave Group formed a 50:50 joint venture to build the plant in Uttar Pradesh, with Wave paying for it [53]. It will start with Purallis chlorella and then offer capacity to plant cell culture companies, with construction starting later this year and production within 18 months [63]. The cost and yield advantages are Brevel's own claims, and the sugar-mill byproduct feedstock is still being tested [53].
“Together with The Wave Group, we can turn that potential into commercial-scale manufacturing.”
Fleury Michon buys the Allplants brand from Ella and Matthew Mills
Photo: green queen
France's Fleury Michon is buying Allplants' brand, teams and rights, with terms undisclosed [36]. The Millses had taken the brand out of administration in 2025 [36]. Fleury Michon says it brings about €5m a year in turnover at close to break-even EBITDA, under 1% of group turnover [36]. Green Queen's own analysis counts more than 90 alternative-protein firms bought, merged, insolvent or shut since September 2024 [64]. Allplants' frozen meals already sell at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Ocado [36].
“The acquisition provides the group with a solid foundation to accelerate the rollout of its plant-based product range in the UK, allowing it to capitalise on opportunities in a market that is more developed than in France.”
Large US cohort finds no link between total ultra-processed food and colorectal cancer
Photo: sciencedaily
In PLOS Medicine, National Cancer Institute researchers followed 461,682 NIH-AARP participants through 2018 and found total ultra-processed food intake was not associated with colorectal cancer incidence [17]. Whole grain, fiber, dairy and calcium from ultra-processed sources were inversely associated with incidence, and meat from ultra-processed sources was positively associated [17]. The design is observational, diet was self-reported once in 1995 and 1996, and participants were mostly older and white, so it cannot show cause [1].
“In this large population of older US adults, we did not observe an association between total ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and colorectal cancer incidence”
Erikka Loftfield, National Cancer Institute, study lead · [1]
By the numbers
0.97hazard ratio for the top versus bottom quintile of ultra-processed intake (95% CI 0.91–1.03) [17]
10,075colorectal adenocarcinoma cases diagnosed during follow-up [17]
2% lowerincidence was associated with swapping 10% of ultra-processed intake by weight for minimally processed foods [1]
43%of daily energy came from ultra-processed food at the median [17]
FromPrimary SourcesDiet and Weight Loss News -- ScienceDaily
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Plate pick: Rainbow Plant Life's Golden Cabbage Soup is a one-pot dinner of cabbage, fennel, white beans and Yukon Gold potatoes, finished with miso milk and a parsley-dill-lemon topping [41].
The Undairy Co. launched a vegan ICONS Selection Box of seven chocolates modeled on Creme Egg, Crunchie, Terry's Chocolate Orange and Quality Street favorites, £18.95 for 280g and open for pre-order [49].
Innovation
Food Standards Australia New Zealand's board approved Parima's cultivated duck, sold as Gourmey, and the application now awaits ministerial approval, a process of up to 60 days [66].
British supplements brand Dr. Vegan rebranded to DRV+ after finding only 13% of its consumers identified as vegan [66].
Law & Policy
The European Commission's Vision 2040 for fisheries commits to developing the farmed aquatic animal welfare framework but sets no timeline and no binding legislation, Eurogroup for Animals notes, and EFSA will deliver updated welfare opinions on five fish species by mid-2029 [93].
Research & Nutrition
In about 7,500 German adults, better adherence to each of 10 healthy diets, plant-based among them, was associated with slower epigenetic aging, though DZNE's Monique Breteler calls the effects "not massive" [15].
One Good Thing
Rats came to the Chagos islands on sailors' boats, and where they landed, the seabirds left. Where the islands stayed rat-free, seabird density was 760 times higher, and the reefs offshore carried 48% more fish biomass [21]. A new Science Advances study across 28 atoll islands finds that rat-free islands with seabirds and native forest could see their reefs grow fast enough to keep pace with sea-level rise under 2 degrees Celsius of warming through 2100 [75]. Lead author Nicholas Graham calls it "really quite positive": removing rats and planting native trees is work that can start now [75].
I can’t believe this is tofu! This creamy, tangy whipped tofu feta with smoky, savory, sweet, spicy ‘honey’ on top takes just 15 minutes. It’s perfect for snacking, potlucks, and…
20 min4 servings21 ingredients
See the ingredients
14 ounces firm or extra-firm tofu
2 tablespoons miso
2 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons extra virgin oil
2 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
1 teaspoon gochugaru pepper flakes (or Aleppo pepper flakes or red pepper flakes)
vegconomist the vegan business magazine
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