The Good Food Institute laid off six US staff and cut seven open roles after years of spending more than it raised, the clearest sign yet that the alt-protein funding winter has reached its flagship think tank.
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The Good Food Institute laid off six US staff and cut seven open roles after years of spending more than it raised, the clearest sign yet that the alt-protein funding winter has reached its flagship think tank [53].
02
Starbucks is pulling the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich this month, leaving no plant-based meat on its advertised US menu [56].
03
Washington, DC, and Denver voted to ban foie gras, and bills are moving in three more places [36].
04
A Danone-run survey of 42,000 adults found health, led by gut comfort, is the top reason people pick plant-based dairy [54].
Good Food Institute lays off six US staff and cuts seven open roles after years of deficits
Photo: green queen
The Good Food Institute laid off employees in its US team on November 5 and eliminated vacant roles, after its revenues fell short of expenses for several years, Green Queen reported [53]. GFI says it has spent more than it raised and drawn on reserves, and that it plans no further redundancies for now [53]. Its six affiliate offices abroad make their own staffing calls, and GFI expects their dollar budgets to stay flat [53].
Starbucks drops the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich, ending its only US plant-based meat item
Photo: vegconomist
Starbucks is removing the Impossible Breakfast Sandwich from its US stores this month, ending a six-year partnership with Impossible Foods, vegconomist reported, citing Bloomberg [56]. The sandwich paired an Impossible Sausage patty with egg and cheddar, so it was vegetarian and never vegan [56]. White Castle ended its own seven-year Impossible partnership in late 2025 [56].
“As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate the items on our menu, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and our business.”
Washington, DC, and Denver vote to ban foie gras, with bills pending in three more places
Photo: vegnews
Voters in Washington, DC, and Denver chose to ban the production and sale of foie gras, which is made by force-feeding ducks and geese to enlarge their livers, VegNews reported [36]. Bills to prohibit it have also been introduced in New Jersey, Ohio and Philadelphia [36].
By the numbers
$5,000is the maximum fine for anyone caught violating either ban [36]
Danone survey finds health and gut comfort drive plant-based dairy, not ethics
Photo: green queen
Danone surveyed adults across 14 countries and found health is the leading reason people choose plant-based dairy, with digestive comfort a large part of it [54]. Danone, which owns Alpro and Silk, ran the work with Ipsos, so these are its own figures, though they were published in Food Quality and Preference [54][93]. Few respondents were vegan, which is the point: the buyers are mostly omnivores and flexitarians who want an easier stomach [54].
3%of respondents said they follow a vegan diet, against 24% who called themselves flexitarian [54]
FromGreen QueenFoodNavigator.com
Worth Knowing
Food & Recipes
Juicy Marbles released Granny's Roast, a turkey-style whole-cut roast built for the 2026 holiday table, and Purple Carrot has a full Thanksgiving menu out too [36].
Activism & Animals
The EPA ended a 20-plus-year effort to develop ways to measure air pollution from factory farms on October 30, though Food & Water Watch's legal director notes the Clean Air Act still requires permits for facilities over emissions thresholds [76].
Innovation
The Albert Schweitzer Foundation found only three of 64 German companies meet all European Chicken Commitment criteria, and Nestlé and Rügenwalder Mühle withdrew their commitments in 2026 [57].
Lantmännen launched NordPea pea protein isolate; its €100 million Lidköping plant is due to start in the first half of 2027, after slipping from the early 2026 target set in 2022 [60].
Research & Nutrition
A 12-week randomized trial of 74 adults with overweight or obesity found three daily servings of full-fat dairy did not change fasting cholesterol, though the study was small and short [8].
Bovine kappa-casein can be secreted from the yeast Pichia pastoris, but persistent degradation and heavy glycosylation limit yield, so cheese-grade precision-fermented casein still has hurdles [17].
One Good Thing
Researchers photographing North Atlantic right whales off Anticosti Island in Quebec in September found a calf nobody had counted, likely born months earlier and missed in winter surveys [66]. That brings the calves from the latest birthing season to 24 [66]. For one of the rarest sea mammals on Earth, an unexpected baby is the good kind of surprise, and the scientists are treating it that way [66].
These bean curd knots in pepper sauce are the kind of cozy dish you'll want to make on repeat when the weather gets chilly! Dried tofu skin knots are simmered until juicy in a…
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