Kellogg’s Partners With Gene-Editing Firm To Further Develop Faux Meats

The following report are excerpts from AgFunder News:

Crop genetics company Benson Hill has struck a partnership with Kellogg’s-owned MorningStar Farms to supply the latter with soy ingredients for alt-meat products. The financial terms of the deal are not disclosed.

MorningStar Farms will incorporate Benson Hill’s Ultra-High Protein soybeans into its lineup of plant-based meats that currently includes beefburger, chicken, and breakfast meat analogs.

The Lowdown On Ultra-High Protein

St Louis, Missouri-based Benson Hill has developed selectively-bred soybeans with a higher nutrient profile that it claims is more ecologically sustainable than typical soy varieties.

• Ultra-High Protein soy contains 20% more protein out of the ground compared to regular soybeans, the company says. In theory, that means more protein per acre – requiring fewer inputs, such as pesticides and manpower hours.
• Through streamlining and eliminating certain steps in soy processing, Benson Hill says its soy uses 70% less water and results in 50% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than conventional varieties. 
• The company previously reported a “strong” 2021 harvest of these soybeans.

What They Say:

Sara Young, general manager of plant-based proteins at Kellogg’s, said in a statement that the category has become “a core principle of our brand, and having that as a driver, we think, truly distinguishes us from other players in the space.” Kellogg’s actually bills itself on its website as “one of the original plant-based food companies.”

Little wonder this is the case. Like other agribusiness corporates, Kelloggs is under pressure to not just announce climate commitments but also deliver on them. Benson Hill, with the “strong” results from its first season of Ultra-High Protein soy, may be able to provide a more efficient, sustainable protein ingredient that could add more weight to Kellogg’s and MorningStar’s sustainability claims.

Alongside the Benson Hill deal, MorningStar has also announced a couple of other environment-related initiatives:

• New ‘recycle-ready’ packaging for foods in flexible plastic bags that consumers can recycle at participating drop-off locations.
• MorningStar’s products will now come in paperboard boxes that are recyclable curbside.
• MorningStar will also source 100% renewable electricity this year through a virtual power purchase agreement, as well as an investment in renewable energy credits.

All of these efforts are part of Kellogg’s Better Days commitment through which the company aims to address wellbeing, hunger relief, and climate resilience for 3 billion people by the end of 2030.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; [3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

1 Timothy 4:1-3

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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