Maple Leaf Foods, Canada’s largest distributor of packaged meats, says it will buy Field Roast Grain Meat Co. in an expansion of its role in the North American market for alternative proteins.
Based in Seattle, Field Roast produces grain-based “meat” and vegan cheese products, such as plant-based roasts, sausages, burgers and sliced cheese. It also makes a frozen vegan mac-and-cheese. The company was founded in 1987 and has annual sales of $38 million. Maple Leaf said it expects to close the deal this year.
In related news, Hampton Creek is launching a plant-based eggless scramble with mung bean protein, spinach and mushrooms, says the San Francisco Chronicle. At the moment, “Just Scramble,” as Hampton Creek named its new product, is available only at one restaurant in San Francisco. The company says it will become available to Bay Area food service companies in early 2018, followed by sales to restaurants in the rest of the country and then in supermarkets. “Plant-based egg substitutes that can cook up into an omelet or frittata have been rare,” says the Chronicle.