The giant U.S. food processor Tyson Foods launched a $150-million venture-capital fund “to invest in high-tech products and services that could refresh its stable of products, which include chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers,” reports the Wall Street Journal. One focus of the fund will be alternative forms of protein, a field that includes plant-based foods, insect-based protein products, meat grown from self-reproducing cells and meat from 3-D printers.
The Journal quoted Monica McGurk, Tyson’s head of strategy, as saying that when it comes to meat alternatives, “We look at [them] as an ‘and,’ not an ‘or.'” Tyson bought a 5-percent share of Beyond Meat in October. For the venture-capital fund, Tyson also is interested in ways to minimize food waste.
Some $647 million in venture-capital funding was invested in food and agriculture in 2015 and an additional $420 million was invested during the first nine months of this year. Companies already in the field, such as General Mills, Coca-Cola and Campbell Soup have formed their own venture-capital projects in recent years.