Crypto News: Supply Lines: Fats made from carbon

Bill Gates tasted it earlier this year and couldn't believe it wasn't real butter.

Now, the spreadable fat that's made without cow's milk — and through a process using carbon dioxide — is getting ready to hit American restaurants.

Startup Savor is working with chefs to start selling in the US early next year, pending regulatory approvals. The butter is made from a mix of sunflower lecithin combined with fat that's obtained by mixing CO2, heat and hydrogen.

To help scale up, the California-based company has raised $33 million in funds from venture capital investors including Synthesis Capital and Gates' own Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Savor is among a growing number of startups on a quest to make a new generation of fats. That's part of efforts to address the environmental impact of rearing animals or growing crops like palm oil at a time when concerns about global food insecurity are rising.

"Climate change is just going to get worse and worse, and we have to be very fast to be able to prevent that," Ben Wilding, CEO of Sun Bear Biofuture, said at the Future Food-Tech London summit last week. His company is working on a cocoa butter alternative and also eyeing one for palm oil.

Sun Bear utilizes the precision fermentation process, which resembles the conventional process of brewing beer. The technology has already been applied by startups to make a wide range of products — from cow-free cheese and ice cream to turmeric-like powder.

Savor also wants to tap cocoa butter alternatives, joining companies like Voyage Foods and WNWN Food Labs in search of novel chocolate ingredients. That can help sidestep supply uncertainties and price volatility as seen in the cocoa market this year.

Meanwhile, startup Atomo is chasing beanless coffee, another crop that has faced supply issues lately.

More Food for Thought

How coffee supply chains will cope in the future will be the focus of next week's World Coffee Innovation Summit in London. Bloomberg News Senior Executive Editor Will Kennedy is set to moderate a panel on the EU's deforestation rules, which are facing a pushback by 12 months.

—Agnieszka de Sousa in London

Wine woes | France's wine production is seen dropping 22% in 2024 due to bad weather. Output in the world's top wine producer is likely to be 37.5 million hectoliters, 15% below the five-year average, according to an agriculture ministry report citing estimates to Oct.1. All types are likely to see a drop in supply, particularly those from Burgundy, Beaujolais and Champagne and wines intended for the production of brandy. (Read the full story here.)

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Against the odds, some London pubs have become the city's top places to eat and drink. But are they gastropubs?

The vast majority of the $1 trillion of biodiversity funding required by 2030 needs to be directed toward the farming system — to improve the technology and practices used on cropland and rangeland, BloombergNEF writes.
The US Agriculture Department secretary cautioned lawmakers must reach agreement on fresh farm bill language before the end of the year to avoid disruption to farmers, Bloomberg Government reports.
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