Currently, many plant-based meats use plant oils, which are often bad for the environment and often are the reason the taste of faux meat falls short. “Nobody wants a burger that tastes of coconut,” Hoxton cofounder Max Jamilly tells FoodNavigator.
Plant oils also make the product seem “greasy, rather than juicy.” Hoxton Farms is using computational biology to develop bespoke fats that meet the unique needs of different plant-based meats.
The company recently closed a £2.7 million ($3.7 million) funding round to optimize its production process and add research staff.
“The global meat market is broken. It’s killing us, it’s killing the planet,” Jamilly adds. “2020 was a great example of how global food security is at an all-time low. Food supply is fragile and traditional intensive agriculture has a big role in the spread of animal-borne disease, antibiotic resistance, and its enormous impact on climate.”