Page 8 - Food&Drink Business magazine October 2022

NEWS
Magic Valley cultivates lamb prototype
Perfection Fresh acquires Tess Fresh
PERFECTION Fresh has bought Tess Fresh, a processed and packed fruit and vegetable company, to expand its convenience and ready-to-eat capabilities.
The two companies have collaborated for some years, with Perfection Fresh saying the acquisition will enable Tess Fresh’s operational capability and expertise to be expanded nationally through Perfection Fresh’s national scale, retail customer relationships, and consumer and product understanding.
Perfection Fresh CEO Michael Simonetta said the acquisition was part of the company’s next phase of growth.
“To complement and expand on our current capabilities in fresh prepared and ready-to-eat fresh produce, Tess Fresh broadens that capability to unlock value for the entire value chain beyond where we are today.
“Convenient, ready-to-eat products will extend the Perfection Fresh portfolio beyond its current range, and that is a critically important component of our current strategic plan,” Simonetta said.
Tess Fresh director Steve Tesoriero said the company’s existing customers would benefit from Perfection Fresh’s national sourcing and distribution network.
Tess Fresh business manager Chantelle Tesoriero will join Perfection Fresh and lead the Convenience division.
The integration is expected to take several more months, with work sites for both organisations remaining the same for the time being. ✷
AUSTRALIAN food tech company Magic Valley has created a cultivated lamb meat prototype free from animal by-products in what it says is a world first.
A small skin biopsy was taken from Lucy the lamb, who Magic Valley assures is happily residing in a field in New South Wales. Lucy’s cells were then grown in the company’s Melbourne lab where it was made into cultivated into meat using no other animal products.
The process takes the skin cells and turns them into stem cells called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The iPS cells can grow in an unlimited and scalable way and can also be made into muscle and fat, the main components of meat.
Founder and CEO Paul Bevan said, “By 2024, cultivated meat products will be indistinguishable from traditionally farmed meat, with the ability to enhance nutrients
Magic Valley team L-R: Paul Bevan, Jacob Goodwin, and Andrew Laslett.
to positively impact the human population.”
Magic Valley is now looking to scale with a planned $5 million seed capital raise ahead. The company said the funding will help it realise plans for beef and pork prototypes and collaborate with other cultivated meat companies on its production to get its range of products regulated by 2024.
The company said it could see
means tacos, burgers, ragu and more on the way to Australian dinner tables by 2024, with no animal interaction after the first skin scraping of Lucy and friends.
Bevan said cultivated meats have the potential to save over 70 billion animals per year and lay the groundwork for a more environmentally sustainable future by significantly reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 92 per cent. ✷
Mars Wrigley’s big investment for bite sized range
CONFECTIONERY giant
Mars Wrigley will spend $25.5 million on its Ballarat facility to expand production, increase sustainable packaging
efforts and drive
operational efficiencies.
The funding builds on the company’s commitment in September 2021 to invest $30 million to expand the plant’s chocolate manufacturing to develop more variants on
existing lines for M&M’s, Pods, and the new Mars Raspberry Smash as well as a new packaging line for Maltesers.
The latest funding will roll out across the next 12 months on innovation projects within its Bitesize portfolio, improving its raw cocoa and melted chocolate production, increasing the site’s manufacturing capabilities, as well as accelerating its local sustainable packaging efforts
and finding greater operational efficiencies.
The Bitesize portfolio includes M&Ms, Maltesers, and Pods.
Mars Wrigley Australia general manager Andrew Leakey said the latest investment reflected the company’s commitment to make the majority of its product portfolio in Australia.
“We are cementing this further by unlocking greater capabilities to create new consumer-led product innovation whilst accelerating our sustainable packaging focus locally,” Leakey said.
Leakey also reiterated the company’s commitment to regional manufacturing and its legacy in Ballarat. Mars Wrigley has had a factory in the city for more than 40 years. ✷
(Read GM Andrew Leakey’s responses to The fast 5 on p50.)
8 | Food&Drink business | October 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au