The plant-based food industry in Canada is worth nearly $1 billion, with an expected growth of eight per cent per year.

Opinion: Circling back to meat

As I walk by a storefront that once housed the city’s largest ‘plant-based butcher,’ the irony hits me. The new sign announces that this will soon open again — as a beef burger cafe. It brings to light the complexity of understanding Canadian consumers and their varying wants and needs. Protein in all sources is […] Read more

Peas and other pulses are expected to gain ground on soybeans in the plant-based meat category in the next decade.

Study predicts market growth in plant-based meat

Pulse sector calls recent downturn in sales a “blip” and remains optimistic about the future

Glacier FarmMedia – The future for plant-based protein is bright despite recent setbacks, according to a new Ernst & Young study. Demand for the product is expected to be strong in the wake of a global pandemic that led to an economic slowdown in 2022. Ernst & Young is forecasting US$139.4 billion in global plant-based meat […] Read more

(Merit Functional Foods video screengrab via YouTube)

Merit Foods co-owner Burcon partnering on bid for assets

Unnamed 'plant protein company' now in on Burcon's bid

A major shareholder in beleaguered pea and canola protein processor Merit Functional Foods has brought on an unnamed partner in its bid to buy the business out of receivership. After announcing last month it would submit a bid for the next-to-new Merit assets, Vancouver-based plant protein firm Burcon NutraScience said Monday it’s now “participating in […] Read more

(Screengrab from Merit Functional Foods video via YouTube)

Bidding open for Merit Foods for two more weeks

Stakeholder Burcon plans to put up 'compelling bid'

The fate of Winnipeg pea- and canola-based protein processor Merit Functional Foods won’t be confirmed until the end of April at the earliest. Merit, whose major shareholders include Vancouver plant-based protein firm Burcon NutraScience, U.S. agrifood firm Bunge and former executives of Hemp Oil Canada, was placed into receivership March 1. According to the first […] Read more


(Screengrab from Merit Functional Foods video via YouTube)

Plant protein processor Merit Foods in receivership

Company owes $95 million to EDC, FCC

The company behind a new Prairie processing plant extracting plant-based proteins from peas and canola has landed in receivership, in the high eight figures’ debt to its secured lenders. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Wednesday announced it’s the receiver for both Merit Functional Foods Corp. and the numbered company that owns Merit’s processing plant and property in […] Read more

Dishes containing 3D printed plant-based vegan meat were displayed at the SIAL food and innovation exhibition in Villepinte, France, last month. Proponents of the industry say its demise has been exaggerated.

Plant-based foods potential touted

Sector says recent gloomy news has focused solely on the poor performance of plant-based burgers

Glacier FarmMedia – Reports of the death of the plant-based protein industry were grossly exaggerated, according to industry proponents. Major U.S. newspapers have reported that the 10-year plant-based protein fad is over, pointing to ominous signals such as the 80 per cent plunge in Beyond Meat’s share price and meat giant JBS’s termination of its […] Read more

The University of Guelph’s Child Care and Learning Centre recently made the move to reduce its carbon footprint by only serving a fully plant-based menu.

Editorial: Sustainability shouldn’t be an optical illusion

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, one our freelance writers, Rebecca Hannam, brought to my attention an interesting press release from the University of Guelph on how its on-campus child care centre has reduced its carbon footprint by switching to only feeding a plant-based diet. She asked in her email to me “why is no one talking […] Read more


(Ozo Foods video screeengrab via YouTube)

Meatpacker JBS to close U.S. plant-based foods business

Chicago | Reuters — Brazilian meatpacker JBS is closing its U.S. plant-based foods business, Planterra Foods, after about two years, the company said on Monday. The closure signals increasing troubles in the plant-based protein sector, where U.S. sales are flattening. Colorado-based Planterra sold fake meat under the Ozo brand, but JBS will now focus on […] Read more

The McDonald’s “P.L.T.” (CNW Group/McDonald’s Canada)

McDonald’s to make its own ‘McPlant’ items

Beyond Meat says co-created patty

Reuters — Burger chain McDonald’s on Monday decided to debut its own plant-based meat alternatives line called “McPlant” in 2021, including a patty that Beyond Meat subsequently said it helped co-create. “Beyond Meat and McDonald’s co-created the plant-based patty which will be available as part of their McPlant platform,” a Beyond Meat spokesperson said in […] Read more