v2food launches crumbed chicken products

Australia’s leading plant-based meat manufacturer, v2food, has expanded its offering, launching its first crumbed chicken products.

The launch represents the company’s third plant protein innovation, following its success replicating beef with its v2mince, v2burger and v2sausages, as well as its launch of plant-based pork products in Asia.

The new plant-based chicken will be available in three formats: tenders, nuggets and schnitzel. The v2tenders and v2schnitzel will be available in retail stores from early May, while the v2nuggets will be available exclusively through foodservice in the coming months.

Australia ranks fifth globally for its chicken consumption per capita, so launching this new protein offering was a sensible next step for the company, said CEO, Nick Hazell.

“Our mission is to help the global population live more sustainably by providing plant-based products, so a great tasting, easy to cook chicken range was always on the cards for v2food,” he said. “We know Aussies love chicken – in fact, data shows that we eat an average of 45 kilos of poultry per year. If you want to visualise just how much that is, it’s about the equivalent of 2,250 chicken nuggets a year, per person.”

As part of the launch, v2food’s Food Truck will travel up the Australian east coast from 18 to 25 March, offering samples of its v2tenders and v2schnitzel, with stops in Melbourne, Canberra, Wodonga, Sydney, Newcastle and Byron Bay.

v2food was founded in 2019 as a partnership between Nick Hazell, the CSIRO, Main Sequence Ventures and Jack Cowin’s Competitive Foods Australia (the company behind Hungry Jacks). Hazell spoke at the inaugural Future Alternative roundtable last year, describing the need to sustainably feed the world’s growing population as an ‘existential challenge’ that food manufacturers need to address now. Read his comments here.

To stay up-to-date on the latest industry headlines, sign up to Future Alternative’s enewsletter.