Australian plant-based meat manufacturer v2food has partnered with Lgem, a Dutch biotech company, to scale production of RepliHue, a red microalgae-derived ingredient for plant-based meat.

RepliHue replicates the visual experience of cooking conventional meat without synthetic additives, changing color during cooking. The partnership aims to make plant-based products more visually appealing to mainstream consumers, with v2food launching the first application at SXSW Sydney in October 2023.

Following successful trials, a production facility is planned to be developed in Australia to produce RepliHue at an industrial scale and incorporate it into v2food's plant-based meat products.

Analyst QuickTake: Plant-based meat producers are developing methods and technologies to bridge the visual and textural gap between plant-based meats and their traditional counterparts, addressing consumers' pain points of visual appeal in meat alternatives. Impossible Foods has led in this area with the development of its heme ingredient, which gives meat alternatives a "bleeding effect" similar to conventional meat products.