One of 31 teams to reach this milestone, New School Foods is in the running to receive a portion of the $15 million prize.
Each XPRIZE team is tasked with developing structured chicken breast or fish fillet analogues that have the same taste, texture and cooking experience of conventional chicken or fish. New School Foods, which produces whole-cut seafood made from plants, is focused on a fillet of fish that looks, cooks, tastes and flakes just like salmon.
“We’re thrilled and humbled to be named a semi-finalist alongside so many impressive companies. Our team has been hard at work during the last year developing novel production methods and formulations and it’s exciting to see our R&D investments paying off,” said Chris Bryson, New School Foods’ founder and CEO.
New School Foods has been making quick progress in developing its prototypes and novel production method. Full creation and commercialisation of the product, which is being developed in part with a co-investment from Protein Industries Canada, can help Canada reach its environmental sustainability goals while diversifying its plant-based food offerings, helping the country meet the growing global demand for plant-based foods and ingredients.
“New School Foods’ innovative work is helping change Canada’s agrifood sector, and Protein Industries Canada is proud to have been a part of their story so far,” Protein Industries Canada CEO Bill Greuel said. “This is exactly the sort of project we hoped would be chosen when we helped push the XPRIZE forward in Canada. New School Foods is developing a plant-based food product that’s sustainable, innovative and delicious—which is exactly what consumers around the globe are asking for.”
If successful, the next step in New School Foods’ XPRIZE journey is being chosen as one of the 10 finalist teams, which will split $2.5 million. These teams will move forward to a final round of product development, at the end of which a grand prize of $7 million will be awarded to one winning team.
Second and third place teams will be awarded $2 million and $1 million respectively, and one team will be awarded a $2 million bonus prize for developing a sustainable product at a low cost. The 10 XPRIZE finalists will be chosen near the end of 2022, with the winners announced in early 2024.
