Brazilian Startup Launches High-Tech Vegan “Futuro” Burger

New company Fazenda Futuro (which translates “Future Farm” in Portuguese) recently developed its first product: the vegan Futuro Burger. Founded one month ago by entrepreneur Marcos Leta, the food technology company uses artificial intelligence to help approximate the taste and texture of beef with plant-based ingredients, including soy, pea protein, and chickpeas. After visiting the United States to learn about how other companies create technology-driven vegan food, Leta worked alongside the Latin American arm of advocacy group Good Food Institute to develop a local vegan burger to fill a gap in Brazil’s emerging plant-based industry. “By developing technologies capable of creating identical animal-free foods in taste, texture, and meaty smell, we want to show that it is possible to revolutionize the food industry without causing a negative impact on the environment,” Leta said. The company is currently capable of producing approximately 20 tons of vegan meat per month. “My goal is simple: to evolve with new [iterations] of our meat and [produce] a volume of vegetable meat that becomes cheaper than meat of animal origin,” Leta said. Starting in May, the Futuro Burger will be sold at retailers in Rio De Janeiro and São Paulo in packs of two and priced competitively to beef patties at R $16.99 (USD $4.39). The Futuro Burger will also launch in the local restaurant sector next month, with plans to expand across Latin America and, eventually, to other parts of the world.