Archive For The “Israeli FoodTech” Category
A team of Israeli archeologists, microbiologists, and brew experts, recently brewed a beer so old it would have been drunk by Pharaohs some 5,000 years ago. The yeast was discovered in ancient pottery from that era.
Portions of this article were originally reported by NoCamels.com
In the study, authored by over a dozen scientists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Ariel University, and the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, the researchers wrote that they “developed a pipeline of yeast isolation from clay vessels and screened for yeast cells in beverage-related and non-beverage-related ancient vessels and sediments from several archaeological sites,” finding that “yeast cells could be successfully isolated specifically from clay containers of fermented beverages.”
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The scientists say that a majority of previous studies of ancient organisms were based mainly on the analysis of ancient DNA, and that attempts to recreate ancient beer and wine were made using “modern ingredients combined with modern domesticated commercial yeast (predominantly Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and not with the actual microorganisms that might have been used in the production of these fermented beverages.”
These results, they wrote, “open new and exciting avenues in the study of domesticated microorganisms and contribute significantly to the fields of bio- and experimental archaeology that aim to reconstruct ancient artifacts and products.”
The team was led by Dr. Ronen Hazan and Dr. Michael Klutstein, microbiologists from the School of Dental Medicine at the Hebrew University, and Dr. Yitzhak Paz from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Paz called the study a “real breakthrough,” asserting that “this is the first time we succeeded in producing ancient alcohol from ancient yeast… This has never been done before.”
In all, the scientists isolated six yeast strains from 21 beer-and mead-related ancient vessels dating back to the reign of Egyptian Pharaoh Narmer (roughly 3000 BCE), Aramean King Hazael (800 BCE) and to Prophet Nehemiah (400 BCE) who, according to the bible, governed Judea under Persian rule.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
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Over a thousand visitors from forty-five countries converged on Tel Aviv for CannaTech, the medical Cannabis (marijuana) conference. Participants from the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medicine were all ears (and eyes) at what appears to be the world’s largest medical cannabis conference, giving Israel yet another designation of Cannabis Nation.
The following content has been exported from NoCamels.com where this story was originally reported.
According to Kaye, the Israeli government’s inhibition of cannabis business in the past, which he says was due to fear of the negative image associated with exporting “guns, cannabis, and other drugs,” made medical cannabis a “heavily illegitimate market.” Despite earlier government backlash, however, continuous pressure and a greater number of resources devoted to medical cannabis research have allowed for CannaTech’s consistent growth since its inception in 2015.
As perhaps the chief representative of the Israeli medical cannabis market, CannaTech’s development signifies Israel’s quick emergence as a global industry leader.
“We’re uniquely placed in innovation, ag-tech, water tech, and now canna-tech in order to propel us into what is the next massive industry […] When you add in the culture of funding startups, and the ability to both black market test and sell your product to an audience, that creates an environment that’s fantastic for a growing ecosystem,” Kaye states.
He also cites Israel’s advanced hospitals, universities and claim to the highest number of PHDs per capita as additional contributors to the country’s potential for sustained success in the industry and the world’s primary innovator and producer of medical cannabis.
“Patients who need medicine now have to get it from somewhere – they can get it from Canada or they can get it from Israel. Those are your options in the world. Canada’s leading and Israel will catch up.”
In January, Israel’s Ministry of Health gave its long-awaited approval for the medical cannabis export law, paving the way for the country to become a leading medical cannabis exporter, and participant in the global cannabis sector. Although law enforcement officials have not yet established a framework through which new international cannabis trade will be executed, the market has already begun to feel the law’s effects. “We are talking about a $2 billion industry next year that, last year, was also a $2 billion industry, it just wasn’t legal,” Kaye says.
By 2029, the global cannabis industry is expected to soar to $33 billion, which Kaye believes is necessarily an underestimate: “It’s the fastest growing industry in the world with more consumers than we know about because they have all been in the closet. So, we don’t really know the size, but it’s way bigger than whatever we think it’s going to be.”
Despite the growing support for medical cannabis within Israel and beyond, there are those who still doubt the plant’s positive potential, arguing that it may decrease societal productivity. Kaye urges doubters to reject “uneducated stigma that they’ve been taught for 60 years” and to instead, turn to cannabis research.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
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A team of Israeli students from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology won a gold medal in a prestigious, international science competition in Boston earlier this month for their development of artificial, bee-free honey.
The Technion team has been working on the development of the honey for the past year, according to the university, and won a gold medal for its efforts at the iGEM competition (International Genetically Engineered Machine), a contest established in 2003 by MIT – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology that gives students the opportunity to experiment with aspects of scientific and applied research in synthetic biology.
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The Israeli team – made up of 12 students in total – was among over 300 teams from universities all over the world, the university said in a statement last week.
Their synthetic honey is made with the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, which “learns” to produce the honey following reprogramming in the lab, the Technion said. Also known as hay bacillus or grass bacillus, Bacillus subtilis is found in soil and vegetation and is also present in the gastrointestinal tracts of humans.
“The bacteria can independently control the production of enzymes, eventually achieving a product with the same sugar profile as real honey, and the same health benefits,” the team’s entry on the competition’s website explains.
“The high secretion capacity of well-developed commercial strains [of Bacillus subtilis] made it a prime candidate to produce our target enzymes and create the ‘BeeFree’ honey,” the students wrote, adding that the bacteria’s natural ability to produce catalase, one of their target enzymes, made it an ideal choice.
The development, the Technion said, is important within the context of the sharp decline in bee populations in many parts of the world, also known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), as well as the potential future ability of manufacturers to determine the properties of the artificial honey, including how it would taste.
The product would be considered vegan as no animals will have been used in the process to make the synthetic honey.
“The winnings in the competition are definitely exciting, but equally important is the intellectual property created around the project,” said Prof. Roee Amit, head of the Synthetic Biology Laboratory for the Decipherment of Genomic Codes in the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, who led the team.
If the artificial honey becomes available commercially, it will have tapped into a vegan food market worth over $20 billion worldwide by 2026.
One of the requirements of the competition is to develop a scientific-technological idea alongside a real business enterprise. “Group members are required to raise research funding, meet with relevant experts from academia and industry, and perform experiments to improve the product,” the Technion said.
The Technion said student groups from the university have been participating in the iGEM competition since 2012 under the initiative of Prof. Amit and Lab Director Dr. Orna Atar, and have come away with six gold medals over the years, including this year.
The gold medals are not grand prizes; they are awarded for recognition of excellence, iGem explains. A total of 163 gold medals were handed out during the competition, as well as 77 silver medals, and 57 bronze medals.
This year’s grand prizes went to a team from Taiwan in the undergrad track, for developing a comprehensive approach to chronic kidney disease; a team for Switzerland in a graduate track for introducing a field-deployable test enabling farmers to detect plant diseases and save crop loss, while reducing pesticide use; and a team from China in the high school track for a biosynthesis of colored spider silk, “with applications in medicine, textiles, and aerospace fields.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
While traveling to Israel to sample exciting local flavors is on hold for the time being — as coronavirus lockdowns continue to restrict tourism – bringing the country’s delicious tastes into your home is as easy as a click of a button.
Israeli cuisine initiatives are bursting with this country’s traditional flavors in online cooking workshops, subscription snack boxes and follow-along video tutorials.
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“You can’t travel right now but you can still get the physical taste of Israel in your home kitchen,” says Harry Rubenstein, a pastry chef and food tour guide who runs online Israeli cooking workshops. “During this time, when people aren’t able to visit Israel, this is a great opportunity for them to get a taste of Israel in their own homes. And not by watching a YouTube video but by interacting with someone in Israel.
“People are under lockdown and they want something to do. It’s not like watching a video. You can ask questions in real time,” he says.
Rubenstein’s cooking workshops, which range from private to pay-as-you-can, include how to make Israeli dishes, tricks he has learned from his pastry chef studies, and the history of the dishes.
Most importantly, Rubenstein makes sure that everyone taking part in the online workshops can access all the ingredients from their home countries. “Using high-quality and accessible ingredients,” he shows people how to create “authentic local cuisine.
Israel’s food scene is famous, after all. The diverse food culture is bursting with flavors. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel was listed by international media as a must-visit foodie destination for 2020.
“People miss travel. They are literally craving the tastes of their travels and the places they love,” Inbal Baum, a foodie entrepreneur and founder of Delicious Israel food tours, tells NoCamels. “It’s a hard time, people are thinking about where they want to be, where they had amazing memories with their families, where they got to have great experiences and Israel is at the top of the list for so many people.”
Indeed, Israeli food is exciting, delicious, and memorable. NoCamels offers this list of how to enjoy a taste of Israel in your own home:
Harry Rubenstein – Harry’s Baked
Rubenstein’s cooking workshops spotlight the multicultural fabric of Israel. While he can teach how to make hummus or challah, Rubenstein prefers to present the history behind ethnic dishes that have become staples of the Israeli culinary scene and show how to make them.
He has taught online classes on how to make arais/arayes (Middle Eastern meat-stuffed pita pockets), shakshuka (eggs poached in tomato-based sauce), and sambusak (savory stuffed pastries)
“I like talking about the history of the ingredient and how it came to be used in Israel, whether it is a local ingredient that the Palestinians have been using for many years or it’s something that was brought from Iraq or elsewhere to Israel,” he tells NoCamels. “I’m trying to bring that knowledge of the ingredients, not just how to use them but the history, too.
A food tour guide before Covid-19 hit, Rubenstein also shows and tells about local food items viewers can sample when the borders open once again.
His workshops are not just about eating but about learning, too.
“If there is a recipe that has pomegranate molasses in it, I’m clearly not going to have pomegranate molasses in the recipe because that’s not so accessible, especially during the lockdown. But I will show what it is and talk about the specialty store at which I bought it in the Levinsky Market. I will show it to them and explain how it’s made and how it’s used,” he says.
This inside knowledge is Rubenstein’s calling card. And he’s only too willing to share it with the online community.
Phyllis Glazer – Healthy Comfort Food
Repeatedly dubbed by local and international media as the Israeli guru of healthy cooking, Phyllis Glazer brings nutritious Israeli cuisine into your home via online cooking workshops.
Glazer – a chef, writer, TV personality, and best-selling cookbook author – tells NoCamels that her personalized workshops focus on the “healthy” aspects of “quality Israeli food [which is] delicious and interesting.”
She builds vegan and vegetarian menus around Israel’s ethnic and culinary traditions, adding “a touch of mom” to every recipe. That “touch of mom” she says, belongs to the multicultural roots of Israeli culinary traditions hailing from places as varied as Bulgaria, Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Ethiopia and Europe.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
The ubiquity of
The remainder of this text was excerpted from full-length published article in NoCamels.com
For decades, Israel has been an established world leader in medical cannabis R&D, due to the pioneering work of Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Raphael Mechoulam. In 1964, the renown organic chemist was the first researcher to identify cannabis’ THC compound, the chemical known for causing a “high,” laying the foundation for scientific research on cannabis and its use in modern medicine.
In the years since, Israel became among the few countries with a government-sponsored medical cannabis program, and was the first in the world earlier this year to approve a vaporizer as a medical device for the use of cannabis extracts and formulations.
Though the country’s efforts to lead in other areas – like its big plans to become a top medical cannabis exporter with an estimated $1 billion in revenue per year – have stalled due to political wrangling, Israeli cannabis startups have stepped ahead with cutting-edge, smart devices and products for cannabis cultivation, consumption, measurement, and storage.
And their sights are set on the global cannabis market, expected to be worth some $32 billion by 2022.
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Oren Todoros, CEO of the branding firm CannaImpact, tells NoCamels that mixing cannabis culture with IoT (the internet of things) “has the potential to lift the industry to new heights.”
“Due to this rapid shift towards smart connected devices, growers and consumers are increasingly turning to IoT technologies, essentially comprising of sensor devices, artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, to bring new efficiencies to the way we grow and consume cannabis,” says Todoros, whose firm works with Israeli startup Kassi Labs, which developed a smart storage hub solution for marijuana.
Yona Cymerman, a co-founder of Can Innovation Finder (CIF), a new initiative that hopes to connect North American cannabis growers with blue-and-white tech solutions, says “the licensed producers we work with are always interested in hearing about innovative designs and technologies being developed to improve the consumer experience, and have expressed a lot of interest in devices and gadgets.”
“Israeli entrepreneurs have demonstrated great creativity in developing and designing their products, adopting concepts from other industries such as the sports market, and are aware of, and investing in the aesthetics of their products, which makes them all the more attractive for investment purposes,” she tells NoCamels.
From vaporizers and inhalers to growing environments and all-in-one storage solutions, we’re taking a closer look at seven companies that developed forward-looking “smart” gadgets for a next-generation cannabis experience and data analysis.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
While Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) continue to be stigmatized by natural food purists who still refuse to come to grips that genetic modification occurs naturally through cross-pollination, the “audacity bar” in food innovation just got raised… BIG TIME.
The remainder of this text was originally published by NoCamels.com
Israeli clean meat company Aleph Farms has officially unveiled the first slaughter-free steak grown from animal cells to deliver “the full experience of meat with the appearance, shape, and texture of beef cuts,” the company revealed on Wednesday, essentially announcing what it says is the first prototype of lab-grown steak in the world.
Aleph Farms says its 3D technology enables it to mimic traditional cuts of beef in both structure and texture, but without beef’s huge environmental impact, its heavy resource requirements, or its contribution to climate change.
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“We’re shaping the future of the meat industry — literally,” says Aleph Farms co-founder and CEO Didier Toubia. “Making a patty or a sausage from cells cultured outside the animal is challenging enough, imagine how difficult it is to create a whole-muscle steak.
“At Aleph Farms, this is not science fiction. We’ve transformed the vision into reality by growing a steak under controlled conditions,” he added in a statement.
The milestone achievement didn’t come easy. Aleph Farms, previously Meat-the-Future, was co-founded in 2017 by Israeli food-tech incubator The Kitchen, a part of the Strauss Group, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, alongside Toubia and Professor Shulamit Levenberg, the startups’ chief scientific officer.
Levenberg said earlier this year: “It has been a major hurdle to mimic meat’s many properties, such as texture, shape, juiciness, and flavor. Our use of the four cell types found in conventional cuts of meat, including vascular and connective tissues, is the key to a product that will be closer to the beef that people crave.”
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Cannibble (or the truncation of cannabis and edible) may be the next buzzword with legs if this Israeli startup has its way.
For decades, cannabis was classified by the United Nations as a drug with high potential for abuse and no medical value. The plant was included under Schedule I and IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs alongside psychotropic and even potentially fatal such as cocaine and fentanyl.
After more than 50 years of restricted research, almost no access to medical cannabis, and a crescendo of cannabis-related arrests and police seizures, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched in-depth research into the plant, announcing in 2018 that Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive derivative of the cannabis plant, should be removed from all schedules.
Today, medical cannabis is decriminalized or legalized in over 20 countries, and millions of people every year are consuming the drug recreationally – that is, just for fun.
This article was originally posted by NoCamels.com
Pancakes with hemp from Cannibble’s brand The Pelicann. Courtesy
One Israeli team is ready to enter the recreational market with a line of CBD products that will expand on the definition of cannabis “edibles” from snacks like brownies and gummies to an entire breakfast, lunch or dinner.
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Cannibble FoodTech Ltd., based in the central city of Kfar Saba and founded in 2018 by CEO Yoav Bar Joseph, CTO Elad Barkan, CFO Asaf Porat and VP of Business Development Ziv Turner, is creating over 100 CBD-infused, powder-based instant mixes for baking, beverages and spices. These can be used to make quick-mix shakes, pancakes, popcorn butter, falafel, iced and hot drinks, toppings and so on.
Cannibble, pronounced “can nibble” for cannabis and nibble (and not “cannibal,” thank heavens), calls itself the “industrial connection between cannabis and foodtech,” and infuses its premixed foods, beverages, and nutritional supplements with CBD and delta 9-tetrahydorcannabinol (THC) in a controlled and measured dosage.
“Edibles are a delivery system, just like suppositories, ointments, topicals, capsules,” Turner tells NoCamels. “It’s a smoking replacement for active cannabinoids. We have to remember that all consumers like to eat and drink. If people don’t like to smoke, they can have another option on the shelf,”
Edibles of all kinds, for all kinds
Saul Kaye, a cannabis expert and founder of cannabis tech startup accelerator iCAN, says edibles are an exploding market right now as consumers are always looking for new ways to consume cannabis. But, there are still challenges and consumers may wonder how they will be affected by them.
“Smoking is consistent, it’s measurable – puff once, puff twice, puff three times,” Kaye tells NoCamels. “With edibles, there’s a variance in how they get absorbed and that’s one of the challenges. A 10-milligram capsule might affect me differently each time that I take it.”
The effects of consumption vary among users, like any other medication. Turner addresses this by saying Cannibble’s products contain the “perfect dosage” in every serving, whether the product is a single serving or larger.
Cannabis consumers can generally choose between products with only CBD, or products that also contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive derivative of the cannabis plant.
Cannibble’s dry powder line, under the brand name The Pelicann, will offer both CBD and THC products, as well as products containing hemp, a strain of the cannabis plant with no psychoactive properties. Each type of product offers its own benefits, Turner explains.
“THC is the psychoactive one, it gets you high, but also THC is one of the best painkillers,” Turner explains. He says both have medical qualities. “CBD is anti-inflammatory, it helps with glaucoma, epilepsy,” and other conditions.
The hemp products are high in protein and fiber, and will feature low sugar, low-calorie shakes, power bars, and granola mixes, targeting athletes and the trendy wellness market in the US.
Regulatory challenges
Because Cannibble is restricted from distributing its products within Israel, the startup will have its primary production facilities in California and Florida. While Israel is at the forefront of medical cannabis research, recreational use is still not legal, and the recent approval of exports has done little for the medical cannabis consumption market.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the market in terms of investment, until it happens…the money’s not really going to flow,” Kaye says of Israel’s cannabis export production, which he admits hasn’t fully come to fruition yet. “That hurts the industry, it hurts the economy, and the government is missing out on the massive opportunity to actualize on this now.”
The CBD and hemp powders are expected to hit the shelves of American supermarket chains such as Walmart, Publix and 7-Eleven, as well as dispensaries, as soon as the end of 2019. Manufacturing and distributing of THC products, Turner said, will have to be determined state by state. While the use and sale of cannabis containing over 0.3 percent THC is currently illegal under federal jurisdiction in the United States, several states have decriminalized and even legalized recreational use, including Oregon, Colorado, and California.
Kaye says California is the most important recreational market in the world right now.
“That’s where legalized cannabis is interesting,” Kaye continues. “If you can make it in California, you can make it anywhere in the world.”
And Cannibble is ready to tap into California’s burgeoning recreational cannabis market. In June, the California-based vertically integrated cannabis platform and contract manufacturer Natura Life + Science announced a partnership with the Israeli company to make its products available in the Golden State beginning in the third quarter of 2019.
“We are excited to partner with such a professional group of cannabis experts as Natura,” Yoav Bar Joseph said in the statement announcing the partnership. “We can’t wait to see our products available for the first time in the US.”
“Natura is committed to manufacturing products that are safe, high-quality and consistent – products consumers can trust,” said Ori Bytton, Natura founder and CEO. “Our partnership with Cannibble allows us to offer our contact manufacturing partners and consumers unique cannabis food products they won’t find anywhere else. We will bring a whole new level of edible offerings to market.”
Looking to the edible future
Turner says Cannibble is already planning its expansion to the rest of the world and its planned initial public offering (IPO) with the Canadian Stock Exchange at the end of 2020’s first quarter is just the first step. He says they are looking to eventually expand throughout all of North America and Europe with the company’s CBD products.
“We have to remember Europe is a big place,” Turner says. “We have to be very choosy with what we do right now because we are a small company. This is why we are doing a public fundraising round to cover all those opportunities.”
Cannibble recently raised over $1 million from its crowdfunding efforts with Israeli crowdfunding platform Pipelbiz.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Learn more about Diane Israel. Also, see Diane Israel on LinkedIn.
It’s been a long time since McDonald’s made a major acquisition. Twenty years actually, and their acquisition of Isreali-tech startup Dynamic Yield may be a shrewd move to buy the proprietary AI technology and keep it from their competitor’s reach.
What follows was excerpted and originally reported by NoCamels.com.
McDonald’s is set to acquire Israeli company Dynamic Yield, a market leader in customer personalization and decision logic technology, the two companies announced on Monday.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but TechCrunch reported that “a source with knowledge” said the agreement was valued at over $300 million and is McDonald’s largest acquisition in 20 years.
Founded in 2011 by Israeli entrepreneurs Liad Agmon and Omri Mendellevich, the New York-headquartered company’s AI-powered omnichannel personalization engine helps product managers, and engineers build personalization campaigns that deliver individualized experiences at every customer touchpoint (online, mobile apps, email, kiosks, IoT, and call centers).
Dynamic Yield says its platform’s data management capabilities “provide for a unified view of the customer, allowing the rapid and scalable creation of highly targeted digital interactions. The company has over 300 clients that have included IKEA, URBN Brands, and Stitch Fix.
McDonald’s said in a statement that it will use Dynamic Yield’s technology “to provide an even more personalized customer experience by varying outdoor digital Drive Thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items.” The tech can also suggest and display additional items based on customer current selections.
“Dynamic Yield’s ability to meet McDonald’s customer needs, coupled with their commitment to grow capabilities around ever-changing consumer trends and evolving marketing technologies, allows for the continued advancement and elevation of the McDonald’s customer experience with technology and innovation,” the fast-food giant said in the statement.
Steve Easterbrook, president and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation, said “technology is a critical element of our Velocity Growth Plan, enhancing the experience for our customers by providing greater convenience on their terms. With this acquisition, we’re expanding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalized experiences for our customers.
Agmon, who serves as Dynamic Yield’s CEO said: “We started Dynamic Yield seven years ago with the premise that customer-centric brands must make personalization a core activity. We’re thrilled to be joining an iconic global brand such as McDonald’s and are excited to innovate in ways that have a real impact on people’s daily lives.”
According to the agreement, Dynamic Yield will remain a stand-alone company and employees will continue to operate out of its offices across the world, including Berlin, Singapore, Moscow, Paris, London, NY, and Tel Aviv. Dynamic Yield will also continue to serve their current, and attract future, clients.
McDonald’s said upon the completion of the deal, it will become sole owner of Dynamic Yield, and will continue to invest in the company’s “core personalization product and world-class teams.”
Dynamic Yield previously raised some $83 million from investors such as Viola Growth, an Israeli-based technology growth capital fund, Innovation Endeavors, Bessemer Venture Partners, Vertex Ventures Israel, and Union Tech Ventures.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Learn more about Diane Israel. Also, see Diane Israel on LinkedIn.
Israeli cannabis startup Seedo, the company that has developed a fully-automated indoor medical cannabis grow device, has signed US rapper and cannabis icon Snoop Dogg as a brand ambassador.
The Israeli company said in a statement on Tuesday that Snoop, né Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., will work with Seedo “on a variety of platforms” to “achieve optimal consumer awareness of this innovative technology.”
This article was originally posted by NoCamels.com. Featured article: Artificial Intelligence.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Learn more about Diane Israel. Also, see Diane Israel on LinkedIn.
Founded in 2013, Seedo developed a fully automated and controlled indoor growing device, resembling a mini-fridge, for pesticide-free agriculture markets with a first focus on cannabis but with wider applications. The product analyzes growth and optimizes conditions for cannabis and other plants for home and commercial use. Monitoring occurs via smartphone app.
Seedo says the device can grow the cannabis plant from seed stage without human intervention over the course of 90 days, making for an independently run cannabis growing operation. The machine weighs between 120-140 pounds (54-63 kg) and measures 40 by 24.4 by 24.4 inches (101 x 62 x 62cm), with units listed at $2,400 each. Seedo says its AI-powered turnkey systems allow anyone, “from average consumers to large-scale producers” to grow a variety of plants at lab-grade quality “without prior experience or ample space.”
Snoop Dogg – whose hits include the track “Smoke Weed Every Day” – said: “Promoting a healthier lifestyle by providing my friends and communities with products that allow for growth in unused urban spaces is something I’m all the way down with.”
“Seedo creates cost savings and the opportunity for all people to benefit from agricultural technologies,” added the rapper, a mega-star and cannabis advocate whose marijuana use is a big part of his public image and his music. In 2012, when Snoop Dogg was briefly known as Snoop Lion, he told a Reddit audience in an AMA – ask me anything – post that he smokes about 81 blunts per day.
And in an interview last week, he revealed that he employs a full-time “blunt roller” who he pays between $40,000 to $50,000 per year, and whose sole responsibility is to prepare Snoop’s preferred marijuana delivery system.
His social media presence, with 36 million followers on Instagram alone, is filled with cannabis memes and references. Snoop Dogg is also a long-time cannabis entrepreneur. In 2015, he co-founded the media organization Merry Jane, which focuses on news about cannabis, and launched a new line of cannabis products called Leafs by Snoop offering a range of flowers, concentrates, and edibles.
Seedo CEO Zohar Levy said the company was “honored to partner with an industry icon like Snoop Dogg.”
“Snoop’s vast global following, industry influence and network reach will provide us an invaluable resource for Seedo as we continue to grow. The synergy between Seedo’s products and Snoop’s platforms is truly natural,” Levy added.
Where’s the beef? Looks like it’s in space.
Israeli clean meat startup Aleph Farms, which unveiled the world’s first slaughter-free steak grown from animal cells late last year, says it has conducted a most unusual experiment to make its meat product on the International Space Station (ISS) some 248 miles (339 km) away. The ISS is a low-orbit space station that serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory between five participating space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
This article was originally posted by NoCamels.com. Featured article: Artificial Intelligence.
Diane Israel is a Chicago native and long-time supporter and advocate of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She is also famous for her culinary recipes. Diane can be reached at Diane@IsraelOnIsrael.com
Learn more about Diane Israel. Also, see Diane Israel on LinkedIn.
Aleph Farms said the project was a bid to demonstrate its “mission to provide sustainable food security on Earth, and beyond, by producing meat regardless [of] availability of land and local water resources.”
“In space, we don’t have 10,000 or 15,000 liters (3962.58 gallons) of water available to produce one kilogram (2.205 pounds) of beef,” said Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms, in a statement.
The experiment, he said, “marks a significant first step toward achieving our vision to ensure food security for generations to come, while preserving our natural resources.” Founded in 2017 by Toubia and Professor Shulamit Levenberg as part of a collaboration between Israeli food tech incubator The Kitchen, and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Aleph Farms says its 3D technology enables it to mimic traditional cuts of beef in both structure and texture. Just without beef’s huge environmental impact, its heavy resource requirements, or its contribution to climate change.
Its method to produce cultivated beef steaks relies on mimicking a natural process of muscle-tissue regeneration occurring inside the cow’s body, but under controlled conditions. The startup says it implements a combination of six unique technologies that allow it to drop the production costs of the meat, including innovative approaches to an animal-free growth medium to nourish the cells, and bioreactors – the tanks in which the tissue grows. In December, Aleph Farms unveiled the first prototype of lab-grown steak in the world – to much fanfare.
To conduct the experiment, Aleph Farms teamed up with Russian company 3D Bioprinting Solutions, which develops implementations of 3D bioprinting technologies, and two American companies, Meal Source Technologies and Finless Foods, to carry out the process on September 26. Aboard the Russian segment of the ISS, they used a unique technology of magnetic biofabrication, developed by 3D Bioprinting Solutions, to produce bovine, mummichog and rabbit myoblast/fibroblast constructs provided by Aleph Farms, Finless Foods, and Meal Source Technologies, respectively. All under microgravity conditions.
Aleksandr Ostrovsky, co-founder of 3D Bioprinting Solutions and Meal Source Technologies said, “We believe that biofabrication of cultured meat in space has several unique advantages such as sustainability, personalization, and biosafety. What is more, creating cultured meat products in space may grant invaluable scientific insights for implementation of this technology on Earth.”
Hailing a “successful proof of concept,” Aleph Farms said the cutting-edge research “in some of the most extreme environments imaginable serves as an essential growth indicator of sustainable food production methods that don’t exacerbate land waste, water waste, and pollution.”