MyForest Foods Expands MyBacon Distribution to Massachusetts
MyForest Foods Co. has formed retail partnerships with Berkshire Food Co-op in Great Barrington, Mass., and Cornucopia Natural Wellness Market in Northampton, Mass. These retail partnerships are the result of scaling for MyForest Foods, a whole-cut mycelium food company. MyForest also held an opening ceremony for Swersey Silos, its vertical mycelium farm, the world’s largest farm of its kind.
Since 1981, Berkshire Food Co-op has upheld its mission to provide sustainable food products and nourish communities in an environmentally sensitive manner, making them a natural mission-aligned partner for MyForest Foods to introduce its flagship product, MyBacon, to consumers.
An hour east, Cornucopia Natural Wellness Market has offered the best in local and organic foods to Northampton since 1980. The company’s first retailer, Honest Weight Food Co-op of Albany, N.Y., has consistently sold out of MyBacon over the past 70 weeks.
MyForest Foods commemorated the opening of its new vertical AirMyceliumfarm — a true milestone to scale MyBacon distribution and drive accessibility. The farm, known as Swersey Silos, utilizes a patented AirMycelium technology developed by Ecovative, the mycelium technology company that spun out MyForest Foods in 2020. The Ecovative team was responsible for designing and constructing Swersey Silos to provide MyForest with the full benefit of the AirMycelium technology.
Swersey Silos has the capacity to produce nearly 3 million pounds of mycelium annually, offering an alternative to traditional pork bacon that drastically reduces the land, water and carbon footprint found in conventional factory farming practices. Swersey Silos is part of 120,000 square feet of new infrastructure, including a new production facility in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., which is slated to open this fall. Operating at full capacity, MyForest Foods is projected to serve MyBacon to more than one million consumers by the year 2024.
The farm is named after Burt Swersey, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who inspired MyForest Foods co-founder Eben Bayer to seek creative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. Swersey Silos is dedicated to Burt’s legacy and MyForest Foods’ promise for a well-fed future.
“By forming strong partnerships, listening to our consumers, and focusing on sustained growth, MyForest Foods continues to embody Burt Swersey’s principles to make lasting, effectual change,” said Eben Bayer, Co-Founder and CEO of MyForest Foods. “Professor Swersey’s philosophy of ‘don’t do nonsense’ is at the core of our mission to do meaningful work — it’s why we’ve focused on creating a delicious, sustainable product to help alleviate the dual crisis of climate change and food scarcity.”
Earlier this year, MyForest Foods announced a partnership with Whitecrest Mushrooms Ltd., a Canadian gourmet mushroom farm, to develop nearly three million pounds of annual MyBacon mycelium production capacity on less than one acre of land. Through this successful partnership and the new farm infrastructure, MyForest Foods is poised to reach new consumers through additional natural products retailers and a northeastern food truck tour later this year.
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Whitney From Cellars at Jasper Hill Wins Best in Show at Specialty Cheese Show
Whitney, a Raclette-style raw milk cheese from Vermont’s Cellars at Jasper Hill won Best in Show for specialty cheese at the American Cheese Society’s annual awards.
“Behind every great cheese is a community of people,” an overwhelmed Jasper Hill co-founder, Matteo Kehler, said in a ceremony held during the ACS convention in Portland, Ore. “What we’re trying to build is an agriculture-supported community. Not a CSA, but an ASC.
“At the root of this effort is delicious cheese. It’s the vehicle. It’s reflective of this point in the industry for us and it’s an epic opportunity to push the boundaries and win new consumers,” said Kehler, who founded the creamery with his brother, Andy.
“When you win new consumers for specialty cheese, we all win and we win together,” he said.
Whitney is a Jasper Hill Creamery original, according to the company’s website, inspired by the classic, mid-elevation mountain cheeses of Europe. At Jasper Hill, people are the main ingredient; this stoic, reliable cheese pays homage to Jasper Hill’s longest-standing employee: the steadfast Tim Whitney.
Bamboozle, a washed-rind goat and cow’s milk cheese from Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy in Pennsylvania, and Flagsheep, a cloth-bound and open-air aged sheep’s milk cheese from Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in Washington, tied for second place.
Greensward, a cow’s milk washed-rind cheese from Murray’s Cheese of New York, took third place.
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Bobbie Organic Infant Formula Launches in Target Nationwide
Bobbie, the American-founded, European-style USDA Organic infant formula, is launching exclusively at Target. Just 18 months after launching as the first direct-to-consumer infant formula brand, Bobbie will be available at the majority of Target stores across the country and on Target.com within the next several weeks.
As an American-founded infant formula, Bobbie is USDA Organic, made with Organic Valley grass-fed milk, sourced from pasture-raised cows across 45 small, family-owned American farms that prioritize quality and sustainability. Bobbie prioritizes rigorous quality standards and unprecedented clean-certification as the first-ever infant formula to receive both the Clean Label Project Purity Award and certification as a Pesticide-Free product.
“As a mom first and a CEO second, I know firsthand there has never been a more critical time to get more infant formula on shelves,” said Laura Modi, CEO and co-founder of Bobbie, and mom of three. “Introducing a completely differentiated organic infant formula into the market is the near and long-term solution American families need and deserve. There’s nothing more important than making sure our babies are fed and nourished.”
Bobbie represents a new generation of formula that American parents have been demanding, holding itself to the highest standards while bringing peace of mind to U.S. families. As the infant formula shortage continues, Bobbie is proud to expand accessibility to shelves across the country, providing parents with an America-manufactured, organic European-style recipe. Bobbie’s new availability in Target is a long-term solution to the need for increased market diversification and high quality options in the U.S. infant formula industry.
Bobbie launched in January 2021, selling four times greater than forecasted in its first year, making it the fastest-growing infant formula in the United States since the 1980s. Bobbie is also available at www.hibobbie.com. Today, Bobbie’s subscription customer base is over 70,000, serving families in every state across the country; and since 2021, over 100,000 babies have relied on Bobbie for their essential daily nutrition. Bobbie is eager to nourish even more babies while continuing to build a parenting culture of confidence, not comparison, that supports all feeding journeys.
Offering a European-style, USDA Organic option that meets FDA requirements to retail shelves brings Bobbie back to its origin story with a new channel of discovery. Modi was inspired to start Bobbie after the birth of her first child when she found herself standing in the aisle of a store, holding a screaming infant, and fighting fever and chills brought on by mastitis. Disappointed with all the options before her, she was struck with a mother’s intuition that there had to be a better option – and so Bobbie was born.
Bobbie will be available in the majority of Target stores across the country and on Target.com beginning in July. Available in two sizes, featuring the original 14.1 oz can for $25.99 and a new 23.9 oz can for $41.99.
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