According to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), a leading Indian plant protein food brand – GREENEST – has shipped India’s first plant-based meat export consignment to the USA from Gujarat in India.
GREENEST is a forerunner in plant-based protein products and is backed by investors like Better Bite Ventures, a New Zealand-based dedicated Alt Protein VC fund, Magnetic, and Sachid Madan, the former chief executive of ITC’s frozen snacks business.
This company has exported a 5,000 kg consignment that consists of plant-based mini samosas, hot and spicy strips, momos, spring rolls, nuggets, grilled patties, and other vegan products.
“We at APEDA are delighted to facilitate the export of GREENEST’s plant-based vegan products made in India to global markets.” “This is just a beginning, and we hope that India, with its rich vegetarian heritage, will become a hub for the growing global demand for plant-based vegan products,” said Dr. M. Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA.
Harpreet Singh, Regional Head, APEDA Gujarat, said, “APEDA provides assistance to exporters under various components of its schemes such as infrastructure, quality, and market development. In addition, APEDA also conducts international buyer-seller meets and virtual trade fairs with importing countries to promote the export of agricultural & processed food products.
Gaurav Sharma, Founder & CEO, GREENEST, said that plant-based vegan food is a growing category with strong international potential and we see it as one of the key contributors to our packed food export portfolio from Gujarat. He added, “We are honoured to flag off India’s first export of plant-based meat to the US in collaboration with Wholesome Foods and express our wholehearted gratitude to APEDA for its support. We have been receiving a large amount of interest from foreign markets for high quality and healthy plant-based foods, and GREENEST is happy to take the lead in this endeavour from India. We are confident that, on the back of our strong product quality and unique value proposition, these volumes will grow significantly in the months to come.
The team at Wholesome Foods is delighted to partner with GREENEST to open up international markets for their unique array of products. We believe Indian plant-based foods are primed to be a popular category in the global markets and are witnessing a high number of enquiries for ethnic and value-added plant-based meals both from food service operators and retailers.
And Jeet Hirpara, Managing Partner of Wholesome Foods, said, “The consignment to the US is the first of many more to follow and we are confident that with APEDA’s continuous involvement and support, we will see many more flag offs happening in the times to come.”
GREENEST is known for its authentic, Indianised and well-priced range of plant-based alternatives and is the first in the country to have executed an array of B2B partnerships with leading food service players like Burgrill, Wat a Burger, Chocolate Room, Biggies Burger, Freshmenu, EatFit et al.GREENEST’s restaurant partnerships currently cover around 200 stores, with plans for rapid expansion. Last year, the start-up made waves when it launched the country’s first plant-based meat burger, The Green Meat Pounder, in collaboration with Burgrill across multiple cities.