For everything from sodas to snack bars to pasta, it's now standard practice for food and drink makers to play up protein content whenever feasible. While we may cut carbs and fret over fat, most of us are still keen on protein. Startups and their backers have been riding this trend too. Over the past decade, investors have poured billions into upstarts promising cheaper, tastier and more sustainable ways to meet our protein quotas. Unfortunately, many of their earlier bets have fared poorly. Vast sums poured into lab-grown meat several years ago, for instance, have so far failed to produce a success story. Former high-flying plant-based meat startups Beyond (now public) and Impossible Foods have seen their valuations wither. Others have shuttered. In response, more recent startup investment has shifted away from meat substitutes and toward stuffing more protein into other packaged foods and drinks. It's a fad that's obvious on supermarket shelves, where startups and established...
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