Birgit Dekkers (PhD), founder of Rival Foods. Birgit Dekkers (PhD) is founder of Rival Foods, a Wageningen University spin-off company that is developing a new technology called Shear Cell Technology to make next-generation plant-based substitutes for meat, fish and poultry. Where there are currently only plant-based alternatives to processed meat products such as burgers, sausages and minced meat, Rival Foods is working on whole-muscle substitutes such as chicken breast fillet, pork tenderloin and fish fillet from vegetable protein sources