🚨 Breaking: EU agrees to ban 31 everyday terms for plant-based alternatives – ignoring consumers and threatening Europe’s economic competitiveness.
Read our take below 👇 and learn more here: gfieurope.org/blog/burger-...
This is why it's so important to scale plant-based and cultivated proteins. If these foods reach taste and price parity with their conventional counterparts, they become an easy and obvious way for consumers to make more sustainable choices without giving up the dishes they know and love 🍛
The study’s authors hope the findings will motivate consumers to be more mindful about their food choices, but Liz Goldman from @worldresources.bsky.social warns that giving people more information about the environmental harms of meat production tends to have little impact on their consumption.
Graph titled "Beef caused at least 4 times more deforestation than any other food in the last two decades" with a bar chart showing that beef has destroyed 119.86M acres of forest between 2001-2022.
A new large-scale analysis published in @natfood.nature.com reinforces that of all the foods we produce on the planet, beef is by far the biggest driver of deforestation. Soybeans are the 3rd biggest contributor—with much of those crops going to feed chickens + pigs rather than humans 🧵
🔓Our research finds amino acid prices could be up to 10x lower than previous estimates, pointing to a more achievable path toward cost-competitive cultivated meat.
📊 The report examines projected amino-acid demand, sourcing pathways, real-world pricing, & highest-impact opportunities. Download 👇
🎥 Want a deeper look at the economics of cultivated meat?
▶️ Watch the recording of our webinar with @elliotswartz.bsky.social and Marie Gibbons, who unpack GFI’s analysis on amino acid costs and what it reveals about the path to affordable cultivated meat 👇
Protein diversification is increasingly being treated as a structural component of the bioeconomy, not an afterthought.
Check out the latest developments that signal how food, fermentation, and biotechnology are being embedded in real policy and economic landscapes 👉 https://bit.ly/4rEbtpr
“Real behavior change happens when retailers and manufacturers work together to deliver products people love that reach price and taste parity with conventional options,” says Abby Sewell, GFI's corporate engagement manager.
Some retailers are partnering with brands to bring new plant-based products to market. French supermarket chain Carrefour worked with Danone, Unilever, and other manufacturers to achieve their goal of having plant-based products account for €500 million of their sales across Europe by 2026.
The higher cost of plant-based meat & dairy products is one of the biggest barriers for shoppers. To address this, European grocers like Lidl are launching their own private label brands that can sell at prices that are far closer to parity with animal-based products—or even cheaper.
Q: American plant-based sales may be stalled, but in parts of Europe, they're on the rise. What's the difference?
A: An active effort from grocery stores to steer customers toward more climate-friendly options.
Looking forward to this important conversation! If you're curious about the link between alternative proteins + reducing biodiversity loss, check out: bit.ly/4l7MnNt
On the season finale of GFI India's Smart Protein Pod, Sonalie Figueiras, founder of Green Queen, unpacks how media coverage of sustainable proteins has evolved over the past decade, the importance of evidence-backed narratives, and her perspective on what comes next. Listen 👉 https://bit.ly/4aXMNRP
The bigger implication is that strain selection is a strategic decision. Different organisms optimize for different commercial priorities. Research like this helps clarify which strains are best positioned to deliver at scale. (S/o to @gfieurope.org for the great visuals!) Full paper→ bit.ly/4aSaj2D
🏅 Pycnoporus cinnabarinus delivered the strongest protein quality
🏅 Pleurotus pulmonarius produced the highest yields
🏅 Volvariella volvacea showed the fastest growth
🏅 Stropharia rugosoannulata stood out for the most protein content
Researchers cultivated different fungi on low-cost inputs like brown rice and spent brewer’s grain, then compared performance across key metrics including biomass yield, amino acid composition, and compounds associated with umami flavor. Clear differences emerged 👇
🍄🟫🏅Mycelium is stepping up as a serious contender in the future of protein. A study supported by GFI’s Alternative Protein Research Grant Program compared mushroom species for biomass fermentation—evaluating protein quality, yield, growth rate & taste. The findings? Each fungi has unique advantages 🧵
Scientists in China publish one of the first studies using spent cell culture media as a fertilizer.
Another potential way to valorize waste and increase circularity in the cellular agriculture ➡️ conventional agriculture industries.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🌎 As more countries prioritize protein diversification, connectivity across science, industry, and policy is key to accelerating progress toward making meat made in far more sustainable ways.
📖 Read more on why this map was created on our Substack → bit.ly/4eBI6O2
🗺️ Curious where alternative protein innovation is taking shape? GFI’s Alternative Protein Ecosystem Map brings the global community into view.
🔎 Explore the map → ecosystem.gfi.org
📍 If you know a company or researcher working in alternative proteins*, submit them using the “Add a Pin” button.
Today on Volts: meat! Bruce Friedrich argues that a) the dire environmental & social impacts of meat cultivation are rising, but b) so is meat consumption, so the only solution is c) plant-based or cultivated meat. We talk about the state of the market, the tech, & the future possibilities.
Fusarium-derived mycoprotein is a fermentation success story and just one example of how fermentation can help meet rising meat demand while cutting emissions and strengthening food security. 👏
It's becoming increasingly likely that the next generation of alt meat and seafood products to hit the market will contain ingredients from multiple alt protein pillars. This is a smart way to optimize for taste and texture while keeping costs low relative to fully-cultivated proteins.
As pressure mounts on global seafood systems, innovation is accelerating to help meet growing demand in more sustainable ways. In that spirit, Atlantic Fish Co. + Revo Foods have teamed up to create whole-cut fish fillets that combine mycoprotein scaffolding with cell-cultured proteins.
💚💚💚
In the session, we cover:
• Program goals and funding scope
• Eligibility + application requirements
• Live Q&A with prospective applicants
🎥 Watch the recording → bit.ly/40eIjRP
⏰ Apply by March 25 → bit.ly/40doKcu
💸 Looking for funding to advance plant-based or fermentation-enabled protein research?
We hosted a webinar w/ the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) on a new open global grant opportunity—Protein Innovation Program—for researchers working to diversify protein production. Details ⤵
Scaling plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-enabled proteins can dramatically cut emissions and land use while creating more stable and resilient supply chains.
Global leaders should invest in these technologies to help meet their climate, food security, and national security goals.
A new study published in @pnas.org underscores why protein diversification is 🔑 to a secure and sustainable food future: Grassland-based grazing systems will “witness a severe contraction” due to climate change, threatening food security—especially in regions already facing hunger and instability.
“Produced at scale, plant-based proteins and cultivated meats would help mitigate the plethora of national security threats related to animal-protein production,” argues Director Caitlin Welsh in the foreword for @brucefriedrich.bsky.social's new book, "Meat."
More in the thread below ⤵️
