The Good Food Institute

??? GFI's Elliot Swartz stopped by the Epically Geeky podcast for an in-depth discussion on cultivated meat, including where the field stands today and the latest scientific + R&D developments driving progress. Listen now: https://bit.ly/3TTUXmC For an even deeper dive into #cultivatedmeat, check out our State of the Industry Report: Cultivated meat and seafood ?? https://bit.ly/3N9Wnpd

New on our Substack: Kimiko Hong-Mitsui, interim director of GFI Japan, shares why Japan has been tapped as the location for our newest nonprofit entity. Check it out ?? https://bit.ly/3YtUSJa

???? ?? French plant-based pork company LA VIE? has raised €25 million in a new funding round to boost production and fuel their next chapter of growth. Read more: https://bit.ly/3zFMDjC The latest funding round brings La Vie's total funding to €50 million in the last three years amid a challenging fundraising environment for food tech companies.

The foodservice channel plays a major role in introducing new ingredients and products to consumers, so it's critical that alternative protein producers know how to collaborate and build relationships with chefs and restaurateurs. In this Substack piece, GFI's Marika Azoff shares best practices for positioning plant-based proteins, proven strategies for approaching foodservice, pitfalls to avoid and other insights from our recent webinar with foodservice industry experts. Check it out: https://bit.ly/3zluDLb

???? Umami Bioworks is partnering with two biotech firms to set up a production pipeline for cultivated seafood in South Korea after the country established a regulatory approval process for cultivated meat last year. More details: https://bit.ly/3zMiHlM Umami Bioworks has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with biotech firm KCell Biosciences and bioprocess solutions provider WSG to set up a production line and path to market entry in South Korea, one of the world's leading consumer markets of seafood. Not only has South Korea begun inviting applications for regulatory approval of cultivated meat products, but its Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries is also investing $21MM in research funding for its plant-based and cultivated seafood tech. It's great to see South Korea supporting the growth and evolution of its sustainable protein sector!

GFI is seeking a contractor with a culinary background, strong chef connections, and excellent writing skills to conduct interviews with chefs and use the insights to develop a written guide for alternative protein companies to help them better communicate with chefs. Proposals are due at 11:59 p.m. ET on October 17. Learn more about this opportunity: https://bit.ly/3zxixPc

The foodservice channel plays a major role in introducing new ingredients and products to consumers, so it's critical that alternative protein producers know how to collaborate and build relationships with chefs and restaurateurs. In this new Substack piece, GFI's Marika Azoff shares best practices for positioning plant-based proteins, proven strategies for approaching foodservice, pitfalls to avoid and other insights from our recent webinar with foodservice industry experts. Check it out: https://bit.ly/3zluDLb

???? Dutch company Meatable has been awarded €7.6 million as part of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) Innovation program to advance cultivated meat production. Learn more ?? https://bit.ly/3zGAUkA RVO’s Innovation Credits are designed to support “innovative development projects with considerable technological risks and excellent market prospects”. It's great to see this kind of public investment! ?? The RVO Innovation credit will be used to further improve the company's productivity and reduce production costs as they move toward commercialization of their #cultivatedmeat products. Meatable also said they plan to partner with the conventional meat industry in order to roll out cultivated meat products at scale.

???? What are the challenges facing cultivated milk production? Join us on Oct 17th to explore groundbreaking research on in vitro cultivation of bovine mammary epithelial cells for producing milk components. Register: https://bit.ly/3TEoj8d Jing Che, Ph.D. candidate at Aarhus University, will also address how closely these lab-grown milk components currently resemble conventional milk and the significant challenges that have yet to be overcome.

???? Public funding in action: The New Zealand government is investing NZ$9.6 million (US$6.01 million) into cultivated seafood development through a five-year government-backed grant program. Details → https://bit.ly/47HR0XQ Driven by New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, the new Endeavour Fund program will support research projects led by The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited focused on accelerating New Zealand's nascent cultivated seafood industry and positioning the country at the technological forefront of cell line development and media formulation.