Alt Protein Pulse

From GFI

Report: Trends in cultivated meat scale-up and bioprocessing

In early 2023, GFI partnered with 30 companies in the cultivated meat industry to assess their current production capabilities. The survey revealed that while the industry operates at a small scale, an encouraging number of companies are scaling up their operations over the next three years with a focus on diverse fit-for-purpose scaling strategies, bioreactors, and operational methods. While early signs point to an emerging, interconnected ecosystem of specialist companies hard at work optimizing production methods, the survey also found some companies still face knowledge gaps when it comes to the evolving regulatory landscape for cultivated meat. Download the report.

Open-access LCA modeling tool for alternative proteins

Foodsteps , in collaboration with GFI, has launched a free life cycle assessment (LCA) tool for alternative protein products. LCAs are crucial in evaluating the environmental impacts of products and for businesses to make substantiated, credible environmental claims. However, the absence of robust, standardized data in the alternative protein industry makes LCAs difficult and costly to commission. With Foodsteps' new LCA tool, companies can easily assess the impact of their products across five environmental factors: GHGs, land use, water use, eutrophication, and acidification. Test it out!

Dig Insights report: Growth in the plant-based space

While interest in plant-based products has grown significantly over the last decade, there is still a large and diverse consumer market waiting to be tapped. GFI served as a consultant for a new report published by Dig Insights exploring what American consumers think about plant-based proteins, how products must evolve to meet their needs, and opportunities for brands and restaurants to capitalize on. The report illuminates the need for further consumer education about plant-based products, especially their environmental benefits. Dig into the report.

Upcoming events and opportunities

Building your alt protein career

Are you interested in working in alternative protein? Join GFI academic community coordinator Asia Sheehab on June 10 to learn more about pursuing an academic or industry career in this rapidly growing field including plenty of time for Q&A. Save your spot .?

Future Food-Tech Alternative Proteins Summit

Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with GFI team members at Future Food-Tech on June 17 and 18 in Chicago. GFI's senior corporate engagement innovation manager Laine Clark will speak on a panel titled Creative financing: Powering innovation beyond venture capital. GFI's director of science and technology Matt Hotze will be moderating a panel on leveraging AI in alternative protein product development.?Register using code GFI10 to save 10 percent on registration.

The Science of Alt Protein: Overcoming animal-free meat challenges with plant-based tissue engineering

Join Daniel Divosky, CTO of Redefine Meat , on June 20 to learn how plant-based tissue engineering combines plant-based ingredients with advanced fabrication systems to create high-end meat mimics. (Note: The seminar will not be recorded) Register today.

Find more upcoming conferences, pitch competitions, workshops, and opportunities for good food innovators on our events calendar.

Alt Protein Headlines

GOOD Meat announces the world’s first retail sale of cultivated meat

For the first time, a hybrid cultivated chicken product—containing 3% cultivated meat and 97% plant-based ingredients— is available as a frozen retail product to home cooks in Singapore. Developed by GOOD Meat, the new hybrid chicken product is a solid step toward scaling the emerging cultivated meat industry. By dramatically reducing per-piece costs through hybrid formulations, cultivated meat companies can sell to a larger share of the population while they work to scale up manufacturing volumes.Learn More.

A few members of the The Good Food Institute APAC team purchased this new product and were likely the first home cooks in history to make cultivated chicken tikka masala !

Meati Foods raises $100MM, rolls out at Kroger nationwide

Fungi-fueled meati? Foods reported that they have raised more than $100 million in Series C-1 funding. The funding supports the company's recent expansion into 2,000 Kroger stores bringing their total distribution footprint to 6,000+ locations across the U.S. since launching into retail last year. This recent funding and distribution milestone is a big win for making sustainable choices more accessible to all consumers. Read more.?

New GEA technology center will develop industry-ready alternative proteins

GEA Group has begun construction on a technology center for the production of alternative proteins in Janesville, Wisconsin. Scheduled to open in 2025, the center will help GEA support food and beverage manufacturers meet the demand for alternative proteins while creating future-resilient jobs and inclusive economic opportunities for the local communities. Senior GEA representatives have emphasized the importance of this project as an engine for future growth and innovation in the Midwest, a region with a strong agricultural tradition. Full story.

How one CEO is using AI to develop new plant-based foods

Startup NotCo is leveraging the power of AI to uncover unlikely flavor combinations and create next-generation alternative protein products. For example, the startup's tools identified a mix of pineapple and cabbage flavor molecules that, when processed correctly, react to form lactones, giving their flagship product, NotMilk, its milky flavor and scent. It's exciting to see AI being used to accelerate alt protein innovation and make delicious products consumers know and love in more sustainable ways! Learn more.

Once NASA’s dream, a food startup is making ‘air protein’ a reality?

This fascinating video piece from The Story Exchange explores Air Protein , a startup where scientists are turning elements of the air into proteins to make nutrient-dense food ingredients. Air Protein's team has advanced a technology first explored in NASA's 1970s space program by employing a fermentation process that transforms the basic elements of air into a versatile, protein-packed flour that can be incorporated into a range of alternative protein products with a drastically smaller environmental footprint than their conventional counterparts. Watch to learn more.

Global Spotlight

Brazil has taken a big step toward bringing cultivated and fermentation-derived proteins to the market

Late last year, Anvisa (Brazil's equivalent to the U.S. FDA) issued Resolution RDC No. 839, which lays out rules for bringing new food products, including those created through cellular cultivation and fermentation, to market in Brazil.

Implemented on March 16, 2024, the regulation will open up new pathways for additional investment in sustainable innovations within Brazil's food industry and create a favorable environment for developing and registering cultivated meat and fermented products in the country.?

GFI Brazil has been fostering this discussion since 2018, hosting the first seminar on cultivated meat within the Brazilian government. Since then, they've been working nationally and internationally on the topic, participating in expert groups, and publishing regulatory and scientific studies.

"It's significant that Brazil, a major player in global food production, opens the door to the registration of cultivated meat at a time when some countries are considering laws to restrict this technology, marking an important advancement in food safety and technological innovation," said GFI Brazil vice president of policy Alexandre Cabral.

Work at GFI

Collaborative Assistance Team

Data and Systems Analyst (Europe)

Corporate Engagement

Corporate Engagement Content Specialist

SciTech

Research Fellow

Research Grant Program Coordinator

General Interest

General interest application - United States

You can view all job opportunities at GFI here. For more information on the application process, we encourage you to attend one of our bi-weekly hiring information sessions.

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The Good Food Institute is a nonprofit think tank working to make the global food system better for the planet, people, and animals. Alongside scientists, businesses, and policymakers, GFI’s teams focus on making plant-based and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. Powered by philanthropy, GFI is an international network of organizations advancing alternative proteins as an essential solution needed to meet the world’s climate, global health, food security, and biodiversity goals. Click here to support our work.