The meat alternative market has plenty of burgers, sausages, and steaks to meet the demands of an increasingly flexitarian marketplace. However, seafood alternatives are scarce in comparison. Why is this the case? GFI’s Jen Lamy joins a team of expert panelists to answer this question.
Perspectives from the beginning of a long journey
As UPSIDE Foods opens the world’s most advanced cultivated meat production facility, GFI urges increased investment from public and private sectors to speed up production and bring this better way of making meat to the masses.
The Smart Protein Summit is your chance to hear from thought leaders, industry titans, pioneering scientists, and avant-garde entrepreneurs - from India and beyond. Designed to facilitate action, learning, and networking, your world-changing smart protein plans could come to life through the Smart Protein Summit 2021.
Join Dr. Reza Ovissipour, Assistant Professor in Cellular Agriculture in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech, to learn about his work in optimizing media for the production of cultivated seafood.
Enabling easy animal ingredient substitutions in a wide range of food products.
There is a need for a supplier of low-cost growth factors produced without the use of animals to support the proliferation phase of cultivated meat production. The cost of growth factor production will need to be brought down significantly as cultivated meat production is scaled up.
Plant-based protein makerspaces would be publicly available spaces where interested members of the public could learn, experiment, and work collaboratively on projects related to plant-based proteins. They could offer access to the physical equipment necessary to conduct projects as well as technical assistance to inform them. The aim would be to encourage more interaction between the public and the alternative protein industry, thus stimulating the exploration and development of more ideas. Makerspaces may also be able to increase positive consumer perception of the technology by increasing familiarity with the relevant production processes. The logistics of the makerspace should be done in such a way to maximize democratization and inclusion of a large segment of the public.
Both the cultivated meat industry and interested members of the general public would benefit from the creation of makerspaces focused on cultivated meat. These would be publicly available spaces where community members can learn, experiment, and work collaboratively on projects related to cultivated meat. Here, they would have access to the physical equipment necessary to conduct projects as well as technical assistance to inform them. The aim of this project is to encourage more interaction between the public and the alternative protein industry, thus stimulating the exploration and development of more ideas. Makerspaces could also promote greater understanding of and openness to cultivated meat among future consumers of the product.
There is currently a lack of resources for high school students interested in alternative proteins. Students interested in entering this field would benefit from the creation of summer courses that provide motivated high school students with the theoretical background, hands on experience, and a network of peers to help foster their interest in alternative proteins. The aim of initiating such a program is to encourage students to pursue self-directed learning in this area, thus stimulating growth in the alternative protein community.
