Branchfood's Founder & CEO, Lauren Abda, and COO, Carole Sioufi, recently attended and spoke at the 2-day Future Food Tech Alternative Proteins summit in New York City, a gathering of 500+ founders, funders, and operators from around the world who are investing in infrastructure and emerging companies including enabling technologies and consumer brands with novel proteins as a key ingredient.

The rapid growth of the alternative proteins industry, fueled by recent regulatory approvals and increased innovation, raises questions about balancing consumer expectations and acceptance with the need to expand production infrastructure. There is a growing need for cross-sector partnerships to drive both alt-protein advancement and effective communication to consumers about the technologies used to create these products. Samples of innovative dishes with ingredients like cell-cultivated meat, fungi-based bacon, and 3D-printed fish highlighted key opportunities for alt-protein companies. Read on for our team’s insights into scaling alternative proteins, increasing consumer adoption, and the need for greater ecosystem collaboration to achieve industry sustainability long-term.

Scaling Alternative Proteins - Balancing Manufacturing and Consumer Needs

The rate of development within the alternative proteins industry has continued to accelerate with the recent US regulatory approval for the Upside Foods and GOOD Meat (Eat Just) cell-cultivated chicken driving even further enthusiasm within the food industry. This pace of innovation has created the need for increased production infrastructure to scale capex-heavy manufacturing processes and reduce input costs. Companies are addressing this need by outsourcing their production and creating hybrid products with plant-based elements. This may solve the manufacturing issue but can create an adoption risk from consumers confused by the merging of plant-based and cultivated meat in one product. Companies need to develop products based on a clear understanding of what drives consumer acceptance, to ensure that manufacturing challenges aren’t solved at the expense of consumer adoption.

Expanding Reach and Adoption of Alternative Proteins

Future Food Tech delivered a gastronomic sensory experience that included pastries made with egg replacements, fungi-based bacon, konjac-based scallops, and 3D-printed plant-based fish. The improved taste and texture of the products were noticeable across all categories underscoring the industry’s technological advancements and its evolved understanding of different taste preferences. As alternative protein companies build consumer trust, we see three major opportunities:

• Increase the use of AI to accelerate ingredient formulation and advance efficient production methods. 

• Tap into the magnificent world of fungi, an easy-to-grow, highly-nutritious, and complex ingredient that can produce multiple textures, reduce costs and waste, and contribute to food sustainability and security. 

• Improve the nutritional profile of alternative proteins through ingredient fortification to increase consumer benefits and support the growing interest in food as medicine.

Revolutionary Protein: Uniting for a Sustainable Future

We saw collective agreement on the need for industry collaboration to accelerate the development and commercialization of alternative proteins, across various production methods. Creating a sustainable and resilient supply chain that can deliver a consistent protein supply requires upstream-downstream, incumbent startup, and public-private partnerships. As regulators evaluate novel protein production methods to ensure product safety, companies across the value chain must collaborate and be transparent with consumers. Communicating the ‘why’ behind certain tools like gene editing, managing the sensory expectations of consumers, and speaking clearly about protein composition and ingredient ‘cleanliness’ must all be connected to an understanding of consumer behavior as it relates to animal proteins, and will be key in accelerating the alternative proteins industry.

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