The UK government has announced that it will invest £15 million to construct an innovation hub to accelerate the commercialisation of plant-based, cultivated and fermentation-made foods.
The new centre will be hosted by the University of Leeds, UK, and will be co-led with the James Hutton Institute in Scotland and the University of Sheffield and Imperial College London, both of which are in the UK.
The announcement came from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Innovate UK, which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – two of the UK’s largest government funding bodies. It will see the establishment of the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), with an additional £23 million coming from public and private sector partners.
At the NAPIC hub, the universities hope to develop new products and ingredients from innovation to commercialisation while investigating how consumers can integrate these foods into their diets. NAPIC will also focus on developing more sustainable animal feed and aquaculture.
NAPIC currently comprises more than 30 interdisciplinary researchers from the four institutions and 120 international partners, who will work closely with businesses, academia, regulators and investors, focusing on four key knowledge pillars.
Professor Anwesha Sarkar, project leader for NAPIC and director of research and innovation at the University of Leeds’ School of Food Science and Nutrition, said: “We have an exceptional, interdisciplinary leadership team with world-recognised competencies in food science, microbiology, biochemistry, engineering biology, nutrition, data science, economics, agribusiness, environmental science, consumer science and psychology.
The four pillars of focus are:
Produce: The ‘Produce’ pillar will enable partners to produce alt-protein ingredients and finished products of optimum functional, sensorial and nutritional quality.
Process: This pillar aims to accelerate the scaling up of cultivated meat and precision fermentation using artificial intelligence-guided models, acting as a catalyst for partners commercialising these foods.
Perform: The ‘perform’ pillar hopes to ensure that these foods meet consumer expectations regarding taste, texture and nutrition while safeguarding public health.
People: Here, NAPIC will focus on affordability, accessibility and acceptability, guiding consumers’ dietary transition towards these foods, and providing new training and business opportunities for UK farmers and businesses.
Sarkar added: “I am incredibly thankful to UKRI for recognising the importance of alternative proteins for achieving net zero while addressing protein security, equity and planetary health goals. NAPIC is a truly pan-UK centre with global reach and our mission is to be an ‘innovation enabler’ for rapidly evolving alternative protein industries, delivering a universally healthy, acceptable, accessible, eco-friendly food system by harnessing the UK’s world-class science.”
NAPIC’s ambition is to develop a clear roadmap for safe and healthy alternative-rich foods, feeds and breakthrough technology translation through creating start-ups and new businesses while enabling consumer and farmer acceptance.
"Our ambition is further reinforced by effective and efficient collaboration with businesses, regulators, academia, policymakers and investors who are from the inception and we look forward to working together with consumers to producers to create a blended protein economy.”
This funding has pushed the UK’s total government investment in alternative proteins to more than £91 million, which the GFI states ‘clearly demonstrates the country’s continued commitment to developing this cutting-edge area of science and food production’.
Other recent significant UK public investments have included the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub (CARMA), led by the University of Bath, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding the Microbial Food Hub led by Imperial College London.
Linus Pardoe, UK policy manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, commented: “It is welcome to see the UK government making another significant investment in alternative proteins, bringing together scientific and business experts to accelerate the development of foods that can help boost our food security and create new green jobs.”
Pardoe continued: “With consumers and agriculture at the heart of a transition towards alternative proteins, it’s hugely important that the centre focuses on ensuring these foods meet people’s expectations around taste, price and nutrition, as well as enabling British farmers to benefit from new opportunities in this growing sector.”
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