The UK government has announced that it is investing £15m (approx. €17.8 million) into a new alternative protein hub that will explore plant-based, fermentation-made, and cultivated food. The funding comes from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Innovate UK, two of the country’s largest government funding bodies.
The hub, which will be known as National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC), is also receiving £23m (approx. €27.3m) in funding from a range of public and private sector partners.
It will focus on commercialising alternative proteins, incorporating these alternative proteins into consumers’ diets, and developing more sustainable animal feed and aquaculture.
This funding, according to non-profit Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe), pushes the UK’s funding of alternative proteins as a whole to £91m (€103 million). Earlier this year, for example, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) put £12m (approx. €14.2m) worth of funding into a Microbial Food Hub, which focused on fermentation, and last year invested the same amount into the Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Lab (CARMA), focusing on cultivated meat.
The centre will be hosted by the University of Leeds, and co-led with the James Hutton Institute, the University of Sheffield, and Imperial College London.
What will the centre focus on?
The centre will listen to the issues identified by its partners and will be ‘focusing on the pain points’ of the alternative protein sector, project leader Professor Anwesha Sarkar told FoodNavigator.
For example, it will focus on the commercial bottlenecks faced by alternative proteins. Companies will be able to learn with leading experts in academia and catapult centres to address these issues, through initiatives such as demonstration projects, proof-of-concept projects and innovation sprints.
The centre will also focus on connecting businesses to innovation facilities, especially start-ups and SMEs, in order to help them scale up their products. It will also connect companies with nutritionists, toxicologists and process engineers so that when products go to market, health and safety questions are already answered.
Finally, it will develop technical and entrepreneurial skills training, including regulatory training to address concerns of SMEs.
What will the centre do?
The centre has four pillars of focus. Firstly, it aims to enable partners to produce both alternative protein ingredients and products. Secondly, it aims to enable them to optimise upscaling of said ingredients, especially in the realms of precision fermentation and cultivated meat, using artificial intelligence. Thirdly, it aims to ensure that these products perform well and meet consumer expectations on taste, texture and nutrition. Finally, it aims to ensure people find the products affordable and accessible, and that they can be incorporated well into diets, as well as providing new training and business opportunities for UK farmers and businesses.
The centre has more than 120 active partners both within the UK and globally. It is also working closely with other funded government institutions. For example, it will be able to collaborate with the Diet and Health Innovation Research Clubs (OIRC), the UKRI’s Microbial Food Hub and the EPSRC CARMA in the University of Bath, which focuses on cultivated meat.