Four ways the new European Commission can boost EU competitiveness through protein diversification

As the new European Commission takes office, they should consider a missing piece of the policy jigsaw that would help tackle many of the EU’s challenges.

With President von der Leyen and 26 new Commissioners looking ahead to an uncertain future, supporting efforts to diversify Europe’s protein supply can play a key role in building a more secure future while boosting the bloc’s international competitiveness.

By advancing innovation in alternative proteins – plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation – policymakers can cement the EU’s leadership in developing green technology and capitalise on an emerging sector that could create up to 9.8 million jobs globally by 2050.

These foods enable people to continue enjoying meat, seafood, eggs and dairy while using fewer resources. As they require up to 90% less land than their conventional counterparts, they can help increase Europe’s food sovereignty – even a modest diversification of our protein system could boost domestic food production while reducing dependence on imports.

Diversifying protein production could also give farmers the space they need to adopt more nature-friendly methods, and as these foods could reduce climate emissions by up to 92%, boosting protein diversification will help meet Europe’s ambitious climate targets.

1. Leading industrial food biotech

The EU – home to some of the world’s best universities and the centre of an explosion in academic research on protein diversification – is well-placed to become a world leader in developing these foods, but Europe’s entrepreneurs are struggling to commercialise the findings of the region’s scientists.

This is a particular problem for the fermentation sector, which uses millennia-old techniques to develop innovative foods with the flavours and textures of animal products. One application is precision fermentation – used for decades to make products like rennet for cheese and now helping develop authentic dairy products and ingredients such as heme.

The large-scale facilities needed to ramp up production of these foods don’t exist across Europe, leading to a danger that new products will get stuck in the development phase or be manufactured abroad.

Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has recently highlighted the need to translate Europe’s world-leading science into economic growth, and as countries like China and the United States prioritise protein diversification, the Commission should ensure Europe does not fall behind as it did with electric vehicles and solar panels.

Executive Vice-Presidents Stéphane Séjourné and Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, leading the new Commission’s agenda on industrial strategy and economic competitiveness, should seize this opportunity by investing in scaling up alternative protein production.

Advancing food biotechnology should be at the heart of upcoming industrial policy initiatives such as the Clean Industrial Deal, the European Biotech Act, and the revised Bioeconomy Strategy. 

De-risking private investments by offering more non-dilutive financing – such as loans, guarantees, and relaxed state aid rules – must be a priority. The European Investment Bank – in line with its climate-driven mandate – should expand its portfolio and financial tools to ramp up support for the alternative protein sectors.

2. Building strength in European research expertise

The Commission also needs to do more to capitalise on Europe’s growing R&I expertise. 

Although public funding for alternative protein research has risen significantly in recent years – particularly from the EU’s flagship Horizon Europe programme – much of this was not focused on addressing the technical barriers preventing these foods from being commercialised.

As policymakers prepare for Horizon’s successor FP10, they must ensure that food innovation is a strategic priority in future programmes. This includes ensuring funding is made available to drive forward investment into Europe’s world-leading food biotechnology sector – from early development through to commercialising new products. 

A public-private partnership focused on this area, leveraging learnings from the existing Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking, would help unlock the economic benefits of protein diversification, while targeted new funding calls would enable researchers to work with food producers and farmers across the entire supply chain. 

Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, should double down on the EU’s many research strengths in this field, fill crucial gaps and foster collaboration between universities and the private sector.

3. Securing the regulatory path to market

Robust food safety regulation is vital to ensure European consumers have confidence in novel foods such as cultivated meat – which aims to deliver chicken, pork, beef and seafood that is indistinguishable from the conventional meat we eat today, but made from animal cells in fermentors. A recent analysis has found that – with the right support – cultivated meat could be worth up to €85 billion to the EU economy and create up to 90,000 new highly-skilled jobs in the bloc by 2050.

Before it can be sold anywhere in the EU, a thorough and evidence-based assessment of its safety and nutritional value must take place under the Novel Food Regulation – one of the most robust systems in the world.

Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi will oversee this area, and we welcome his commitment to trusting the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). 

Speaking during his confirmation hearing, he said that social and ethical debates about new foods would be important, but stressed: “We have EFSA which is a world leader on food safety, and we have to trust that they are going to be able to tell us what is safe to eat and what is safe to be marketed.”

The Commissioner should safeguard the EU single market against any regulatory fragmentation but he should also go further and improve the implementation of the existing regulatory framework. 

This can be done by strengthening EFSA to support innovation and prevent unnecessary delays to product authorisations, allowing substantive pre-submission dialogue with small and medium-sized enterprises, and providing increasingly thorough guidance to support applications.

4. Enabling farmers to grasp the plant-based opportunity

Europe is home to the world’s biggest market for plant-based meat – which looks and tastes like conventional meat but is made from plants – and these products are becoming mainstream options in some countries. 

This growing sector offers huge opportunities for European farmers to increase production of locally grown crops such as legumes as raw ingredients and the EU can help support this transition.

It’s very welcome that Christophe Hansen, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, is committed to creating a holistic Vision for Agriculture and Food in the new Commission’s first 100 days. 

The results of the Strategic Dialogue on Food and Agriculture provide a blueprint, including a call for an EU Action Plan for plant-based foods to strengthen supply chains, and a need to boost innovation and ensure consumers have a wide choice of affordable and sustainable foods.

The new Commissioner should build on those recommendations, prioritise R&I to advance protein diversification and use the Common Agricultural Policy and additional instruments to enable farmers to reap the benefits.

A fresh opportunity to lead in food innovation

The next five years will be decisive, and Europe’s leaders have a golden opportunity to seize the moment and tackle some of the most pressing global challenges by using the tools they have readily available.

By prioritising investment in Europe’s scientists, scaling up infrastructure so our entrepreneurs can succeed, and strengthening our world-class regulatory framework, the new Commission can secure the EU’s position as a global leader in food biotechnology and protein diversification – ensuring a sustainable and competitive future.

Author

Alex Holst Deputy Head of Policy – EU

Alex works with NGOs, think tanks, businesses, and other political actors to advance sustainable proteins in Europe.