The UK government’s new food strategy has highlighted that alternative proteins can deliver economic growth.

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) has welcomed today’s policy paper, launched by Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner, who set out a vision for how the strategy will ‘make healthy and sustainable food the default choice for consumers’. 

Towards a Good Food Cycle: A UK Government Food Strategy for England highlights how innovation can help plug a £14 billion productivity gap in British food and drink manufacturing.

It states that ‘our strong research and development and advanced manufacturing base mean the UK is well placed to develop new products and markets, including for healthier products and in alternative proteins’.

GFI Europe is now calling for specific measures setting out how innovative food, such as precision fermentation, can help deliver innovation-driven growth.

Precision fermentation has been used for decades to make rennet for the cheese industry but startups and researchers are now using it to develop egg and dairy proteins that can enhance plant-based products, along with sustainable palm oil and coffee compounds.

GFI Europe is calling on the government to introduce a £30 million innovation fund to develop more affordable, tastier and nutritious plant-based foods, funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). 

Following announcements that large food companies will need to report on health metrics, set out in the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, GFI Europe is also calling for mandatory reporting on the proportion of protein sales that come from plant-based foods.

This includes plant-based meat, which evidence suggests can reduce levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol, reduce the risk of bowel cancer, and improve gut health.

GFI Europe’s analysis found that the UK government had made good progress in developing sustainable new foods since Henry Dimbleby highlighted the importance of building a strong alternative protein ecosystem in 2021’s National Food Strategy (NFS), with rapid progress made in boosting public research investment.

Linus Pardoe, Senior UK Policy Manager at GFI Europe, said: “Increasing the take-up of options like plant-based meat, which can provide people with a simple switch to reduce our current overconsumption of processed meat, is an excellent way of making the sustainable and healthy choice the default option for consumers.

“The food strategy represents a unique opportunity to capitalise on the expertise that has been developed in the UK over the last decade, and develop ambitious plans to unlock alternative proteins’ potential to deliver food security, drive green growth and create new opportunities for food producers.”