Report: UK is leading the way in alternative protein research

A new report has revealed that UK researchers have published more work on alternative proteins than those from anywhere else in Europe. 

Nonprofit and think tank the Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) has conducted the first-ever deep-dive into the region’s academic research landscape. The study found that the UK led the way with 255 papers relevant to plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation published since 2010.

The analysis found: 

• The UK is the most prolific for research into cultivated meat and seafood – which aims to be indistinguishable from the chicken, pork, beef and fish people eat now but is made in fermentors instead of by farming animals. It is home to 77 researchers working in this area – more than any other European country – and published 22% of all European research. 
• The UK also led research into developing new foods and ingredients through new fermentation methods, publishing 14% of the region’s papers in this area. This includes biomass fermentation, which uses a method similar to beer production to grow large quantities of mycoproteins from fungi, and precision fermentation, which uses organisms such as yeast to produce proteins such as whey.
• But when it came to research into developing plant-based meat, seafood and dairy, the UK lagged behind Germany and Spain.

Meanwhile, a separate GFI Europe report into public and philanthropic funding for alternative protein research suggests there is room for growth to ensure UK scientists stay at the top of this field. UK funding was behind that of the EU institutions and Denmark, with£75 million invested between 2020 and April 2024.

Most of this funding has come from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – the UK’s largest public research funding body – which has invested in research centres such as the University of Bath’s Cellular Agriculture Research Manufacturing Hub (CARMA) and Imperial College London’s Microbial Foods Hub. 

The funding body’s recent announcement of a major investment in the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) hosted by the University of Leeds – although not included in the report – could mean 2024 will be a record-breaking year for alternative protein research funding in the UK. 

The analysis also found that the UK tops European investment in funding key technical areas needed to commercialise cultivated meat, such as developing cell culture media – the nutrient-rich broth cells need to grow – and developing new cell lines – the building blocks of this food.

However, the UK has invested far less than other countries, such as France, in optimising ingredients and developing locally-grown crops for plant-based meat and dairy products.

The report follows the UK government’s announcement that it will create Europe’s first regulatory sandbox to improve the Food Standards Agency’s scientific knowledge about cultivated meat – a move that could help bring these products to market in a way that upholds the UK’s safety regulations.

Dr Stella Child, Research and Grants Manager at GFI Europe, said: “Following announcements of new alternative protein research centres, our analysis provides the first-ever deep dive into the scale of UK research into plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation, finding British scientists are excelling in these rapidly growing fields. 

“Targeted public investments can now help to translate cutting-edge science into a new generation of affordable and delicious products, enabling the UK to reap the potential of these foods to deliver green growth, food security and improve public health.”