👅 Taste remains king. To meet consumers' expectations, alternative protein brands must integrate sensory science. Our new report shows how brands can integrate sensory science across the entire product lifecycle—from early concepts to market launch—to win on flavor, texture, & overall experience.

🔬🐟 Dive into the future of cultivated seafood at Fish & CHIPS, a virtual collaborative huddle hosted by @gfi.org, where cultivated seafood researchers & innovators converge to connect and conquer technical challenges.🐟🔬 Register for one of two sessions on Jan 13 here: airtable.com/appMgYRlJ6w8...

After a year marked by some major challenges—from regulatory hurdles to several companies closing their doors—the cultivated meat sector closed out 2025 with a few encouraging signs of momentum. Here are some recent wins that give us reason to enter the new year with optimism 🧵

🕛 Last call to double your impact! Every $ you give before 11:59 p.m. ET tonight is matched 1:1 up to $100k. Together we’re building a food system that’s sustainable, secure, and delicious—for everyone. 🔗 Give now: https://bit.ly/4piUw2a

This year, GFI focused on four priorities that helped move the alternative protein sector from ideas to execution: 🏗️ State-level roadmaps 🏛️ Food biomanufacturing in the bioeconomy 📝 Protein on the climate agenda 📊 Open-access tools + talent pipelines More on our Substack 👉 bit.ly/49eCFDA

🎓 From a niche field to its own academic discipline. The world’s first master’s program in alternative proteins launched this year in Spain—with GFI Europe helping shape its curriculum. Your support makes progress like this possible. 💥 Give now, matched 1:1 through Dec 31: https://bit.ly/4iJo9aW

Bay Area startup Mission Barns has been sampling their meatballs + salami at Berkeley Bowl—giving shoppers a literal taste of the future. 🍽️🌱GFI's Shayna Fertig and Sandra Takamine stopped by a recent demo to witness this milestone firsthand. ⁣

🌲 @worldresources.bsky.social's Global Forest Watch is helping change how the world understands deforestation—turning forest loss into real-time, visible data. A new video from WRI featuring GFI CEO Nigel Sizer highlights this impact. One key driver still overlooked: industrial meat production.

💨 Plant-based foods face real headwinds, but the fundamentals for growth are still there. At Plant Based World Expo, GFI’s Abby Sewell shared a clear assessment of where the category stands: taste and price are table stakes, while health anchors the value proposition for consumers 👉 bit.ly/4p9GvDW

✅ GFI’s online course The Protein Transition is now accredited by EIT Food—Europe’s top food innovation body! For students + professionals shaping the future of food, this course is becoming a go-to resource for science, policy, and innovation in alt proteins. 🎓 Check it out: https://bit.ly/48y4Lsf

Congrats to this year's cohort of @gfi.org research grantees. Happy to be supporting 7 different cell line development projects for #cultivatedmeat and seafood: Read more about them here: gfi.org/blog/where-k...

Public funding fuels innovation. This year, GFI’s policy team helped more than a dozen companies unlock $20M in U.S. grants for fermentation & alt-protein infrastructure—resources they otherwise wouldn't have known about. Your support makes this possible. 💝 All gifts doubled up to $100k! Give now:

📣 Big news out of Illinois: The state just released a landmark roadmap for scaling alternative protein innovation. GFI reps were proud to stand alongside leaders, researchers, and industry partners today as the Illinois Alternative Protein Innovation Task Force launched their landmark report 🧵

💡Our Research Grant Program supports open, foundational science for the benefit of the entire alternative protein ecosystem. This year, we selected 12 projects that are tackling key industry bottlenecks and advancing open innovation worldwide. Dig in 👉 bit.ly/4rKwXS6

📄 New from @wbcsd.bsky.social: A roadmap to more protein-diverse food systems. Protein diversification—a shift toward a broader mix of proteins like plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived meat—is a practical lever for boosting climate resilience, food security, and public health. 🧵

Taste is a primary driver of consumer food choice, making sensory science a key lever to advancing alternative proteins. Join @nikhitamk.bsky.social + @allen-nolden.bsky.social on Dec 16 to unpack insights from GFI's new white paper on integrating sensory methods into your R&D work.👇

We're working to raise $550k to continue publishing open-access science, placing alt proteins on political agendas, and equipping entrepreneurs & companies with the tools they need to bring products to market safely & efficiently. Double your gift up to $100k until 12/31! 🎁: https://bit.ly/4iKrVB7

➡️ The path to affordable cultivated meat just got a little clearer. GFI’s new analysis shows amino acid prices are up to 10x lower than previously believed—suggesting a more optimistic outlook for cost-competitive cultivated meat with the right sourcing strategies.

"On the demand side, the most urgent moonshots should promote meat alternatives—made of plants, fungi, or animal cells—that can reduce animal agriculture’s land use and emissions by 90%." 👏👏

🤝 Strategic partnerships between startups + large corporates are becoming essential to scaling alt proteins. Startups gain resources and expertise, while corporates benefit from new innovation + access to emerging categories.

🌎 Still feeling the #COP30 hangover? So are we. GFI reps on the ground in Belém reported a mixed bag this year: some bold ideas and promising new connections, but a frustrating lack of commitments to critical energy & nature goals—plus food negotiations were deferred to 2026.

GFI is part of Double Up Drive! 🎉 💸 Gifts up to $5,000 will be matched dollar-for-dollar until the $500,000 pool runs out. Help us maximize this match: https://bit.ly/48xvcyV

💛 It’s #GivingTuesday! Your support today helps shape the future of food tomorrow—fueling the open-access science, public investment, and policy shifts that make alternative protein innovation possible. 🎁 Give now and help us raise $70k by 11:59 pm tonight: bit.ly/4rA24Qq

Join GFI on Dec 5th to discover how FoodPlant, Singapore’s first shared pilot-scale food facility, and the Singapore Institute of Technology are preparing students to apply and scale emerging food processing technologies most relevant to commercialization. Register: https://bit.ly/49GlmwQ

💛 #GivingTuesday is almost here! Until Dec 2, new gifts will be matched up to $50k. Your support powers: 🔬 Open-access science that accelerates alt protein innovation 📣 Conversations connecting food leaders, farmers, & policymakers 💰 Public investments in alt protein R&D 🎁: bit.ly/3MmnxvL

📣 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝: A joint report from FFAR & GFI outlining priority research areas to accelerate protein innovation—focused on plant-based and fermentation-derived ingredients. Check it out 👇

From avian flu outbreaks to climate shocks to policy shifts, supply chains are under pressure. For food manufacturers, reliability is everything—and proteins made via precision fermentation are emerging as a powerful and attractive solution.

In our latest Substack post, our lead economic and industry analyst Daniel Gertner dives into the science, innovation, and market potential behind plant-based whole cuts—and why they are essential to growing the alternative protein industry. Dig in: https://bit.ly/4r6xRId

Join GFI on Dec 5th to discover how FoodPlant, Singapore’s first shared pilot-scale food facility, and the Singapore Institute of Technology are preparing students to apply and scale emerging food processing technologies most relevant to commercialization. Register: https://bit.ly/49GlmwQ

GFI is hiring a People & Culture Manager! We are looking for candidates with 5+ years of people or culture management experience to promote a positive workplace culture, facilitate training, enhance employee engagement, and guide employee relations. Details: https://bit.ly/4qRPY4v

🍽️ Almost 25% of consumers say the first time they tried plant-based meat was in foodservice. Check out @gfi.org’s new report on #plantbased food sales in foodservice & restaurants, including insights like...

Join @gfi.org on Dec 5th to discover how FoodPlant, Singapore’s first shared pilot-scale food facility, and the Singapore Institute of Technology are preparing students to apply and scale emerging food processing technologies most relevant to commercialization. Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

🐓 Shocks from avian flu, drought, and inflation have exposed vulnerabilities in animal protein supply chains. 🌱 A new report from FAIRR investor network urges major food manufacturers and retailers to expand their plant-based offerings as a strategy for supply chain stability and long-term growth.

Food systems drive 1/3 of global emissions today. New @wbcsd.bsky.social guidance, which features input from GFI, shows how companies can credibly measure and scale emissions-avoiding solutions—like plant-based meat— across the ag & food value chain 🌱 https://bit.ly/430Tob3

UK-based food tech company Upcycled Plant Power has raised £3.5 million to scale its technology that transforms what would be wasted broccoli crops into sustainable protein and fiber ingredients that can be used in plant-based meat products, baked goods, sauces, and more.

🚨 Optimizing cultivated meat techno-economics: Cell growth modeling review & recommendations 🚨 This NEW study by @gfi.org and Bert Frohlich lays the groundwork for more robust & realistic models of cell growth at scale. Read the report: bit.ly/47rnsOy

GFI and Tufts University are accelerating progress with new open-access cultivated meat cell lines and culture media formulations that can save researchers time and money. 👨‍💻 More details on our blog: https://bit.ly/438tX7E 📹 Hear from our cultivated meat scientist @elliotswartz.bsky.social:

Food systems drive 1/3 of global emissions today. New @wbcsd.bsky.social guidance, which features input from GFI, shows how companies can credibly measure and scale emissions-avoiding solutions—like plant-based meat— across the ag & food value chain 🌱 https://bit.ly/430Tob3

Amid funding headwinds and misinformation campaigns, GFI CEO Nigel Sizer sees opportunity: there is growing recognition from leaders that protein diversification is essential to tackling our biggest global challenges. He share's his vision for a resilient food future in a new interview ⬇️

This new map from Faunalytics shows how antimicrobial resistance spreads through a complex web that connects farmed animals, their manure, soil, water, crops, and humans. One way to help break the cycle? Diversifying the protein supply with meat, eggs, and dairy produced without animals.

The latest season of “How We Survive,” a podcast about the business of climate solutions, is all about food and agriculture—including the biggest contributor to ag emissions: meat. 👇 Check it out👇

Join @gfi.org and Dr. Da Chen of Purdue University for an in-depth look at how plant-protein gels can be engineered to deliver targeted texture, mouthfeel, and nutritional performance. Save your spot and join us on November 13th: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Big food system changes start small—one breakthrough, one passionate changemaker, one bold idea that sparks a ripple of impact. 🌊 These ripples grow into waves of change, transforming how we feed a growing world. Our new video series, The Ripple Effect, spotlights the people driving that change.

📈Join @gfi.org on Nov 4 for a webinar overview of our new report on cell growth modeling! 📈 If you're interested in computational modeling or working in a lab & want to know how to design experiments to be more commercially-relevant and impactful, please attend! Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

French #cultivatedmeat startup Gourmey merges with another French startup Vital Meat Between them, the companies have 9 active regulatory filings across cultivated chicken/duck products www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2025...

🌍 Big news on #WorldFoodDay! GFI has partnered with Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture to make cultivated meat cell lines and serum-free media publicly available for researchers worldwide. A leap forward for open science + alt protein innovation 🚀 Details: bit.ly/47qrHuK

From faba beans to precision-fermented egg whites to cultivated fat, progress at the input level doesn’t just improve products—it helps stabilize supply chains and build a more secure food system. Explore the rapidly evolving world of alternative protein ingredients 👉 https://bit.ly/41J0jF3

Join us October 16th for a presentation from @gfi.org grantee Dr. Simsek, who will share her work on enzymatic treatment of hemp by-products to create highly functional ingredients for plant-based meat that include dietary fiber and provide good nutritional value. Register: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Join GFI’s Policy & Government Relations team as the Spring 2026 Legal Fellow! 📍 Hybrid, part-time in DC. 💲 $30/hr, 12 hrs/week for 10 weeks. Great fit for law students & recent grads interested in alt protein policy. Apply by Oct 28 👉 https://gfi.org/job/?gh_jid=8188221002

⏰ Today is #DAFDay! Every donor-advised fund gift to GFI is matched 1:1 up to $30k. Your support helps elevate alternative proteins as a key climate solution at events like DC Climate Week, the Midwest Summit, and California’s first hearing on alt proteins. Give today: app.dafday.com