Innovators specializing in plant-based and cultivated (lab-grown) meat may be eligible for up to US$300,000 in research funding under US non-profit Good Food Institute’s (GFI) Competitive Research Grant Program. In total, the institute will be granting US$3.15 million toward the improvement of sensory qualities, cost and scale-up of clean meat production. GFI will publicly announce successful applicants for grants in early 2020.

“We were impressed with the diversity of research ideas submitted last year,” Erin Rees Clayton, Senior Scientist at GFI, tells FoodIngredientsFirst. “Many researchers from around the world and from a variety of scientific disciplines proposed unique ideas for advancing the science and technology of plant-based and cultivated meat. Plant biologists, food scientists, and engineers solve problems in different ways, and there is definitely room for all of these disciplines, among others, to contribute to the plant-based and cultivated meat industries.”

Entering its second Request For Proposals (2019 RFP), the institute now wants to fund solutions that will address the organoleptic properties of plant-based and cultivated meat products, their cost and the scale-up of production processes. Projects may focus on a specific end-use application or the development of novel ingredients, methods, tools or technologies. 

Through donations last year, GFI was able to award almost US$3 million in research funding to 14 scientists from eight countries (Canada, China, Estonia, Israel, Norway, Serbia, UK, and US). These research initiatives span the breadth of supply chains – from crop breeding and product formulation for plant-based meat to cell line development and bioprocess scale-up for cultivated meat.

At the institute’s recent Good Food Conference, inaugural grantees were given the platform to present their research progress made over the past several months. “It’s incredibly exciting to see the creative ways these scientists are addressing the technical barriers facing the plant-based and cultivated meat industries,” says Clayton.

Under its 2019 RFP, GFI is evaluating grant applications primarily on the basis of: 

Anticipated likelihood of removing scientific knowledge barriers and/or limitations in technologies facing the plant-based and cultivated meat industries.

Expected impact on one or more of the specific priority areas mentioned in the RFP.

Uniqueness of idea.

Plan for sharing project protocols, data, results, and/or research tools and materials with the larger scientific community. 

“We try to be transparent about the types of research we are interested in and how we will be evaluating grant applications. We have a web page dedicated to our competitive research grant program that contains links to the RFP, the application form and other helpful information,” notes Clayton.

The deadline for Phase 1 proposal submission is October 28, 2019.

Clean meat movement
The space of “slaughter-free” meat and meat alternatives is hot under the industry spotlight, with pioneering innovations in plant-based and lab-grown offerings shrinking the sensory and flavor divide between animal products and their analogs. This year, clean meat production is propelled forward through new investments and collaborations between industry stakeholders.

This month, Israeli start-up Redefine Meat, innovator of a 3D plant-based meat printing system, announced the completion of a US$6 million seed round. The investment is led by CPT Capital and also includes Israel-based Hanaco Ventures, Germany’s largest poultry company The PHW Group and Israeli angel investors. Redefine Meat will use the investment to finalize the development of its revolutionary alternative meat 3D printer, which will be released next year. The company is targeting a rollout into mass production in 2021.

Solar Foods, a Finnish-based food-tech company, recently won the Index Award worth €100,000 (US$110,000) and funded by the Index Project, a Danish non-profit organization. The company’s award-winning invention, Solein protein, uses carbon dioxide and electricity to produce protein that enables food production entirely without agriculture. In the long-term, this provides a means of growing harvest in a clean environment while using renewable energy for producing food with the lowest possible environmental burden.

Also this month, five innovative food companies who are looking to bring cell-based (lab-grown) meat,poultry and seafood brought to restaurants and retail shelves in the United States, Poultry & Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation). This coalition is focused on educating consumers and stakeholders about their new industry and facilitating a clear path to market for their products. The new alliance is working closely with government to establish a regulatory framework for the  emerging industry.