GFI Europe is dedicated to promoting alternative proteins such as plant-based and cultivated meat. It engages in advocacy for policies and investment to make these options more accessible.

GFI Europe

The Good Food Institute Europe | 34,509 followers on LinkedIn. Advancing plant-based and cultivated meat in Europe to build a better food system for people, planet and animals. | The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is an international NGO helping to build a more sustainable, secure and just food system by transforming meat production. 

We work with scientists, businesses and policymakers to advance plant-based and cultivated meat – making them delicious, affordable and accessible across Europe. 

By making meat from plants and cultivating it from cells, we can reduce the environmental impact of our food system, decrease the risk of zoonotic disease, and feed more people with fewer resources.

Head of Operations | Facilitator & Coach

Cezarina Niculae

Food sustainability | Research and Resource Manager at The Good Food Institute Europe

Helen Breewood

I hire amazing talent to help us build a more sustainable, secure and just food system.

Catherine Derieux

Prospect Research Manager at The Good Food Institute Europe

Federico Ippoliti

The Good Food Institute Europe

📰 October newsletter 📰 Check out this month's edition of the GFI Europe newsletter, including a new report revealing cultivated meat could add up to €85 billion to the EU economy, top alternative protein research priorities, and good news from the EU's highest court marking a win for common sense plant-based labelling. All this and more here 👇

📅 Upcoming event! 📅 Are you an entrepreneur with a science and technology project related to the food sector? Do you speak Spanish? Join the UCAM HiTech Bootcamps to scale your business, attract investment, and overcome market-entry challenges. The event registration is free, but there are only a limited number of available places. 📅 Event Dates 📍 Spain, Málaga: 26-28 November 📍 Spain, Valencia: 10-12 December During the bootcamps, startups and innovators have access to specialized workshops, personalised mentoring, pitch presentations, and 1:1 meetings with investors and others key players. Register by submitting your project: https://lnkd.in/di-yQMVa Image: UCAM HiTech

🌍👨🍳 What is the role of chefs in promoting healthier, more sustainable diets? A new EU-funded project seeks to empower chefs to lead the way in sustainable cooking through a free, open-source online course. The Life Climate Smart Chefs project offers a high-level training course to equip culinary professionals with the skills and knowledge to craft sustainable menus that benefit both the environment and public health. The course covers topics such as sustainable and healthy diets, food waste, recipe design, and communication with customers, and it encourages chefs to act as changemakers, promoting low-emission, nutritious, and affordable diets across the EU. Another useful tool for climate-conscious chefs is Foodprint—a fully automated system developed by Nutritics as part of the Life Climate Smart Chefs project. Foodprint allows chefs to measure, display, and report the environmental impact of their menus, making it easier to create sustainable, low-emission dishes. Learn more about this exciting project: https://lnkd.in/dspAY-nc

✨We’re incredibly proud to be recognised by Giving Green again this year as one of their top 6 nonprofits for climate impact, thanks to our work driving reductions in food system emissions. Read more about the recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/ehPmece3 #philanthropy #climate #impact

🔬New reports!🔬 Europe is a leader in alternative protein research, with a thriving ecosystem of researchers and institutions, but this fledgling field is still only just getting started. Our latest reports seek to better understand this exciting research landscape from twin perspectives, looking through the lenses of both research funding and publications. Key findings: 🧑🏿🔬Research into plant-based, fermentation-made and cultivated meat is growing rapidly in Europe, with more than a quarter of all studies published in 2023 amid record funding. 📝The UK, Germany and the Netherlands lead the way in terms of publications, while Italy has the largest number of researchers in the field. Despite this, key individuals and institutions across Europe punch well above their weight relative to their national ecosystem. 🤝Alternative protein researchers have far lower international collaboration rates than EU and UK averages – highlighting the need for more international research programmes in the space. 💶The EU leads in terms of research funding, with Denmark and the UK emerging as frontrunners at the country level. Fermentation technology is set to become the best-funded research area, overtaking plant-based in 2024. 🏭Research into the technical advancements needed to bring these foods closer to commercialisation only scratches the surface, and many key areas – such as developing functional crop ingredients for plant-based meat, reducing downstream processing costs in precision fermentation, or designing the fermentors needed to scale up cultivated meat production – remain underfunded. Explore the full reports and regional deep-dives on our website: https://lnkd.in/eJ7U2kGj #openaccess #research #science #funding #publications

📅Upcoming event! 📅How can novel fermentation techniques and agriculture work together? An upcoming event hosted by Food Fermentation Europe seeks to explore this question. Learn more and register here: https://lnkd.in/etDDFema

🌱 Study finds EU Green Deal success requires a shift towards plant-based foods A new study published in Nature Sustainability has highlighted that the European Green Deal – aimed at achieving carbon neutrality within the EU – could unintentionally lead to higher emissions outside Europe unless accompanied by a move towards more plant-based foods. The study identified dietary change as one key way to mitigate global emissions, and one where Europeans currently have a significant knock-on effect on other parts of the world, particularly through deforestation and land use change for animal agriculture and feed production. Reducing Europe’s dependence on overseas land to grow feed for livestock is vital for reducing global emissions and could also boost food security and provide more opportunities for farmers to grow high value crops. The European Commission should adopt recommendations in last month’s Strategic Dialogue On The Future of EU Agriculture to develop an EU-wide action plan for plant-based foods by 2026. Read more about the study: https://lnkd.in/eAZfGahA #EU #plantbased

🔍Plant-based, fermentation-made and cultivated meat was recognised as a key opportunity to meet climate and biodiversity goals in a new research paper from Chatham House . The report highlights in particular the way in which 'land-sparing' innovations such as alternative proteins could represent an important enabler for other bioeconomy innovations. Check out the full findings here: https://lnkd.in/gReDBh2q

🥩 Nutritional role of plant-based meat and dairy recognised in new UK parliamentary report. 🥩 Findings from the Food, Diet and Obesity Committee’s inquiry in the UK parliament’s House of Lords were published yesterday, covering wide-reaching topics and policy recommendations for reducing rates of diet-related ill health across the country. It was great to see explicit discussion of plant-based meat and dairy as part of the report, and recognition of their nutritional role for those needing or choosing to cut down on animal products. The inquiry also addressed the urgent need for nuance in the public discourse surrounding ultra-processed foods (UPFs), acknowledging the widely varying nutritional characteristics of foods in this group. The government must design policies to address the harms caused by foods with well-established risk profiles, such as processed conventional meat and foods high in fat, salt and sugar, without demonising healthier processed foods like wholemeal bread and plant-based meat. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e7pCNJ2c #health #UPF #diet

🚨 New analysis🚨 Plant-based food sales across six key European countries were up last year, seeing 5.5% growth in value and 3.5% volume growth despite a turbulent period for the food industry. Our analysis of Circana data, published today, shows a clear evolution of the sector in Europe, with plant-based milk and meat beginning to reach the mainstream and clear strides towards price parity in some markets. Key findings: 🔍Significant differences were seen between countries, with Germany extending its lead as Europe’s plant-based powerhouse, with 8% growth in sales value and 11% growth in sales volume across all categories, reaching a total market value of €2.2 billion in 2023. Other more established markets like the Netherlands and the UK fared worse, but Spain, Italy and France continued to see promising growth. 🛒Separate data revealed that 37% of all households in Germany, 33% in the UK and 19% in Spain bought plant-based meat alternatives at least once last year, while more than a third of German and British households and 40% in Spain bought plant-based milk at least once. 💶 Price seems to have been a key factor across markets. This was particularly clear in Germany, where sales volume grew by 5.5% for branded products, but 23.4% for (generally cheaper) private label products. 📈 There was variation across smaller categories, with plant-based cheese and cream seeing notable growth, and other categories such as ready meals, desserts and ice cream experiencing declining sales. 📊 For the Netherlands and the UK where a slowdown has been seen for the plant-based category, data from early 2024 suggests this may now be levelling off. Click through our summary deck below to learn more about each product category, and dive into our reports and companion decks, available in English and local languages, to get the full data on our website here: https://lnkd.in/eWebUMaB #sales #plantbased #retail

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