The Good Food Institute Organisation Updates:
Our 2025 Year in Review: Celebrating 10 years of GFI
Iām excited to share GFIās 2025 Year in Review, and this edition is particularly special! As GFI is celebrating its 10th anniversary, it looks back on a decade of progress, from a two-person startup to a global movement thatās transforming how meat is made.
Thanks to our supporters, GFI has provided over $24M in open-access research funding, grown the Alt Protein Project to 70 university chapters worldwide, and made alternative proteins a recognised solution for policymakers and leaders.
Using native crops to develop plant-based products in Brazil
GFI Brazil recently concluded the Biomes Program, a five-year initiative exploring the use of native crops from the Amazon and Cerrado in plant-based products. The program invested R$4.3M across 33 research institutions and worked with 25 local communities to help build supply chains. To end the project, GFI Brazil held an event where researchers shared results and attendees tasted products made from these ingredients, from babaƧu burgers to guarana meatballs. GFI Brazil has shown that it is possible to create delicious plant-based proteins from native crops, while supporting local communities and strengthening the case for protecting native ecosystems.
EU bans use of āmeatyā terms to describe alternative proteins
EU policymakers have agreed to ban the use of 31 everyday terms to describe plant-based foods. Once the restrictions come into force, words like āsteak,ā ābacon,ā and āchickenā will no longer be allowed on plant-based product labels in the region, or on future cultivated meat products and ingredients.
These restrictions will create unnecessary confusion for consumers and make it more difficult for companies to bring products to market. But we remain positive about the long-term opportunities for alternative proteins in Europe, and weāre already working on next steps to reduce the impact, including hiring a policy representative in France, where policymakers have been among the strongest supporters of these restrictions.
Ecosystem development in Europe (EA Forum post)
For those interested in how the alternative protein landscape is evolving in Europe, this recent EA Forum post provides an overview of ecosystem growth across research, policy, and industry.
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The Good Food Institute Organisation Updates:
Hot off the press: Our 2026 State of the Industry reports:
Our annual deep dive into the rapidly evolving alternative protein landscape is here! GFI has GFIās 2026 State of the Industry reports provide a global snapshot of the plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated protein landscapeāsynthesizing product trends, investment and sales data, new scientific advancements, public investment, and regulatory updates to highlight industry progress.
Although it was a challenging year for the sector, with some start ups closing their doors, regulatory hurdles, and ongoing misinformation around ultraprocessed foods, the overall picture is good. Plant-based food sales grew by 3% in 2025, with Europe remaining the biggest market. And government investment in alternative proteins has quadrupled in the last four years, with 33 countries now investing in the sector (up from 16 in 2020).
Calling for alternative proteins to be included in EU plans
Together with 30+ organisations, GFI Europe has signed a joint letter calling for novel foods, including alternative proteins, to be included in new EU legislation on regulatory sandboxes ā spaces where regulators and innovators can learn about new technologies together.
Regulatory sandboxes are already used across the EU to accelerate innovation in an evidence-led way. But currently, alternative proteins are excluded from these sandboxes, missing out on an opportunity to accelerate research and improve regulator confidence in alternative proteins. Weāre asking EU policymakers to change this ahead of upcoming negotiations.
Chinaās alternative protein opportunity
A new report by Systemiq Ltd. models how Chinaās innovation-to-mass-adoption playbook could fundamentally reimagine global meat production over the coming decades.
According to the report, new food security legislation, state investment in fermentation infrastructure, and the emergence of alternative protein clusters indicate that protein innovation is a central strategic priority for the nationās policymakers.
By taking a page from the playbook it used to successfully scale its EV and solar industries and applying that strategy to food, China could go from an āengine of global agricultural demandā to a net protein exporter as soon as 2040. Dig into The Good Food Institute APACās latest newsletter to learn more.
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