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Tälist Alternative Protein career

Hi Anna,

Welcome to the Tälist Alternative Protein Careers Course! We’re so excited to help you navigate through the world of Alternative Proteins, an industry that’s reshaping food production and sustainability worldwide.

Over the next six weeks, you’ll gain foundational knowledge and practical insights into building a career in this field. By the end of the course, you’ll have a strong understanding of the industry landscape, the key developments, and how your skills can make an impact.

Week 1: Getting Started with Alternative Proteins

This week, we’re focusing on the basics – what Alternative Proteins are, why they’re needed, and the benefits they bring to the environment, human health, and animal welfare.

What You’ll Need This Week

1. Text-Based Reading Material

Begin with an overview on the Alternative Protein industry and its core concepts. Check out this

Introduction to Alternative Proteins⁠

to understand the basics, including how plant-based, fermentation, and cellular technologies work together to create sustainable foods.

KET Alternative Proteins map. These companies are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in sustainable food.

Introduction to alternative proteins

This resource provides an at-a-glance introduction to “alternative proteins.” This term describes foods produced to provide the sensory experience of animal meat, dairy, and eggs using plants, fermentation, or cellular agriculture (Center for Strategic & International Studies 2023).A,1

Theory of change: change the product, not human nature

The theory of change for alternative proteins analogizes to renewable energy and electric vehicles: Just as we need to change how energy is produced and vehicles are powered, we need to change how meat is made.

While campaigns focused on energy efficiency, improved public transportation, and reduced meat consumption are valuable, we are unlikely to convince a majority of consumers almost anywhere (let alone globally) to consume less energy, drive less, or eat less meat.

We need to meet consumers where they are– with price-competitive renewable energy, electric vehicles that satisfy consumer needs, and plant-based and cultivated meat that tastes as good as conventional meat and costs the same or less.

Climate mitigation

Animal agriculture causes between 15 and 20 percent of direct climate emissions.2 3 It misses out on 26 Gt of sequestration potential through vast land needs for grazing and feed crops,4 and causes the plurality of methane emissions from ruminant digestion alone, which is roughly the same as oil and gas emissions combined.5

Animal agriculture is predicted to rise through 2050; the most conservative predictions suggest a 60 percent rise through 2050.6 If this happens, it will be impossible to meet Paris Climate Agreement targets.7

According to McKinsey economists, the mitigation potential of alternative proteins is 5 Gt/CO2eq per year by 2050, at roughly fifty percent adoption. The economic value of this climate savings is ~$5.5T.6

This calculation does not consider the potential to use freed-up land for carbon sequestration or the production of renewable energy. The sequestration potential of shifting away from industrial animal agriculture is ~26 Gt/year.4

According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG), at 11 percent penetration, alt proteins would have roughly the climate mitigation impact of totally decarbonizing air travel8 – and this also doesn’t include the sequestration potential of land freed up by decreased grazing and feed crop production.

Another study from Nature Communications (2023) finds that 50 percent plant-based meat penetration would eliminate 3.1 Gt/year CO2eq by 2050 in direct emissions and have the potential to sequester another 3.4 Gt. The study states, “Agriculture and land use emissions reduction in 2050 in the 90 percent scenario are 11.9 Gt CO2eq reduction.”9

A “Alternative proteins” do not include animal feed or insect-based proteins. The former is not for human food at all, and the latter involves convincing consumers to eat insects; it does not involve turning insects into something indistinguishable from conventional animal meat, so it is different from “alternative proteins,” as used by CSIS, Climate Advisers, GFI, et al..

Nature preservation

Animal agriculture requires eighty percent of agricultural land,10 requires more than 1.25 billion metric tonnes of feed crops for farm animals,11, and requires 77 percent of the global soy crop, mostly to feed chickens, pigs, and farmed fish.12

All of these numbers are rising year after year– and will continue to rise unless alternative proteins are successful.

According to the World Resources Institute, 9 calories of feed are required to produce 1 calorie of chicken meat and 40 calories of feed are required to produce 1 calorie of beef.13

Plant-based chicken requires roughly one-sixth the land of animal-based chicken, and plant-based beef requires roughly one-twentieth of the land of animal-based beef.14 Cultivated chicken requires roughly one-fourth the land of conventional chicken, and cultivated beef one-twentieth the land.15

Co-benefits: decreased AMR & pandemic risk

Two co-benefits of a shift from conventional meat production to alternative proteins are decreased risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and decreased pandemic risk. These are both global scourges in their own right.

Approximately 70-80 percent of medically important antibiotics are fed to farm animals, which increases AMR risk.16,17 Resistant bacteria kill more than 1.3 million people annually and are on track to kill 10 million people per year by 2050.18 Alt proteins do not require antibiotics.

According to a report from ILRI, CGIAR, & UNEP, two of the seven most likely causes of the next pandemic are increasing demand for animal protein and industrial animal farming.19

More animals means more potential disease vectors, and industrial animal farming involves vast numbers of genetically similar animals crammed into unsanitary conditions that suppress their immune systems. Alt proteins totally eliminate these two risk factors and mitigate four of the other seven.

The global majority (smallholders, pastoralists, subsistence fishers)

The global populations that benefit the most from a transition to alternative proteins are those in the Global Majority for whom land pressures from animal agriculture are forcing them off their land (e.g., smallholder farmers, pastoralists), subsistence fishers who are seeing their catches vanish, and everyone for whom climate change, biodiversity loss, superbugs from antibiotic resistance, and another pandemic represent a true and existential risk. By alleviating land pressure, alternative proteins will be good for regenerative ranching, smallholder farmers, pastoralists, and subsistence fishing communities.

Theory of change: The renewable energy + EV analogy

The only two options that appear to have a reasonable chance of decreasing animal agriculture are population-level diet change (the world eating less animal protein) and the success of alternative proteins; attempting to convince consumers in developed countries to eat less animal protein has not decreased even per capita consumption.20 But if we can create the precise meat experience from plant-based or cultivated meat at a lower price, we can slash the external costs (food insecurity, climate change, land and water use, and more) of animal agriculture without requiring consumer sacrifice.

Of course, alt proteins are not a silver bullet for everything that’s wrong with food production globally. No single solution will address all of the problems that stem from our current food system.

This is precisely why we need an “all of the above” approach. Alt proteins are a critical part of the solution, and as noted above, they are the only solution that is likely to cause industrial meat consumption to decline. They are one critical arrow in our quiver of food systems solutions.

Jobs and economic value of government investment

Alternative proteins represent 98 percent of economic value ($700 billion) generated by food system methane innovation according to ClimateWorks Foundation and the Global Methane Hub.21

They can also create 83 million jobs globally by 2050 - this is two-thirds of jobs created across all agricultural methane interventions.21 These economic returns should make them especially appealing to the “finance ministers and policymakers who make budget decisions” - a key concern identified by the Kremer Commission.22

Why government support is critical (i.e., why can’t markets solve this?)

Just as the clean energy transition requires and deserves government support, so too does the alternative protein transition.

About GFI

There are both scientific and scaling challenges involved in creating a similar or improved animal meat experience from plant-based or cultivated meat, and requiring that every single company solve all of these challenges independently is a prescription for delay and, in many cases, failure.

According to the modeling by McKinsey for ClimateWorks Foundation and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, governments will need to invest $4.4 billion/year in research and development and $5.7 billion/year in private sector incentives in order to reach 50 percent market penetration by 2050, with the benefits in terms of climate mitigation and economic development described above.6

Cultivated meat has received less than $3 billion in global investment in all of time (98 percent of which have been equity investments across more than 100 companies), even as the US Department of Energy (DOE) recently guaranteed a loan to Ford Motor Co. of $9.2 billion to build just three EV battery plants.23

To date, plant-based & cultivated meat combined have received less than $11 billion in public and private investment (all in the past 10 years),24 even as clean energy received $1.4 trillion in investment in 2022 alone).25

With government support, we can meet consumers where they are, providing them with price-competitive, environmentally-friendly alternatives that taste as good as conventional meat and cost the same or less.

The Good Food Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working internationally to make alternative proteins like plant-based and cultivated meat delicious, affordable, and accessible. GFI advances open-access research, mobilizes resources and talent, and empowers partners across the food system to create a sustainable, secure, and just protein supply. GFI is funded entirely by private philanthropic support.

GFI.ORG / POWERED BY PHILANTHROPY GFI is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

Fact sheet / November, 2023

Endnotes

1. Swanson, Zane, Caitlin Welsh, and Joseph Majkut. “Mitigating Risk and Capturing Opportunity: The Future of Alternative Proteins.” Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 11, 2023. https://www.csis.org/analysis/mitigating-risk-and-capturing-opportunity-future-alternative-proteins.

“Key Facts and Findings.” Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013. https://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/197623/icode/.

Milman, Oliver. “Meat Accounts for Nearly 60% of All Greenhouse Gases from Food Production, Study Finds.” The Guardian, September 13, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/13/meat-greenhouses-gases-food-production-study.

Hayek, Matthew N., Helen Harwatt, William J. Ripple, and Nathaniel D. Mueller. “The Carbon Opportunity Cost of Animal-Sourced Food Production on Land.” Nature Sustainability 4, no. 1 (2020): 21–24. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00603-4.

Husdal, Gier. “Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas.” NEMS, December 8, 2021. https://blog.nems.eco/blog/methane.

“Global Innovation Needs Assessments: Protein Diversity.” Climate Works Foundation, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, and Vivid Economics, November 1, 2021. https://www.climateworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/GINAs-Protein-Diversity.pdf.

Clark, Michael A., et al. "Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets." Science 370 (2020): 705-708. DOI: 10.1126/science.aba7357.

Morach, Benjamin, Malte Clausen, J&uuml;rgen Rogg, Michael Brigl, Ulrik Schulze, Nico Dehnert, Markus Hepp, et al. “The Untapped Climate Opportunity in Alternative Proteins.” BCG Global, March 28, 2023. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2022/combating-climate-crisis-with-alternative-protein.

Kozicka, Magdalena, Petr Havlík, Hannah Valin, et al. "Feeding Climate and Biodiversity Goals with Novel Plant-based Meat and Milk Alternatives." Nature Communications 14 (2023): 5316. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40899-2

Ritchie, Hannah. “If the World Adopted a Plant-Based Diet We Would Reduce Global Agricultural Land Use from 4 to 1 Billion Hectares.” Our World in Data, March 4, 2021. https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets.

“CerealsAllocatedtoFood,AnimalFeedandFuel.”FoodandAgricultureOrganizationoftheUnitedNations,OurWorldin Data, February 22, 2023. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cereal-distribution-to-uses?time=2000..latest.

Ritchie,Hannah,andMaxRoser.“IsOurAppetiteforSoyDrivingDeforestationintheAmazon?”OurWorldinData, October 2, 2023. https://ourworldindata.org/soy.

Searchinger,Tim,CraigHanson,JanetRanganathan,BrianLipinski,RichardWaite,RobertWinterbottom,AyeshaDinshaw, and Ralph Heimlich. "Creating a Sustainable Food Future: A Menu of Solutions to Sustainably Feed More Than 9 Billion People by 2050." World Resources Institute, 2014. https://gfi.org/images/uploads/2018/05/WRISustainableFoodFuture.pdf

"Plant-BasedMeatforaGrowingWorld."TheGoodFoodInstitute,2019. https://gfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GFI-Plant-Based-Meat-Fact-Sheet_Environmental-Comparison.pdf.

"World’sFirstIndustry-BasedLCA&TEAShowthatCultivatedMeatCanBeEnvironmentallyBeneficialandEconomically Viable," The Good Food Institute, January 2021. https://gfi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Cultured-meat_LCA_TEA-Policy_fact-sheet.pdf;

Fact sheet / November, 2023

Introduction to alternative proteins 4

Lindmeier,Christian.“StopUsingAntibioticsinHealthyAnimalstoPreserveTheirEffectiveness.”WorldHealth Organization, November 2017. https://www.who.int/news/item/07-11-2017-stop-using-antibiotics-in-healthy-animals-to-prevent-the-spread-of-antibio tic-resistance.

Mulchandanietal.“AntibioticUsageinLivestock.”OurWorldinData,2023. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/antibiotic-usage-in-livestock#licence.

Murray,ChristopherJ,KevinShunjiIkuta,FablinaSharara,LucienSwetschinski,GiselaRoblesAguilar,AuthiaGray,Chieh Han, et al. “Global Burden of Bacterial Antimicrobial Resistance in 2019: A Systematic Analysis.” The Lancet 399, no. 10325 (2022): 629–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(21)02724-0.

“PreventingthenextPandemic-ZoonoticDiseasesandHowtoBreaktheChainofTransmission.”UNEnvironment Programme, July 6, 2020. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/preventing-future-zoonotic-disease-outbreaks-protecting-environment-animals- and.

FoodandAgricultureOrganizationoftheUnitedNations.“PerCapitaMeatConsumptionbyType.”OurWorldinData,June 12, 2023. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-consumption-by-type-kilograms-per-year.

ClimateWorksFoundation,andGlobalMethaneHub.“ReducingMethaneEmissionsintheGlobalFoodSystem.” ClimateWorks Foundation, May 9, 2023. https://www.climateworks.org/ginas-methane/.

“DevelopmentInnovationLabatUChicagoLaunchesInnovationCommissionforClimateChange,FoodSecurityand Agriculture.” Development Innovation Lab at University of Chicago, May 10, 2023. https://bfi.uchicago.edu/news/innovation-commission/.

Ewing,Jack,andCliffordKrauss.“Ford’sBatteryJointVenturetoGet$9.2BillionGovernmentLoan.”TheNewYorkTimes, June 22, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/22/business/energy-environment/ford-battery-plants-loan.html.

“InvestmentResources.”TheGoodFoodInstitute,2023.https://gfi.org/investment/.

“WorldEnergyInvestment2022:OverviewandKeyFindings.”IEA,2022. https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-investment-2022/overview-and-key-findings.

2. Overview Video Watch

this video⁠

for an overview of the industry’s landscape and the urgent problems Alternative Proteins aim to solve. This brings you insights that lay the groundwork for the rest of the course.

3. Weekly Quiz Test your knowledge on the basics of Alternative Proteins! This quiz will help reinforce what you’ve learned and ensure you’re prepared for the following weeks.

Quiz Link⁠

4. Resources: Check out our resources for job seekers:

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Case Studies⁠

– Personal stories and pathways from professionals in the Alternative Protein field.

⁠

Cultivating Careers in Alternative Proteins Podcast⁠

– Insights and experiences from industry professionals.

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FAQs⁠

– Common questions about skills, companies, and opportunities in Alternative Proteins. These resources are exclusively available to our members like you:

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Impact Benchmark⁠

– Measure the impact of your work in the Alternative Protein industry.

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Career Coaching⁠

– Book a session to take the next step in your career.

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Event Recordings⁠

– Access highlights from our past events.

Why This Matters

In tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues, like climate change and food security, the Alternative Protein industry plays a critical role. By moving away from traditional animal agriculture, this field opens doors to sustainable, scalable, and ethical food solutions. Whether you’re here to advance your career or to make a difference, understanding these basics will give you a strong foundation.

What’s Coming Up

Throughout this course, we’ll send weekly emails guiding you through industry insights, career pathways, and resources to help you succeed in this field. Next week, we’ll explore the innovative technologies that make these products possible, including plant-based meat production, fermentation, and cultivated animal products.

Stay tuned, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our team or connect with peers in the Slack community!

All the best, The Tälist Team

⁠

Hi Anna,

Welcome back to week 2 of the Tälist Alternative Protein Careers Course! Now that you've covered the basics, it's time to explore the technological innovations that power this industry. Week 2: Technological Innovations in Alternative Proteins

This week, we’re discovering the science behind plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated proteins.

⁠

This map showcases companies in the Alternative Protein space, spanning plant-based, fermentation-derived, and cultivated technologies. Source: Dirt to Dinner.

What You’ll Need This Week

Introduction Video: Start by watching

this recording from our expert session⁠

with Robert Boer for an overview of technologies in Alternative Protein production, highlighting the scientific opportunities in plant-based, fermentation, and cultivated sectors.

It's a pleasure to be here and share a short presentation on one of the topics that excites me most in the sustainable food system we cover at Blue Horizon: alternative proteins. Before diving into the technologies in detail—assuming you have read the free materials—I’ll briefly introduce Blue Horizon first.

Blue Horizon is a venture capital firm founded in 2016 with the sole aim of making our food systems more sustainable. The founder of Blue Horizon was primarily inspired by a passion for animal welfare; many of our earlier investments—and probably the majority of our portfolio—are based on alternative proteins. We were very fortunate to be early investors in Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and other well-known brands from the West Coast of the US. Over the years, we have built our portfolio to include more than 80 investments across different strategies. My responsibility, as Patricia mentioned, covers the PCC investments—we have around 60 investments in this space. We also ran a traditional venture capital Series A fund raised in 2019, in which we have invested in our exiting portfolio as well as what we call a roll-off strategy. We raised significant funds to create what is essentially a "Unilever of alternative protein" called the Livkini Collective. With the Livkini Collective, we acquired 100% of seven brands in the alternative chicken and meat space, consolidating them onto one platform. Today, the company has over 80 million in revenue and is present in South Africa, Europe, and the US.

Another point I want to mention is that we are very impact-driven. Although financial returns must conform to the market, we would not invest in something that we do not believe has impact. Our impact thesis revolves around health, animal welfare, and the environment. We conduct numerous studies and research, some of which we publish. I asked Patricia to send you some reading materials, and we have published interesting work with the BCG consulting group around alternative protein technologies and the whole concept of parity.

I will focus my presentation on parity in a minute, but first I’d like to share my transition into a career in alternative protein, in hopes of inspiring you with ideas for your own career path.

I dropped what looked like an ugly fish or something—I don’t know what it is—but really, let’s read it from left to right. The pacifier marks the moment I was born, and for the first 18 years of my life, I wasn’t really inspired by my parents or anyone else. I had a nice upbringing, but no one explained the issues in the world or what impactful things to do. None of the people around me had interesting careers. When I turned 18, I pretty much didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I chose business administration, which was very broad and left many possibilities open. At university—this was in 1999 and 2000—no one really talked about sustainability. The only course on the topic was business ethics, and that was it. This trend continued in my career.

I started a career in banking because I wanted to travel internationally and make money. Even in banking, before the financial crisis, few banks were interested in sustainability. That changed considerably when I moved into consulting and worked my way up to senior manager; that period, from roughly 2010 to 2015, was when I started to wake up. One of the things I did was take a six-month sabbatical to Africa and Asia, which really opened my eyes to poverty and environmental issues. When I returned, I began looking for ways to incorporate these ideas into my job. It was difficult because there wasn’t much work in this space yet, but gradually, the idea of bringing sustainability into my career grew. I started having conversations with a good friend about sustainable business ideas. As my career advanced, my personal interests began to diverge from my professional path until I nearly experienced an identity crisis—I didn’t want to continue what I was doing. So, I quit my job overnight, rented a desk in the Impact Hub in Zurich, Switzerland, and started working with social entrepreneurs, trying to understand their business models. Many things happened that year, and I eventually decided that my next career step was in this space.

I returned to the bank and proposed building a program for UBS Swiss Bank to identify and support the most impactful entrepreneurs in sustainable development. I built that program over five years, gaining exposure to various global problems and topics, and I found my niche in food. I began investing in alternative proteins myself in 2015, introduced the topic within the bank, conducted research, published papers, and identified investment opportunities for UBS clients. Later, I discovered Blue Horizon, my current employer, who was raising funds for the collective. I helped them raise money from UBS clients, and over five years, my focus shifted: I now invest in alternative proteins, which make up eight percent of the investments I manage. I have been doing this for the last three years.

To sum up some of the lessons I’ve learned: get inspired early. If you have kids, expose them to these topics from an early age; talk to a lot of people and get inspired by them. Speak to people who are interested in transitioning, and develop a roadmap. It also helped me to step away from my career and reflect, take time to make good decisions, and have the confidence to take action. If you’re a single parent with young children and a big mortgage, it’s more challenging, so try to build a stable foundation first. Many companies already offer opportunities to engage in sustainable topics—find ways to move within your current organization and take advantage of opportunities around you. It is risky, but it will be rewarding. Tell everyone what you want to do; the opportunity will come.

If you’d like to discuss this further, I would be happy to dive deeper into your situation and see how I can help.

Now, let’s dive into alternative proteins. If you haven’t read the papers that Patricia shared with you, the main concept I want you to understand is parity. With alternative proteins, we strive to recreate something similar to conventional meat and dairy that is either equal to or, preferably, better than what exists. Our research and publications focus on which technologies we need to invest in to achieve parity in price, taste, texture, and even convenience and availability across three horizontals: plant-based, fermentation-based (microorganism-based), and cultivated (animal cell-based).

We made predictions regarding cost parity. For plant-based products, we already see evidence of parity in West European supermarkets in the Netherlands and Germany, where shelf prices are competitive with, or even lower than, conventional meat and dairy. Fermentation technologies, which work on improving texture, flavor, or even producing whole-cut products, are on track to reach cost parity by 2025. Some of these technologies are already integrated into the plant-based space through hybrid products—for example, Impossible Foods’ soy-extruded product enhanced with fermentation-based heme to deliver the bleeding experience of a burger.

The cell-based segment is further out. It has a promising pathway, though it is very capex-intensive and requires significant economies of scale. Technological hurdles remain to achieve competitive cost prices, but I am optimistic we will get there. There is industry chatter suggesting this won’t happen, but I see similarities with the tobacco industry 25 years ago when they thought consumer awareness and regulatory issues would make them obsolete. Traditional meat producers have been unable to make their processes more efficient, leading them to launch campaigns against alternative proteins, labeling them as ultra-processed—an argument that does not hold up when compared to the processing of conventional meat.

I believe cell-based meat has a future. I was fortunate to have Mark Post, the inventor of cell-based meat, in my UBS program. He, like me, is Dutch. He suggests that while a whole-cut piece may be further off—possibly 2032 to 2035—a slurry of cells resembling ground beef can be implemented in hybrid products by 2025 or 2026.

This concept of parity is fundamental to our investment thesis. It underlines the question: which technologies across the entire value chain do you need to invest in as an investor, or solve as an entrepreneur, to achieve parity in these different aspects?

Before I hand it over to Robert, could you clarify if you prefer questions during the presentation or at the end? I have already received a bunch of questions ahead of time and prepared answers, so we will have an interactive discussion after I run quickly through this presentation. Please feel free to post additional questions in the chat.

Robert, please go ahead with your presentation.

As you can see, this is a value chain that ends at the processing stage. This does not mean the other parts of the value chain, such as packaging, logistics, or marketing to consumers, are unimportant. We believe the impact is more significant upstream—toward production, sourcing, and processing—where most work and technological innovation are needed to reach parity. This is reflected in the paper I shared with PCG, which stays at a high level, while we have many deep dives into each of these topics that are proprietary to Blue Horizon. We have been investing accordingly over the last three years using this framework.

The term “optimizing” is key here. We need to take the existing inputs and extract higher quality proteins and greater functionality at the upstream part of the process. For example, once the raw proteins come into the factory for extrusion or TVP production, we need to do so more quickly and efficiently, without requiring additional flavorings to mask taste or fibers to create texture. Much of this innovation can occur upstream. In the plant-based space, we focus on identifying technologies that enhance these processes. The same applies to the animal cell-based segment, where the focus is on optimizing how we train and feed cells or microorganisms so they divide more rapidly and efficiently. For cell-based production, cost reduction in the media is essential, and ideally, we want to use by-products from other food processes.

There is significant innovation at the lab and pilot scales, but the challenge is scaling up—from a five-liter bioreactor to a hundred-thousand-liter one. This scaling involves engineering systems, downstream processing, and formulating tasty, clean products. For plant-based proteins, extrusion is the most common technology; raw protein is pressured through a pipe with heat (and sometimes water) to create a structured, meat-like texture that is later flavored and combined with other ingredients.

In the fermentation space, we differentiate between precision fermentation—targeting specific ingredients to enhance flavor or texture in mostly plant-based products—and biomass fermentation, which produces biomass that can be processed to resemble whole-cut pieces of meat. Recently, I want to mention gas fermentation, which is particularly exciting. Using carbon and other gases to produce proteins eliminates the need to cultivate soy. This technology is promising for space exploration and could be revolutionary for our sector if costs can be reduced.

These examples illustrate how we view the value chain and the companies innovating within these spaces. If you look at our portfolio, you can see that it is mapped across these columns, with significant synergy and scalability when companies collaborate.

Because this is a detailed master class, I thought I would share some examples of job descriptions for each technology. For instance, many assume Beyond Meat is completely done with development because the burger has been out for a long time. However, they are continuously driven by emissions reduction and the goal of making their product better than conventional meat. Their initial ingredient list was long, but they are now recruiting scientists to refine the formulation, shorten the ingredient list, and reduce costs—all of which directly affect the bottom line and consumer acceptance.

Similarly, gas fermentation companies, such as RTR in Austria, are looking for process technicians to optimize production. These roles are crucial because continuous processing reduces the number of touches and enhances efficiency. Many of these positions can be filled by professionals with transferable skills from other industries.

Another example is cell-based meat. SuperMeat, an Israeli company, is seeking expertise to create textures in raw materials rather than relying on downstream processing for flavor and aroma. The output from a bioreactor is a slurry of cells that, without further development, is inedible. They must add flavor technology to make it palatable.

I’d like to conclude with a quick quiz. According to Taste Atlas and Statista, the most popular dishes vary by region. Which of these technologies—plant-based, cell-based, or fermentation-based—can be applied to transform these dishes to be animal-free, and what are the time-to-market implications? The dark blue items on the chart represent products that we believe have already reached or will soon reach parity in cost. These products often incorporate ground meat or shredded chicken, where full structuring isn’t as necessary because sauces and other ingredients overpower the meat flavor. Many of these products are already available at competitive prices.

The middle blue category represents products that require additional functionality or texturing. A good example is vegan cheese; when you order a pizza with vegan cheese, it often lacks stretch. More fermentation-based technology is needed to improve these textures. Another example is whole-cut meat products like duck breasts, where advancements in 3D printing, extrusion, and biomass fermentation are promising but not yet sufficient to replicate the same bite and juiciness as conventional meat. Parity will play a significant role in achieving that goal.

The ultimate holy grail would be a steak that, when barbecued, replicates conventional meat exactly. However, I believe we do not need to strive for an exact replica, as there will always be meat lovers who desire that experience. Even if meat becomes extremely expensive, they will still seek it out, albeit possibly in a diminished capacity. Replacing conventional meat entirely may not be necessary, but significant progress in cell-based technologies is essential.

Thank you.

Plant-Based Meat Production: Discover how these products are created!

⁠

Read the

Plant-Based State of the Industry Report⁠

to learn about crop development, ingredient optimization, and manufacturing techniques. (Focus on the Executive Summary and Science and technology sections.) Optionally, also watch

this video⁠

for more information.

Fermentation Technologies: Explore the different types of fermentation (traditional, biomass, and precision) and their applications in Alternative Proteins with the

Fermentation State of the Industry Report⁠

for an overview of advancements like AI in fermentation processes (Executive Summary and Science and technology section). Optionally, also watch

this video⁠

Cultivated Meat and Seafood: See how cell culture technology creates real animal proteins without raising animals. Start with the Executive Summary of the

Cultivated Meat and Seafood Report,⁠

to learn about progress in cell culture media, 3D scaffolding, and more (Executive Summary and Science and technology section).

Plant Molecular Farming: Discover how plants are engineered to produce animal proteins for dairy, eggs, and growth factors for cultivated meat, leveraging photosynthesis and farming techniques.

Learn more here⁠

Hybrid Products: Learn about hybrid products that combine animal proteins, plant-based or cultivated ingredients.

Read this article for a deep dive⁠

Weekly Quiz: Test your knowledge of these technologies and the differences between them!

Quiz Link⁠

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Join the Conversation!

Now that you’ve learned about Alternative Protein technology, what do you think is the biggest technical challenge facing the industry, and how could it be addressed? Share your thoughts with us on Slack!

Coming Up Next Week

Next, we’ll explore consumer and business perspectives – what drives demand for these products, the challenges companies face, and what it means for job seekers like you.

Explore this week’s materials and don’t hesitate to reach out to our team if you need assistance or join the conversation in the Slack community!

How did you like this week's course content? Please share your feedback with us

here⁠

Psst… Don’t forget that you need to complete all the quizzes to receive the course certification.

All the best, The Tälist Team

⁠

Hi Anna,

Welcome back to Week 3 of the Tälist Alternative Protein Careers Course!

Week 3: Consumer and Business Perspectives in Alt. Proteins

This week, we’re focusing on the heart of the Alternative Protein industry: understanding what drives consumer adoption and how companies navigate the evolving market.

What You’ll Need This Week

Text-Based Reading Material:

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Culture, meat, and cultured meat⁠

Focus on societal and regulatory implications of cultured meat, including media portrayal and religious attitudes.

⁠

Make room for alternative proteins: What it takes to build a new sector⁠

Learn about market growth, corporate investments, and cultural considerations shaping the Alt Protein sector.

Videos and Podcasts:

Watch

the recording of our expert session with Nadine Filko from NEWMEAT⁠

on consumer perspectives in Alt. Proteins.

I am an editor for a magazine called New Meat from a publishing house here in Germany, which is one of the most important publishing houses for trade magazines. They started this magazine in 2021 with one publication, and in 2022 I was asked to be the editor. Then we had two magazines; last year we had four, and I was employed. This year we're having six, which indicates the market's growth and the industry's increasing interest in discussing these issues.

The first issue this year focused on Germany, providing insights on where we are and where we are heading next. I also wanted to show you my book, Clean Meat, which I wrote in 2018–2019. Since its publication, much has happened. Every time I talk about it, I think I would write a totally different book today because, in the last five to six years, so many things have changed. For example, Natalie Roland from Pro Veg mentioned that the first product would launch in Singapore, and indeed, the first cultivated meat product has been launched there.

We have seen the market develop around three main pillars: plant-based, cultivated, and fermented. However, new technology, such as molecular farming and gene editing, is emerging, which is changing the landscape. I am writing a book about sustainable solutions along the entire food supply chain, and these are just some of my thoughts. My brain is overloaded with information from different sources, and this illustrates how confusing this industry can be due to its many dimensions.

Before we start my presentation, I pasted the link to my book on Amazon. I also want to know your expectations. Do you have a main question for this session, or anything we should note? My plan is to explain the market, its dimensions, and the changes taking place. Afterward, we can review your questions—perhaps you will find that some of your concerns have already been addressed, or you might have new questions.

I encourage you to participate on video if you’d like or submit questions in the chat. If nothing comes up, we will dive right into the content I have prepared.

When I speak at events about alternative protein and how we talk about it, I always start by saying "stop eating animals." Many people associate this phrase with the idea of completely stopping the consumption of animal products, but that is not accurate. We are not talking about entirely replacing an industry, but rather developing a new way to perceive proteins and possibly how we view the food industry.

We must consider our audience. I took a picture that represents the people on the streets fighting for change. However, we are not just talking to vegans or vegetarians—we are talking to flexitarians and omnivores, whose eating habits many of you are familiar with. I am open to discussing this further if needed.

I prefer not to focus on one specific market or hard numbers because we need to take a broader look at the various dimensions before deep-diving into specific markets. For instance, in Germany, we ask ourselves what role we can play in this global transformation.

Nadine’s side will join us shortly. In the meantime, I want to share some findings from Pro Veg International. Their study on German consumers for the Smart Proteins Project shows 45 percent omnivores and 30 percent flexitarians—10 percent more than in 2021—while only a small number are vegetarians or pescetarians. This variation illustrates that different countries have different roles in the transformation. For example, in Denmark, the government is proactively pushing plant-based products, even though consumer demand is not there, and cultivated meat is even less demanded. Different countries have different roles within this industry transformation.

We are also developing a new way to consume proteins. The challenge is that the definition of a "flexitarian" is vague; no one defines it by simply eating a plant-based meal twice a week. Studies even show that more self-defined omnivores are buying plant-based alternatives, which raises the question of what truly distinguishes an omnivore from a flexitarian. Perhaps we need to rethink the categories of consumers entirely.

I created a simple overview that looks childlike, but I left out confusing arrows. In communication, we have transmitters, such as protein innovators (e.g., Beyond Meat, TINDAL, and Planted in Europe) who are building strong brands and good conversations about the transformation, yet they are not reaching enough people. Then there are other stakeholders like scientists, institutions such as the Good Food Institute, agricultural associations, and farmers—often less aware of industry developments. We had this conversation as early as 2018 about how to involve farmers more in the industry, which remains a hot topic in Germany. Companies like Mutosas in the German market are building bioreactors for farmers to cultivate meat on their land.

Consumers form only a tiny part of the communication process, and even within that field, there are several dimensions. For every event, we discuss how much more we need to talk about emotions—because food is tied to culture and our connections with it—while our conversations remain technical. Communication must be tailored: politicians, farmers, and companies each require different approaches, which complicates the overall picture.

Nadine, a quick question from Guadalupe: Do you consider lobbyist groups as institutions or politicians in this structure? I would say they are more like institutions, although farmers can also act as lobbyists. This complexity means that I sometimes bring my subjective perspective into the conversation, which complicates things further. I consider lobbyists part of the institutional framework, along with the media, which we will discuss shortly regarding the images and messages they present.

Recent findings from Pro Veg International on German consumers show that framing initially focused on technology, particularly for cultivated meat. We still see images of Mark Post with a petri dish, which is the wrong way to communicate this message. In France, discussions are occurring about whether plant-based milk should be called milk—a debate that is also ongoing in the UK and Germany. Instead of progressing, these discussions seem to be regressing, partly due to lobbyist influence, which complicates the language we use to describe products. If consumers know a product as "meat" or "milk," they understand its use; when that language is altered, it creates confusion.

Language is a barrier. For example, in Denmark, I interviewed a founder from Matter Randy Watson, who suggested that we may need an entirely new language for this industry. Two years ago, experts from various institutions—including the German association for alternative proteins, Bipol, and Pro Veg—argued that we must stick to our current language, but this continues to be a challenge.

Nadine, there was also a question about whether language presents a barrier in Europe for understanding alternative proteins, especially since many Italians do not speak a foreign language and local media or government outlets may not always provide impartial scientific information. This is indeed a barrier and underscores the importance of institutions like the GFI having dedicated departments in different countries.

I compiled an overview of regulation because the European Food Safety Authority and the Novel Food regulation illustrate how products—especially plant-based—are viewed differently. In Italy, for example, consumers are open to the topic, but politicians are not. Italy's recent laws, driven by strong meat lobby influence, are a prime example. We face the additional challenge of "culinary aliens" in Germany—a term I hope conveys the idea correctly—because of the diverse culinary traditions from Austria, Italy, France, and 13 other countries. In the end, if the majority of the EU's Novel Food Committee opposes these products, it doesn't matter if the EFSA declares them safe.

Even on a local level in Germany, if people do not understand their native language, how can we expect them to grasp these concepts in a foreign language? This is a crucial conversation.

There are more questions in the chat. Please let us know if you prefer to address them now or later. I will now briefly discuss why politicians are so opposed to these changes. They are not independent; in countries with a strong meat lobby and farmers determined to preserve the status quo, bias is inevitable. For instance, despite a recent investment of 38 million euros in Germany, many politicians remain unaware of the industry's potential because they only focus on the green deal and changing things superficially. They are not educated enough about the industry. I have been involved in it for years, and every week something new happens, making it difficult to establish a unified vision for the future.

This raises a significant question: How can we build a sustainable market and scale these technologies to feed people? I discussed this with Ira Van Alen, daughter of Willem Van Alen—often called the godfather of cultivated meat—and she pointed out that there is currently no industry. Randy Watson from Mata added that we lack a supply chain. This communication and industry gap is critical because, without an industry, our discussions lack a foundation.

We have discussed language, framing, and media images. In science, for example, the picture of Mark Post with his petri dish has become clichéd, even though there are many more appealing ways to present the topic. Companies like Upside Foods in the U.S. show a finished dish, which is more relevant for consumers. In health, I was impressed by a Swiss company, Planted, which opened my eyes to the clean-label debate. At an exhibition in Germany last year, they proudly presented a product with only four ingredients, challenging the narrative around highly processed food. Ingredients, however, remain a contentious issue because they can be used differently by different companies.

Another important topic is GMOs and gene editing. A few years ago, I knew little about gene editing. I later learned that the new forms of gene editing are not fundamentally different from traditional breeding; they are simply faster. This realization shows the need for better communication and education.

In summary, the complexity of alternative protein—whether plant-based, cultivated, or fermented—creates challenges in communication and scaling the industry. At the peak of this conversation is sustainability: creating products that are healthy, taste good, and are produced in a way that is environmentally sustainable. However, we must also address the language we use and whether we are building an alternative industry or simply a new pillar of protein production. I invite you to reflect on these questions and consider how we can build an industry and supply chain that meets our global needs.

Thank you.

⁠

Consumer Acceptance and Industry Lobbying Podcast⁠

Optionally, listen to this podcast to explore how consumer behavior and industry lobbying intersect, featuring insights from Change Foods' Irina Gerry.

⁠

A breakdown of recent investments in the Alternative Protein sector, highlighting recent developments across plant-based, fermentation, and cultivated categories. Source: The Good Food Institute.

Weekly Quiz: Test your knowledge of these technologies and the differences between them!

Quiz Link⁠

⁠

Why This Matters

Understanding consumer and business dynamics is critical to shaping a meaningful career in the Alternative Protein industry. Companies need professionals who can navigate these complexities and help align their innovations with market demands. By mastering these topics, you’ll gain insights into:

Developing products that resonate with consumer values.

Identifying the gaps in the market to drive innovation.

Anticipating challenges and strategizing for success in your future role.

⁠

Join the Conversation!

What consumer adoption barriers do you think are most critical for companies to address, and how can they overcome them? Let us know on Slack!

Coming Up

To those who celebrate, we wish you happy holidays and hope you enjoy this time of rest and reflection! We’ll resume the course on January 2nd and take a deeper dive into the social, political, and economic landscapes that influence the Alternative Protein industry.

Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or favorite takeaways in our Slack community! As always, our team is here to support you as you continue your learning journey.

How did you like this week's course content?

⁠

The contents of image.jpeg appear to present a security risk

⁠

Psst… Don’t forget that you need to complete all the quizzes to receive the course certification.

All the best, The Tälist Team

⁠

Hi Anna,

Welcome to Week 4 of the Tälist Alternative Protein Careers Course!

Week 4: Social, Political, and Economic Landscapes

This week, we’ll explore the broader social, political, and economic contexts of Alternative Proteins, helping you understand the global impact of this industry.

⁠

This is how advancements in process and product development (which you’ve already learned about) are intertwined with societal shifts – the topic of this week. Source: TU Delft.

What You’ll Need This Week

Text-Based Reading Material:

⁠

https://mail.talist.org/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjM5MzE0NCxcImxcIjoxNDI0Mjk4NDE4MTYyOTAzNDYsXCJyXCI6MTQyNDMwMDcwNDA2OTA3MTQ0fSIsInMiOiI2MGNmZjhmYjA1NzUyNTM5In0⁠

⁠

Ethics of Producing In-Vitro Meat⁠

Explore ethical considerations of lab-grown meat and its societal implications.

⁠

https://mail.talist.org/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjM5MzE0NCxcImxcIjoxNDI0Mjk4NDE4MjY3NzYxMDgsXCJyXCI6MTQyNDMwMDcwNDA2OTA3MTQ0fSIsInMiOiJlMjQxMmU1N2UyYzNmYzBmIn0⁠

⁠

Why the United States Should Champion Alternative Proteins⁠

Learn about the role of Alt Proteins in addressing food security and climate challenges.

⁠

Cultured Meat Safety Research Priorities: Regulatory and Governmental Perspectives⁠

Optionally, read this paper to understand the safety considerations and regulatory priorities for cultured meat, based on interviews with governmental scientists and regulators.

Videos and Podcasts:

Recording of

our expert session with Ivo Rzegotta from The Good Food Institute Europe⁠

on the political landscape of Alt. Proteins.

Below is the edited transcript with improved readability while preserving the original ideas and content:

⁠

Since you're interested in alternative proteins, I'm sure you've come across the Good Food Institute (GFI) before. I won't go into too much detail about everything; I just want to focus on the other pillars we work in.

At GFI, we currently have slightly over 200 people working in six world regions: the U.S., Brazil, Israel, India, the Pacific, and Europe. I work at GFI Europe, where we are a team of 30. The organization was founded in 2015 in the U.S., and you can clearly see the U.S. influence in our resources. However, we are becoming increasingly autonomous in regions like Europe, thanks to funding from philanthropy, major foundations like Open Philanthropy, and other sources.

Our work is organized around three programmatic areas: science and technology, corporate engagement, and policy. Before diving into these pillars, let me describe our role in the ecosystem. We are uniquely positioned to do several things. First, one of our main priorities is sharing knowledge freely—almost everything we do is open access. We also advocate for open access innovation when speaking to policymakers, which is challenging for companies that operate behind IP walls. Second, coming from an effective altruism perspective, we focus on the white spaces that others do not address. When deciding where to expand in Europe, we consider neglected areas where we can make the greatest impact. Third, we are uniquely able to take a big-picture, long-term perspective—something that differentiates us from business associations. For example, recent articles about cultivated meat raise questions about viability; a long-term view can lead to very different conclusions.

Now, here are examples of what we do in our three pillars:

Science and Technology Around 40% of GFI's international team holds a PhD and works in science and technology. Our focus is not on consumer acceptance but on addressing technical research gaps. We maintain a database on our website that highlights white spaces for research funding and collaboration. We build global scientific communities by connecting researchers with funding opportunities and networking through various activities. Additionally, we allocate funding for alternative protein research. For example, we have our own research grant program, which has funded over 100 projects in 18 countries. Successful projects often attract additional public funding, effectively multiplying every dollar invested.

We also encourage student involvement. Students at universities organize their own initiatives—podcasts, lectures, publications—to promote alternative proteins. Currently, there are more than 30 student chapters working to expand the ecosystem.

Corporate Engagement Corporate engagement means working with companies of all sizes. This involves assisting startups with essential processes and engaging with established players in the value chain—such as major meat companies—to emphasize that alternative proteins represent a significant opportunity. In Europe, under the umbrella of corporate engagement, we participated in the world's largest fish fair (Fish International) in Germany. We organized various activities at these fairs to accelerate progress in alternative protein projects. We also develop open access resources, such as our analysis of the plant-based market in Europe, and publish our annual State of the Industry reports for cultivated, fermentation, and plant-based sectors. In addition, we produce country-level reports for markets like Germany, Israel, the United Kingdom, and India.

Policy Our policy teams are among the largest worldwide, especially in Europe, where diverse languages, political systems, and cultures require a robust team. We are expanding our policy team to cover more countries. Globally, our policy work prioritizes three areas:

Describing the path to market—specifically for novel food categories such as precision fermentation, cultivated meat, and plant-based products.

Securing public funding—not only for R&D but also for scaling the industry. Leading-edge companies in cultivated and precision fermentation face significant challenges in building pilot facilities and scaling up.

Ensuring fair competition—creating a level playing field. For instance, discussions about whether a plant-based burger can simply be called a burger or if it needs a different name, as well as issues like VAT differences for plant-based versus conventional milk, are ongoing.

We emphasize public funding because alternative proteins represent a critical sustainability and climate change mitigation technology. While trillions of dollars have been invested in clean energy and transport, only a tiny fraction has gone into alternative proteins. More countries are now launching policy initiatives to advance the sector. Singapore, for example, was the first to approve cultivated meat and precision fermentation products and continues to support startups through presidential orders. In contrast, policymakers in some European countries have been less receptive, and in 2024 our biggest task in policy will likely be defending cultivated meat in those regions.

Our policy priorities include:

Anchoring alternative proteins in government strategies (e.g., biotech strategies) and developing national roadmaps.

Securing public investments in infrastructure, research, and transition aids for farmers.

Establishing evidence-based and efficient regulations to ensure fair competition.

Getting Involved Many young people ask how to get involved in the alternative proteins field. There are still many unanswered questions, especially technical challenges in plant-based, fermentation, and cultivated sectors. Whether you have a background in science, prefer working behind the scenes, or enjoy engaging with people, there are opportunities available. I encourage you to be courageous and explore the various paths in the sector.

For those interested, we offer resources through GFI: a talent database and a job opportunities database. You can also check out Telus Purse and GFI's job opportunities page. If you're still in university, consider joining or starting an alternative protein project on campus. We also have a broader GFI community that brings together scientists, entrepreneurs, and students.

Thank you.

⁠

https://mail.talist.org/ty/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjM5MzE0NCxcImxcIjoxNDI0Mjk4NDE4NDM1NTMzMzAsXCJyXCI6MTQyNDMwMDcwNDA2OTA3MTQ0fSIsInMiOiI5MmI4MTgyMDdhZjAwYjBjIn0⁠

Recording of

our expert session with law consultant Mathilde Do Chi⁠

on regulations in Alternative Proteins.

Below is the edited transcript with improved readability while preserving the original ideas and content:

⁠

What kind of jobs I've done before, and moving on, I will give you an overview of how the regulatory landscapes work—mainly in the U.S. and the EU—and then I will show you a bit of a global overview.

In terms of study, I don't have any food science background; I've studied purely law. I started with a bachelor's in French and German law, did a bit of European law, and then pursued an LL.M.—a master's degree in law in international trade and investment law. Through this, since food is one of the most traded commodities, I discovered the world of food law and continued with a second master's, which exposed me to all the regulations that are shaping our food system—from farm to fork. Some of my classmates ended up working in intellectual property positions, for a pesticide company or a seed company; some worked at governments related to trade matters. There is so much to learn about food from many different angles.

I then pursued a diploma in food psychology, which is very important when introducing new sources of food to people because the future of food is about breaking psychological barriers and convincing people to try new sources in a way that encourages experimentation rather than putting them off. I also took various online classes and certifications—for instance, international water law (specifically, drinkable water), coffee standards, chocolate sustainability, and so on—because if you want to learn something specific, you often won't find it taught at university. There's so much to learn on the Internet, and sometimes you can educate yourself by networking and talking to people in the industry.

I wanted to show you that I've tried many different things before working for myself as an independent consultant. I've been working for about 10 years, including internships. I started working at a law firm, then moved on to work for research institutes and governmental agencies in Asia. I worked in France and in Vietnam for a French research institute on agricultural matters, and also for the Ministry of Education in Japan, where I worked on novel food. After that, I returned to Europe and worked for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) in the nutrition division for six months. I graduated just two weeks before COVID hit and ended up finding my first job fresh out of university at a global consultancy in food supplements, where I handled compliance checks for import/export of food supplements and some novel food matters. For example, if an American company wanted to sell in Japan, they needed to check if they could keep the same health or nutrition claims.

After that, I worked for a food ingredient multinational—ADM, whose name you may be familiar with. They only sell to other companies operating in the B2C space, such as Nestlé, Unilever, Upfield, and so on. I stayed there for a year and a half, mostly working on plant-based protein. In 2021-2022, as I was learning more about food fermentation and cellular culture, I became eager to apply my newly acquired knowledge. I knew that ADM, through its venture arm, was investing in these technologies, but they wouldn’t assign work in the compliance department related to this because the products weren’t on the market yet in Europe. So I decided to leave and create my own consultancy focused on global alternative protein regulations—covering novel food, GMO, health and nutrition claims, and sustainability standards. Although it seems very complex to cover so many jurisdictions, it's essentially the same matters, just varying in the level of data required for regulatory approval.

Six months into that venture, I made a half-turn because I was invited to work in Brussels for a public affairs lobbying consultancy that wanted to step into the alternative proteins sphere. There I learned a lot about approaching public officials, stakeholders, and setting up a trade organization. After six months, I gained more traction with clients who needed my food law services, and I decided to work full time for myself.

How do food law and food policy fit into the alternative protein landscape? They can fit into many different categories. For instance, you have regulatory offerings that are sometimes the same as food law. If you don't have a specific regulation, then industry standards or guidelines from regulatory agencies apply. There's a lot of work here because most alternative proteins don't fall into pre-established food categories. You need to create a framework suitable for food innovation. Then there's public affairs—setting up regulations from the ground up—and legal matters such as intellectual property, contract negotiations, and international trade and customs. If you're not familiar with the HTS code—the harmonized system for taxation set up by the International Customs Organization in Brussels—you have to categorize goods correctly. However, we don't yet have an extensive system for alternative proteins.

Trade associations also play a role, such as the recent creation of a Food Fermentation Alliance in Europe—comprising companies operating in the precision fermentation field as well as the broader fermentation space—and NGOs, business consulting, strategy consulting, and life science consulting. Because the field is so new, it can be hard to find a job in that area. However, you can either search for one or forge your own path. Both options have advantages and disadvantages, but the beauty of something so new is that there is ample opportunity to explore, and since the framework isn't set, you learn along the way.

Personally, I recommend building a personal brand. Many people want to deliver amazing sources of food, but their regulatory strategy is often non-existent or merely copied from someone else. This approach is dangerous because you cannot generate revenue if you cannot sell a product. I use LinkedIn to demystify food regulation in a digestible way, because legal language can be overly complex. Building your personal brand creates a snowball effect—if someone in your network shares your post, you're exposed to their network too, and you gain more opportunities to connect with like-minded people without having to do all the outreach yourself.

In the industry, this map from the Good Food Institute shows that most hot spots are in northern Europe and North America. Africa and Latin America are a bit behind for now because alternative protein is not yet a pressing topic there, but at some point, they will catch up. Some countries within these regions, like South Africa with several fermentation-based and cell-based companies, and Brazil—the only jurisdiction in Latin America with a novel food framework—are emerging as leaders.

Now, I will discuss the regulatory challenges at the European level and in the U.S. First, the novel food concept: A novel food is a specific category originating from the EU. It refers to any food that has not been consumed to a significant degree by the local population. If a food doesn't have a proven safe history of consumption, you must demonstrate its safety to sell it. In the EU, this is governed by the Novel Food Regulation, established on May 15, 1997, when the European Commission set up this category. Initially handled on a case-by-case basis, the system was eventually divided into ten categories—ranging from fungi on the far left, to cell-based meats in the center, to indigenous foods like Bambara groundnut on the right.

A common misconception among entrepreneurs, startups, and even multinationals is that novel foods require high levels of technology, which is not the case. Traditional foods from abroad, such as the nuts mentioned, also undergo novel food assessment in Europe. For example, we have products like mug bean protein isolate from Dust, an egg replacement, and Saline—a protein made from air by Solar Foods, based in Finland. There is also cell-based meat from a company called Upside Foods. No cell-based meat company has yet submitted a dossier in Europe; however, it was approved in Singapore and in the U.S. It would be much simpler to have a single regulation covering the entire framework, but sadly, that is not the case. In the center, we have the normal food regulation; all approved foods are listed on the Union List of Novel Foods. Then there is the food catalog—an indicative list where products that might be classified as normal foods must undergo a procedure and approach with the member states to decide if they are novel. During the assessment, guidance issued by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is also taken into consideration. The EFSA conducts the risk assessment, while risk management is handled by the European Commission.

Regarding process time, if you go through the Novel Food Catalogue and deal directly with member states, it should take around a year and a half on paper, but in practice, it's closer to two to three years due to understaffing at the EFSA and the need for additional data from applicants to ensure fair access to the products. Once you obtain regulatory approval in Europe, you can request a five-year exclusive period of use, meaning that if someone makes a similar product, they cannot sell it until those five years have expired unless they obtain a license from you. This balances food innovation with public knowledge.

In the U.S., we have something called GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe), established in 1958 by the FDA. GRAS covers more than just food; it includes drugs and cosmetics because those products did not fit into pre-established categories. Over time, the GRAS system became optional and transitioned from a determination system to a notification system in 1997. In this system, you are not obliged to notify the FDA that you want to market a product, but if you do, the applicant must provide sufficient data to demonstrate its safety. The FDA then reviews the dossier and issues one of three outcomes: a no-questions letter (meaning they agree with your dossier), insufficient data (they think you haven't provided enough data, yet you can still market the product), or a request to redraw the dossier (which still does not prevent you from marketing the product). Typically, this process takes less than a year on paper, though in practice it often takes around a year to a year and a half—still faster than in the EU.

There is also self-affirmed GRAS, where you conduct your own assessments in-house according to certain guidelines and then declare that your product is safe. Many precision fermentation companies in the U.S. and Europe use this system because it allows them to generate their own data. However, compared to the EU, in-house assessment has little legal value and raises concerns about transparency and public access to information.

Overall, the regulatory framework in the U.S. is simpler because you deal with fewer pieces of legislation and guidance. In Europe, the process generally takes two to three years, whereas in the U.S. it can take about a year and a half if your dossier is well-prepared.

Now, a global overview: Many companies assume that if they get regulatory approval in one jurisdiction, they are automatically cleared in another. That is not the case. The only situation where this works is if you obtain regulatory approval in the European Union; then you can sell directly to Switzerland due to a treaty between the two. Otherwise, approval abroad only demonstrates that your dossier is solid. In the future, some jurisdictions might conclude mutual recognition agreements.

Currently, fewer than 15 countries worldwide have a regulatory framework similar to the Novel Foods or Novel Food-like systems. Certain countries are considering setting up dedicated categories for cell-based meat because they believe it competes directly with conventional meat. There is also a lot of work to be done on labeling—for example, determining if you can even call a product "cell-based meat" when it is not derived from a slaughtered animal. Regulatory authorities are also issuing guidance on how to conduct proper assessments.

More jurisdictions are emerging as golden standards or are deemed easier by companies to navigate, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council and ASEAN in Southeast Asia, which have EU-like systems. Additionally, Codex Alimentarius standards and guidelines are being assessed to determine if they meet the needs of new food sources. The FAO released a report on cell-based meat safety last year, and ISO is developing standards related to plant-based foods. Ongoing projects by trade associations are also in progress, though nothing has been published yet.

That concludes my overview. Thank you very much for your attention, and if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them.

⁠

Regulations: EU vs USA Podcast⁠

. Optionally, listen to this podcast comparing regulatory systems for Alternative Proteins between Europe, the U.S., and Singapore.

Weekly Quiz: Test your understanding of how Alternative Proteins impact food security, ethics, and policy.

Quiz Link⁠

⁠

Join the Conversation!

How might the introduction of Alt. Proteins challenge traditional dietary practices or food systems in your community? Share your thoughts with us on Slack!

How did you like this week's course content?

⁠

The contents of image.jpeg appear to present a security risk

⁠

Coming Up

Next week, we’ll explore career opportunities and challenges within the Alternative Protein industry. Let us know if you have any questions, and we’re here to support you every step of the way!

Psst… Don’t forget that you need to complete all the quizzes to receive the course certification.

All the best, The Tälist TeamHi Anna,

⁠

Hi Anna,

Congratulations on reaching Week 5 of the Tälist Alternative Protein Careers Course!

Week 5: Career Opportunities & Challenges in Alt. Proteins

This week, we’ll help you explore the diverse career opportunities in the Alternative Protein sector and navigate potential challenges.

What You’ll Need This Week

Text-Based Reading Material:

⁠

Navigating Alternative Protein Careers: A Starter's Guide⁠

This article introduces the dynamic and rapidly growing Alternative Protein sector, offering insights into the industry's key trends and career opportunities. It discusses the required skills, professional considerations, and how to align your personal passions with the evolving needs of the industry.

⁠

The Tälist Blog⁠

Explore some of our blog posts on different career paths in the Alternative Protein sector. These posts cover a range of topics, from food development and bioengineering careers to mentorship opportunities and the global impact of Alt. Proteins.

Videos and Podcasts:

Recording of our

expert session with the Founder & CEO of Tälist Pia Voltz⁠

with an overview of the Alt. Protein job market.

Below is the edited transcript with improved readability while preserving all the original ideas and content:

⁠

Over the last couple of years, we have seen significant growth in the alternative protein industry. Not only are there more and more alternative protein startups and companies around the globe, but with every new startup and company come new career opportunities. The demand for talent is growing as rapidly as the industry itself.

What makes it so exciting and special to work in this industry is the impact you can have. I still need to pinpoint the exact metrics—for example, the impact of switching to a vegan diet, which for many is the first important step toward helping animals. However, I personally believe that working in the industry can have even greater impact. We even have an impact calculator on our platform under career tools, where you can receive your own personal impact benchmarking. For example, our calculation for a full-time, entry-level position shows that even a junior role in this industry could spare almost a million fishes from the fishing industry every year or prevent more than 200 tons of CO₂ equivalents from entering the atmosphere. The impact is enormous.

There are many bottlenecks, skill gaps, and talent shortages within the alternative protein industry. Although it might seem like everyone in our bubble is familiar with alternative proteins, the vast majority of people outside this bubble have never heard of the industry. Many career roles in this niche field are highly specific and technical, resulting in significant talent gaps at nearly every level—from investment and infrastructure to innovation, production, quality management, business development, sales, marketing, and policy-making.

For example, at the investment level, both private, public, and philanthropic institutions are increasingly investing in the alternative protein industry. On the infrastructure side, companies like Telus are critical to enabling the industry. In innovation, the sector is extremely dynamic, developing new products by applying one technology in novel ways. This drives high demand for R&D and for roles in production, quality management, and even business development to handle pricing strategy, scaling, and distribution. Legislative regulation, policy-making, and lobbying are also increasingly important, especially as more countries position themselves either in favor of or against alternative protein products. This creates a rising demand for professionals with specific skills in policy and lobbying.

Now, let me address a few frequently asked questions:

Which roles are currently in high demand? The answer is that various roles are in high demand, depending on factors such as the stage of the startup (early-stage, mature, or a large corporation with an alternative protein branch) and the complexity of the technology. For early-stage startups, there is a high demand for both C-level core team members and scientific/technical roles, as the product is still being developed. Many early hires come from the co-founders’ personal networks. When a business successfully closes a Series A or B, the company often scales quickly and hires for multiple roles simultaneously. In mature startups or corporations, the hiring process is more formalized with dedicated HR departments.

What skills and expertise are needed most in the industry? The industry requires a mix of highly specialized scientific and technical skills as well as more general skills in marketing, sales, and business development. Specific technical qualifications are essential in R&D and product development, while other roles demand strong skills in communication, strategic planning, and team collaboration.

What work arrangements are available? Remote work is common for many positions—such as marketing, administrative roles, and even some sales positions—where work can be done virtually. However, roles in labs or on the production side often require on-site work. Company culture also plays a significant role; some companies prefer remote arrangements, while others favor close-knit, on-site teams.

I believe these points provide a good insight into careers in the alternative protein industry.

Now, how is Telus part of this ecosystem around careers in alternative proteins? We aim to become the go-to marketplace for jobs in this sector. Our platform offers a range of free tools and resources. For example, on our website, we offer a curated list of podcasts and magazines to help you navigate this vast field without getting overwhelmed. If you’ve already signed up on our platform, you should have received a welcoming email campaign with bite-sized, career-related content, including our impact benchmarking tool.

We also run events such as the "A Day in the Life" series, where professionals working in specific roles in the alternative protein industry share their experiences and answer questions. I often compare our platform to a dating site for candidates and jobs: based on the data you share, we automatically match you with the right opportunities, saving you time instead of manually scrolling through job boards.

In addition, we are collaborating with a career coach on community building through a LinkedIn group, and we host a master class that connects you with industry experts and peers. We also have a brand ambassador program: individuals who share our mission can attend local events or conferences on behalf of Telus. We cover their costs, providing opportunities for public speaking, networking, and gaining industry experience—all at no cost to them. We are currently hiring new brand ambassadors, so if this interests you, please let’s connect after the master class.

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Cultivating Careers in Alternative Proteins Podcast⁠

Pick two episodes that are relevant to your career and listen, while focusing on the pathways, skills, and industry advice shared by the guests.

Optionally, you can explore this video playlist by GFI for job seekers interested in academic and industry careers in Alternative Proteins:

GFI’s Video Playlist on YouTube⁠

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Additionally, explore the Alternative Protein Career Pathways Guide by GFI APAC, a comprehensive resource for university students, recent graduates, and career switchers:

Alternative Protein Career Pathways Guide⁠

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This guide includes:

Insights into the skills required for careers in Alternative Proteins.

An interactive Career Map to navigate job types and production platforms.

Information for those new to the field or considering a career change.

Weekly Quiz: Test your understanding of how Alternative Proteins impact food security, ethics, and policy.

Quiz Link⁠

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Psst… Don’t forget that you need to complete all the quizzes to receive the course certification.

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Join the Conversation!

Now that we’re almost at the end of the course and you’ve learned about different aspects of the industry, what is the role you would like to pursue in the Alternative Protein industry, and what steps are you taking to achieve it? Tell us on Slack!

How did you like this week's course content?

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Coming Up

Next week, we’ll wrap up the course with general career advice, including CV writing, interview tips, and strategies for breaking into the field.

See you in the Slack community!

All the best, The Tälist Team

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