The Good Food Institute APAC

The Good Food Institute's Alt Protein Project (APP) is the talk of the town in Western Australia! 👀 📰 🧑🎓 The APP is a global student movement dedicated to turning universities into engines for alternative protein education, research, and innovation. The programme currently consists of over 70 universities globally, including two from Australia (UNSW and University of Melbourne), one from South Korea (Seoul National University), and Malaysia (Universiti Sains Malaysia), respectively. https://lnkd.in/ek4gyQV 🌱 🍖 As GFI APAC’s Mirte Gosker noted in the Countryman, Australian APP chapters have been making big waves on campus. At the University of New South Wales, students organised a barbecue event to introduce their peers to plant-based meat and toured Vow's production facility to explore the latest advancements in cultivated meat technology. And at the University of Melbourne, they recently hosted a symposium titled “Alternative Proteins: Where Are We Going?” 👏 👋 If you’re a student in Western Australia or anywhere in APAC and want a chance to lead the charge for climate-friendly food systems, reach out to us (apac@gfi.org) to learn more about the APP! Arin Naidu Nathan Ahlgrim, Ph.D. Amy Huang APAC-SCA (Student Chapter) QUT (Queensland University of Technology)

📣 Our Corporate Engagement team is looking for startups/companies working in the blended meat space for a sensory study we are working on! 👅 More details: 🌱 🥩 What does blended meat mean? Food products that have a mix of alternative proteins—plant-based, fermentation-derived, or cultivated proteins—and conventional meat. 🔍 What is involved in the sensory study? This study will compare the performance of blended meat against alternative meat and conventional meat. It will be conducted in Singapore and potentially Thailand in partnership with Food System Innovations. 🧑🤝🧑 Who are we looking for? ◾ Companies that have commercialised blended meat products or are still at the benchtop stage (with GRAS-approved ingredients). ◾ Companies operating in the APAC market or looking to explore this market. ◾ Companies keen to gain insights into consumer preferences for their products. If you are interested, please complete this short form by 10 December, and we’ll get in touch! 👉 https://lnkd.in/gcdkupNJ Divya Gandhi Jennifer Morton Mirte Gosker

🥁 LAST opportunity! GFI APAC’s final “Science of Alt Protein: APAC edition” seminar of the year is happening this Thursday, 5 December at 10am SGT! ICYMI, register here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gSnacHSX and join us to hear from Juan D., a food scientist at the Singapore Institute of Technology, who focuses on exploring protein-polysaccharide interactions to innovate structure-function in alternative proteins and novel foods. 🌱 🫛 🍚 In this free webinar, she will review research studies employing pea, brown rice, and algae protein for novel food formulation and the impact on in vitro digestibility. ❗️ Sign up for FREE now!

Have you struggled to answer common questions about precision fermentation in a way that is: ✅ scientifically accurate ✅ avoids overly technical or industry-specific jargon ✅ and doesn’t use loaded terms or derogatory language about existing food processes? If so, we’re here to help! 💡 Last week, GFI APAC and Cellular Agriculture Australia unveiled a Precision Fermentation Communication Guide, a collaborative effort between more than a dozen APAC industry stakeholders, covering nomenclature, descriptions, and messaging. ❓ The message maps section of the guide presents a list of frequently asked questions segregated under five themes: ◾ safety and regulation ◾ commercialisation and scale ◾ impact ◾ performance and functionality ◾ health and nutrition 👀 Each question is presented with key messages, and proof points and/or appropriate qualifiers are provided to substantiate these messages. This open-access language guide is designed to help a wide range of stakeholders in the precision fermentation space communicate clearly, compellingly, and consistently. 🎯 Don’t miss out! 📩 Check it out today: https://lnkd.in/gKE48fEa Sam Perkins Joanne Tunna Jessica Freitag All G Cauldron Ferm CSIRO Eden Brew Australia's Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) IUVA GROUP MUU Noumi Nourish Ingredients TurtleTree Phyx44 Labs Zero Cow Factory May Lwin Keri Matwick Aimee Pink A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research William Chen Mark Chong, PhD

BIG NEWS: South Korea is taking a giant leap forward in alternative protein innovation! 🌏 🤝 GFI APAC, KoreaBIO (Korea Biotechnology Industry Organisation), and the Bio-based Future Food Industry Committee (BFFIC) have officially joined forces to accelerate the future of food in Korea! 🚀 With a new Memorandum of Understanding signed in Seoul, this partnership will: 📊 boost market research and technical knowledge exchange 📜 drive policy coordination for novel food regulation 🎤 host global webinars, workshops, and presentations on alt protein innovation South Korea is solidifying its leadership in cellular agriculture as cultivated meat gears up for its domestic debut in 2025. From cutting-edge R&D to policy advancements like the regulation-free zone in North Gyeongsang Province, the future of food has never looked brighter! 🌅 🗣 “Global mutual cooperation is essential for the industrialisation of novel foods, including alternative proteins, which will be crucial for the future food supply system,” said Dominic Jeong, president of the BFFIC. 🇰🇷 “Reimagining how meat is made is one of humanity’s greatest untapped opportunities,” said Bruce Friedrich, who also serves as GFI APAC’s board chair. “As a world-class innovation hub, South Korea’s expansive R&D and manufacturing ecosystem will play a crucial role in supercharging cultivated meat development and pioneering the technological breakthroughs our planet urgently needs.” The Good Food Institute Sam Lawrence Yeonjoo La Kimiko Hong-Mitsui Mirte Gosker Simple Planet DaNAgreen Jay Hyeongun Jee CJ CheilJedang SeaWith Inc. Ki Hyun Yoo, PhD Joonho Keum Appachu Kodira BEN Kim Hwa Jin Lee Hyuna Yeom Jee Yoon Lim Jurie Hwang

🇸🇬 WATCH: Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam goes on CNN to connect the dots between the global water crisis and our food system, highlighting a powerful solution: alternative proteins! 🌏 💧 🌱 Following a high-level event convened by the World Bank and the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, President Tharman noted that the world will have to shift to consuming more plant-based proteins, as the global reliance on animal-based foods is unsustainable. 🥩 Conventional animal proteins, particularly beef, are far more water-intensive to produce and are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. https://lnkd.in/gvSv6x9N

✨ Couldn’t keep up with all the major alternative protein developments during Singapore International Agri-Food Week? Fear not! We’ve got a roundup of the important news items of the week. Take a closer look in GFI APAC’s latest newsletter. 👇 Mirte Gosker Bruce Friedrich Singapore Food Agency A*STAR - Agency for Science, Technology and Research Nanyang Technological University Singapore National University of Singapore Rethink Events Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture Nurasa ScaleUp Bio Vow Future Ready Food Safety Hub @ NTU COP SG Pavilion COP29 Azerbaijan Vireo Advisors, LLC All G Cauldron Ferm CSIRO Daisy Lab Eden Brew Australia's Food and Beverage Accelerator (FaBA) IUVA GROUP Noumi Nourish Ingredients TurtleTree Phyx44 Labs Zero Cow Factory Cellular Agriculture Australia Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia Peter Yu Calisa Lim 谷孚咨询 GFIC Viola Jinhui Chen Dean Powell Samuel Goh Ankur Chaudhary Jennifer Morton Divya Gandhi Jayaroopa Jeyabarathi

🇸🇬 📰 Gooood morning, Singapore! Today’s front page: The Lion City is doubling down on science and innovation to make alternative proteins tastier, more nutritious, and consumer-friendly. 🌱 On Monday evening, at the Singapore International Agri-Food Week welcome reception, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade & Industry Gan Kim Yong announced that the Singapore government has committed an additional SGD $40 million under the second phase of the Singapore Food Story R&D Programme, including funding to lower the production costs of cultivated meat and enable greater economies of scale. 🚀 https://lnkd.in/gSxV3RMP Then yesterday, at the Global Agri-Food Scientific Symposium, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Poh-Koon Koh (Dr) announced a Singapore Food Agency (SFA) grant call to researchers and industry partners focused on developing solutions to enhance the functionality of alternative protein products, such as their taste, aroma, and texture. 👍😋 SFA's grant call couldn't have been more timely as "the current headwinds faced by companies in the novel food space are a result of many factors including cost, taste, and nutrition values," said Prof. William Chen at Nanyang Technological University Singapore. 🎯 "Achieving price, taste, and nutrition parity between alternative proteins and conventional meat is a non-negotiable factor for market success," added GFI APAC Managing Director Mirte Gosker, "and strategic public investments are central to hitting that goal." If the private sector and philanthropists join the government in accelerating blended R&D funding to diversify Asia’s protein supply, Singapore's multi-pronged role as the region's preeminent green financing hub could soon expand to include the decarbonisation of food production. Full story from Ariel Yu at The Straits Times 👉 https://lnkd.in/g63HPCkJ Bruce Friedrich Samuel Goh Ankur Chaudhary Wasamon Nutakul, PhD

Did you miss GFI APAC’s exciting presentation on novel food policy and regulations in Asia at the Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia (AFTEA)? We’ve captured some of the highlights below for you. ⬇️ During his presentation, policy specialist Ankur Chaudhary illuminated the transformative potential of alternative proteins by highlighting their environmental benefits and essential role in shaping the future of food systems. He also provided a comprehensive overview of the risk assessment framework employed in Singapore to address food safety considerations in the cultivated meat manufacturing process. 🧫 🥩 The session underscored the importance of collaborative efforts between industry leaders and regulators to foster a unified, supportive regulatory environment for alternative proteins. 🌱 🔥 Chaudhary also spoke about two new white papers on cell line development and cell culture media components collaboratively developed by the APAC Regulatory Coordination Forum—an effort jointly led by GFI APAC and the APAC Society for Cellular Agriculture (APAC-SCA). https://lnkd.in/g2MfWFUX 📃 These white papers outline the current gaps where regulatory coordination could support the innovation and commercialisation of cultivated foods and offer potential solutions and pathways for collaboration among academia, industry, and food safety regulators. 🤝 ⚖️ With these white papers, the Forum hopes to support regulators in developing a well-informed, consistent, and pragmatic framework to evaluate the safety of cultivated foods. ➕ Visit the Cultivated Meat Pavilion at AFTEA today to learn more about these white papers and interact with the members of GFI APAC and APAC-SCA who are moving this emerging field forward. Peter Yu Calisa Lim Sam Lawrence Samuel Goh Mirte Gosker Cellular Agriculture Australia The Good Food Institute India

COP29 Azerbaijan attendees convene for a 'Singapore Evening,' featuring Vow’s Forged Parfait, crafted from cultivated Japanese quail! 🌏 🇸🇬 The event was hosted by the Singapore Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, and attended by international delegates, COP SG Pavilion partners, and government representatives. This gathering serves as a valuable networking platform for Singapore to engage international partners, strengthen relations, and advance collaborative opportunities for climate action. 👏 Vow announced their Singapore Food Agency approval earlier this year, making the Australian startup the second company to receive such regulatory approval following GOOD Meat, which received a green light for their cultivated chicken in 2020.  🎉 This is the third consecutive year that Singapore has showcased alternative proteins on its Singapore Evening menu. The tradition began with GOOD Meat's cultivated chicken at COP27 in Egypt. Last year, dishes featuring Solein—a unique protein powder made by feeding microbes with gases and nutrients—were featured at COP28 in Dubai. Cheers to Singapore for continuing to lead the way towards a sustainable global food system! 📸: Samuel Goh