FEASTS

📢 Thrilled to share that Chiara Benussi, Ph.D. student from University of Bologna (Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna) and valued FEASTS collaborator, participated in the 190th seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists, hosted by Wageningen University & Research. 🌱   🧑🔬💡💼 The seminar focused on the role of financing in driving a sustainable and resilient transition of agrifood systems, bringing together academics, policymakers, and practitioners from the financial sector.   🌍🍴🔬 Chiara’s presentation “𝘈 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭" is part of FEASTS research conducted under the lead of Antonella Samoggia. https://lnkd.in/dcAwHjcm Chiara also had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion by highlighting the crucial role that alternative proteins and cultivated meat and seafood play in the sustainability transition.   👉 Thank you Chiara for representing FEASTS and your valuable participation in the discourse on sustainability and cultured meat at a leading agrifood systems seminar!   #Sustainability #AlternativeProteins #CultivatedMeat #AgrifoodSystems #FutureOfFood

🥩✨ FEASTS partner New Harvest, a nonprofit research institute, is the world’s longest-standing organization dedicated to advancing cultured meat and precision fermentation. By supporting open, public research, it is paving the way for the future of sustainable food. 🍲 🌎 As part of the FEASTS project, New Harvest leads the work package employing a stewardship model to help shape the responsible development and implementation of cultured meat and seafood technologies. To do this, it is adopting a food systems thinking approach to provide a conceptual framework for advancing the full understanding of cultured meat and seafood sector in the European and global food systems. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹: to ensure that this innovative field stays aligned with mission-driven objectives, promoting food and nutrition security within planetary boundaries in the EU and globally. 🤝 🧭 FEASTS promotes a collaborative, bottom-up approach to cultured meat and seafood technology. It focuses on #multistakeholder engagement and explores diverse production models and technologies to deliver unbiased information on the subject. It encourages data sharing to accelerate research, and takes a food systems approach to understand the impact of these technologies. This includes working with stakeholders to shape development for positive, sustainable outcomes. #CellularAgriculture #CultivatedMeat #Sustainable #FoodSecurity #EUHorizon

📢 This week, FEASTS had the privilege of hosting Tom MacMillan from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), who presented the findings of the Cultured Meat and Farmers project. The insights are not only highly relevant to our work but also offer opportunities to build on the knowledge generated by the project. 🤝 The meeting sparked a lively exchange on how these findings can inform FEASTS' ongoing activities, ensuring our project continues to work on key pathways to advancing sustainable food systems. 🧩 Key Takeaways: While cultured meat presents potential opportunities, UK farmers express valid concerns about: 𝘜𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘺: Unanswered questions about technology and supply chains. 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴: Questions over who benefits from this shift in food production. 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵: Effects on rural communities and traditional farming practices. That said, under the right conditions, cultured meat could: ✔️ Open new markets (e.g., supplying animal cells or by-products). ✔️ Enable on-farm production or valorisation of agricultural waste ✔️ Boost demand for high-value, conventional meat. 🐄 Farmers remain central to the story. Caring for livestock is tied to their identity and livelihoods. To achieve a sustainable and inclusive transition, we have to tradition while continuing to work on cutting edge technologies. The path forward lies in trust, collaboration, and inclusion: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 to address uncertainties. 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 to explore synergies and mutual benefits. 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 that ensure farmers' voices are heard and valued. Happy to be working together to create a future of resilient and equitable food systems! 🌍 #FoodSystems #CulturedMeat #Farmers #Innovation #FoodSecurity #EU

📃 A recent report by The Good Food Institute Europe on public and nonprofit research funding for alternative proteins in Europe since 2020 finds the rate of funding for cultivated proteins is increasing and the cultured meat sector has experienced rapid growth over the past five years. 💶 Last year cultured meat and seafood investment across Europe reached approximately €33 million. By April 2024, the total investment in cultured meat in Europe had exceeded €160 million, with the Netherlands, the UK, the EU, Norway and Spain being the top funding jurisdictions. Notable research funding comes from: ▶ the Dutch National Growth Fund, which in 2022 awarded €60 million to a consortium developing a Dutch ecosystem for cellular agriculture, focusing on cultivated meat. ▶ The CARMA - Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub (CARMA) at the University of Bath received €14 million in public funding (and a total of €25 million, including private contributions). ▶ Horizon Europe which in 2023 funded FEASTS (€7 million), the largest public investment so far in the food safety and quality of cultivated meat and seafood in Europe. ✨ The report points out several areas where advancements would significantly benefit commercial-scale production of cultured meat. These include cell line stability and growth, cell culture media costs, bio processing efficiency, and scaffolding. We are happy to say that they are the very themes of FEASTS research into sustainable technology! #EUproject #sustainability #cultivatedmeat #cellularagriculture

Last month FEASTS partner VITAL MEAT organized a tasting of its #cultured chicken in Singapore at the HUE restaurant. Vital Meat filed a regulatory dossier in the city state in November 2023 and is waiting for approval, while continuing to work on developing its product and taking part in FEASTS. The menu sounds utterly delicious with crunchy Vital Chicken crisps, a (cultured) chicken broth with ravioli infused with traditional Singaporean spices and fragrant chicken rice. Those lucky enough to get a taste included investors, industry players, officials from Singapore, along with and leading voices in the cultivated meat ecosystem. Who wouldn’t want a little taste the future? 😉 Singapore embraces a pioneering approach to cultured meat. It was the first country to approve its commercial sale in 2020 and established itself as a global hub for alternative protein research and development with a strong regulatory framework and public-private partnerships. It’s certainly an approach FEASTS is watching closely to inform some of its research. #CulturedMeat #AlternativeProtein #Innovation #EUProject #SustainableFood

🎯 At the EIT Food #NextBite24 event in Rome, Deniz Koca from project partner Lund University presented the FEASTS project, involving 35 partners from 16 countries. 🌱 Deniz outlined the project's objectives and the outcomes we're working towards, and highlighted the #food systems approach employed by the FEASTS. 🔬 FEASTS is looking into the multi-dimensional impact that #cultured meat and seafood might have on a future food system and considering the pathways and frameworks that can make it more #sustainable and fair. 🌍 As today is #WorldFoodDay it's perfect timing to engage with game-changers, thought leaders, and pioneers discussing the future of food at Next Bite! #cultivatedmeat #CellularAgriculture #AgTech #Innovation

🚀 Carlos Rodrigues took part in the 1st CARMA - Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing Hub Conference in Bath, where he presented the scope and objectives of the FEASTS project as well as sharing insights from #cultured fish research conducted by iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and the impactful work being done by FEASTS partner CellAgri Portugal and the Network of Cellular Agriculture (NCA). 💡 The conference, which many other FEASTS partners attended online, was a fantastic opportunity to find out more about the exciting progress of the CARMA project. It shares many synergies with FEASTS, so we look forward to more collaboration in the future and sharing knowledge with our colleagues! #CellularAgriculture #cultivatedmeat #EUresearch

💡 Leading Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore recently devoted an entire article to FEASTS partner Bruno Cell S.r.l. and it's research into cultured meat. 🗞 The journalist interviewed Nike Schiavo and Stefano Lattanzi who who spoke about Bruno Cell's latest patent on regulating muscle formation, developed in collaboration with UniTrento CIBIO and highlighted their work on the FEASTS project. Congratulations on your media presence! Instituto Superior Técnico, Aarhus University, Lund University, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, Univerza v Mariboru, acib GmbH, INL - International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Nord University, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, CNTA, Wageningen University & Research, Technical University of Munich, Fraunhofer-Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Oekologie IME, EIT Food, Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP), SAFE - Safe Food Advocacy Europe , EurA AG, S2AQUAcoLAB, Ecoinnovazione srl - spin off ENEA, ShakeUp Factory, INNOVETHIC e.U., New Harvest, RESPECTfarms, Rügenwalder Mühle Carl Müller GmbH & Co. KG, GOURMEY, Cultimate, VITAL MEAT, @Na Turtle AG, Institut Proteus, CellAgri Portugal, Cellular Agriculture Italy, Cellular Agriculture Greece, Cellular Agriculture Germany, Japan Association for Cellular Agriculture (JACA) 細胞農業研究機構

🎯 We are extremely happy to report that Bruno Cell S.r.l. CEO Stefano Lattanzi recently attended the summer school “AI, bioethics, sustainability and inclusion” organized by the associations SIpEIA - Società Italiana per l’Etica dell’Intelligenza Artificiale (Italian Society for the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence) and Consulta di Bioetica Onlus, with the support of prestigious Italian universities and professional associations.   🌱✨The program explored the transformations in health management brought about by AI, carefully considering the ecological and social impacts associated with technological advancement. Bruno Cell's session focused the connections between the Mediterranean diet, antimicrobial resistance, the microbiome and insects. Stefano Lattanzi used this opportunity to share insights on the field of cultured meat and its work on cell lines within the FEASTS project. 🧑🎓The conversations about AI's potential to revolutionize human life, from healthcare to food, were deeply intertwined with discussions on ethics, highlighting the need for a holistic approach to technological innovation, including to cellular agriculture. 🌱✨ It’s inspiring to see such important discussions taking place, bridging biotech, ethics, and sustainability in light of AI’s advance. Thank you, Stefano, for spreading the word about FEASTS to curious minds in Italy. #Sustainability #AI #Bioethics #CultivatedMeat #CellularAgriculture Nike Schiavo, Sara M. Oliveira

Great to see Shashank Goyal from FEASTS partner EurA AG participating in an expert workshop at the 14th edition of LCA FOOD 2024. At FEASTS Shashank is leading the work package dedicated to assessing the environmental, economic, and social impacts of different types of cultured products and production methods, so the workshop on Harmonized methods for cultivated meat LCAs creates a great synergy!