Patents for alternative protein products jumped 960% in the last 10 years, with European companies and public research organisations publishing 1,191 patents related to the development of plant-based foods, cultivated meat and fermentation last year – compared to just 124 in 2015.
The research, which highlighted the rapid rate of alternative protein innovation, also found that more than 5,000 patents have been published since 2015, with the publication rate up 32% on average each year.
Plant-based domination
Innovation was dominated by research into plant-based foods, with nearly 4,000 patents published since 2015 – representing 74% of the total. A much smaller number of patents have been published relating to cultivated meat and precision fermentation.
Meat was most common end product, followed by dairy, but just 1% of all patent families – groups of documents related to the same invention – related to alternative seafood.
The report highlighted the need for more research to stimulate innovation – particularly in areas like developing better culture media to enable animal cells to grow and finding more efficient microbial strains as a basis for fermentation-made food.
It also found that important technologies needed to ensure these foods are as tasty and affordable as animal-based products remained overlooked, and more open-access research capable of advancing the field was urgently needed.
Highly neglected
Research into areas such as breeding better protein crops to provide the raw ingredients for plant-based products was also highly neglected.
Dr David Hunt, research support manager at GFI Europe, said: “This report reveals the rapid pace of Europe’s alternative protein innovation. However, alongside the exciting breakthroughs, we find that key areas needed to commercialise these foods are being overlooked, and there is a risk that some countries may be left behind.
“In order to drive green growth and boost food security, governments and funding bodies must build a thriving ecosystem by providing more opportunities for public research organisations to collaborate closely with private companies. This would deliver open access innovation that will benefit the entire field and help bring findings to market more quickly.”
Meanwhile, adoption of meat alternatives would likely be higher if they cost less than animal-based products, according to a new study.
