A roadmap for the future of the alternative protein sector in the UK.  

Report by UKRI, June 2022.

The UKRI Transforming Food Production (TFP) team and Growing Kent & Medway both recognise the emerging opportunity in the alternative protein sector, and have come together to explore the UK priorities for industry, academia, regulatory bodies and funders. This was achieved through the development of a focussed workshop to provide a series of roadmaps for key categories of alternative proteins. The workshop brought together relevant stakeholder experts to determine the UK capabilities and capacity in the alternative protein sector, and where future investments can be targeted to maximise impact. The workshop objectives were to:

• Provide a catalyst to build effective consortia
• Identify project concepts for forthcoming competitions
• Provide a consolidated view of opportunities and barriers in the sector
• Prioritise Technological, Commercial, Regulatory and Consumer actions required across short- (1-2 yrs.), medium- (2-5 yrs.), long- (5-10 yrs.) and very long- (10 yrs.+) term timescales to realise a competitive UK alternative protein sector.

This activity builds upon a previous ‘Alternative Proteins Roadmapping Workshop’ held on 23rd March 2021, the aim of which was to develop a conversation between the TFP programme, participating funded companies and a selection of stakeholders to create a shared vision and preliminary roadmap for the UK alternative protein sector. A link to the report and roadmap can be found here: (https://www.ukri.org/wp-content/ uploads/2021/08/UKRI-060821-Alternative ProteinsRoadmapSummaryReport.pdf).

This latest online workshop, held on 22nd February 2022, brought together 30 attendees, all experts from this specialised sector – including senior managers and technical professionals from both UK SMEs, and large businesses in each of the priority sectors listed below. In addition, leading researchers from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and representatives from UKRI, Defra, industry bodies, regulators and policy makers associated with alternative protein food products were invited. The priority sectors for workshop participants were:

• Plant proteins – pulses, extracts from other plants, agri-food side streams etc
• Fermentation – proteins from fermentation-based systems (based on algae, bacteria, fungi or gas-/ energy-based systems), and cell culture technologies that are primarily developing lab meat products
• Novel systems – new aquaculture, insect proteins

The workshop produced a series of roadmaps, one for each priority sector, with expert insight into the current status of the sector, the size of the opportunity and the barriers, and detailed information on the following aspects: Technical; Commercial; Regulatory; Consumer insight.