Universities are playing a central role in advancing alternative proteins by providing the research facilities, technical expertise and pilot-scale tools that companies rely on to innovate.
This investment goes beyond chasing niche market trends and supports larger efforts to strengthen global food security.
Given the scale of the challenge, stakeholders across science, regulation and commercial food production must collaborate to develop technologies and strategies capable of moving the industry forward, experts contend.
To explore this, industry experts from universities, biomanufacturing research facilities and commercial food companies joined the Bridge2Food roundtable webinar “Innovate & Collaborate - A Global Overview of Major Clusters” to discuss challenges and opportunities presented by scientific breakthroughs in advanced food biomanufacturing.
The forum highlighted institutions like the University of California, Davis, and the University of Illinois, which are emerging as key innovation hubs for the sector.
Future protein needs
The global population could be facing a protein shortage so severe that meat production would need to grow by 50% or more over the next 25 years, according to David Block, a professor at University of California, Davis, and center director for iCAMP (Integrative Center for Alternative Meat & Protein).
Meeting those demands requires expansion of conventional animal agriculture and meat alternatives, such as plant-based meat, fungal-based meat and cultivated meat, Block explained.
Scientists at iCAMP are broadening food biomanufacturing to include alternative proteins in unlikely sources such as cell-based chocolate and coffee, he said.
“The vision for iCAMP is to create the knowledge and the technology that’s going to help commercialize these products,” Block said. “A lot of these products were from companies that were started before there was much academic effort and without much information in the public domain. Our goal is to create the knowledge, technology and environment to help commercialize these.”
California is a logical home for iCAMP because of the state’s deep roots in food production. Block noted that California leads the nation with more than 6,500 food manufacturing companies.
The university and iCAMP study alternative meat and protein production from a variety of perspectives, all with the end goal of scaling up production for food manufacturers, said Block.
Ensuring food safety is critical to the effort, according to Block, who noted that “one bad incident can bring down a whole sector.” Further development of alternative meat and protein products requires new testing methods to validate their safety, and that’s where iCAMP steps in, Block said.
Proof of concept at iFAB
The Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (iFAB) Tech Hub and its Integrated Bioprocessing Research Lab (IBRL) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, also support the industry by proving concepts for new products, according to IBRL Associate Director Brian Jacobson.
He explained that Illinois has some of the world’s largest corn wet-milling plants that turn corn into starches and sweeteners like dextrose, which provide a carbon source needed for fermentation. The region is also perfectly positioned for processing cargo out of the inland port in Decatur, Ill., he said.
The iFAB facility is unique in making itself available to companies, with the guarantee that the companies’ intellectual property will remain secure, Jacobson said.
“We use what’s called a technical testing agreement that allows a company to come in, have access to our people, our equipment and our space,” he said. “They can use these for a day, a week, a month, a year. And we have a number of companies that have iterated a number of different projects or products that have gone to market over a period of years.”
The facility has helped develop everything from whiskey and beer to chocolate chip cookies, according to Jacobson. He explained that many of its projects have catered to B2B markets, but some have included food products in the consumer market.
It also help companies provide data to the FDA to receive GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) certification, Jacobson said.
He said the iFAB facility is expanding on the University of Illinois campus to better accommodate startup companies looking to relocate to Illinois. Jacobson described iFAB as the “funnel to the Midwest” in the fermentation space.
“Companies form on the coast or internationally, and they come because of our pilot plant resources, and our know-how to move through those steps,” he said.
That expansion includes a 40,000-square-foot research facility addition, which will begin construction in January 2027 and be operational in 2028. That will nearly double the pilot plant space to more than 100,000 square feet, he said.
