Whether it’s precision-engineered proteins, nutrient-rich microbial biomass, or gut-friendly classics with a modern twist, fermentation and cell cultivation promise to unlock sustainable, scalable and wildly creative solutions for what we eat, and how we produce it.
For example, the Good Food Institute estimates in just ten years, the number of cultivated meat companies founded grew from three in 2015 with fewer than 10 patents published to more than 140 companies with more than 1,500 published patents. Products ranged from foie gras to pork fat to salmon.
In the same period, the Good Food Institute notes that fermentation has expanded from a technology primarily used in 2015 to make inputs and ingredients for food to more complicated components in 2025, including bioidentical animal proteins, flavors and fats. Likewise, by the end of 2025, there were more than 163 specialized companies innovating and optimizing fermentation-derived ingredients.
The growth in both sectors underscore the diversity and vast potential of the technologies.
But both also face substantial headwinds, including high production costs, scalability limits, suppressed investor appetite and uncertain consumer acceptance to name a few.
For example, on the funding front, GFI notes cultivated meat and seafood companies raised $73.9 million in 2025 – down from $144 million the year before. Likewise, fermentation companies raised far less in 2025 at $357 million than in 2024 when they raised $632 million.
In this special edition, we explore the state of alternative agriculture and ingredient production across categories – from coffee and cocoa to meat, seafood, sweeteners and other animal proteins, like eggs.
We look at tech breakthroughs, strategic partnerships helping to scale the technology, how retailers think about fermented alternatives and where there is still investor appetite.
We examine the impact of commercial applications and regulatory updates, as well as how industry stakeholders are addressing stubborn challenges.
Explore these stories and more by clicking through on the headlines below, or for FoodNavigator-USA subscribers, by checking your inbox for the special edition on Sustainable Sourcing: From upcycling to carbon neutral to sustainable packaging.
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The state of fermentation and cultivated ingredients: Where are we now?
Precision fermentation scale-up: Inside a pilot plant for next-gen food ingredients – The University of Illinois is helping food companies move from lab breakthroughs to commercial production, working with partners like ADM and Primient
Could adding light to fermentation unlock cell cultivation’s full potential? – Climate biotech Brevel is testing its ‘illuminated fermentation’ platform across coffee, cocoa and bioactive ingredients as it seeks to scale plant-cell-based production beyond the lab
Walmart, Target rollout fuels animal-free egg white boom at Every Company – Precision fermentation player scales OvoPro production, with 550% growth in first four months of 2026
Fermentation finds its footing even as food-tech funding cools – Startups producing colors, proteins, sweeteners and specialty ingredients through fermentation are attracting investment, regulatory approvals and commercial partnerships as manufacturers seek alternatives to constrained conventional supply chains
Precision fermentation reshapes how sweetness is made – The future of sweetness may not be about replacing sugar with a single ingredient, but about redesigning how sweetness itself is built
