The Good Food Institute

LOCATION: Washington D.C., USA

SUMMARY: The Good Food Institute (GFI) is creating a healthy, humane, and sustainable food supply. We address the harms of industrial animal agriculture by harnessing technology and market-based solutions to make alternatives to conventional animal products as delicious, price-competitive, and convenient as possible.

PROBLEM SPACE: Despite the fact that scientists, public health authorities, environmentalists, and others have flagged industrial animal agriculture as a problem for environmental sustainability, food security, public health, and animal protection, global meat consumption continues to rise at unsustainable levels. Moreover, to meet this growing demand for meat, our food system has shifted to large-scale, industrialized methods of raising farm animals for food. The small-scale, regenerative farming of our grandparents generation now exists for only a tiny fraction of animal product production. Given the significant problems associated with raising animals for food, it is neither sustainable nor feasible to attempt to meet this demand with our current methods of industrialized animal agriculture. Unfortunately, though, the vast majority of consumers does not (and will not) consider sustainability, climate change, or animal welfare in their food purchasing decisions. Studies consistently show that the primary factors guiding any consumer’s eating choices are taste, price, and convenience. Quite simply, giving up meat is difficult or impossible for most people primarily due to a lack of appetizing and affordable products that could serve as alternatives to conventional meat products.

SOLUTION: “GFI focuses on accelerating the market expansion of affordable and appetizing plant-based and äóìclean meat (meat grown from cell culture) alternatives to conventional animal products. We are taking ethics off the table for consumers by making the sustainable and humane choice the default choice. Our strategy seeks to ensure that plant-based and clean meats succeed with consumers and policy makers and that the science develops and commercializes as quickly as possible. Specifically, we offer entrepreneurs and startups guidance, expertise, and access to experts. In the public sector, we collaborate with government through statutory and regulatory lobbying and other work; we also work through academia, with scientists who are interested in advancing plant-based and clean meat research and development.

The milk market models the feasibility of our strategy: Plant-based milk commanded a very small portion of the milk market just 15 years ago, and now it is roughly 10 percent and growing, not because anyone raised ethical concerns with milk production, but because these products are delicious, convenient, and cost-competitive with animal-based milk. Plant-based meat commands just .25% of the current meat market, but we are confident that plant-based meat can catch up with and surpass the success of plant-based milk.”

UPDATE (2018): Click to view a TEDx talk by the Executive Director of the Good Food Institute: http://bit.ly/2nA6DuA

CONTACT: [email protected]