Exclusive: Food System Innovations Unveils $2M Lab to Speed Up Sustainable Protein Development

Food System Innovations has launched a Sustainable Protein Action Lab with the goal of accelerating sustainable protein development for future food companies. The lab aims to address the research funding gap in the industry by providing open-source research expertise to improve product development efficiency and affordability. Led by lab lead Liz Specht, the initiative includes the Data Garden, a $2M platform that generates standardized ingredient performance data to inform product development decisions.

The Data Garden analyzes plant-based ingredients to provide actionable insights for both suppliers and product developers, reducing the time and cost needed for trial and error in product development. By creating a public, reusable evidence base for the sustainable protein industry, the lab hopes to eliminate bottlenecks in innovation and advance progress across the sector. Future initiatives by Food System Innovations will focus on addressing challenges related to ingredient functionality, biomanufacturing, and scalability in sustainable protein categories.