Over the past few years, food technology has seen an upsurge in innovation. In areas like precision fermentation and cultivated meat, start-ups have proliferated, patents have multiplied, and production has often become more efficient, despite ongoing challenges in the sectors.
According to Kim Odhner, co-founder and managing partner at Unovis Asset Management, the meat alternatives industry is moving away from direct meat replacements. “In 2025, I expect that the food industry will continue its pivot from focusing heavily on direct meat replacements, such as plant-based burgers or cultured meats, to investing in high-value strategic ingredients with applications across food, nutraceuticals, and functional foods.”
For example, it will focus on emerging technologies such as metabolic engineering (using microorganisms like yeast or bacteria to produce nutrients, vitamins, or flavour-enhancing compounds), synthetic biology (programming microbes to produce certain types of proteins, which may be used to replace animal-derived proteins) and transgenics (inserting genes into microorganisms or plants to express desired traits).
