A total of 36 universities worldwide are now involved in the GFI's "Alt Protein Project", each with its own project. These include the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, Duke, UC Davis, Melbourne, Cornell, Chapel Hill, Tufts, Tel Aviv and Utrecht.
One of the ways alternative proteins differ from most proteins found in commercially available foods is that their production generally involves less use of agricultural land and fewer climate-damaging emissions. They are found in sustainably grown crops, but also in products from sustainable livestock farming or in fermentation-based products. Through their research, teaching and knowledge transfer activities, GFI and its Alt Protein Project members aim to ensure that some pressing global challenges – food security, climate change mitigation and sustainable agriculture – can be addressed with the help of new food systems in which alternative proteins play a central role.
Alexandra Molitorisová, Federica Ronchetti and Alessandro Monaco’s "Bayreuth-Kulmbach Alt Protein Project" earned them membership to the GFI’s Alt Protein Project. They were supported by Prof. Dr. Kai Purnhagen, Chair of Food Law at the University of Bayreuth’s campus in Kulmbach. Students, lecturers and researchers of the University of Bayreuth are invited to contribute their expertise to this project. At the Faculty of Life Sciences in Kulmbach, a course entitled "Alternative Proteins: Policies & Regulation" is currently being designed, which will be offered as an elective in the master's programme Global Food, Nutrition & Health. Other plans include regular networking meetings with project teams from other Alt Protein Project member universities, fireside chats on the topic of "Alternative Proteins," cafeteria events and barbecues featuring alternative protein products, Slow Food events with fermentation experiments, and fishbowl debates on political and legal aspects – and much more. There will also be opportunities for startups and students who want to develop and implement their own business plans in the field of alternative proteins. "All in all, it's about combining research, teaching, collaboration and fun," says Alessandro Monaco.
Contact for scientific information:
Prof. Dr. Kai Purnhagen
Chair of Food Law
Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition & Health
University of Bayreuth
Phone: +49 (0)9221 - 4071020
E-mail: kai.purnhagen@uni-bayreuth.de
Alexandra Molitorisová
Chair of Food Law
Phone: +49 (0)9221 - 4071023
E-Mail: alexandra.molitorisova@uni-bayreuth.de
Alessandro Monaco
Chair of Food Law
Phone: +49 (0)9221 - 4071027
E-Mail: alessandro.monaco@uni-bayreuth.de
