New Harvest hosts FEASTS 2nd General Assembly

Greetings!

Last month, New Harvest hosted the 2nd general assembly of FEASTS, an EU Horizon project researching the foundational technologies and socio-economic impacts of cultured meat and seafood (CM/CSF), set within a food system thinking approach. The purpose of this assembly was to review results of our first year of work, as well as to identify what we expect to achieve through the half-way point of the project. But it was not limited to internal discussions. The entire last day was open beyond consortium partners, and we held two separate workshops, at the start and end of the 3 day event, to actively engage with external stakeholders.

The event went very well, outside of some technical problems during the opening workshop (apologies to those affected). I was glad to see the progress that has been made so far, and the presentations really allowed me to understand how things were falling into place. The amount of information would be too much to share in a newsletter, but briefly we are making progress at identifying: 1) the technological foundations & complexity of CM/CSF, 2) the stakeholders involved with & potentially affected by the emergence of CM/CSF, 3) the views of consumers, potential adopters, and those in the current food supply/value chains, 4) aspects related to safety, nutrition, and regulatory concerns, and 5) methods for better evaluating potential impact.

We were also able to identify gaps we need to close within our research, especially where information is needed to be shared between work packages, as well as to harmonize lines of research to fit within a food systems thinking model. In some cases, this will mean selecting scenarios with specific technological methods and forms of implementation that will act as “case studies”, which can then be expanded to include other scenarios within this or future projects.

Ultimately, the goal of FEASTS is to be a trusted resource of unbiased information about CM/CSF, with results (data, physical products, or tools) lasting beyond the lifetime of the project. This meeting left me confident that we are on the right path to achieving our aims.

I want to end by thanking everyone who attended our meeting and workshops, consortium partners and external stakeholders alike… too many to name here… with a special thanks to: Frederico Ferriera, Teresa Esteves, Goncalo Fernando (all IST-ID) and Anna Hadrych (EIT-Food) who helped secure the location, as well as organize and run the event; Luigi Tozzi (SAFE) for organizing and moderating the opening workshop (where he bravely kept it running despite  technical problems beyond his control); Ira van Eelen (RespectFarms, CANS), her family, and Ronald Visschers (CANS) who welcomed attendees to Amsterdam with a delicious homemade Indonesian dinner on her boat (more about this in a future newsletter); and finally to the many people from Capital C (for the excellent venue and catering), and CT-Group (for providing essential audio-visual equipment and support) who made our event possible.

Thank you!

Dr. Dwayne Holmes
Director of Responsible Research & Innovation, EU
dwayne@new-harvest.org | New Harvest

P.S. For context, FEASTS sees thirty-give groups from seventeen countries collaborating to advance our understanding of cultured meat and seafood and the impact it may have on the EU as part of a groundbreaking, collaborative research programme funded by the European Union’s research and innovation Horizon programme.

Here’s our blog and the press release for the launch of FEASTS from Q1 2024, and a blog from Q3 2024 announcing my elected role as Executive Director of FEASTS, and the consortium’s official website.