1 million subsidy for research into the market for meat substitutes

Meat and dairy production is responsible for 16.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Vegetable proteins have a much lower environmental impact. Utrecht University, Delft University of Technology and Wageningen UR will therefore investigate what needs to be done to enable consumers to switch to vegetable alternatives. They are collaborating with Unilever and Danone Nutricia Research, among others. NWO has awarded a grant of 1 million for this research.

Prof. Dr. Marko Hekkert (Utrecht University): "Proteins are an essential part of our daily diet and you can't just leave them out. What if you can persuade consumers to choose vegetable proteins? Compared to meat and dairy, they score 4 to 100 times better".

Multidisciplinary 

Hekkert and his fellow researchers are curious about the motives of consumers to choose whether or not to opt for vegetable proteins. In addition, they want to know what the technical conditions are for the 'protein transition'. The research is therefore based on a wide range of disciplines, namely the innovation sciences, psychology, consumer sciences and industrial design.