Healthy food for all at scale

Covid-19 has highlighted the fragility of our current food systems and as we seek to rebuild them, we must simultaneously address their impact on human and environmental health. At the Forum for the Future of Agriculture annual event, I attended a panel discussing the urgent need for the delivery of healthy food for all at scale. The participants argued that our food systems need dramatic reorganisation — they have largely failed to end world hunger, the task for which they were originally designed, and they are understood to cause 1/3 of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Aside from this, populations across the globe have seen a significant increase in diet-related health issues such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The panel featured: Shenggen Fan, Chair Professor and Dean for the Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy at the China Agricultural University; Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director at GAIN; Brent Loke, Global Food Lead Scientist at WWF; and Berry J Marttin, Member of the Managing Board at Rabobank. The panel unanimously agreed that food security must be achieved within environmental limits and without undermining ecosystem health. Current food systems are focused on economic gain and they suggested that sustainable transitions require balancing economic concerns with environmental and societal ones.

Within our current globalised food system, it would be almost impossible to prevent consumers from purchasing products that come with a detrimental environmental impact. Yet, as panel members suggested, if our transport systems are decarbonised and environmentally centred policies are enacted by governments around the world, the total impact of individual products would be minimised. As we continue to trade food globally, it seems that strategic decisions based on where food can be grown most effectively will also need to occur. One of the potential solutions highlighted by the panel was the concept of true pricing, whereby the price of food reflects both the environmental cost and its nutritional value. Foods with a detrimental environmental and health impact would be priced higher than those to the contrary. This is an intriguing idea, and one that would certainly encourage consumers to make more sustainable purchasing decisions. As with many potential solutions to our food system problems, however, it would likely face heavy opposition from food producers who would bear the economic brunt of such changes; the panel highlighted that any attempted changes to the way we produce, buy, and eat food will require a careful balancing act of interests to ensure that such changes are embraced by the majority. If we are to feed 10 billion people by 2050, our global food systems need to be reassessed and redesigned to meet both the problems of today, and those of the future. World leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors must consider all options that facilitate the production of sustainable, nutritious food for all at scale.

Action Track 1: Ensuring Access to Safe and Nutritious Food For All

As part of the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021, I attended the Public Forum, Action Track 1: Ensure Access to Safe and Nutritious Food for All. I heard from Lawrence Haddad with Global Alliance For Improved Nutrition (GAIN), and Corinna Hawkes, Lead on the Working Group for Nutritious Foods. Lawrence Haddad, Chair of Action Track 1 presented the group’s structure, to promote transparency, and encourage feedback on their projects. The leadership team has grown to 70, as more membership states have joined. The three working groups encompass: Zero Hunger, Nutritious Foods, and Food Safety, each working with Levers of Change in human rights, gender, innovation, and finance to come up with ideas and improve nutrition. The team generate ideas within their working groups, google forms, and interacting with a range of stakeholders. The team then work on ideas in three simultaneous ways. Identifying candidate ideas, and assessing for potential impact, whilst identifying and building support for the idea, ensuring it is sustainable, and operationalising the idea, making it potentially actionable. Haddad outlined the ten ideas they are currently working on, including African Youth for Agricultural Transformation, Strengthening Land Governance, Wiping Out Wasting, and Diverse Diets for Young Children. Corinna Hawkes, Lead on the Working Group for Nutritious Foods, highlighted how game changer ideas are necessary but must work on how to make that change, not just identifying the fundamentals that need to change. The aim should be game-changing in the context of people’s real lives, and be purposefully designed to change the rules of the game. These collective actions should then lead to a fundamental shift in the way food systems operate, offering benefits across food system outcomes. A current problem, is that ‘unhealthy’ foods are affordable, appealing, and everywhere, unlike nutritious foods. This issue can be tackled in many ways, including equitable food marketing, creating more transparency around food and global coordination for food environment policies for healthier children. An investment of mine, Aloha, aims to combat ‘unhealthy’ foods by introducing clean, organic plant-based snacking alternatives without sacrificing on taste, thereby boosting consumer nutrition. As an investor within the food industry I am excited to see the collaborations that materialise as a result of this public forum to boost awareness of the innovative solutions being developed by companies like Aloha to the issues surrounding global nutrition.

The Halo Effect in Food Selection

I recently attended the Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) Conference 2020, which included several thought-provoking and varied presentations. 

Heidi Zamzow from the London school of economics and political science gave an incredibly engaging presentation on a psychological effect known as the ‘halo’ effect. She opened her talk with “do you think David Attenborough pays his taxes on time”. The Halo effect is where our initial evaluations tend to influence (or cast a halo on) our later evaluations. In this example, as Attenborough is beloved by many in the UK, many of us may assume he does pay his taxes on time without any evidence proving this. This study focused on whether this halo effect could influence our food choices. Heidi referenced a fascinating 2012 study led by Jonathon Schuldt that had people estimate the number of calories in a chocolate bar. When told the chocolate manufacturers treated their workers ethically, the participants infer the chocolate had fewer calories. However, when told they treated their workers poorly, calories were inferred to be higher. This shows an ‘ethical halo’ affected people’s views on the chocolate. Heidi questioned whether an ‘environmental halo’ could do the same. The answer was yes - an environmental halo will lead to positive product recommendations. Interestingly the effect of a negative halo was stronger than a positive halo which was attributed to negativity bias (otherwise known as the idea that bad is more powerful than good).   Patricia Eustachio Colombo from the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, also spoke on an intervention study on the effects of more sustainable and nutritional school meals. This sort of change could be a significant contributor to both environmental change and lowered levels of obesity. The latter is frequently addressed by healthcare experts as key in the fight against the Covid-19 crisis. School meals reach children for at least one meal per day and often cover a large part of public; in the UK the school catering industry alone is worth £1.2 billion a year. Therefore, optimising these to promote health and climate change friendly dietary habits could be ground-breaking. Something I found interesting about her presentation was the delicate balance of aligning the different health objectives with the climate change ones.  I think these presentations really showed how consumers are rethinking what they eat and buy is growing the plant-based meat substitute market. This trend is, in my view, an incredibly attractive investment. As an active investor, spotting trends early is very important, which is why I have chosen to invest in companies that offer plant-based alternatives such as ALOHA and JUST.

Supermarkets: a drive towards sustainability?

I heard so many thought-provoking presentations from outstanding academics at the Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) Conference 2020. 

One such talk was given by Joanna Trewern from the Centre for Environment & Sustainability, University of Surrey. Her study focused on the intervention in supermarkets for “less and better meat”. She found that retailers have no targets or strategies for reducing meat sales, however many are trying to focus on more sustainable meat, for example, locally sourced. Some intend to make targets for plant-based products, and indeed recently Tesco has set a sales target for plant-based alternatives. Many supermarkets did not feel they had the duty to influence customer attitudes and demands, merely to reflect them. This is something I found very interesting, especially in light of the next presentation I heard which was from Cristina Stewart at the University of Oxford, who spoke on meat consumption trends in the UK. It is well known that reducing meat consumption protects the environment, but that globally average per capita meat consumption is increasing. In UK beef consumption needs to decrease 89% to stay within planetary boundaries. This study took place from 2008/9-2016/17. Groups were categorised by year of birth rather than age group. An interesting find was that the youngest survey group- born after 1999- are the only group increasing their consumption. Although they did have a lower starting base point, I found this a surprising trend. The study found that on average daily meat intake decreased by 12g per day, 8.4 g of which was red meat. In contrast, white meat consumption increased. This distinction is significant - as is well documented, frequent and sustained consumption of red meat has negative impacts upon health. This trend in decreasing meat consumption and an increase in plant-based foods is, in my view, an incredibly attractive investment. As an active investor, spotting trends early is important, which is why I have chosen to invest in companies that offer plant-based alternatives such as ALOHA and JUST.

Public attitudes to lab-grown food and other problems

I recently attended the University of Oxford’s Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) Conference, which included a fascinating panel discussion of attitudes towards lab-grown food, specifically with regard to cultured meat and how the use of such products may be encouraged.

An analysis of Twitter responses discussing cultured meat found a polarisation of views on the matter. On one side, there are the potential benefits in reducing animal cruelty, food shortages, and reduce the spread of disease from animals to humans. Research has also suggested that lab-grown meat could have potential health benefits, with the potential for products with no saturated fat or growth hormones - important considerations to note given the current strains on global healthcare systems. On the other hand, there is a perception that measures (such as a meat tax) to incentivise the consumption of lab-grown products is an infringement upon freedom, with diet seen as a highly personal choice. This pushback comes with a counter-narrative about these products being non-natural, in addition to having to contend with religious rules and cultural traditions relating to meat. Further to the current issues of public perception, cultured meat products also come up against the hurdle that although the replacement of livestock would reduce methane production (a short-lived greenhouse gas), the industrial production of these products would increase CO2 production (conversely, a long-life greenhouse gas). There is the possibility that this could be counteracted by the use of renewable energy to power the production process, although there is still some way to go in the area of renewables before sufficient supply for this is available. However, although the production of lab-grown meat powered by renewable energy may invoke the image of a distant future, this situation may not be too far off – with a growing push for both renewable energy and alternatives to conventional meat products. There are several obstacles that any artificially produced meat product will need to overcome in order to be successful when the technology required to mass produce lab-grown food becomes available. However, the possibilities here are exciting and I keenly await hearing about the developments in this area.

Women of Wearables: Transforming Healthcare with AI

In the last year, we have seen transformation of healthcare in ways we might not have expected, and is now more accessible, driven by technology and focused on prevention.  As part of the Women of Wearables conference, I attended a panel discussion on how artificial intelligence (AI) can transform healthcare. The pandemic has been a catalyst for change in adoption of AI and adoption of digital technology. The panel discussed the challenges and benefits of using AI within their respective sectors.

It might be thought that regulations may be the biggest barrier to innovation within healthcare, but, Rebecca Wray, Associate Director in Digital Health Oncology at Astra Zeneca said it is the quality of data, and access to it. Access to large-scale, quality data is hugely expensive, and can be a major barrier. Hadeel Ayoub, founder of start-up BrightSign explained how this impacted her, and it meant she chose to collect her own data.

New solutions requiring new data, existing data being held inconsistently and lack of access to data due to privacy concerns pose further challenges for AI in healthcare. The panel also discussed the problems in research and development of AI, especially regarding inbuilt biases that may emerge. Melissa Berthelot, CEO of WarnerPatch explained that all data will be biased to some extent, and is recognised when ethical approval is sought.

One of my investments, Owkin, transforms data into knowledge, and combats some of these challenges. Owkin recognised that researchers, doctors and biologists benefit from available data, however, being able to extract insights becomes more challenging. Owkin’s solution is to build collective intelligence from distributed data at scale, which can provide personalised treatments for everyone without impacting on privacy.

Currently, we cannot expect AI to replace human intuitive aspects, as algorithms cannot assess the context of a patient’s life, but it can be employed in certain situations to alleviate pressure on doctors. As an investor in this space, I am excited to see how AI continues to contribute to innovation within healthcare, ultimately developing faster and more effective treatments for patients.

The Circular Economy

The European Union has set itself an ambitious and necessary goal of obtaining no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, the European Union has outlined the Circular Economy Strategy Plan, which challenges the traditional methods for the manufacturing, use and disposal of goods. It is also a plan underpinned by the transition to renewable energy resources. For its part, the Spanish government has highlighted the objective to transition to a circular economy which is conducive to the change in behaviour of consumers. This will enable Spain, among other European countries, to transition towards a sustainable energy model. With my busines interest in emerging technologies, I am intrigued as to how manufacturers can put sustainability at the heart of their businesses and whether consumer mentality can be changed to promote the repurposing and recycling of products. New technology and products are created every day; yet for most, their life cycle is linear. Natural resources are extracted, the product is made, it is used by the consumer and then it is thrown away. The Circular Economy Action Plan challenges this model. It proposes a closed loop which would restrict the single use of products. This model replicates the processes of nature, as once an organism decomposes, its nutrients return to the soil which supports the growth and development of new organisms. Transitioning to a circular economy will aid the European Union to support a regenerative growth model that gives back to the planet more than it takes. This model isn’t only crucial to achieve the protection of our planet, it helps protect consumers, makes business sense for manufacturers and promotes competitiveness within the European Single Market. The model protects customers as it advocates for high-quality, functional and safe products, which are efficient and affordable, last longer and are designed for reuse, repair and high-quality recycling. Consumers would be empowered to repair their own products, rather than buying a new product simply because one component in the original product no longer functions. It could also reduce costs as rather than owning a specific product, consumers could licence the use of the product for a fixed term before it is returned to the manufacturer to be repurposed. The transition to a circular economy also makes business sense. The closed loop model for the production of goods could increase the profitability of manufacturers whilst sheltering them from resource price fluctuations. Currently manufacturing firms in the European Union spend about 40% on materials. Production costs could be reduced as consumers could provide them with the products to be repurposed and replaced. A circular economy decouples manufacturers from the availability of the finite raw materials and enables them to become more self-sufficient. In support of the initiative, the International Energy Agency has advocated for policies, which would increase recycling of aluminium, steel, paper and plastics, and material efficiency strategies. Transitioning to a circular economy will also encourage innovation and design whilst promoting competitiveness. A premium will be placed on companies which can implement technology for the effective repurposing of recycled raw materials. Practical hurdles remain to implement such an ambitious project across the whole of the European Union, yet I look forward to seeing how companies respond to the proposals and how they can apply ingenious solutions to increase the use of renewable energy and materials.

LEAP Conference 2020: Is lab-grown meat the future?

At the recent Livestock, Environment and People (LEAP) Conference with the University of Oxford, I was very interested to hear about the benefits of lab-grown or cultured meat in a talk by Professor Burkhard Schafer. I also found Professor Schafer’s discussion of some of the issues in bringing cultured meat products to the market highly illuminating. Cultured meat can be grown through the replication of a small number of animal cells to produce a meat product that is the essentially same as a conventional meat product in all but its source. This brings with it the benefit of bringing no harm to any animals in the making of the product. Additionally, this also brings the benefit of reducing the risk of disease transfer between animals and humans (a process known as zoonosis) which as I am sure you are aware is now a particularly important concern – the world having experienced the dangers this can bring. Research has also suggested that lab-grown meat could have health benefits, with the potential for products with no saturated fat or growth hormones - important considerations to note given the current strains on global healthcare systems. Although currently produced on a small scale at eye-watering cost, if the process of producing cultured meat can be industrialised it would also have the potential to solve food shortages. Despite the wide range of benefits that cultured meat could bring, Professor Schafer also identified a number of possible barriers that these products may meet in coming to the market. For example, the religious and cultural conventions associated with meat, possible health and safety concerns, and the likely stubbornness of the conventional meat industry are all likely to be at issue. In the case of the latter, a similar issue was seen when margarine was first brought to the market in the late 19th century and it seems likely similar resistance would be met here. After this talk, I’m fascinated to see how the technology in this sector progresses to allow for mass production of cultured meat products, and also how the potential barriers to the market are overcome.

Is GreenTech a ‘New Industrial Revolution’?

As an early investor in both the healthcare and biotech sectors, I am always on the lookout for good opportunities to support early stage companies utilising the latest advancements in technology, for example the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning – to improve the health and wellbeing of people across the world. My focus when I first invested in these areas was to support companies whose mission is to help people live longer and healthier lives; and this remains my focus today. Although our portfolio is predominantly focused on healthcare, I’ve long been an advocate for the powerful convergence of technology and science to unlock the potential to make real improvements to the environment, and this will be an area I look forwards to closely following in the coming months. Green technology is a fast-growing area of investment, covering areas such as waste recycling, marine solar, water purification and reuse, energy storage for solar and wind energy, autonomous greenhouses and renewable hydrogen as a fuel source. It's also about innovating the tech that underpins clean energy production such as solar and wind, part of the essential drive to move us away from our deeply damaging global dependence on fossil fuels. The market is still relatively young, but forward-thinking venture capitalists have seen the opportunity, financially and sustainably. A white paper, published today, indicates the Government is beginning to catch up with both the environmental and market demand, realigning its priorities to rebuild the economy with a focus on tech such as innovations to capture and store carbon dioxide, hydrogen fuel cells and offshore wind farms — as well as exploring the potential of artificial intelligence. Boris Johnson built his 2019 election campaign around a promise to help underperforming regions in the UK and this new industrial strategy with its emphasis on green tech is seen as one way to help level the playing field. The future of sustainable societies is inextricably bound up with the ability to create integrated and effective change using all of the talent and innovation we have available. New perspectives are crucial — at all levels. It’s not enough to have national economic growth if local economies are shrinking and concentrating on flattening regional inequality underlines the recognition that a green recovery from coronavirus can't be achieved in just one place. The UK needs investment across every part of the country to boost productivity and this includes looking beyond London to industry centres such as Manchester and Birmingham, as well as the science and technology corridor between Oxford and Cambridge. And for tech start-ups working on green initiatives in underperforming regions and looking for investment, this top-level shift could light the fire under a rocket of innovation that is currently still on the launchpad. Is it a ‘new industrial revolution’? Perhaps not yet. But with a concerted change in industrial strategy that prioritises green tech it’s a chance to rebuild our economy nationally and locally with bricks of opportunity in vital areas such as clean energy, infrastructure and transport. Short-term it can help us to rebound practically from a year of economic and social challenge and restore faith in our ability as a country to create and sustain healthy growth, in the long-term it may prove to be the investment with the biggest return of all — a sustainable, resilient society with a more equal investment in and opportunity for all. Nicole Junkermann is an international entrepreneur and investor, and the founder of NJF Holdings, an international investment company with interests in venture capital, private equity, and real estate. Through NJF’s venture capital arm (NJF Capital), Nicole oversees a portfolio similar in size to a small venture fund across Europe and the US, including in healthcare, fintech, and deep tech.