Plenary Opening

• Welcome & Opening - Dr. Luis Angel Fernandez, Vice President Strategic Development Flavours, MANE and Vincent Brain, General Manager at Bridge2Food
• The Real Challenge for Plant-Based Meat: Solving a Problem Consumers Don’t Have - Andre Menezes, co-founder & former CEO TiNDLE

The alternative protein industry was built on a simple assumption: if plant-based meat could match animal meat on price, taste, and convenience, consumer demand would follow. But reality has shown otherwise. The fundamental challenge is that plant-based meat is solving a problem that consumers don’t truly feel. Meat is not only widely available, affordable, and convenient—it is also increasingly seen as natural, nutritious, and desirable. Without a strong consumer-driven reason to switch, adoption remains limited.

To break through, the industry must look beyond imitation and learn from other sectors that have successfully reshaped consumer behavior. What lessons can be drawn from industries that have introduced new products, not by mimicking the incumbent, but by offering something uniquely valuable? This talk will explore those insights and challenge the way we think about the future of alternative proteins.

• Panel: Mimicking Meat & Dairy: Does It Solve a Large Base Consumer or Customer Problems? - Andre Menezes, Dr. Patrick Bühr, Rügenwalder Mühle, Dr. Caroline Orfila-Jenkins, Oatly & Marion Höchli, Planted

This panel will look into key questions such as: 

1. If consumers are not trying to reduce meat, is mimicking animal products the best way to achieve mass adoption, or does it restrict innovation and new paradigms?

2. The demand for plant-based meat remained underwhelming, even in cases in which price, taste, and convenience (PTC) parity has been achieved. If sustainability and animal welfare are not broad pain points, what pain points can be solved by plant based meat?

3. If consumers need to give up (even if partially) meat, how can plant-based meat redefine its value proposition to be seen as desirable, rather than a compromise?

4. What explains the contrasting growth trajectories of plant-based dairy versus meat analogues? What lessons can be applied across categories? PB Milk is not cheaper, it does not have better nutritional value and it is not more convenient.

5. What role does consumer education play in shaping perceptions of plant-based products, and how can the industry improve?

6. How can the industry balance niche appeal with the goal of mainstream acceptance?

• Cultivated Meat; The Promise, The Progress and the Road Ahead - Maarten Bosch, MOSA MEAT

Cultivated meat—a groundbreaking technology that produces real meat without the need to raise or slaughter animals—has long been seen as a promising solution for the future of food. By eliminating many of the negative externalities associated with traditional meat production, while still delivering the same taste and nutrition, it offers a compelling path forward in the global shift toward more sustainable protein sources.

What was once a revolutionary idea is now steadily becoming reality. But where do we currently stand, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead?