Despite significant technical progress, the adoption of diversified food and feed ingredients continues to lag climate pressures and rising demand. The central challenge is sequencing: companies seek proven supply before committing, while innovators need early demand. The result is that many promising solutions remain on the margins of mainstream supply chains. Shared application contexts are one such enabler. New proteins, fats and fibres gain traction when they address immediate system challenges, such as stabilizing feed supply, reducing dependence on volatile imports or improving nutrition in institutional settings. When innovators, buyers and producers agree on where an ingredient provides clear near- term value, investment and procurement decisions become easier. Pre-competitive exchange reduces first-mover risk. Few companies are willing to carry adoption costs alone when returns remain uncertain. Neutral platforms that allow firms to share performance data, methodologies and standards help establish common baselines. This reduces duplication, improves comparability across trials and lowers the costs of determining when an ingredient is ready for integration into supply chains. Partnerships that connect business, government, producers and finance provide the infrastructure needed for scale. Coordinated investment in processing capacity or regulatory assessments can bridge the gap between technical readiness and commercial maturity. When these partnerships focus on shared outcomes such as climate adaptation, nutrition and resilience, they ensure that public and private resources support system-wide benefits. The European Agri-Food Biotech Alliance, convened by EIT Food, provides one such mechanism by connecting industry, researchers, start-ups and policy-makers to overcome fragmentation, and accelerate biotechnology solutions that enhance Europe’s strategic resilience while building a more sustainable and competitive food system. Consumer demand is as important as supply-side enablers for food ingredients. Expectations around health, sustainability and protein availability shape corporate sourcing and influence adoption decisions. For many larger companies, clarity on consumer acceptance is a core part of the risk calculation when considering new ingredients. Clear labelling and consumer education can support informed choices, while subsidies, already common in other parts of the food system, may also influence adoption pathways. For feed applications, cost, consistency and performance remain the main drivers. Ultimately, however, adoption will depend on creating a significant economic case. Substitution will only occur at scale when novel ingredients can match or undercut the cost of conventional options, which is complicated by entrenched subsidy structures. For farmers, especially a new generation considering entry, viable income and predictable returns are decisive. Sustainability and resilience are important drivers, but cost parity and supply assurance remain decisive for widespread integration. Taken together, these conditions suggest that ingredient innovation is moving forward, but the pace must accelerate. Clear application contexts, mechanisms for collective evaluation, partnerships that spread risk and an economic case that works for farmers and producers can shorten the distance from pilot to practice. Strengthening smallholder economics broadens production, reducing supply shocks and reliance on few crops. With these in place, ingredient innovation can become a central tool in building food systems that are more resilient, sustainable and capable of meeting future demand.Enablers for adoption Ingredient Innovation: Pathways to Resilient Food Systems Food Innovators Network 7

Ingredient Innovation Pathways to Resilient Food Systems 2025