Sustainable Protein

Expertise in business law, IP law, animal law, and environmental law are all needed in this innovative space.

By Koren Wetmore |

The word protein connotes animal-sourced foods such as meat, fish or cheese. Those sources come at a cost, though, in terms of environmental impacts, animal suffering, and food security. That is why all eyes are on the alternative protein industry as a potential solution.

Our global community is projected to swell to 9.8 billion people by 2050. How will we feed that crowd when today’s animal farming system provides only 18 percent of the calories eaten worldwide—and does so while using more than three-quarters of the available land, adding to greenhouse gas emissions, and driving deforestation?

The alternative protein industry draws from sources as diverse as plants, algae, and lab-grown meat (cell-based), and shifts the focus away from industrial animal agriculture. Alt-protein garnered $3.1 billion in investments in 2020 and another $5 billion last year, bolstering a food biotech space where multiple areas of legal expertise converge.

Drawing from sources as diverse as plants, algae, and lab-grown meat (cell-based), alt-protein shifts the focus away from industrial animal agriculture.

“This emerging industry requires people with the brains and experience—in business, environmental, animal, and food law—to help guide its development in a way that’s sustainable for the earth, people, and animals,” said professor of law and the Brooks McCormick Jr. Scholar of Animal Law and Policy Pamela Frasch, founder of the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS). “Lewis & Clark has deep expertise in all of these areas, which uniquely positions our graduates to become important contributors to this rapidly growing field.”

Aware of the alt-protein market’s potential and investments by big players such as Tyson and Cargill…

Published in The Advocate, Fall 2022