Animal Proteins and Novel Foods: Why Balance Is the Future of Food Innovation
The debate on proteins is too often framed as a battle between past and future, animal proteins and alternative sources, tradition and innovation. At the Onfoods webinar, I argued that the real challenge is not replacement, but balance.
Animal Proteins and Novel Foods: Why Balance Is the Future of Food Innovation
Speaking at the Onfoods seminar “Proteins: Always Essential, Now Alternative”, organized by the University of Parma and the University of Pavia, I focused on one central idea: balance is the most useful method to discuss the future of proteins.
Food debates are increasingly shaped by binary oppositions: animal versus plant-based, traditional versus innovative, natural versus artificial, sustainable versus unsustainable. But food is never just one thing. It is biology, culture, territory, economy, identity, environment, and freedom of choice. Reducing this complexity to ideological categories weakens both science and public policy.
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Animal proteins have played a crucial role in human evolution. They provided dense nutritional packages, including high-quality proteins, essential amino acids, vitamin B12, heme iron, zinc, choline and other nutrients important for the brain, metabolism and growth. Recognising this does not mean promoting unlimited consumption. It means acknowledging that animal proteins are part of our biological and cultural history.
This is particularly relevant in Italy, where animal proteins are not only nutrients. They are connected to rural landscapes, local supply chains, productive skills, food traditions and economic value. Meat, dairy, eggs and other animal-based foods are embedded in territories and communities. Treating them simply as a problem to be removed would be a serious simplification.
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At the same time, innovation must not be rejected. Novel foods, precision fermentation, alternative proteins and new production technologies can contribute to food security, resilience and sustainability. But they should be assessed with scientific rigour, not accepted because they are new or rejected because they are unfamiliar.
This is where balance becomes essential. Balance does not mean standing halfway between two extremes. It means evaluating each solution according to safety, nutritional quality, environmental impact, accessibility, cultural acceptability and consumer freedom.
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Public regulation has a key role: it must guarantee safety, transparency and trust without suffocating innovation. The future of proteins will not be built on substitution alone. It will require plurality, quality, personalisation and informed choice.
The real question is not whether animal proteins or novel foods should win. The real question is how different sources can contribute to healthier citizens, stronger food systems and a more balanced future.
