Gitnux/Report 2026

Biotechnology Food Industry Statistics

The global biotechnology food market reached about $53.33 billion in 2025, explore figures on growth, key companies and precision fermentation trends for 2026.
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Samuel NorbergWritten by Samuel Norberg·Fact-checked by Maya Johansson
Published
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Before any source is gathered, an editor locks the question, what qualifies, and how the piece will be judged.

02Source Research

Search agents collect the source set and pull each data point out with its provenance attached.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 31 days

01 Industry overview

The biotechnology food industry at a glance

The global biotechnology food market reached about $53.33 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed $70 billion by 2028, while biotech crops covered roughly 216 million hectares in 2025.

$53.33B[57]
Global market size, 2025
10.5–10.72%[57]
Forecast CAGR, 2026–2028
216M ha[58]
Global biotech crops, 2025
41%[57]
North America market share, 2025
Market size
The global biotechnology food market was estimated at about $53.33 billion in 2025. This market estimate covers food applications of biotechnology, including precision fermentation and related bio-based ingredients.[57]
Forecast & CAGR
The market is expected to exceed $70 billion by 2028, implying forecast annual growth of more than 10%; the cited estimate gives a CAGR range of 10.5% to 10.72% for the forecast period.[57]
Market share & regions
North America was estimated to hold about 41% of the global biotechnology food market in 2025. In agricultural biotechnology, the United States planted 79.9 million hectares of biotech crops in 2024, followed by Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada.[57][59]
Segmentation
The industry includes genetically modified and gene-edited crops, precision-fermented ingredients, enzymes and cultures, and foods made from cultured animal cells. In 2024, the main commercial biotech crops remained soybean, maize, cotton and canola, while precision fermentation was identified as one of the fastest-growing food-technology segments.[59][57]
Key players & concentration
Commercial adoption remains concentrated in a small number of crops and countries: soybean, maize, cotton and canola dominate biotech crop cultivation, while the United States and Brazil were the two largest biotech-crop producers in 2024. The United States planted 79.9 million hectares and Brazil was the next-largest producer.[59]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Growth is being driven by precision fermentation, climate-resilient traits, alternative proteins and AI-assisted strain engineering. Challenges include production scale-up, high process costs, regulatory review and consumer uncertainty; a 2025 U.S. survey found that 37% of respondents considered animal-free proteins made with precision fermentation biologically identical to animal proteins.[57][8]
Consumer behavior & competition
Consumer awareness remains limited for newer food-biotechnology categories. In the United Kingdom, 20% of respondents had heard of precision fermentation and 16% had heard of precision-fermented dairy in August 2025; in the United States, 41% of surveyed adults said information about precision-fermented dairy and egg products made them more likely to try them.[41][8]
M&A
Food-biotechnology consolidation continued in 2025. Moolec Science completed a business combination with Bioceres Group, Gentle Technologies and Nutrecon in June 2025, bringing together food ingredients, ag-biologicals, precision fermentation, biomaterials and research services.[57]
Regulation
In the United States, mandatory compliance with the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard began on June 23, 2025. The FDA also maintained inventories of completed consultations for foods made from cultured animal cells, including chicken, pork and salmon products with responses recorded in 2025.[60][61]
Latest news
A major recent regulatory development was the FDA’s publication of additional completed cultured-cell food consultations in 2025, including cultured pork fat and cultured salmon cell material. The FDA inventory records responses dated March 7, May 28 and July 24, 2025.[61]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Biotechnology Food Industry

The leading companies in the biotechnology food industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 11, 2026 · Next review December 11, 2026

Verdict

Lesaffre stands out for fermentation-based food ingredients because it supplies yeasts and microbial solutions for food production, while Novonesis leads in food and beverage biosolutions since Food and beverage biosolutions represented 74% of Food & Health divisional sales in 2025.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in fermentation ingredients

    Lesaffre

    FR

    Ranked #1 · 9.3 · Fermentation ingredients

    Why we picked it: Its fermentation ingredients portfolio covers yeasts and microbial solutions used in food production.

    See in ranking ↓Visit lesaffre.com ↗

  2. Leader in enzymes & cultures

    Novonesis

    DK

    Ranked #2 · 9.2 · Enzymes & cultures

    Why we picked it: Food and beverage biosolutions made up 74% of Food & Health divisional sales in 2025.

    See in ranking ↓Visit novonesis.com ↗

  3. #3 overall

    dsm-firmenich

    CH

    Ranked #3 · 8.9 · Enzymes & cultures

    Why we picked it: Its food bioscience portfolio spans enzymes, cultures and precision nutrition ingredients.

    See in ranking ↓Visit dsm-firmenich.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Pick 2 is the highest-ranked company in the top 5 that adds a new segment; no further segment places in the top 5, so pick 3 follows rank.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the biotechnology food industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Lesaffre

Fermentation ingredients · FR

9.3
2

Novonesis

Enzymes & cultures · DK

9.2
3

dsm-firmenich

Enzymes & cultures · CH

8.9
4

Ajinomoto

Fermentation ingredients · JP

8.8
5

Kerry Group

Enzymes & cultures · IE

8.6
6

Mosa Meat

Cultivated animal cells · NL

8.5
7

Corbion

Fermentation ingredients · NL

8.5
8

International Flavors & Fragrances

Enzymes & cultures · US

8.3
9

Perfect Day

Precision-fermented proteins · US

8.2
10

Marlow Foods

Mycoprotein foods · GB

8.2

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).
  • Performance (20%): recent revenue growth and operating margin; an analyst assessment where a company does not publish them.
  • Momentum (20%): growth trajectory and future potential.
  • Innovation (15%): R&D intensity and how technologically advanced the company is.

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 11, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Top 10 companies in the biotechnology food industry. In Biotechnology Food Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/biotechnology-food-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Comparison

Revenue of the largest biotechnology food companies

dsm-firmenich leads with $13.5B in annual revenue (group level, converted to USD).

dsm-firmenich$13.5B
International Flavors & Fragrances$10.9B
Kerry Group$7.3B
Novonesis$4.5B
Lesaffre$3.5B
Corbion$1.4B
source-verifiedannualreport.dsm-firmenich.com · ir.iff.com · kerry.com · backend.novonesis.com · lesaffre.com · annualreport.corbion.com2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Work on biotech food data systems centers on integration gaps: 40% of 423 professionals worldwide cited disconnected systems and data as the biggest operational barrier in 2026.

Digital Transformation in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 40% of 423 food and beverage professionals worldwide identified disconnected systems and data as their organization’s biggest operational barrier in 2026.[1]
  • 28% of food, beverage, and ingredient professionals reported positive effects from digital transformation technologies on food-safety preventive controls in 2024.[2]
  • 82% of food and beverage leaders said technology adoption was a strategic priority, while 6% reported fully integrated digital systems, in a 2025 survey.[1]
  • 34% of food, beverage, and ingredient professionals said manufacturing process or assembly had been positively affected by digital transformation technologies in 2024.[2]

Technology Adoption in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 50% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in artificial intelligence as part of their 2025 digital-transformation strategies.[2]
  • 23% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in mobile-app technologies in 2025.[2]
  • 31% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in robotics or robotic process automation in 2025.[2]
  • 22% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in machine-learning software in 2025.[2]

Cloud Computing in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 52% of food processors and manufacturers were considering cloud technology, while 45% reported no cloud use, in a 2023 industry survey.[3]
  • 39.5% of EU enterprises in accommodation and food-service activities used paid cloud-computing services in 2025.[4]
  • 18% of food manufacturers were already using cloud-based manufacturing-execution systems, while 51% planned implementation, according to a 2025 industry survey.[5]
  • 30% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in cloud computing or enterprise resource-planning software and systems in 2025.[2]

Big Data in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 24% of food-manufacturing respondents were very familiar with advanced analytics, while 34% were moderately familiar, in CRB’s 2025 survey.[6]
  • 13% of food manufacturers were already using advanced-analytics or big-data platforms, while 44% planned implementation, in a 2025 industry survey.[5]
  • 47% of food, beverage, and ingredient professionals identified gathering, analyzing, and leveraging data for data-driven decisions as a digital-transformation investment driver in 2024.[2]
  • 35% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in big data and real-time analytics in 2025.[2]

IoT in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 26% of food manufacturers were already using IoT sensors or equipment monitoring, while 37% planned implementation, in a 2025 industry survey.[5]
  • 16% of food, beverage, and ingredient companies anticipated investing in Internet-of-Things devices or sensors in 2025.[2]
  • 31% of food-manufacturing respondents were very familiar with the Internet of Things, while 35% were moderately familiar, in CRB’s 2025 survey.[6]
  • 33% of UK manufacturing companies had adopted IoT technologies in a 2024 national survey, with manufacturing among the sectors reporting comparatively high adoption.[7]

Innovation in the biotechnology food industry

  • 155 cultivated-meat companies were operating globally in 2024.[8]
  • More than 400 companies operated globally in food biomanufacturing, including cultivated-food and precision-fermentation companies, as of mid-July 2024.[9]
  • $8.1 billion had been invested globally in cultivated-food and precision-fermentation companies by mid-July 2024.[9]
  • $3.1 billion had been invested cumulatively in cell-cultured meat and seafood companies globally from 2015 through 2023.[10]
  • $2.1 billion had been invested cumulatively in precision-fermentation companies globally from 2016 through 2023.[10]
  • $139 million was raised by cultivated-meat and seafood companies globally in 2024.[8]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

Data governance and data quality dominate analytics priorities: 90% of supply-management organizations agreed that data governance was necessary in 2024.

Data Quality in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 6.4 out of 10: Food, beverage and agriculture respondents rated data timeliness as important in 2018.[11]
  • 22% of consumer-products companies reported that businesses lacked trust in data quality and validity in 2024.[12]
  • 7.0 out of 10: Food, beverage and agriculture respondents rated data completeness as important in 2018.[11]
  • 6.4 out of 10: Food, beverage and agriculture respondents rated data accuracy as important in 2018.[11]
  • 6.6 out of 10: Food, beverage and agriculture respondents rated data consistency as important in 2018.[11]
  • 77% of retail and consumer-products companies identified improving data quality as a priority in 2023.[13]

Data Governance in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 61% of supply-management organizations had a dedicated data-governance function in 2024.[14]
  • 90% of supply-management organizations agreed or strongly agreed that data governance was necessary in 2024.[14]
  • 22% of consumer-products companies planned to increase investment in data infrastructure and governance over the following 12 months in 2024.[12]
  • 81% of supply-management organizations found their data-governance program useful in 2024.[14]
  • 43% of consumer-products companies reported struggling to establish the right level of data governance in 2024.[12]
  • 47% of supply-management data-governance functions were housed in a center of excellence in 2024.[14]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Financing remains active but volatile across cultivated-meat and fermentation: cultivated-meat and seafood companies raised $73.9 million in 2025, down from $144 million in 2024.

Growth in the biotechnology food industry

  • $29 million was raised by Aleph Farms in its largest disclosed cultivated-meat financing round of 2025.[8]
  • $11 million was raised by BlueNalu through convertible notes and preferred-stock financings in 2025.[8]
  • $17.6 million was raised by Mosa Meat in a 2025 financing round.[8]
  • $73.9 million was raised by cultivated-meat and seafood companies in 2025, down from $144 million in 2024.[8]

Differentiation in the biotechnology food industry

  • 5% to 35% were the FDA-notified use levels for Imagindairy’s precision-fermented beta-lactoglobulin across specified U.S. food applications in 2024.[15]
  • 1 animal-free whey-protein ingredient made with precision fermentation received an FDA “no questions” response for Imagindairy in 2023.[15]
  • 1 fourth independent precision-fermentation production line was under construction at Amyris’s Brazilian facility, scheduled for operation in early 2026.[16]
  • 1 publicly available set of suspension-adapted bovine cell lines was created through a Good Food Institute–Tufts University partnership in 2025.[8]

Mergers and acquisitions in the biotechnology food industry

  • 1 31%-owned joint-venture stake was acquired by Amyris from Ingredion in 2025, giving Amyris 100% ownership of RealSweet.[16]
  • 1 French adaptive-laboratory-evolution biotech company, Altar, was acquired by Lesaffre in 2024.[17]
  • 14 Altar employees were transferred to Lesaffre’s Institute of Science and Technology following the 2024 acquisition.[17]

Strategic partnerships in the biotechnology food industry

  • €16 million-plus was committed for the first phase of Danone, Michelin, DMC Biotechnologies and Crédit Agricole’s French precision-fermentation platform in 2024.[18]
  • 2 companies, GEA and Believer Meats, signed a 2024 strategic partnership focused on bioreactor, perfusion and media-rejuvenation technologies for cultivated chicken.[19]
  • €2.99 million was awarded by the Finnish government to support Synbio Powerlabs’ food-grade scale-up facility partnered with Ivy Farm in 2024.[20]
  • 4 organizations—Aleph Farms, BBGI, Fermbox Bio and regional partners—were involved in a 2024 plan for Thailand’s first large-scale cultivated-meat facility.[21]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Hybrid work stays constrained in food operations: across U.S. food and beverage businesses, 26% let employees choose in-person or remote work in 2025 while 73% require in-person work.

Remote Work in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • U.S. accommodation and food-services firms averaged 0.1 work-from-home days per week from November 2024 through January 2025.[22]
  • Across U.S. food and beverage businesses, 26% let employees choose to work in-person or remotely in 2025, while 73% require in-person work.[23]
  • Among food-sector career starters globally, 36% were fully site-based during their first two years of work, according to a 2024 survey.[24]
  • In U.S. accommodation and food services, 1.7% of employees were able to work fully remotely in 2024.[25]

Hybrid Work in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • In 2025, 80% of hospitality and food-services employers said they were still struggling to get the balance right with hybrid working.[26]
  • Across U.S. food and beverage businesses, 26% offered employees the option to work in-person or remotely in 2025.[23]
  • Among food-sector career starters globally, 27% worked in a hybrid arrangement during their first two years, according to a 2024 survey.[24]
  • In U.S. restaurant and bar businesses, 12% offered employees a choice between in-person and remote work in 2025.[23]

Employee Engagement in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • Food-and-beverage organizations scored 7.91 out of 10 for employee engagement in the latest 2026 benchmark dataset.[27]
  • Food-service employees recorded 72.6% engagement in 2026, up 9.1 percentage points from the prior measurement.[28]
  • Globally, 21% of employees were engaged in 2025, providing an economy-wide benchmark relevant where food-and-beverage-specific engagement data are limited.[29]
  • Among U.S. and Canadian frontline employees surveyed in 2024, 52% worked in foodservice, in a sample of 46,250 employees used to assess workplace engagement.[30]

Change Management in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • In the 2024–2025 HR Systems Survey, 39% of organizations applied change management sporadically and 9% reported using no change management.[31]
  • Among CPG executives, 5% said their companies decreased resources devoted to change-management initiatives during the prior 12 months.[32]
  • In a 2024 survey of foodservice organizations, 49% ranked resistance to change as a top barrier to evolving menu strategy.[33]
  • Among foodservice organizations surveyed in 2024, 44% cited a lack of internal expertise to execute analyses as a menu-optimization barrier.[33]
  • In the 2024–2025 HR Systems Survey, 28% of organizations used adaptive or agile change management, while 24% used a project-based approach.[31]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Trial demand is sensitive to definitions and context: in 2024, tested descriptions increased U.S. net appeal for cultivated meat by 18 percentage points and purchase intent by 10 percentage points.

Customer experience in the biotechnology food industry

  • 18 percentage points was the average increase in U.S. consumers’ net appeal toward cultivated meat after viewing tested descriptions in 2024.[8]
  • 10 percentage points was the average increase in U.S. consumers’ purchase intent for cultivated meat after viewing tested descriptions in 2024.[8]
  • 60% of U.S. consumers were willing to try cultivated chicken in a restaurant setting in a 2024 Perdue study.[8]
  • 65% of U.S. adults who expressed interest in trying cultivated meat cited curiosity or novelty as a reason in December 2022.[8]

Customer acquisition in the biotechnology food industry

  • 17% of U.S. adults were extremely or very likely to purchase cultivated meat in May 2024.[8]
  • 45% of U.S. adults said they would try cultivated meat if given a sample or if someone else prepared it in December 2022.[8]
  • 23% of U.S. adults said they would purchase cultivated meat to try at home or in a restaurant in December 2022.[8]
  • 28% of U.S. adults were extremely or very likely to try a free sample of cultivated meat in May 2024.[8]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Brand trust and familiarity drive interest in precision-fermented and fermentation-derived claims, while online disclosure gaps show up in food content: 69.3% of TikTok videos had no brand-relationship disclosure in 2025.

Marketing in the biotechnology food industry

  • 71% of U.S. consumers aged 18–59 reported they were at least somewhat likely to eat plant-based meat or dairy in the future in 2024.[8]
  • 58% of U.S. consumers said affordability would increase their willingness to buy cell-cultured chicken in 2023.[3]
  • 57% of U.S. consumers said taste comparable to animal meat would increase their willingness to buy cell-cultured chicken in 2023.[3]
  • 56% of U.S. consumers said a trusted brand would increase their willingness to buy cell-cultured chicken in 2023.[3]

Branding in the biotechnology food industry

  • 49% of consumers across nine European countries said in 2024 they would try products made using biomass fermentation.[34]
  • 43% of consumers across France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Denmark said in 2025 they would try dairy products produced using precision fermentation.[34]
  • 52% of consumers across nine European countries said in 2024 they were willing to try products made using precision fermentation.[34]

Influencer Marketing in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • 69.3% of TikTok videos featuring branded food or beverage products had no brand-relationship disclosure, based on an analysis of 648 videos published in 2025.[35]
  • 33% of U.S. food and beverage shoppers said they purchased a product from an influencer-founded or influencer-led brand such as Prime or Feastables in the previous year, in 2025.[36]
  • 49% of U.S. millennial food and beverage shoppers said they purchased from an influencer-founded or influencer-led brand in the previous year, according to a 2025 survey.[36]
  • 47.6% of TikTok videos featuring food products from top influencers included a branded product, based on an analysis of 1,360 videos published in 2025.[35]
  • 63% of U.S. food and beverage shoppers said they purchased a prepackaged product based on an online influencer’s recommendation in the previous year, according to a June 2025 survey.[36]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Scale-up economics and process design are recurring constraints, with a modeled cultivated-chicken continuous perfusion cost of $6.20 per pound in a 50,000-liter facility.

Process optimization in the biotechnology food industry

  • $6.20 per pound was the modeled production cost for cultivated chicken using continuous perfusion technology in a 50,000-liter facility.[37]
  • 300–8,200 times larger than current estimated global production capacity is the projected transferrin production requirement for future cultivated-meat scale-up.[8]
  • 10 kilograms per hectare per harvest is the projected growth-factor output from open-field cultivation, with two harvests annually, in the GFI scale-up example.[8]
  • 88-fold was Mosa Meat’s reported reduction in the cost of its cell-culture medium by 2020.[38]

Operational efficiency in the biotechnology food industry

  • $54.6 million was raised by cultivated-meat company Prolific Machines in 2024.[8]
  • At least 45 new partnerships were formed across cultivated meat, fermentation, and plant-based fields in 2024.[8]
  • $100 million was the largest alternative-protein deal announced in 2024, raised by fermentation company Meati in Series C financing.[8]
  • 158 fermentation companies operated globally in 2023, up from 15 in 2013, according to a review of the sector.[39]

Quality management in the biotechnology food industry

  • More than two-fifths of U.S. consumers said they would try cell-cultured meat after receiving a product definition in the 2023 IFIC survey.[40]
  • 23% of UK consumers had heard of precision-fermented dairy in February 2025, compared with 15% in the February 2026 tracker.[41]
  • Fewer than two in five U.S. consumers had heard of cultivated meat or insect protein in the 2023 IFIC survey.[40]
  • 28% of UK consumers had heard of precision fermentation in February 2025, compared with 20% in the February 2026 tracker.[41]

Supply chain in the biotechnology food industry

  • $651 million was invested in privately held fermentation companies globally in 2024.[8]
  • $4.8 billion had been raised by privately held fermentation companies globally since the first disclosed sector investment in 2013.[8]
  • $1.1 billion was raised by privately held alternative-protein companies globally in 2024.[8]
  • $357 million was raised by companies primarily operating in the fermentation ecosystem in 2025.[8]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the food and beverage sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across food and beverage CPG companies globally, 55% outsourced more manufacturing in 2023 than three years earlier, according to a survey of 287 industry leaders.[42]
  • Among food and beverage CPG companies globally, 47% worked with up to 10 co-manufacturers in 2023.[42]
  • Across food and beverage CPG companies globally, 52% planned to expand their international footprint in 2023, including North America, EMEA and APAC expansion.[43]
  • Among United States and European food-services and facility-management buyers, 91% expected outsourcing budgets to increase over the five years following 2024.[44]
  • Among food and beverage CPG companies globally, 36% used co-manufacturers for finished-product manufacturing in 2023.[42]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Pricing remains a relative issue in plant-based retail categories, where plant-based meat and seafood rose 4% in 2024 versus 1% for animal meat.

Pricing strategy in the biotechnology food industry

  • Plant-based food prices in U.S. retail increased 1% in 2024, while prices for most categories remained two to four times higher than conventional counterparts.[8]
  • Average U.S. retail prices for plant-based meat and seafood increased 4% in 2024, compared with a 1% increase for animal meat.[8]
  • Plant-based meat and seafood products were priced up to twice as high as conventional counterparts in U.S. retail in 2025.[8]
  • $6.20 per pound was the modeled cost of cultivated chicken using continuous manufacturing, within the range of organic chicken prices.[37]

Cost reduction in the biotechnology food industry

  • 65-fold was Mosa Meat’s reported reduction in the cost of its animal-fat culture medium by 2021.[38]
  • $7.70 per pound was Believer Meats’ reported 2021 cultured-chicken production cost.[38]
  • $1.70 was Believer Meats’ reported 2021 production cost for a cultured chicken breast, down from $7.50.[38]
  • 98% was the reported reduction in Mosa Meat’s animal-fat medium cost by 2021 compared with its previous method.[38]

Profitability in the biotechnology food industry

  • $1.2 billion was U.S. retail sales of plant-based meat and seafood in 2024.[8]
  • $291 million was U.S. broadline-distributor foodservice sales of plant-based proteins in 2025.[8]
  • $8.1 billion was the U.S. retail plant-based food market’s 2024 sales value, down 4% in dollars year over year.[8]
  • $28.6 billion was global retail sales of plant-based meat, seafood, milk, yogurt, ice cream, and cheese in 2024, up 5%.[8]

Financial planning in the biotechnology food industry

  • $651 million was invested in fermentation companies globally in 2024, all by privately held companies.[8]
  • $309 million was invested in plant-based companies globally in 2024.[8]
  • $139 million was invested in cultivated-meat and seafood companies globally in 2024.[8]
  • $90 million was the size of Perfect Day’s Series E financing in 2024, one of the largest fermentation-sector deals that year.[8]

12 Statistics

Product & Service

Product pipelines extend beyond proteins into inputs and platforms, with more than 400 companies worldwide operating across precision fermentation, cultivated foods and support activities in 2024.

Product development in the biotechnology food industry

  • More than 140 cultivated-meat companies operated globally and over 1,500 patents had been published by 2025.[8]
  • 155 companies worldwide primarily developed cultivated meat and seafood inputs or end products in 2024.[8]
  • $8.1 billion in global private investment had reached cultivated-food and precision-fermentation companies by mid-July 2024.[9]
  • 126 additional companies were active in cultivated meat and seafood through investments, partnerships or business lines in 2024.[8]
  • More than 400 companies worldwide operated across precision fermentation, cultivated foods and support activities in 2024.[9]

Product lifecycle in the biotechnology food industry

  • 82% of indirect water use in one cultured-meat model came from muscle-cell cultivation and associated inputs.[8]
  • 67% less land was required for cultivated meat than conventional pork under renewable-energy scenarios in a 2022 assessment.[8]
  • 64% less land was required for cultivated meat than conventional chicken under renewable-energy scenarios in a 2022 assessment.[8]
  • Up to 90% less land was required for cultivated meat than conventional beef under renewable-energy scenarios in a 2022 assessment.[8]

Value proposition in the biotechnology food industry

  • 43%–44% of Australian and New Zealand respondents willing to eat cultivated meat expected to consume it alongside traditional meat in 2025.[45]
  • 32.3% of Australian and New Zealand respondents expressed confidence in precision-fermentation foods in 2025.[45]
  • 52.5% of Australian and New Zealand respondents had never heard of cell-cultured or cultivated dairy in 2025.[45]
  • 23.1% of Australian and New Zealand respondents expressed confidence in cell-cultured or cultivated meat in 2025.[45]
  • 50.1% of Australian and New Zealand respondents had never heard of precision fermentation in 2025.[45]

13 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability comparisons use life-cycle assessment outcomes, including 95% less water used by plant-based meat than animal meat in an ISO-certified 2024 assessment.

Sustainability in the biotechnology food industry

  • 93% less water pollution was associated with plant-based meat than animal meat on average in an ISO-certified 2024 life-cycle assessment.[8]
  • 95% less water was used by plant-based meat than animal meat on average in an ISO-certified 2024 life-cycle assessment.[8]
  • Plant-based meat had 91% lower environmental impacts than beef on average in an ISO-certified 2024 life-cycle assessment.[8]
  • 79% less land was used by plant-based meat than animal meat on average in an ISO-certified 2024 life-cycle assessment.[8]

Carbon footprint in the biotechnology food industry

  • 25% of Perfect Day’s total greenhouse-gas emissions came from the protein-development fermentation phase in its lifecycle assessment.[46]
  • Cultivated meat was estimated to have a 3% higher carbon footprint than conventional chicken under renewable-energy scenarios.[8]
  • 44% lower greenhouse-gas emissions were estimated for cultivated meat than conventional pork under renewable-energy scenarios.[8]
  • Up to 92% lower greenhouse-gas emissions were projected for cultivated meat than conventional beef when produced with renewable energy.[8]

15 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

Biomanufacturing capacity expansion is supported through large-scale commitments, including about $555 million in U.S.-dollar value from China’s 2025 biomanufacturing commitment.

Globalization in the biotechnology food industry

  • 3 markets had sold cultivated-meat products in limited quantities by 2024, according to the industry review.[8]
  • More than 140 companies worldwide specialized in cultivated meat in 2025, alongside multinational food companies and research institutions.[8]
  • Over CNY4 billion was committed by China’s State Development & Investment Corporation in 2025 to biomanufacturing infrastructure and domestic biotechnology companies.[8]
  • $555 million was the approximate U.S.-dollar value of China’s 2025 biomanufacturing commitment, including support for new proteins.[8]

Supplier management in the biotechnology food industry

  • 20,000 liters was the production scale achieved by Vow at its Sydney facility in 2025.[8]
  • 2 metric tons of animal protein had been delivered by Bond Pet Foods to Hill’s Pet Nutrition by 2024 during their fermentation-technology collaboration.[15]
  • 31% of the RealSweet joint venture was acquired by Amyris from Ingredion in 2025, giving Amyris full ownership of its Brazilian precision-fermentation plant.[16]
  • 35,000 liters of total production capacity were hosted at Vow’s Sydney cultivated-meat facility in 2025.[8]

Stakeholder management in the biotechnology food industry

  • 3 companies specializing in fermentation research had been strategically acquired by Lesaffre over the three years before its 2024 Altar acquisition.[17]
  • 14 employees from French biotech company Altar joined Lesaffre after its 2024 acquisition.[17]
  • 30 cultivated-meat industry stakeholders were surveyed for the Good Food Institute’s 2022–2023 bioprocessing and facilities report.[8]
  • 8 bovine cell lines acquired from SCiFi Foods were made publicly accessible through a partnership involving the Good Food Institute and Tufts University in 2025.[8]

Distribution channels in the biotechnology food industry

  • 1 national supermarket chain was planned as Mission Barns’ first U.S. grocery retail channel for cultivated pork products in 2025.[55]
  • 1 restaurant group, Fiorella, was announced as Mission Barns’ first restaurant launch partner in 2025.[55]
  • 16 people per month could purchase UPSIDE Foods’ cultivated chicken at Bar Crenn in San Francisco during the restaurant’s 2023 launch period.[56]
  • 1 exclusive global marketing and distribution arrangement for fermentation-derived casein was granted to Leprino Foods for cheese applications in 2024.[15]

Key questions about the biotechnology food industry

What is the biotechnology food market size and the latest projection for growth?
The global biotechnology food market reached about $53.33 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed $70 billion by 2028. The forecast CAGR is 10.5% to 10.72% for 2026–2028.
How quickly is the industry expected to grow from 2026 to 2028?
Forecast annual growth is more than 10% based on a cited CAGR range of 10.5% to 10.72% for 2026–2028. Precision fermentation is identified as one of the fastest-growing food-technology segments.
Which companies lead the biotechnology food industry?
Lesaffre stands out for fermentation-based food ingredients because it supplies yeasts and microbial solutions for food production, while Novonesis leads in food and beverage biosolutions since Food and beverage biosolutions represented 74% of Food & Health divisional sales in 2025.
What technology shifts are shaping biotech food operations?
Precision fermentation expands faster than legacy segments, while fermentation shifts toward business-to-business ingredients. In 2026, 40% of 423 food and beverage professionals worldwide cited disconnected systems and data as the biggest operational barrier.
How concentrated is the market in crops and geographies?
Commercial biotech crop adoption is concentrated in soybean, maize, cotton and canola, with the United States and Brazil as the two largest producers in 2024. North America held about 41% of the global biotechnology food market in 2025.
What compliance and safety developments matter most for cultured animal-cell foods in the U.S.?
Mandatory compliance with the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard began on June 23, 2025. The FDA maintained inventories of completed consultations for foods made from cultured animal cells, with 5 completed FDA pre-market consultations listed in the United States in February 2026.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Samuel Norberg. (2026, November 11). Biotechnology Food Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/biotechnology-food-industry-statistics
MLA
Samuel Norberg. "Biotechnology Food Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 11 Nov 2026, https://gitnux.org/biotechnology-food-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Samuel Norberg. 2026. "Biotechnology Food Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/biotechnology-food-industry-statistics.

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