“Good-tasting alt meat is a scientific problem we can solve: $10M RFP for Alternative Protein R&D” by Coefficient Giving, abhi_kumar

By Abhi Kumar, Associate Program Officer in Farm Animal Welfare Over 100 billion animals are farmed and slaughtered for food every year. At Coefficient Giving, we think one of the highest-leverage, long-term ways to reduce that number is to fund the development of meat alternatives that are good enough for people to adopt. Since 2016, we've allocated several million dollars toward the development of better and cheaper alternatives to animal products. We now see an opportunity to go deeper on a set of specific, neglected scientific problems related to taste. This Request for Proposals (RFP) is our attempt to accelerate progress, with up to $10 million available. Why taste, and why now Alternative proteins have the potential to reduce animal suffering at enormous scale — but only if consumers actually opt to eat them. Right now, they're not. Plant-based meat household penetration peaked at 20% in 2021 and has since fallen to 13%. One of the primary reasons is taste: 51% of first-time triers say they wouldn't buy plant-based meat again because the taste didn't resemble animal meat, and among lapsed consumers, 36% say better taste and texture would bring them back — the single most-cited factor. At [...] --- Outline: (00:58) Why taste, and why now (06:11) Who should apply (07:13) How to apply --- First published: June 8th, 2026 Source: --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO .