Aimutis Talks Bezos Center with MeatingPod

NCFIL’s executive director and NC State’s Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein co-director Bill Aimutis joined Lisa Keefe on the MeatingPod podcast to discuss the Bezos Center’s charge to transform production of alternative proteins through biomanufacturing. 

Established with a $30 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund, the Bezos Center at NC State University is one of three global facilities dedicated to advancing sustainable protein sources. 

Unique Approach

The Bezos Center’s unique approach emphasizes research and development, workforce development and consumer science and aims to create an ecosystem supporting the growth of the alternative meat industry in North Carolina.

“Consumer preferences are central to the center’s mission,” Aimutis said. “Research into how consumers perceive meat alternatives guides product development and marketing efforts to ensure products’ sensory qualities align with consumer expectation.”

The center also prioritizes nutritional equivalence and food safety, both vital to earning widespread acceptance.

The Bezos Center partners with area universities and organizations, such as the World Food Policy Center at Duke, which navigates regulations surrounding alternative proteins. The center also seeks industry partnerships to tackle scaling production and cost-related challenges. 

Fostering collaboration between academia and industry, the center aims to accelerate sustainable protein products’ marketplace entry.

Find Out More

To learn more about the Bezos Center’s mission, visit this website.

You can also listen to Aimutis talk about his career and the challenges in the food tech industry in a recent Food Tech Junkies Podcast here.