Sustainable Foods Summit Europe 2026: Nutrition and regenerative agriculture converge

Nutrition and sustainability are increasingly intertwined priorities in food, beverage, and supplement product innovation, underscored at the annual Sustainable Foods Summit held last week in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Nutrition Insight attended the event, which saw industry suppliers, businesses, brands, and experts converging to discuss balancing economic and ecological gain amid declining consumer trust in food systems and less than 1% following the Planetary Health Diet (PHD). 

Organized by Ecovia Intelligence, the event had presenters from Quorn Foods, B Corp Certification, and GlobeScan who emphasized that consumers are increasingly viewing health and sustainability as one, not competing values.

AnaBio Technologies highlighted its plant-based microencapsulated technology that delivers probiotics for better bioavailability, as quality becomes a challenge in sustainable supplement production.

Alternative proteins were also in the spotlight, with Those Vegan Cowboys showing how its precision-fermented casein outperforms bovine cheese. The brand revealed advances in plant-based technologies competing with the price, nutrition, and taste of animal-based products.

Moreover, the rise of food as medicine and Make America Healthy Again’s (MAHA) influence was highlighted by GoodSAM, which works with smallholder farms to produce better-for-you snacks. These movements show a need for a shift in health and regenerative agriculture claims made on packages. Additionally, the Planetary Alliance noted the importance of adhering to the PHD, as the food system is a primary driver of biodiversity loss.

Healthier, sustainable purchasing decisions

Caroline Holme, executive director of GlobeScan, revealed recent consumer data around perceptions of food and sustainability. Globally, consumers are most concerned with, in descending order, war/conflict, cancer, corruption, extreme poverty, water pollution, hunger/undereating, climate change, and depletion of natural resources. She noted that climate and food, although not the top concerns, still rank high on the list. 

Holme also shared that 65% of consumers are interested in becoming healthier and more sustainable simultaneously. However, there is a gap between consumer aspirations and their actions. She warned that since 2022, sustainability communication from brands or companies is reaching fewer people, and trust is declining.

According to GlobeScan’s 2025 survey, consumers struggled to buy healthy and sustainable food mainly due to affordability and a lack of availability. Holme also noted that consumer unfamiliarity with brands and not knowing what foods are healthy or sustainable were other barriers to eating better. 

GlobeScan also emphasized that consumers’ eating habits are influenced by their desire to eat healthier, avoid processed foods, and limit sugar intake. 

As potential solutions, she suggested that businesses prioritize health and relevance in messaging — in terms of personal benefit and good for the planet — which could help consumers choose more sustainable foods. 

Panel discussion at the Sustainable Foods Summit in Amsterdam.Additionally, brands should make sustainable foods feel practical and beneficial, using specific claims over generic language, added Holme. She emphasized backing these claims with credible proof while keeping cost and accessibility at the top of mind to enable consumers to actualize their aspirations to consume healthier, more sustainable foods.

Alternative, more sustainable proteins 

Hille van der Kaa, CEO and founder of Those Vegan Cowboys, underscored precision fermentation as an emerging technology for creating animal-free proteins, providing nutrition alongside taste and texture.

The company creates casein — “identical to a cow” — using precision fermentation. Van der Kaa revealed that companies that use Those Vegan Cowboys’ casein have a better environmental footprint, as it slashes 80% of land use, which would otherwise be used for cattle.

She underscored environmental concerns about dairy amid a world increasingly focused on food security, supply resilience, and resource efficiency, with the dairy industry needing solutions that constrain herds. 

The brand’s cheese was noted to contain up to 20% of casein, whose performance was comparable to bovine cheese, said Van der Kaa. For example, the casein from Those Vegan Cowboys enabled five times better stretch than cow cheese, confirmed by R&D partners. 

Additionally, she noted that their casein provides better health for cheese consumers, as it contains no lactose, growth hormones, or antibiotics, with less saturated fat. Van der Kaa also highlighted that for cheese producers, precision-fermented protein can enable 80% less land, water, and CO2 with 100% less methane. Precision fermentation was also highlighted to bring advantages to cows since there would be less reliance on dairy.

Furthermore, Van der Kaa said that applications are not limited to cheese but could be extended to sports nutrition, chocolate, and high-protein food products designed for GLP-1 users. She also highlighted a potential for personalized nutrition and hybrid proteins.

One challenge that Van der Kaa admitted was that the technique of precision fermentation is still unfamiliar to consumers compared to traditional animal-based or plant-based proteins. Brainstorming on techniques for making the unfamiliar familiar, she suggested premiumizing the product, which would eventually become accepted by consumers. 

According to Bleiel, 58% of consumers are paying closer attention to ingredient labels in 2025, with many actively seeking out probiotics and fiber.If brands focus on selling the benefits of precision fermentation, it could also help consumers become more familiar with the technique, she recommended. Additionally, Van der Kaa suggested creating a new product or protein category instead of making them fit within traditional categories. 

Van der Kaa shared that the company envisions making casein blends from various mammals in the future, such as combining protein from cow’s and goat milk, while creating functional foods for targeted consumers who require high protein.

Gut health innovation technology

Dr. Sinéad Bleiel, founder of AnaBio Technologies, presented the company’s microencapsulation technology, Encaptimus, applicable for food or beverage manufacturing to deliver clinical health benefits.

The company says that its encapsulated Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria probiotics are backed by over 300 peer-reviewed papers with clinical benefits focused on gut health, immunity, infant development, and oral health. 

A patented protein-based coating is used to protect probiotics from heat during processing and from moisture to prevent growth when the product is stored, shared Bleiel. The plant protein cocoons the probiotics and is then stabilized into a free-flowing powder.

She underscored that gut health has become a mainstream demand, which is why providing quality solutions is a “battle” for sustainable production. Moreover, she said that 58% of consumers are becoming more attentive to ingredient lists this year, with many seeking probiotics and fiber, and one out of three seeking clinical data.

Regenerative agriculture for transforming food systems

Heather Terry, CEO of GoodSAM, talked about working with smallholder farmers and Indigenous communities, with no middleman, to source nuts, chocolate, coffee, and fruit.

EU farmers lose an estimated €28 billion annually due to crop damage from extreme weather events, said Barry from the Planetary Alliance.She pointed out that US consumers are increasingly wanting to know what is in their food — trends influenced by social media and the MAHA movement. Terry noted that regenerative agriculture-based foods are more difficult to market compared to organic since the methods are systems-based, practice-driven, and outcome-oriented, where long-term benefits are not immediate.

Additionally, she underscored the importance of renaming “supply chains” as “supply networks” to emphasize a reciprocal human relationship brands can take with their farmers. GoodSAM says this term enables them as a brand to deliver social initiatives and community support.

The significance of allowing customers to support a cause or story when purchasing was also emphasized. She stressed using simplified messaging to enable better consumer understanding of products’ sustainability values. Lastly, Terry advised the industry to invest collectively in consumer education so that awareness of sustainability practices alongside health benefits is better understood.

Another speaker spoke on the importance of regenerative agriculture for transforming the food system. Mike Barry, co-founder of the Planetary Alliance, flagged that six out of nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed, with the food system being a primary driver of biodiversity loss. The system itself was also noted to be vulnerable to cost fluctuations and food quality caused by extreme weather.

He underscored that EU farming is losing €28 billion (US$32 billion) per year due to crop losses from extreme weather. Global inflation is significantly (30–40%) driven by food costs, which are connected to weather events, he added.

Barry called for the reduction of food waste, which contributes up to 8% of CO2 emissions globally. He urged an end to deforestation and said that dietary changes and the expansion of regenerative agriculture are critical steps toward transforming the global food system. He also highlighted that fewer than 1% of the global population today follows a PHD. 

Barry estimates that 60% more calories will be required to feed a global population of around 9.7 billion by 2050. He believes that regenerative agriculture is a promising answer, as it delivers biodiversity benefits, food security, and resilience against extreme weather events.

According to research Barry cited, regenerative agriculture delivers consumer health benefits with higher nutrient and vitamin content and better nutrient density than conventional farming.

Lastly, he called for a coordinated approach, from farmers to policymakers, to transform the food system.