Good Food Institute

Background

The Good Food Institute (GFI) is a nonprofit formed by animal liberation extremists to promote alternatives to farm-raised natural meat–namely, ultra-processed meat imitations and lab-grown meat. 

GFI was formed in 2016 as a sister organization of Mercy for Animals, an animal liberation extremist organization. GFI received $500,000 in seed money to help provide “marketing, design, legal, business, media, and other support to a select number of early-stage companies producing cultured and plant-based products.” 

GFI is merely a newer vessel in the longstanding crusade by animal rights activists who don’t want people to eat meat, eggs, or dairy products. 

GFI was founded by Bruce Friedrich, a longtime executive with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who has done prison time for his activism. Friedrich once said that eating meat “is not your personal decision, any more than, you know, whether somebody beats their child is their personal decision.”

Friedrich explained the logic behind GFI: “We’ve tried to convince the world to go vegan, and it has not worked.” Now, he said, “We don’t want people to think differently about their food. We want to change the food.” 

There’s just one small problem to GFI’s crusade to “change” everyone’s food: Consumers have pushed back against lab-grown meat and ultra-processed meat imitations. 

Agenda

GFI’s long-term goal is to reduce consumption of natural, farm-raised meat. As one observer put it, “we expect that cell-cultured food will likely cause a considerable decrease in demand for farmed animal products if it reaches price-competitiveness with conventional animal protein. In the longer term, this reduced demand for animal-based products could weaken the animal agriculture industry.”

But consumers are rejecting these products and many fake meat companies are facing struggles. 

The fake meat industry has gone from boom to bust since Beyond Meat’s IPO in 2019. In 2024, Beyond Meat’s stock was down 97% from its post-IPO peak. Consumer interest has fallen as people have learned about the ultra-processed ingredients needed to make plant protein taste like real meat. 

Lab-grown meat companies haven’t had much luck, either. Only two companies have been approved in the US to sell lab-grown meat, and both have been plagued by problems. Eat Just/Good Meat has been sued for $100 million over unpaid equipment bills and unpaid rent. UPSIDE Foods, meanwhile, is laying off staff after reports came out of the company’s struggles in making lab-grown chicken–despite raising $600 million from investors. 

Some startups haven’t even gotten that far. California startup SciFi Foods shuttered its doors in June 2024 after raising $40 million and failing to bring a product to market. 

GFI’s response has been to call on governments to “invest”– i.e., hand out–taxpayer money to bail out alternative protein companies. This is despite GFI data showing that over $4 billion has been invested in alternative protein companies. “If we leave this endeavor to the tender mercies of the market there will be vanishingly few products to choose from and it’ll take a very long time,” Friedrich admitted to the New York Times.

But why should taxpayers bail out fake meat companies if these firms can’t make their products appealing–or even allegedly pay their bills–with all that capital? 

Bogus Environmental Arguments

The Good Food Institute argues that there are environmental benefits to lab-grown meat. 

Once again, GFI overstates the case. Research from the University of California-Davis found that lab-grown meat could have 25 times the emissions of natural, farm-raised beef. 

Why? In part, while lab-grown meat factories use less land than farms or ranches, they require huge amounts of electricity to operate. But more fundamentally, growing animal cells in a bioreactor requires chemical growth serums that are purified to pharmaceutical levels, a resource-intensive process. 

Staff

GFI’s staff is stocked with fringe political activists, beginning with Friedrich. 

Bruce Friedrich

As a longtime PETA executive, Friedrich has made a number of fanatical statements in favor of animal liberation and served time in jail. 

Friedrich was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 1994 for destruction of government property. He was also arrested in 2000 for throwing red paint at models during an anti-fur protest. 

When Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who murdered 168 adults and children, gave up meat for his last meal while on death row, Friedrich commented, “McVeigh’s decision to go vegetarian groups him with some of the world’s greatest visionaries.”

But perhaps Friedrich’s most stunning comment was about businesses being blown up in the name of animal liberation:

If we really believe that animals have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands, then, of course we’re going to be, as a movement, blowing things up and smashing windows … I think it’s a great way to bring about animal liberation … I think it would be great if all of the fast-food outlets, slaughterhouses, these laboratories, and the banks that fund them exploded tomorrow. I think it’s perfectly appropriate for people to take bricks and toss them through the windows … Hallelujah to the people who are willing to do it. 

Friedrich says he was “recruited to run the organization [Good Food Institute]” and “was a part of all aspects of founding the organization.” 

Jessica Almy

Almy runs GFI’s government affairs. “It’s not very fruitful to try to change people’s minds about things,” she told the Washingtonian about her work. “It’s really about making the choice that you want them to make the easy choice.”

Almy was formerly a lawyer with the firm Meyer, Glitzenstein, and Crystal. The firm, known for representing animal rights groups, was sanctioned by a federal court in a racketeering lawsuit. The court found “clear and convincing evidence [that] sanctions against Katherine Meyer and her law firm, MGC, are warranted.” In the case, the plaintiff alleged a scheme by which animal rights groups had funneled money to a witness who lied in court proceedings. 

Ilya Sheyman

Sheyman joined GFI in 2022. He’s the former CEO of the MoveOn, a far-left advocacy group. MoveOn received national notoriety for calling General David Petraeus “General Betray Us” during the Iraq War. 

Pepin Tuma

Tuma works for GFI’s lobbying team. Tuma is known for getting arrested after yelling “I hate the police” at Washington, DC police officers. 

Staff Harassment/Discrimination

A review of GFI conducted by Animal Charity Evaluators found that staff had reported experiencing harassment or discrimination: 

“A few staff (1–3 individuals) report that they have experienced harassment or discrimination in their workplace during the last 12 months, and a few (1–3 individuals) report to have witnessed harassment or discrimination of others in that period. In particular, they report fear of retaliation from leadership and a lack of channels to file complaints in the affiliates. All of the claimants reported that the situation was not handled appropriately.”

More details could not be found. 

Funding

The Good Food Institute has received over $21 million from the Open Philanthropy Project, an activist foundation in California that funds animal rights extremists. That accounts for nearly one-fifth of GFI’s total revenue since its inception. 

Open Philanthropy Project has given more than $100 million to animal rights organizations in the US, Europe, and Asia, oftentimes to fund corporate harassment campaigns against restaurants and grocers. 

GFI has received about $1 million via Animal Charity Evaluators, which promotes anti-meat groups. GFI has also received $1.5 million from the New Venture Fund. The New Venture Fund is a “dark money” outfit that serves “as a way for left-leaning foundations and donors to anonymously funnel money toward various political advocacy issues,” according to InfluenceWatch.