Public policies and vested interests preserve the animal farming status quo at the expense of animal product analogs

A transformation of the food system that heavily relies on animal-derived foods is required to reduce its impact on climate, deforestation, and biodiversity. This challenge demands an understanding of the policies and vested interests enabling or hindering progress toward sustainable production systems. We applied the multilevel perspective framework to evaluate the incumbent sociotechnical regime—animal farming—and the niche innovations producing animal product analogs. We conducted a comparative analysis of the United States and European Union to assess possible trajectories of food system transition. Our findings reveal that, although in recent years both governments have invested in niche innovations and have started to modify regulations, they mostly preserved the status quo of animal-based production and consumption. Despite the urgency to increase food system sustainability, policies failed to address the environmental impacts of animal-based technologies. Powerful vested interests exerted their political influence to maintain the system unchanged and to obstruct competition created by technological innovations.