Dive Brief:
- The Better Meat Co. is receiving a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Defense Department to increase the production of Rhiza. The company’s signature mycoprotein ingredient is already produced in large quantities at the company’s Sacramento pilot plant.
- The grant was part of the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program, a White House initiative to encourage U.S. businesses to advance biotechnology.
- The Sacramento, California-based company makes mycoprotein by transforming microscopic fungi into a sustainable protein. The grant follows a “no questions” letter Better Meat received on the product from the FDA in July.
Dive Insight:
Better Meat sells Rhiza as an ingredient to food companies seeking sustainable protein options.
The product joins similar offerings from Quorn and Enough Foods. Better Meat’s comes from a different fungi strain.
The grant will help Better Meat create a product free of allergens, the company said.
According to a study from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, one of the fungal ingredient used to make mycoproteins has been linked to symptoms such as swelling of the throat, hives and swelling around the mouth and eyes. The study found that one out of every 140,000 consumers experienced these adverse reactions.
The fungal ingredient referenced in the study, Fusarium venenatum, is used by Quorn which was one of the first companies to make meat-free ingredients.
The alternative protein source has also been reported to cause gastrointestinal issues such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
Better Meat’s Rhiza is made from a different species of fungi, Neurospora crassa.
“We’ve pioneered new methods of growing microbial fungi into delicious, protein-packed, meat-textured ingredients,” Shapiro said in an email. “This grant will help toward scaling up our technology so that millions of people will be able to enjoy Rhiza mycoprotein in the coming years.”
So far, consumer acceptance has been a roadblock for mycoprotein makers, with consumers unsure of what the ingredient is. This is the first governement grant for an alternative protein.
The global mycoprotein market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.93% from 2024 to 2033, according to Precedence Research. The increasing popularity of sustainable protein sources has driven demand for these products.
