The Better Meat Co Receives $1.4 Million Defense Grant for Advancing Biomanufacturing with Rhiza Mycoprotein

The Better Meat Co, a Sacramento-based food tech company, is one of seven bioindustrial firms to receive monetary awards from the Department of Defense via the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP). This program aims to bolster America’s bioeconomic capabilities and ensure the Department achieves advanced defense potential and secure supply chains through biomanufacturing.

The Better Meat Co and the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP)

What is Biomanufacturing?

Biomanufacturing is a type of manufacturing that uses cells or other living microorganisms, like microbes, plant cells, and enzymes, to produce biomaterials and biomolecules that can be used in fuels, chemicals, medicines, and foods. “Biomanufacturing has the potential to support the U.S. military and our allies and partners by generating needed materials where and when our forces need them.” The financial support offered by the DBIMP advances five defense material priority areas: food, fuel, fitness, fabrication, and firepower.

The Better Meat Co received a $1.4 million grant through the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program. BMC will use the DoD grant to increase Rhiza production. The company already produces Rhiza in large quantities with its 9,000-liter fermentation system. BMC has significantly lowered Rhiza prices by completing over 100 harvests. They can produce the mycoprotein in just a few hours, making the cost on par with that of meat from cows.

Rhiza Mycoprotein: A High-Quality Protein for Sustainable Food Production

The Better Meat Co. specializes in producing Rhiza mycoprotein through fermentation. This versatile, allergen-free mycoprotein is a high-quality protein made from the mycelium of the fungi genus Neurospora crassa. The FDA recently gave it the green light, confirming that it is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption.

The Benefits of Rhiza Mycoprotein

Rhiza has a neutral taste, 43% protein, and the texture of animal meat, making it a perfect ingredient for food manufacturing companies that make hybrid or animal-free products. It has more iron and zinc than meat from cows. Additionally, Rhiza has more potassium than bananas and more fiber than oats.

Rhiza fermentation takes less than one day and uses far fewer resources than producing animal proteins. Processing Rhiza is also much faster than processing other plant protein isolates for use in plant-based meat.

The Better Meat Co sells Rhiza solely to food manufacturing companies. These companies find Rhiza to be a cost-effective way to create tasty foods with a meaty texture while enhancing nutritional value and building a diverse product line. “As a nutrient-packed, single-ingredient whole food with a completely clean label, Rhiza is an easy win for meat makers of any size in any market.”

Why Fermented Fungi is Crucial for the Future of Food Production

The Environmental Impact of Meat Production

While the planet is not growing any larger, our footprint on it continues to grow. This footprint, or foodprint, as some call it, can be largely attributed to the amount of meat we eat. Meat production requires significantly more land, water, and energy than consuming plants directly. It also produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation sector (cars, trucks, planes, and boats) combined.

Vast numbers of animals are slaughtered daily in the pursuit of meat. Raising and slaughtering animals for food is the number one contributor to deforestation, leading to wildlife extinction.

As the planet’s population grows, so does the demand for meat. Humans consume more meat per person than ever before. People are determined to continue eating meat, so it is imperative that we find ways to recreate meat without the use of animals.

Fungi Fermentation as a Sustainable Solution

Paul Shapiro, CEO of The Better Meat Co., stated, “The task before humanity today must be to find ways to continue to allow ourselves to enjoy the experience of eating meat but in a way that uses way less land, way less water, way fewer greenhouse gases emissions and, of course, in a way that doesn’t harm animals.”

There are many ways to create the meat experience without animals. Three popular and continually growing methods are isolating plant proteins, cultivating animal cells, and fungi fermentation.

Many companies have already developed ways to prepare plant proteins that look and taste like meat. However, there are a few limitations when using plant proteins. Making plants look and taste like traditional meat takes a lot of work.

Some companies cultivate actual animal cells, but the technology is still under development and quite costly, so it will still be many years before we see cultured meat on restaurant menus or store shelves. Though working continually, the cultivated meat sector will not be able to make a significant dent in the meat problem for years to come.

A third way to combat the consumption of meat from animals is fungi. “Fungi and animals are way closer to one another than either is to plants.” Many species of fungi already have an animal-like texture. They have the same protein, zinc, iron, and other nutrients as those associated with meat from animals. Numerous cultures have used fungi as an alternative to meat for centuries.

Not just any fungi will do the job, however. When we say we are utilizing fungi for food, we are not referring to mushrooms. Instead, we are talking about microscopic fungi that grow mycelium. “We can feed the byproducts of the agricultural industry like corn, potato, and rice to microscopic fungi who turn it into mycelium that, on its own in its natural, wholefood, unprocessed state, already has the texture of meat and the nutritional qualities of meat that we are seeking.” Replacing animal-based meat with fungi allows us to enjoy the meat experience in a way that is much less wasteful or harmful to the environment. It is also much more compassionate towards animals.

Microbial fermentation of fungi offers us an opportunity to drastically reduce the footprint humans leave on the planet. It also holds the potential to create various culinary experiences that we never thought possible without meat from animals. Mycelium can be utilized to create things such as chicken breast, a deli-style turkey sandwich, steak, and even foie gras, all without harming a single animal.

Developing fungi into tasty meat products in stainless steel tanks may seem odd or foreign to us, but the same holds true for many advances or inventions we take for granted today. For example, we use a pen or tap a screen instead of plucking a feather from a goose to write, or we use cars or bikes instead of horses for transportation. These advances were initially new and unheard of but were eventually universally accepted as the better way to accomplish things. The same can be said of technologies like microbial fungi fermentation. There may soon come a day when slaughtering animals for food rather than using the more humane technology to produce meat from fungi is greeted with shocked and confused expressions. We may even see a day where a “meat-maker” sits on our countertop alongside our “bread-maker.”

“Microbial fungi fermentation is just one way to liberate humanity from our reliance on animal slaughter, but it is a critically important, cost-effective, and scalable solution to this vexing problem of how we are going to sustainably feed ourselves into the 21st century. We only have one planet, and we shouldn’t deforest the rest of it simply so we can continue to eat more and more animals. Instead, just as we must end our reliance on fossil fuels, so too must we end our reliance on factory farms.”