The plant-based market is booming. In 2019, global value was estimated to be worth more than $11m, with this figure expected to increase to reach around $35.5bn in 2027.
However, for CEO and founder of start-up Mush Foods, Shalom Daniel, the growing trend of plant-based substitutes is not moving fast enough. “Plant-based meat is still only a fraction of the total market,” he told delegates at the recent FoodTech IL event in Israel.
“In fact, animal meat consumption per capita is still growing, and that is because in terms of taste, texture, nutrition and price, current solutions are yet to [satisfy consumers].”
Industry expects consumers to compromise on ‘basic needs’, he stressed, such as health, taste and quality, by offering them ‘ultra-processed substitutes’ made from ‘controversial ingredients’ to make up for a lack of taste and texture.
Israel-based Mush Foods claims to have found a solution in edible mushroom mycelium, which it plans to sell B2B to food makers in both plant-based and hybrid meat categories.
Beefing up meat with mushrooms
Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus that grows outwards in search of water and nutrients.
Mush Foods is leveraging mycelium to develop sustainable animal-free protein as an ingredient for the food and beverage industry. “We harness the fantastic power and innate intelligence of mushrooms to face future global challenges and provide sustainable ground-breaking food solutions for the future of food,” noted the start-up.
By incorporating the ingredient into either plant-based meat alternatives or blended/hybrid meat products, the start-up hopes to reduce meat consumption and help industry ‘dramatically reduce its footprint on the planet’.
Mush Foods develops mycelium-based ingredient for hybrid meat products - FoodNavigator.com
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