The Better Meat Co has been awarded a $1.4 million grant by the United States Department of Defense to produce a sustainable protein that is free of common allergens.

The grant, awarded as part of the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Programme, will be used to support The Better Meat Co’s efforts to produce large volumes of its Rhiza mycoprotein ingredient.

Rhiza is described as an all-natural, shelf-stable protein source, suitable for use in a wide variety of food applications.

Based in California, US, the food-tech start-up utilises a method of fermentation that transforms microscopic fungi into the Rhiza mycoprotein. The company then offers the ingredient to other food companies as a B2B supplier.

It recently received a ‘No Questions’ letter from the US Food and Drug Administration in response to its determination that its Rhiza mycoprotein is GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe).

Paul Shapiro, The Better Meat Co’s chief executive officer, commented: “The United States will be greatly advantaged by taking a leadership role in biomanufacturing, especially when it comes to efficient, innovative methods of food production”.

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