Self-grown Meat Analogues: Fungi – Host Material Interaction, Material Structuring and Fungal Proliferation

Ciatta Wobill

Increasing demand for meat and dairy analogues ask for new and innovative alternatives for structuring and overall production of plant-based food materials [1-2]. Meat analogues produced by extrusion are nicely structured but include a labor-intensive pre-processing of the raw material. On the other side, laboratory grown meat lack in meat like structure since fiber and fat structure are difficult to achieve. Here, fungi could present a sustainable alternative.

Filamentous fungi already have an important function in generation of various enzymes, primary and secondary metabolites used in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, they have been traditionally used for food fermentation products and their components, such as mycoprotein, used for meat alternatives [3]. More recently, fungi and its mycelium are also being used to produce material that could replace medical constituents, plastics or used as building material [3-4]. By fine-tuning the host material to fungal requirements, novel materials can be produced.

The fungus grows as a network of hyphae, called mycelium. This mycelium is a highly branched network spreading into the host material to absorb nutrients necessary for growth [5,6]. By growing fungi in a fine-tuned food matrix, we aim to structure the material with the mycelium of fungi and create a three-dimensional structure. Material characteristics such as pH, nutrient content and viscoelasticity as well as growth conditions like temperature, humidity and gas concentration lead to varying fungal growth patterns and vigor [1, 4].