NEW TECH FOODS

California, US-based food-tech firm Optimized Foods is leveraging its proprietary MycoCarrier platform to create cultivated caviar and plant-based fats.

Optimized Foods uses mycelium, the root structure of fungi, as its base. The MycoCarrier platform uses spherical mycelium to convert agricultural byproducts into higher-value foods. It says that its MycoCarrier process can enhance the taste, texture and nutritional value of the byproducts while addressing common challenges in the food sector, such as nutrient bioavailability and sustainable fat alternatives.

The firm’s inaugural product is named ‘Cultivated Caviar’. It is grown in a laboratory using cells from sturgeon fish and edible mycelium scaffolding. Optimized Foods says this ‘drastically’ reduces the environmental impact and resource consumption associated with traditional caviar production.

The MycoCarrier scaffold provides structural support, while also enhancing the products texture, which, according to Optimized Foods, ‘mimics that of traditional caviar.’ The method can produce premium caviar in less than one month.

In addition to the cultured caviar, the firm has developed HYphat, a plant-based far ingredient that can replicate the sensory experience of animal-based fats. It is created using the mycelium technology and is tunable, allowing for colour, size and texture adjustments to meet specific product requirements.

Optimized Foods explains how HYphat melts slowly during cooking, similar to animal fat, and is intended for use in alt-protein and plant-based products.

In a statement on social media, Optimized Foods said: “What sets HYphat apart? It's a game-changer in the alt-protein industry as it has the remarkable ability to encapsulate and give structure to any oil, elevating the taste, juiciness and nutritional value of alternative protein products.”

Optimized Foods will present its innovations at the Proveg New Food Conference in Berlin on 3 September and has been selected as one of five start-ups in the 12th cohort of the ProVeg Incubator accelerator programme.

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