Mycelium-based food products

Meati Foods, Beyond Meat, Infinite Roots, The Better Meat Co. and MyForest Foods are among the named companies working on mycelium foods. Their routes differ: Meati Foods uses fermentation, Beyond Meat has developed a whole-cut steak, and MyForest Foods grows mycelium into meat-like fibers for products such as MyBacon. Infinite Roots and The Better Meat Co. also develop mycelium protein for food applications.

Nanjing Agricultural University, Jiangnan University and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences are prominent research organizations in the facts. Nanjing Agricultural University studies mycelial meat-analogue structure and protein interactions; Jiangnan University has studied mycelium protein grown using corn-soaking water. The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences researches fungal fermentation of agricultural by-products, including wheat bran.

Maash raised $14.2M in August 2026, and Millow raised $2.3M that month. Maash plans to use its funding to prepare for industrial-scale mycoprotein production, while Millow is expanding production and commercial operations for Nordic foodservice. In June 2026, The Protein Brewery added $20.5M to its Series B to expand Fermotein production and support its European launch.

The Fynder Group Inc. leads the listed patent holders with 8 patents. Mycotechnology Inc. and Infinite Roots each have 4, while Optimized Foods has 3. The Fynder Group’s September 2026 patent concerns colloidal food base compositions containing mycelial biomass, which can help stabilize the food composition.

Patent activity is lower in the latest comparison: the 24-month window contains 72 patents, and the reported patent growth is -53.1%. This contrasts with publication activity, which grew 5.5% in the latest year. The pattern suggests that research remains active even as recent patenting has slowed; it does not, by itself, show whether commercialization or technical progress is accelerating.

Recent developments include biomass production from brewer’s spent grain and research on protein structure. In September 2026, Nanyang Technological University reported using solid-state and submerged fermentation to convert the brewing by-product into fungal biomass. Nanjing Agricultural University researchers studied pH and salt effects on mycelium–egg white protein composites. In June 2026, Beyond Meat introduced its mycelium steak filet at US retailers.

The main approaches are submerged fermentation, solid-state fermentation, whole-cut cultivation, hybrid formulations and strain optimization. Submerged fermentation grows fungi in liquid media; solid-state fermentation uses moist solids and can work with side streams. Whole-cut cultivation builds meat-like structures, while hybrid formulations combine mycelium with other ingredients. Strain optimization targets improved growth or food properties, with production consistency and functionality remaining important trade-offs.

The United States leads the listed country data with 2,077 documents, followed by China with 1,835 and the United Kingdom with 781. India and Germany follow, with 612 and 590 documents, respectively. These figures describe the country distribution of activity in the facts; they do not identify a single leading company or measure commercial production.

Applications include minced and formed meat alternatives, protein ingredients and fortification, pet food, whole-cut replacements and blended meat products. Minced and formed alternatives have 122 documents in the application data, while protein ingredients and fortification have 83. Recent research also examines mycelium as a natural food fortificant and as a structural ingredient in meat analogues.