Food Matters Live Podcast · Food Matters Live

The next generation of sustainable protein

·42 min·3 clips

Adamo says its submerged fermentation grows centimeter-length fibers and is already covered by three patents.

1. Food Matters Live Podcast's "The next generation of sustainable protein" moves from Adamo Foods' mycelium steak alternatives to Professor Dr. Alexander Mathis' sustainable protein research. 2. Gareth Payne, Adamo Foods chief product officer, says his team uses mycelium to make "groundbreaking steak alternatives" and frames his talk around consumer acceptance. 3. He says the episode is meant to trace the consumer journey from early meat-free products to the technologies now used for whole-cut substitutes. 4. Payne describes "wave one" as vegan and vegetarian-only products, including the "sad corn sausage" and Linda McCartney era. 5. He says flexitarians accelerated demand during COVID, when people began swapping out "one or two" meat meals a week for ethical or sustainability reasons. 6. He notes that between 2020 and 2022 there was an "absolute explosion of brands," followed by a plateau after retail and food-service launches like the plant-based Whopper and Greggs' vegan sausage roll. 7. Payne argues that meat-free products are losing consumers partly because of the "ultra-processed" label, even though he says there is no actual definition for ultra-processed food. 8. He also says current ingredient formats often arrive as a powder or slurry, including plant-based, fermentation, insect, and cultivated inputs, so they still need conversion into edible whole cuts. 9. He compares extrusion, 3D printing, fiber spinning, and shear cell processing, saying extrusion is common but a large-scale unit can cost between one and five million pounds. 10. Payne says Adamo Foods believes fermentation is the way forward and uses mycelium, the root-like structure of fungi, to build meat-free products. 11. He says the Adamo strain is complete protein, high in fiber, and contains the same amount of B12 and iron as beef, while also showing prebiotic-like effects in small studies. 12. He adds that mycelium has long, dense fibers and a neutral umami taste, which avoids the off-notes that often require masking in pea or soy products. 13. Payne describes Adamo's "myofirm" process as submerged liquid fermentation tuned to grow centimeter-length fibers, followed by downstream processing that squeezes, colors, flavors, and orients the fibers like meat. 14. He says Adamo has filed three patents, prototyped chicken and pork, and is preparing a first small commercial facility in Nottingham before full commercial scale next year. 15. Mathis opens by asking how a system that already produces 1.5 billion cattle, 1 billion chickens, and 1 billion pigs can keep growing. 16. He says the world has 14 million square kilometers of arable land, one-third of it already used for wheat, maize, and rice, and FAO projections call for more than 60 percent more food by 2050. 17. Mathis argues that the food system needs non-arable land-based production using fermentation, fungi, bacteria, and microalgae, alongside social and behavioral change. 18. He presents a three-dimensional sustainability assessment built around nutrition, environmental impact, affordability, availability, food safety, and waste reduction. 19. He reports a European market study of 2,600 substitute products and 7,500 benchmark products that found price parity in Germany for burgers, whole cuts, dairy meatballs, mince, meatballs, and sausages. 20. He closes by showing that protein concentration alone is misleading: one Galdieria sulfuraria strain reached 64 percent protein but only 14 percent bioaccessibility, while another had 51 percent protein and 62 percent bioaccessibility.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Food Matters Live Podcast