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If fermented liquid fungus from a bioreactor doesn’t sound like your idea of a delicious meal, the folks at Maia Farms say, don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.
The Vancouver-based company has figured out a way to grow and harvest mycelium — the hidden, underground root-like networks of fungus that give rise to mushrooms.
“The bioreactor allows us to control the environment in which the mycelium are grown,” said chief innovation officer Sean Lacoursiere.
“It allows us to keep everything moving and grooving and it also allows us to aerate and provide all the oxygen that the mushroom will need.”
The result is a food product that can be mixed with different protein sources to add bulk and enhance a meal’s nutritional profile.
Meat is one of the biggest costs facing restaurants and data shows prices are only going up. Diners are increasingly seeing those expenses being reflected in menu prices. A Vancouver company is trying to make meat go further by blending it with mushrooms.
While mushroom products are often used in meat substitutes, one of Maia’s target markets is the meat industry itself.
“We can add a lot of nutritional, taste and texture benefits while reducing the amount of meat that’s required,” Lacoursiere explained.
The offering couldn’t be timelier for restaurateurs and other food retailers, struggling to keep costs down as the price of meat soars.
According to Canada Beef, retail beef averaged $28 per kilogram in April, up 15 per cent from a year ago and close to a record high.
Maia Farms’ director of food science and innovation Karen McAfee said mycelium could replace between 25 and 40 per cent of the meat in items like sausage rolls, meatballs and burger patties.
“It can help retain moisture… it can also help with the high level of umami flavour,” she said.
Better for the planet
The benefits of hiding mushrooms in your meat go beyond the financial.
“From our estimates, we produce around two kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of material,” Lacoursiere said.
According to a 2024 report by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, one kilogram of consumed boneless beef in Canada produces 32.8 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
The same amount also requires 1,912 litres of water, almost four times the 500 litres Maia reports in its process.
“I don’t think people really comprehend just how much of a difference this type of product can make,” Lacoursiere said.
Finding consumers
While meat alternatives are readily available in Canadian supermarkets, sales in the sector have been declining for several years.
American think-tank The Good Food Institute has reported “both dollar and unit sales declines” in U.S. plant-based meat and seafood over the past three years.
“These declines were larger than those experienced by conventional meat and the total food and beverage sector,” the report said.
This week, Canada’s Maple Leaf Foods announced it was consolidating its U.S. plant protein production facilities down to just one location.
“Declining volumes have left our manufacturing network substantially underutilized,” CEO Curtis Frank said in a statement posted on the company’s website.
Lacoursiere is hoping Maia has what it takes to buck the trend.
“The whole goal of our company here is to produce mycelium at large scales, at a very cost competitive level. And we’re already seeing that,” he said.
As for the “ick” factor?
“It’s an oyster mushroom. It’s been eaten for hundreds, if not thousands of years. It’s delicious. We just found a way to grow it in a submerged liquid state.”
