Scientists make mold burger to replace meat

We are shifting many aspects of society to make them more sustainable, specifically farming. Still, we’ve yet to deploy eco-friendly techniques that can reliably meet the world’s demand for meat. 

Scientists from various institutions claim to have found a solution: mold burgers.

Believe it or not, experts concocted a meat substitute made of this microorganism to create patties. They say it looks tempting, but would you and the world take a bite of this alternative food?

How did they make the mold burger?

News from UC Berkeley reported about the mold meat substitute. It says it involved UC Berkeley, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, and Joint BioEnergy Institute experts.

They made the unique burger with a multicellular fungus called Aspergillus oryzae or koji mold. 

Koji is essential in fermenting rice and other starches into sake, miso, and soy sauce. Experts used CRISPR-Cas9 to make a gene editing system that can make consistent and reproducible changes to the koji mold genome.

UC Berkeley bioengineer Vayu Hill-Miani used the system to boost the mold’s heme production.

Heme is an iron-based molecule in animal tissue that gives meat its color and flavor. Next, he and his team raised the production of ergothioneine, an antioxidant exclusive to fungi that has cardiovascular health benefits. 

These alterations turned the white koji mold red. Also, removing excess water and grinding lets the researchers shape it into patties and fry them into tasty-looking burgers.

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Hill-Miani’s next goal is to make the fungi more appealing by changing their texture. “We might be able to program the structure of the lot fibers to be longer which would give a more meat-like experience,” he stated.

“And then we can think about boosting lipid composition for mouth feel and further nutrition,” he added. 

The mold burger meat could pave the way for making meat substitutes cheaper and easier to produce. It could even help make future food production more sustainable and environmentally friendly.