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Feeding Fungi Food Waste Is Making Better Animal-Free Protein

Feeding Fungi Food Waste Is Making Better Animal-Free Protein visual media slide

Food waste has officially entered its protein era. Researchers publishing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have shown that fungal mycelium grown on carrot side streams doesn’t just tick sustainability boxes and it actually tastes better than conventional plant-based proteins when turned into vegan burgers and sausages.


Instead of farming new crops, the team fed carrot processing leftovers to edible fungi, harvesting the fast-growing mycelium rather than slow, space-hungry mushroom caps. The result: a low-fat, fibre-rich protein with a biological value comparable to soy and animal protein and one taste testers preferred over soy in both patties and sausage formats.


It’s a quiet but important shift. This isn’t about novelty fungi or lab theatrics, it’s about taking what the food system already throws away and turning it into something people actively want to eat. In a world where one in eleven people still face hunger, protein made from waste streams starts to look less like an experiment and more like common sense.



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