Meati Foods opens a huge ranch to produce tens of millions of pounds of animal-free meat that’s made from mushroom root - as investors boost the brand with more than $250 million in funding.
The mushroom root-based breaded chicken. Credit: Meati Foods
Colorado has welcomed a new “mega ranch” with a big difference - there’s not
a single animal on site.
The ranch is the new production facility for Meati Foods, which produces
animal-free, whole-food protein that’s made from mushroom root.
Dubbed the “mega ranch”, the manufacturing operation will cultivate tens of
millions of pounds of Meati, which makes it a producer of animal-free meat
at a scale that will match and often exceed that of the US’s largest
animal-based ranches.
Classic cutlets and steaks. Credit: Meati Foods
Among the food produced at the ranch will be Meati’s line of animal-free
chicken and steak products, which currently includes the Classic Cutlet,
Crispy Cutlet, Classic Steak, and Carne Asada Steak.
The company says the next few years will see a seismic shift in how we eat,
as more and more consumers increasingly make more sustainable and healthy
food choices.
Animal-free companies like Meati are able to produce tons of whole-food
protein in just a few days, compared to animal-based protein which requires
the resource-intensive production process of breeding, farming, and
slaughtering animals over several months.
The fermentation area at Meati’s Mega Ranch facility. Credit: Meati
Foods
And Meati’s animal-free meat is not only more sustainable, but it's packed
with protein, fibre, and micronutrients too.
Meati’s innovative approach to mushrooms has helped it become a hit within
the food industry and with investors. The brand’s ‘first-of-its-kind’
breaded crispy chicken cutlet, primarily made from mushroom root, was
awarded as one of TIME’s best inventions of 2022.
The opening of the ranch was in part financed by Meati’s overscribed Series
C round, which saw contributions from the likes of Rockefeller Capital and
brought total funding to date to more than $250 million.
“Our belief that nature already has the answer to many of today’s challenges
allowed us to unlock a new food with Meati at a time when consumers are
demanding something different and better,” explains Tyler Huggins, CEO and
co-founder of Meati Foods.
“Meati delivers an unparalleled food with its taste, texture, nutrition, and purity, and we’re thrilled to open this first and subsequent phases of the resource-efficient ‘Mega Ranch’ facility to help even more consumers add it to their diets.”
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