Food tech start-up specializing in fermented fungi-based ingredients, Nosh.bio, is embarking on a commercial partnership with European sausage producer Zur Mühlen Group to launch Koji Chunks, pegged as “the world’s first single-ingredient meat substitute.”

The Koji Chunks will be developed using Nosh.bio’s non-GMO, non-novel fungi, available in five flavors. They feature Nosh’s innovative fermented fungi ingredient and a marinade. The company says this “simple formulation” directly responds to growing consumer demand for transparency and cleaner, shorter ingredient lists on food labels.

Initially, they will be available in Germany, but the company has significant plans to leverage its technology toward developing clean label dairy products, for instance.

Fermented fungi

Felipe Lino, co-founder and CTO at Nosh.bio, explains how the partnership with Zur Mühlen Group, which is part of the Tönnies Group and has a strong presence and distribution network in the market, fits perfectly into the company’s alternative protein strategy.

“We are able to bring taste and texture, this natural fiber-like or meat-like taste coming from a single-ingredient that is minimally processed using our technology process. We work with fermentation, so it’s just like making beer. But instead of beer, we are making protein, and we use fungi that are traditionally used for food production,” he tells Food Ingredients First.

“The koji fungi have been used for millennia to make miso sake. So it’s known by consumers and by the industry. When we harvest this fungi, it already replicates the structure of animal meat like chunks, meaning that the manufacturers can actually produce chunks directly from our solution, without the need of extruding the protein, without the need of binding the protein with stabilizers. The structure is actually a natural texture.”

“This partnership with a big meat company, will be rolling out the first and only single ingredient meat analogs in the market. This means consumers will be able to buy products that have only one ingredient on the label, there is nothing else more, no hidden chemicals or additives.”

Beyond meat analogs

Nosh.bio’s initial focus is to tackle the meat analog market, but the fermentation process can be adapted to produce ingredients for various applications, including seafood, confectionery, sauces, and health & wellness products.

The company recognizes that it needs the backing of partners who share the same strategy to help make better, more affordable, sustainable and nutritious food.

Nosh.bio also notes its “speed of execution in tackling long-standing challenges in the meat analog field.” After just two years, it has secured funding and now a commercial collaboration with a major partner in the meat industry,

“But we will not stop there. Our technology and our solution platform really allows us to play in different verticals of the food industry. We know that we can replac eggs in bakeries applications. We know that we can clean up the label, for instance, of dairy and ice cream products. So using our fermented protein allows us to remove several additives and ingredients from the ice cream, making it cleaner.”

“We can also replac cocoa nibs and cocoa butter and chocolate, and by doing that, we have a chocolate that tastes just like the real deal but has 30% fewer calories. Plus, the environmental side of things; we can also reduce the environmental impact of cocoa.”

“There are many solutions and innovations in the pipeline, and our focus is really to help driving the food industry to a more sustainable condition than it is today while also helping to phase out the consumption of animal-based proteins, which we understand is one of the main drivers of climate change that is led by the food industry.”