Cultivation technology of filamentous fungi

Meat and fish alternatives are a booming trend. Current plant-based product development is typically focused on plant proteins and cultivated meat technologies. Fungal biomass is one of the upcoming alternatives for conventional meat and fish. We have experience in utilizing defined media, plant-based raw materials as well as food industry side-streams as feedstocks.

• Cultivation by submerged fermentation. The 1 L and 7 L bioreactors are dedicated to the bioprocess optimization of filamentous fungi.
• Cultivation by solid-state fermentation. To obtain protein-rich biomass for meat and fish alternative development, solid-state fermentation on various plant-based raw materials as well as food industry side-streams can be utilized.
• Metabolic characterization and growth medium optimization. Relying on our strong understanding of fungal metabolism, the growth medium and parameters are optimized to obtain the highest biomass yield.
• Comprehensive biomass description and biomass characterization. Chemical, physical, and sensory properties are thoroughly evaluated using our in-house analytical methods and equipment.
• Fungal biomass post-treatment and product formulation. Physical and chemical processes and treatments are applied to obtain high-quality fungal biomass and to reduce RNA, resulting in suitable biomass for fish and meat alternative development.

• Thorough bioinformatic characterization of strains. Our team has extensive knowledge of various bioinformatic tools to assemble the genome and study the metabolism of fungi for process optimization.
• Comprehensive chemical and sensory evaluation of fungal biomass with novel analytical equipment.
• Bioprocess up-scaling. Our team provides support to transfer the lab-scale and pilot-scale fungal biomass production to the industrial level.
• Downstream processing.