FAQs

  • Rhiza mycoprotein is superior to textured plant protein isolates commonly used to make plant-based meat today. When it comes to nutrition, meat-like texture, and efficiency, Rhiza is just better.

    Straight out of the fermenter Rhiza already has a meat-like texture. It's a whole, all-natural, unprocessed food with a complete amino acid profile, not an extruded protein isolate or fractionate. It's packed with the protein you want, and but also the fiber you need.

    It's fermenter-to-fork dining at its finest!

  • Mycelium is the root-like system of fungi. It can have a unique filamentous structure that mimics the texture of animal meat.

    That mycelium is what we transform into delicious mycoprotein.

  • We know it sounds too good to be true, but believe it!

    We take common ingredients like potatoes, rice, and corn and subject them to an age-old fermentation technique. Within hours, the result is an all-natural, high-protein, whole food with the natural texture of animal meat.

  • It is magic...the magic of science!

    We've spent years perfecting our methods, taking a process that occurs in nature, wrapping stainless steel around it, and providing the optimal conditions for speedy conversion of starchy ingredients into meat-like, high-protein foods!

  • Yep. We sell Rhiza for cheaper than what beef costs. We know that sounds great, but that's not good enough. Our goal is eventually to compete on cost with chicken. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer.

  • Rhiza is a true superfood, with more iron than pork, turkey, and even beef! With more protein than eggs and more potassium than bananas, Rhiza is a low-fat, zero-cholesterol whole-food protein that convincingly enhances or replaces animal-based meat.

    Also, Rhiza is packed with healthy fiber. Guess how much fiber the most fiber-packed animal meat has? Zero grams. Not so magical.

  • Close, but no cigar. And in fact, no mushroom, either. Think of mushrooms as the fruit of fungi, but not the whole thing. In fact, most fungi don't even produce mushrooms.

    We feed starchy foods to microscopic fungi and allow them to naturally turn into the meatiest animal-free protein on the planet.

  • We're heartened by your enthusiasm for our work and product -- thank you!
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    As a business-to-business ingredients company, our goal isn't to put our own products on store shelves. Rather, we're partnered with food companies to supply them with great ingredients for their products. For example, restaurants in the Sacramento region such as Buddha Belly Burger carry items on their menu made from our Rhiza mycoprotein. As well, our friends at Oshi make their delicious fish-free salmon with Rhiza, too.

    As well, Perdue Farms' "Chicken Plus" line (half chicken, half plant-based) contains our legacy plant protein ingredients and is available in 7,000+ supermarkets.
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    While tens of thousands of people have enjoyed Rhiza mycoprotein at conferences and limited time offerings at restaurants, we're not at full commercial scale yet. We're working hard to scale up our Rhiza mycoprotein fermentation capacity to empower our customers to release products with our mycoprotein nationwide!

  • The Better Meat Co.’s Rhiza mycoprotein is an all-natural, single-ingredient whole food made from mycelium, the root-like structure of fungi. In Latin, our mycelium is referred to as Neurospora crassa, a traditional mycelium that’s been safely enjoyed by Asian cultures for centuries.

    Crafted by artisans for a wide variety of Asian foods such as oncom, HongJun tofu, okara, and more, Neurospora crassa is packed with protein, fiber, iron, zinc, and even ergothioneine, often referred to as the “longevity vitamin.”

    The mycoprotein produced by The Better Meat Co. is regarded as safe by the FDA and USDA, and isn’t associated with any common allergens. If you love data as much as we do, you can see the 200-page safety dossier about our company’s process on the FDA's website.

    Finally, you may appreciate these peer-reviewed papers that further affirm the safety and lack of common allergenicity of our product.

    ‍Paper 1: "Safety evaluation of Neurospora crassa mycoprotein for use as a novel meat alternative and enhancer"

    ‍Pape    r 2: “The history of Neurospora crassa in fermented food”
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    Pa    per 3: "Evidence for safety of Neurospora species for academic and commercial uses"