Project description
Eco-friendly mycelium-plant meat analogue production technology
In a European Commission survey, 80 % of participants were open to reducing meat consumption to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and 74 % sought dietary improvements. However, current meat alternatives are often unhealthy, lacking appropriate texture and are environmentally unfriendly due to high resource use, including significant water consumption, wastewater generation, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The EIC-funded MEATLOW project proposes Millow's innovative mycelium-plant meat analogue production technology, which significantly reduces water and energy use, as well as CO2 emissions, while providing a healthier, eco-friendly alternative with a neutral taste and meat-like texture. The project aims to optimise and automate Millow’s technology to introduce its disruptive plant-fungi products into the EU meat substitute market by 2026.
Objective
In a public enquiry made by the European Commission, 80% of respondents were willing to reduce their meat intake to help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), and 74% intended to change their diet to improve their health. However, current meat analogues in the market are not a healthy alternative, since they are ultra-processed, full of binders and additives, and among their ingredients, we can find high amounts of sugars and sodium, maltodextrins or soy isolate, that are not indicated for a healthy diet. In addition, these products are nor ecological, since they are highly resource-demanding, mainly in terms of water consumption, wastewater generation and energy use, and also cause important GHG emissions. On top of that, the existing meat analogues are rejected by consumers due to their off-taste & bad texture that does not resemble to meat.
In response to this situation, Millow has developed to TRL6 a novel solid state dry fermentation production technology for mycelium-plant meat analogues. This highly scalable and cost-effective innovative process accelerates mycelium growth from most typical 3-7 days periods to <24h, reducing required water input by 97%, energy use requirements by 67%, and CO2 footprint by 95% compared to benchmark methods based on liquid fermentation. The resulting products have neutral taste, pleasant texture that mimics meat attributes without the use of artificial binders, is minimally processed, healthy, nutritional and eco-friendly.
In the MEATLOW project, we aim to optimise and automate its innovative technology to reach TRL8 and commercial status, and introduce our disruptive plant-fungi products in the EU meat substitute market by 2026. To do that, our highly skilled team of scientific, management and marketing professionals is determined to lead this project to success.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering water treatment processes wastewater treatment processes
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry alkali metals
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-EIC-ACC-BF - HORIZON EIC Accelerator Blended Finance
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2023-ACCELERATOR-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
421 30 VASTRA FROLUNDA
Sweden
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.