Hyfé Foods bolsters mycelium flour production from wasted sugar water

24 May 2022 --- Current supply chain issues in the food industry have given sustainable food tech company Hyfé Foods the impetus to scale its business of valorizing wasted sugar water from F&B manufacturers into feedstock to produce mycelium flour.

The company has developed a carbon-neutral method to produce affordable, high protein, low-carb and allergen-free flour products.

Our inputs are wasted sugar water streams that are available locally, in every region of the world where food is manufactured. Because our technology enables local production of flour, we are shielded from supply chain issues that we are currently seeing with staple crops,” Mark Ruiz, co-founder, Hyfé Foods tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“[The] world is facing a massive food catastrophe with the rising cost of staple crops, which highlights the need for decentralized and reliable production of nutritious food.”

“Our flour production is not impacted by the broader global supply chain issues. That is why the founders feel the urgency and responsibility to scale the flour platform as fast as possible to help provide food security,” Ruiz explains.

Supply chain disruptions mount
Nutrition and food companies are currently grappling with supply chain disruptions and inflation with food prices at a ten-year high. Price hikes have been felt by 94% of 1,000 UK and US consumers that noticed their food shopping bills had gone up in the last quarter of 2021, according to a survey commissioned by Ingredient Communications and carried out by Survey Goo. 

Food prices are surging globally, with some countries – like the UK – reporting the highest inflation levels in 30 years. Consumers and small businesses are feeling extreme pressure as costs soar beyond their affordable incomes. 

Hyfé Food’s use of upcycled water feedstocks reduces the water intensity of fermentation and diverts the feedstocks from wastewater treatment facilities which generate significant amounts of methane. 

Ruiz outlines: “Upcycled sugar water benefits consumers because it offers a reliable and price accessible source of nutritious food. This provides a barrier to supply chain disruptions - in our case, in staple goods like flour.” 

“Food manufacturers usually pay surcharges to clean their wasted sugar water, so by paying Hyfé a lower fee, manufacturers save money, and Hyfé reduces the cost of food to the consumer,” he says. 

Investment roundA bowl of Hyfé pasta is high in fiber and has no refined carbohydrates.
Hyfé Foods received an oversubscribed US$2 million investment led by The Engine, a venture firm. In addition, Hyfé was awarded a Department of Energy grant through the Chain Reaction Innovations Accelerator at Argonne National Labs. This funding will accelerate the company’s timeline to scale toward commercialization. 

“Hyfé’s mycelium flour tastes and acts just like wheat flour, enabling people to eat the foods they love without negative health impacts. We are leveraging biotechnology to produce this ingredient that is carbon neutral, at scale, and at a very low cost,” says Michelle Ruiz, co-founder and CEO, Hyfé Foods.   

“A bowl of Hyfé pasta has as much protein as a chicken breast, is high in fiber and has no refined carbs.”

The supply of essential food ingredients like grain has been decimated as primary export routes through the Black Sea are largely closed due to war. Due to sanctions, the energy and fertilizer supplies needed to produce crops and maintain livestock in other regions are being reduced. 

Efforts to combat food shortages
Enabling localized mycelium production facilitates humanitarian efforts to combat food shortages as industrial-scale growth of the protein is decoupled from agriculture, the company purports. This, in turn, makes it possible to produce in remote or poor agricultural quality environments. 

Hyfé’s upcycled mycelium flour does not require any agriculture or freshwater to be produced and there is the added benefit of the processing requiring minimal space.

“We are focusing on producing flour because it is a staple food that is prominent across every culture. The problem is that flour made from grains, legumes, and nuts contains high levels of refined carbohydrates that drive the prevalence of chronic diseases like diabetes, while offering little nutrition,” says Ruiz. 

Mycelium, the root network of mushrooms, has high protein and fiber and essential amino acids, and no refined carbohydrates. By using mycelium to replace flour, we can not only provide better nutrition for people, but we can seamlessly integrate into diverse cultural plates. 

“Most urgently, we are providing a source of nutritious food in the face of rising food insecurity. You don't need farms to make this food and you don't need to ship it across the world. Just as important is in providing food that helps prevent chronic illness and climate change,” he explains. 

Upcycling combats food waste
“Upcycling Redefined” has been pegged as the ninth Innova Market Insights Trend for 2022. 13 “Shared Planet” leads the market researchers' top trends, focusing on how both industry and consumers can play their part in shaping a sustainable future. 

Upcycled sugar diverts landfill input, preventing greenhouse gasses from exacerbating climate change. 

Ruiz comments: “When people think of food waste, they often think of uneaten food or imperfect produce that gets thrown away. But what most people don’t realize is that wasted sugar water, like the kind that comes from a brewery or a can of chickpeas, is also food waste.” 

“Wastewater treatment is responsible for emitting methane, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides which are multiples worse than carbon dioxide as greenhouse gasses and for sending solid byproducts to landfills. If you reduce inputs to wastewater treatment, you reduce inputs to the landfill.

Meanwhile, in other news about upcycled ingredients, potato fruit water is a byproduct of the potato starch industry and a source of new functional proteins. With the “rescued ingredients” trend ripe for industry-wide adoption, this untapped resource is presented as the focus of a new business venture led by Danish biotech company Lihme Protein Solutions and Duynie Group, a Dutch upcycling specialist.

In addition, Spanish plant-based meat brand Heura introduced a new food processing method called Good Rebel Tech. It is dubbed a “new approach to food technology” that will produce macro and micro-nutrient dense foods in a sustainable manner. Heura’s new technological platform upcycles nutrient-dense byproduct materials and can also be applied to underutilized plant sources.

By Inga de Jong