The majority of plant-based and cell-cultured companies focus on making alternatives to the most widely consumed animal products — like beef, chicken, and cheese.
Optimized Foods Leverages Mycelium Technology to Advance Cultivated Caviar and Plant-Based Fats
California-based Optimized Foods, a food technology company specializing in mycelium-based products, is leveraging its proprietary MycoCarrier™ platform to create sustainable and nutritious alternatives to conventionally animal-based foods. The company’s innovations include Cultivated Caviar, a fish-free substitute for traditional caviar, produced through advanced biomanufacturing techniques. Mycelium, the root structure of fungi, is at the core of Optimized Foods’ approach. The MycoCarrier™ platform uses spherical mycelium to convert agricultural byproducts into high-value food products. This process aims to enhance the taste, texture, and nutritional value of these products while also addressing significant challenges in the food industry, such as the need for sustainable fat replacements and nutrient bioavailability. Fish-free caviar One of the company’s inaugural products is branded as Cultivated Caviar. Traditionally, caviar is harvested from wild …
