Adamo Foods Wins €10M EU Grant to Scale Whole-Cut Mycelium Steak Towards Commercial Launch
- Gauri Khanna
- 23 minutes ago
- 3 min read
London-based Adamo Foods has secured a €10M EU grant to scale its mycelium fermentation technology towards commercial production, targeting UK foodservice in 2026.
The company's five-ingredient mycelium steak contains all essential amino acids, scores higher on protein digestibility than beef, and produces 93% fewer carbon emissions than conventional cattle farming.
The MycoStruct project, involving twelve partners including Bühler and TU Delft, will convert food industry sidestreams into sustainable whole-cut meat alternatives at industrial scale.
A London-based food technology startup is edging closer to putting a commercially viable, animal-free steak on restaurant tables. Adamo Foods has been awarded a €10 million grant from the European Union's Horizon Europe programme, channelled through the Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), a €2 billion partnership between the EU and the Bio-Based Industries Consortium. The funding will support a three-year project, named MycoStruct, aimed at converting food industry byproducts into nutritious whole-cut meat alternatives using mycelium fermentation.
From Sidestreams to Steak
The MycoStruct project brings together twelve companies and research institutes across Europe, including engineering firm Bühler, food distributor Bidfood Group, and academic institutions such as TU Delft and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland. Together, they will help Adamo Foods convert agricultural and food industry waste materials, commonly called sidestreams, into the raw inputs needed for mycelium protein production. This approach reflects a broader industrial trend of turning food waste into high-value ingredients, where fermentation microorganisms transform materials that would otherwise go to waste into commercially useful outputs.
Mycelium refers to the dense, thread-like root structure of filamentous fungi. When cultivated under controlled fermentation conditions, these fibres can be arranged to mimic the muscle structure of animal protein, producing a texture that more closely resembles whole-cut meat than most existing plant-based alternatives. The process avoids the need for binders or additives, which matters considerably in European markets where clean-label food products, those made with short, recognisable ingredient lists, are in growing demand.
The Science Behind the Steak
Adamo Foods uses a triple-patented submerged fermentation process, in which fungal cultures grow suspended in liquid nutrient media rather than on solid substrates. The company is currently scaling its operations towards a demonstration plant with a capacity exceeding 5,000 litres, with plans to reach 50,000 litres within three years. Founder and chief executive Pierre Dupuis has placed cost efficiency at the centre of the company's development strategy, stating that the technology is designed to reach price parity with conventional meat from the point of market launch.
The nutritional credentials of the resulting product are notable. Adamo Foods' flagship mycelium steak contains only five ingredients, provides all essential amino acids, and achieves a protein digestibility score of 0.99 out of a maximum of 1.0. This places it above pea protein, soy, wheat, and even conventional beef in terms of how efficiently the human body can absorb and use its protein content. Given that protein digestibility is a common area of criticism for mycelium-based meat alternatives, this score represents a meaningful technical achievement.
The environmental case is similarly striking. Because mycelium can double in mass roughly every four hours, a complete batch of protein can be produced within a single day. By comparison, an equivalent plant-based steak requires around three months to produce, and conventional beef takes approximately three years from rearing to slaughter. The fermentation process requires a fraction of the land used in livestock agriculture and generates 93% fewer carbon emissions than beef production.
Validation and the Road to Market
The MycoStruct project has already received a STEP Seal award from the European Commission, a distinction granted to biotech initiatives judged to demonstrate high-quality innovation aligned with the EU's economic and climate objectives. It is an uncommon recognition for projects at this stage of development, and signals a degree of institutional confidence in the approach.
Adamo Foods, which was founded in 2021 and has raised approximately €5 million from investors prior to this grant, is also a participant in the 2025 edition of EIT Food's RisingFoodStars programme, a European accelerator for scaling agrifood technology companies. The company intends to launch in UK foodservice in 2026, with European markets to follow.
The wider mycelium protein sector has seen considerable activity in recent years, with multiple startups across Europe pursuing industrial-scale mycelium meat production at varying stages of readiness. Adamo Foods is distinguishing itself by targeting whole-cut formats rather than minced or blended products, a technically more demanding objective that, if achieved at cost parity, could meaningfully alter the competitive landscape for premium meat alternatives.