Mycelium Inventor Myforest Foods Co. Announced several major growth milestones including increased availability of its flagship MyBacon and launched its second product Myjerky later this year. The company also announced new advances in mycelium production and increased its R&D team.
“Our goal, from the beginning, is to harness the power of mushrooms to feed the planet in a more sustainable way”
MyBacon, MyForest’s best-selling mycelium bacon product, is now available at 32 retailers and food service locations throughout New York and Massachusetts. The news follows MyBacon’s initial debut in New York City in November 2022 with two retail partners.
The current list of partners includes: Health Matters (Upper East Side), Amish Market (East Village), Brooklyn Fair (West Village), Elm Wellness (Greenwich Village), Food for Health (Upper East Side) and Garden Gourmet (Bronx).
Consumers can find a complete list in store https://myforestfoods.com/find-mybacon.
In addition, MyForest announced that it is entering the animal-free beef market with its second highly-anticipated product: MyJerky. Made with the same mycelium ingredient as mybacon, the jerky is expected to debut later this year as a new meatless snacking option.
Scaling production
MyForest also reports that it has completed the first successful mycelium harvest in a Canada-based partnership Whitecrest Mushrooms Limited. by Using MyForest’s patented AirMyCelium technology, Whitecrest Farm is expected to Less than an acre of land yields about three million pounds of mybacon mycelium.
“As the importance and utility of mycelium is increasingly recognized, I am extremely excited to reach this important milestone,” said Tyler Watson, a mycologist at Whitecrest Mushrooms. “Working with MyForest Foods to scale production of its amazing MyBacon products has been an incredible journey and I couldn’t be more excited for the future.”
extended reach
Expanding its global footprint, MyForest recently acquired parent company Ecovative Lambert Span Europa BV facility in the Netherlands. Through the agreement, Ecovative will expand the reach of its mycelium technology to more than five continents, while the acquired facility will produce spawn and substrate that directly support MyForest Foods.
Finally, MyForest announced that it has hired Jeff Mundt as its new vice president of research and development. Previously, Jeff held various roles at Mars, Hershey and most recently Butterball LLC, where he led R&D and innovation teams, launched new products and implemented process improvements.
“Positive, Permanent Change”
Founded in 2020, MyForest opened the “world’s largest” vertical Mycelium farm In 2022. The company has raised more than $40M from investors including Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Coalition Ventures.
Eben Baer, co-founder and CEO of MyForest Foods, commented on the company’s latest milestone: “Our mission, from the beginning, has been to harness the power of mushrooms to feed the planet in a more sustainable way.”
He continued, “MyBacon delights consumers with a fresh, clean-label, meatless bacon product that tastes great and is pig safe. Meanwhile, our star ingredient, the mycelium, enables the pursuit of positive, long-lasting change for our food system and, in turn, the exploration of Spaceship Earth – enabling us to conceive limitless variations – from form to flavor.
He added, “With the added harvest from the Swersey Silos, we’re looking forward to launching MyJerky, a tasty snack that we’ve been enjoying domestically for the past year.”