The Science of Alt Protein: Transforming Waste to Fungal Mycoprotein

Why It Matters

By converting waste into high‑quality protein, fungal mycoprotein simultaneously tackles food‑security, climate change, and economic inefficiencies in the global agri‑food system.

Key Takeaways

• 500 Mt food waste annually can be upcycled into protein.
• Fungal mycoprotein transforms agricultural, dairy, and fruit residues efficiently.
• Mycoprotein PDCAAS reaches 1.0, outperforming beef and soy.
• Process uses pretreatment, solid‑state or submerged fermentation, then downstream refinement.
• Start‑ups like Prime Roots already market fungal chicken‑style deli meats.

Summary

The webinar, hosted by the Good Food Institute, featured Cornell researcher Dr. Kay Wong discussing how fungal mycoprotein can turn abundant food‑waste streams into a sustainable protein source.

Wong highlighted that roughly 500 million tonnes of food waste are generated each year, dwarfing the 4.7 million tonnes actually consumed. By categorising waste into agricultural residues, dairy and fruit by‑products, and mixed food scraps, her team designs a circular bio‑refinery that pretreats these feeds, ferments them with GRAS‑approved fungi, and extracts protein or value‑added metabolites.

She noted that fungal proteins such as those from Fusarium, Pleurotus, and Aspergillus achieve a Protein Digestibility‑Corrected Amino Acid Score of 1.0, exceeding beef’s 0.92. Companies like Prime Roots, MyForest Foods, and others already commercialise chicken‑style nuggets, bacon, and steak analogues derived from these mycoproteins.

The approach promises to close the loop on food waste, reduce greenhouse‑gas emissions, and create new revenue streams for agrifood producers, positioning fungal mycoprotein as a key pillar of future protein security.

Original Description

Seminar Series: The Science of Alt. Protein

Transforming waste to fungal mycoprotein

Dr. Ke Wang

Department of Food Science, Cornell AgriTech, Cornell University

May 1, 2026

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Fungi are an emerging, sustainable source for food and ingredients, offering a tangible solution to global food security challenges driven by population growth and climate change. Their ability to convert low-value, sustainable feedstocks into high-value, nutrient-rich mycoprotein and bioactive compounds positions them at the forefront of the circular bioeconomy.

To understand how fungi can be leveraged for sustainable food production, Dr. Ke Wang of Cornell University provides a big picture of the emerging circular fungal biorefinery, summarizing the key advances and challenges across the ‘feedstock-to-product’ pipeline. Her talk also dives into the technical aspects of submerged fermentation and its effects on mycelium morphology and mycoprotein production by edible fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. Dr. Wang also shares a case study that demonstrates how mycoprotein derived from submerged fermentation can be leveraged for crispy functional snack applications.

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Meet the speaker:

Dr. Ke Wang is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell AgriTech, Cornell University. She also serves as faculty fellow at Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and Cornell Institute for Food Systems. Prior to this position, she worked as a Senior Scientist at Amgen Inc., leading projects on industrial biotechnology and bioprocess innovation. She received her Ph.D. degree in Biosystems Engineering from University of California Davis in 2022.

Her research program at Cornell focuses on applying bioprocess engineering approaches to address current and emerging challenges in food security and environmental sustainability. Her research team uses microorganisms as programmable cellular factories to convert complex agri-food waste and low-value feedstocks into value-added products. Her lab investigates how microorganisms synthesize cellular substances under heterogeneous environments and their implications on bioprocess innovations.

Moderator:

Bianca Datta, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Partnerships Manager, The Good Food Institute

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About The Good Food Institute:

The Good Food Institute is an international non-profit organization that works to unlock the knowledge and resources needed to transform how meat is made—satisfying rising food demand in ways that accelerate climate progress, protect animals and ecosystems, and strengthen public health. Our goal is a thriving world, fed sustainably.

Learn more at https://gfi.org/​

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