Mush Foods launches restaurant-ready mushroom root blends in the USA

Mush Foods, the food-tech innovator behind a mushroom mycelium blend, has announced the launch of '50Cut', a unique line of chef-crafted mushroom root blends that improve nutrition and sustainability in ground beef, poultry, and fish dishes. Mush Foods utilizes a proprietary, highly efficient, and sustainable above-ground cultivation technique to rapidly grow a variety of culinary-grade mushroom roots. This US launch follows last year's introduction for restaurants in Israel.

The company, which raised US$6.2 million in seed funding in 2023, was named a Grow-NY Food and Agricultural Business Competition winner, demonstrating Mush Foods' readiness to help transform the US food-service and restaurant industry by helping reduce meat consumption. Chefs swapping the 50Cut mushroom root blends into recipes, in place of some of the meat, can seamlessly enhance flavor and nutritional value, while improving cost and reducing the environmental impact in every dish.

"We're grateful for the enthusiastic and early recognition we've received and are thrilled to launch a line of outstanding mushroom root blends we think chefs will love," said Mush Foods Culinary Director AJ Schaller. "The Mush Foods team has unearthed an epicurean treasure, poised to solve some of our most pressing environmental challenges in a stunningly simple and seamless way. We've crafted a product that can help reduce meat consumption while enhancing flavor, juiciness, and yields."

Mush Foods enters the market at a pivotal moment as nearly one in four consumers say they are attempting to cut back on meat. The ground meat category is estimated at US$600 billion (US$94 billion industry in the US alone) while plant-based meat alternatives represent just 1.5% of the category. Mush Foods is offering the market a flavor-first ingredient that gives chefs the culinary flexibility to meet evolving consumer needs.

Mush Foods closed a US$6.2 million seed round earlier this year. "To be a category leader in this space, a company must provide great flavor, price parity, and nutritional value," added Yael Alroy, partner at Viola Ventures, Israel's leading tech investment group, which led the round. "Mush Foods stands out in its ability to meet all three." Other prominent participants in the seed round included TKH, the food-tech incubator; USA-based Siddhi Capital, which focuses equity on CPG food and beverage brands including Momofuku Foods, Hint Water and Ripple; Milk & Honey Ventures, which has made investments in SuperMeat and Remilk; and ARC IMPACT Ventures, a VC accelerator with significant environmental and social impact potential.

"The support of visionary investors propelled our entry to market, enabling us to empower restaurants and food-services purveyors to address urgent supply and environmental needs with groundbreaking and great tasting menu options," concluded Shalom Daniel, CEO, Mush Foods.