Plant-based firm’s new 50/50 range set to launch in university in bid to ‘painlessly’ reduce meat-eating

Myco said the range has been designed to help people “painlessly” eat less meat.

The firm’s chief operating officer, David Wood, said: “Young adults are the generation driving forward the meat reduction movement, and by giving students access to the ‘Save the Earth’ range, we hope it will mean less meat consumed – which is great news for the planet.”

The North Yorkshire-based manufacturer will supply its new range to students at Teesside University, in a deal which the firm said builds on a wider partnership between Myco and Teesside.

The partnership has also seen the Middlesbrough-based university utilise its expertise in computing and sustainable technologies to support the company in developing its food range.

Myco and Teesside University have collaborated to develop AI technology to monitor the company’s vertical farms, while the University’s food scientists have also helped Myco refine its ingredients to make them “more sustainable”.

As part of the latest deal, the catering outlet in BIOS, Teesside University’s £36.9m cutting-edge science building which houses its food science laboratories, will now serve Myco products.

Mr Wood added that Myco was also in talks to supply several other universities.

Darren Vipond, director of campus services at Teesside University, said: “As a University which puts sustainability at the heart of its mission, we’re delighted to be able to help our staff, students and visitors reduce their carbon footprint by offering these reduced meat products in our outlets.

“In particular, it’s fantastic that we’re able to offer a product which has been developed with the help of our own academic expertise and which is destined to have a major impact on changing people’s eating habits.”

Mr Wood added: “The world is warming at a rapid rate and the sad and scary fact is we are facing a race against time for the planet’s survival. Meat production is one of the biggest contributors to global warming, yet the average UK adult eats almost 100lbs of meat each year which the planet simply can’t sustain.

“However, we also have to be realistic. For years, people have tried giving up meat and struggled due to the taste and texture of alternatives. By working with, rather than against the meat industry to create hybrid options like our Save the Earth range, we are finding tasty solutions that for carnivores, still feel like meat.”

A statement from Myco added that its products could be a “gamechanger” in the UK Government’s bid to reach Net Zero by 2050.

Among a raft of recommendations published in the recent annual Carbon Report – undertaken by Labour’s Climate Committee – scientists warned that Brits would need to eat around “two kebabs worth of meat” a week less to help reach the 2050 goal.

The figures equate to around 25 per cent less meat per person.

Myco said that, with hybrid products, however, that rate could potentially be doubled – a move which could reduce carbon emissions by almost 1.5m tonnes per year.

Launched last year, Hooba is produced from oyster mushrooms which are farmed vertically inside Myco’s Leeming Bar site.

Hooba’s quarter pounder burger, which is made at the site, was previously dubbed “Britain's greenest burger”.

Myco’s latest news comes after the firm last year announced a major partnership with one of Britain’s biggest food wholesalers.

The partnership, which came just months after Myco’s first burgers rolled off its production line, saw the firm partnering with Brakes in a move the company said would “dramatically increase the product’s visibility”.

The partnership will see Brakes offer Myco’s Hooba product it to the its 20,000 customers. Mr Wood said at the time that the deal would move the company “ahead of schedule” in terms of its growth, adding: “This is a game changing partnership for Myco and has huge transformational potential for our business.”