Plant-based protein start-up Planterra recently announced a Master Collaboration Agreement with Mycotechnology, a company focused on making sustainable plant-based ingredients.
The agreement is aimed at strengthening the ingredient partnership and bring about innovations in the plant protein industry.
Planterra has been using Mycotechnology’s rice and pea protein fermented by the roots of Shiitake mushroom or Shiitake mycelia for its OZO brand of plant-based products. This new agreement will unlock all potential for future collaboration between the two, including between their research and development teams, which in turn would lead to shared ownership of intellectual property.
“We believe that people shouldn’t have to sacrifice delicious flavor to adopt a more sustainable and healthy diet, and we believe in the incredible power of food to transform our shared future and lead people through the delicious world of plant-based proteins,” said Darcey Macken, CEO of Planterra Foods, in a statement.
“Our goal in entering this agreement with MycoTechnology is to foster collaborations between an ingredient manufacturer and consumer packaged goods company to create more quality and best-tasting ingredients, and to accelerate and unlock ingredients specifically designed for final applications and focused on taste improvement,” he added.
“Our work with Planterra Foods is just beginning, and we’re excited to expand the quality of ingredients offered for the plant-based industry at large, beginning with this partnership,” observed Alan Hahn, CEO of MycoTechnology. “We’ve seen great success through our fermented Shiitake blend, providing superior taste in Planterra’s OZO™ products, and we believe the plant-based industry needs to continue to push the adoption of plant-based alternatives, with taste and quality being a main factor in driving this adoption.”
The different technologies developed through this partnership will initially be used by Planterra Foods but shall be commercialised soon after for other plant-based meat companies to accelerate the production of higher quality plant-based meat.
Planterra Foods is owned by JBS USA, one of the world’s largest meat processing companies.
