Adamo Foods has won a €10 million grant from the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking to move its mycelium-based steak alternatives from development into industrial-scale production, a significant boost for the London-based food technology company and its three-year MycoStruct project. The funding comes through the EU’s Horizon Europe programme and supports a consortium of 12 partners across food manufacturing, engineering and research, including Bidfood Group, Bühler, TU Delft and the Tallinn-based food research centre TFTAK. According to the project page on the CBE JU website, the aim is to tackle one of the sector’s biggest technical hurdles: producing structured whole cuts rather than minced or reshaped meat analogues.

Founded in 2021 by Pierre Dupuis, Adamo says it has developed a triple-patented fungal fermentation process that creates a fibrous matrix intended to resemble animal muscle, while using only a small number of natural ingredients. The company says its products contain no cholesterol and offer a stronger protein quality profile than conventional beef, and it has previously worked with the University of Nottingham’s Food Innovation Centre to assess texture and flavour. Adamo’s mission, as described on its own website, is to deliver whole-cut meat alternatives that are both more sustainable and closer to the eating experience of meat.

The new project is also designed to strengthen the sustainability case for fungal protein by using food industry sidestreams as inputs, turning byproducts into protein through fermentation. Adamo says its mycelium steak already generates 93% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional beef, a figure echoed in reporting by Green Queen. That circular approach appears central to the appeal of the grant, which Adamo says was also recognised with a STEP Seal from the European Commission, an endorsement it says has been awarded to only a limited number of biotech projects.

For Adamo, the award marks a push toward commercial reality rather than just technical validation. Dupuis said in the company’s announcement that the funding would help bring what he called healthy, sustainable and “no-compromise” products to consumers in Europe and beyond, while The Grocer reported that the financing should accelerate both development and commercialisation. The broader challenge now will be whether the startup can translate laboratory promise into consistent, cost-effective production at industrial scale.

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