Fungi and AI turn food waste into flavourful cheese

At a laboratory in California, bioengineer Vayu Hill-Maini has created something that tastes like a Pecorino or Parmigiano – but it is not made from milk. It comes from food waste, transformed by fungi. 'One of the most amazing things that we found recently is that we could take waste and add a few other ingredients in a fungal fermentation and create this delicious cheese,' says Hill-Maini, who runs a lab at Stanford University. The process, known as fermentation, is a biological method that converts carbohydrates into substances such as alcohol without oxygen. While best known in baking and brewing, fermentation can work on all sorts of materials – in biology, these are called substrates. With the latest biotech tools, companies are taking by‑products of the food industry that are currently discarded and turning them into something valuable. In the UK, Fermtech is transforming cocoa shells, normally thrown away, into a cocoa powder substitute. Andy Clayton, Fermtech's CEO, says you would be 'really struck by the intense chocolatey nature of it' if you sniffed a bag of cocoa shells. He argues it is a shame that such by‑products are composted or burnt instead of using microorganisms to break down the hard parts of the plant and make them bioavailable while retaining the flavours. Utilising a broader palette of substrates can save money, help the environment and expand flavour. 'We're kind of like flavour miners,' Clayton adds. Take peas: protein makes up only about a quarter of a pea, and the remaining three‑quarters make 'a perfect substrate for fermentation', according to Bosco Emparanza, CEO of Spain's MOA Foodtech. His company gathers data on environmental conditions and available substrates, sequences the genomes of suitable microorganisms, and uses an AI trained on that data to work out the best combinations for yields. Emparanza marvels at the speed of AI‑driven fermentation design. 'When we started the company, we were able to develop one bioprocess in two weeks,' he says. 'Nowadays, the platform can develop 300 bioprocesses per hour.' Using that technology, MOA Foodtech discovered the best micro‑organism for their needs, turning waste into valuable ingredients – a glimpse of how ancient tricks and modern tools are rewriting the future of food.