News & Knowledge

The Project: Turnkey Factory Automation for Mycoprotein Production

Food and beverage automation is changing, because so is the way we’re looking at industrial food production. The Better Meat Co. is a leader in the alternative protein movement. They produce a plant-based mycoprotein made by fermenting staple agricultural ingredients and minimally processing them into a dense protein that can be used in tandem with or instead of true meat. Their brand of alternative meat production touts:

• Whole food with natural texture of animal meat
• Complete amino acid profile
• Sustainable production, ethical alternative
• Cheaper than beef
• Much smaller carbon footprint than raising traditional meat

The Better Meat Co. faced a quick turnaround to full-scale production once they cleared the necessary regulatory barriers. Knowing they would need a robust, foolproof automation system to achieve their goals, they partnered with E Tech Group and Barnum Mechanical Inc. to design, build, and automate a full-scale processing system at their new mycoprotein fermentation facility in Sacramento, California.

The Process: Build & Integrate a Custom Automated Fermentation System

The Better Meat Co. partnered with Barnum and E Tech Group to build a full-scale processing system from scratch. The project team assessed existing equipment and current system requirements, and collaborated with various stakeholders to best design the full-scale processing system, keeping alternative meat processing standards and scalable performance capabilities top-of-mind.

E Tech Group’s team leveraged their expertise in automated control systems and process design to create a custom solution. The project team accomplished a software redundant control system that was capable of developer remote access support, redundant databases, recipe controls, historic data logs, and interactive reports.

The system that Barnum and E Tech Group helped to build allows The Better Meat Co. to experiment simultaneously with different types of feedstocks so that they can sterilize different media to run different types of fermentations.

The Result: A Better Way to Process Proteins

The Better Meat Co. implemented an automated system, developed with the help of E Tech Group and Barnum Mechanical, which has been successful in producing its products on demand. The CEO of The Better Meat Co. endorsed the value of automation. The system has been reliable since its deployment and is scalable for future growth.

You can learn more about the automation process for this case study in this video interview with the Better Meat Co. CEO.