A Fungus Among Us? Jack Hubbard, of the Center for the Environment and Welfare, said that “America’s enemy’s laugh at us when we talk about fermented, fungus-based burgers instead of natural, farm raised” animal protein.

As part of the White House’s sustainable bioeconomy initiative, the Pentagon funds alternatives to meat proteins. This includes using fungi as food for U.S. military personnel.

After initially seeking funding for lab-grown meat in an attempt to reduce carbon emission earlier this year, the Department of Defense has now decided to focus on fungi proteins as an alternative animal protein. Some critics have opposed such initiatives claiming that they negatively affect the military.

The DOD announced in November that it had awarded 34 awards totaling more than $60 million to bioindustrial companies under the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program. The Fynder Group received $1.38million to plan a bioproduction plant for fungi proteins that could be incorporated into ready-to eat military meals.

The program is part President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 1481, “Advancing Biotechnology, Biomanufacturing, and Innovation for a Safe and Secure American Bioeconomy,” which, according to DOD, is “designed to bolster America’s bioeconomic strength while helping the Department attain advanced defense capabilities.”

The DOD announcement stated that the projects awarded funding by the DOD program will be “eligible for follow-on “build” awards, providing up to $100M to construct U.S. based bioindustrial manufacturing facility.”

Fungi-based proteins

The DOD awarded The Better Meat Company nearly $1.5M in August as part of DBIMP. The company “harness[es] fermentation to produce delicious, clean mycoproteins for food companies to utilize as the basis for their hybrid and animal-free meats.”

The DOD reports that “The Better Meat Company in West Sacramento, California was awarded $1.48M to plan and build a bioproduction plant for mycoproteins ingredients which are shelf-stable and have high fiber and protein content. They can also be dehydrated.”

The company says that to make meat alternatives they “feed microscopic fungi starchy foods and allow them naturally to turn into the most meatiest, animal-free protein in the world.”

According to Federal Election Commission records, Paul Shapiro is the CEO of The Better Meat Company. He has made donations to Democratic candidate campaigns. Shapiro most recently donated to Virginia Delegate Dan Helmer’s primary campaign in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District for Virginia’s past February, and California Senator Adam Schiff’s campaign between October and November of 2023.

The Better Meat Company did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment Tuesday.

BioMADE, a public-private partnership, announced in June that it is seeking “Innovations that reduce CO2 footprints of food production and/or transportation to DoD operational environments.”

These include but are not restricted to the production of nutrient dense military rations through fermentation processes; utilizing C1 feedstocks as food sources, and using novel cell culture techniques suitable for producing cultivated meat/protein,” i.e. lab-grown beef.

BioMADE is a Manufacturing Innovation Institute that’s sponsored by the DOD. Last year, it announced receiving more than $500,000,000 from the Pentagon.

After the DOD’s June announcement, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Center for the Environment and Welfare resisted the DOD’s funding of lab-grown meat for the military. This caused the Pentagon to change its mind.

Mark Eisele, NCBA’s President, said in July that the DoD had confirmed that lab-grown proteins would not be served to our nation’s military personnel. “These men, women, and children make great sacrifices in serving our country every day. They deserve high-quality food that is nutritious and wholesome, like the real beef produced by American farmers and livestock ranchers.”

“Fake meat”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb. ), a retired Brigadier-General of the U.S. Air Force, introduced in June an amendment to National Defense Authorization Act that would have prevented the DOD funding research and development for lab-grown beef used in military rations. The amendment was however rejected.

Bacon wrote on X, “Last Week I proposed an NDAA Amendment to cut all DOD funds for fake meat.” Nebraska is the Beef State and leads in red meat production. We don’t require this fake meat. Our farmers and ranchers are able to feed our military. The military should fund weapons, not fake meat.

The DOD did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment Tuesday.

Jack Hubbard, Executive Director of CEW, told Just the News that he couldn’t “imagine” why the DOD “talks about fungi food for troops”, when the DOD has “missed its recruitment goals over the past two years.”

He continued that the DOD “is not adopting policies” to attract the most fierce fighting force in the world.

Hubbard stated that Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Secretary of Defense for Donald Trump has “taken aim at the woke ideologies the Biden administration imposed on the DOD,” and that this “is just another example.”

He said that “America’s enemy are laughing when we talk about fermented mushroom burgers instead of natural, farm-raised animal protein.” Hubbard said that this is part of an “animal-rights environmental worldview” which claims “farmers destroy the planet and eating a hamburger is the biggest threat.”

He said that it was “clear” this was a concerted attempt by political forces at the White House to press the DOD into adopting an anti-farm and eco agenda. “I don’t think we should experiment with our troops by feeding them less than the best,” he said.

Cells replicate like a tumor

Hubbard said that there has been a growing amount of research indicating that many of these alternatives are highly processed and not necessarily healthier than natural farm-raised vegetables or meat.

He said that the DOD grant and executive order that stems from it are “done under the pretext of reducing climate change,” but “when you take a look at the lab-grown side, it has up to 25 times worse emissions than farm raised beef and cattle.”

Hubbard cited an article from the University of California Davis that “found the potential global warming of lab-based beef using these purification methods.”