Meat alternatives gain attention in San Francisco

Meaty mushrooms, printed 'steaks' and NASA discoveries -- the latest array of meat alternatives has been showcased at the Good Food Conference in San Francisco.

At various stages of production, here are a few of the ideas gaining attention as producers and investors focus on the booming vegetarian sector.

Magic' mushrooms

The Ecovative company was founded in New York in 2007 to develop bio-degradable packaging made from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms.

That project was to find alternatives to plastic packaging -- but the company then applied the same technique to make a leather substitute, and is now moving onto a meat alternative.

Amadeus Driando Ahnan, cofounder of the start up company Better Nature, displays some of his products.

3D printer

Italian technology entrepreneur Giuseppe Scionti was a university specialist in tissue engineering, who worked on creating human tissue using a three-dimensional printer.

He has applied his expertise to the food sector after founding the Spanish start-up Novameat that uses plant ingredients such as rice, pea protein and seaweed.

The printer uses the material to create alternative beef steaks and chicken breasts, with texture claimed to match real meat.

A Mycelium mushroom based piece of "meat" developed by the Ecovative company is on display.

Volcanic organisms

Sustainable Bioproducts, based in Chicago and led by Frenchman Thomas Jonas, is developing a new way to grow edible protein using NASA research.

The company's technology emerged out of studying organisms that survive extreme temperatures in Yellowstone National Park's volcanic springs.

Agence France-Presse