Development and Screening of Novel Fungal Strains for Exploitation in the Food Industry

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Fungi are used to produce a number of foodstuffs. This often involves the use of long-established strains, because it has proved difficult to produce new, improved strains for many species. However, we have developed a technology allowing us to sexually cross certain fungi used in the food industry and shown that this results in the generation of offspring with enhanced properties for use in food production. This includes production of strains with pleasurable novel flavours and appearance, and lowered toxin content. We now plan to take these strains and screen and develop them for commercial exploitation. We also plan to make more crosses to generate offspring with other favourable features, such as higher enzyme activity and growth rate that might reduce manufacturing costs. All the novel strains will be screened in food production trials in collaboration with food industry partners, with taster panels used to test and confirm the appeal of the new strains and related food products.