West Sacramento-based The Better Meat Company is seeking to help lower the food industry’s carbon footprint by creating meat-like alternatives to beef, pork and chicken.

Let’s face it: the planet just isn’t getting any bigger, but humanity’s footprint on our planet is getting bigger. In fact, a lot bigger. A major contributor to that footprint is our food-print, principally the amount of meat we eat.

Better Meat Co. is working to mitigate the impact the meat-packing industry has on gas emissions, according to the company’s CEO Paul Shapiro.

“Raising animals for food is a leading driver of wildlife extinction, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and climate change,” Shapiro shared. “By growing protein via fermentation rather than inside animals, we can more sustainably feed humanity without destroying the planet.”

Better Meat Co. utilizes Rhiza mycoprotein, an all-natural, whole food, complete protein and clean-label ingredient that is descibed as “versatile, common allergen-free, neutral in taste and color and naturally has a meat-like texture,” on the company’s website.

With a naturally meaty-texture, it provides the perfect chew and a great structure for any type of animal-free application. It’s also the only mycoprotein ingredient deemed by USDA as suitable for inclusion in animal meat.

According to Better Meat Co., Rhiza mycoprotein has:

• More protein than eggs (and is a complete protein)

• More iron and zinc than beef

• More fiber than oats

• More potassium than bananas

It was through the discovery of this protein that convinced Shapiro to create an alternative to red-blooded meat.

“I had just finished a book tour for my book Clean Meat and figured instead of writing about the people who I thought would solve this problem, perhaps I’d just become one of them myself,” he said. “People founded BMC on a mission to slash humanity’s footprint on the planet, primarily by helping food manufacturers use fewer animals in their products.”

When deciding where to set up shop, Shapiro wanted to find the perfect location for headquarters — somewhere with a hub for food science and technology innovation.

Then, he found West Sacramento.

“West Sacramento provided close proximity to food tech talent, to food and ag investors and all at a much lower price than the Bay,” Shapiro recalled. “The city of West Sacramento has been a great home, with the local government and citizens regularly working to help us.”

Shapiro said being in West Sacramento has allowed for his business to take off and grow more into the vision he has for the company, one plant-based meat alternative at a time.

“Take a look at how we turn animals into meat. It’s not a pretty process,” the CEO explained. “If we could satiate humanity’s protein demand with delicious proteins that cause far less environmental damage and animal suffering, a lot of people would be very happy to enjoy such protein.”

For more information on Better Meat Co., go to the company’s website at https://www.bettermeat.co/.