The Biden Administration’s Department of Defense (DOD) has been spending money on alternatives to meat in its military meals, including fake protein made from fungus.
According to Just The News, this funding is part of a broader “sustainability” agenda promoted by far-left activists who believe in global warming, and thus demand the consumption of less meat in order to reduce carbon emissions. The DOD had previously invested in lab-grown “meat” earlier in 2024 before shifting to the current investment in “protein” made from fungi.
The DOD announced in November that it had awarded $60 million across 34 different grants to various bioindustrial firms as part of the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP).
One of these grants, worth $1.38 million, was awarded to The Fynder Group in order “to plan a bioproduction facility for fungi-based proteins that can be incorporated into military ready-to-eat meals.” Another one worth $1.5 million was given to The Better Meat Company, which specializes in allegedly “harnessing the amazing power of fermentation to make delicious, clean mycoprotein ingredients for food companies to use as the basis of their hybrid and fully animal-free meats.”
In order to produce this so-called “protein,” the company says that they “feed starchy foods to microscopic fungi and allow them to naturally turn into the meatiest animal-free protein on the planet.”
However, some of these grants may have simply been awarded as political favors. Paul Shapiro, the CEO of The Better Meat Company, is a frequent donor to the Democratic Party. He most recently donated to Congressman Adam Schiff’s successful Senate campaign in October and November of 2023, as well as the primary campaign of Virginia State Delegate Dan Helmer for Virginia’s 10th congressional district.
This spending was enacted in Executive Order 14081, signed by Joe Biden, which is officially titled “Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy.” The order is “aimed at bolstering America’s bioeconomic strengths while helping the Department achieve advanced defense capabilities.”
Republican efforts to block the DOD from any future spending on such anti-meat alternatives have been unsuccessful. In June, Congressman Don Bacon (R-Neb.) introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have forbid the DOD from funding lab-grown “meat.” But the amendment was ultimately rejected in Congress.
The program is one of many left-wing priorities of the DOD under Biden that is likely to be undone by the incoming second Trump Administration.