The company has researched new by-products in order to develop new, more sustainable production processes with essential support from the Ministry of Industry's PERTE AGROALIMENTARIO Programme
The R&D department has obtained evidence on more than five by-products in production processes for mushroom extracts from various medicinal species
The results obtained in terms of active molecules show that the application of certain by-products, far from being a problem, can represent a competitive advantage for the company
Pontevedra, 5 December 2025.
The AccelerEAT R&D&I project—supported by the PERTE Agri‑Food programme of the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism as part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan funded by the European Council (NextGenerationEU)—has enabled biotechnology companies such as Hifas da Terra to advance research into new, more circular and sustainable processes for producing food ingredients. Current production systems face significant sustainability constraints, which in turn limit their global competitiveness. Moreover, operating within the European Union requires strict compliance with environmental regulations. Without integrating sustainability and circularity into their models, these systems risk falling even further behind in an increasingly demanding international market.
This was the challenge of the AccelerEAT project, which enabled research into by-products generated by the agri-food industry in the Iberian Peninsula to find solutions to existing production processes, in particular for Hifas da Terra, the production of edible mushroom extracts with functional and medicinal interest. In this regard, Hifas da Terra's R&D team selected a group of five by-products provided by other companies in the consortium that had the potential to be integrated into production processes, based on analytical data generated during the project. In addition, the company made available the fungal strains from its extensive collection in order to exploit the potential of these by-products. Hifas da Terra's collection of strains has recognised metabolic potential in several scientific publications, resulting from years of selection and screening.
More than 50 prototypes of novel functional ingredients were developed from mushrooms within the AccelerEAT project, each accompanied by quantification of its active molecules. This achievement marks an unprecedented milestone for the company. In parallel, the metabolic profiles of strains in the collection were enriched with genomic data, enabling a deeper understanding of their potential and improving the exploitation of associated production processes.
One of the most remarkable outcomes was the identification of several by‑products that, once transformed through fermentation, exhibited significantly higher antioxidant levels than those achieved by long‑established industrial methods. This breakthrough opens the door to market applications and the generation of new intellectual property.
The generation of a significant amount of data on the prototype products ensures their future applications in a pilot production environment, given the high diversity of active molecules tracked. In short, the AccelerEAT project represents a turning point for Hifas da Terra in terms of the sustainability of its production processes, which already incorporated an essential biotechnological component.