Artificial Intelligence deployed to help make ‘greenest burger in Britain’

A quarter pounder burger has been produced with the help of AI on a Yorkshire industrial estate.

Made with vertically farmed oyster mushrooms by the firm Myco, the Hooba burger is developed using eco-friendly production processes.

These involve using AI to help grow thousands of mushrooms inside Myco’s 20,000 sq ft production site in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire.

Besides the mushrooms, the business uses just five more ingredients which are locally sourced to avoid needing to increase emissions through importing them.

Having recently launched across the UK, the burger has been awarded an ‘A Carbon Rating’ by carbon accounting platform, My Emissions.

Myco co-founder, John Shepherd, said: “Sustainability is at the heart of our business, and our goal is to create mouthwatering plant-based products that encourage people to eat less meat, as that’s one of the biggest factors fuelling the climate crisis.

“Meat-based burgers can be really bad for the planet, and My Emissions found that simply switching to a Hooba burger can save over 1.65kg in carbon – that’s as much as a train journey between Paris and London. 

“So to receive an A rating for our Hooba burger feels like a real reward for our team’s hard-work in creating a product that is genuinely helping our planet. 

“But while it is great to be recognised, what we really want is for the food industry to up its game and for other manufacturers to put more emphasis on sustainability.

“We would love it if someone came along and also pushed the boundaries around sustainability as ultimately we all need to do more.

“We’ve shown that you can create delicious food that doesn’t come at the expense of our planet, and we hope our unique production process can act as a blueprint for others in the future.”