Pentagon Gives $1.5 Million To Dem Activist’s Fake Meat Laboratory

The Department of Defense awarded nearly $1.5 million in taxpayer money to a Democratic donor’s company, which makes fake lab-grown meat from fermented fungus.

The Better Meat Company, which uses fungus protein to make fake meat in a lab, is led by CEO Paul Shapiro, an activist with a history of donating to Democrats. The taxpayer-funded grant will bankroll a “bioproduction facility for mycoprotein ingredients that are shelf-stable, have high protein and fiber contents, and can be dehydrated.” The company creates the phony meat by feeding water and nutrients to fungal roots stored in a bioreactor, turning the material into a semi-solid gray liquid that is strained to finally become the end product.

A Pentagon spokesman told The Daily Wire that the award “is in support of a bioproduction facility for types of protein that are shelf-stable, have high protein and fiber content, and can rapidly support the sustainment requirements of our globally-deployed forces.”

“We are investing in sources of protein such as chickpeas and tofu. The Department is not funding research into ‘lab-grown’ or ‘fake meat’ – nor does it have plans to include such protein substitutes in service members’ MREs,” the Pentagon spokesman went on to say.

The grant will, however, fund a “facility for mycoprotein ingredients,” the same exact ingredient used to create the fake meat. The Daily Wire asked the Defense Department if these facilities will be used by the Better Meat Company to create fake meat during or after the grant term, but has not received a response.

The Defense Department previously announced plans to feed imitation meat to soldiers in an attempt to reduce its carbon footprint. The department then backtracked after being hit with widespread criticism, and agreed not to fund the fake meat initiative this July — just before the Pentagon seemingly reversed course again with its grant to the Better Meat Company.

“We believe the future of meat production is fermentation-fueled,” the Better Meat Company claims on its site. “We aspire to revolutionize the meat industry by creating a new and better way to make meat,” it says, referencing its faux-meat product.

Jake Hubbard is the Executive Director of the Center for the Environment and Welfare, an organization “founded to help consumers, companies, and stakeholders navigate issues related to sustainability and animal welfare.” Hubbard tore into the Defense Department’s grant and expressed concern that the funding would support the company behind the production of phony meat.

“America’s foreign enemies are laughing at us,” he said, asserting that the Pentagon should stick to national security instead of diverting taxpayer dollars to companies that produce fake meat.

Other fake meat products have been found to result in various health problems, including hives and swelling of the throat, one study found.

The Better Meat Company’s fake meat production appears to be ideologically motivated. Shapiro previously worked as a vice president at the Humane Society. One Politico profile of Shapiro in 2018, which detailed extensive sexual harassment allegations against him, called the Better Meat CEO “one of the nation’s most consequential animal rights advocates.”

“The problem today is that we are using vast numbers of geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows, and other animals that we frankly really like to eat,” Shapiro said in a speech about his company.

Shapiro also has a history of donating to Democrats, including former New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).