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I n 2021, Shalom Daniel founded Mush
Foods in Israel with the future of
alternative proteins in mind.

The start-up would use mycelium,
a root-like structure of mushrooms, to
mimic meat, from chicken to beef to
seafood. The product, called CUT50,
could combine with meat to create a
realistic final product. Mush Food’s goal
is to reduce animal-based products
that are harsh on the environment
and are less healthy than plant-based
alternatives. “We don’t believe that most of the
people in the world are going to be
vegetarians or vegans,” Daniel said. “But
we do want to reduce meat consumption,
and we do want to improve the nutritional
value of the food that we are eating.”
To reach the market by January 2024,
Mush Foods is building its home not in
the land of milk and honey but near the
City of Brotherly Love.

Backed by a Philadelphia-based
investor, Daniel plans to set up
Mush Foods’ first facility at Rutgers
University’s Food Innovation Center
in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He hopes
to partner with mushroom growers in
Kennett Square in the coming year.

Mush Foods is one of about five Israeli
food technology startups with ties in
Philadelphia, according to Philadelphia-
Israel Chamber of Commerce Executive
Director Ravid Butz. Its move to the
U.S. marks a growing trend of Israeli
food tech startups wanting to call
Pennsylvania their home.

According to Butz, 40% of Israeli
startups turn to the American market
to help grow their business, and the
Northeast is a particularly reward-
ing region. Densely populated and
with New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
Baltimore and Washington, D.C., within
proximity of one another, the region is
rich with resources — from manufactur-
ers to investors — for Israeli businesses
6 MAY 25, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
to scale up.

PICC works with Israeli companies
and connects them to appropriate
resources in the Philadelphia area to
grow business in the region and assist
overseas startups. Over the next year,
it is hosting a series of webinars on
food industry and tech, culminating in a
September symposium.

“We map out the local ecosystem,”
Butz said. “We go to our members; we
go to our board; we go to people in our
community, and we map out the most
strategic introductions that those Israeli
companies need, and we’ll keep doing
it, to open up meaningful conversations
for them that can lead to whatever that
company needs.”
Philadelphia and Israel have partner-
ships in industries such as gene and
cell therapy, but the ties in food tech are
also strong.

Israel is a world leader in the food tech
industry. According to a study by the
Good Food Institute, a global nonprofit
advocating for plant- and cell-based
alternatives to meat and dairy, Israel
invested $160 million in plant-based
food product startups in the first half of
2022, accounting for 22% of the world’s
total products in this sector, Times of
Israel reported in August 2022.

Israeli startups, rich with intel-
lectual resources, have sought out
Pennsylvania for its abundant agricul-
tural capital. According to Michael Roth,
director of conservation and innova-
tion at the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture, the commonwealth has
100,000 acres of land permanently
preserved for agriculture, represent-
ing about 6,000 farmers. The diversity
of crops in Pennsylvania means one
industry doesn’t lead the others. The
state relies on a variety of products,
and, when it comes to outside business,
a variety of investors.

“We don’t have the mega-farms that
we’ll see in some other states, so we
really have to be nimble,” Roth said.

Along with acres of land are a
A 2023 Drexel Food Lab student
Ben-Gurion University nursing students and seniors at a community center
in Be’er Sheva, Israel
plethora of academic institutions that
support agricultural innovation, said
David Briel, deputy secretary of inter-
national business at the Pennsylvania
Department of Community and
Economic Development.

Pennsylvania sells $49 billion worth
of goods overseas, Briel said. The
commonwealth works with 5,000 inter-
national companies.

The connections between Israeli
startups and Pennsylvania resources
are harder to quantify. The plant-based
industry has only taken off in the past
five years, Briel said, and cell-based, or
lab-grown, meats are an even bigger
question mark. Daniel said Mush Foods
is ahead of the game, as it looks to go
to market within five years of launching.

Most startups take 10 years, he said.

The potential of the industry means
that Pennsylvania has to “stay in the
Courtesy of Rinat Avraham
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
Photo by Craig Schlanser
Israel-Philadelphia Connections
Grow Food Tech Industry