Consumers may discard the stems of mushrooms when they prepare salads, or use them in cooking, but startup Chinova Bioworks has found a way to make use of the fibrous stems of white button mushrooms. The company—cofounded by CEO Natasha Dhayagude and COO David Brown—started in 2016 with a simple goal: to deliver clean-label ingredients and reduce food waste.

With consumers looking for clean-label products, there is increased pressure on food processors to remove industrial preservatives and replace them with natural preservatives. Chinova, located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, has found a clean-label solution for this issue derived from mushroom stems.