The alternative seafood sector is no longer just a drop in the ocean – it’s making serious waves in the global food and beverage industry. As consumers hook onto the environmental challenges of traditional fishy fare, the industry is casting a wide net in pursuit of sustainable solutions. The Plant Base's Melissa Bradshaw takes the plunge into this sea of salty innovation.
The alt-seafood sector has undergone a remarkable transformation, once characterised
by limited offerings lacking in flavour, unrealistic textures and inadequate nutrition.
However, the tides have turned, marking a significant milestone with the establishment of the sector’s inaugural trade association, Future Ocean Foods, last year. This moment promises a sea of exciting opportunities ahead.
The association comprises 36 member organisations hailing from 14 countries and spans the fermentation, plant-based and cell-based industries. Within these diverse portfolios, a multitude of approaches is evident. Aqua Cultured Foods offers plant-based scallops derived from microbial sources, while Revo Foods – six months on from the launch of its 3D-printed salmon – recently introduced ‘The Kraken,’ an octopus alternative crafted using mycoprotein and 3D technology.
While traditional seafood staples like tuna and cod remain popular among consumers, recent research from ADM indicates a growing curiosity in plant-based alternatives, particularly salmon fillets and burgers. Moreover, specialised alt-seafood products such as Aqua and Revo’s innovative scallops and octopus, as well as crab, shrimp, lobster, squid and caviar, show promising potential for further expansion.
Pia Meinlschmidt, team lead for product management at German solutions provider Planteneers, explained that taste and texture frequently pose the most significant challenges for manufacturers in the alternative seafood sector.
“We support the development of recipes that are specifically tailored to the customer’s needs and help with scaling and troubleshooting,” she said. “Our ready-to-fill and ready-to-use ingredient systems are precisely tailored to the requirements of our customers’ production facilities.”
Planteneers’ FiildFish P 161004 system, comprising a blend of plant proteins, starches and hydrocolloids, facilitates the creation of plant-based alternatives to both raw and smoked fish, such as sushi, sashimi and salmon. Thanks to its ability to achieve fine slices and white stripes, it offers versatility in product development.
Additionally, FiildFish P 141504 serves as the foundation for hot preparation foods, featuring
a ‘fish-like’ lamella structure and white colour, making it ideal for white fish fillet-style products or breaded fish sticks.
A healthy market
In the broader context of plant-based meat products, attention to nutrition and clean labelling is paramount, and the same holds true for seafood alternatives as discerning consumers prioritise minimal processing and healthy ingredients.
US-based ingredients company Fiberstar offers natural citrus fibre solutions that not only enhance texture and moisture retention in plant-based meat and seafood but also align with consumer preferences for clean label products.
Shuai Li, the company’s R&D director, emphasised that Fiberstar’s Citri-Fi TX20 solution can be listed on ingredients labels as ‘citrus fibre,’ ‘dried citrus pulp,’ or ‘citrus flour,’ all of which resonate well within natural markets.
“Its coarse size and unique fibre structures make it ideal for imparting a chewy texture and maintaining firmness in the final product,” Li commented, explaining that the solution provides a moist and succulent mouthfeel in plant-based seafood thanks to its water-binding properties, which prevent dryness during cooking.
“Ideally, Citri-Fi TX20 should be pre-hydrated with three times its weight in water to optimise
its benefits, but it can also be blended with other dry ingredients before liquid is added,” he said, adding that the product’s fibre content can also improve Nutri-Scores.
Jennifer Stephens, Fiberstar’s VP of marketing, shared with The Plant Base that the inclusion
of dietary fibre is a key trend in improving the nutritional profiles of meat and fish alternatives. This trend aligns with the industry’s focus on cleaner labels and reducing fat content by using different oils, such as substituting coconut oil with canola.
Another emerging trend in the market is the enrichment and fortification of plant-based seafood alternatives with omega-3 fatty acids to enhance their nutritional value. Omega-3 is renowned for supporting various health outcomes, including improved cardiovascular,
cognitive, eye and immune health. While traditionally obtained from fish, algae-based omega-3 ingredients can offer a rich source of this nutrient in its docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) form, crucial for maintaining brain health and function.
Bioriginal, a Canadian-headquartered manufacturer of oil blend solutions, has developed a new line of omega-3 oils derived from algae and flax. These solutions enable plant-based seafood products to closely match the omega-3 content of their conventional counterparts.
The company’s Omega-3 DHA Concentrate is a vegan algal oil developed from a single
strain of algae, specifically selected for its higher DHA content.
Shannon Sears, CEO and president at Bioriginal, commented: “Focusing on this strain, the algae is harvested only once in nature. The supply is secured through a renewable fermentation process that ensures a self-replicating source of algal DHA.”
He continued: “The resulting oil is then concentrated to produce a minimum of 610 mg
of DHA per 1000mg of oil, one of the highest DHA concentrates in the market. Based on market needs, a gentle refining process may be applied to customise colour, flavour and aroma profiles.”
Meanwhile, Bioriginal’s Omega-3 600 Vegan Oil combines renewable algal oil with flax oil, sourced from the company’s farms across the Canadian prairies. Extracted through a chemical-free, cold-pressed process without the use of solvents like hexane or alcohol, this gentle method yields a clear, omega-rich flax oil perfectly suited for blending with algal oils.
Green (and blue) credentials
Algal ingredients are increasingly favoured in formulating plant-based seafood products, thanks to their capacity to impart authentic salty and fish-like flavour profiles, along with their
environmental sustainability benefits.
“By creating products with self-sustaining algae, and flax oil produced through responsible farming practices, we can reduce the potential impact on the world’s wild fish population while preserving our precious farmland in the Canadian prairies,” Bioriginal’s Sears explained.
“In an industry where consumers care about the world around them, and the quality of their
products, Bioriginal is fortunate to have a secure supply chain that offers environmentally friendly products, traceable from sea and seed to shelf.”
BettaF!sh, based in Germany, aims to make seaweed a mainstream ingredient within consumer diets and is harnessing European seaweed to develop a range of plant-based fish alternatives. Its plant-based tuna is made from seaweed, fava bean protein and pea protein obtained from a regional cooperative in northern France.
Deniz Ficicioglu, co-founder and CEO at BettaF!sh, told The Plant Base: “70% of our planet is covered by oceans, yet 90% of our food comes from land mass. We rely on monocultures, we overuse chemicals, and we damage our soils.”
“Climate change requires resilient aqua- and agriculture, but more fertilisers and larger
machinery are not the answers. By utilising seaweed in our food system, we can drastically cut down on CO2 emissions and conserve valuable resources like fresh water and soil.”
BettaF!sh collaborates with seaweed farms in Norway, Ireland and Sweden, cultivating and
harvesting various seaweed species from the open ocean. Its flagship product, Tu-nah, draws
inspiration from traditional canned tuna, which constitutes a significant portion of global tuna consumption. Tu-nah is fortified with iodine and omega-3 fatty acids, aiming to offer consumers a more sustainable source of nutrition, particularly for those who rely on seafood as their primary protein source.
“Almost all tuna on the market comes from wild tuna, as it is one of the few marine species
that cannot be farmed,” Ficicioglu explained. “However, global stocks are already critically depleted. Through Tu-nah, consumers can still get the taste they love with the same nutritional benefits, but without the heavy metals or negative externalities on the environment.”
In addition to Tu-nah, the start-up’s R&D team is collaborating with research institutes to explore innovative seaweed processing methods. These efforts aim to develop novel ingredients using macroalgae, furthering the company’s commitment to sustainability and innovation.
“Seaweed is the fastest-growing biomass on the planet,” said Ficicioglu. “Utilising this crop
in our food system can have a significant impact on our environment. It helps our oceans to regenerate, increases biodiversity and counteracts acidification.”
Based in Spain, Poseidona shares a belief in the transformative potential of seaweed within the food industry. Its circular approach involves upcycling sidestreams, which would typically be treated as waste within the food industry.
Additionally, Poseidona harnesses invasive seaweed species to develop seafood alternatives, all while contributing to the restoration and rebalancing of marine ecosystems.
In particular, Poseidona is leveraging gelling agent production sidestreams from red seaweeds and will utilise Rugulopterix okamurae, an invasive seaweed species in the Mediterranean.
Sònia Hurtado Piñol, co-founder of Poseidona, established the company with biochemistry
expert María Cermeño, aiming to provide manufacturers with high-quality and affordable protein ingredients.
She explained: “Gradually, traditional seafood will naturally be replaced by new sustainable
alternatives – crafted from algae, plants and other novel proteins and nutrient sources. We
must focus on developing the necessary ingredients and products to facilitate this transition as swiftly as possible.”
Another player in the algae arena is Israel-based SimpliiGood, which leverages the myriad benefits of spirulina – a popular ‘superfood’ ingredient – to develop a filament solution for plant-based fish alternatives.
Baruch Dach, SimpliiGood’s founder and CTO, explained: “When breaking it down to its core, our technology is essentially the creation of protein-embedded bio-scaffolds, with a unique set of structural and textural features and no flavour”.
While Dach acknowledges that numerous products in the alternative seafood category primarily cater to vegans, SimpliiGood’s ingredient platform offers a versatile solution. It can either serve as a complete replacement for animal proteins or seamlessly blend with traditional fish products. This capability leads to ‘unique interactions’ with animal tissue, resulting in a hybrid offering that holds appeal for omnivorous consumers.
“We offer a clean label product that has a neutral taste and assumes a range of fish-like shades and tones, making the final product more realistic and attractive,” Dach added.
During the initial phase, spirulina ‘tissues’ are meticulously crafted to resemble fish tissue. This is followed by a decolourisation process, which involves the extraction of non-protein components, including chlorophyll.
“In contrast to common plant protein extraction techniques, which require fractionation and
removal of around 80% of the seed mass, we keep about 80% of our mass,” Dach pointed out. “The residual mass goes through another proprietary step for customisation and optimisation of textural and flavour parameters. Developing the entire chain enables unparalleled versatility and control that are essential for more holistic solutions, avoiding the common ‘onetrick-short-term’ scenario.”
Sea the future
Dach foresees that alternative seafood will experience a gradual but eventual acceleration,
potentially surpassing the rate of penetration seen in the meat and poultry sector.
Hybrid and cell-based seafood alternatives will also play a role in this transition, working alongside the plant-based sector to combat environmental issues such as overfishing and protecting the marine ecosystem. Ultimately, collaboration will be key, as Poseidona’s Hurtado Piñol emphasised.
“Synergies, cooperation and joining forces is the way to find the solutions that will make a real change,” she concluded. “These solutions will come to stay and replace the foods and practices that are no longer acceptable if we want to reverse the impact that we’ve caused in recent decades, on the oceans and the planet.”
