SeafoodSource is closely following the plant-based and cell-based seafood alternatives market by compiling a regular round-up of updates from the sector.
– Umami Bioworks recently announced a collaboration with Friends & Family Pet Food (FnF) to produce cat treats made from cell-cultivated fish.
The product is the first in a planned expansion of FNF's line of sustainability-focused pet foods, according to Pet Food Processing.
Additionally, the Singapore-based company is partnering with two biotech firms: South Korea-based KCell Biosciences and bioprocess solutions provider WSG to create scalable, sustainable domestic pipeline for cell-based seafood for the South Korea market.
KCell will provide the growth medium, while WSG will supply all hardware for scaling production, according to Umami Founder and CEO Mihir Pershad.
“The strategic partnerships we have established with WSG and KCell Biosciences bring their market-leading cost and production capabilities to cultivated seafood production to enable us to deliver cultivated products at price parity and with significant capability to scale," Pershad told The Cell Base.
The partnership has entered a cell-cultivated eel product for regulatory review in South Korea.
“We are also working on premium white fish and a couple of other species that can fill market needs in South Korea,” Pershad said. “We believe that building trust will be critical to adoption. That is why we are partnering with established, trusted brands to bring cultivated products to market in forms and dishes that are familiar to local consumers.”
– Austrian startup Revo Foods has opened what it describes as the world’s largest 3D food-printing facility, with the aim of “showcasing that this technology works on an industrial scale," according to Revo CEO Robin Simsa.
The Vienna-based Taste Factory uses Revo’s proprietary 3D-structuring technology to print plant-based seafood alternatives that draw on fermented fungi mycelium to reproduce the texture and nutrition of fish.
The facility can produce up to 60 tons of plant based food a month without the high temperatures and pressures involved in processing more traditional fish alternatives, the company said.
Revo Head of Food Tech Niccolo Galizzi said Revo’s proprietary technology allows it to maintain micronutrients that other alternative proteins don’t.
“Biomasses like fermented mycelium are trending because their natural consistency requires little processing and they are very nutrient-dense,” he said.
Galizzi emphasized Revo’s commitment to extreme customization to consumer tastes.
“We believe that for real change, sustainability and culinary pleasure must go hand in hand," he said. "We are already working on the next innovations with mycoprotein, which is a lot of fun using 3D structuring technology since it offers many possibilities to design the product exactly to consumers’ liking. We like to focus on taste and nutrition but also on what makes the culinary experiences so unique: getting the texture and authentic mouthfeel right.”
Revo’s salmon-inspired mycoprotein-based filet product started appearing in European supermarkets in September 2024.
– Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.-based AquaCultured Foods has won the 2024 Tech Industry Disruptor award at the 1871 Momentum Awards.
AquaCultured, which grows raw tuna, salmon, and scallop analogs from fermentation-derived cellulose, has been embraced by a number of well-known chefs for products it describes as vegan, harm-free, and sustainable.
AquaCultured Foods Co-Founder and CEO Brittany Chibe said the award shows the company is "doing something truly disruptive in bringing our fish-free seafood to the world.”