Seattle, Washington,U.S.A.-based Trident Seafoods introduced its Protein Noodles and Protein Fish products to the Japanese market for the first time at the 21st Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo at Tokyo Big Sight.
North America’s largest vertically-integrated seafood company, Trident has been aggressively moving into the Japanese market by offering its own branded and value-added products, rather than just commodity surimi and H&G pollock like many other companies.
Now, it is expanding in Japan with two of its newest products. Protein Noodles, which have been showcased in the U.S. and generated considerable attention at Seafood Expo North America 2019, are promoted as a way to cut carbs or eliminate gluten from the diet. The flavor is described as “neutral,” making it easy to swap them into any noodle dish. In Japan, they are will be sold in a 100-gram package. They contain Alaska pollock, egg whites, water, tapioca starch, cane sugar, sea salt, potato starch, and citric acid.
Trident salesman, Mr. Kaito Yokota – who works at the company’s Japan branch office in Tokyo – said that Protein Noodles contain 60 percent fish. The company’s Protein Noodles are already sold at Costco Wholesale stores in the U.S. Although Costco has 26 outlets in Japan, Yokota said Protein Noodles are not sold there, or anywhere in Japan yet, as they are being newly introduced to the country.
Protein Fish, the other product being introduced, is salted precooked, and vacuum-packed wild Alaska pollock. A 100-gram package contains 18 grams of protein, while the same package of Protein Noodles contains 12 grams of protein and just 7 grams of carbohydrate. By comparison, a cup of cooked durum wheat spaghetti contains about 8.06 grams of protein and 42.77 grams of carbohydrate.
A made-for-Japan product, Protein Noodles with Mentaiko (spicy pollock roe) Mayonnaise is also planned.
The 21st Japan International Seafood and Technology Expo gave the company an audience of 33,572 visitors from the seafood and foodservice industries. There was considerable activity around the Trident booth, and lots of interest in samples of the new product. Trident seems to have beat its competitors to the Japanese market, but it is not alone in marketing fish-based noodles.
Vichiunai Group of Bruges, Belgium won a 2019 Seafood Excellence Global award for Best Retail Product at the Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global trade show in Brussels in May. The product was Surimi Noodles Wok Style, which is surimi noodles with Chinese vegetables and a Korean glaze sauce in a plastic container, ready-to-eat. The noodles are made from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified Alaska pollock, Pacific whiting, or hoki surimi.
The company also test marketed Vici brand Sea Noodles in the United States in June. Like Trident’s product, they are gluten free. They contain 46 percent surimi, but are yellow, the color of egg noodles, while Trident’s white product resembles Japanese udon noodles in its color and springy mouthfeel.
A Surrey, U.K.-based company called “oomi” is likewise offering fish-based noodles through such British chains as Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Their product, similarly called The Protein Noodle, has a yellow appearance. Packages of 100 grams contains 11-grams of protein, but the list of ingredients includes soy protein and milk protein, so not all of the protein is from fish.
All of the above products reflect the popularity in the U.S. and Europe of weight-loss diets, such as the Atkins diet and the ketogenic diet, that fall into the low-carb high-fat (LCHF) category. The mouthfeel of fish-based noodles tends to be more rubbery than those from grain, similar to Japanese udon. The products are edible right out of the package and do not require further cooking, but do need to be refrigerated. The refrigerated shelf life of the oomi product is about a week. Trident’s product can be stored frozen or held in the refrigerator for three days after opening.
Photo by Chris Loew/SeafoodSource
