Cell-cultured seafood start-up BlueNalu is beginning to scale up its operations as it enters the commercial market.
BlueNalu is aiming to produce and scale a cell-cultured bluefin tuna product. BlueNalu Co-Founder, President, and CEO Lou Cooperhouse told SeafoodSource that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the first cell-culture animal protein, produced by Upside Foods, is a positive sign for the industry, but the company’s sights have always been set on commercial scalability.
“When I started this company, it was all about, and I'm going to go back in time, it was all about not being first to have regulatory approval, not to be first in a restaurant, but its first to be able to scale at large volume,” Cooperhouse said. “In order to do that, we asked the fundamental questions. What are the technologies required to scale? What are the partners we need to establish?”
BlueNalu’s announcement in October 2022 it had begun work on a 140,000-square-foot facility, scheduled to begin production in 2027, was a sign that the company has answered those questions, Cooperhouse said.
“We accomplished all the foundational technologies needed for scale,” Cooperhouse said.
One of BlueNalu’s goals, he said, is to establish commercial operations in a way that uses technology avoiding some of the potential obstacles to scaling up production in a profitable way. BlueNalu has established a production process that doesn’t rely on a scaffold-like substrate – something Cooperhouse said could be an obstacle to scaling production.
“What we have accomplished was something only previously accomplished with mammals,” Cooperhouse said. “Now with fish, we have cells in suspension – which means we can grow in very large volumes.”
Because the cells do not rely on a scaffold, the bioreactor that BlueNalu utilizes could end up being up to 100,000 liters in size without running into issues.
The company does not use genetic engineering or microcarriers, which means it doesn’t have to mix its tuna cells with plant cells in what he called a hybrid product.
“We are a whole-muscle product,” Cooperhouse said. “If you’ve got plant in there, it’s not the fatty bluefin tuna, right? It’s an imitation product, or some blend or hybrid, and it kind of gets into a surimi category a little bit too.”
BlueNalu has eliminated its use of other animal products, especially elements like fetal bovine serum, which is available in limited supply and which carries potential ethical questions around its use.
“[We use] no animal-based ingredients, so we have really accomplished the holy grail of technology advancements,” Cooperhouse said.
The FDA's Upside Foods decision represents another positive development for the company, according to Cooperhouse, since it appears Upside Foods uses animal ingredients.
“The exciting news is they kind of set the pace for getting the FDA greenlight – they still need USDA approval – but we don’t have any of those technologies,” Cooperhouse said.
Cooperhouse said BlueNalu is now in the position it was aiming for when he helped found the company.
“We announced this, and it’s a pretty big statement, that this combination of technology development and our focus on high-value premium seafood creates a 75 percent gross margin potential,” he said. “For those that are talking about how expensive this category is, it’s true, but when you focus it against high-value products, you can be extraordinarily profitable.”
BlueNalu is also working to burnish its the supply chain, sales team and channels, and marketing and distribution of its product. BlueNalu has begun reaching out to media, including Vox Media Staff Writer Kenny Torrella, to try its bluefin product as a means of boosting its public profile.
There are still plenty of challenges remaining for BlueNalu, Cooperhouse said.
“There is no gold standard [for bluefin]. It’s sort just like ‘this is the best’ or ‘this is the first fish of the year from this specific region of Japan’ and it’s a different fish every year,” Cooperhouse said. The company has interviewed renowned sushi operators and chefs as it continues to narrow down the exact specifications of the product it wants to create, but even that has resulted in a variety of opinions.
“So it’s variable in not just supply, and in price, but it’s variable in quality. And we ask them over and over again – what is the right color, texture, mouthfeel?” Cooperhouse said.
That variability is also something that BlueNalu can capitalize on, Cooperhouse said. The company’s ability to produce a consistent product opens it up to satisfying the demands of chefs.
“What we have heard over and over again is we are solving a huge problem, and the problem we are solving is availability and accessibility and consistency,” he said.
Looking forward, once the company establishes its supply, supply chain, and customers, bluefin tuna could be just the start. The company has “mastered” finfish, successfully producing eight different finfish species in its cell-culture process to date.
And it will soon have the capacity to do even more, Cooperhouse said.
Overall, Cooperhouse said he’s confident the company will be at the forefront of the cell-cultured food movement.
“The analogy that I use all the time is, it’s interesting how microbreweries have become so fashionable, and even have glass windows, and people want to be close to the beer and it’s all a part of the experience,” he said.
Cell-cultured seafood production will continue to gain traction as consumers pursue their desire to know more about the food that they’re eating, he said.
“In the future, you’ll be able to see cell-cultured seafood being made, and it will have that same cachet of it’s fresh, it’s quality, it’s trusted,” Cooperhouse said. “That’s exactly where this industry is going.”
Photo courtesy of BlueNalu
