Lou Cooperhouse is the co-founder, president, and CEO of BlueNalu, a cellular aquaculture company based in San Diego, California, U.S.A. that creates seafood products directly from animal cells, instead of from the animals themselves.
SeafoodSource: How does BlueNaul's cellular aquaculture process work?
Cooperhouse: In our process, living cells are isolated from fish tissue, placed into culture media for proliferation, and then assembled into great-tasting fresh and frozen seafood products. Our products will be as delicious and nutritious as products that have been grown conventionally, in a way that is healthy for people, humane for sea life, and sustainable for our planet. BlueNalu’s approach to cellular aquaculture aligns strongly with 10 different United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and we feel strongly that BlueNalu can be as disruptive to the food industry as large-scale automobile production was to the transportation industry 100 years ago.
SeafoodSource: Why were you drawn to this field? How does the seafood industry figure into your past experience, if at all?
Cooperhouse: I was drawn to this field as I saw cellular aquaculture as an extremely disruptive solution that can literally help to repair the world. BlueNalu is an extraordinary example of a triple bottom-line business, with social, environmental, and financial impacts that can be quite significant. We need a healthy ocean for a healthy planet and our current seafood supply simply cannot keep up with global demand, as consumption is now at an all-time high and is expected to increase significantly in the decades ahead.
I’ve been fortunate to serve in the food industry for 35 years, with diverse experiences in corporate strategy and management, new business development, process design and operations, product development and technology transfer, quality assurance and food safety and organizational development, and change management. These experiences, in addition to my active involvement at a number of industry trade associations over the years, has resulted in a great number of invaluable food industry relationships, and prepared me well for this role as president and CEO of BlueNalu.
SeafoodSource: What has been the biggest challenge thus far in launching BlueNalu?
Cooperhouse: As we founded BlueNalu, we recognized at the outset that this industry’s greatest challenge is multifaceted and we would need to bring together an organization with an extremely diverse set of disciplines and competencies that will be required for success. Realizing this, our founding team is quite unique globally, and brings extensive expertise in these disciplines, which include cell biology, tissue engineering, biomedical engineering and bioprinting; food innovation and technology commercialization; consumer packaged goods and culinary and technical insights for optimizing product quality; intellectual property; broad experiences in new business startups and exits, including all aspects of business operations; and global relationships with potential strategic partners and investors.
SeafoodSource: What is the first seafood BlueNalu is looking to create using its technology?
Cooperhouse: To make the most significant impacts, BlueNalu has developed a platform technology that allows us to focus our technology efforts across a broad array of finfish species, crustaceans, and mollusks. BlueNalu is specifically targeting seafood products that are overfished, primarily imported, and difficult to farm-raise. We are also targeting those seafood products that command a premium value, have high consumer familiarity and per capita consumption, are highly prized for flavor and quality, are under stress and associated with sustainability challenges, and may have high or unsafe levels of mercury and other environmental contaminants. With this in mind, we are initially targeting items that include mahi, red snapper, orange roughy, tuna, sablefish, Patagonian toothfish (Chilean seabass), and crabs. It is also our business strategy to partner with leading food marketers in each country that we target, which will allow us to conduct consumer research that will influence our species selections, product preparation, product packaging and channel of distribution. We are currently assessing these partnerships in North America, Asia, and Europe.
SeafoodSource: What will you do this year to make your business bigger and better than it was last year?
Cooperhouse: We’ve recently relocated our operation to a 6,000-square-foot facility, significantly increased our full-time workforce and announced a nine-member, world-class advisory board that will provide global expertise in brand/business strategy, consumer insight and communications, nutrition and regulatory policy, technology and commercialization, marine conservation and sustainability, and guidance on strategic partnerships.
Over the next year, we will formalize the design and engineering of a pilot and large-scale production facility; accelerate the completion of our cell line and media/feed development; complete a series of pilot testing and bio-engineering processes; develop, evaluate and optimize quality and sensory attributes of seafood product prototypes; and initiate primary market research. We are continually looking to forge and implement strategic partnerships for technology, operations, marketing, sales, and distribution that will accelerate our development and commercialization activities.
SeafoodSource: When you get together with others in the seafood industry, what's the major topic of discussion these days?
Cooperhouse: Ocean health and seafood sustainability. We simply cannot supply the continually increasing global demand for seafood, while also managing a continually decreasing global supply that is also challenged by overfishing, illegal fishing, ocean acidification, rising ocean temperatures, plastics and environmental pollutants. The United Nations has estimated the world needs to produce at least 50 percent more food to feed nine billion people by 2050, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals are a major topic of discussion at many conferences and industry events.
SeafoodSource: What do you consider to be some of your key personal achievements?
Cooperhouse: Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to be consistently leading efforts at the forefront of long-term food trends and food industry innovation. This has included leadership positions at the first company in the U.S. to pioneer a full range of refrigerated, value-added meals, soups, desserts, and side dishes; the first company in the U.S. to pioneer entrees produced with sous vide (in-pack pasteurization) processing; the first company to launch high pressure processed (HPP) foods in the US; and the first company in the U.S. to pioneer a comprehensive line of products for medical-oriented conditions, including diabetes, celiac disease, PKU, and dysphagia. As a result, I thrive on creating high-quality foods that “make a difference” and “connect” with consumers.
SeafoodSource: What are some things people would be surprised to learn about you?
Cooperhouse: I thrive serving as an “author” in which I am able to create all of the elements that are needed for success, which is accomplished by focusing on the end-goal and the “end of the book” in this analogy. This means I also enjoy working in a tremendously multitasking, fast-paced environment. When I’ve worked at large multinational companies, family-run companies, new business startups, and academia, I have continually found myself as a leader within a rapid and highly entrepreneurial environment, and I greatly enjoy this pace.
I have been fortunate to be recognized as a global authority on food business entrepreneurship, advising U.S. and global government and other institutional entities that resulted in business innovation and incubation. In previous years, I consulted extensively in open innovation and food business entrepreneurship for government agencies, global and community non-profits, foundations, universities, and private-sector corporations throughout the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, and Africa. I have also testified before Congress and to committee members affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration on global best practices in business incubation, acceleration, and industry clustering strategies.
