Frosta's new vegan fish fingers

© Frosta

Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Frosta Introduces Vegan Fish Fingers Following Success of Plant-Based Frozen Foods

Earlier this year, Frosta, a leading German manufacturer of frozen products, launched NPD vegan fish fingers across major German retailers, after three years of development. Frosta, which reported increased sales of its brand of frozen foods in 2022, said that part of the success came from its plant-based innovations, such as vegan Asian street food dishes. “In addition to classic dishes such as chicken fricassee, Germany’s most popular frozen dish, plant-based innovations such as vegan Asian street food dishes were able to arouse consumer curiosity,” said marketing director Sebastian Bernbacher.  Additionally, despite the overall frozen fish market sharply declining sales, Frosta’s fish sticks were “the darlings of the public,” becoming an increasingly popular choice among consumers, reported the company. Three years to develop In 2020, …

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EAT HAPPY instore sushi concept

© EAT HAPPY

Food Service

EAT HAPPY Trials Vegan Fish Sushi in Austria Where Vegan Diet is “Rising Steadily”

EAT HAPPY, an in-store sushi concept and leading supplier of Asian convenience products in mainland Europe, launches three plant-based fish sushi products, stating that the company sees the “proportion of those people who eat a purely vegan diet rising steadily in Austria”. The products being trialed at four initial test markets in Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck are Vegan Salmon Nigiri, Vegan Salmon Maki, and Vegan Tuna California. The vegan sushi products are set to expand nationally throughout Austria after the test phase. EAT HAPPY’s plant-based offerings EAT HAPPY is represented in more than 3,000 locations in stationary food retailers throughout Europe and operates 50 EAT HAPPY Shops as well as in more than 1,000 chests at stores such as Billa and Spar. Last May, the …

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Cultivated meat by Aleph Farms

© Image courtesy of Aleph Farms

Cultivated Meat

Aleph Farms and Thermo Fisher Scientific Forge Growth Media Solution for Cultivated Meat Industry

Cultivated meat pioneer Aleph Farms has announced a long-term agreement with Thermo Fisher Scientific, a world leader in scientific materials, instruments, and services, to establish a supply chain for growth media. The partnership will make the production of cultivated meat cost-efficient since feed is essential for the proliferation and growth of cells. “Across cellular agriculture, there is a pervasive need for predictable, cost-effective supply of growth media,” said Noa Avigdor, head of global supply chain & manufacturing at Aleph Farms.  Lowering costs The commercialization of cultivated meat is hindered by the costly production expenses of specialized growth media for cell culture, posing a significant challenge for the industry. The new agreement will allow Thermo Fisher Scientific to produce some of Aleph Farms’ formulations for growth media at scale …

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E-FISHient Protein

© E-FISHient Protein

Cultivated Seafood

E-FISHient Protein Nominated for Awards as it Cultivates “Improved” Tilapia Fish Meat

Israel’s E-FISHient Protein was founded last year as part of a collaboration between Bio Meat Foodtech and the Volcani Institute. The startup is working to produce cultivated tilapia, one of the most widely consumed types of fish worldwide with a market value of over $14Bn. The aim is for the product to not just match but improve on the quality of conventional tilapia; it will be lower in calories, richer in protein and omega-3, and better-tasting. While the work is still in its early stages, E-FISHient has already been recognised for its innovation. The company was a semifinalist in this year’s Aviram Awards, which support ventures in the MENA region. It was also one of six finalists in the FoodTech 2022 competition by Tnuva and …

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Allen Zelden, founder of Boldly, image supplied

Interviews

Boldly: “It’s Clear That the Future Will Either Be Filled With Fishless Fish or Fishless Oceans”

APAC expert and co-founder of alt-protein accelerator PlantForm, Allen Zelden, revealed his new vegan seafood brand Boldly this January, offering an impressive line of vegan prawns, salmon and tuna sashimi, calamari, shrimp, crab sticks, white fish filets and more. Allen has been keeping details of the brand and future plans under his hat since the launch; it was time we sat down and gave him a vegan seafood grilling. Firstly congratulations on the launch of Boldly! Can you give us your elevator pitch; what was the inspiration behind starting a vegan seafood brand? If I’m being brutally honest, I just felt it was time to disrupt the plant-based sea of sameness with an all-new, positive and fun experience, and what better way to do this …

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Steakholder Foods 3D bio-prints the world's first cultivated fish fillet

© Shlomi Arbiv

Company News

Steakholder Foods 3D Bio-Prints the “World’s First” Whole Fillet Cultivated Fish

3D-printed cultivated meat company Steakholder Foods (NASDAQ: STKH), formerly MeaTech 3D, has announced the world’s first 3D bio-printed cultivated fish product. The recently developed prototype was a ready-to-cook grouper fillet, printed with customized bio-inks utilizing grouper cells provided by Umami Meats. Backed by a grant from the Singapore-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (SIIRD), Umami Meats and Steakholder Foods work to develop a scalable process for producing structured cultivated fish products using Steakholder Foods’ proprietary 3D bio-printing technology and customized bio-inks. This 3D fish printing represents a successful and meaningful milestone in their partnership. Arik Kaufman, CEO of Steakholder Foods, said: “We’re excited to be working with Umami Meats to develop 3D-printed structured fish products that have the same great taste and texture as traditionally caught fish, without harming the environment.” …

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Tufts University Team creates first and only publicly available fish muscle cell line from the Atlantic mackerel

© Pixel-Shot-stock.adobe.com

Science

Scientific Team Creates First and Only Publicly Available Fish Muscle Cell Line From the Atlantic Mackerel

The Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) has announced a new scientific paper published in Nature, where Michael Saad, a PhD student at Tufts University, and his team explain how they created what they claim to be the first and only publicly available fish muscle cell line from the Atlantic Mackerel.  Called Continuous fish muscle cell line with capacity for myogenic and adipogenic-like phenotypes, the study provides the first spontaneously immortalized fish muscle cell line for research, ideally serving as a reference for subsequent investigation.  “Here, we established and characterized a continuous Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) skeletal muscle cell line (“Mack” cells),” says the report. Without genetic engineering According to TUCCA’s announcement, these cells are immortalized without genetic engineering and can turn into muscle and fat. …

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Korea's CellQua secures funds for "next-gen" cell-based fisheries

© CellQua

Cultivated Seafood

South Korea’s CellQua Secures Investment for “Next-Gen” Cell-Based Fisheries

CellQua, a cultivated seafood startup from South Korea, has secured undisclosed seed funding from Sopoong Ventures, a social impact-focused VC that supports climate and agrifood tech entrepreneurs in South Korea and Southeast Asia. “We are a team of experts in fishery science and computer technology, dedicated to transforming the industry and creating a better future. We are pioneering the way in the next generation of fisheries,” says CellQua. With the newly raised capital, CellQua plans to build a system to automate and simplify its cultivated seafood manufacturing to enable a better research environment. Additionally, it will use the funds to grow its workforce. Cell-based fishing without FBS Founded in August 2021 by Sangyoon Lee, aPhD. in Fisheries Science, and Sangyup Lee, a computer vision engineer, CellQua …

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Henk Schouten

Henk Schouten, Chairman of Schouten, image supplied

Interviews

Schouten: “We Are Constantly Innovating in the Field of Fish and Chicken Substitutes”

Way back in 1990, when modern veganism as we know it was hard to even imagine, Henk Schouten of Schouten Food began to develop meat substitutes based on plant-based proteins. Over three decades later, Schouten is a family business that Henk runs with his children, Niek-Jan, Peter, Rhodé and Wouter. The Dutch company operates worldwide and is a leading player in the meat-free market. Schouten offers a vast range of plant-based meat and seafood products and works closely together with retailers; manufacturers; global fast food chains; European wholesalers, and food service providers. It was great to speak with Henk Schouten and hear his unique insights into the market. You started with the development of meat substitutes based on plant-based proteins in 1990. What were the …

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Simris upgrades its algae farm to produce more ingredients

© Simris

Algae, Microalgae & Seaweed

Simris Upgrades its Algae Farm to Double Down on Mission to Replace Fish

Simris Group AB (previously Simris Alg AB) recently announced that after a deep cleaning and various upgrades of its algae farm operations in Hammenhög, Sweden, in January, its algae growth rates are more than three times the previous record rates.  Simris Group is a pioneering Swedish agribusiness growing microalgae founded in 2011 by Fredrika Gullfot. Besides growing algae, the company identifies high-value, natural, biologically active compounds (such as EPA and DHA Omega-3) in microalgae and cyanobacteria to extract for skincare, nutrition, and biopharmaceutical applications.  In 2020, Simris announced a capital raise to launch its products in the US market, claiming it has developed an industrial process to produce omega-3, as an alternative to fish oil and krill. Natural products Simris sustainably grows microalgae and cyanobacteria in optimised …

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Eat Plant Love fish balls

© Eat Plant Love

Meat- and Fish Alternatives

Seafood Company Ha Li Fa Launches Eat Plant Love Brand With Asian Style Fishless Products

Best known for its seafood brand Bobo; Ha Li Fa, a Singapore manufacturer specialising in fish balls for over 30 years, expanded into the plant-based seafood market with the launch of a new 100% plant brand called Eat Plant Love (EPL) in Singapore last year.  ELP offers a fishless alternative to traditional Asian dishes, such as fish balls, fish cakes, and fish rolls. The company’s R&D team took two years to develop a 100% plant-based version of its best-selling seafood products, prioritising the taste and texture preferences of Asian consumers to create its Asian-style offer. Randall Ang, ELP Deputy Managing Director, told Food Navigator that the customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, affirming the ability of the plant-based alternatives to deliver the brand’s original fish flavors. …

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John West vegan tuna

© John West/Thai Union

Meat- and Fish Alternatives

“Major Milestone” as Seafood Giant John West Launches Fish-Free Tuna

UK-based seafood company John West has launched a plant-based tuna alternative for the first time in its 166-year history. The company is owned by Thai Union, which has increasingly been exploring plant-based and cultivated alternatives to animal protein. The tuna alternative marks a major step forward in the Thai seafood giant’s efforts to become more sustainable. “John West Vegan Fish-Free Tuna is Thai Union’s first branded alternative protein product launch worldwide and therefore a major milestone for us,” said Jon Burton, director of the company’s European Marine Protein unit. Made from soy and wheat protein, the product comes in two flavours — Vegan Fish-Free Tuna with a Dash of Oil and Vegan Fish-Free Tuna with Tomato & Basil. The tuna has initially been launched in …

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bluu seafood cultivated salmon served on a black plate with lemon rinds

Bluu Seafood's cultivated sashimi © Bluu GmbH/Wim Jansen

Fairs & Events

GFI to Host Fish Cell Culture Workshop for Scientists to Focus on Rapid Advancement of Sector

Alternatives to fish and seafood, providing consumers with nutritious options that do not come from our vastly over-fished seas, witnessed a huge increase throughout 2022 both in demand and in interest from investors. Producers of cultivated fish and seafood are operating in all corners of the planet, with many stating they are ready for market launch pending regulatory approval. Some of the biggest names successfully producing cell-cultivated fish and seafood include: Wildtype – San Francisco USA Bluu Seafood (previously Bluu Biosciences) – Germany BlueNalu – San Diego Umami Meats – Singapore Shiok – Singapore Avant – China Addressing key challenges in cellular seafood In order to address key challenges facing the advancement of the alternative protein industry, The Good Food Institute is hosting a series …

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onami-foods-Fish_Chips

© Onami Foods

Company News

Onami Foods’ Vegan Fish & Chips Products Roll Out Into Carrefour Paris

Onami Foods, a French startup founded in May 2021 offering algae and plant-based products, has announced its launch in Carrefour hypermarkets in the Paris region. “Onami is taking to the sea! We are pleased to announce our deployment in Carrefour Île-de-France hypermarkets. To mark the occasion, we are organising a number of events and tastings to help you (re)discover our products,” said Onami Foods on the launch. The first range of Onami Foods products consists of fish & chips alternatives in four formats: KissKiss Nuggets, Crispy Tender, the Mini Hug filet, and the Filet XOXO. Riding the wave of plant proteins The startup was founded by Charles Fouquet, CEO, and Benjamin Devos, COO, two friends since school who met again in 2019 after an international …

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china airlines' plant-based menu

© China Airlines

Tourism & Travel

China Airlines Debuts Plant-Based Inflight Menu Featuring Vegan Fish Fillet & Meat Alternatives

China Airlines has announced a new plant-based inflight menu for travellers across all cabins on flights departing Taiwan. Called Clean and Green Plant-Based Cuisine, the menu will be served from December 1st, 2022. To create the plant-based options, the airline partnered with Taiwanese restaurant Yang Ming Spring, which has received the Michelin Green Star award for two consecutive years in recognition of its plant-based foods, beverages, and careful ingredient selection. China Pacific Catering Services and Kaohsiung Airport Catering Services of the CAL Group also participated in developing the menu. Business-class menu The inflight meal for this passenger group features dishes made with a selection of vegetables and fresh ingredients. Starters Spring platter salad featuring yam noodles in fruit salsa Okra with black bean and sesame …

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