Toronto-based food technology company, New School Foods, has announced the formation of NS/TX Industries Inc., an expanded entity that will oversee its proprietary manufacturing platform, consumer brand, and operations. Known for developing the world’s first plant-based salmon that closely mimics the appearance, taste, and texture of traditional fish, the company now plans to apply its innovative technology to red meat products, including steak and bone-in ribs.
“Our scaffolding technology has proven to be more flexible than we imagined”
NS/TX Industries Inc. will house the company’s breakthrough scaffolding technology, which utilizes directional freezing to create hyper-realistic whole-cut plant-based meats. This process, which the company claims is more advanced than traditional extrusion methods, allows for the combination of muscle fibers and connective tissue into a single structure. The resulting products aim to replicate the texture and cooking experience of real meat.
Chris Bryson, CEO and founder of New School Foods, explained the versatility of the company’s technology, noting, “Our scaffolding technology has proven to be more flexible than we imagined, and shown that it can be a superior manufacturing alternative to extrusion for red meat as well as seafood applications.”

The patented scaffolding system offers multiple advantages. It can be customized to match the texture, flavor, and appearance of different types of meat by adjusting the muscle fiber dimensions and the composition of connective tissue. Additionally, the scaffolds can be infused with proteins, oils, flavors, and colors, allowing for further customization. This flexibility enables the production of a range of meat and seafood alternatives that closely mimic the sensory experience of their animal-based counterparts.
Three pillars of NS/TX
NS/TX Industries will operate under three primary business units: New School Foods™, which produces consumer-facing products like plant-based salmon and other upcoming meat alternatives; NS/TX R&D, focusing on research and product development in collaboration with other companies; and NS/TX Manufacturing, which will offer its advanced manufacturing technology to partners for private-label and co-branded plant-based products.
The technology’s cold-based directional freezing process results in a product that mimics the transformation of real meat during cooking, offering a “raw” texture that changes when heat is applied — a key distinction from traditional extrusion-based methods.

In the past year, New School Foods has scaled its manufacturing process, achieving a vertically integrated production line and reducing material waste by repurposing excess materials from shaping whole cuts into additional products such as ground or flaked meats. This has further increased efficiency in the production process.
Building industry alliances
With over $19 million USD in funding from investors such as Inter IKEA, Protein Industries Canada, and SDTC, NS/TX is positioned to further expand its capabilities. The company’s flagship plant-based salmon filet is already available in over 30 restaurants across Canada, and it has established partnerships with Bondi Produce and Gordon Food Service.
Bryson continued, “We have spent the last year scaling up our manufacturing process into an assembly line that can create all of these products, and we decided that we don’t want to reserve this technology for a single brand. The creation of NS/TX allows us to partner with other brands to develop and manufacture the next generation of alternative protein products.”