Meat analogues are a big business. From Quorn’s vegan sausages to the ‘bleeding’ burger from Impossible Foods, faux meat derived from plant protein is taking over dinner plates and menus.
According to a July 2019 report by The Good Food Institute (GFI), an international non-profit that champions sustainability through food innovation, US retail sales of plant-based meat amounted to a whopping $801 million (£639m) in the year leading up to April 2019.
But while consumers can enjoy hearty burgers, juicy sausages and sizzling steaks, the plant-based seafood industry has been comparatively slow to innovate, accounting for a measly 1.2 per cent slice of the pie. This has been, in part, due to the inherent challenges of making and marketing fake fish – but it’s a problem that companies are finally starting to tackle.
The reason fake fish has lagged behind is partly down to public perception. Real seafood is considered a healthy source of protein compared to red meat, thanks to its relatively low saturated fat levels and calorie count. “The reasons that many people are looking to reduce their meat consumption, such as health, don’t seem as relevant when they think about fish,” says Bruce Friedrich, the co-founder and executive director of GFI.
There’s also a lack of visibility when it comes to the environmental impact of the fishing industry. “Fishing and aquaculture cause the same harms – environmental degradation, climate change, food waste, contamination, antibiotic overuse – as cattle ranching, yet they get a lot less coverage,” explains Friedrich.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, in 2018, stated that 90 per cent of wild fisheries are classified as overfished or harvested at maximal capacity, with one-third of all fish stocks being depleted faster than they can be replenished. “The global fishing industry is stripping the oceans on a scale that dwarfs the clearing of rainforests for beef production, but everything happens underwater, so very few people notice,” adds Friedrich.
Fortunately, brands are starting to catch on. Earlier this month, Impossible Foods announced that it is trying its hand at making fishless fish using heme (soy leghemoglobin), the plant-based protein it has built its fortunes on, and the key ingredient that makes its Impossible Burger taste so much like real meat. Already, the company has succeeded in creating an anchovy-flavoured broth entirely from plants. The new product is still in development stage, but chief executive Pat Brown is confident that the brand’s winning burger recipe can be adapted to create convincing faux fish, according to The New York Times.
If Impossible Foods succeeds, it will join several other players in the plant-based seafood space, including Good Catch, which reeled in $10m (£7.9m) in funding last month. The startup currently produces plant-based tuna flakes in three flavours – Naked, Mediterranean, and Oil & Herbs – which launched across the US in February. But not everything went swimmingly at first.
“Fake fish is more challenging to make than fake meat because of its distinct thin layering of protein – the flakiness that is the key characteristic of cooked fish,” says Good Catch’s co-founding chef Chad Sarno. “Recreating that particular texture was one of our biggest challenges, and our team spent the first year focusing on that.”
They’ve since found the magic formula: a proprietary blend of six legumes – peas, chickpeas, lentils, soy, fava beans and navy beans – that yields a flaky texture reminiscent of fish. The distinctively briny flavour of tuna is achieved via the addition of farmed algal oil (derived from marine algae), which the brand claims “embodies that certain je ne sais quoi flavour of fine seafood”. Algal oil also contains docosahexaenoic acid, an essential omega-3 fatty acid found in fish.
“There are a number of excellent plant-based meat alternatives on the market, but when it comes to fish, there were no significant ones at the time [of launch],” says Sarno. “Moreover, tuna fisheries are some of the most harmful to our oceans and the environment. From overfishing to bycatch and habitat destruction, factory fisheries are part of the problem, and we [want to be] part of the solution.”
Good Catch’s tuna pouches are currently available at Whole Foods stores in the US, as well as through online grocers. In anticipation of growing demand, the brand is building a $20m (£15m) manufacturing facility far from the ocean in Ohio, which will be up and running by the end of the year.
It’s an optimistic move, but there are high hopes that consumers will take the bait. “Plant-based fish addresses every issue people currently have with seafood – allergies, contamination and ethical concerns, says Friedrich. “I think it may outpace plant-based beef and chicken in fairly short order.”
