‘Sustainable Tuna’ comes true on World Oceans Day Ngày

By applying science to create delicious food, sustainable seafood production aims to help save the oceans from overfishing.

As the planet’s green lung, oceans produce more oxygen than trees and cover 70% of the Earth’s surface. However, overfishing, pollution, acidification, offshore drilling and other habitat destruction problems are harming oceans around the world. In celebration of World Oceans Day on June 8, Finless Foods, a company specializing in the production of plant-based and cell-cultured seafood alternatives, has announced a new product: Tuna of plant origin, to helping consumers advocate healthy oceans. The new product will be available in restaurants and food service channels in 2022. Create seafood alternatives with delicious flavors Finless products provide consumers with an alternative to traditional seafood to help create a more sustainable future and healthier oceans. Finless creates these alternatives through plant-based and cell-culture processes. To make plant-based tuna, Finless cuts and cooks vegetable ingredients. The ingredients are then seasoned to mimic the taste and texture of tuna. This plant-based tuna can be substituted for raw tuna in sushi and other dishes. To create cell-cultured tuna, Finless collects cells from high-quality tuna and provides them with nutrients (such as sugar, salt, and protein). The cells grow on “scaffolds” to create a tuna-like structure. Finless discovered a new plant-based tuna product by testing scaffolding options for cell-cultured tuna. Flavoring a selection of scaffolds using plants not only helped them with the experiment, but it also helped them realize they had made a delicious plant-based tuna. Finless continues to develop both plant-based and cell-based fish products. “Our cell culture product framework is still being worked on,” said Michael Selden, CEO and co-founder of Finless Foods. We are working on regulatory approval for cell-cultured tuna and plan to bring it to market in the coming years.” Michael Selden, CEO and Co-Founder of Finless Foods Explore options Consumers want healthier and more sustainable options than today’s wild-caught seafood. Selden says there are two main ways to explore seafood alternatives that will delight consumers: They focus on conventional products or exotic products. Popular seafood products that are favored and eaten by consumers are tuna, salmon and shrimp. But there are more exotic options that can also be pursued. “Seafood that is localized to a specific geographic region and has limited distribution is the perfect choice for products of cell or plant origin,” says Selden. For example, Japan has a species of eel that is only sold in the country because there is no farming and the supply is extremely limited. It can be produced through cell-based technology.” Selling alternative solutions Finless Foods now wants its sustainable food products to appeal to a wide variety of consumers beyond vegetarians and those interested in the ethical aspects of traditional seafood. However, to attract more people requires selling the product at the right price. Cell cultured tuna is currently priced competitively with bluefin tuna in restaurants and is considered expensive. Although the price of cell culture tuna is closer to the low end of restaurant bluefin than to the high end, it is still seen as difficult to afford for many consumers. Finless is working to reduce prices to make the product more accessible. “Over the next year, we plan to introduce prices below the price of bluefin tuna at all restaurants and, over the next two years, below the global wholesale price of bluefin,” Selden said. . By applying science to create delicious food, sustainable seafood production aims to help save the oceans from overfishing. Pricing these products appropriately will make it easier for consumers to switch to seafood alternatives more often.