Plant-based Fish Sector| Knowledge Ridge

The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations states one third of the world’s fish stocks are fished at unsustainable levels. At the same time, fish consumption is growing worldwide; with an average increase north of 20% in the years between 1997- 2017. So high have the stakes been raised, and so limited is the resource, it’s forged its way to the forefront of political battles – most notably Brexit.  Clearly, plant-based fish has a role to play in providing solutions in the long term. In this article I delve into some of the challenges faced by the industry. Making fish from plants: Right now, the top choice for manufacturers in the faux-fish sector is soy; it has a high nutritional content, functional flexibility, well- established supply and resulting low cost. From a functional perspective, it contains favourable fibrous structure that perform well in the texturizing process. The key drawback is that soy is also an allergen, making it unsuitable for some consumers. Outside of soy, the ever-ubiquitous Pea protein is high in demand, allergen-free, but does brings with it problems in price, off-notes, and supply.  Both the aforementioned require a “wet process” of texturization- if one wishes to create the bite associated with certain fish or meat. This process and more expensive. By comparison using a cheaper to produce dry TVP (texturized veg protein) can create a satisfactory texture akin to ground products, with potential applications in crab, fish cakes or other more processed fish products. Perhaps, therefore, these cheaper alternatives will have a natural commercial advantage in this space. When it comes to certain textures attributed to Prawn (non-fibrous and with bounce), starches derived from konjac or potato can be used to form cross-linked gel structures. Another challenge is to accurately mimic a realistic fish colour, which varies in difficulty depending upon the sub-category. Salmon and crustaceans require orange to pink/red colours with good stability across processes, while for tuna, it is important to realistically replicate the colour change that happens during cooking from fresh. For whitefish, it is necessary to whiten the plant protein, which is typically beige to yellow. On Nutritional perception: Studies have shown that fish and seafood are widely perceived as having a multitude of health and nutritional benefits: linked to high protein, low fat content and high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. To widen the appeal of plant-based alternatives outside of the vegetarian and vegan markets, products need to offer similar health and nutritional benefits. Key to successful launches will be products developed with the focus on protein and Omega-3 content. This is especially so in non-TVP products, such as plant-based shrimp, which often have very low levels of protein. The Protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) - the rating system used by the USFDA. Defined as “a method of evaluating the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_quality">quality of a protein</a> based on both the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid">amino acid</a> requirements of humans and their ability to digest it,” Currently rates Soy at 0.91 – 1 and Pea at 0.82 – 0.89, with 1 being the optimum. The takeaway here is both proteins sources, particularly soy live up to the high-quality protein claim. And therefore, should be first considerations when health is high on the agenda.  If not plant, then what: Plant-based vs lab grown Cell culture is a possible solution for solving the challenge of recreating whole muscle products. This technology delivers a result that much more closely matches the texture of real fish and seafood.  Cultivated products may be the closest, ‘freshest’ and most nutritional when compared to the real thing. One idea is to use Single Cell Proteins (SCP). These are ingredients derived from algae, fungi, or other microbes that are created using fermentation processes similar to that used in making bread and beer. Bacteria protein have been quite thoroughly explored as an alternative to crops and the process is in use for production of animal feed. Bacteria proteins are grown via fermentation of optimised strains of microbes and offer high protein content and growth rates. Current downsides include high production cost and potential negative consumer perception; however, this could be a viable alternative in the near future.  Algal proteins are created from algae or seaweed and are currently gaining great interest for plant-based fish and seafood products. Grown in water via photosynthesis this novel protein has quite low production costs. Algae inherently provide a complementary flavour profile for fish and seafood. Initial capital investment is high and growth rates are quite low, so there are still challenges for successful large-scale production.

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