The search to duplicate the fragile texture and taste of scallops with out harvesting a single shellfish has led two firms, Aqua Cultured Meals and Plant Primarily based Seafood Co., to modern options.
Each firms are addressing the rising concern over the sustainability of seafood, particularly scallops, by creating plant-based alternate options.
Aqua Cultured Meals is utilizing microbial fermentation to create animal-free seafood. This methodology, historically utilized in making beer and sourdough, permits Aqua to supply seafood alternate options that mimic what’s swimming in our seas.
Aqua Meals
Its scallops have that very same buttery taste and springy texture of mollusks that can be utilized in whole-cut purposes resembling crudo or ceviche, delivering the identical sensory expertise of seafood with out breading, coatings, gums, or thickeners.
The corporate focuses on creating merchandise that aren’t solely sustainable but additionally freed from dangerous substances resembling mercury and microplastics.
“Our mission is to feed our rising planet whereas nonetheless defending the oceans,” Aqua co-founder Brittany Chibe tells VegNews. “Seafood accounts for 20 p.c of worldwide protein consumption, but almost 80 p.c of the world’s fisheries are already absolutely exploited or depleted.”
Saving scallops from extinction
The urgency of this mission is underscored by the truth that conventional scallop populations are quickly declining, with business landings (harvests) of Atlantic sea scallops dropping from over 60 million kilos in 2019 to simply 31.6 million kilos in 2022, in accordance with NOAA Fisheries.
Overfishing and environmental stressors resembling warming waters and ocean acidification are huge contributors to the issue. Plus, the common client eats twice as a lot seafood as they did 50 years in the past.
“One main subject is the shortage of latest scallops—these little guys are essential for replenishing the scallop inhabitants,” Shelley Van Cleve, a seafood trade knowledgeable, tells VegNews.
“However with fewer of them becoming a member of the ranks and mature scallops getting plucked out of the water, the way forward for scallops as a meals supply is hanging by a thread,” Van Cleve says. “That’s the place plant primarily based scallops are available in.”
Van Cleve and her daughter Monica Talbert labored within the conventional seafood and restaurant trade for greater than 20 years earlier than founding Plant Primarily based Seafood Co. Drawing from their trade experience, the duo applies a kitchen-based strategy to plant-based seafood alternate options, together with dusted scallops they make from konjac underneath the corporate’s Thoughts Blown model.
“We’re not simply making merchandise; we’re creating culinary experiences that excite and delight,” Van Cleve says. “We imagine in utilizing actual components to craft actual meals, pushing the boundaries of plant-based innovation to imitate the textures, aromas, and flavors of seafood.”
Plant Primarily based Seafood Co.
Working out of the Chesapeake Bay, Plant Primarily based Seafood Co. has gained help from celeb cooks Tom Colicchio and Spike Mendelsohn. However how does Van Cleve know that their vegan scallops are hitting all of the marks? The corporate rigorously checks its merchandise with native “salt-of-the-Earth people” resembling fishermen and seafood lovers.
“They will spot the true deal from a mile away, whether or not it’s an oyster, a fish, or a shrimp,” she says. “That’s why our merchandise need to cross the take a look at with these seasoned consultants earlier than they hit the market. Their seal of approval is our badge of honor.”
Sustainable scallops
Every firm’s vegan scallops replicate mollusks whereas outcompeting them on a number of metrics, together with value.
“Let’s face it, scallop costs are hovering, beginning at a whopping $25 per pound,” Van Cleve says. “Simply think about in case your on a regular basis rooster or beef price that a lot.”
These vegan scallops even have a for much longer shelf life than their uncooked counterparts. For comparability, whereas uncooked mollusks keep contemporary for a median of 48 hours, Aqua’s merchandise preserve for as much as six weeks.
Along with its frozen scallops, Plant Primarily based Seafood Co. additionally developed a shelf-stable scallop that bypasses the necessity for refrigeration altogether, a serious benefit for foodservice operators and the setting alike.
“By streamlining our processes and eliminating pointless steps, we’re not solely chopping prices but additionally lowering our environmental footprint resembling eradicating costly chilly chains from the road which additionally saves on greenhouse gasoline and emissions within the course of,” Van Cleve says.
Aqua Meals
Whereas Plant Primarily based Seafood Co. already affords its Thoughts Blown model in retail and foodservice, Aqua is placing the ultimate touches on its scallops and fish-free tuna, with a plant to go to market this spring at fine-dining eating places in Chicago.
The corporate examined lots of of formulations at its manufacturing facility to get its scallops market-ready and like Plant Primarily based Seafood Co., Aqua additionally gained backing from acclaimed culinarians, together with Michelin-starred chef Laurent Manrique.
“When a chef says, ‘I wouldn’t be capable of inform the distinction, these are actual scallops,’ that’s the best indicator of market readiness,” Chibe says.
Navigating market headwinds
Aqua Cultured Meals and Plant Primarily based Seafood Co. are a part of a rising motion to offer customers with selections that fulfill their seafood cravings whereas defending the oceans. Nevertheless, some innovators haven’t been in a position to efficiently navigate these uneven waters.
In November, New Wave Meals ceased operations regardless of securing a serious buyer for 2024 gross sales as a result of the choice seafood firm “couldn’t outrun trade headwinds” in accordance with its CEO Michelle Wolf.
Chibe and Van Cleve imagine their firms are uniquely positioned to achieve the choice seafood area. At Plant Primarily based Seafood Co., Van Cleve is holding operations lean and aiming to strike the fitting stability between high quality and affordability.
The Plant Primarily based Seafood Co.
“In these unsure occasions, it’s clear that firms with a real ardour and dedication to their mission are higher outfitted to climate the storm,” Van Cleve says. “As issues begin to stabilize, we’re optimistic in regards to the future.”
“We imagine that by staying true to our values and supporting our companions, we will navigate these unsure occasions and emerge stronger collectively,” she says.
Each firms are additionally a part of Future Ocean Meals, a commerce group that serves as a united entrance to assist its 36 worldwide members disrupt the damaging $360 billion international seafood trade.
“In response [to industry challenges], we select to unite, share experiences and collaborate, as an alternative of compete,” Chibe says.
Extra broadly, each firms goal to reimagine a seafood trade that gives customers with crave-able experiences with out destroying the oceans and their inhabitants.
“On the coronary heart of all of it is our real love for seafood,” Van Cleve says. “We’re not simply creating merchandise; we’re paying homage to the creatures of the ocean. And relaxation assured, we’d by no means dream of placing out something lower than the very best.”
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Anna Starostinetskaya is the Senior Information Editor at VegNews and is all the time maintaining a tally of all issues vegan in her residence metropolis of San Francisco, CA and in every single place else.
