There has been little publicly announced R&D and commercial effort to develop cultivated, fermentation-derived, or hybrid surimi. Compared to other meat products, surimi is likely to be by far one of the easiest to replicate well.
Learn about Dr. Kevan Main and Dr. Cathy Walsh’s work at Mote Marine Laboratory to develop cell lines and methodology for cultivated seafood.
This project will generate ingredients from byproducts of algae polysaccharide extraction to improve the flavor of alternative seafood products.
This project aims to determine the key molecules that contribute to cooked salmon’s odor and flavor and recreate these with optimal plant, fungal, and algal oils. The proposed solutions’ oxidative stability will be determined and possibilities for shelf-life extension provided.
In this project the role of food matrix components in modulating the flavor profiles, nutritional/chemical properties, and oxidative stability of plant-based seafood formulations during processing and storage will be investigated. Lexicon to accurately describe seafood flavor(s) will also be developed.
Dr Frank and his team are working to create more desirable plant-based seafood flavors. They will apply natural flavor chemistry pathways knowledge and sensory techniques to identify the most suitable flavor precursors for a range of plant-based seafood products.
Poor and inauthentic flavors of current seafood alternatives are a barrier to consumers’ acceptance. To address this shortcoming, the precision fermentation startup Nectariss plans to develop realistic seafood flavors based on the fermentation of mycelial fungi.
This project aims to identify affordable plant albumins for culture media. Dr. Richards and his team will characterize at least six plant albumins that support fish cell growth.
Efficient and cost-effective cultivated fish production will require precise optimization to encourage fast proliferation and highly efficient use of inputs while preventing premature differentiation. A variety of strategies can be employed to adjust various factors that contribute to these properties, including optimizing the starting cell line, improving the composition of the proliferation medium, and exploring the possibility of transdifferentiating easy-to-grow cell lines like fibroblasts into myogenic and adipogenic lineages.
To date, no robust environmental assessments have been conducted to compare alternative seafood to its conventional counterparts. An open-access, quantitative analysis of the relative environmental impacts of alternative seafood will help garner support for the industry from policymakers, nonprofit organizations, consumers, investors, foodservice outlets, and retailers.
