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LAS VEGAS — Plant-based seafood alternatives present both market opportunities and formulation complexities.
“Under the current market dynamics, the seafood industry is in peril,” said Shelly Van Cleve, co-founder of The Plant Based Seafood Co. “So we’re sitting pretty.
“All seafood is expensive. There is no such thing as cheap seafood anymore in the grocery store. It’s $16 a lb, $18 a lb, $22 a lb, $35 a lb. It’s the highest priced protein in the grocery store.”
Besides consumers concerned about costs, those allergic to seafood or worried about mercury levels in food may choose plant-based seafood alternatives, she said Oct. 24 in a plant-based session at SupplySide West in Las Vegas.
Consumers often ask how her company makes plant-based seafood alternatives.
“Well, which one?” she said. “They are all a different animal.”
Flavor and aroma are different in each kind of seafood, she said. To make crab cake alternatives, formulators must replicate four types of meat found in crabs, Ms. Van Cleve said. Parts of an oyster include mouth, stomach, palps, intestine, mantle, heart, anus, adductor muscle, gills and tentacles.
“When you start to put everything together, it’s like an orchestra,” Ms. Van Cleve said.
From left: Nick Toriello, The Every Co., Berkeley, Calif.; Shelly Van Cleve, The Plant Based Seafood Co., Grimstead, Va.; and Justin Prochnow, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Denver. Photo: Sosland Publishing Co. Products from The Plant Based Seafood Co., Grimstead, Va., often contain certain ingredients. Koji rice provides texture and mouthfeel identical to seafood, Ms. Van Cleve said. Konjac also helps with texture. Xanthan gum may be combined with locust bean gum to form a soft elastic gel.
Clean label has become more prominent, Ms. Van Cleve said. As an example, The Plant Based Seafood Co. took titanium dioxide out of its plant-based scallops.
Ms. Van Cleve said the company never wants to fool consumers. On the front of the packages, the words “plant based” appear prominently and sometimes in a different color than other words.
Eggs and protein
An egg has about 150 kinds of protein in it, said Nick Toriello, vice president and head of partnerships at The Every Co., during the plant-based session. The Every Co., Berkeley, Calif., uses precision fermentation to create proteins.
“We don’t want to make 150 proteins,” he said. “That practically is not a good way to go.”
Instead, The Every Co. focuses on highly functional proteins when creating animal-free egg white protein. Ovalbumin is a natural binder and foaming agent. The company’s animal-free egg white proteins also contain all nine essential amino acids.
“What we hear is cost, cost, cost,” Mr. Toriello said. “The way you do cost is scale.”
Cautious about color
Beet juice and other ingredients have been used in attempts to create meat-like color in plant-based meat alternatives. Companies need to be cautious when labeling these ingredients, said Justin Prochnow, a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig LLP and based in Denver.
Under the US Food and Drug Administration’s definition, any ingredient added to a product for color purposes is not natural.
“You shouldn’t be saying natural colors because there is no such thing as natural colors (under the FDA’s definition),” Mr. Prochnow said.
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