Salmon is one of the most popular fish choices to consume, and in the U.S., it is estimated that Americans eat a total of about 450,000 pounds of it a year. Unfortunately for vegans and vegetarians, there has not been a plant-based salmon product that has the ability to directly replace real salmon in all of its classic applications. Plantish, a start-up based in Rehovot, Israel, is looking to change that, and unveiled its plant-based salmon fillet this week.
Plantish is a newer company in the food tech space that was founded six months ago in 2021. Despite being so young, the company raised a pre-seed round of $2 million USD, led by TechAviv Founder Partners, in the middle of 2021.
The company’s first product is called Plantish Salmon, which will be a fully structured, boneless, plant-based salmon fillet. Although the company could not disclose what exactly the ingredients the fillet is made out of, they did state that it will have the same nutritional value as real salmon, including high protein content, B vitamins, and both Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.
According to the company, its alternative salmon fillet can be used in any application that conventional salmon is used in. The whole-cut fish analog aims to achieve the same flavor, structure, and texture as a regular salmon fillet.
What Plantish guarantees that it salmon fillet doesn’t have is mercury, microplastics, antibiotics, or other toxins. Sadly, this guarantee cannot be made with all wild-caught or farmed raised salmon. Farmed raised salmon can be fed large amounts of antibiotics, while wild-caught fish raises concerns about overfishing and being contaminated with microplastics.
In 2022, you can find a good plant-based burger (and many other meat analogs) in grocery stores or a restaurant with ease. Vegan seafood? Not so much. Compared to the plant-based meat category, the plant-based seafood category is significantly smaller, and the Good Food Institute has called the plant-based seafood space a “white space“. On top of this, many alternative seafood products come in an minced form, rather than a whole-cut fillet.
Good Catch is one company that produces vegan seafood products, and it launched a new plant-based salmon burger product last week. One other company working towards a plant-based salmon fillet is Revo Foods, which is based in Austria and is using bioprinting technology for some of its alternative products.
As exciting as Plantish Salmon is, the company shared that it is planning for the official launch of the product in 2024. Until then, Plantish will be executing tasting pop-ups that are slated to begin towards the end of 2022.
Leave a Reply